I’m a pretty light user of Evernote; it was a good dumping ground for the accumulated snippets of text I carried around first on my PalmPilot and then on my Blackberry. Useable notes came late to the iPhone; frankly, they’re still a little less than indispensable. That’s why Evernote landed on my iPhone, my Macs, and my bookmarks list last year.
I’ve been satisfied with the free account so far but haven’t taken Evernote to the next level because tools like OmniFocus, VoodooPad, and Google Docs are more integrated into my daily routine. That might change a little thanks to The Evernote Podcast. A podcast about a single app? I couldn’t imagine having enough to say about Evernote in a long-form podcast; something short form like Quick and Dirty Tips might make more sense. Then again, a show about nothing could be entertaining from time to time. I gave it a try, and it paid off.
Podcast #10 mentioned how to send blog posts from Google Reader to Evernote, a way to archive entire articles without leaving Reader. I live in Reader, so the odds of me using Evernote more–and listening to more Evernote podcasts–just shot up dramatically, especially because I added The Evernote Blogcast to Reader. The feed includes links to the podcasts, so I’ll probably delete the iTunes subscription and listen from the web when a summary catches my attention.
The podcast also mentioned using Evernote data as a screen saver since each note has a thumbnail image rendition. It’s not terribly practical since I can’t imagine anybody (sober) watching their screen savers anymore; flying toasters are so 20th century. Still, it’s a neat hack, and chance picked a relevant reminder about last week’s gay rights victory in New York and tomorrow’s distinctly Philadelphian holiday:
The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.
— John Stuart Mill
How to use Evernote as a Screen Saver in Mac OS X:
- Open “System Preferences”, choose the “Desktop & Screensaver” icon, and choose the “Screen Saver” option in the tabby thingie.
- Click on the “+” under Screen Savers pane and choose “Add folder of pictures”.
- Navigate to “{HOME}/Library/Application Support/Evernote”, choose the data folder, and leave that folder selected in the Screen Savers pane.
- Choose the middle option from the Display Style option bar.