Crazy inbox overload + Unroll.me

Sometimes keeping up with my email feels impossible.  I subscribe to lots of email newsletters, I follow lots of blogs and news sites, and I want to keep up with family and friends. Because of this, my email inbox tends to overflow each day. Yes, I could unsubscribe to some stuff but I’m a girl who likes to be in the know! Facebook notifications (interesting...). Fall sale at Anthropologie (ooooh...). LSU Alumni newsletter (Geaux Tigers!). However, how much of that can I really read through each day? And do I need to hear the latest from ZipCar right this second? When time is scarce, I need a way to streamline my inbox reading. There are lots of strategies to attack and organize your inbox, but recently I’ve started using Unroll.me to help keep my inbox cleaner. Unroll.me let’s you easily unsubscribe from email lists with one click. Then it “rolls up” all of your email subscriptions into one summary email . It’s a pretty nifty (and free) service that makes my inbox cleaner and let’s me browse certain types of emails when I’m ready for them.

HOW I USE IT

UNSUBSCRIBE. When I signed up for Unroll.me (steps below), it scanned all of my email and created a master list of everything I was currently subscribed to. The first step is to unsubscribe! Over time we end up on random mailing lists. Yes, I could read the fine print at the bottom of individual emails and unsubscribe one at a time. But Unroll.me gathers all of this info for me. I can go down the list and, with one click, unsubscribe from each list that I no longer want to be on. 

STREAMLINE. Once I eliminated the unnecessary email subscriptions, I could focus on the list of email subscriptions I wanted. Unroll.me creates a “roll-up”, a digest email that collects all of my email subscriptions into one. I no longer receive all of the individual emails in my inbox. Instead, I receive one email daily that allows me to skim over everything and click through to the emails that I want to read. If something is important (for example, I want my NOLA.com headlines to still come to my inbox each morning) I can opt it out of the roll-up and it will still go to my inbox directly.

CATEGORIZE. I can view all of my email subscriptions by category. Unroll.me automatically categorizes them (ex: travel, shopping, deals & rewards, social) but I can also categorize them myself. This is useful when, for example, I want to see all of my shopping emails (what are the latest sales that are running?). Instead of getting bombarded daily with offers from my favorite stores, I can browse through recent shopping emails when I'm ready to shop. It’s also interesting to see how many emails you get in each category (who knew I was subscribed to so many travel sites? Time to go back a step and unsubscribe...). 

Right now Unroll.me only works with Gmail or Google Apps but Yahoo and AOL functionality is in the works.

WHY I LOVE IT

• Easy  - go to the site, sign into your email account, and within a couple minutes, everything is scanned and ready for you to organize!
• Clean - the daily roll-up email and the site itself is easy to navigate and has a great design
• Automatic  - as you join newsletters, it automatically adds them to your roll-up (and lists them for you in case you want to unsubscribe or direct it to the inbox)
• Data - I love that you can see all of your email subscriptions by category. Fellow data nerds will appreciate.
• Less inbox clutter! Most importantly, it drastically cuts down the number of emails in my inbox each day. Important email still come to my inbox,  irrelevant emails are easily eliminated, and the digest email gives me an easy glance at all of my subscriptions together so I can choose what’s important to me that day.

HOW TO GET STARTED

• Visit Unroll.me
• Go the “Get Started” box on the top right and select your current email provider: “Gmail / Google Apps” or “Other”

• Unroll.me then asks for access to your email so  it can scan and organizeseverything. While you are granting access to your email, Unroll.me uses OpenID so you’re not handing over your password and you can delete your account and all of the associated data at any time.
• Once their scan is complete, you can to the “Edit view” to review and unsubscribe to any newsletters or lists you no longer want to receive.
• Then choose what time of day you’d like to receive your roll-up. This will contain all of your remaining subscriptions.
• Once you have it set up, you’ll receive your daily roll-up! You can click through to view the individual emails. You can also go to Unroll.me to edit or view your subscriptions.

MORE INFO

• Video: How It Works
• Advanced: If you really want to analyze your email activity and you’re a Gmail user, check out Google’s Account Activity report. Every month is summarizes stats about your email including sent / received volume, who you send the most email to, who you receive the most from.

Procrastination + iPhone 5 Unboxing

So as you’ve probably noticed by now, I’m a huge nerd. Besides having an unhealthy obsession with technology, in particular I REALLY love cell phones. Before smart-phones became all the craze I used to switch non-smartphones (also known as "dumbphones") almost every other month. A dumbphone is basically a flip phone...a Razr...any phone you probably owned pre-2007 or maybe still do! I once calculated that between the years 2003 and 2007 I owned 28 different cell phones. I hate to remind my friends of this ridiculous addiction but I'm at a point now where I can openly admit just how absurd it was. I finally kicked the habit once a) the Verizon employees at my local store started to greet me by name and b) I realized it was a complete and utter waste of money. I WOULD typically sell the "old" phones on eBay, but still. Absurd. So began my relationship with my beloved BlackBerry that weathered years of heckling from my Google co-workers and a few flings with iPhones and Android devices. Then about two years ago I finally caved, said goodbye to my BlackBerry and switched to an iPhone full-time, and at this point I honestly don’t think I could function without it.

For those of you that haven’t yet transitioned to a smartphone, I won’t go into all the reasons why they are awesome, but I would certainly recommend giving one a try. I know some of you are thinking: they are too complicated - why do I need email on my phone? - I have no use for silly apps. Don't be intimidated. If my Mother can operate an iPhone, so can you. The smartphone is (in my opinion) the single most important piece of consumer technology to enter our lives in the last 5-6 years. Just as our blog is aimed at making your life easier through various kinds of technology, smartphones have made everyday life easier, changed the way we take care of everyday tasks and have even made doing mundane things just a little bit more fun.

So fast-forward to last Friday. Procrastination was at an all-time high. I wasn’t in the mood to study or be productive in any way, and it just so happened to also be the day that the new iPhone 5 was being released in stores. I was eligible to upgrade from the iPhone 4 but although I do consider myself an early-adopter I am NOT a fan of waiting in line for hours just to get my hands on the latest and greatest phone. But I had researched it a lot online and was prepared to take the plunge. I didn’t think I’d face Chicago or New York-like crowds so I figured I’d drive over to the New Orleans Apple Store and waste a couple of hours looking at the phones and/or eating beignets at Cafe du Monde. And if the line wasn’t too long and they had them in stock - maybe grab a shiny new iPhone 5 for myself. This particular Apple store had a very organized process for handing out the phones but as usual there were about 567 blue-shirted Apple employees aimlessly wandering around the store while only five of them were ACTUALLY helping customers. This I will never understand, but I digress. Overall it wasn’t super crowded though - and minus a HIGHLY annoying Apple salesperson trying to get us to do the “wave” in line, I only waited for about an hour and it was a fairly painless process.

I’ve only owned the phone for about a week now, but for those of you wondering whether you should upgrade or purchase the new iPhone, here’s my quick run-down:

iPhone 5

• Form Factor - the iPhone 5 hardware (the actual device itself) is thinner, noticeably lighter and a tad longer than the iPhone 4 and 4S. The added length honestly isn't that noticeable when using the phone, and it allows for an extra row of icons on each page. It's available in black and white, and really the only drastic cosmetic differences are the back of the phone and the new charging port (which is annoying because now your old chargers will no longer work). I think the new design is slick and it eliminates the all-glass back of the previous models. You'll also get a new (and slightly better) set of headphones in the box, but in my opinion they are still kind of cheap and junky.

• Software - the iPhone 5 runs Apple’s new iOS6. iOS is just Apple's fancy abbreviation for the operating system that runs your phone. Just like Windows or Mac Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion (or whatever other strange animal names they use), run your computer and allow it to be more than just a big metal box sitting on your desk. Both the iPhone 4 and 4S can be upgraded to run this new software version, however the iPhone 4 can’t take advantage of all of the new features (mainly updates to Siri - because the iPhone 4 doesn’t have Siri, and turn-by-turn directions in the Maps App). Here's a complete list of all of the changes. I’ll highlight the major ones:

• Apple Maps - this one I’m not psyched about. I LOVE Google Maps and use it almost every single day. While it makes sense that Apple cut ties with Google (they ARE competitors after all, and Google provided Apple with only the most basic version of Google Maps) their new proprietary Map app is nothing short of awful. I haven’t personally experienced any massive issues, but I also haven’t used it very extensively yet. We do finally get turn-by-turn voice navigation, so as long as it doesn’t direct me off a cliff this is a welcomed addition. If you're interested, this article pretty much sums up the amount of fail that is going on in Apple Maps right now. And most of you probably aren’t familiar with the "Hitler Reacts" YouTube video that people have edited to poke fun at everything from the iPhone to Tim Tebow, but someone put together a pretty funny one to rag on Apple Maps as well. It's worth a watch. Disclaimer: I am not advocating Hitler, just the video.

• Siri on Steroids - I didn’t have Siri on my old iPhone, but apparently her capabilities have been upgraded. All I’ve asked her so far is where I can find good pizza in NOLA, and how to get to the NOLA Lawn Tennis Club. I’m sure she will be wonderful for further procrastination as the semester goes on.

• Deeper Facebook Integration - Anyone with an iPhone knows how annoying it has been to post photos to Facebook. In Apple's last major software update we saw deeper Twitter integration, which gave us the ability to take a picture and Tweet it directly from the Camera app for example. This is essentially what has now happened with Facebook - and you finally have the ability to post a status update or picture directly from the “Notification Center” or the regular Camera of Photo apps instead of having to go into the actual Facebook app. This was a huge gripe of mine, so I'm glad they addressed it.

• Passbook - this is a totally new feature which essentially aggregates loyalty cards, boarding passes and gift cards and makes them easily accessible and scannable if/when you need to use them. I can see this being useful, but it appears to be limited to certain vendors at this point. I’m sure Apple will expand the compatibility, but we’ll have to see as time goes on.

• Do Not Disturb - This isn’t a feature I thought I would use but it’s actually pretty cool. It allows you to silence all of your notification sounds between certain hours (perhaps 11 pm - 6 am) - but gives you the option to allow the calls from your “Favorites” and "Repeated Calls" to ring out loud like normal (think: in case of an emergency and the same person calls you a couple of times in a row trying to reach you).

• Other little things: Panoramic camera option; Facetime over your cell phone provider's network instead of just WiFi; a “VIP” email inbox that will star and separate emails from your carefully selected BFFs.

Conclusion

Honestly, if you already own an iPhone 4S it’s probably not worth upgrading. Even with the older versions of the hardware you’re able to get the new software, which is where the majority of the changes are found. However, if you have an iPhone 4 it’s a worthy enough upgrade, and if your contract is up you’ll be able to get a discounted price on the phone from your carrier. Keep in mind that the NOLA Apple store was sold out when I was there two days ago, and I know shipments from both the Apple Online Store and Verizon stores are backed up for a few weeks as well. 

As another note - I have several friends who have NEVER updated their iPhone software, never backed up their device and don't sync their device with their calendars, contacts etc. While it's definitely not necessary to do any of this, these capabilities are what make smartphones different from that Razr you owned 7 years ago, so it may be worth at least learning what it's all about. I know these processes can be confusing - they still are even for me at times - so we'd be more than happy to post some tutorials on how to do any or all of these things. 

It pained me to see four women at the Verizon store on Tuesday "upgrade" to the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S thinking they were getting a new phone (I know this because I overheard their conversations with the Verizon employees). While I know older models may be slightly cheaper (I believe the iPhone 4 is now FREE with a 2-year contract), and as a poor student I can understand everyone's desire to save money, if you're going to own a phone for 2+ years why not at least consider getting the latest version instead of one that was technically released two years ago. If you like the looks of the older version better that is one thing, I just hate seeing someone make a decision like that simply because they aren't aware of all of their options. That being said, we don't want anyone to feel pressure to be an ultra-nerdy tech geek and spend all of their money on new technology, we just want to expose you to all the possibilities so you have the chance to explore things you may interested in trying. So if you just like having an iPhone or Android because it looks cool and you can check Facebook and play Words with Friends - then that's perfectly fine too!


That’s all I’ve got for now - if you have any questions about the new iPhone 5, an older iPhone model or want to know about anything I didn’t specifically cover just drop us a comment!

My sister moves to Austin + Instagram

What a summer! As Emilia, mentioned, we both made some big changes.  After five years at Google (and the last three months spent in the London office), I decided to  try something new and join the start-up world. I loved every minute of my time at Google and I’m so grateful for all the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met (hmm...my husband, Emilia, and so many other close friends!). But now I’m part of a fantastic team at a new company called AppStack. AppStack is a start-up that makes mobile easy for local businesses and I’m going to be working on finding great partnerships for our amazing platform. Lots of new challenges but really loving it so far! On top of that,  Ani and I will be moving to Los Angeles at the end of the month. A little sad to leave the amazing city of Chicago but both of us are excited to start a new adventure in LA!

So what else did I do this summer? A little over a month ago my sister took a great new job in Austin and I was lucky enough to road trip with her (and my mom, my dad, and our dog, Bella) from New Orleans to her new town. Since we hadn’t had a family road trip in quite some time, I wanted to share our little adventure with our friends along the way. Enter Instagram,  the “fast, beautiful photo sharing” app. Within 30 seconds I could turn a pretty ordinary phone pic into something beautiful and worth sharing. Or at least have fun playing with filters in between apartment hunting and trips to Target and IKEA. Instagram has been getting a lot of buzz lately since Facebook is trying to buy the 13-person company  for $1 BILLION (!) dollars but once you play with this (free!) app, you’ll understand how addicting it is.

How I use it

I use Instagram to highlight my favorite pictures or moments. I rarely share a full album of pictures on Facebook anymore - too time consuming and I don’t love their interface or privacy settings. But Instagram lets me choose my favorite pictures, add a filter to make them look special, and then instantly share them.  Ordinary picture of Bella? Now much cuter (if that's possible). Shot of the Texas State Capitol? Now much cooler.

Instagram is it’s own mini-social network. Your pictures default to public (so anyone using Instagram can view them) or you can choose to make your account private. Only people who you approve to follow you (for example your close friends) will be able to view your pictures. After you finish editing your photo, you can choose where to share it. In addition to posting to your Instagram feed (where your followers will see the picture) you can also share the picture to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, and now Flickr. I personally stick to just Facebook. For example, I shared an Instagram of my sister and me with our friends on Facebook - look, we are not only surviving this trip but eating bbq and blackberry cobbler!

You can also add the location (geo-tag) using your camera’s GPS. Add the name of the restaurant, the landmark, or the city where the picture was taken. Instagram automatically saves the picture to your camera roll so you can then email, download, or share on other services (I will usually share a batch on Google+). Where were we having lunch in this pic? (South Congress Cafe) Where are those delicious cupcakes from? (Hey! Cupcake) Now that info is stored with the picture.

And Instagram just added a cool new feature called Photo Maps. When you tag the location of your photos, you can view a map with your photos overlaid where they were taken. It gives a whole new visual perspective to your adventures.

I also use Instagram to follow my friends’ highlights. It’s a different view into their world. What are they up to? (Oh, Emilia just ate that delicious looking burger...)

Why I love it

-really easy, fun interface

-your pictures instantly look better! I know photography experts will cringe but for those of us who like to pretend to be creative but are actually lazy and taking pictures on our phones, this is a fun way to make your pictures more interesting.

-you can see the world through the eyes of your friends. What did they think was beautiful or funny or worth sharing from their day? I can follow my close friends and see their pictures in my feed.

-instantly creates your own digital scrapbook / photo map. Collects the highlights for you in one place, making them beautiful and capturing the location.

How to get started

• download the app for iPhones in the  AppStore or for Android phones in the Google Play Store
• make your account private: on the home screen of the app, click the icon all the way to the right that looks like an ID card.
• On an iPhone, scroll down to where you see "Privacy" and slide it to where you see ON.
• For an Android, click the top right corner for settings, go to “Photo Privacy” and make sure the box is checked.
• take a picture on your phone, choose a filter, post to Instagram!

If you’re already an Instagram pro, here are some additional programs to try:

• Instaport - simple way to export all of your Instagrams when you don’t feel like connecting your phone to your computer
• Coastermatic - print your Instagrams on sandstone coasters!
• The Lumi Process - print your instagrams on fabric to make them wearable!

Sending & Receiving Money + Chase QuickPay

So I’ve made some rather big life changes lately, which partially explains the lengthy delay between blog posts. My apologies! Rebecca and I have both had a lot of interesting things to write about but just not a whole lot of time. But rest assured, we’re back!

If you happened to have read the “About Us” section, you may have noticed that up until recently I was working at Twitter in Chicago - and before that, Google. I absolutely loved working in the tech and digital media world for the last 5 years, but felt that in order to pursue some of the interests that I am passionate about, I needed to pivot and take a different road. Well, that road led me to New Orleans, LA and the MBA program at Tulane University. While it has been a rather significant change (and a slightly scary one after working and earning money) I can honestly say that after only a couple of weeks in my new world, it is shaping up to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. For those of you that equate New Orleans with fried food, Bourbon St. and Mardi Gras I’ll just say that (thanks to Rebecca, her friends and her family) I’ve learned that there is a lot more to love about this city and I am looking forward to experiencing everything it has to offer!

As a small teaser, Rebecca has recently made some rather big life changes as well, but I’ll let her share that in her next post...

So while I will now have final exams, group projects and be living off of a steady diet of Lucky Charms and Easy-Mac, the plus-side to this move was that I had a few weeks off between my last day of work and my first day of Tulane Orientation. And during that break I did what any young, single girl would do - I went on vacation with my parents and their friends in Northern Wisconsin. Now my parents’ friends aren’t just any ol’ group of adults. They. Are. Awesome. I might even argue that they are more awesome than my friends (sorry guys). During my time with them in the North Woods I witnessed the death of a beloved automobile at the hand’s of a (allegedly) mutant deer, I was cooked and baked any food that my little heart desired and I witnessed my mother form an unhealthy addiction to Mahjong.

Unfortunately, as awesome as the group is, most of them are slightly lacking in their understanding of the latest and greatest technology. One still has a flip-phone circa 2001, one refuses to get on Facebook even though that means she misses countless pictures of her adorable grandchildren and even UTTER the words Twitter or Google+ and a collective explosion of brain cells occurs right before your eyes. That being said, I did find a way to introduce a small bit of new technology to them that helped make one aspect of their vacation a tiny bit easier - settling up expenses at the end of the trip. 

Surely most of you have been on a trip with a group of friends where you’ve either rented a house or a car together, shared food expenses or paid for something along the way that you intended to get reimbursed for. Therefore, most of us also know how ridiculously annoying it is to split expenses and pay people back as you go your separate ways at the end of the trip. Most people don’t carry much cash and I always seem to forget to bring a check to pay my share. Which means I have to wait until I get home to mail someone a check. Which means I have to find their address, an envelope AND a stamp. Which means they are unlikely to see that money until a good 30 days after the trip has ended.

Luckily, some banks have finally gotten with the times and begun to embrace the idea of mobile banking on a variety of levels. One such service is called Chase QuickPay, and it’s an easy way to send money to a friend or family member without having to dig up your checkbook or ever step foot in an actual bank. If you don't bank with Chase, don't stop reading - this service doesn't require both parties to have Chase so there are still some options that might work for you.


How I Use It

Since there aren’t many restaurants in the North Woods, a lot of cooking tends to happen on this trip, and with that comes the issue of splitting up grocery costs. Traditionally my parents estimate the food/adult beverage costs for the week and have their friends give them a check upfront. If there is any money leftover at the end of the week, my Dad then reimburses each couple.

This is a terrible process. It involves a) each couple writing a check to my Dad b) my Dad cashing each check c) my Dad then writing each couple ANOTHER check if there is any money leftover d) each couple then depositing THAT check. Lots of unnecessary steps. Lots of trees killed. So here’s where Chase QuickPay comes in.

My Dad uses Chase and also had the Chase Mobile app downloaded to his phone already, so I had him set up QuickPay within the mobile app. It also involved one verification step on his desktop computer but then he was good to go. As long as one person involved in the transaction is a Chase customer, the other person does not have to be.

Steps to set up Chase QuickPay are as follows:

• My Dad set up each person as a contact by entering their email addresses into the Chase app on his phone.

• Each of his friends then received an email asking them to set-up Chase QuickPay on their end:
• Chase customer: Simply sign into your Chase Online Account and enroll in QuickPay
• Non-Chase customer: Create a log-in using your email address (must match the one that the money was sent to). Then, similar to what PayPal does, you enter your bank information and verify that as well. The instructions are clear, and the whole process is not extremely time-consuming. This only needs to be done once.

• Once each party sets up their account and verifies all of their information, they will be able to accept or send payments. In this instance, my Dad could then receive money from each couple, or reimburse them any money that was leftover at the end of the week.

While it does require a couple of set-up steps, the instructions walk you through the process, and all other person-to-person payment systems essentially work in much the same way. The person paying you or receiving money from you will never see your bank information, or vice versa, so it feels very secure.

How long does it take to get your money, you ask? Is it instant? Does it take a week? Well, the bad news is, it is not instant - but the good news is, it only takes about 1-2 days at most and this whole process is generally still quicker than the process of sending/depositing checks. Similar to sending someone a check or depositing a check at the ATM, the funds have to “clear” which causes the bulk of the delay. There are also payment “cut-off” times that Chase specifies - but if you get the transaction in before the cut-off AND the payment is being sent to a Chase customer, it seems to take about 1 day. If it’s a payment to a non-Chase customer it can take an extra day in some instances.

As with any new technology, there are customers that have seen bugs or some additional delays in receiving funds, and while doing some research online I did find a few people griping about the service. But my theory on this is that people tend to be more vocal when they’re upset or disappointed with something - as opposed to when they are satisfied. In general it seems to work very well, and in my personal experience I’ve never had any issues with sending or receiving money. Hopefully in the future these payments will become more “instant”, but for now it’s nice that this option exists and that it’s free.

In summary, if you’ve ever split the cost of something with a group of people and you happen to be a Chase customer (or the person you owe money to or are due money from is), I’d recommend trying out this service. Chase seems to be at the forefront of mobile banking innovations (in another post we’ll talk about one of their other features, Chase Mobile Check Deposit) and I believe a couple of other banks are jumping on the bandwagon as well. If your bank doesn’t offer this right now, keep an eye out for it or something similar in the near future. Given that I feel absolutely no loyalty towards any particular bank, I tend to graviate towards tech-savvy banks that offer these kinds of options, so it's worth exploring if you're flexible.

I like the direction that banks are going though - basically creating ways to assure I never have to actually VISIT the bank. Anything I can do on my smartphone these days saves me time, and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like to have more time in their day. Hopefully as more people use the QuickPay Service, Chase will dedicate more resources towards making it faster and bug-free!

Why I Love It

• Free - who likes paying for anything!
• Secure - no one likes identity theft!
• Don’t have to be a Chase customer (although at least one person involved in the transaction must be).
• All you need is email address and a valid U.S. Bank account (checking or savings account).

• Quickly send money to, or request money from friends and family members without having to remember your checkbook or cash.
• Takes about 10 min to set up QuickPay and then you never have to set anything up again.

*Not for sending money outside of the US

Download the Chase Mobile App for Android or iPhone

Rome + Evernote Food

I was incredibly lucky to be able to travel to several European cities this spring while working in London and while all were charming in their own way, Rome remains my absolute favorite. I’ll go ahead and say that The Eternal City is my second favorite city in the world after New Orleans. I actually feel like they have a lot common - there’s a laid back vibe, they love the Pope, and there’s an appreciation for art, music, film, and FOOD. Oh, the food... 


This was something I wanted to savor and remember til my next visit! My friends and I already like to take pictures of our food and share them but during this trip I decided to use an app designed specifically for documenting and remembering your meals, the Evernote Food App. 

How I use it

I use Evernote Food to help me remember meals and all the details that go with it - what I ordered, where I was, who I was with. It had been five years since I’d visited Rome but I still had visions of the pizza (thin crust with mushrooms, pancetta, and a fried egg!), the gelato (dark chocolate orange!), the pasta (ravioli with red sauce, fettuccine with cream sauce and peas!).  I vaguely remembered where it was but I had no official record of the name or addresses of any of these places. Evernote Food now gives me an easy way to remember the restaurant name and address for my future visits or for giving recommendations to friends.

Evernote Food also helps me organize and search all of my past meals. For example, what was that amazing wine we had with that pasta? I can search by tags (“red wine” or “pasta”) and it will search all of my entries and photos and bring up those photos or meals that match.


In Evernote Food, you create a "Meal". You can give the meal a title, add photos and captions, add the venue, and create notes and tags. And it's easy to share the meal with your companions or friends via email, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

Why I love it

• easy way to organize and search your food pics (because let’s be honest, who doesn’t love food pics)
• inspiration for cooking at home (maybe I’ll take a stab at recreating that fettuccine dish)
• great way to give recommendations to friends and remember the places you ate while traveling (everyone should visit La Montecarlo for pizza and the Sicilian bakery I Dolci di Nonna Vincenza)

How to get started

• download the Evernote Food app on your iPhone or Android and snap away!

Evernote Food is one of many products by Evernote, a platform that helps you remember everything. You can take notes, clip articles or images from the web, and add things from your phone or desktop. More on Evernote in a future post!

Finally, my  favorite thing about Rome is that you can see and feel how much Romans LOVE their city. And, most importantly they really want you, as a visitor, to love it too. I also  think this is yet another thing Rome has in common with New Orleans. And what better way to capture that feeling and pass it along my using your Evernote Food app? Yum!