note-taking.net

At long last we have a new ranking of the top 40 Android Notes applications together with their overall ranking within the Productivity Category in the Android Market.

As in prior rankings, we recognize that there is a convergence of text notes, voice notes, task and to do lists, as well as mind mapping software for capturing your ideas.

What all of these apps have in common is that they are competing for your attention when you want to capture a thought on your Android phone.

Note that we are only looking for Free Apps in the Productivity section. There are so many free apps to choose from, so why pay? And if it’s not in productivity, it’s not categorized in the section where it belongs.

There are many new entrants since the last ranking, but AK Notepad has maintained its position as the top Android note taking application on the Market.

One of my favorite features of 3Banana is the sharing – it’s great at letting you create and share everything from a single note to your whole notebook. At the bottom of every note, there are links to share it in a huge number of ways – email, Facebook, Twitter, or even just by a link. This makes 3Banana perfect for sharing information with friends, colleagues and anyone else in your life.

One other thing I like is the tagging system. Instead of tagging individual notes by dragging and dropping or manually adding tags, 3Banana uses something like Twitter’s hashtags. At the end of a note, if it’s a task, typing “#task” adds it to that category and makes it searchable under the “tasks” category.

via Sync and Share All Your Online Notes with 3Banana.

If you’re looking for a simple way to take, store, and share notes in the cloud, 3Banana makes organizing your notes easy with notes based on in-text hashtags.

You can sign up for an account at 3Banana or use your existing Google credentials to jump right in and try it out. You can create basic notes simply by typing in the dialogue box, or enhance the note taking process by including HTML tags and images. 3Banana automatically recognizes pasted links and common formatting like phone numbers. You can categorize your notes by using hash tags like #tasks to tag your notes.

via Lifehacker – 3Banana Keep Notes Tidy with Hash Tags – Note Taking.

3Banana Notes Android App takes note taking to the next level by letting you add pictures from your phone camera to the note or Scan the bar code of the subject Shopping items, Websites and more. QR codes popping every where as a replacement for URLs, that’s great foresight from the developers.  3Banana Notes is an awesome Social networking companion. Just make a not,e associate a picture or even better… just scan the QR code and socialize. Added to that snappy bar code scanner, you can share your note to a whole slew of other Social Networking sties or  even make a QR code of the note if needed. Kudos to the developers and designers for their smart wholesome thinking in chiseling this brilliant app. 3banana Notes will also let you sync your notes on your Android phone or mobile device to their online servers. Using your Google ID, users can sign on to 3banana’s website for reviewing your existing notes or add new notes for later syncing to your mobile device.

via 3banana Notes | Android Tapp. Android App Reviews.

After four long months,the Android v1.5 “Cupcake” update has finally been made available to the masses in the UK and USA. As April 29th came to a close, the first reports of update notifications came trickling in, and they’ve continued throughout the morning.

As usual, it’s not hitting every handset at the same time. Don’t panic if you’ve yet to see the prompt – you’ll probably see it within a day or two, tops. This one’s a big one, so look forward to some exploration. You’ll have video recording, stereo bluetooth, onscreen keyboards, live folders, new widgets, a brushed up browser, and a slew of performance upgrades and bug fixes to check out. Be sure to drop a comment and let us know when it hits your handset

via Ding Cupcake is done Android v1.5 now hitting handsets in US and UK .

Will the Palm Pre be the device to challenge not only the coolness, but the functionality and elegance of the iPhone? Some developers respond with a resounding yes.

Ian McFarland, a principal and vice president of technology at Pivotal Labs, which is a consultancy specializing in Web and mobile development, said he first started talking to Palm about the Pre last November, and “we realized it was not just another me-too platform.”

McFarland said he grudgingly waited in line to get a glimpse of the Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, “but I came out really impressed,” he said.

“It has a first-class user experience, and one thing that stood out for us was the ease of development for the platform because it’s based on Web technology—HTML, CSS and JavaScript,” McFarland said of the Pre.

via Why Some Developers Think the Palm Pre Could Upstage the iPhone.

Like it or not, the spiral bound notebook is going the way of the Dodo. Okay, so maybe thats absolutely incorrect and totally sensationalistic, but you catch our drift. If not, take a whiff of what reader Allan is cooking:

“My boss is a prolific note taker, filling many spiral bound notebooks with notes. As I deal with more projects, I find myself moving in the same direction. I would love the ability to search my notes, something not available with dead tree software. Is there a simple relatively cheap device that would allow me to take notes preferably using hand writing, and then search them later? Ideally, Id like something the size of a small internet tablet, but no smaller than an iPod touch. Im looking for something far cheaper than a full-blown tablet PC, by the way.”

So, ladder climbers — whats the deal here? What device would you recommend for wowing that suit in the corner office while making your note taking all the more efficient? When youre done answering, shoot us a question of your to ask at engadget dawt com.

via Ask Engadget: Best mobile note-taking device?.

Weve known for some time that China Mobile was planning to launch the KIRFy OPhone from Lenovo. Now, with word on the street that China Unicom has snagged the iPhone in that providers home turf, a report from DigiTimes is suggesting that China Mobile might be trying to undermine the competitions supposed June iPhone launch by dropping the OPhone a month earlier. That sounds sensible enough, but are people there so eager for iPhone theyd jump on the imitation rather than wait another month for the real thing? Well find out soon enough.

via China Mobile planning to subvert Unicoms iPhone launch with the OPhone?.

Although Sony’s televisions and other consumer electronics have long been status symbols, the company has lost much of the e-book heat to the upstart Kindle. When Amazon unveiled the Kindle 2 last month, the event was the publishing industry’s version of a celebrity news conference, with standing room only for hundreds of journalists and heads of publishing houses.

Never mind that Amazon is not exactly chatty about the nuts and bolts of its business — executives have never revealed how many Kindles have been produced or sold — the company’s brilliant marketing stole the show. Except for the download capabilities, however, the Sony and Amazon devices are similar. Both models of the Sony reader, the 550 and the 700, are actually smaller and sleeker than the Kindle 2.

Indeed, the “reading experience” of the Kindle and Reader is nearly identical. Neither device is backlit, and both allow for note-taking, highlighting and the importing of PDF, Word and other files. The machines are also similarly priced.

via Sony expands its book download stockpile – Los Angeles Times.

Take a look at PicoNote. Its 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, youll 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 shouldnt 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 youve created a local notepad, Piconote will sync it to your web account and automatically sync it every time you open or close the file.

via Use PicoNote for dead-simple note taking anywhere.

Evernote already has a native iPhone application and promises to release an Android client in the future. I actually contacted Evernote in early February to ask if they planned to develop a native app for Android and was told, “We do not currently have formal plans for an Android application and no definitive date has been set.”

I don’t know what has changed in the past 30 days since receiving that message, but I’m happy to know that an Android app is coming someday. I’ll be happy with an optimized Evernote Mobile for now, which is one of the tools I use on my G1 to increase my personal productivity.

via Evernote optimizes site for Android | Google Android Blog.

Never worry about others stealing your sensitive information anymore!

Private Notes uses your own password to generate the cipher key to dynamically encrypt your notes using the Blowfish algorithm. Furthermore, your password is encrypted with the one-way-only MD5 algorithm and securely stored on your iPhone. This approach is a much better way to protect your data than using a generic and hard-coded key, or store your password and your data unencrypted as in other applications. Our approach prevents hackers from retrieving the password or the key in your device and in turn accessing your private data.

Feature Highlights:

* Safely store your private info such as bank account numbers, ID information, PINs, and more on your iPhone and iPod Touch, for secure access at anytime

* Search keywords and browse your notes through a user-friendly interface

* Import notes from URL coded emails — you can edit your notes on a computer and send it to Private Notes via email

* Categorize your notes

* Export single or multiple notes to Mail for easy archiving

* Choose your favorite fonts and font sizes

To import a note into Private Notes is easy. Use any email client that supports rich formatting or URL editing, e.g., gmail, yahoo, hotmail, mail on mac. Add a URL link in the following format: privatenotes://your note here. Receive your email with Mail.app on your iPhone, and click the link. The note will be imported into Private Notes immediately.

via Private Notes – iPhone App.

Rather neat application has been released by Readdle, Take A Note. Take A Note is a awesome note taking application for the iPhone with a nice clean user interface equipped with Wi-Fi backing up. You can take notes as images, text, and audio. You can even draw yourself a note! How awesome is that?

Take A Note is a versatile note taking application with direct access to your notes from any PC or Mac computer. You can browse all your notes as text, sound and image files, copy these files to your computer and even add existing text documents as new notes.

Take A Note has everything you need for your note taking needs on the go: four types of notes, custom categories, search, send by email functions and very nice custom made interface.

Features:

Transfer your notes to any Mac or PC

Write, speak and draw notes anywhere

Categorize the notes

Share your notes

Search notes

Create new notes from your computer

Awesome app indeed! I just wish it wasn’t so expensive, $1.99USD is probably the most i’d pay for a note taking application.Take A Note is $4.99USD (Worth it if you’re a heavy note taking user) and you can get it from the AppStore

via Take A Note by Readdle | iPhone-Hacks.com.

It’s here at last: a version of viJournal that you can put in your pocket. Built for the iPhone and iPod touch, viJournal M is designed to be used either on its own, or for real journalling heaven, integrated with its desktop cousin.

Incorporating the outstanding design thinking of viJournal, it’s elegant, easy to use, and powerful. It has the same support for multiple journals and multi-session entries. And it has a photo gallery feature, letting you add photos to your entries, either from your Photo Albums or direct from your iPhone’s camera.

• Add photos from your Albums or iPhone camera
• Secure passcode protection
• Browse your entries in list or calendar views
• Send entries to your computer by email or sync directly with viJournal
• Search your journals
• Multi-page session view with landscape typing mode

The Library of Life – in your pocket

viJournal M is fully compatible with viJournal. At the tap of a button, you can sync your journal entries between your mobile to your Mac. The transfer is passcode-protected, ensuring that your private journals don’t go astray.

viJournal incorporates the transferred entries, creating a set of special mobile journals in your Library.

via SkoobySoft – viJournal M.

Ever wanted to use your iPhone’s / iPod touch’s Wallpaper’s image as a note keeper? Now you can!

Just open the application and follow this simple instructions:

-Tap in the center of the note

-Write your note

-Tap done

-And finally just hold both, the home button and the sleep/wake button to take a screenshot and in Settings set that image as wallpaper.

(Please note that in v1.0 you can’t save notes, but it will be a feature in a next update as well as some other features)

Version 1.1 is coming! I’m finishing some things before releasing it, but it won’t be long…

via Wallpaper Sticky Notes.

44 Jots is a GTD manager with media notes(audio and pictures). You also get an archive feature for those important notes that you need to go back and reference at any time. It comes with a search feature too, which makes it super easy to find a note you’re looking for. . .which is good if you end up taking a lot of notes with it.

44 Jots reminds me of the PhotoJot application. . .except with a lot less features. PhotoJot is geared more toward photographers, but so this is like a slimmed down version of it.

I think this would do much better if the developer combined both applications, but allowed you to customize the extra detail fields. Like if you don’t need voice notes, then let the user remove it from the ‘add new jot’ page. . .and the same goes with location, date, photos, or voice.

PhotoJot is even on sale right now for $2.99. . .and since it allows you do to more, I would recommend getting it instead of this one. The only thing that PhotoJot doesn’t have that 44 Jots has is search. But if they combined both apps, then it would be the best of both worlds.

via 44 Jots | iPhone and iPod Touch App Store App Reviews.

Quick Memo is designed to be a tool for jotting down a quick idea, or “quick memo”. It is not for taking long, detailed memos. Instead, it is for when you just have a phrase or sentence that you want to write down – a quick reminder.

The Quick Memo interface is clean and simple. One note, it only works in landscape mode, which caught me by surprise. Landscape mode is nice, but I want to have the option of using either modes.

When you start the program, you are presented with a screen that lists you memos by date. To scroll through the memos, you can either scroll manually (swipe the screen) or you can use the “play” and “reverse” buttons at the top. The app indicates you can save up to 3000 memos, so scrolling may be critical. Unfortunately there is no other way to sort or search memos. You can’t categorize them (and then sort by category), you can’t search for keywords, so the method to find a memo is somewhat limited.

On the screen, you can check off a memo (presumably to indicate it is completed?) but checking it off doesn’t do anything other than make a check mark appear.

To write a memo, you can simply tap the “write memo” button – you are presented with a one line screen to write your memo. The edit button on the main screen allows you to delete memos – you can’t edit them after they are written (a major drawback which is supposed to be fixed in the next version).

You do have the option to email memos – but the email is not very intuitive. Instead of choosing individual memos to email, you choose a date range, and automatically email all the memos in that date range. When you type the email address, it doesn’t look through your contact book so you need to type it in completely yourself. Finally, when you hit the “send email” button – rather than sending it, the app takes you to the email application, where you then need to send the email (and you can edit the email, email addresses, etc at that point). The email function is a nice way to export some or all of your memos, but the functionality seems to be very limited beyond that.

The settings you can choose from include entering the “write mode” at startup, turning autocorrection on or off, and deleting old memos when you reach 3000. You can also choose to delete all memos from the settings page.

Pros: Nice interface, easy way to write down a short note

Cons: Features seem half-hearted and not fully implemented

All in all, I like the idea of Quick Memo – being able to just write down a quick note, note a detailed memo. But in practice, I found this app lacking. Lack of a sort feature, lack of an ability to edit memos, a lack-luster email option – the all contributed to an overall poor impression of the app. Unless the app focuses of improving ways for quick entry and using the short memos, there is no real reason to purchase this app over using some other note app (and simply writing a short memo in that). The price isn’t bad ($.99), and if you find yourself wanting to write down short memos all day, the app might be useful. But until some of the problems are addressed, I only give this app two out of five stars.

via Review: Quick Memo – The iPhone Blog Forums.

Note-taking on the iPhone is an important functionality.  However, the built-in Memo application becomes cumbersome to use when you start dealing with a lot of notes.

iQuickNotes was designed with the simple goal of having a better-organized notepad.  You can organize your notes into folders and subfolders.  You can tag your note or folder as a favorite and view them through the “Favorites” list.  Your most-recently added or changed notes and folders also appear under the “Recents” list.

We could add more features to iQuickNotes, but we did not.  We find that having too many bells and whistles can result in a less-friendly user experience – something we don’t want our note-taking activity to become.

iQuickNotes UNIQUE COMBINATION OF FEATURES

•FOLDERS: Group your notes into folders or subfolders, with the number of notes contained indicated

•SEARCH: Search for any word in your folders or notes title AND contents

•FAVORITES TAB: Tag notes or folders as your favorite and quickly see them through the Favorites tab at the bottom

•BY DATE: Want to view your most recently added or edited note or folder?  Just click on the By Date tab at the bottom

•BY NAME: All your notes and folders are indexed by their first letter for easy access

via BlueInstinct Apps.

Notespark’s idea is to offer an app with less features and to make sure they are of the highest quality. If there were nothing but bloated and buggy note taking apps available, this would be a great argument, but with great ones like Evernote and Appigo Notepad available, it doesn’t hold a lot of water.

Regardless, while Notespark doesn’t offer the breadth of features of some of the other note taking apps available, it does give you a reasonable way to take notes. It’s simple, with customizable tags and the ability to flag notes with stars. You can share notes with others, as well as e-mail them, and it has a number of user settings. The app also includes a search feature that shows results as you type.

What it lacks is customizable folders, though it can generate folders based on tags, which can make finding notes fairly easy to do. The online site, while free to use, is very bare bones but does at least give you an easy way to paste in things from a computer so you can create a library of information to reference offline. The continuous syncing also works best with an iPhone since it requires a constant connection to the Internet, but it at least silently fails to connect instead of popping up annoying error messages.

If you aren’t satisfied with the iPhone’s built-in note pad, and you are connected to the Internet most of the time, you can really benefit from Notespark’s constant syncing. There are a myriad of apps to consider though, and many are far better than this one. This app doesn’t do that much wrong, but it has a slim feature set and though what it offers works well, it’s best for iPhone users who want something simple.

via Notespark – Productivity,Reviews – 148Apps – iPhone App and Game Reviews and News .

* Keep your everyday ideas, plans, events, trips, encounters, and more  — you can even keep multiple diary entries in a single day

* Protect your privacy with password authentication and data encryption with Blowfish and MD5 algorithms

* The calendar-like interface enables you to easily navigate through, organize, preview, and edit your diaries

* Search key words and locate your journals conveniently

* Export your diaries to the built-in Mail app, send multiple diaries from a range of dates, and share your journals with your friends and family

* Choose your favorite fonts and text sizes for the editing view

* Support landscape editing mode

* Mark dates with different colors

When you run the iDiary for the first time on your iPhone or iPod Touch, you will be prompted to set up a password. Please keep the password safe because you will need it when logging into the application later.

On the Monthly Calendar view, a green dot above a date indicates that you have saved journals for that day. Click on the date, a preview of your diary will appear on the bottom of the screen. Double click the date to highlight with different colors. Press the ‘+’ button, you’ll add a new entry and enter the Editing view. You can also easily navigate to the previous and next months, go to a specific date, or return to ‘today’.  Use the search view to browse all your journals in a list.

If the encrypted journal was altered without authorization, or the database is damaged, iDiary will display the following message: “Corrupted data!”.

via iDiary – iPhone App.

Fenix notes was designed to be fun and functional at the same time, so even with such a simple task as creating a note, Fenix notes tries to make the experience as joyful as possible without sacrificing performance and functionality. Sorting notes has never been more fun, just shake you iPhone or iPod Touch and Fenix notes will show you how it sorts through your notes. With Fenix notes you can sort your notes by color, title or date. Your information is just a keyword away with search, Fenix notes will search through all your notes, searching your notes’ titles as well as it’s contents.

via Fenix notes – Features.

Simplenote is about as plain as that. You write simple notes, and they are saved automagically to the application. The outstanding function is the online synchronization which allows you to log in and input notes yourself online or simply view the notes you have.

The application starts you off right away with the few options it has available. Creating new notes is a breeze with the plus button, and making a new account with Simplenote is well… simple. Every time you open the application it synchronizes with the online database, making it fast and convenient to use.

Another interesting facet of this application is the fact that it will work in Landscape mode. Simply turn your iPhone at any point while using the application and it will turn to landscape.

Pros: Search option, online synchronization, landscape mode

Cons: no options for rich text editing

Bottom Line: Simplenote is almost a copy of a landmark application, and the addition of one option doesn’t really mean that this app was cut from a separate cloth.

via Simplenote | iPhone Alley.

Overall, Memo Book is simple. Unfortunately, the interface is not all that intuitive and it takes a few minutes for me to get accustomed to the layout. In fact, figuring out how to delete an existing memo also took me more than five minutes to deduce—that’s much too long for such a basic tool.

If you are simply looking for a replacement for Apple’s own Notes app, Memo Book is a decent option. Its quick-note entry and label-based organization are suitable for that type of usage. Anything more than that, and you may want to consider a more robust app.

via Memo Book for iPhone Review | Business Center | iPhone Central | Macworld.

March 5 (Bloomberg) — Palm Inc.’s new Pre smart phone will lure customers away from Apple Inc.’s iPhone when subscribers’ contracts start expiring in June, Palm investor Roger McNamee said.

“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”

Sprint Nextel Corp., the phone’s exclusive carrier, and Palm have said they will start selling the device in the first half of the year. Palm, which pioneered mobile devices with its Pilot products more than a decade ago, is counting on the Pre to help reverse six straight quarters of losses totaling more than $650 million.

“The timing and success of the Palm launch is now the critical factor,” said Maynard Um, an analyst at UBS AG in New York, who expects a late June release. This week, Palm posted preliminary third-quarter sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates by as much as 50 percent, citing waning demand for older models. The company is scheduled to report full results March 19.

The Pre features a full touch-screen cover that slides up to reveal a Qwerty keyboard, designed to appeal to both iPhone fans and traditional smart-phone users. Speculation about the price and the release date has circulated on the Web since Sunnyvale, California-based Palm unveiled the Pre in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

via Bloomberg.com: Worldwide.

Most BlackBerry owners, for example, know they can improve their Interstate I.Q. by using the navigation function of their smartphones, and people with a Web browser on their phone can check out World Traffic Cams to see if there is congestion at the Lincoln Tunnel before heading into Manhattan. Indeed, our love affair with cellphones is increasingly being coupled with our love affair with the automobile, spawning applications — some silly, some sublime — that drivers can download to their mobile handsets for little or no money.

On the practical side, there are programs that help with the more mundane aspects of automobile ownership. One free application for the iPhone, for example, tries to demystify repair bills. Tap in the make and model of your vehicle along with what ails it (for instance, worn brake pads and rotors) and RepairPal spits out estimated parts and labor costs ($417 to $516 in New York City). It does not include diagnostic fees and taxes, but it does offer a list of nearby repair shops with customer ratings, should you want to comparison shop.

Conversely, on the pure fun side, there’s Dynolicious. Using the same kind of technology that enables a Nintendo Wii game controller to follow your gestures, this $12.99 application uses an iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to gauge 0-to-60 times (to within 0.08 of a second) and other performance characteristics, including lateral G-forces. Like competing programs such as g-tac pro ($19.99), Dynolicious will also let you assess your vehicle’s top speed, but to get precise results you’ll need to secure the phone in a cradle.

via Technology – Have Smartphone, Can Travel – NYTimes.com.

The iPhones lead over smartphone upstart Android is set to be short-lived, according to new research.

Android smartphone sales will outstrip iPhone sales by 2012, a report by industry watchers Informa Telecoms & Media has predicted.

Last month, O2s parent Telefónica Europe revealed sales of the iPhone topped one million in the UK. While T-mobile UK – the exclusive carrier of the first Android device, the G1 – wouldnt put a figure on how many of the devices have been sold, it did say the handset now accounts for 20 per cent of its contract sales.

Web behemoth Google GOOG released the first beta SDK for its Android open OS platform in August last year, with the first handset – the G1 smartphone – launching the following month. A second handset, the Magic, is expected to arrive next month.

Apples AAPL iPhone has a slightly longer heritage – with the first device arriving in the US in June 2007. However the 3G iPhone has only had a few months headstart on its Google rival, hitting shops in July last year.

Both Android and OS X are eating into the market share of the number one selling smartphone OS-maker, Symbian. Last year just under half of smartphones sold were based on Symbian – a drop of 16 percentage points on the year before when it had 65 per cent market share. BlackBerry OS, Linux and Windows Mobile are also gaining popularity and eating some of Symbians lunch, according to Informa.

via Android Could Overtake iPhone by 2012 – BusinessWeek.

We couldn’t have thought of a better way to end 2008: on New Year’s Eve, we officially closed a $4.5 million round of funding from Troika Dialog. That’s enough runway to keep us going strong into 2010 and, with a little more hard work, indefinitely. Our users deserve all the credit here: you told us how to make a great service and your obvious enthusiasm for Evernote is what got us this deal. Thank you! I’m officially taking a week off from worrying about money before going right back to securing some additional financing to fund our more ambitious plans (Evernote for Cats, Evernote Zero G, Evernote eXtreme Sportz Gel).

via Evernote Blog » Blog Archive » Evernote Gets Funding.

Evernote’s G1-optimized website is only a few days old, but 3banana is already offering it competition in the note taking department. Though both products are good memory-aid services, 3banana has one advantage that Evernote currently doesn’t offer: native Android support.

3banana Notes is a free note-taking app that syncs between Android and an online account. The CEO of the company that developed the app explains it was created so “users could quickly jot down a thought or tag a photo on their Android smart phone with as few keystrokes as possible, and then sync and share those notes wirelessly and effortlessly.”

Users can snap a photo and then add a text note explaining its significance. That note can then be synced or shared with friends. A trip to the grocery could help you discover a new wine you’re not sure about purchasing, so snap a photo and attach the note “Look into this brand.” Interesting books, ideas gained from newspapers, sporting events, tech conventions, or any other situation could be cause to create a note that will help remember thoughts at a later time.

Aside from jotting down photo and/or text notes easily, 3banana can also:

• Reverse sync so notes made on the computer appear on the Android phone
• Label notes to provide category separation
• Share notes via Facebook, Twitter, or E-mail.

3banana is available in the “Productivity” section of the Android Market. Register for an online account at 3banana.com

via Apps: Remember everything with 3banana Notes | Google Android Blog.

I bought a Kindle 2 last week, after a year of waiting for the second iteration of Amazon’s e-book reader. I was hesitant at first, as I still love reading hardcover and paperback books, but the free cellular Web access and the addition of magazine subscriptions from publications like The New Yorker had me convinced.

I’ve had it for a week now, and I love it. It feels great in my hands, and the e-ink screen creates the illusion of reading a real book. I can hold it in my hand and read from it for hours.

I also have an Apple iPhone. I’ve tried e-book applications like eReader and Stanza, but I just didn’t find the reading experience very satisfying.

It’s OK for short chunks of reading, while waiting in line or sitting on the bus, but not on a lazy Sunday afternoon around the house. Holding a small device like that for long periods of time just isn’t comfortable, plus the small LCD screen can be hard on the eyes after a while. And, of course, there are books only available for the Amazon Kindle that are not at any other e-book store. It’s this last criteria that really forced my hand when purchasing the Kindle 2.

via Comparing Kindle 2 with Kindle’s iPhone app | The Download Blog – Download.com.

If you’ve seen an iPhone commercial on TV, you’ve probably also seen Shazam. If you hold your handset in the air while music is playing, the application tries to identify the song for you.

Although it’s featured in a commercial for the Apple device, Shazam is agnostic: It works on 75 devices in 60 countries. And it’s determined not to be a one-trick iPhone pony. The British company says it’s trying to figure out ways to get people to use it even more often, helping the music industry at the same time.

When it launched two years ago, Shazam required people to send a text message to initiate a phone call so the service could identify the song. It then texted the song’s name to the requester.

Now, in the “brave new world” of app stores, it’s more accessible as an application on Apple and Android phones, Shazam Chief Executive Andrew Fisher said in an interview today.  Since September 2008, the service has attracted 16 million new users, he said, and 5 million have downloaded the application on the iPhone.

via Shazam looks for ways to get more people to share music | Technology | Los Angeles Times.

Note taking: 3banana has launched a notes application for the Android platform, intended to let people take notes on their handsets and synchronise, share and discuss the notes with friends on the web at its own site and via social networks like Facebook and Twitter?it uses a permalink for that. In addition to photos and notes captured on their smart phones, online users also can keep track of web pages, presentations, and videos, all organized and labeled inline?without the need for extra data entry fields or repetitive typing.

via mocoNews – Android Bits: Caller ID; Finance; Notes; Games; – washingtonpost.com.

Not looking to drop $360 bucks on a gadget purposed almost solely for book reading, but still want to partake in Amazon’s new found love for eBooks? You’re not alone – and if you’ve got an iPhone or iPod Touch, you’re in luck. As we’d assumed they would, Amazon has just launched a free Kindle application for Apple’s much-lauded touchscreen, available immediately.

While it won’t go and turn your iPhone’s display into an e-Ink screen (we feel bad for our eyes already), the Kindle application does replicate much of the functionality provided by the namesake device. You can read any Kindle-compatible book you’ve purchased from Amazon’s catalog, read the first chapter of other books for free, adjust text size, bookmark pages, and view notations made on the Kindle.

One of the big features here is WhisperSync, which automatically keeps track of where you left off in each book, allowing you to pick up from that spot from any Kindle-friendly devices you may have. The feature didn’t seem too useful when the Kindle 2 was announced (How many people have more than one Kindle?) – but with Amazon stretching Kindle across multiple platforms, it makes perfect sense. Leave your Kindle on the bed side table, pick up where you left off on your iPhone once you’re on the bus.

via Amazon launches Kindle application for the iPhone .

Original Dutch Post: Slim Android-notitieblok van 3banana

Na een paar dagen spelen met je G1 besef je dat twee applicaties toch echt wel ontbreken: een goede mediaspeler en een notitieblok. Terwijl het toetsenbordje van de G1 juist zo handig is voor het maken van notities. 3banana springt in het gat met een ’slimme’ notitie-applicatie voor Android, waarmee je draadloos kunt synchroniseren. De applicatie heet 3banana Notes en is gratis te downloaden. Er zit ook een link naar sociale netwerksites zoals Twitter en Facebook in.

3banana Notes is bedoeld om spontane ideeën vast te leggen: die fantastische film, het restaurantje waar je nog eens wilt eten, of die geweldige domeinnaam, die je tijdens de lunchpauze opeens hebt bedacht. 3banana Notes voor Android synchroniseert draadloos met de online dienst van 3banana, waar je de notities en ook foto’s online kunt bekijken. Je kunt notities delen met anderen. Elke gedeelde notitie heeft een unieke URL die je kunt rondsturen of op populaire websites als Twitter of Facebook kunt publiceren.

3banana Notes is gratis te installeren via Android Market.

Translation to English: Smart Android Notepad from 3banana

After a few days playing with your G1 you realize that two applications are really missing: a good media player and a notepad. Even though with its keyboard, the G1 is particularly useful for making notes. 3banana jumps into the gap with a smart note application for Android that you can synchronize wirelessly. The application is called 3banana Notes and is free to download. There is also a way to share with social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. 

3banana Notes is designed to capture spontaneous ideas: That great movie, the restaurant where you’d like to eat, or that great domain name, or when you suddenly have a thought during your lunch break. 3banana Notes for Android syncs wirelessly with the online service of 3banana where you can see the notes and photos online. You can share notes with others. Each shared note has a unique URL you can send or publish to popular sites like Twitter or Facebook.

3banana Notes is free to install via Android Market. 

via Slim Android-notitieblok van 3banana > Nieuws > Androidplanet.nl.

News Release: 3banana Launches First Android Smart Phone Note Taking App with Wireless Sync and Social Media Sharing

San Francisco (PRWEB) March 3, 2009 — 3banana Inc. today announced the launch of 3banana Notes, the first note taking app for the Android smart phone with wireless online sync and social media sharing. 3banana combines fast and efficient private note taking on the Android smart phone with the ability to sync, share and discuss notes with friends over the web at http://3banana.com and via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

“Do you ever want to quickly jot down an idea before you forget it? Whether it’s your next great movie plot, or the keyword that will help you find that ridiculous YouTube video everyone is talking about, the 3banana note taking app helps you catch those ideas before they escape,” said Andreas Schobel, 3banana co-founder and CTO. “3banana also makes it easy to share your notes with friends — rather than being lost forever, that idea in your notes can be the beginning of an online conversation.”

“Since before the invention of paper and pencil, people have sought to improve their lives by capturing and sharing thoughts, experiences, and ideas,” said Steve Brown, 3banana co-founder and CEO. “In the information-rich and fast-paced world today, the challenge is to get information from the brain in your head, into the brain in your pocket, and connected to the brainpower in the Internet cloud. We streamlined and simplified our note taking app so that users could quickly jot down a thought or tag a photo on their Android smart phone with as few keystrokes as possible, and then sync and share those notes wirelessly and effortlessly.”

3banana Notes for the Android smart phone stays synchronized wirelessly with the 3banana online service, where users can view and edit their private notes, share notes with friends, or comment on shared notes. In addition to photos and notes captured on their smart phones, online users also can keep track of web pages, presentations, and videos, all organized and labeled inline — without the need for extra data entry fields or repetitive typing. Each shared note has a private permalink that can be posted to popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter or shared on http://3banana.com for a more private online discussion.

The 3banana Notes Android note taking app is currently available as a free download in the productivity section of the Google Android App Market.

About 3banana

3banana Inc. creates smart phone and web applications that capture and share information effortlessly, wirelessly and securely. 3banana Notes are less work and easier to share than any other smart phone or online note taking app available today. Combining patent-pending innovations in semantics and social media sharing with fast, efficient and secure wireless information capture, 3banana mobile and web applications help people become more productive and more connected. For more information, please visit http://3banana.com.

3banana name and logo are trademarks of 3banana Inc. Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

via Android Just Got Smarter — And More Social — With 3banana Notes.

According to In-Stat, smartphones are going to double their share of the mobile handset market in the next four years. Considering the success of devices such as the iPhone, the G1, and others, this isnt so hard to believe. But which platform will dominate?

Right now, smartphones still only account for about 10% of all mobile handsets sold. Theyre popular with business users, but their cost — and the cost of the data plans attached to them — continue to keep a large percentage of the market away. That is changing, says research firm In-Stat.

“Strong demand is being driven by device manufacturers leveraging open OS device[s] to re-invent the mobile phone experience,” said Frank Dickson, VP of Mobile Internet Group, in a prepared statement. “New and prospective smartphone buyers are drawn to new mobile applications, even though the median number of applications downloaded for all platforms, including the Apple iPhone, is relatively modest — below five applications per user for each platform.”

via Smartphones Set To Double Market Share – Mobile Blog – InformationWeek.

Apple’s iPhone is king of the mobile world, according to reports from two different metrics firms.

The Global Intelligence Alliance Group (GIA) released a report recently that says the iPhone has the leading app store for mobile devices, while Net Applications says Apple’s Safari is the most popular web browser among mobile device users.

The data indicate that Apple not only leads the market place on both counts, but its main competitors lag way behind the iPhone.

The numbers from Net Applications’ analysis of mobile web use for February 2009 gives the iPhone a gigantic slice of the mobile web browsing world with 66.61 percent. Following Apple at a distant second are browsers based on Java’s ME application platform with a mere 9.06 percent, and Windows Mobile takes the bronze at 6.91 percent. Rounding out the top five are Symbian, found primarily on Nokia handsets at the moment; and Google’s Android. Research In Motion’s Blackberry devices rank seventh taking only 2.24 percent of mobile web browsing activity.

via iPhone Rules — Thanks to the Apps – PC World.

The number of open source projects targeting smartphones and other mobile devices continues a dramatic rise, growing at a 55% compound annual rate from 2005 through the end of last year.

In a study just released by Black Duck Software, specialists in managing the use of open source code, Palm remains the all-time leader with 1,850 projects released for its flagship device, the Palm Treo. Surprisingly, Apples iPhone displayed the most momentum over the course of 2008 with some 266 open source projects released. Devices running Google NSDQ: GOOGs Android and Microsoft NSDQ: MSFTs Windows Mobile ranked second and third, respectively.

via Open Source Projects Surge On Mobile Devices — Mobile Device Developer — InformationWeek.

Google’s decision to discontinue development of Google Notebook had some users petitioning to save it, while rival service Evernote is already offering Google Notebook imports. So for those left in the cold, and those not yet sold on Evernote, what are your options for alternatives?

Whether it be notes for business meetings, in a classroom or trying to remember that last minute item before you go out for the evening, there are all sorts of note taking solutions out there to help you get things done. Here’s our roundup of 20 of the best:

1. Jjot
2. Microsoft OneNote
3. Springnote
4. Grade Genie
5. NoteCentric
6. Notely
7. NoteMesh
8. Helipad
9. iKnolio
10. Luminotes
11. Mojonote
12. Notebook G
13. Posti.ca
14. SnapBits
15. Stixy
16. Ubernote
17. Zoho Notebook

From the comments:

• Evernote
• Microsoft Thumbtack
• Yahoo Notepad
• Flynote
• Diigo
• NoteScribe

via 17 Noteworthy Alternatives To Google Notebook.

More often than not, you’ll see one-star reviews in which people are raving about the quality of an application. There are also people who give an application five stars, then go on to spend two paragraphs discussing how often it crashes and larger off-topic issues like international pricing and the handset’s lack of a copy-and-paste feature. You also get a lot of comments written in ALL CAPS, with lines of Emoji icons, colored stars, and superfluous exclamation marks.

In every sense, it’s like the Wild West: untamed and full of interesting characters.

To Apple’s credit, on Friday, the company (as promised) removed reviews from customers who had not purchased the application they were reviewing. This may cut down on spam and ill-conceived or written reviews, but it’s not a big step in improving how the review system works.

via Apple’s mobile-app review system needs overhaul | Webware – CNET.

“The real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android.” Thats Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmers alternate reality take on the smartphone market, expressed to analysts during a midyear update in New York. While he acknowledged that Apples iPhone has “consumer market mojo,” he suggested that it does not have the same market potential as the mobile platforms controlled by Microsoft and Google.

via iPhones Not So Hot — Try Windows Phones, Ballmer Says – Business Center – PC World.