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May 29, 2008 5:21 PM PDT

Forget Google Docs, Penzu gives you paper 2.0

I'm not kidding when I say Penzu is the most realistic re-creation of paper I've seen on the Web. The service has a serious leg up on its pulp-born competition with a slick looking college-rule that holds all your thoughts (intelligent or not) and saves them to the cloud. When it comes time to print them, they'll come out just like they look like on the page, sans rulings of course.

One thing Penzu does a little better than other Web-based note takers is structure your docs like a diary, and stack each entry as its own page. You can hop back and forth between them with relative ease, and Penzu is smart enough to put the most-recently created docs on top. Also integrated are images, which you can upload from your computer at up to 5MB a pop. They'll sit in the margin and out of the way of the text. A simple mouse-over will let you see them in full resolution.

Up until a week ago I would have found this little service to have a nice leg up on Google Docs, which I usually use to jot down notes when I'm in meetings or interviews with start-ups. In those situations I'm usually not in need of Google's more advanced editing features, and want something that will simply retain my notes in case of hardware catastrophe.

However, if you're looking for some really basic necessities like indentation, hyperlinks, and a way to search through your past work, you might want to stick with one of the more complex tools like Gdocs or Zoho Writer.

(Via Ehub)

Write simple journal or diary entries with Penzu. Whatever you jot down it will save in the cloud for later retrieval.

(Credit: CNET Networks)
Josh Lowensohn writes for Webware.com, CNET's blog about Web applications and services. E-mail Josh.
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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 5 comments
by bc173 May 30, 2008 1:34 AM PDT
The sign-up form seems to be disabled. The form field are there but the submit button can't be clicked. Too bad! Will try another time.
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by musicwms May 30, 2008 4:37 AM PDT
You have to fix your birthdate info (the default appears to be 1908) and then the button is live.
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by cpu gd June 1, 2008 2:10 PM PDT
The site says that it is for keeping an online diary, but I think it's good enough for practically anything that you need the date on. But they should have an option to delete the date and put photos with the text. 4 out of 5 stars.
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by tchristoff June 2, 2008 7:31 AM PDT
Strange thing. When using Internet Explorer (7) I can't type into the Login screen. I type, but the fill-in remains blank. It works fine with Firefox. I've tried it on 2 PCs. And, I know I should be using Firefox, so before the storm begins, for something that will be used occasionally on public or loaner PCs, IE may be the only browser available.
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by tchristoff June 2, 2008 8:58 AM PDT
Okay, when I go to the FAQ the last item under General Questions is Browser Support. They support Firefox 2. Something that should be a little more obviously placed.
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