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Evernote comes to Windows Phone 8 with multi-shot camera, speech to text support
Evernote has let its Windows Phone app languish at times, but the company is making amends with a new version of its note-taking client that supports Windows Phone 8. The update primarily improves navigation and speed for modern hardware, although there are a few platform-independent additions. Users can now snap multiple photos without leaving the camera mode; the refresh also introduces photo slideshows, speech-to-text transcription and an automatic title generator. Evernote's big upgrade is available in the Windows Phone Store today, and there's promises of "lots more" coming to Microsoft's mobile platform in the near future.
Daily iPhone App: Notograph is a photography tool for your important notes
The iOS camera app is handy for taking photos of your memorable moments. It's also useful for grabbing snapshots of important notes, receipts or lunch break napkin scribbles. This usefulness is stymied when you hop into the camera roll and find your important note mixed in with hundreds of photos of your latest vacation. This lack of organization and context is addressed by Notograph, a new iPhone app from Craig Bradley. Notograph is designed from the ground up to be a note-storing app that grabs its content from your camera. It's quick and easy to snap a photo of a note -- just launch the app and tap the onscreen camera button. There are no filters or fancy effects; only the shutter button, a toggle for the flash and the option to switch from the rear to the front camera. Each photo gets saved to your folder of choice and you can move notes between folders with just a few taps. The folders are displayed in a text-based list, while the individual notes are listed as thumbnails. The thumbnails jog your memory and help you recall the contents of a note. The developer behind Notograph realizes people like to store and share notes so he has included support for iCloud syncing, Dropbox storage and Evernote backup. iCloud and Dropbox can be configured to automatically back up your notes, while notes are sent over to Evernote on a individual basis. Though Evernote syncing is manual, it's still easy -- just open the note and select Share > Evernote to send your notes to the note-taking and storage service. Notograph also allows you to send notes via email and messaging as well as share them socially on Facebook and Twitter. Notograph is for the notekeeper who likes to quickly record photos of important documents and organize them outside the iOS camera roll. The app has options for cloud storage and social sharing so your notes can be stored safely and shared as needed. The UI could use some polishing, but it's still a good first effort, and I look forward to future improvements from Bradley. Notograph for the iPhone is available for US$1.99 in the iOS App Store.
Yojimbo 4 brings syncing, highlights iCloud woes
Good news for Yojimbo fans: version 4 is now available, and it syncs across Macs. (Pause and wait for for chorus of 'hallelujahs' to subside.) I've been a Yojimbo user for years, but in case some of you don't know what it is, I'll start by quoting Bare Bones' own website which describes it this way: "Yojimbo makes keeping all the small (or even large) bits of information that pour in every day organized and accessible. It's so simple, there is no learning curve. Yojimbo's mechanism for collecting, storing and finding information is so natural and effortless, it will change your life, without changing the way you work." Yojimbo is not meant to hold your entire PDF collection, or all of your images, or all of your bookmarks. It isn't meant to replace Google or the Finder or even Spotlight. It's meant to be that place which is always in reach where you can put something, anything, when you don't want to lose it but you can't (or don't want to) deal with it right now. It's easy to get things into Yojimbo, it's easy to get them out again, and it's easy to search and categorize what you have there. Yojimbo is often referred to as a "digital junk drawer" but to me it's more like the stuff I keep piled on or around my desk but don't put away because I don't want to lose or forget about it. It's that digital 'inbox' where you can throw anything that you might need to sort through later without thinking too much about it now. This is an important role which is easily underestimated. The reason I know that is because I have become aware of the fact that I don't have one now – which means that I have several. See if this sounds familiar: I have a text file with some quick notes that I've jotted down. I have some 'flagged' emails which I hope I will remember means I need to followup on them next time I see them. I have some articles that I saved to Pinboard and some PDFs that I saved to my "To Read" folder and some files on the Desktop, not to mention a few things I tossed into OmniFocus. Too often things go into one of those 'buckets' and I forget about it, mostly because there are too many of them. More than likely I waste time trying to decide where to save them, and I know I waste time trying to find them, if I even remember to look. One of the great things about Yojimbo was that it did syncing of a variety of different kinds of information. Unfortunately, that's also been a major thorn in its side lately. Sync, sank, stunk When Yojimbo was introduced, it used MobileMe syncing to bring your data across your Macs. Way back in 2006 Yojimbo was described as having "Seamless .Mac syncing" and that syncing was always an essential part of the app. Unfortunately, it relied on MobileMe, which Apple eventually shut down. It seems to be a pattern with Apple that web services don't have a very long life and never really get the attention and "polish" that people hope for when a new product comes along. By the time Apple finally killed off MobileMe and the loathsome, atrocious iDisk, few people were sad to see it go, and we were all encouraged to see Apple's new efforts towards iCloud. Until it arrived. What iCloud does extremely well is file syncing. You save a document in Pages on your Mac and a few seconds later it will show up on your iPad or your other Macs. It's fast and easy, not to mention free for the first 5 gigabytes. What iCloud does not do well is database syncing, or in technical terms: "Core Data" syncing. Now, I'm not a developer and I won't pretend to be here, but if you have been paying any attention at all, you have probably heard Mac and iOS developers complaining about iCloud. If you missed it, allow me to direct your attention to Ars Technica which featured this issue in an article almost six months ago Frustrated with iCloud, Apple's developer community speaks up en masse. Bare Bones Software's Rich Siegel is featured prominently in that article, but he also echoes many other developer complaints about the way that iCloud works. He also explained why Dropbox is not an viable option (again, Dropbox does file syncing very well, but not database syncing). If after all that you want an even more thorough, yet easy-to-understand explanation, you can read Rich's Tumblr post The Gathering Storm: Our Travails With iCloud Sync from earlier this year as well. He also links to several other developers who spoke about the problems they faced with iCloud syncing. The bottom line is this: Dropbox doesn't have the necessary tools (yet?) to sync databases, and iCloud is supposed to have the necessary tools, but it doesn't work. Which left Bare Bones with only one viable option: a 3rd-party sync solution. Sync Rises If you are familiar with Evernote, you know that it syncs via its own service, not iCloud and not Dropbox. The same is also true for OmniFocus and several other applications. DEVONThink can sync to Dropbox, sort of, but it requires that you go into Dropbox and turn off automatic syncing and sync things manually. (I tried when they first introduced it, and quickly abandoned the idea as more trouble than it was worth. You'd get roughly the same effect if you just copied your data to Dropbox when you quit the app.) Bare Bones has decided to offer a syncing solution which will cost US$3 a month. The syncing is handled through Wasabi Sync which describes itself as "Core Data cloud syncing done right" (as opposed to, say, the way that iCloud currently wörks). The first 30 days are free so you can try it and see if it works for you. You can also try Yojimbo 4 free for 30 days by downloading the demo from BareBones.com. Before anyone complains about Yojimbo syncing, let me remind you that it is still cheaper than Evernote. Also note that Yojimbo for iPad still happens over your local Wi-Fi network, so you do not need a sync subscription for that. (Before you ask, no, you cannot directly sync Yojimbo for iPad from your Wasabi sync account. When I asked Rich Siegel whether that would be added, he politely declined to make any 'forward looking statements' but certainly left the door open for that possibility. One thing at a time.) Final words, for now In a perfect world, Yojimbo would have been able to sync via iCloud and the BareBones folks would not have had to spend the past year of their lives trying to make it work before eventually giving up and implementing their own solution. But right now iCloud just does not work for database syncing, and you don't have to take my word for that, there are lots of developers who will (and have) shared their frustrations. Again I would refer you to both Frustrated with iCloud, Apple's developer community speaks up en masse and The Gathering Storm: Our Travails With iCloud Sync and remember that syncing files is a lot easier than syncing databases. Yojimbo is a great Mac app by a great Mac development team who sweat the details to make something excellent. That's why BBEdit has been around for over 20 years and still growing strong. Yojimbo is not DEVONThink or Evernote, nor are they Yojimbo. They do different, if similar, things. If you have been frustrated by having little bits of your digital life spread out in several different places, I would strongly encourage you to check out Yojimbo. I'm very happy to have it back in my dock.
Evernote starts rate-limiting third-party apps, hopes for minimal impact
With over 50 million note-taking users, Evernote has a lot of traffic on its hands -- enough so that the company is now rate-limiting third-party software that relies on its API. As of today, new apps can only sync a certain amount of information with Evernote in a given hour. While the caps aren't clearly defined and are likely to change, Evernote will start throttling all existing apps on November 1st. This isn't necessarily the prelude to a Twitter-style crackdown on third-party clients, however. As many apps sync their data sparingly, Evernote doesn't foresee many companies running into the API limit. It primarily anticipates problems with apps that sync everything, and it's offering to chat with affected developers to minimize trouble. Evernote's promises aren't guaranteed to reassure app designers, but they suggest that end users might not notice the difference.
Telefonica pens deal with Evernote, gives global customers one year's free premium access
You've got to hand it to Evernote, it's taking the initiative when it comes to getting its popular productivity tools into as many hands as possible. We've already seen Deutsche Telekom customers score access to it's premium services for free, now over 247 million Telefonica customers are getting the same -- a $45 saving. The partnership kicks off in Brazil via the Vivo brand, whose customers can get a year's access to the top-tier features starting today. Unlike the German deal, it's unclear whether existing customers of the premium service still qualify, but like the versatile tool's logo, if they don't, those customers may never forget.
Adventures for iPhone a decent travel log
Adventures for iPhone is a travel log (currently on sale for US$1.99 in the App Store) that syncs photos with Evernote. The idea is that you create an album, or "adventure," snapping photos along the way. The app collects meta information like location and your custom tags, then sends the lot to a notebook in Evernote. I spent last Sunday exploring Boston and took Adventures along for the ride. My experience was mostly positive. Read on for my day of capturing Boston with Adventures for iPhone. Last May, Evernote's Brett Kelly published an article on 52 Tiger about using Evernote as a traveler's companion. His idea was solid: by capturing photos in Evernote, you've got everything tagged, categorized, accessible and ready to share. I like the idea, but in practice found it cumbersome. In short, producing from-the-hip snapshots with a basic photography app is significantly faster. Evernote is a great storage solution, but it's a poor camera. %Gallery-195497% Adventures seems like a great solution. It syncs with your Evernote account and uploads your photos in the background. It's a lot faster than using the Evernote app, though you do have to enter some info with each shot. But before we get to use, let's take a look. Looks Adventures is pretty. Very pretty. It features flat-as-a-pancake buttons that will feel at home on iOS 7. The font is skinny and legible and the settings are easy to read. It's also quite responsive, with no noticeable lag on my iPhone 4S. Your completed adventures are displayed in a grid, each with a title, representative thumbnail (you can't choose the poster image, which is unfortunate if your first shot is a stinker or not representative of the group as a whole), the number of images, or "memories," included and finally your title. Tap any adventure and its images are sorted chronologically into nice-looking, rectangular thumbnails. Again, it's a pretty app. Now onto how it works. Use To get started, tap the "+" in the upper right. An "adventure creation" screen appears, with a field for a title and tag search. Note that Adventures imports your existing Evernote tags. You can also create your own (these become available to Evernote also). When I was learning the app, I accidentally tapped the "+" when I meant to take a photo for an existing adventure. A new, unwanted adventure was created, which is fine, but I couldn't figure out how to delete it. I still haven't. Once inside an adventure, tap the "+" again to add a photo (or "memory"). A creation screen appears, and you can enter the location (powered by Foursquare), add any notes and finally snap a photo. Note that you can't add a photo without entering the location. Notes are optional. Some may balk at the additional time requirement, but Adventures is a logging app. If you simply want to snap photos and be done with it, there are a bajillion camera apps ready to heed your call. You'll find several sharing options on this screen as well. Opt in to sharing via App Dot Net, Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare. Your credentials for each can be entered via the app's settings. Additionally, access to each can be toggled on or off individually. You can edit any memory by tapping the "i" next to a photo. An edit screen appears, which also features my favorite button of all time: If Adventures could literally erase certain memories from my brain, I'd pay a heck of a lot more than $1.99. Once you've collected a few images, tap the map button in the lower right to see a map of your travels. A pin represents the locations at which you snapped a photo. Evernote Sync This is the app's marquee feature, and I'm disappointed to report I couldn't get it to work. Adventures creates a notebook in Evernote called "Adventures." Inside, each adventure is a separate note. I shot seven photos while in Boston, but only two made it over to Evernote on my Mac and iPhone. I couldn't figure out why. Conclusion Adventures is a great start. It looks fantastic and makes the process of getting tagged and meta-ified photos into Evernote a lot faster than using the storage app itself. It's fast and simple to figure out. It's possible that my trouble with Evernote sync is unique or my own doing, but I can't say for sure. For now, I'll say wait until the next version drops.
Feedly Pro available with search, Evernote support, more
Several of us around the TUAW newsroom love Feedly -- it's a free, cloud-based RSS aggregation tool that stepped into the void that the loss of Google Reader created. In order to finance further development of this powerful tool, Feedly today announced an early lifetime edition version of Feedly Pro. While general availability of Feedly Pro won't occur until "this fall," the Feedly team is making a lifetime edition available for US$99 starting today. That $99 provides early access to the app, and you will never have to pay the $5 monthly ($45 annual) subscription for the Pro version. Access to the lifetime edition is limited to the first 5,000 respondents. So what does Feedly Pro have that the existing version doesn't? Article search, so that you can search within your feeds. Security, thanks to https. One-click save of any Feedly Pro article to your Evernote account. Most importantly, if you need support and you're a Feedly Pro subscriber, you'll be bumped to the front of the line. For those who use Feedly and need a bit more power, Feedly Pro looks like a good solution and the lifetime edition is a real bargain.
Samsung's 14-megapixel WB250 point-and-shoot now posts directly to Evernote
The WB250 Smart camera, Samsung's $179 WiFi-enabled point-and-shoot, just scored a major sharing boost. The pocketable cam can now boot images directly to Evernote. After downloading a software update, WB250 owners will be able to sync their images with the service seamlessly -- shots can then appear on connected smartphones, computers and tablets simultaneously. Users will also be able to tap into a 3-month Evernote Premium trial, bringing a 1GB monthly upload allowance and additional sharing options. Update your software to get started.
Evernote adds shortcuts, related notes and Skitch support for iOS apps
Good news, note hoarders. Evernote has released a new major update that brings new Shortcut and Skitch features to the already powerful app. Shortcuts works as a sort of Favorites, giving users quick assess to their most commonly used tags, notebooks and notes. Worry not multiple-device users, your shortcuts sync across platforms, meaning you'll never be without your list. The second major feature is integration with Skitch, an already popular service owned by Evernote, used for marking up images and PDF files. Now you can annotate and doodle to your heart's content by simply pressing the Skitch icon in your menu bar. This feature requires that you already have the Skitch app installed on your iOS device. Premium users also get a new Related Notes feature that does exactly what it sounds like. At the bottom of each note the service suggests other notes that share tags and themes with what you're currently viewing. Regardless of whether you pay or simply live off the free service, the latest from Evernote is worth finding your way over to the update screen. If you still haven't downloaded the service, you can grab it from iTunes here.
Evernote 5 for Windows Desktop arrives in beta, promises better UI and search (video)
Mac users have enjoyed Evernote 5 for nearly eight months now, while those with Windows have had to glare at them in envy and make do with the web version. But never fear, PC aficionados, as you too will get your own taste of the popular note-taking app today -- well, almost. Though the final version isn't completely ready, the beta version is, however. For those brave enough to venture into the beta waters, Evernote 5 offers several improvements over its predecessor. Namely, the interface is fresher and more modern, and new search and discovery tools have been added to help you find those hastily scribbled notes that much faster. As ever with beta software, Evernote warns that data loss might be a possibility and that certain key features like Reminders have yet to be implemented. But if you're a Windows fiend who just can't wait to see what's new with Evernote, head on over to the source, or just peek at the video after the break, to get acquainted.
Evernote for iOS gets related notes, shortcuts and Skitch integration
Many habitual Evernote users have giant stacks of notes that can be difficult to sift through. Mercifully, Evernote's updated iOS app has come to their rescue: it now lets users create shortcuts to favorite notes and surface related notes. It's easier to mark up those scribbles, too -- the update integrates tightly with Skitch, dropping users directly into the companion app for annotations and drawings. Premium users can jump directly to Skitch for PDF editing. There isn't a corresponding Android update just yet, but serious iOS note takers can get the new Evernote build today.
Evernote and Skitch for Android updated with new annotation features
There's a double dose of good news for Evernote users on Android this morning: both the Evernote and Skitch apps have been updated with several new features. On the Evernote side, users will now be able to edit attached Office documents (previously they could only be viewed) using the OfficeSuite app, and the homescreen widget now offers list view for notes, quick reminders and support for Jelly Bean's lockscreen. For the more visually oriented Skitch app, the update brings Premium users the ability to annotate attached PDFs -- a feature that's already available on the Mac version. Notably, all Skitch users will get a 30-day previews of the PDF mark-up functionality; all the better to make the switch to Premium more appealing, we imagine. More productivity features are pretty much always a good thing, so Android users will definitely want to download the latest versions via the respective source links below.
Evernote for Mac adds highlighting, document preview and Skitch annotation
A new Evernote for Mac update is available in the App Store today, and it includes a variety of features for both the free and premium versions. In addition to a nifty highlighting tool, Evernote is improving Skitch integration to simplify annotating and sharing notes. Clicking the Skitch icon in the editor launches the app, allowing users to annotate their notes in Skitch before saving them to Evernote. Premium subscribers can edit full notes in Skitch as PDFs, while free users will have to settle for annotating images only. Lastly, attached documents can now be previewed within notes, though document search is limited to premium account holders. To download the update, head on over to the source link below.
Evernote for Windows Touch gets a redesign, two-step verification
Couple of updates to Evernote for Windows Touch users: for starters, the app's hub page has been redesigned for a better fingers-on experience, bringing handy columns for notes, shortcuts created across different platforms and Notebooks. The Windows Touch app now includes support for Evernote Business, as well -- Notebooks created for that side of things will appear in blue, so you can tell them apart from the personal notebooks sitting in your hub. Also new is two-step verification for added security. A full list of updates to the pachyderm-friendly note-taking platform can be found in the source link below.
Phil Libin shares some insight on Evernote's future
Fortune has had a quick chat with our friend Phil Libin, the CEO of Evernote, a company that has grown by leaps and bounds since we last talked. Evernote was popular back when it simply tracked notes and photos. Today the company has acquired Skitch and a few other companies, and is making inroads with services like Evernote for Business. Evernote claims 66 million users at the moment, and says that over 2 million of them are paying customers.The company is basically a software provider, but Libin says there are lots of other ideas in the works. He's got an idea for an encryption format of some kind, to be announced later this year. He sees possibilities for hardware products, too. Evernote recently released a notebook designed for easy scanning, and it's not hard to imagine other kinds of projects that would make uploading and browsing stored notes even easier. Libin also doesn't deny that going public is an option for Evernote, though the Fortune piece says it won't happen for another few years. Evernote has grown a lot in its short life (the service originally launched in 2008), and it sounds like there's a lot more growing to do.
Skitch updates again, with a faster screenshot process
Evernote sends word that it has updated its Skitch app yet again, this time providing a big benefit to one of the most-used functions in the app. The Screen Snap feature has been streamlined, which means you can grab pictures from your Mac easier and quicker than ever. As far as I know, that's what most people use Skitch for anyway, so it should be much appreciated. The team has also added more precise shapes to the mix when annotating images, so you can better point out what you're trying to show off or remember. And any image you snap now has an adjustable canvas, which means you can spread it out to add extra room for annotations if needed. Skitch is free as always. You can download it directly from the Mac App Store.
Evernote Web Clipper's new Gmail function saves copies of emails and attachments
Keeping your Gmail account organized isn't that hard when you can tag and star emails. Evernote Web Clipper's new function, however, promises easier access to missives you deem particularly important. Once the Chrome extension is installed, it saves any message you want along with its attachments in just one click. One note, though: you'll need a premium account to search through any attached documents. Note that the Gmail clip will look like a garbled mess (especially if it's a lengthy thread) on Web Clipper's preview screen, but on the Evernote app or web portal it will appear nicely formatted. If you think this new function can help you wrangle an increasingly unruly Gmail account, hit the source link below for more info or look for the extension on the Chrome Web Store.
Apple Design Awards 2013 go to Evernote, Yahoo and others
Add this to Apple's string of revelations at this year's WWDC: the company has just divulged its 2013 Design Awards winners, comprising of a variety of iPhone, iPad and Mac apps that it deems to be a cut above the rest. This year's list includes note-taking app Evernote, Yahoo Weather and two stellar entries by student developers. This is also the first time Apple has required young developer scholarship applicants to submit apps that detail their lives and backgrounds in technology, out of which the company chose three standout submissions. Just like last year, Apple judged the entries based on their features and visual designs. You can check out the full list in the source below and -- if you're a dev -- glean some hints for next year.
Evernote finally remembers to add Reminders to Android app (update: Windows Phone also)
Two weeks after Evernote added Reminders to its Mac, iOS and web applications, the highly anticipated feature has arrived for Android as well. As with the other platforms, you can now set up an alarm just by tapping the clock icon in a note. You'll be able to configure due dates, times and whether you want to be alerted via an in-app notification or email. The Reminders are then attached to each notebook, allowing you to organize them in a to-do list if you so choose. You can permit friends or colleagues to subscribe to them too, which could be useful if you want note collaborators to keep track of project deadlines. Aside from helping you memorize things, Evernote also added a few other improvements to the Android app. They include improved copy and paste in note view, corrected photo order in the multi-shot camera, more functional shortcuts and better Japanese language support. There's no need to remind yourself to download this update -- just head on over to the Google Play link and get it right now. Update: We've learned that Evernote on Windows Phone has been updated to include the Reminders feature too -- we've added a link to the Windows Phone Store app below.
Evernote introduces two-step verification, other security enhancements
Evernote's motto is "remember everything," which means that you might put everything onto the cloud service -- work notebooks, pictures of food, business cards, you name it. One problem with placing all of that personal and work-related information in the cloud is that it makes it a target for identity thieves. Today, Evernote announced three new security-related features to protect your information from prying eyes. The first is two-step verification, which according to Evernote will happen only when you log into Evernote Web or install Evernote on a new device and is only available at this time to Evernote Premium and Business users. Eventually, the company plans to roll out two-step verification to all users. As with other two-step verification methods used by Apple, Google and Dropbox, you combine your password (something you know) with something you have -- a device or browser into which a random six-digit code is entered. That code can either be sent as a text message to your device, or users can fire up Google's Authenticator app to generate the code for them. Evernote emphasizes that two-step verification is optional, and warns users that if they lose access to the secondary access method they can "run the risk of permanently locking yourself out of your account." The other enhancements, which are available to all users of Evernote, include Authorized Applications and Access History. If you lose a computer or device, you can revoke access rights to Evernote from that device using the Evernote Web Account Settings. That app or device will request a password from a user the next time it is launched. Likewise, Access History provides a way to see every time your account was accessed -- including location and IP address -- for the last 30 days. If all of your work is done from a home office in Colorado and you suddenly see that your info is being accessed from Shenzen, China, it's time to change passwords and set up two-step verification (if it's not too late). Evernote spokesperson Ronda Scott noted that "Implementing two-step verification was not trivial. It required updates to all of our applications including Evernote, Skitch, Penultimate, Evernote Food and others and significant back-end work. We've always intended to add two-step as an option to those who wanted it. Back in March we said this was coming and we're rolling it out starting today."
