In this post, I’ve detailed a few benefits of Evernote, which I use religiously on iPad, iPhone, Mac OSX, and the web, as well as how I utilize it.

This elephant never forgets. If you have never heard of Evernote, today may in fact change your life. Evernote is a free suite of mobile, web, and desktop applications for notetaking and archival purposes. What makes these apps so powerful are their ability to sync with the Evernote server, allowing users to confidently sync and save all important notes across all their devices.

I use Evernote for all of my notetaking, and when I say “all,” I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Case in point, some of my favorite uses for Evernote include taking notes during a biz-dev meetings at Übermind or board meetings, capturing whiteboards, journaling, and remembering a new favorite bottle of wine. Check out these other great uses via Evernote’s site.

Evernote’s most impressive feature is its use of OCR (optical character recognition), which is the technology that allows Evernote to recognize and read any images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text. Download Evernote, capture a picture containing text into your Evernote, then try searching for it. Voila! This feature works so good that it might has well be magic. Here’s an example:

Another killer use for Evernote is saving articles, sites, etc. directly from your preferred web browser – I prefer Chrome due to its speed and minimalistic design. Looking at an article or site you’d like to save? Simply highlight the sections you’d like to be able to view in Evernote and then click the bookmarklet icon to send whatever you highlight and the URL directly into your Evernote. View the Evernote extension for Chrome here.

To fully unleash Evernote, I chose to give up handwritten notes, journals, etc.; I miss the subtle nuances of putting my Mont Blanc to paper, but, the searchability, shareabililty, and speed of a streamlined notetaking workflow are compelling enough reasons to forego the use pen and paper.

If anything, Evernote has made my handwriting all the more more meaningful as I only use pen and paper for various types of personal correspondence, such as “thank you” notes and birthday cards.

I hope this post (and the upcoming posts) will be helpful to you. Should you have any questions regarding Evernote, please do not hesitate to leave it as a comment or email me.

Happy notetaking!

– RP

UPDATE: 05/28/2010

Since posting on this topic, a handfull of people have asked me about Evernote’s terms of service and privacy policy. Privacy seems to be all the rage these days, and for good reason, but there seems to be a growing paranoia around the level of access that these amazing products / services have with our information.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I really do not care if Evernote views my favorite wine labels, reads my journal, or peruses my meeting notes (although, there may be an issue with the NDA’s I’m currently under now that I’m thinking about it). Nor do I care if Google sees the email confirmation for my airline ticket to Uganda (more on that soon) or whether Apple knows the music I’ve saved to my MobileMe’s iDisk.

But I have my limits, and you should too. I do not trust sensitive information (bank accounts, passport, passwords, etc.) to these “heavily-termed” platforms; there are better software products, such as 1Password (which I will cover in an upcoming “WMP” post), for critical information. I’m also a firm believer in strong passwords, something 1Password is well-equipped to handle.

I love these incredible products / services – they’re powerful, easy to use, and bring a tremendous amount of convenience to my life. But, like every tool, they’re good for some things and not so good for others.

Now, after months of Tungling, I can’t believe I “effectively” managed my embarrassingly too-full calendar without this amazing – not to mention 100% free – service. Gone are the days of shooting emails back and forth, trying to decide the best time to have a meeting. When it comes to scheduling for my professional and personal meetings, Tungle is my trustworthy personal assistant who never complains, never goes on vacation, never asks for a raise, never mixes up timezones, etc.

Ready to Tungle? Here, I’ll even help you get started…

Step #1 – Sign Up & Setup

Though registering for a new site or service can be complicated, Tungle makes it easy:

• Go to Tungle.com and sign up
• Connect Tungle to all of your calendars – iCal, Outlook, Gmail, etc.
• Find one of those “That was easy!!!” buttons and give it a press or two

Step #2 – Tungle.me

Like any other tool, Tungle is only as useful as you make it. Add whatever information you think will be helpful or relevant for the people you will be meeting with:

• Pick a custom Tungle URL for sharing with others – choose wisely!
• Add the contact information you’d like to share – phone, email, etc.
• Add any of your social networks – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
• You should end up with something like this…

Step #3 – Go Mobile!!!

As the title of my blog suggests, my life is an ongoing mobile adventure, thus, it’s a given that my favorite gadgets, services, and gizmos are all mobile friendly. Here’s how to setup Tungle on your iPhone (or iPod Touch) to improve your scheduling / Tungling while away from your computer:

• Click the iPhone to download Tungle via the App Store
• Launch the app
• Sign in with your Tungle account information
• Start enjoying the convenience of Tungle in its mobile format

If you’re constantly in / setting up meetings with many people simultaneously, Tungle will surely become an indispensable tool for getting things done and – more importantly – keeping you sane!

Android friends, you already know what I’m going to say; there isn’t a Tungle app for your mobile devices just yet. Currently, Tungle is only on the web and the iPhone / iPod Touch… but I think I know some geniuses who could help.

(Apologies for the shameless, albeit totally legitimate, plug)

Now that you have Tungle, let’s get you Tungling! Here’s what you can now accomplish thanks to Tungle, which I should mention I took from the Tungle web site – thanks, Tungle-people!

• Propose multiple times – send unlimited time slots to one or many people for them to choose from
• No sign up for invitees – people you invite don’t have to sign up to reply to your invitations, all they need is an email address and a browser
• Time-zone auto adjust – Tungle automatically manages time zones. Invitees see proposed times in their own time zone
• No double-booking – Tungle will dynamically update your pending meeting invitations if you add new events to your calendar that overlap proposed times
• Auto-add to calendar – once the meeting’s booked, everyone gets a confirmation and their calendars are updated
• Sync with your calendar – sync with one or multiple calendars; Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal and Entourage

Make meetings happen your Tungle.me URL! Display your availability and let others schedule meetings with you without having to sign up. You choose what times are shown as available, who you share your page with and when meetings get booked.

Connect to your network with cross-calendar sharing. Easily share your free/busy or details calendar with anyone, inside or outside your company, independent of their platform.

• Sharing on your terms – inside or outside your company, across time zones and platforms
• Free/Busy or details – you choose, on a person-by-person basis, whether you want to share your full details or free/busy calendar
• Stay in control – start or stop sharing with anyone, at any time
• At-a-glance scheduling – see your sharing buddies’ schedules overlaid on yours

At Übermind, we use Tungle internally to find available times to meet – it’s awesome – but what really impresses me about Tungle is how well it works for setting up meetings with clients and people interested in having us build their mobile apps, web services and sites. In the past, my Mac to PC to Gmail calendar invites got downright ugly; now the process is elegant and simple, making sure all the invitees are on the same page without the inbox-filling email replies.

If the product doesn’t sell you, check out this post from the Tungle Blog. It’s refreshing to see a company who “gets it” – build a great product, earn loyalty and love from users, know that the money will come.

I’d love to hear any feedback from other Tungle users regarding your experience, tips, tricks, and so on.

- – - – -
Update – January 22, 2010
Tungle liked this post enough to added it to their blog – very kind of you, Tunglers! The post: “The Faces and Voices of Tungle”

- – - – -

Thanks!

– RP