I don’t know if you have discovered Evernote but if you haven’t you really ought to give it a look. This service allows you to store documents and access them from virtually any device. I access items stored in Evernote from; a Windows PC, a  MacBook, my iPad and my iPhone. Evernote is also available for Android phones. Evernote allows you to set up categories, they called him tags, and store any kind of document online. Evernote places an icon in the Outlook task bar and with one click you can send an e-mail to any of the categories you have in Evernote. There is also a add-on for virtually all of web browsers called Web Clipper which allows you to clip all or part of a webpage and send it directly to your Evernote database.

I basically do not keep paper. Printed items that I receive are scanned and saved on my computers and if the item relates to one of the categories in Evernote they also are stored in Evernote. My primary reason is not necessarily to save paper but so that when I go to meetings I don’t have to carry stacks of files or huge notebooks. I can take my iPad and have access to all of the stored items.  As an aside, there is an app for the iPad called LogMein that allows you to access your computer from any place that has an Internet connection. Another way to avoid carrying lots of files or other junk. Even when carrying all of those items you undoubtedly never seem to have what you need but between Evernote and LogMein you pretty much solve that problem.  By the way, LogMein is also available for the iPhone and Android devices.

The good news is that the a basic Evernote package is free and allows you to store up to 60 MB per month; documents, videos, pictures, music or whatever.. If you would like to store more data each month there is a fee based subscription for $5.00 month or $45.00 for the year which gives you up to 1 GB each month. You can that get more information about Evernote on their website at http://www.evernote.com.

I have been using the latest iteration of Google’s Chrome web browser and it has become my default browser. It is clean and fast and a pleasure to use. This from someone who has been a Firefox fan for quite some time. So if you haven’t given the new Google Chrome a try it’s probably worth your while. By the way Evernote’s web clipper is available for Chrome.

In an earlier post I talked about Dragons Naturally Speaking and am using it today to create this blog post. I continue to be amazed at the accuracy of this version, particularly given my experience with earlier generations of Naturally Speaking. So if you would like to give your carpal tunnel a rest you may want to give this well designed program a try.