Second Thoughts

After a couple of challenging weeks fighting with bugs and new functionality for the America release, we’re ready with another update to our Test Pilots. We have lots of new stuff for you in this week’s release.

Introducing a new tag trail

We always had the option to browse the library by clicking the tags in the tag cloud. But sometimes this can be a little slow and cumbersome. That’s why we introduced a new feature this week: You can write the tags you want to select directly into a text box in the tag trail. You add tags one by one, or you can do multiple tags at once. We also tweaked the tag trail a bit so that if you click on a tag in the trail, it will be unselected and your content list refreshed.

Introducing search

We’re also very happy to add some basic search functionality. Now you can search your library based not only on tags, but also the title and description text. It works quite fast, and this is probably the best way to find something in your library if you don’t know exactly how it was tagged. We’re still tweaking the search and working on the presentation of the results, so it’s a little crude right now. But next week, everything related to search should be in place and work like you’d expect.

Hints of Mind-mapping

We’ve been talking about mind-mapping for a very long time, and finally it looks like we approaching a basic level of functionality. You may have some difficulties finding out how it works, because we still haven’t added the contextual menus to aid you in the navigation. But double-click anywhere in a collection to open a text node, or click insert from a content to add sub-topics. Next week should give us a major update that will make it easier to use.

Desktop organization features
We’ve got lots of feedback on the collection editor from our Test Pilots. Some of you don’t really look for mind-mapping and have been requesting more basic organization features. We did some thinking, and we decided to focus on a simpler, more "Windows Explorer" style of content organization. The first step in this direction was to make the content items snap to a 20px grid. This should make your collections look more tidy. Sometime during the next two weeks, we’ll work on improving this feature - you can expect that it will work like a mix between the desktop on your PC and Windows explorer. You’ll be able auto-arrange items and switch between thumbnail view, list view, select multiple items, and so on.

This method of organization will take us one step closer to our ultimate goal - we want collections to become your internet folders. And we want you to be able to connect them together and even synchronize them to your desktop and access them when you’re not online - but this is all for later…

Second Brain Goes to America
Next week, Even (the Chairman of the Board) and I will travel to San Francisco. We are going to incorporate Second Brain and explore opportunities for funding with US investors. We’ve already set up a few meetings with local VCs, and we’re looking forward to get their feedback. We’re looking for someone who shares our vision and wants to work with us to take Second Brain to the next level.

The next big release
We’re now in the Test Pilots’ Edition, and you all know it is a little buggy and lacking in features. The next big milestone for us is the Second Brain Preview Release which is scheduled for June 15th. The goal of this release is to have most of the functionality in place. After this release, we’ll work on stabilizing and scaling the application and adding more services. So just be a bit patient with us and you’ll see what Second Brain can do for you in just a few weeks time.

Let us hear from you
Your feedback is very important to us.
We’ve already made several changes and strategic shifts based on early
feedback from the Test Pilots. We want to learn from your experiences
with Second Brain: what you like about it and what you hate about it.
Anything.

Thank you for testing Second Brain:)

Sincerely,
Lars
Founder and CEO