Google Notebook - More Online Storage

Google announced Google Notebook on May 15, 2006. Google Noteboos allows anyone to make a note regarding something of interest on the internet, and store it in the seemingly infinite amount of storage that Google has. You can even make it public and searchable for the world. The Notebook web application is made from, guess what, AJAX. So be prepared for floating text, fast updates, and easy re-ordering.

There are two ways of working with Google Notebook.
The first way is by logging in with your Google account, clicking on 'Add Note', and typing/copy-pasting. The second, and might I say ingenious way, is an installable plugin that creates a small window (Mini Notebook) within your browser (currently, IE and Firefox only). You can drag-and-drop text and images into the Mini Notebook to create a new note. Alternately, you can select text, right-click, and select 'Note this' from the context menu.

This web application would be quite helpful for people who need to carry work across computers. For example, the computer center at my college did not have a seat allocation. So, I pretty much had to choose whichever terminal I got. A tool like this sure would have helped me store my research.

I have suggested some features for this tool to Google. Here's my wishlist:

• Shared editing of notebooks - Currently, only one author is allowed. This feature would be great for people doing research in tandem, or across continents even.
• Plugins for other applications - Along with the your browser, Google could develop plugins for other applications such as Adobe Acrobat and MS Word, Outlook that allow direct entry into a Notebook window.
• Annotations for Notes - For notes created by right-clicking are created directly from the text and images selected. There is no direct way to add your own annotation or comment to capture why you thought that bit was important.

Apart from the privacy concerns, this tool appears to be quite helpful. One more tool in support of Google's shift towards home and student users.