Penzu helps you write your thoughts privately online, but why?

Seems like it would be perfect for a travel journal if you're skipping from internet cafe to internet cafe.

I started using Penzu two weeks ago because I wanted to keep track of things like what I eat, how I exercise, and how I feel each day. I work on two different computers, one of which I can't install (or update) software on, so this is more convenient. It's better than an actual journal because it's password protected and I can type instead of write. It's better than Notepad because I can use it at work. So yes, there is a niche for it.

Isn't that what we have Momento for?

From the privacy policy:

"Although we take measures to ensure the privacy and security of your User Content, we cannot guarantee its absolute privacy and security, as no privacy or security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other users whom you have shared any Personal Information or Account information with, and therefore we do not guarantee that unauthorized individuals will not obtain access to your private User Content or Personal Information. We are also not responsible for any circumvention of our privacy or security systems. Users are encouraged to password protect any journal entries which they do not want to share with others."

Scary...

Notepad isn't a web app, and neither is Evernote. A web app does not require an install of Dropbox or an install of Evernote on every computer you visit.

But besides that... why is this any more pointless than the alternatives you mentioned? Dropbox is online storage, Evernote is online storage, Penzu is online storage. Preconceived bias is irrational.

By the way, I never thought DownloadSquad would ask a question like "Would I really want to integrate photos into a journal entry I'm writing for myself?". You know more than anyone else that people are different and people need features.. and most definitely, a lot of people would feel this is a perfectly natural feature.

The point is, people need to write and many people feel a web app is a great place to store their thoughts without worrying about how they'll store them, organize them, or access them from another location

I think you missed the point... i remember owning my first Diary... well this is the same feeling but online! So i think this is pretty cool for sure. Not that ill ever use it since my days are too busy worrying about much more important problems than writing down about my dog(i dont have a dog, so you can see my problem)

Google Docs anyone? You can keep your documents private if you choose.

Just get yourself a classy little Moleskine notebook and keep it with you at all times if you really want hack-proof privacy you can use anywhere.

Nothing that lives on the web can ever claim to be truly private.

I won't use it myself, but if some people find it interesting, they might try it. If they like it, they'll continue using it. I sometimes email stuff to myself, so I can definitely see the potential.

Speaking about no point / no added value, that's exactly what I think of Twitter... go figure.

I found Penzu a couple of months ago, and it only took me a few minutes of trying it to convince myself to pay for the premium. Not only was the price tag right, but the ability to encrypt my entries was well worth it. Now it doesn't matter if my account is hacked, and somebody could log in as me. Unless they know my encryption password, they'll never be able to read my entries.

Having to use something like Notepad, and syncing it across machines over Dropbox leaves all your writings exposed. Anyone with access to your machine could get to them. And over multiple machines, it increases the risk.

Penzu is not for everyone. But for someone like me who wants a place to write each morning my thoughts and observations, it's great. I know that nobody will ever be reading these posts, so it gives me this very freeing feeling. I've made a goal to write something new every day, and so far for a few months now, I've accomplished my goal.

For somebody who writes for a very public blog, voicing their opinion about things, you'll hate Penzu (clearly, from the article submitted). But those that use Penzu have their own reasons, and I'm sure it enjoy it just as I do.

Hi there, I'm a co-founder and developer of Penzu. I found your post to be quite lacking in insight (or anything constructive for that matter), but feel that I should respond anyway.

You went pretty far in answering your own question in the title: Penzu helps you write your thoughts *privately online*

Penzu is not supposed to be another Blog service, Twitter, or social network. Penzu is the inverse of these things. Its a place where privacy IS the default, and publicity is a choice.

Our mission is to give people a private place online where they can record their thoughts, dreams, memories, inspirations, and whatever else in a way that closely mimics the ease and tactile familiarity of a paper journal, but has all the added benefits of being online.

Your question about integrating photos is a bit startling. Why on earth wouldn't people want to attach photos to a journal entry? Is a photo valueless if it is not made publicly available to everyone?

Sorry that you think our UI is too Web 2.0-y. I think its clean, intuitive, non-intrusive, and lets you get down to what you came to do: write!

You can use Penzu anywhere there is an internet connection, you don't have to lug a physical journal around with you, you don't have to worry about someone finding it and reading it, nor do you have to worry about losing it.

Yes, you could accomplish some of this by using Notepad with Dropbox, but does that actually sound like an intuitive, easy, available-everywhere solution? It requires using multiple pieces of desktop software, saving each entry as a separate file in a cluttered folder locally, then either syncing with Dropbox, or uploading it manually if you're not on a machine with it installed. After all this, what you end up with are just some text files stored in the Cloud.

Compare that to the Penzu experience: open your browser (anywhere), start writing. Its like putting pen to paper. Plus we have a ton of privacy- and journaling-specific features including:
- individual entry passwords
- AES encryption
- photo attachments
- sharing
- optional public URLs
- tagging
- full-text searching
- a variety of page and paper styles, and the ability to upload your own

.. the list goes on. We're also developing a mobile and an offline HTML5 solution at the moment.

Some peoples' comments here about Evernote and Google Docs are well received. Both of these solutions have some feature overlap with us. However, they are far more general solutions, and don't share our focus on privacy and journaling. Also, Evernote requires software to be installed for the full experience.

In the end, I'm sure that the large community of Penzu users who love our service, use it daily, and say it has improved or even changed their lives will back me up on this.

If you don't get it, that's okay. But Penzu far from useless.

-Mike

Even though I have not used Penzu, but having gone through the post and the comments, a fact that I feel needs restating, as the comparisons between Penzu and services by Google have been numerous, is that if people at Penzu actually do UI as well as Mike has mentioned in his response then that is an area where almost every Google service lets its users down. The interfaces offered by Google have an amateurish feel to them, as if developed by some undergrad doing a internship with Google and assigned the task to come up with an UI for the upcoming service.

If Penzu provides a clean, attractive, retentive, and intuitive interface, then I would like to believe that that should be enough to differentiate it from at the services offered by Google.

I was smiling as I began to read this post by Erez Zukerman ... I actually thought it was an Onion style satirical / amusing take on the current sharing obsession which is starting to feel a tiny bit out of control. I was actually appalled when I realised this was a serious article.

"you can keep it private or "share it if you want." Okay, so there is a sharing option; it doesn't seem to be an RSS feed or anything like that." ... he begrudgingly refers to the fact that it is possible to share your diary, but is clearly annoyed that he can't actually perpetually bombard the rest of the world with it via RSS. I have news for you MrZukerman. Sit down and take deep breaths. There are some things we don't want to share ! There, I've said it. Pretty radical concept eh ? But I, for one, can remember quite fondly a time when I didn't have to check the settings on everything I did for privacy. I can remember being able to bookmark something without being bombarded with thousands of widgets and options exhorting me to 'share with my friends','like', 'digg', 'stumble' or share my entire email contacts list with them so they could search through and annoy everyone who has ever had a passing correspondence with me.

Do you really have nothing in your life that is private and that you wouldn't wish to share ? If that is the case then I suggest you get out more.

In other news .... so what if people have the option to use Google documents ? Now it seems that I must be the one missing something here. Because for each and every web service, app or tool that exists there are dozens of similar alternatives springing up / dropping by the wayside every day. I don't recall anyone complaining about new search engines because we have Google. Or new photo hosting services because we have Picasa. In fact it can be really difficult (in a delightfully procrastinating way) to know which service to choose as there are always so many similar options.

That really was a bizarre post.

Perhaps Erez Zukerman should have kept this RSS post private. I'm just saying.

I wanted a journal that is PRIVATE, that I could keep safe with encryption, and access it anywhere. On any platform, and ESPECIALLY from my phone which is with me all the time. In minutes of using Penzu, I upgraded to Pro! I've told all my friends on Facebook about it.

Penzu fits the bill perfectly. Everything else is icing on the cake.(check out all the features) To think I actually found it by accident. While googling journal applications, all the online stuff was for the world to see. I guess if you have an over inflated ego, and feel the need to blab to the world the most insignificant things you feel is so important in your world/mind, then go ahead and use the public journals and blogs.

Penzu fills a need for me to document my thoughs easily and in private.
The ease of use is amazing, The tags. Wonderful!
The ability to take photos with my phone, of events, and attach them to the entry, while documenting the moment, in real time, is simply smart!
I don't have to recall what I experienced. I simply journal it using Penzu Mobile!

I tried using Google Docs,Google Notebooks, computer applications etc.
The problem I've found is they aren't as immediate as Penzu. With Google, you have to log in, set it up, attach photos or scans after the fact, etc. The other applications are proprietary, and you have to migrate the journal if you change platforms.
Paper journals are a pain because you have to archive them and store them in a safe place. Harvesting is harder if you are searching for entries.

I've had the experience of people reading mine. So I quit writting. I kept stuff on my computers, but as in the past, when moving to another platform, Typewritter, DOS, Word Perfect, MS Works, Word (and all it's versions), Plain Text, Windows, Mac, I've always either have to print them out, or translate them someway. This is a lot's simpler.

I really think Erez Zukerman's, is more about why would anyone want to keep their writings private than whether or not Penzu is a viable offering.

Yes, Erez, a web application( I doubt you've use it.), that can be accessed anywhere via the web for private use/writing, or public if I choose.

What's so hard to understand about that?