Flamory: a second memory for saving useful information

By , 8 December 2016 at 13:03
Flamory: a second memory for saving useful information
Digital Life

Flamory: a second memory for saving useful information

By , 8 December 2016 at 13:03
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We are used to searching for what we need with tools like Google or knowledge sources such as Wikipedia. However, wouldn’t it be better to have our own reference sources where we can save information we have found on the internet, and organise and catalogue it according to our preference?

There are many ways to find what you are looking for on the Internet. You can access sources that are available online, either search engines or direct sources, such as portals, encyclopaedias or specialised pages. But why continue turning to the same source time and again to find the same things? Wouldn’t it be more practical to save information from your regular searches in your own source where, in just a few clicks, you can categorise it and have it ready at hand?

In previous Blogthinkbig.com articles we have seen how tools such as Evernote function like virtual notebooks where all types of information can be saved. Not just text, but also images, videos, audio and even portions of web pages.

Today we are focusing on a similar tool, Flamory, part screen capture tool, part favourites manager for links, and part virtual notebook. Its creators call it a “second memory”, and it’s true; with Flamory you can take a snapshot of any information found on the Internet, and process it, save it, and, most importantly, recover it for future reference needs. Let’s see how it works.

Flamory is available as a Windows program. However its makers haven’t ruled out future launches of versions for Mac, Linux, mobile devices or even a direct web-based version, which would be quite useful considering the fact that these days we randomly interact and work with various different devices (telephone, tablet, computer…).

On the one hand, Flamory allows you to save and organise any type of file you find online, such as PDF documents or web pages, as well as text documents, spreadsheets or presentations, all for later reference. You can also take a snapshot of an entire page rather than limiting yourself to saving a single link, so if that source were to disappear or stop working, you will still have a copy on your computer. In addition, you can add explanatory notes or highlight interesting elements within those snapshots.

So once you have taken snapshots of all this interesting information, how do you recover it? On the one hand, the Flamory search tool searches for both the name of the saved document and its content, so if you’re looking for something saved in Flamory, the answer will be there. On the other hand, by searching something in Google, the tool will show you similar results from your own snapshots or archived documents. This will save you time from having to find something a second time around if you’ve already found it and saved it in Flamory.

 

A summary of Flamory’s main functions

For the moment, all the information, snapshots and documents that you save in Flamory remain on your computer. This way, if your connection goes down you will still be able to access your previous searches saved with the tool.

Other practical functions of the tool include the possibility to share your information snapshots. The advantage is that you will send an image file instead of a link, which could be broken or the information could have changed since the first time you accessed it. On the other hand, the tool tries to group any information with something in common into topics or categories. However, this function is more practical for content in English than for other languages, so you may have to edit the groups if working in a language other than English.

With such a massive amount of available information within the web and without, it is crucial to find a way of accessing all that data in a swift and practical manner. Search engines fulfil that function online, but off the Internet a tool such as Evernote or similar, such as Flamory, is more practical. You can save information fragments, categorise them according to your needs, and recover those details whenever you need them -highly practical in our day-to-day processes. In this way, this hybrid online/offline tool can help you find the answers you need and to curate them on your own.

Image | Pixabay (Author: Pacto Visual)

 

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