This lightweight app makes it dead easy to jot down notes and reminders and nearly impossible to lose them. It's like a Post-it that never falls off your fridge.
Featuring the simplest user interface since cuneiform, Simplenote works like this: Log on to the website or launch the app, click the plus sign to add a note to your own little slice of the cloud, and write something down. Add a tag if you're the organize-y type and the app will group your notes accordingly. If you want to share what you've just written, type your friends' addresses in the tags field; they'll be able to see and edit your musings even if they don't have a Simplenote account.
Both the app and the website update stupid fast, in less than two seconds. With auto-saving functionality, that means you never have to worry about losing your notes or wonder whether you have the most current version of your spouse's ever-changing shopping list.
There are ads, but they're so unobtrusive you barely notice them. Still, you can banish them with a $20 annual premium account, which also syncs memos to Dropbox, lets you e-mail entries to your account, and beefs up backups from 10 to 30 versions of each note so you can trace your revision history.
Additional functions like reminders, alarms, and notifications when a note buddy modifies a memo might take the app from useful to indispensable. But the approach — and the charm — is clear in the name.
