Evernote + Moleskine = Perfect Traveler’s Diary?
The travel journal. It’s a staple among travelers. A way to capture those unique experiences, to later flip through and take you back to that same place on a rainy day sometime many years later.
Technology has changed the classic travel diary. After writing almost daily in my first written travel journal nearly three years ago, I ended up switching to iOS notes, then to Evernote to keep track of my daily thoughts. I could jot something down before bed in my smartphone, typing faster than I could write, hoping that later I would transcribe into the next written journal.
… but it’s just not the same.
Flipping through a book of your travel notes is a much more real experience. The dirt on the pages, the drawings in the margins. It takes you back.
Enter: the Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine
Today, the folks over at Evernote announced a new collaboration with Moleskine, makers of the popular notebooks that all the cool kids have these days. It’s a combination of the old: a written notebook, with the new: a digital, searchable copy. They call it the Evernote Smart Notebook.
It’s simple really. Write your notes, draw your pictures, all like you normally would in a regular notebook. Next, snap a photo using the Evernote “Page Camera” of the page with your smartphone (currently only iPhone and iPad apps are compatible, while others are on the way) and Evernote digitizes it all, including making all of the text searchable. And since it’s saved up in the Evernote cloud and to all of your devices, you now have a digital copy in case something happens to your notebook. You can also share it easily. That is, if the travel tale isn’t too racy…
You can even take it a step further, by using the included “Smart Stickers” that you can place on your pages and associate with your own searchable tags.
The technology isn’t all that new. It’s been done before, just not in such an easy way by a big player such as Evernote. The pages in the Evernote Smart Notebook have a little digital coding built into the pages that make it all possible. To the naked eye, it’s just another stylish notebook. The tech is there without you even knowing.
The Evernote Smart Notebook is set to ship on Oct 1st, 2012. It will include 3 months of the Evernote Premium service (a $15 value) which gives you extra features such as advanced searching capabilities, priority tech support, and collaboration options.
In terms of costs, these notebooks don’t come cheap. At between $24.95 and $29.95 each, depending on what size you would like to go with, it’s not for everyone. That said, if you would like the best of both the written and digital worlds, it’s a no brainer. Evernote junkies, rejoice!
New to Evernote? Be sure to check out our article “5 Different Ways to Use Evernote on the Road” for some quick tips.
Images courtesy Evernote.com and Moleskine.com
One of the editors of Too Many Adapters, Dustin just can’t get enough travel or technology.
When not directly feeding his above insatiable habits, you can probably find him at some far away ice cream shop taking pictures and tweeting of all the flavors to jealous followers. That, or on top of a mountain somewhere shooting panoramas with his DSLR.
I am so ridiculously excited about this. I always say I’m going to consolidate my journal posts so I can find them all in one place…but of course I never do!
I love going through my old journals and I’m afraid digital just won’t give me the same feel, particularly as I collect entrance tickets, travel tickets, receipts, business cards and whatnot and stick them into my journal. I have some fantastic entrance tickets from my first trip to China in 1989, with beautiful pictures on them. First thing I buy when I get to my destination is a roll of stickytape for the purpose. Perhaps I value the minutia more than the writing??
I have to agree with you Naomi. There is something about flipping through the pages of a journal that I really enjoy.
Unfortunately, I often end up so tired by the end of the day, that I end up making notes in Evernote on my phone instead, in the hopes that the next day (or the day after…) that I might have the time to write them out in my physical journal.