This month, digital notebook service Springpad has launched a standalone site in honor of National Organization Month. Each day of the month features a notebook designed by tastemakers on topics like exercise, diet, budgeting, personal organization, productivity, travel, and party planning. Each notebook contains a comprehensive collection of advice, lists, and tools to help people achieve their goals.

The initiative is part of Springpad’s own New Year’s resolution to reach a wider audience. The company recently surpassed 4 million users, primarily made up of the tech early adopter market, and is trying to tap into the mainstream. The National Organization Month site features notebooks that people can not only use as a resource, but also as an example to create their own notebooks.

“We want people to use Springpad in a way that relates to their life,” said cofounder Jeff Janer in a recent interview with VentureBeat. “A lot of early adopters don’t like being told what to do, but our research has shown that with a more mainstream audience, they do not know where to start and want templates. The other thing that we have seen from the early adopter market is that it is skewed more male and business professional. There is a big audience out there that is more female-oriented, and these themes will appeal to them.”

Today’s featured notebook is titled “Organize Workouts with Lacey Stone,” a celebrity fitness guru. It includes links to her bootcamp videos, a gym-bag packing list, six challenging treadmill drills, at-home workout moves, a music “power playlist” and tips on staying motivated. Other health and fitness themed notebooks include “organize your juice cleanse” and vegan chef Jesse Brune’s healthy-eating meal plan.

For those intending to make 2013 a neat and tidy year, it has guides to organize your workspace, messy kitchen, cluttered garage, disastrous closet, pantry, and messy bedroom. Aspiring hosts can find guidance for wine parties, Super Bowl bashes, weddings, garden parties, and cocktail soirees. Users can follow specific tastemakers and receive notifications when they make additions. The goal is to make digital organization as useful and painless as possible.

“On the one hand, organizing things is like going to the dentist, you have to do it but you don’t want to do it,” said Janer. “It doesn’t have to be painful. It can be fun and it can be social. We want to be the last organizer you will ever need. It is a very non-tech message and where we are looking to go in 2013.”

Springpad primarily competes with Evernote, a popular digital notebook that has 45 million users and recently raised $85 million, bringing its total to a massive $251 million. While Springpad-the-company is a fraction of the size, many users prefer its Pinterest-style visual layout.

You can also use Pinterest to help you stay on top of your resolutions, as guest writer Danielle Small recently wrote.

Springpad is based in Boston and was founded in 2008.

Users can now import Facebook “likes” into Springpad notebooks. The app already separates your collected items into categories like movies, music, bars, and recipes, and it will categorize and share your “likes” in the same way. With the new features, “likes” are more than a simple expression of goodwill, but rather a testament to your unique tastes and interests. Followers and friends can reference the things you like as a decision making and discovery tool.

“Facebook ‘likes’ can be valuable for people seeking recommendations from friends who share similar interests, but today they’re not discoverable,” said Jeff Chow, CEO and cofounder of Springpad.

The new Facebook integration allows new users to automatically import their “likes” into the app, which are then categorized into notebooks. Springpad enhances the “likes” by supplementing them with actionable information, like Rotten Tomato movie reviews, maps, and OpenTable reservation links. Users will also be able to post notebooks to their Facebook timelines if they choose.

Springpad was launched in 2008 and challenged Evernote as the go-to digital notebook app. The 3.0 version that launched in April added “Explore” and “Following” tabs so people could share their notebooks, evolving the product in a more social direction. The redesign also created greater visual and conceptual similarities with Pinterest. Springpad is based in Boston, MA, and has raised $5 million to date.

Evernote launched Yinxiang Biji 印象笔记, which translates to Memory Notes or Impression Notes, on Thursday in China. The service looks identical to English version of Evernote, but with support for Chinese characters. Chinese versions of Evernote’s Skitch and Hello apps are also available. Yinxiang Biji also offers an API for Chinese developers to integrate Evernote into other applications. Evernote and Yinxiang Biji will be developed in parallel, so any new updates for the main version of Evernote will also get pushed out to Yinxiang Biji.

Evernote already has a million people in China using multi-language Evernote International, but connectivity complaints from users have prompted the company to introduce a dedicated service in China. Existing Evernote users will have the option to port their notebooks to Yinxiang Biji or leave them in the existing Evernote International version.

The move could prove very strategic for Evernote. China is notorious for its strict Internet regulations, something that’s barred Facebook’s, Twitter’s and Google’s plans to expand into that market. The ability to comply with the regulations and establish an Internet presence in China could help Evernote expand its 30 million user base and gain more paying customers.

Since China has strict regulations on socially shared information, there are some censorship and privacy concerns. Evernote chief executive Phil Libin said during a conference that because Evernote is focused more on storing personal information, the service shouldn’t encounter issues from the Chinese government. Libin also wrote in a company blog post that Yinxiang Biji will comply with often-changing regulations, but that under Chinese law the government may be able to view users’ stored content.

Despite already having a presence in China, Evernote has at least one clone. Mknote has a similar look and functionality to Evernote, but focuses more on sharing content. Clones of banned Internet services, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, are quite popular in China and often snatch up millions of users faster in the country than the original non-Chinese services.

Penultimate was developed not long after the first iPad was released and has become the fourth best-selling iPad app of all time. The app, which costs 99 cents, is meant to resemble a real paper notebook. You can use a stylus or your finger tip to create handwritten notes, drawings, and diagrams using images on the iPad. The first time Evernote chief executive Phil Libin laid his eyes on it, he was impressed.

“Penultimate is an app I’ve been in love with on the iPad for several years. When I saw the app, I thought this is exactly what digital ink should look like for Evernote. I reached out to Ben (Penulitmate’s creator) about two years ago about the product, telling him how much I liked it,” Libin said in an interview with VentureBeat.

As much as Libin admired Penultimate, founder Ben Zotto wasn’t in a hurry to sell his product. However, once Penultimate added Evernote integration in January 2012, it seemed only natural that the two services would blend together.

“Our integration with Evernote was well received and now we are thrilled to have access to Evernote’s handwriting technology,” said Zotto in an interview with VentureBeat.

Evernote has had a lot of money to play with lately, making it easy to grab Penultimate and add Zotto to its team. The company recently raised $70 million at a one billion dollar valuation, and has $166 million in total funding, Evernote IPO chatter has sprung up.

Unsurprisingly, Libin wouldn’t divulge how much money changed hands to acquire Penultimate. He did say that’s its a combination of cash and stock. Zotto, who has pretty much run Penultimate as a one-man show, will join Evernote’s team.

“Penultimate has been a progression from the beginning of the iPad and it’s evolved to something more powerful. Our integration with Evernote was well received and now we are thrilled to have access to Evernote’s handwriting technology,” said Zotto.

For those who love Penultimate, don’t worry — your app isn’t going anywhere for now.

“The app will exist separately, but gain powerful functionality from Evernote,” said Libin. “We will also take the technology and add it to Evernote, doubling down on the existing handwriting technology that our Evernote engineers have been working on [and] to see what else we can do with it, especially on tablets.”

The look and feel of the iOS app will mostly stay the same. It’s important for Evernote to keep the feeling of writing in a real notebook that users have come to love, Libin told me.

Evernote will soon include more handwritten note features, if Zotto and rest of the team have their way. Also be on the look out for a completely revamped Evernote iPad app, Libin says a major redesign is coming soon.

Image: Sarah Mitroff/VentureBeat

Nirvanix nabs $25M from Khosla Ventures

Enterprise storage startup Nirvanix has raised $25 million in its third round of funding, with the goal of bringing enterprise cloud storage to the largest companies in the world. Nirvanix offers its more than 1,200 customers across the globe access to cloud storage in three forms. These include public, hybrid, and private cloud storage types. The new funding round was led by Khosla Ventures with participation from existing investors Valhalla Partners, Intel Capital, Mission Ventures, and Windward Ventures.

LifeStreet Media nabs $66M

Advertising startup LifeStreet Media has raised $66 million in funding. LifeStreet Media offers an in-app advertising solution for mobile and Facebook apps. Nautic Partners led the round for the previously stealth-mode startup.

Evernote raises $70M in advance of IPO, now worth $1B

Evernote has raised $70 million at a valuation of $1 billion in its fourth round of funding. The round was led by Meritech Capital and CBC Capital. Evernote offers a suite of digital note-taking products with the goal of helping you remember everything.

WePay raises $10M

Payment processing service WePay has raised $10 million in funding, the company announced today. WePay is known for its easy, anyone-can-use-it online payment tools, aimed at individuals and “unsophisticated” online sellers. Ignition Partners led the round, with existing investors Highland Capital Partners and August Capital participating.

Fiverr grabs $15M in seed money

Online “people-for-hire” marketplace  Fiverr has raised $15 million in seed funding from Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. The company lets people list their performance services, such as singing or juggling, on the site and starts the pricing at $5 a gig.

NetPlenish secures $1.9M

Mobile shopping site NetPlenish has raised $1.9 million in seed funding. The company helps you get a deal on everyday products, such as toilet paper or soap, by using smartphone apps. Dave McClure’s 500 Startups, Gold Hill Capital, BHV Capital, TEEC Angel Fund, Ludlow Ventures led the round.

Counting money image via Flickr user Mr Jan

Wednesday, Springpad launched the latest version of its digital notebook service, which includes a web, iOS, and Android app that help you save snippets of information from the Internet. The new version is a major overhaul of the service and includes some Pinterest-inspired design elements.

We all tend to save a lot of digital information these days; it’s one of the reasons Pinterest has become so popular. But before Pinterest’s time, Evernote and Springpad were competing to be the best digital notebook to save snapshots of webpages, notes, to-do lists, and anything else you want to remember later. Springpad has become outdated in recent years, with an almost cartoony-like interface. Evernote on the other hand, has established itself among more seriously users who love its offline support and straightforward, powerful interface.

“Our focus is to creative the best version of the digital notebook possible,” said Springpad chief executive Jeff Chow in an interview with VentureBeat.

Trying to solidify its place between Evernote and Pinterest, Springpad’s latest release takes some features from both, plus some collaborative features from Google Docs. The result is an app that looks like the offspring of all three popular services.

Completely different look

Perhaps the most striking difference between the Spring 3.0 and its older versions is how it looks. The first versions of Springpad were cute, but looked dated compared to Pinterest’s clean lines. The company appears to have taken cues from the digital pinboard for its latest look. Everything from the notebook backgrounds, to the way photos are displayed feels more grown up.

The comparison to Pinterest becomes apparent when you look at a notebook in the gallery view. Photos, if included in a note, are displayed prominently as tiles. However, unlike Pinterest, each image must be large enough to fit the space or the quality is compromised, which can make some notebooks look a bit ugly.

Improved search

Like its predecessors, Springpad 3.0 still lets you save everything you could ever want to remember, including movies, wine, books, and recipes. Unlike previous versions, the new app plays up the ability to search for something to add to a notebook.

There are two major ways to save information to Springpad: the clipper bookmarklet and the search bar. In the past, the search bar worked about 70 percent of the time, crawling the Internet for the product, book, or movie you were looking for. But it often struggled to find the right match.

It’s this exact feature that Springpad revamped in its latest version. The new “smartbar” uses semantic search to find a product or place that you can add to a notebook. The semantic search allows you to start typing a few words and Springpad will start to guess what you are looking for. In addition, you can start typing a note in the smart bar, and Springpad will give you options to set an alarm, create a note, or make a reminder.

While trying out the smartbar, I found it still struggled to find some local businesses and certain products, but it seems to be improving with time.

Smarter, collaborative notes

Springpad has also added more features to make the information you save more valuable. If you save — or “spring” as Springpad calls it — a product, the app will grab the product’s url and price. If you spring a restaurant, Foursquare, Yelp, and OpenTable information will be included in the note, as well as a map, phone number, and business hours.

This new version weighs heavily on collaboration. Underneath each note you save is a comment section and log of the changes made, similar to features found in Google Docs. This is meant to encourage shared notebooks, where multiple people can curate the content and work collaboratively. Notebooks can be kept private, restricted to invited people, or be made public.

Going along with collaboration, the new version of Springpad is aimed at people who like to curate content to share with others.

“We’ve found we are going after a new audience type, people who love to share their knowledge. We’re creating micro-communities,” said Chow.

Much like you can follow a Pinterest board, users can follow each other’s notebooks and stay updated with the latest great recipes or movies. Springpad found that people who consider themselves the best recipe finder or their family’s go-to person for book recommendations wanted a place to collect their knowledge and share it with others. The company responded and created “Explore” and “Following” tabs, where you can find other people’s public boards and follow the stuff they clip.

Current Springpad users will have their accounts updated with the new look starting early Wednesday morning. Springpad’s iOS and Android apps will also be updated to reflect the changes.

The new look and features of Springpad 3.0 are definitely an improvement over previous versions. The company has seemingly found a niche between Pinterest and Evernote, where people can find exactly what they are looking for and save it in a visually pleasing way.

Springpad’s mobile apps let you save information about movies, wine, books, check-ins, recipes and more that you come across during the day. It then organizes that data within smart notebooks and arranges it into useful packages. For example, if I’m looking for movies in the area, I can pull up a list of the most popular movies among my friends. That movie page will have a map of theaters in the area, movie times, etc. It’s a pretty useful tool for keeping track of things and discovering your next few steps throughout the day.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks so. Springpad’s user base has saved over 27 million things using the service, according to the company.

“People’s habits are shifting from sharing their activities with one large network to smaller subsets of friends, like Facebook’s smart friend lists and Google’s Circles,” said Springpad CEO Jeff Janer in an interview. “What Springpad does is take the data from what you and your friends share and turn it into something much more useful.”

Right now, the company makes its money through affiliate partnerships from new business it directs to various products and services. Its mobile apps send users alerts for relevant news, price drops, product availability, coupons and other retail offers, which help facilitate that part of the business. Eventually, Springpad plans to open up relevant advertising into its smart notebooks while continuing to keep the service free for consumers.

Founded in 2008, the Boston-based company has $5 million total funding to date. Springpad faces competition from services like Evernote.