THE BRIDGE

tag writing

Wri.pe: A simple and handy note-taking app from Japan

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A few days ago I wrote about five iOS writing apps that I like these days. I have a bit of a weakness for such apps, and finding the best setup for writing on a mobile device can be a very deep rabbit hole, and lots of such apps (Markdown apps in particular) have sprung up in recent years. Oddly I have yet to see many people here in Japan get behind Markdown [1]. But a recent web app called Wri.pe is a promising example of made-in-Japan note-taking service that has some potential. At first glance Wri.pe looks something like Draft, another recent in-browser writing service. While Wri.pe isn’t so full featured, there’s still lots to like about it. Most notable perhaps is the fact that it can be used on mobile browsers (pictured right), which is good news for Android users who don’t have nearly the selection of native writing apps that iOS users have. Wri.pe also offers Dropbox integration, which will help with versioning if you need to revert to a previous state. There’s also a handy calendar area, which will feature any note that has a date written in it. Old notes can be archived if you’d…

wripe

A few days ago I wrote about five iOS writing apps that I like these days. I have a bit of a weakness for such apps, and finding the best setup for writing on a mobile device can be a very deep rabbit hole, and lots of such apps (Markdown apps in particular) have sprung up in recent years. Oddly I have yet to see many people here in Japan get behind Markdown [1]. But a recent web app called Wri.pe is a promising example of made-in-Japan note-taking service that has some potential.

wripe-android
Wri.pe on Android

At first glance Wri.pe looks something like Draft, another recent in-browser writing service. While Wri.pe isn’t so full featured, there’s still lots to like about it. Most notable perhaps is the fact that it can be used on mobile browsers (pictured right), which is good news for Android users who don’t have nearly the selection of native writing apps that iOS users have.

Wri.pe also offers Dropbox integration, which will help with versioning if you need to revert to a previous state. There’s also a handy calendar area, which will feature any note that has a date written in it. Old notes can be archived if you’d like to move them out of the way. I understand there are more features coming later, so stay tuned for updates.

Interestingly Wri.pe came about as a sort of hobby project from Yuichiro Masui, the CTO of FrogApps. He tells me that he was more or less scratching his own itch with Wri.pe, creating a note-taking app for his own use that he wished existed. Personally I was pretty impressed by his effort – even if it is just a side project – and I hope he continues to maintain it. Given that it already supports MultiMarkdown tables, I’d also like to see footnote support too [2], and maybe some popular export options beyond Dropbox.

If you’d like a preview of how Wri.pe works, check out out video demo below. There’s also a discussion of Wri.pe ongoing over on Hacker News if you’d like to check it out.


  1. At least, not beyond Github readme files, anyway.  ↩

  2. So you can create footnotes like this.  ↩

Japan’s U-Note wants to make sure you don’t miss out on important events

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Last Friday at the Infinity Ventures Summit LaunchPad event, Tokyo-based startup U-Note pitched a web solution for taking notes at public events. The company’s CEO, Yuto Koide, explained that they want to transfer event memos online. He says that while many people want to attend local events, they can’t possibly make it to every one – either due to time or money constraints. But U-Note provides user accounts of high profile events on its site, a valuable resource to those who cannot make it in person. In terms of the technology, the interface looks very much like Storify.com, allowing users to drag and drop rich media elements like Tweets, photos, videos, and more, in addition to text content. As for mobile note-taking, they have an Android app already released, and one for iPhone on the way. U-Note has nine categories of events on site, such as talks from celebrities, or startup events just like this one [1]. So far the platform is seeing good progress, and May saw 250% growth over the previous month, says Koide. As for monetization, they have editorial ads that they sell for 150,000 yen. They want the user to enjoy the contents, so the editorial…

unote
U-Note CEO Yuto Koide pitches at Infinity Ventures Summit

Last Friday at the Infinity Ventures Summit LaunchPad event, Tokyo-based startup U-Note pitched a web solution for taking notes at public events.

The company’s CEO, Yuto Koide, explained that they want to transfer event memos online. He says that while many people want to attend local events, they can’t possibly make it to every one – either due to time or money constraints. But U-Note provides user accounts of high profile events on its site, a valuable resource to those who cannot make it in person.

In terms of the technology, the interface looks very much like Storify.com, allowing users to drag and drop rich media elements like Tweets, photos, videos, and more, in addition to text content. As for mobile note-taking, they have an Android app already released, and one for iPhone on the way.

U-Note has nine categories of events on site, such as talks from celebrities, or startup events just like this one [1].

So far the platform is seeing good progress, and May saw 250% growth over the previous month, says Koide. As for monetization, they have editorial ads that they sell for 150,000 yen. They want the user to enjoy the contents, so the editorial ads aspire to be more interesting so that users are more receptive to them.

The content business is a tough one, but U-Note’s tool is certainly useful, capitalizing on Japan’s love of creating ‘matome’ or list posts. And assuming that people use it frequently enough. The U-Note page could prove a useful destination for event coverage.

U-Note publishing interface
U-Note publishing interface

  1. In fact, someone on U-Note actually put together a roundup of the startups competing at the LaunchPad event.  ↩