Evernote, the digital capture tool that allows you to save anything from the web and access it from a variety of devices and computers including iPhones and Macs, announced earlier today an updated version of the popular Chrome extension that, following the recent interface changes to the iPhone app, offers a more elegant way to clip content from webpages and have it synchronized with your Evernote account.

The new extension, available here, packs a whole new UI with slick buttons and text entry fields for quick tag and note input, but more importantly adds a new Article Clip feature that, with just one click on the browser’s toolbar, automatically selects the main content of an article to save it as full-text in Evernote. The extension worked perfectly with all the blogs I’ve visited today, and the new extension window makes it easy to edit the title, tags, notes and notebook. If you feel like you don’t want to clip the whole article, but only a portion, the extension is also capable of recognizing a selection and enable you to switch between that and the full article from a dropdown menu. The same menu is also being used to only clip a page’s direct URL, if you prefer to bookmark stuff, rather than archive it as a text document.

Furthermore, the extension has been updated to be faster, include more privacy settings and simultaneous search for Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This functionality lets you perform a search inside your Evernote account as you look for something on a regular search engine:

Simultaneous Search lets you search the web and your Evernote account at the same time. All you do is type your Google, Bing or Yahoo search as you normally would and that same search will be performed in your Evernote account. The web search results appear as usual, with the addition of a line displaying the number of matching notes from Evernote. The same number is also displayed in a badge over the Evernote Extension icon. Clicking on the extension shows a list of all your notes that matched the search.

Evernote also made a video to showcase the new Google Chrome extension:

With a separate blog post on May 23, Evernote has also announced the first developer conference that will take place in San Francisco this summer, on August 18. The Evernote Trunk Conference is aimed at developers building “an application, service, or device that works with Evernote”, and the event will feature sessions to better teach developers how to integrate with the Evernote API, scale a cloud service, develop for mobile platforms, and more. User sessions will focus on stories shared by users who rely on Evernote on a daily basis to “remember everything”, and of course there will also be product sessions covering external tools and devices that, as seen on the official Trunk website, have successfully built a business on top of Evernote’s API.

Evernote is also giving away prizes to developers who submit Evernote-connected applications and devices by July 15, with a grand prize of $50,000 awaiting on August 18, alongside other $5,000 rewards for six more finalists. Evernote explains how submissions will be examined and judged:

Submissions will be judged along four main criteria:

• Finish and polish: Is the application easy to use and aesthetically appealing?
• Effective use of the Evernote platform: Does the application take advantage of the unique functionality offered by the Evernote platform?
• Utility: Is the application compelling and/or indispensable?
• Originality of concept: Is the application unique and/or innovative?

After submissions are received, they will go through an internal review process. Six finalists will be chosen from all of the submissions. Finalists will be judged using a mix of public voting and a judging panel, and the winners will be announced at ETC.

Prizes

• Grand Prize: $50,000
• 6 Finalists: $5,000 each
• Wildcard Prize: $10,000
• Student Prize: $10,000

You can read more on the Evernote Trunk Conference official webpage. I’m a huge fan of the service and I think the Evernote guys are building some great ideas and services to allow everyone to capture information coming from the web, and with a refreshed iPad version coming soon, as well as the recently teased app for Honeycomb tablets, I’m definitely looking forward to the apps and services that will be unveiled this summer.