No Hannibal Lector jokes please, but Chronos LC has updated StickyBrain, its personal productivity application, to version 1.2.
StickyBrain incorporates a “sticky note” interface. But that’s where the similarity to the standard Stickies program ends, said Jerry Halls, Chronos vice president. StickyBrain can store any type of information including text, pictures, sounds, file/application links, contacts, web and e-mail addresses, and more, he said.
“To make all of this information easily accessible, StickyBrain includes a powerful filtering system that the user can customize as needed,” Halls added. “StickyBrain is built on a robust word processor with features such as automatic spell-checking, search and replace, page formatting and multiple undos.”
Version 1.2 adds Autosave and Autobackup features so the utility now stores all sticky notes, contacts, and text documents in a single data file on the user’s computer. The AutoSave function periodically saves the changes made by the user while the application is running. The AutoBackup function makes regular backups of the StickyBrain data file. This lets the user maintain a history of their changes from day to day and to revert to an older version of their data file when necessary.
By default StickyBrain creates the data file containing all of the sticky notes in the system preferences folder. With version 1.2, you can move your default data file to any other location, even a network server.
The update adds new window arrangement commands including Cascade, Tile and Vertical Tile. These commands make it easy to tame even the most unruly set of sticky windows, Hall said. However, it should be noted that StickyBrain supports any number of user-defined categories and sticky notes can be opened and closed without deleting them, he added. The software includes multiple list views and a search function for locating sticky notes that may not be visible. This keeps window clutter to a minimum.
The application also packs HotKeys, which are designed to make it easy to transfer information to and from other applications. For example, if users are surfing the Web and they come across an interesting article, they can press a special key combination and the article will be saved as a “sticky” even if StickyBrain isn’t running. HotKeys can also be assigned to individual stickies so the text from the sticky can be pasted into other.
StickyBrain also has password management features. Halls said that you can go to any Web site and the software will instantly retrieve the user name and password associated with that Web address.
“StickyBrain provides many other features to help users stay organized,” Halls said. “These include to-do lists, contact lists, alarms and an infinitely customizeable interface. Each sticky can be assigned a different color, texture or background picture (JPEG). To keep information safe from prying eyes, StickyBrain even includes an encryption option.”
The utility’s built-in word processor lets you create text documents with features such as tabs, margins, indenting, line/paragraph spacing, search and replace and multiple undos. StickyBrain now includes three window styles including a full word processing window with an Aqua ruler that shows the page width, margins, indenting and tab stops. Other features include the ability to insert Web and e-mail buttons into documents with live links to the user’s Internet software, full text justification, dedicated to-do lists and alarms that sound even if the application isn’t running.
StickyBrain now supports tab-delimited text importing for transferring information from other personal information managers. It can also import information from other StickyBrain files and from the Stickies program that comes with the Mac OS.
StickyBrain 1.2 is available as a free download from the Chronos Web site. The online purchase price for StickyBrain is US$34.99.
StickyBrain does work with OS X. Plus, as a Carbon application, it will run on Mac OS 8.1 and above. The applications take less than 5 MB of disk space and runs in as little as 3500K of RAM.