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Google Launches 'Keep' To Rival Evernote
Today Google launched 'Google Keep', a mobile note-taking service to rival software like Evernote. It works on devices running Android 4.0 or later, and there's also a web interface (which is struggling under launch load as of this writing). Google describes the service thus:
"With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what’s important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand. If it’s more convenient to speak than to type that’s fine—Keep transcribes voice memos for you automatically. There’s super-fast search to find what you’re looking for and when you’re finished with a note you can archive or delete it."
Fans of Google Reader will probably be a bit hesitant to pick this up.
Remember when Google used to innovate?
I'll stick with colornote. At least they won't up and vanish, assuming gmail doesn't get pulled next :P
...already.
I will try very hard to never use new Google products. As they are a company that cannot be relied on to to support a product despite the number of people who become dependent on it. I have been already burnt by Google Notebook, and now Google Reader. They just decided to yank the product. Now they greedily crawl back in with Google Keep. You should not be keeping anything with Google if you really want to keep it for a long time. They are an untrustworthy company.
Fans of Google Reader will probably be a bit hesitant to pick this up.
At least the headlines will be good.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
I'm pretty sure that's when this will get the axe.
I learned my lesson once.
They were quick to kill that without actually thinking about it.
Not only that, they have killed iGoogle and Google Reader without even thinking FOR A SECOND and stepping back to see how fucking EASILY both of them could be monetized. (which makes me think their excuse was a terrible lie at best)
I'll use my own systems, thank you.
Why is there this rush to put everything in the cloud? Are you telling me that my device can't store a few bytes to kilobytes of textual data on it... that I need to download an online-only app to perform this most basic function? I mean, the IBM 8088AT class computers with giant 5.25 floppy drives had the ability to save text documents... and it didn't have a network connection.
Oh right, I forgot: Data mining. All those juicy keywords. Mmm, delicious monitization of your private data... mmmyes, myes. I think I just had an evilgasm. Okay, nevermind... sorry, was trying to be logical here. Didn't see there was money to be had. Ignore my previous! Carry on!
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I'm pretty sure Evernote will not suddenly "retire" its service and leave users out to dry. Sorry, Google Keep. Even if you're everything I ever dreamed of, you've arrived at the wrong place and the wrong time.
There's always money in the banana stand.
Wasn't there something similar before? Oh yeah, Google Notebook. We'll see how this version lasts...
I've been burned by too many "non-core" Google applications to even be bothered to try this. I mean, look up the old Google Notebook. Basically the same thing. If it ain't search, advertising, or social.... it's only a matter of time till you get scroogled. (Funny I thought that was the dumbest MS campaign ever....but it's starting to grow on me).
Where is the advertising in that?
Anyone remember Google Notebook...?
...until it's Gone...?
You mean when they made a search engine? Or a webmail client? Or online maps? Or office apps? Or an RSS reader? Or a calendar? Or a finance site? Or a chat program? Or a photo site? Or an online store? Or a social site? Or a phone OS?
None of these things are "innovations", none of them were particularly innovative, and they weren't doing any of them first (or even early), but in many cases they were better/easier/free-as-in-beer-er than the alternative. Which is fine. And they made money on it. Which is great. And when they stop working (like Reader), we'll find something else, or write something else. Since they make getting your data out pretty easy, that's not even hard.
And if you've become complacent where if Google doesn't offer it, you can't find it, that's not innovation... that's you being lazy. And it's not their fault, it's yours.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Many people here are pooh-poohing the new service for various reasons. I just wanted to provide a counter point.
I tried evernote. I did not like it. I generally like the services Google provides and in the manner they do. I understand that nothing is guaranteed. And that one day this service may too disappear and I am OK with that. This is a price I am willing to pay.
I mean, a slightly different interface, but substantially the same. And Google killed that product; why do we think this time around will be better?
We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex—but Congress can. – Cullen Hightower
I wonder if they realize that people who are now Readerless are going to avoid relying Google products/services in future. Certainly there is no way I would build life habits around any Google service now. You don't want to get too used to using anything of theirs, don't get too comfortable. Then they will wonder why their new products aren't taking off any more.
Yes, I "trusted" Google to maintain the list of RSS feeds I am interested in. And given that it took me less than two minutes to export the data into nice readable JSON and XML, I don't think I made a mistake using their free service for the past few years.
I think I can also "trust" Google Keep to hold onto those little things for when I need them, and let me export the important data when they're shutting the thing down in a few years. If I can't find a grocery list from 2 years ago, I think I'll be able to cope.
Disclaimer: Part of my impression comes from having attended the Google Boulder Open House last night, where they gave presentations on the projects they run from the Boulder office, of which Drive is one.
Be who you are...and be it in style!
I've used both Evernote and Springpad, and stuck with the latter, but after fiddling around with the web interface on Google Keep for a while, my question is: this is supposed to be a rival service? It looks more like something from the example page of a web app library. All you seem to able to do is enter text notes, and lists. Perhaps Keep for Android has more functionality, but just comparing between the web versions of all three, Keep doesn't have 1/10th of the capability of either of the others. It's like comparing Word with Notepad.
"The Greens lynched a hacker in Chicago. Last month, but I think the body's still hanging from the old Water Tower."
Yes they know they will loose a lot of us Google Reader users trust But not many people used Google Reader. The total number of Google Reader users who will drop all Google based products plus everyone the can influence to do that same thing, is not a very large number. If it costs them 100,000 users I would be surprised.
vi +
All they need now is services called "Lose" and "Weep".
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Reader fans can liberate their data and they've had years of free service. I know, because I am one. But if making pissy comments on a /. article makes you guys feel better, who am I to deprive you of that?
Consider this: would a company dedicated to RSS, in the way that Evernote is dedicated to notes, have been able to maintain a free service for as long?
Do you see what I did there?
We used to complain about Microsoft's "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish", and rightly so. But Google has its own version.
If there's a word beginning with 'A' meaning "Mine Personal Details", it belongs right in there too.
The biggest issue I see with Google is that they like to tease the waters with these services, things like the recently retired Google Reader, they will put it out there, decide that they are not getting enough interest and then retire it. Google needs to look at what they do and keep doing it well, not trying to target every aspect of the market. Personally I would FAR prefer to put my data into Evernote, as I know they will hang around, Google Keep... meh we will see how long until it goes. The things google innovate on, THEY hang around, the things that Google follow on... tend to get flushed after a while. Just my 2c.
Hit me up on twitter @StuartCRyan
I'm a bit torn right now between two ways to go on:
a) I set up servers of my own for everything (I still have an SMTP and IMAP server for email, never trusted Gmail) like calendars, contacts, documents, notes, etc. Lots of work to set this up, a bit of money, fear of it being not secure enough if I don't put in more work and time.
b) Just throw myself at Google and accept that every odd year a service I used and love will be gone and I have to find a new home for it after exporting and converting my data (as I have to do right now with Google Reader and the >100000 starred articles in it). Hardly any work at all, Google reads all my data.
My anger says a), my lazy soul says b).
But I surely don't love Google. By the way, nice article here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jw_on_tech/archive/2012/03/13/why-i-left-google.aspx
Wait... has this thing any protocol or API to access this with other apps? Or is it again Google/Android/Browser or nothing?
Then Google will decide it's not worth keeping and tell everyone they will be killing it a year later, just like they do with all the products these days.
Simplenote does the same (very simple notes), it is free and it has real clients for all platforms. Many of them.
Wonder if there'll ever be native clients for anything besides Android. I'm not even going to begin to think of touching this until there are - I really love that Evernote isn't stuck in my browser.
Also, yeah, not sure I trust Google to not abandon this like they did Reader or Wave. And not so hot on importing two and a half years of notes into Google, either.
egypt urnash minimal art.
Why is there this rush to put everything in the cloud? Are you telling me that my device can't store a few bytes to kilobytes of textual data on it...
If you note down something on your computer and then you're on the road and want that note, what do you do? And yes, there are ways to do this, but I'm using Simplenote (much better than this Google thing, free and dozens of clients and scripts and whatnot for all platforms) since a few years and I can tell you that it makes a GREAT difference to have your notes available everywhere and all the time without any effort. Note down a book title, an IP address, some serial number, whatever, and have it available everywhere.
The problem is not the cloud. The cloud is great. The problem are monopolies like Google that offer no standard protocols with an RFC number and accept no third-party implementations of their APIs and protocols and servers. THIS is the problem, not "the cloud".
The web is in the cloud, email is in the cloud. But these have protocols and standards and are not just proprietary products. The fact that you have to explain and preach that over and over and people STILL think that there ist just "have everything saved on your dusty PC or give everything to Google Facebook" is crazy. Are people really that dumb?
Hell, you're not reading that from your PCs HD and you're not writing your comment to it. You read it in the "cloud" and your write it to the "cloud".
so its a task list...
can I sync it with my task's for calendar via standards such as CalDAV ?
otherwise forget about it
John
Google's mission seems to be to gather data on everything about everything (and everyone). Gmail is never deleted. Why would I give them all my notes? I trust Evernote with my privacy more.
being incredibly helpful, intuitive and easy. I also look forward to it being canceled about a year after I depend on it.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Its OneNote Online.
With 10% of the features.
And they scan my notes.
And they'll probably kill the service in two years.
Yeah. Skip.
If Google couldn't find a way to wring enough greenbacks out of Reader, what chance does this have?
Reader? How about Wave and Knol. Google just sticks everything they can think of out there, to see if it immediately turns into money. If it doesn't, they shut it down.
It's not just the number of people who stop using Google's services that they have to worry about. Every time they drop support for something, they are signaling to people that putting your data into a new Google offering is risky business.
Yeah, but let me tell you that users who used Google Reader are those who read and write a lot. Each of them is easily worth 10 plain users. I was burned by that and right now I'm busy moving quite a few users and one business away from Google. Google kicking out ActiveSync and in six months CalDAV isn't exactly helping them here. Google is starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable all of a sudden. There has been a widely felt uncomfortable feeling about Google's potential to abuse their power for quite a while but all of this is the first time Google makes this potential into something you have to deal with. And this is not a good feeling.
Google is changing right now. Even those working there notice that. Google is dropping right now all the attributes that made nerds comfortable with it. It is turning into something else.
In six months CalDAV support will end.
C) Use Evernote, gain all of the benefits of Google but be a lot more assured it will stick around.
And yes there's an API.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Consider this: would a company dedicated to RSS, in the way that Evernote is dedicated to notes, have been able to maintain a free service for as long?
A free service? No. Instead they would have charged, and everyone would have known a lot sooner if that was practical. I would far rather pay a small amount of money for a service I like because it provides a lot more certainty that thing will stay around.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I want a smart brace. A double sided or all the way around smart phone/tablet for my lower left arm/wrist.
Pretty sure you mean this.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I used to use iGoogle, then they took it from me.
I used to use Google Notebook, then they took it from me.
I used to use Google Reader, then they took it from me.
If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be excited to hear about their new product, but I'm not. Not anymore. I will not use Google Keep especially because I do not want to get used to it so they can take it away from me. I'm done.
So you can count me in that group Aguazul2.
Though my confidence in Google is declining after the Reader fiasco (which i don't use or care myself, i think RSS is overrrated, but i can empathize with people), i installed it and works great. Simple way to create notes and task lists, and you can dictate notes, which worked flawlessly with the spanish language.
Being cloud based means i can get a new phone and all notes will be there.
I am using colornote at the moment
Open Source Java Web Forum with LDAP authentication
I was a huge google fan, got several google certifications.
But the parent post is correct. Google drops popular apps all the time. It's hard to commit a lot of time and effort to a google app, just to have google pull the rug out from under you.
Also, google makes practically all of it's income from advertising. Anything else, google seems to make a half-hearted effort. Ever use Google apps? They are barely usable, and google does not seem interested in fixing long standing bugs.
Ironic name "Keep" since Google rarely "keeps" apps around anymore. No more iGoogle, reader, and others. How long before Keep isn't kept anymore?
The problem with a service from Google is that -- despite them being huge and likely being around forever, unlike small shops that could succumb to financial problems down the road -- you still can't trust that it'll be around in a year. And if you run into any problems, good fucking luck getting a human being to help you. Even if you're a paying customer.
I had entries in my RSS feed that were stuck as unread for three years. Absolutely nothing would nudge them out of there. It was annoying.
Oh, and their interfaces often suck and are incomplete and don't work very well with each other (go have a look at Google Drive/Docs/whatever it is this week).
I'll stick with Evernote, thanks (and I am someone who once liked the idea of just caving in and letting Google be my go-to spot for all my main services, instead of having them spread apart ten totally separate places that did things ten different ways and didn't interact at all).
If you really want Google to delete everything they know about you, go to accounts.google.com and click the link that says "Close account and delete all services and information associated with it."
Google already cannot resell your data to anyone. You made that part up.
Yeah, I know google products are free yadda yadda, but the demise of reader is too bitter to forget. I feel for Google, because they made the best web apps by far. However, they have been messing with things that were perfectly fine (Gmail and calendar interface, for example). Only time will tell, but they might have just jumped the shark and we simply haven't recognized that yet.
My cellphone ringtone is a ring tone.
I could program the same functionality within 24h it looks like a super useless service.
Said the AC.
I don't have any real reason to start using Keep since I use a combination of a desktop program, a chrome extension and sync it all to Gdrive (and it all works nicely for me), but yes, please do write something up in 24 hours that can do what it does.
I'm quite sure you're unaware of all that it can do, particularly on the android side of things.
Whenever google is criticized for yanking a "free" service, such comments come up. but is anything from google free? Sure its may not ask for money, but in google your eyeball is the product, and they make money from ads.
Lets take gmail.
Now its free. If google yanks it, many people will troll "it was free" "ask for a refund".
But when I open gmail, I see ads. So in a way google is making money.
No company is in it for charity.;
And no company is above criticism. There is nothing wrong to feel bad or criticize the company if it cans a product you were dependent upon. "Ask for a refund" what kind of response is that. And just because its pro google, it gets modded to "insightful"!
My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
I've heard of x10 developers before, but not x10 users!
bang goes my karma... again...
Google is one of the few big "social" companies around that never resell users' data to any third party. Read those big legal blobs before clicking "I accept".
There's a hidden treasure in Python 3.x: __prepare__()
You just perfectly worded how I feel about it! For me it started with iGoogle (for which I still haven't found a replacement), but that was just (for me at least) a single incident This Reader move makes it a clear trend. It doesn't help that apps I paid for rely on this service.
till it's merged into Google Plus to artificially inflate G+'s claimed user numbers.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
Place your bets. We'll come back here when it's canceled and see who got closest. Winner gets a fractional bitcoin.
I'll start: 2016-02-29
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I've recently migrated most of my online cloud docs away from Google to Evernote because Google has been getting continuously creepier. Recently they have been trying to shove Google+ down my throat, which demands my real name. I plan to continue this trend with moving to a new email service and a new search engine. I love their products, but they are determined to drive me away from using them.
IMO Springpad is better than all of them combined. Then again, it also seems like it tries to be like PT in a way.
I think the only Google products you can rely on sticking around at this point are gmail, drive, search, and Android. Anything else is prone to ending up on the chopping block. One has to wonder what the reason is for all this frugality at Google...
What's all different from the defunct "Google notebook", without any improvement in years... still a better choice. Google need to re-think their way to kill applications.