notes posts

Filed under: Text, Productivity, Web services

J.ot Down is a simple, sharable online notepad

by Jay Hathaway Jun 3rd 2009

There are a lot of ways to take quick notes and share them online. Some, like Google Docs, have large feature sets and require accounts. J.ot Down is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It lets you type, share and save, and that's about it.

Going to the site opens up a new note. From there, you just type. There's no formatting with fonts, colors or styles, and no HTML support - just typing. When you pause, J.ot Down will autosave your document and give you a permalink you can use to share it or come back to it. You can also manually save.

That's the entire feature list, as far as I can tell. It's amazingly lightweight, and makes a good substitute for stickies or notepad docs when you're not on your home machine.

Tags: document, j.otdown, jotdown, notepad, notes, text

Filed under: Text, Windows, Freeware, BlackBerry, iPhone, Mobile, Web, Android, Windows x64

Use PicoNote for dead-simple note taking anywhere

by Lee Mathews Mar 11th 2009

Like to keep things as simple as possible? Looking for a way to create notes for yourself?

Take a look at PicoNote. It's available in three forms: a free Windows application, a web-based app, and a mobile-friendly web app (http://m.piconote.com). From the moment you sign up, you'll enjoy its simplicity - the registration form only asks for a username and password.

Once you've created an account, adding notes is easy to do: create, add title and body text, and save your note. If it contains a URL, Piconote will automatically turn it into a clickable link. Private notes are hidden from prying eyes, but you can also create public notes to share with anyone. There are no formatting options, but you shouldn't really expect those from a "pico" application anyway, right?

The desktop application is just as easy to use. Its interface defaults to Polish, so to switch to English just click notatnik -> language. Once you've created a local notepad, Piconote will sync it to your web account and automatically sync it every time you open or close the file.

If that's not enough, you can also create notes via Twitter. Just follow @piconote and send a direct message.

Tags: notebook, notes, text

Filed under: Text, Productivity, Freeware

Portable CintaNotes saves text clippings from any app

by Lee Mathews Feb 3rd 2009

There are plenty of fancy notebook applications out there. If you're just looking for a simple way to store text clippings, CintaNotes is worth a look.

Highlight text in any application and press control+F12, and CintaNotes automatically captures it and adds the application window's title. Once a clip has been added, you can enter tags, edit the title or text, and add a URL. Links are automatically added when you clip from a supported web browser. Hotkeys to add a new note, clip, and show/hide the main window can be customized.

The app's built-in search is extremely flexible and allows searching by date, title, text, tags, url. It also supports find-as-you-type.

CintaNotes is a free download, and is available as both an installer and a portable application.

Tags: clipping, notes, portable

Filed under: Utilities, Productivity

Keep an in-browser sticky note with Stickyscreen

by Jay Hathaway Dec 26th 2008

Desktop sticky note apps are old news. A basic one is packaged with Mac OS, and stickies will be a standard feature in Windows 7. Stickyscreen offers something different, though: a sticky note for your browser. It's a simple, minimal way of reminding you of a personal mantra or an important to-do item.

Stickyscreen is just a pad you can write on, save as a homepage, and change whenever you want. There are no skins, extra fonts, or fiddly bits: just a note. This way, you spend the minimum amount of time updating it, and you'll see a handy reminder whenever you open your homepage. Personally, I think the "Get to work!" message from the default note would make a good Stickyscreen all by itself.

Tags: browser, notes, reminder, stickyscreen, to-do

Filed under: Text, Windows, Office, Productivity, Freeware

Create bulleted notes and get things done with Notable

by Lee Mathews Nov 7th 2008

I've been looking for a good, small note taking / gtd application for a while, and hadn't found anything that suited my needs until I came across Notable. To me, it's like a better, digital version of the $1 spiral bound notebooks I've always used.

It's design is simple, yet perfectly suited to the way I take notes. The top of the application window contains a list of your notes and the bottom allows you to view and edit them.

One thing I love about Notable's interface is the lack of, well, everything. It's about as minimal as it can be. It's designed for the way I work: with the keyboard and right-click context menu.

The first line of your note will automatically appear in bold and become its title in the list view. To bullet a line, press the tab key before you start typing (use multiple tabs to indent). Text can be formatted as bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and fixed width.

Notes can be saved as rich text, and the archive function will both save a note and remove it from your list.

Notable is freeware for Windows only, and requires the .NET 2.0 framework - sometimes an annoyance, but it's worth overlooking in this case.

Tags: gtd, note, note-taking, notes

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Web services, Freeware, web 2.0

ShifD: Sync your web, desktop, and mobile notes

by Brad Linder Feb 25th 2008

The New York Times company has launched a new application that makes it easy to save web links and notes and synchronize them between multiple devices. ShifD has several components.

There's a web page where you can add notes in three categories: Links, places, and notes. You can also add a "ShifD This" browser bookmarklet that lets you instantly save any web page you're visiting to the Links category.

You can also run ShifD as an application using the Desktop client built on Adobe AIR. And you can also access and update your ShifD information from a mobile phone. There's a mobile version of the web page optimized for the iPhone and other small screen devices. Or you can send notes to your ShifD account via text messages.

ShifD is currently in public beta. The SMS updating feature isn't available yet, but should be rolled out within the next few weeks.

[via Mobility Site]

Tags: new-york-times, notes, shifd, syncronization

Filed under: Business, Design, Developer, Internet, Text, Productivity, Web services, P2P, Social Software, Search, web 2.0

Take and share notes with Springnote

by Chris Gilmer Dec 24th 2007

Springnote is a powerful browser based note taking system. You can forget about the standard text only inputs that many online note tools offer, this application has the ability to drop in images, attach files and organize layout at will. Its wiki style note taking system allows pages of content like todo's, monthly calendars and plans to be created with Word like functionality and tools with tags, change history, folder hierarchy and page bookmarks for more important content. Springnote's can also be shared between friends for reading or collaboration.

Perhaps the most important feature of Springnote is the ability to import and export notes. Downloading options include HTML, XHTML and Send to a Blog or use anywhere else. Importing can be done using MS-word docs, .txt, HTML or OpenDocument .odt formats. Springnote has an open API and unlimited storage of text files with 2GB file storage available. There are tons of Springnote mashups that you can utilize to expand the functionality of your account, including IM, Flickr, and Firefox toolbar integration.

Tags: browser, calendar, notes, online, productivity, springnote, todo, tools

Filed under: Windows, Productivity

Download EverNote for free (today only)

by Brad Linder Nov 15th 2007

Looking for a good solution for organizing all the notes in your life? EverNote is an application for saving web articles, snippets of Office documents, to-do lists, images, and other notes all in one handy package.

There's also handwriting recognition for Tablet or UMPC users, an OCR that lets you search for text inside of images, and a Google Desktop indexer, making it easy to search for notes stored within EverNote.

An EverNote license will normally set you back $50, but Giveaway of the Day is offering up a free copy today only. You'll have to download and register EverNote 2.2 before the end of the day in order to get a free license.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Tags: EverNote, notes

Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Google

Google Notebook adds support for labels

by Brad Linder Nov 2nd 2007

Google has added support for labels to Google Notebook. The move isn't surprising. You can use labels to organize Gmail, Google Documents, RSS feeds in Google Reader, and the list goes on. What is a bit surprising is that it's taken so long to roll out support for labels in Google Notebook.

Labels are automatically imported from your Google Bookmarks settings, if you use Google Bookmarks. You can then sort or filter your notes by label using either the Google Notebook web page or the Google Notebook browser plugin.

[via Google Operating System]

Tags: google-notebook, labels, notes, tags

Filed under: Design, Developer, Fun, Internet, Blogging, Productivity, Web services, Search, web 2.0

Taking notes with Twitter using Twitternotes

by Chris Gilmer Oct 11th 2007

You wouldn't normally think to take notes using a social application as Twitter, but it is possible.

Twitternotes is an online application that uses the Twitter API to basically, take notes. This tool is a little more complicated than scratching something down in a notebook, using Outlook Notes, or one of the many other online note tools but if you have Twitter open throughout the day, this might come in handy.

Users log into the system using their Twitter account information, and add TwitterNotes as a follower. Notes can be added to your account privately or open for all users to see using special characters and combinations in your Twitter entry. Notes can then be picked up when logged into your TwitterNotes account, which is a bit frustrating because it would be nice to be able to simply check these notes out in Twitter itself under Direct Messages. Nonetheless, it's just another way to try and stay organized and on top of your to-dos.

Tags: chat, notes, productivity, todo, twitter, web2

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Text, Utilities, Office, Productivity, Web services

NoteSake your way to clean notes

by Chris Gilmer Aug 31st 2007

NoteSake is one of the cleanest, easy to use online note taking applications we have come across.

This "keepsake" for your class notes is free to sign up to, and offers a clean look at your online class notes. Notes are easily entered using a scaled back toolset version, but it has the basics of what is needed including paragraphs, bolding, italics, underlines and bullets. Notes are neatly listed out with the ability to tag them with keywords for easy searching. Notes also have the ability to be re-edited, printed, or even shared with a NoteSake user, email address or group.

Although beautiful, one thing that is missing from NoteSake is the ability to export notes to common formats (or even RSS feeds). A feature that is highly needed when using notes as a base for essays and reports.

Tags: class notes, ClassNotes, notes, notesake, web2, web2.0

Filed under: Business, Finance, Internet, Text, Utilities, Features, Windows, Macintosh, E-mail, Web services, Google, Microsoft, OpenOffice.org, Freeware, Open Source, web 2.0

Web 2 Cool for school - A rundown of online applications for students

by Chris Gilmer Aug 16th 2007

With some students already in school, and some preparing to enter yet another journey into a new semester, let DLS make your studies that much more organized with a few free desktop and web applications that will make your school life that much more enjoyable.

From free document creation applications, online to-do's and organization applications, users are faced with a decision, go for the costly desktop versions and upgrade every few years, or stay ahead of the curve with free web based applications that are constantly updating with new growing feature sets. The choice has never been easier.

This DLS special feature lists out current tools that are floating around the web as highly competitive alternatives for both students and professionals.

Tags: calc, calendar, campus, college, docs, email, making money, MakingMoney, notes, online applications, OnlineApplications, open office, OpenOffice, school, sheets, spreadsheets, task list, TaskList, to do, ToDo, university, Web 2 Cool for school, web2, web2.0, Web2CoolForSchool, word, writer

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Kids, Utilities, Productivity, Web services

Students, get organized with Notely

by Chris Gilmer Jul 9th 2007

We know, it's the middle of the summer, but it's never too early to start looking at what you might need for the upcoming semester. And if you are looking for another way to get, and stay organized while off at school, Notely might be your lecture note savior.

This online tool allows users to organize data from meetings, appointments, class notes, lectures, accessing it anywhere. There are a number of free features that the Notely application supplies, including:

Calendar
To-Do
Homework Organizer
Course Manager
Notes
Link, Contact and File Organizer
Notebook/Lab book

Notely is a pretty powerful online application that can aid in keeping all class information together, in an easily managed interface. One main thing we wish it had, search. It would be nice to search for a phrase or keyword and have all related notes, calendar items, and course information show up. All of the content that users store in Notely can be exported as PDF, DOC, TXT, Excel and synced with iCal.

A similar online offering is stu.dicio.us.

Gallery: Notely

Tags: calendar, links, notebook, notely, notes, organize, students, todo, web2

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Utilities, Blogging, Web services, Google

Google Notebooks redesign for added productivity

by Chris Gilmer Mar 29th 2007

Get a little more organized with this updated Notebook release from Google. The organizational tool looks a little nicer now, care of some AJAXy goodness from the team at Google. They have updated and transformed the once boring Google Notebook, into something extremely useful.

Notebook now uses a nice blend of AJAX and common Gmail features to store and share notes. Users can create a list of nicely organized Notebooks, or folders on the left hand side where notes are stored and auto saved. Notes can easily be made in each Notebook, and even shared with other users for collaboration, or exported to Google Docs for further work.

Take a look at the new Google Notebook, Its pretty helpful now. Especially with the Google Notebook Firefox Extension that you can easily use to clip and collect information as you go about your WWW travels. Maybe Google will think about adding this into the Gmail interface one of these days? It would do wonders there.

Tags: ajax, google, notebook, notes, sharing, todos

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Kids, Office, Productivity, Web services

Organizing school life with mySchoolog

by Chris Gilmer Mar 29th 2007

Getting and staying organized in any school level can be a little difficult, now there is a free online application that could help.

mySchoolog is an online application that students can easily use to track and organize their school lives. Users start off by entering lessons they take and organizing them into categories, and make weekly schedules. Schedules can be made through a drag and drop lesson planner with times associated for each class to keep them organized. Of course it has a to-do area where appointments, homework and anything else can be added, and reminders set to be sent out by email or sms. Lesson notes can be entered online, searched, exported and printed so they can be kept and used when required. 20GB of File storage is available for documents, audio or images, and can be categorized by lesson.

But really, is there any time to organize yourself while in school? Sometimes not, so hopefully this might help a bit.

Tags: class, lesson, myschoolog, notes, organize, school, todo

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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