Moving on up to Curio 4

Response from existing Curio 3 customers to the release of Curio 4 has been beyond our expectations. Even though we haven't yet had a chance to send out our marketing email, the upgrade requests are already flooding in.

So, we wholeheartedly thank you for your support! And it encourages us that we are indeed adding the features you want.

To clear up a question: Curio 3 users have to purchase an upgrade license to move to Curio 4. The pricing depends on commercial vs. academic, single-user license vs. multi-user license, and if you're moving to the same edition or to a different edition. So, please check out the commercial online store and our academic online store for specific pricing details.

And, if you have any specific questions regarding the upgrade, please write to us and we'll respond as quickly as possible.

Curio 4 quick update part deux

Curio 4.0.2 was released the other day which patches up a few more baddies. And, because we live on the edge, we also squeezed in a couple of frequently requested minor features.

The first is that you can can now specify that the entire idea space area will be exported during image, HTML, and iPhoto exporting (instead of clipping unused whitespace). The second is that you can now check or uncheck a parent mind map or list checkbox item and all children will check or uncheck appropriately. Simple, and yes, perhaps obvious, but it didn't get into the original 4.0 release. My bad.

Oh, and thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments we've been receiving. They really mean a lot to us!

Dossiers wanted

Since Day 1, we've received a lot of feedback from users regarding their favorite feature in Curio. Today, I'm going to talk about one of the top faves: dossiers!

Curio Professional and Curio K-12 include a dossier feature which supplies the boilerplate questions you need to ask yourself or your client before beginning a project. Once these questions are answered, you have a more accurate picture of what exactly you are trying to do and what boundaries or constraints are imposed on you.

This background information is immediately available through the click of a mouse while you are brainstorming and working on your project in your idea spaces. You can easily double-check that you are heading in the right direction.

For example, in our Creative Brief dossier template -- a huge favorite among designers -- you might specify that the client hates ads that have a retro feel or that push features more than company values. Days later, while brainstorming, you might stumble across an idea involving a 1970's theme song. You're loving it, but fortunately something tickles the back of your mind and you scan over the dossier and realize you're going down the wrong path. Whew! Saved by dossier!

One of the coolest things about dossiers is you can customize and design your own dossier templates to share with others. Perhaps you have one on School Field Trips, Architectural Initial Design, Creating a Sonnet, or TV Pilot.

If you have a template that you'd like to share with the world, please export it through dossier's Save as Template action button menu item and send it to feedback@zengobi.com. We'd love to check it out and possibly bundle it in an upcoming Curio release.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Curio 4 quick update

We just released a Curio 4.0.1 update that fixes a number of bugs and quirks found since Curio 4.0's release. Please visit the Curio product page to download this latest version.

Many apologies to those who experienced problems, and many thanks to those who reported problems.