Summer is here, and I’d like to give you a quick update on the latest developments in Second Brain.
Second Brain Preview Release is Launched
Today, we released a major update on www.secondbrain.com. It has the following new functionalities:
Global search: You can search in free-text. If you do a search in your library, you will get hits from your library content. If you do a search on find people, you'll get hits on people.
Embed collection: You will be able to publish a public collection to another web-page (like YouTube embed). Other people may then access the content in your collection. You'll have to wait a few more days though, before you can use this functionality.
Pan collection canvas: We’ve added more control to how a collection is presented. Users can move the focus of the canvas.
Zoho service: We’ve also added Zoho Show, Writer and Spreadsheets to the services menu.
Video intro: We've made a very brief video intro of Second Brain's features.
The collection editor is working better as well, with less bugs and more predicable behavior in general.
Check it out on www.secondbrain.com.
Going for Second Brain Reloaded
To improve the performance of Second Brain and make it easier to add lots more exiting features, we are going to rewrite most of the application during the quiet summer months. We are going to focus all resources on making a great public release of Second Brain Reloaded in September.
New features planned for Second Brain Reloaded:
Smart-collections: Users will be able to auto-generate collections based on set properties. For example, users can create a collection that automatically adds content from selected services which is tagged by specific tags.
Collection as widget: Collections may be published as a collection – or as a widget on your blog. If it is a smart collection, it will be updated automatically – for example a feed of recently added public content from all services.
Desktop organization style: Based on user feedback and our own experiences, we are going to stop working on mind-mapping features, and instead focus on a more desktop-style of organization of content in collections. We will have auto-arrange of content based on for example, tags, services, title or time.
Social features: Commenting, favorites, richer user profile and much more.
More services and content types: We are going to add blogs, and several other services. Some of these just to be published on the public user profile page, others to be added in the library. You will also be able to add someone else's collection as a favorite, and use it as content in your library.
And there's even more: But I don't want to reveal all our secrets;)
Let us hear from you
The Preview Release is like an appetizer. We want to give you a taste of our vision and involve you in the development. We hope that you will check out Second Brain and tell us everything you love or hate about it. In return, we promise to do everything we can to make Second Brain your favorite internet service.
Sincerely,
Lars and the Second Brain Development Team
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. 
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.
But the thing I've enjoyed the most the past few weeks is watching the Geo Map Overlay. It shows where our users come from. And I can not help but to be very impressed by the reach of the web. We have users on almost every continent now. It's not exactly a surprise to me that the Internet is a global phenomenon. But I don't think I have really appreciated this fact until I checked the map.
had been working 16 hour days the past week to get the basic functionality in place. We were quite well prepared - had rehearsed the demo about five times - but you never know if it will work at show time. So the ambiance in the room was packed with over-clocked anticipation. I was able to the slides without getting into much theory, and after 5 minutes, we went straight into the live demo. Hubert, the interaction designer, operated the computer while I explained everything. And fortunately, everything went just perfect. No exceptions, bugs or distractions of any sort. It was just sheer delight to do the demo - and see all the nodding heads in the audience following the clicks on the screen. So we celebrated for about 15 minutes - then we went straight back to the computers for more bug fighting. Later that day, digi.no published an article about us.
The first Test Pilots will get a uniquely numbered Test Pilot Polo upon request. The shirts are individually numbered from 100 to 300, and we have them in all sizes (even a woman's fit). Next week we'll add a link in Second Brain where you can request the Polo by e-mail. Pls note that you will not be sent the shirt automatically - you will have to request it (and we need your address and your preferred size;)).
We are going to San Francisco/Silicon Valley in the end of May to present Second Brain to investors and incorporate Second Brain in the US. Our goal is to have all the functionality in place by then.
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