App Spotlight: Evernote

Effectively managing a business, or a life, requires serious organization. From to-do lists and Post-it notes to calendar alerts and contact management systems, our world runs on the small bits of information we collect over time—information that is vital to our functionality. Our brains have a finite, though extensive, capacity—and with the constant information overload we encounter in both our professional and personal lives, some items simply get pushed out of memory to make room for others. Evernote hopes to solve this problem. Billed as “software that helps people remember things,” Evernote allows users to instantly capture information, and to aggregate and search that information at any time. See a menu you like? Take a photo of it. Find a website you want to keep? “Clip it” into Evernote. Attending a presentation? Forget the notepad and pen. Record the speaker into Evernote, take photos of the PowerPoint slides and pull it all together into a notebook on the topic later. “Our goal is to make Evernote an extension of human memory,” says CEO Phil Libin. “We hope it becomes the place to store everyone’s memories for months, years and decades to come.” Evernote uses optical character recognition software (OCR) to make any form of text searchable. Conference attendees can forego the post-conference business card shuffle by simply photographing cards as they are received. Booth signs and displays can also be photographed for later recall. (A great feature to use at this month’s Medtrade conference!) The OCR technology means handwritten notes, lists and reminders are easily incorporated and searchable, too. One of the main benefits of the Evernote platform is the myriad of ways one can search for information. One word can recall all data related to that word. Can’t remember the name of a contact you made but can remember the industry? Search by that keyword. Know you attended a presentation on a specific date but cannot remember anything else about it? Search by date to direct you to the presentation and to find the particular point you want. Some of Evernote’s key features include the ability to:

• Create text, photo and audio notes
• Synchronize your notes across your devices
• Search for text within snapshots and images

An Evernote platform is currently available across nearly every type of device, from PC and Mac to tablets and almost any smartphone. The basic subscription is free and allows users to upload 40MB monthly, with no storage limit. A premium subscription gives user 500MB of monthly upload capability, also with unlimited storage, for $5 per month.