You’ve just finished a two-hour brainstorm (or an expense account dinner) and you want to record the whiteboard (or the info on the pricey Italian wine labels). But you don’t have any paper and your memory’s not that good.
Good thing there’s Evernote, an application that lets you save and organize text, web pages, images and audio files as searchable notes.
In the scenario above you can simply take a picture using the Evernote mobile app. The service will automatically create a file and make the text in the image searchable when you want to find it.
Evernote can be accessed via the Internet, through your desktop or using their mobile phone app. Save a note in one place and it’ll automatically be synched across all the platforms.
Say you stumble upon a great recipe at work. As you likely don’t cook at your office you’ll want to clip it to Evernote on your desktop. Access it via your phone when you’re at the grocery store in order to buy the right ingredients, and again later when you prepare the dish (at, say, your date’s house).
Everything you capture is automatically indexed and made searchable. You can tag your notes and filter them based on date created, media contained and type of tool used to capture them.
Your usage of sticky notes is about to decrease dramatically.
Call Your Phone Whenever It's Missing
Not that this ever happens to you, but there are people out there who occasionally misplace their cell phones.
For the forgetful, the hungover and those with toddlers who hide things, there’s Where’sMyCellPhone, a simple but helpful free service that dials your phone, allowing you to find it.
Why do you need it? Because you can’t always find an extra phone to call yourself with (many don’t even have landlines anymore).
Just go to the site, enter your cell number and then hit the “make it ring” button. When you hear a ringing sound, move toward it. Recovery is often mere footsteps away.
And for those who never remember the anniversary of the births of their loved ones, try the Birthday Dialer, which lets you send a specialized birthday song.
The service is gratis, though they do offer an upgrade that is ad-free and allows you to pre-schedule the greetings in advance.
Avoid the Headache of Losing Data with an Online Backup
Backing up your photos, music and data files is important. Adding another piece of unsightly hardware to your home office and a time consuming process to your life, less so.
To avoid losing precious files without the need for more machines or routines, try Mozy, an online back up service that’s cost effective and automatic.
To begin, sign up for an account with MozyHome, and begin evaluating your online backup options. The site offers 2GB of space for free to all users (that’s about 300 photos and 200 mp3s).
Need more space? You get “unlimited” storage for just $4.95 per month (signing up for yearly and biennial subscriptions brings a lower monthly rate).
Files are protected with military grade encryption, and you have access to all of your files from any computer (which you don’t get with an external hard-drive).
In terms of use, Mozy works automatically, and in the background.
The automated backups take place when your computer is not in use (so upload time is faster), but the system also backs up revised and new files automatically, as they are added.
About the only thing it won’t do are the dishes.
Travel Agent
Organizing your travel plans via the web can be a hectic affair, what with all the information you come across.
To simplify things, there’s Gliider, a browser add-on that allows you to aggregate all of your travel research into one streamlined place.
Just download and install Gliider in your browser (Firefox and Internet Explorer are supported) and click “New Trip.” After filling out some basic information, start researching your getaway.
When you come across something that interests you, simply click the Gliider arrow in your browser, highlight the text and pictures you want, and drag them to the appropriate folder. There’s not printing or bookmarking necessary.
Gliider also uses your information and materials to suggest deals on flights and hotels relevant to your search.
Unfortunately, packing for your trip is still your responsibility.