Cost: Free – Website: http://evernote.com

Evernote allows you to clip web pages, images, PDF file, word documents, etc, on your computer, and then access them on your iPhone!  Evernote makes all of the files full text search-able on your desktop and your iPhone.

On the iPhone itself, Evernote can be a wonderful tool for capturing thoughts and images while you’re away from your office, or accessing things on your cell phone that you’ve captured on your desktop computer.  In my office, the easiest way for me to record things it by typing, or better yet, copying and pasting.  Away from my office, typing anything of length on the iPhone can be painful.  Thankfully Evernote gives you options.  First, you can type in, or edit notes already in Evernote.  So if my itinerary that I’ve put in Evernote changes, I can go in and edit the text to reflect the change, just like I can in the desktop version of Evernote.

Accessing Clipped Articles in the Library: You’re in the library and need find the reference in an online article that you clipped so you can do further research in the musty stacks.  Take our your iPhone, launch Evernote, do a key word search for the note you’re looking for, and in seconds you have the full article in front of you.

I also have the option of making a audio note.  The note is recorded on the iPhone, and then synced with my Evernote account so that it will be downloaded to my computer(s) next time I log on.  I can then do what ever I need to with the information in the audio note.  An interesting feature that I have not needed, but could be useful, is that the iPhone tags each audio or text note with the GPS coordinates where the note was taken.

Lastly you can take pictures of things you want to remember in store them in Evernote. An example of how you could use this is that you can take a picture of a sign, and Evernote will make the text in the picture full text search-able for you.  One way that I use this feature personally is to put all of my favourite Dilbert and Calvin & Hobbes cartoons into Evernote so that I can search the cartoons’ text for key words.  It is not perfect (as it depends on the clarity of the words), but it’s pretty good.

Searching for Text in Photos and Drawings: You’re looking for the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon that you clipped last year, as it fits in perfectly to the lecture on “Risk Analysis” you’re about to give. Simply open Evernote on your iPhone or desktop computer and do a key word search for text in the cartoon.  If the text is relatively clear, you’ll have the cartoon in front of you in seconds.

One specific application that I love is using Evernote for traveling.  I add my itinerary, my car rental, hotel and conference information into Evernote so that I can access it anywhere.

For the non iPhone users, Evernote has BlackBerry and Windows Mobile versions of their software, as well as Windows and Mac client software.   If Evernote is not installed on a computer you are using, or if you are using a public computer, you can always use the web based version of Evernote, which is quite capable.