Expert's Rating
Pros
- Mobile note taking
- browser extension for clipping
- Dashboard feature for activity stream
Cons
- Features already baked into other, more widely used, social media platforms
Our Verdict
Memonic’s Dashboard tools come at an interesting time – just when Google has started it’s own collaborative social networking tool, Google+. Memonic’s useful, but its success depends on it finding a user base.
It wasn’t that long ago that we last looked at Memonic (Macworld May 2011). Consider this an update to that review, as the online note taking tool has had an overhaul of its interface.
First, a quick catch-up. Memonic is a cloud-based clipping and note taking tool. Its closest analogues are Evernote, Springpad and the rest of that crowd. It also has something in common with old school, online bookmarking tools like Delicious and Google Bookmarks. Memonic has two selling points above and beyond these. Simplicity first. In our original review we compared it favourably to Google’s suite of cloud applications.
The second worthy feature has been enhanced and explains why it’s worth a second look. Memonic has expanded collaborative features with the introduction of a new Dashboard. Now you can use the service to share notes between users – making it an ideal tool for teams.
The Dashboard is a little like a Facebook wall or Twitter feed – a place where all your content is displayed and shared. You’ll also see the public clippings posted by your friends and Memonic news. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, the notes and clippings displayed on the Dashboard can be opened right there. There’s no limit on the length of content – so if your friends have shared an article with you from a a website – you can read it directly in Memonic.
The clean design and visual interface make it a natural choice for creative types who need to sort out their working lives
You control privacy levels as you add content in Gathering Mode, deciding whether clippings or notes are shared or private. Once a privacy level is set, you can clip notes using that configuration without having to change your levels.