Latest news with #notetaking
Android Authority
2 days ago
- Android Authority
Obsidian is too much for me, so I switched to this free alternative
Tushar Mehta / Android Authority I take a LOT of notes, and in pursuit of the most promising solution, I have tried note-taking apps such as Evernote and OneNote, dabbled with celebrated knowledge management systems like Notion, and even tried to wrap my head around the infinite possibilities of Obsidian. But the overwhelming number of entry fields in these apps has prevented me from relying on them consistently. Time and again, I have found myself returning to simpler remedies, such as Google Keep or Apple Notes, or even rudimentary options like jotting notes by hand. But the biggest issue with these has been the poor support for recall. That lack led me to find something that satisfies both requirements — ease of collecting my thoughts, as well as the ability to retrieve them at a moment's notice. It wasn't until recently that I discovered a simpler app that solves both of those issues. However, before I tell you more about it, let me first describe the app that led me to it, and that precursor was Obsidian. Have you tried Logseq? If so, what is your experience? 1 votes Yes, and I use it a lot 0 % Yes, and I use it with other apps like Notion or Obsidian 0 % Yes, but I didn't like it 0 % No, haven't heard of it 100 % Any other (tell us in the comments!) 0 % How Obsidian helped (and deterred) me Tushar Mehta / Android Authority I like to consider myself somewhat of a privacy enthusiast — even though I'm far from cutting Google out of my life completely. With apps like Notion and Evernote, I have always felt unease about letting a company store my data on the cloud, and so, I immediately jumped ship when I first learned about Obsidian. Even though Notion also offers 256-bit encryption for servers and TLS for data in transit, it doesn't have the same appeal as an app that thinks of its users as a community. Meanwhile, Obsidian felt like the perfect app for me to ditch Notion. It was free, stored everything locally, and had the aura of an app made for developers, all of which immediately attracted me. Initially swayed by the idea, I diligently transferred my notes from various apps to Obsidian. However, when the novelty died, the expansiveness and flexibility also became my reason to despise it. See, Obsidian is an excellent app, and I still swear by its abilities, but it wasn't the right app for me. I had a 'it's not you, it's me' situation with Obsidian. The biggest reason for this realization was the core functionality in Obsidian. It is a personal knowledge management (PKM) app built with a writing approach. Every new document is a new entity, and for it to make sense, I had to spend time mastering formatting and even more time interlinking pages, just to utilize advanced features like internal graphs. While I can't deny that these features are incredibly impactful for boosting productivity, I had no practical use for them. I found myself in an unhealthy relationship with the app where I was trying to perfect my notes, but still feeling I could do more. It was exhausting! Until I stumbled upon the perfect alternative with fewer options and a much simpler interface. I found a love in Loqseq Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Standard Logseq note with indented bullets. This isn't the typical 'falling in love with a computer program' kind of trope, primarily because I didn't fall for Loqseq immediately. 'Not another Obsidian imposter!' I told myself — for obvious reasons. Logseq has the same attributes as Obsidian: it's a free app that stores documents locally, promises complete control, and is built with a community in mind. The fact that it is also open source didn't initially persuade me. However, as I began using the app, I found it creeping up on me, becoming central to my workflow. Not because it was attempting to be an Obsidian alternative, but because it wasn't. What truly attracted me to Logseq was how effortless creating notes felt. The app offers much less friction compared to any notes apps (though a pen and paper setup still beats it!) and finally lets me focus on storing thoughts, without feeling like I might be dumping them into limbo. Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Logseq note with tags and links to other pages Contrary to Obsidian's approach, where every new note is treated as a document, Logseq records notes as outlines. Every new line in a note is a new bullet point, as it is essentially treated as a separate entity. I can indent bullet points to establish a sense of hierarchy and establish relations, or also un-indent to restore a sub-point to its status. Logseq is identical to Obsidian in its ability to format text, since both use the same markdown formatting. I can use hashtags or double block brackets to add tags, which helps in creating relationships between different points, or use parentheses to tag a specific document. However, it's not the fancy formatting — or the resulting feeling of being an imposter coder (which I'm admittedly not) — that makes me really enjoy it. Logseq makes thought-dumping fruitful Tushar Mehta / Android Authority As you would expect, taking quicker notes is a crucial part of Logseq's identity. And this is largely facilitated by its daily Journal, which is the first screen that shows up when the app is opened. The space is divided into date-wise sections that allow me to store my thoughts, to-do lists, insights, epiphanies, fears, anxieties, and more in one place, much like an actual journal. If I want to add some sense of organization, I use tags, as mentioned above, to mention the names of projects, people, or places. It's just effortless dumping altogether. But I don't always feel like adding tags to the notes, or sometimes don't have enough time to embellish them. With Logseq, I can let that be and trust its organization features to sort them for me when I need it. It's just like talking to an assistant without having to deal with the fear that it might use your personal information to train an AI model. Logseq's journal mode allows effortless dumping and lets me focus away from perfecting notes. For me, the journaling mode has proven to be one of the quickest methods for saving information in a note, without including it within the note itself. I could join a meeting early in the morning, still waiting for caffeine to do its job, and jot broken notes without having to worry about formatting them properly or adding the correct tags in the moment. The same applies to webinars or product briefs, where I want to make use of time efficiently and only drop in with half of my attention on another simultaneous task. However, I would be lying if I said the Journal is my favorite Logseq trait — though it's easily one of my many favorites about this app. Retrieving notes is easy, and organizing is quick Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Search results from all pages for the term "Health" sorted into a new document. While adding notes is easy, the real reason I stuck to Logseq is its ability to retrieve and organize my notes. Besides simply searching, Logseq automatically creates new documents that link to every bullet point in every document mentioning a specific keyword. If I were to search for everything I have ever stored related to 'health,' all results could be automatically grouped and stored in a new document. Tags further complement this discovery, and each tag can also be transposed into a new document. While tags also enable visual interlinking with graphs, I feel Obsidian does that much better. Tushar Mehta / Android Authority Dated entries show up in Journal. Another way Logseq's discovery features truly help me is by allowing me to enter dates. That not only comes in handy for tracking deadlines but also serves as reminders that automatically show up in the journal feed. And that's a feature my forgetful, overwhelmed, and overstimulated self appreciates, especially for their lack of a nagging reminder. Combined, these features make for a task-tracking and knowledge-management tool that is fairly easy to use, all without the steep learning curve that apps like Notion or Obsidian typically come with. I haven't ditched Obsidian entirely Nathan Drescher / Android Authority There's even more to love about Logseq. It has a whiteboarding feature, Flashcards for learning, and it can ramp up workflows with plugin support. It's a very powerful app. Furthermore, Logseq offers syncing notes across different devices. You can either choose a voluntary donation of at least $5 a month or configure your own solution through cloud syncing services such as Google Drive or OneDrive. That all said, I haven't completely renounced Obsidian. It still holds a crucial spot in my workflow for longer notes and even longer narratives or clippings and highlights from online articles (through its Raindrop integration). But for smaller, more fragmented remarks, Logseq remains my first recommendation — until I accidentally stumble upon another better alternative. If you use Obsidian but are looking for an alternative, I highly recommend Logseq. Follow
CNET
2 days ago
- Business
- CNET
Act Fast to Save 10% on Plaud AI Voice Recorder and NotePin This Back-to-School Season
If you're a student, educator or work at a job that requires you to remember lots of information, you may want a way to automate your note-taking or record meetings and lectures. But not all recorders are alike. If you're looking for a voice recorder that can also transcribe for you, perhaps it's time to try Plaud's AI note voice recorder and case bundle. It's now down to $143 at Amazon, which saves you $16 and amounts to a discount of 10% just in time for this back-to-school season. Plaud's AI note voice recorder comes in three colors, supports up to 112 languages and includes 64GB in storage. Measuring only an estimated 3.5 inches in height and 2.13 inches in width, this compact note voice recorder is perfect for anyone on the go. Plaud's recorder is equipped with a microphone, offers clear recordings and weighs just 30 grams. All recordings are saved as WAV files. On top of its recording features, Plaud offers encrypted recordings for added security. Your purchase includes a magnetic ring, magnetic charging cable, CR5 battery, and a free Starter plan that will transcribe up to 300 minutes for no additional cost. All transcriptions and summaries are created with your choice of GPT-4.1, Claude 4.0, o3-mini or Gemini 2.5 Pro(Beta). If you'd like a different option, the Plaud AI NotePin is also down to $143, making it also $16 off. The NotePin requires one AAA battery, which is included with your purchase. Looking for more back-to-school deals but not sure if these are for you? We've got a list of the best back-to-school tech and gear for your convenience. Why this deal matters Plaud's AI note voice recorders allow you more easily take audio notes during meetings and other important conversations. With its support for up to 112 languages, recording in WAV format and two compact options, now is the perfect time for busy students and professionals to stock up on a note-taker that can make it easier to review any material. Both the note voice recorder and NotePin are 10% off -- a rare discount -- you'll spend $143 and save $16 for a limited time. Plus, you get a free 300 minutes of transcription with purchase, as well as all accessories you'll need to keep your note recorder working.
Android Authority
3 days ago
- Android Authority
5 reasons I swapped Google Keep for this open-source app
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority As a journalist and avid enthusiast of productivity apps, I've used more note-taking apps than I care to admit. Google Keep, OneNote, SimpleNote, and a pretty wide assortment of open-source tools have all been a part of my note-taking arsenal at one point or another. To be sure, some of these were excellent, some less so, while others like Google Keep and OneNote begrudgingly became a key part of my workflow. Google Keep, in particular, has been a constant companion for its simplicity, quick note-taking, and wide web-based availability. Despite its relatively limited feature set, the colorful sticky note format feels like an extension of the dozen or more sticky notes plastered on my work desk. But as my note-taking needs have grown more complex, Keep's limitations just can't, ahem, keep up. I've used more note-taking apps than I care to admit, but only one has truly replaced them all. Keep isn't the only note-taking app that I regularly use. I was an early adopter of Microsoft OneNote and clung to it after the downfall of Evernote. In theory, it packs every feature I need, including rich formatting and easy interlinking with other notes. However, the app is heavy, clunky, and, often enough, way too much for everyday use. I've been looking for something that can handle both serious work and quick note-taking without drowning me in options or locking my notes into a proprietary format. Sounds like a tall order. That's what I thought until I discovered Outline. It's an open-source app that sits at the cross section of note-taking and personal knowledge management, and it has completely replaced both Google Keep and OneNote for my use. Here's why. Is Google Keep your primary note-taking app? 3539 votes Yes, I use it all the time. 76 % I use the default notes app on my phone (for eg. Samsung Notes). 7 % I prefer a full-fledged suite like Notion or Obsidian. 8 % I don't have a preferred note-taking app. 10 % An interface that works for you, not against you Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority One of my biggest gripes with OneNote is its incredibly cluttered interface. In typical Microsoft fashion, it's a productivity tool with a surprisingly obtuse user experience that hampers productivity instead of aiding it. Google Keep is the opposite of that. It's too barebones. Outline strikes a rare balance by offering a clean interface that lets your notes shine while still providing all the tools you need just a click away. The app takes a lot of inspiration from Notion but improves on it with a much more fluid presentation. There are no unnecessary menu bars or floating toolbars, and there is effectively no lag at all, even when embedding large pages within an existing note. That lightning-quick performance was a big upsell when I initially started testing out Outline, and it remains just as fast today. When you open a page, it's ready for you to type and start taking notes. When you write for a living, that quick access makes a big difference. Outline strikes the rare balance between speed, simplicity, and the power to handle serious work. The other feature that sold me on Outline was markdown support. For those who aren't clued in on markdown, it is effectively a way to tag rich formatting in your notes and have it show up exactly the same across platforms and apps. I love it. While Google Keep supports all the usual formatting options like bold, italics, and bullet points, it isn't robust enough. OneNote, on the other hand, goes off the deep end. Try exporting a document and see the proprietary mess you get. In fact, when drafting an article in OneNote, I couldn't even copy and paste the document into our own CMS due to the sheer amount of cruft it adds. Outline is built with markdown in mind. Everything you write is effectively plain text with tags added for formatting. These documents can be opened in any other markdown editor, making it a dream if document portability is as important to you as it is to me. There's no risk of losing formatting or spending a whole lot of time cleaning up your copy. Moreover, this markdown support has made it easy for me to import years' worth of notes from other markdown editors I've used. A self-hosted knowledge hub that is entirely in your control Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority Another frustration I've had with Google Keep has been its lack of structure. While labels are a good first step and helpful to an extent, there is no real way to easily interlink notes. OneNote tries to solve that with sections and notebooks, but it's not particularly free-form the way modern tools are. Unlike Google Keep, Outline lets you create a living network of notes, documents and media. Outline takes a page out of Wikipedia and lets you create an interconnected knowledge system. You can create links between pages, just like a wiki. This helps avoid replication of information, and if you're working on a big project, you can seamlessly link notes, documents, and more directly back to your primary document. It's a big improvement over nested pages. As someone deep into the self-hosting and productivity game, I keep notes on interesting apps that I'm trying out, and all of these are linked to a master document that details my current stack. Interlinking pages is just one advantage that Outline offers. The app also works seamlessly with a wide range of integrations that make managing and accessing external information a cinch. For example, you can toss in a Google Sheets link and Outline will offer to embed the document, complete with a preview and the ability to interact with the sheet. Similarly, you can embed presentations, Figma artboards, Airtable documents, and more. That deep integration extends beyond inbound connections. If you're deploying Outline for a small business, you can integrate it with a work-focused messenger like Slack. This integration allows you to search for and share Outline documents straight from a chat window. It's incredibly useful and something that is simply not possible with Google Keep or OneNote. If you're looking to push the app even further, you can connect it with Zapier for limitless automation. You catch my drift. There's no proprietary lock-in here, just plain text files you control completely. While all those features are excellent to have, there are a few more aspects of Outline that sold it to me. You see, self-hosting and data ownership are extremely important to me. While I'm not averse to using cloud services, I always try to maintain an offline, self-hosted copy of every file, document, or photograph. However, both Google Keep and OneNote store your data on their respective company servers. Convenient as that is, there are significant tradeoffs. You have to trust that your data will always be safe, the service will always be around — I'm looking at you, Google — and that privacy policies won't change. In the age of AI-everything, I just don't trust any company enough. Outline is open-source and offers a straightforward self-hosted alternative. You can run it on your own server, perhaps a Synology NAS, or even host it on a VPS to have easy online access. While that shifts the onus of maintenance, backups, and security on you, it's a compromise I'm comfortable with. Of course, the company does offer a cloud-hosted alternative for a price, and if the rest of the feature set is all that you're looking for, Outline is still a great choice. But for me, data ownership is the biggest upsell. Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority On that note, Outline has one more feature that appeals to me. Data ownership is nothing without ease of data transfers. Open-source apps can cease development too. If you've tried exporting documents from Google Keep or OneNote, you'd know how cumbersome that can be. Export options are limited, and the document structure is cumbersome by design, making it hard to transfer those documents to another app. Outline's markdown-based approach guarantees that your notes are just files in a folder. Back them up, copy them, sync them, or import them into a brand-new app that you're enjoying more than Outline. There's no proprietary lock-in here. Why Outline has become my go-to for serious note-taking Much as I like trying out the latest and greatest productivity apps, my switch from Google Keep and OneNote to Outline wasn't just about chasing the new shiny. I needed to solve a very real problem I faced in my workflow. And despite switching over to Outline, I haven't entirely discarded Keep just yet. Instead, I use it like a scratch pad or sticky note for ephemeral lists like grocery shopping or when making a quick note. Outline has earned a permanent spot in my self-hosting stack and I don't see myself going back. But for notes that I make for research, long-form writing, journaling, or, for that matter, anything that I need to stick around, Outline is what I turn to. The app has the depth and feature set of a commercial offering, all the advantages of self-hosting that are important to me, and an interface that just gets out of the way to facilitate productivity. All of this has made it my go-to app of choice for note-taking and personal knowledge management. I just don't see myself going back to Google Keep or OneNote for those tasks again. Follow
Android Authority
10-08-2025
- Android Authority
My Google Keep notes were a mess — here's how I got them under control
Joe Maring / Android Authority Google Keep has been my go-to note-taking app for years, but I recently noticed that my disorganized notes were becoming overwhelming, making it harder to find what I was looking for. I had previously tried color-coding notes and pinning important ones, however these fixes were no longer enough. I decided to finally get control over my notes by using features I'd often ignored, including labels and deleting old notes I no longer needed. But I also moved some of my notes to another app with more advanced features. How do you keep your Google Keep notes organized? 0 votes Deleting and archiving old notes. NaN % Color-coding notes. NaN % Pinning important notes. NaN % Using labels. NaN % Using another app for more complex notes. NaN % All of the above. NaN % Something else (let us know in the comments). NaN % Finally using labels Megan Ellis / Android Authority My notes in Google Keep fall into three main categories: personal notes like shopping and medication lists, notes for articles I'm writing, and notes about hardware I'm reviewing. The labels feature lets you categorize notes, but the label itself is not enough to keep these notes organized. Rather, the ability to filter your notes to view a single label is what helped me get my Google Keep organized. Instead of being met with all my pinned notes and a series of disorganized notes spanning years, I can tap on a specific label to only view notes from a single category. Labels help by acting as filters that let you see your notes in a less cluttered view. When you view a specific category in Google Keep, it also remembers your pinned notes preferences. This means you can still see your highest-priority notes with a specific label at the top of your screen. I do wish, though, that Google made it a bit easier to organize notes on your home screen. Folders would be a really useful addition, allowing you to drag-and-drop your notes rather than assign them specific labels. It would also mean that when you open the app, your default screen gives you an organized overview, rather than requiring you to use labels as a filter. Deleting a backlog of notes Megan Ellis / Android Authority When looking at ways to organize my Google Keep notes, I realized that I was hoarding a bunch of useless notes and information that I no longer needed. There were old notes for articles I had published years ago, random screenshots that I had no context for, and links to old shopping carts. There was even a text note that was just a series of 8's taking up several lines, likely created during one of the many times my cat has stepped on my keyboard. I'm a bit of a digital hoarder, but even I saw that some of my notes needed to go. So I finally decided to do a thorough overview of my notes, deleting ones that I no longer needed. I am a bit of a digital hoarder, but even I can see how I no longer need my duplicate shopping lists and old article notes. For the things that I still wanted to keep around, I used the archive feature instead to remove them from my home screen view. This is arguably one of the most important steps for getting Google Keep under control, especially if you're a prolific note-taker. Delete what you no longer need, archive unimportant notes that you may want to keep just in case, and make sure your home screen includes your most important and recent notes. Moving some notes to Notion instead Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority I like Google Keep for its simplicity, especially since I find many productivity apps overwhelming with their learning curves and abundance of features. But even I need to admit when Google Keep's sticky-note format no longer cuts it. I noticed this first with my medication notes. As I changed between different treatments for my fibromyalgia and chronic migraines, it became more difficult to track the dosages, why I stopped taking certain medications, and the full history of different treatments. Moving certain notes to Notion has helped me make my Google Keep page less cluttered. As a result, I created a Notion template that keeps track of my current and past medications in a more nuanced way. This allowed for more detailed notes and simple ways to mark whether I still take the medication or supplement. I also added a column to my template that notes the effectiveness of the treatment, along with any side effects. I'm also doing this with my notes related to my cats' vet visits. I usually use Keep to list some questions I have for the vet, along with any notable problems my cats are experiencing. But these have also become scattered and disorganized, so I plan to create a dashboard in Notion that I can use to consolidate my notes. This will let me make much more detailed notes and easily organize them according to the date and which cat they apply to. Technically I could've used text formatting in Google Keep to make more detailed notes, but they still wouldn't have the more advanced benefits of Notion databases and templates. Google Keep's simple approach to note-taking means that I will still use it as my primary app for quick notes. It's also the best place to keep my article ideas, since I can quickly jot them down whether I'm on the move, working, or lying in bed. But I've also had to start using the app more thoughtfully to stop it from being a disorganized mess. This includes deleting and archiving old notes, simplifying my view with labels, and realizing when a note requires more advanced features than what Keep offers. Follow
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Yahoo
Google's NotebookLM is now available to younger users as competition in the AI education space intensifies
Google's AI note-taking app is now open to younger users, having previously been limited to users 18 and older. The tech giant announced that NotebookLM is available to Google Workspace for Education users of any age and for consumers ages 13 and up. The removal of age restrictions is intended to provide younger students with access to the AI research tool, allowing them to better understand their class materials. Now, students can access features such as the ability to convert notes into podcast-like Audio Overviews, visually summarize ideas with interactive Mind Maps, and more. NotebookLM recently released Video Overviews to let users turn notes, PDFs, and images into visual presentations. This expansion comes amid increasing concerns about the use of AI in education regarding data privacy and potential misuse. Google says that NotebookLM enforces stricter content policies for users under 18 to prevent inappropriate responses, and user chats and uploads are not reviewed by humans or used for AI training. The availability of NotebookLM for younger users follows OpenAI's introduction of a study mode for ChatGPT, indicating that companies are ramping up competition in the AI education sector. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
