Google Notebook

Google has recently released a new tool called Notebook that is quite useful for compiling research from different legal databases into one online webspace. As an example, check out the page I created when doing research on proximate restrictive covenants. The notebook requires only that you login prior to any changes or updates being made. The beauty of this tool is that you can access your research from any computer with an internet connection.

To sign up for a Google account that will then give you access to the Google Notebook tool, click here

Google Notebook also has a ‘mini Notebook’ application that can be installed on your computer. This tool gives you right-click access to adding content to your notebook from any internet browser window (both Firefox and IE 6 are supported, although there is a different download required for each). This is where the Google Notebook tool really proves useful, as little snippets of text can be easily collected and stored (including any links that were in the original text), complete with automatically generated links leading back to the data’s original web page. The tool is available for download once you have signed up for a Google account. (If you already have one, just click here)

To capture text or images, simply highlight the content you want, right click the highlighted information, and select ‘Note This (Google Notebook)’:

Once you’ve done so, a small popup will appear in the bottom right corner of your screen asking where in your notebook you would like the new note added:

Select the location for your new note to be filed (or create a new location) and you’re done! For another example, check out the new note I created while writing this wiki.