Happy Holidays Everyone!

TheBrain have today released the first beta of version 3.0 of PersonalBrain.

This is fantastic news in as much as many of us had written PersonalBrain off as an abandoned product.  Better yet, Version 3.0 definitely delivers on many of the must haves that I and others have been sending them over the years.

Well done to the TheBrain!

Here's the skinny:

System Improvements

Support for over 1 million thoughts per Brain - 32 times previous versions. Support for Windows XP.

Thought and Link Types

Thought types let you create categories of information, such as people, projects, or places. Typed thoughts are color coded and separately searchable.  Link types let you label the connections between thoughts to give them meaning. For example, you could create a link type called "friend" and use it to show which of the people in your Brain are friends.  The use of Thought and link types allows you to create a much more sophisticated Brain. Thought and link types allow an extra layer of semantic meaning to placed on information in your Brain. Types can be setup via the Options menu or the "Edit types..." button on the properties pane.

Link Types

Right-click on a link to set its type. Typed links are color coded and named - the name shows on mouseover.

Thought Types

Thought types can be created with name, description, and color. Types can be set via right click menu or via the Type dropdown in the properties pane. Thought types are displayed on mouseover. Search tab contains new indexes for lists of each thought type. Find dialog can filter thoughts based on thought type.

Fast Brain Access

Get instant access to your Brain with the Brain Hot Key - hold down the Windows key and type the letter B [Windows+B] to show your Brain.  To jump quickly to any thought, just type the first few letters.  The Brain Hot Key can be turned on and off in the Preferences menu.

Faster Access & Search

The Find Thoughts feature, which lets you perform advanced searches, is now available via F9 or through the Options menu.  Find dialog box is easier to use and allows searching by thought type. Focus (keyboard input) returns to instant search window immediately after any dialog box closes. Instant search analyzes more history to determine best match.

General User Interface Improvements

Thoughts in lists (Search, History, Instant Search, & Create Dialog) are drawn using thought type colors. Notes now contains a "Paste as Text" function in the edit menu or via [Ctrl+Shift+V]. Auto hide feature is animated, so that the window slides on and off screen. Built-in list of search engines now contains: AlltheWeb.com, AltaVista, Google, Lycos, Yahoo and a customizable setting. The progress window is smaller. Menu items have better keyboard compatibility. The PersonalBrain program directory now contains default folders for color settings and wallpapers.

Plex User Interface Improvements

Thoughts in the plex are ordered by thought type first, then by name. Right-click menu allows unlinking of the selected thought from the active thought. The plex resizing circle is enabled with maximum and minimum sizes preventing unwieldy fonts sizes. The search box is smaller to show more thoughts in the Past Thought List. F2 renames the highlighted thought, not the active thought. F4 now uses the highlighted thought for Web searches. Improved Properties layout. Thought text color is more consistent - highlight and central text colors removed. Hints do not appear unless the mouse is held still for 1 second.

Bug Fixes

The Web search dialog does not accidentally pop-up when closing other Windows. Filenames in PersonalBrain no longer get a "2" appended to them unless there is a name conflict. Dialogs are never hidden by the main window when in always on top mode. Removed listing of *.brs files from open dialog (these files are not supported). Wallpaper does not change when loading colors. Distant thoughts always draw in their correct color. Instant Brains are no longer included. Display of Brains with many links from a single thought is more stable.