Your iPhone is Your New Backpack

Believe it or not iPhones have a way of simplifying almost anything. Take school for example, a lot of money, time and planning goes into preparing you for a new semester. You have to purchase supplies, new books, reading requirements and much, much more. There’s an app for that. In this list of compiled back-to-school apps you will find almost everything that you are looking for. 

Textbooks aren’t cheap and of course you can buy them used and save money - or you can download CourseSmart and view the full text of more than 7,000 textbooks all on your iPhone for free. Bought for your iPhone the books cost half as much as their print equivalents and without all the weight and bulk on your back. 

For those reading assignments, download Stanza. If you are required to read some of the classics this app has more than 30,000 to choose from, all free. It’s a great app for required reading or just catching up on a good book. 

Your professors talk quickly and you don’t write quite that fast so it’s hard to keep up. Evernote is an app that lets you type and synchronise notes, voice memos, photos from your iPhone directly to the web. You don’t have to worry about missing something, forgetting your notebook or losing your notes, it can all be accessed from the app or the Evernote website. 

If you can get away with having your iPhone out in class, download the Graphing Calculator. This might not get you through advanced calculus but it can help you through most maths courses. With this app you can graph multiple equations and it will email the results to you. 

MyHomework will help you stay on top of your assignments by organising them for you. Keep track of your class schedule and any upcoming assignments. It will colour-code them and keep you aware of their due date. Also, it will automatically sync with your desktop, always keeping you updated. 

Everyone has use for a dictionary every now and then, so download the Dictionary.com app. Whether you are writing a term paper, studying vocabulary or just trying to expand your knowledge of the English language, this app will do just that. 

Documents To Go gives you the ability to sync and view Office files and PDFs to your phone while allowing you to create documents as well. 

Flashcards are the perfect studying strategy and Brainscape is the perfect app. You waste the majority of your time writing out flashcards when you should be studying. With this app you can create free flashcards or download already-made cards to study with. Share them between groups and with syncing, you can always pick up where you left off no matter which device you use. 

One of the worst parts about writing term papers and essays is the bibliography. You’ve spent a lot of time on gruelling research and the worst part is writing out your references. With EasyBib you simply scan the barcode of the book you’ve used and watch as the app creates bibliography magic. 

Going back to school doesn’t have to be expensive or stressful. The iPhone has a way of simplifying lives and tasks and even assignments. These school apps are guaranteed to take some of the load off while keeping you up to date and on top of upcoming assignments.

Evernote Food Updated to Include OpenTable Reservations and Foursquare Ratings

Evernote Food, Evernote's app dedicated to documenting cooking and dining experiences, was today updated to version 2.1. The release brings OpenTable reservations and Foursquare ratings to the universal app, allowing users to book seatings at restaurants within the app. 

In addition, users are now able to share recipes via Facebook, Twitter, or email, and new tag-based syncing capabilities have been implemented in the standard Evernote app. Recipes that are saved to Evernote can be synced with Evernote Food.

Evernote Food has a few other minor updates including improved search results and faster image uploads.

Sharing 
- Share recipes via Facebook, Twitter and email 

Restaurants 
- OpenTable integration lets you make restaurant reservations from the app 
- See venue ratings from Foursquare 

Images 
- Upload images from other albums 
- Meal images load more quickly 

Search 
- Improved search results for recipes and meals 

General 
- Various other bug fixes and performance improvements

[Source: MacRumors]

Evernote plans two-factor authentication following last week's hack

In a move that's often more reactive than proactive these days, Evernote has shared plans to add two-factor authentication to its login process. This latest announcement follows last week's hacking attack and subsequent site-wide password reset, and will be available to all of the site's 50 million users beginning later this year, according to an InformationWeek report. It's too early to say exactly how the Evernote team plans to implement the new security feature, whether through a dedicated app or text message password, but given the service's scale, we can likely count out a hardware fob option, at least. For now, your best course of action is to create a secure password, or, if you're especially paranoid, you may consider delaying your return until the security boost is in place.

[Source: Engadget]

Evernote forcing users to change password after hacking attempt

Evernote, the popular cross-platform note taking and sharing app, has issued a statement about some recent "suspicious activity on the Evernote network". All users will have to change their password, and it seems that user names, and other data that includes the encrypted version of passwords has been accessed. In a letter sent out to users, Evernote says the following:

The investigation has shown, however, that the individual(s) responsible were able to gain access to Evernote user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts, and encrypted passwords. Even though this information was accessed, the passwords stored by Evernote are protected by one-way encryption. (In technical terms, they are hashed and salted.)

While our password encryption measures are robust, we are taking steps to ensure your personal data remains secure. This means that in an abundance of caution, we are requiring all users to reset their Evernote account passwords. Please create a new password by signing into your account on evernote.com.

After signing in, you will be prompted to enter your new password. Once you have reset your password on evernote.com, you will need to enter this new password in other Evernote apps that you use. We are also releasing updates to several of our apps to make the password change process easier, so please check for updates over the next several hours.

As we've seen recently, there's a rash of coordinated attempts to hack the big players in online services. Hopefully Evernote's encryption methods are solid, but having users change their password at log in is a great way to keep everyone safe. Visit Evernote's blog for more information.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

Blackberry 10 SDK reveals tight Evernote integration

The Blackberry 10 gold SDK release has revealed an interesting tidbit for Evernote partakers: the memory-prodding app seems to be tightly enmeshed with RIM's upcoming OS. It's one of the so-called Notebook options listed under the "App Integration" heading, which let you organize "actionable and non-actionable items into separate folders or topics." Evernote is listed as one of those options, and will let you sync up and access your account with Blackberry 10 devices, according to the documentation. That app is already available across all other major platforms, letting you organize documents with audio, video, photos, websites and, um, text -- then sync everything up in the cloud. Considering Evernote's recent foray into the business side of things, having the app built-in might be a nice pitch to RIM's core userbase when the new OS is finally launched.

[Source: Engadget]

Evernote launches Evernote Business, readies to make your life even easier

Evernote had said its fancy new service aimed at the more professional crowd would be coming around December, and surely enough the company's announced it's now officially open for Business. Via its blog, Evernote let it be known that, after many months of having the service in the works, it's now ready to welcome any business owners who are looking to try its novel Evernote for Business product. Of course, the cloud-based software company wants to reassure potential users that this is essentially the Evernote people have come to love, but "it's better" and with a "number number of features and refinements that make Evernote Business a perfect tool for small and medium-sized companies and small teams within larger organizations." For those interested in learning more, there's a very informative video after the break -- and, of course, the source link below will give you all the nitty-gritty straight from the outfit's mouth.

[Source: Engadget]

Evernote adds text-to-speech to Clearly Chrome extension, for Premium members only

If you ever wanted to catch up on your online reading while on the treadmill or puttering about the kitchen, Evernote now offers you the ability to do so without actually, well, reading. The online brain dump has introduced text-to-speech functionality to its Clearly extension for Google Chrome, a plugin that clears out ads and other distractions for a clean reading experience. While the Clearly extension itself is free, the text-to-speech feature is only for Premium accounts, each of which costs $5 a month or $45 a year. Words are highlighted as they're read, and you can pause and skip as you like. The feature launches with support for over twelve languages and is powered by iSpeech, which has worked with BlackBerry apps and connected homes in the past. Just don't accidentally blastTMZ articles during your next conference call, ok?

[Source: Engadget]

Evernote for iOS also getting a redesign soon

Now that the Evernote 5 for Mac beta is in the wild, the note-taking software maker has announced that it is currently in the process of redesigning its iOS app. Evernote 5 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is taking some visual cues from its desktop counterpart, with its designers focusing on improving its overall speed and reducing the number of taps required to perform common tasks.

In the preview video below, you can see the shift to a card-style "views" interface that allows for quick flipping between different elements including notes, tags, locations and notebooks. Single-tap actions are also being introduced, including the ability to add new notes with a tap. On iPad, you'll be able to quickly see a list of recent notes as well.

Evernote is saying to expect the update to hit the App Store "very soon," so keep an eye on that Updates tab.

[Source: TUAW]

Livescribe outs Sky WiFi Smartpen for $170, lets you record written notes and audio straight to Evernote

The Pulse pen couldn't do it. The more recent Echo couldn't manage it either. But sending notes and linked audio wirelessly is what Livescribe's latest digital pen is all about. Branded the Sky WiFi Smartpen, it works with proprietary physical notebooks to preserve your handwritten notes and linked audio files on a minimum of 2GB of onboard storage, and then it sends them directly to your Evernote account via WiFi -- from where you can access them on pretty much any PC, tablet or smartphone. If you're wondering a how the pen selects the right network and enters a password, then it's actually pretty straightforward: Livescribe's new stationery is printed with connection buttons that, in conjunction with the OLED display on the pen itself, guide you through the procedure in a few seconds. The latest notebooks also have buttons for sending your captured thoughts to Google Drive, Dropbox and Facebook, although those services won't be activated until early next year.

[Source: Engadget - Click here to read the full story]

Evernote web interface updated with better sharing, cleaner look

We're huge fans of Evernote here at the Engadget compound (it's great for keeping track of our latest world domination schemes). But, we've got to admit, the web service is clearly the company's red-headed step child. The desktop and mobile apps are undeniably top-notch, but the webapp is just sort of there. Being able to edit your notes and share them from any browser is a great feature, but we wouldn't exactly call it an enjoyable experience. Today the company took the wraps off a revamp that should ease the pain a bit. Evernote is particularly proud of its new shared note design, that offers a much more attractive and interactive look at entries. You can reshare notes, enter a slideshow view or copy it to your own account. The broader redesign is subtle, but refreshing. There are new icons, some color changes and a tweaked top bar that lend a less cluttered feel without removing functionality. There's even a handy button that collapses the sidebar for those of you rocking smaller laptop screens. We also noticed that the new interface seems to load notes with multiple images much faster. You can read about it straight from the horses mouth at the source or just go to the Evernote homepage and check it out yourself.

[Source: Engadget]

Evernote partners with Moleskine to offer ‘smart notebooks’ that are browsable from within the app

Today, at its Evernote Trunk Conference in San Francisco, Evernote announced a partnership with expensive high-quality notebook maker Moleskine. The surprising partnership yielded a new offering called “Evernote Smart Notebook”. Since many people still take notes with pen and paper, it is a partnership that makes sense.

The Evernote Smart Notebook allows people to take notes by hand and then make the notes available online, TechCrunch first noted. To upload the notes, a photo of a page from the notebook is taken with the Evernote app. The notes are then saved to a user’s Evernote account where they can be browsed, searched and organized. Special stickers are provided to tell Evernote which virtual notebook to organize the note into.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Evernote updates for iOS, adds tap anywhere to edit

If there's one thing that perpetually frustrates us about Evernote on mobile devices, it's the inability to simply start editing a note when we open it up. As is, you've got open one, then tap the edit button, then you can navigate to the portion of the note you want to tweak. Not exactly the most efficient of workflows. That's finally changed, on the iPad and iPhone at least, and simply tapping anywhere in an entry will immediately open the editing tool, with the cursor exactly where you tapped. It may seem like a minor tweak, but it's one that should help address one of the primarily complaints about the note-taking service's mobile apps -- a lack of convenience. Now, we just hope the same update heads to Android devices. And sooner, rather than later.

[Source: Engadget]