EVERNOTE CELEBRATES its fourth birthday today and I'm one of the millions of people who are paying for its service. I've been using the program since July 2008 and even though the Symbian version of Evernote is a weak sister of other operating systems, I can save ideas and things I like with my Nokia E7. I review my notes on other handsets. I can also send images (things like menu items, program notes, and anything my phone can snao and save) to Evernote using Document Scanner QT. I can record things you hear and things I see with my iPod Touch. I'm using the application to create things faster and more importantly, to create more quickly the most critical things related to each academic term. That means I carry around a set of exam papers in the cloud and I refer to the papers several times a week in my hand. Evernote syncs with every computer, phone and mobile device that I own. I can search by keyword, tag and often by printed and handwritten text inside images. Evernote is one of those programs that can do more than it says on the tin. Its versatility and power make it a very clever tool.
I feel more secure storing things in Evernote than in any other cloud solution mainly because I'm syncing across three devices whenever I put something into Evernote. And part of the secure feeling comes from knowing that Evernote is already a successful, financially-solid company. Nearly half a million people pay for the service and its current user base is more than 10m people. It raises money when it doesn't need the funding. And while all those things don't guarantee its durability, I like to think that I'm one of the many smart people who bet it will outlast the current tech bubblestocks. It's not like a social network that can quickly become the last best thing.