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DESCRIPTION
Curio is the premier brainstorming and project management application designed to promote visual thinking.
Using Curio's innovative freeform interface and tools, you can intuitively gather, associate, and recall your ideas, while easily managing all the notes and documents associated with your project.
The heart of Curio is the idea space. Think of idea spaces as your whiteboard, notebook, and sketchpad all wrapped up into one.
Within a Curio project, you can create an unlimited number of idea spaces where you can place anything anywhere on the page. Brainstorm or organize your notes with freeform collages of text, images, URLs, documents, Mail messages, movies, and sounds. Give the idea space a note paper or graph paper style, or perhaps a linen paper texture. This is your idea space, with your notes and ideas. Make it the way you want it to look.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 6.4:
Attached Text Figures
If a text figure is selected or is being edited, then you can quickly create an attached figure — that is, a text figure with a sticky line attaching the current figure and the new figure — by simply holding down the Command key when clicking on the idea space background.
By default, the line connecting the current figure and the new figure will have an arrowhead pointing to the new figure. However, you can modify that with these additional keyboard modifiers:
- If you press the Command+Shift keys then you will see a bi-directional arrow with an arrowhead pointing to the current figure and an arrowhead pointing to the new figure.
- If you press the Command+Option keys then no arrowheads will appear and you will just see a solid line.
Smarter Task Syncing
Curio will now receive updates much more reliably from external clients that sync with iCal.
That means apps like Appigo's Todo and similar iPhone task managers.
The problem was that external sync sources don't update the iCal item's last modified date stamp so we didn't realize any changes had occurred, that date stamp is only updated if the change is made directly within iCal itself.
With this fix, while Curio has your project loaded, you can now use your external task manager to make changes to the tasks (edit the title, priority, etc) and mark them as complete or incomplete and those changes will immediately sync through iCal and then into Curio. Going the other direction still works as well: change the item in Curio, save the project, and it will sync to iCal then to your iPhone task tracking app.
In addition, when the project is first launched Curio will now see if there are any changes from iCal and update Curio's figure with iCal's updates. We can't rely on last modified dates for the items, as described above, so we just assume iCal has the latest info. This means changes made to tasks in an external task manager while Curio is not running will be correctly displayed in Curio next time you open the project.
Note, however, you should still remove tasks from within Curio first and those will then sync to iCal and then to the other external sync agents.
Supporting the removal of tasks in an external source or from iCal and then syncing to Curio is too risky as the task may be a parent element from a list or mind map and then those child items would be auto-removed which may not be what you had intended.
List Tweaks
- Bullets and numbering enumerators are now colored to match the level style's font, if appropriate.
- If you're editing the title of the list and you press tab then you'll move to the first item in the list.
- Conversely, if you're editing the first item in the list and press shift-tab you'll move to the title.
Other Features
- Now showing full date and time information in the Asset inspector.
Notable Fixes
- Fixed a problem with sticky lines with midpoints wandering when adjoining figures are moved.
- Fixed a problem where lists with 0 pixel margins were sometimes forced to have a margin on project reload.
- Fixed bug where converting image figure to scribble (via the Edit menu) was flipping the image.
- Fixed a nasty rare bug where certain subviews (Library, Shelf, Organizer) could be hidden and you are unable to make them visible.
- Changing some table attributes is now more reliable and quicker.
- When you delete the parent figure in a tree hierarchy (like a parent node in a list or mind map) then any assets associated with child figures are removed as necessary.
- Tweak for Paste As > List so you can copy a list as text then paste it as a new list and titles are automatically set in place as appropriate.
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
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| Curio User Reviews (32 posts) | Write A Review |
 | Dec 3 2009 |
RATTI I tried Curio a bit and found that does too much for me. It is confusing; also I found the MindMap part weak. For it's price you could buy Mindnode Pro and NoteBook and a lot of other software. Try out what fits you best.
(Version 6.3) | |
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| Nov 9 2009 |
DINGDONGDADDY This program works flawlessly, has a thousand features, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what to do with it. I know the answer is "it will be what ever you want it to be," but since I don't know what I want it to be, I don't know how to use it. Wish I did because it looks great and works great.
(Version 6.1) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
 | Dec 3 2009 |
ANG intelligence and creativity are the two sisters of humanity
(Version 6.3) | |
| Mar 8 2010 |
LEV Also, the anaconda of persistence is nimbler than the fedora of desire... To be slightly less gnomic, how about thinking of Curio as an infinite notebook in which you can sketch ideas, grab text and images from the web (retaining their source), knocking out lists, drawing those mildly blithering "mind maps" some people find useful, and indeed more or less anything you could do on a normal notebook? I agree, Curio is such a blank slate that you never know whether you're using it "properly" but then I suppose there isn't actually a "properly" so it doesn't matter.
(Version 6.4) | |
 | Sep 22 2009 |
JUST A USER I did pay for the update, I think it is fair to pay for something that really does work and what a developer actually spent some time, thinking and energy on. Curio is feature-rich software that can be used for a great deal of different stuff and I had no major bug issues so far. The indvidual sub-functions, like mind-mapping, are not as feature rich as in dedicated software, but that is not to be expected either. They DO work great as is and DO have all the important import and export options. Hope that program will be going strong for a long time!
(Version 6.0.1) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Sep 16 2009 |
KORM If the new features are worth the upgrade fee, pay it. If not, don't pay it.
(Version 6.0.1) | |
| [ 1 Reply - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Oct 13 2009 |
ZX81 You mean that opinions are not allowed?
(Version 6.1) | |
| Sep 15 2009 |
SUNBURN OK, so here we go again. Looking back, we have: 7/2007, upgrade from 3 to 4: $39 8/2008, upgrade from 4 to 5: $39 And look, it's September 2009, and here's Zengobi, hat in hand, asking for another chunk of change. (I'm academic, so at least my upgrade fee is fairly modest, but I believe the non-academic upgrade fee is $70.) IMO, this is a really bad business model: punish your most loyal customers by hitting them up every year. Each new version has had some nice features, but not enough to justify the level of cost. If this was even every other year, I'd be OK with it. But annually? A little excessive, no? I don't even use Curio all that much, though for the things I do use it for, I can't imagine what else I'd use to do it. But at this rate, I'm going to start looking pretty seriously. I'll probably cave because generally Zengobi does a good job of keeping up on OS updates and I'll probably be missing some cool Snow Leopard only feature when 6.1 or 6.2 comes out... but maybe I'll just skip this one and wait until 10.2010 and go for version 7. It's a nice program--version 5, I mean, I haven't shelled out yet for version 6--but if you go for it, you're going to have to think of it like an expensive subscription service rather than a single purchase, because that's clearly the developer's model.
(Version 6.0.1) | |
| [ 3 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Sep 16 2009 |
ANDREW SCOTT I just upgraded to 6. This is the second time I’ve upgraded and again it feels like an incremental improvement—and a relatively small increment at that. It feels like 5.2 rather than 6.1, mainly bug fixes and small refinements. I know there are some nice new features but they’re either minor or not something that matter to me. I use the mind mapping and list functions the most but with each major release they only get a little better. Mind mapping in particular still lacks most of the functions and graphical features of most dedicated applications. One big improvement is that you can now manually reposition cells or branches without changing the structure of the map. Apart from this Curio maintains a rigid auto-layout, so much so that typing into cells causes the whole mind map to judder and shake with each keystroke as the auto-adjust keeps trying to balance the map. Mind maps do seem more stable than in 5.x though. I haven’t experienced any more instances of a mind map just deleting itself unexpectedly. Working with graphical objects is still just OK. It’ll let you do some very nice things but selection is often a bit fiddly. There is a reasonable selection of geometric primitives or shapes but it hasn’t expanded in recent versions and isn’t user-definable. There are straight lines but no curved lines, a la OmniGraffle, so linking cells across a complex mind map tends to get ugly fast. Trying to draw lines on top of a much larger background object is frustrating if “sticky lines” is on because things keep snapping to the background object. I never use the freehand “scribbles” functions even though they’re a great idea. Because scribbles exist in a common bitmap layer it’s cumbersome to move them deliberately and easy to edit or erase them accidentally despite the Option-select and Option+Command-select abilities. I’m disappointed that the presentation function hasn’t progressed. I would dearly love to use Curio as a quick presentation tool for lectures and meetings but it just doesn’t give quite enough control. You can fit the canvas to the screen or view it at 100% but you can’t zoom in to further control what is on display. I would really like to make the most of the unlimited canvas to lay out images and ideas and lead the discussion around the idea space. This isn’t impossible currently, especially with jump targets, but it’s not as easy as it could be. Well, that’s a lot of complaining. I should mention the things that keep me coming back to Curio. I love the unlimited sheets and the way I can have multiple sheets in a file. Nothing else allows me to mix text and sketches and mind maps and text outlines so easily or so organically. I do my lesson plans in it so that I can graphically plan a class. It’s easy to distribute to my tutors via PDF or “print to fit” on paper. I also use it for committee and meeting notes, recording them alongside the meeting agenda and appendices. Mind mapping is good for meetings too, as well as brainstorming papers. Graphically it’s not as sophisticated as OmniGraffle but so useful when you can mix all of these things together on an unlimited sheet of virtual butchers paper. In summary, I really like using Curio but I wish the upgrade cycle wasn’t so costly.
(Version 6.0.1) | |
| Sep 16 2009 |
INFOSEC I know how you feel. I purchased the pro version of 3. After not too long 4.0 came out. I paid the hefty pro upgrade price. It fixed some annoying bugs and added a few new features but I felt that the upgrade price was too much. I am still on 4.0. Considering what is included in each upgrade I don't know when I will upgrade again. If you own the pro version they try to squeeze $70 a year from you! That is crazy!
(Version 6.0.1) | |
| Jan 2 2010 |
ANDREW SCOTT I should update my previous comment because a few of my most significant issues have been addressed with recent updates (or else I found solutions in the manual! RTFM indeed!), specifically: - it’s possible to have curved lines and lines with multiple segments and control points, a big improvement to what is now graphically possible - scribbles can be selected and turned into objects that can be layered with other page elements (apparently this has been possible for some time) - snapping to corners, edges and centres is more flexible now (or more flexible than I had realised) and with the correct key combinations it’s also possible to anchor lines to arbitrary points inside an element I also think the index card feature is pretty nice—useful and attractive as well. I find this handy for structuring ideas for a paper, using proximity to group related concepts and attached lines to cross link ideas. I’ve also become a little more used to saved styles. Perhaps I’m just becoming a little more attuned to the way the software works—there is a helpful forum community that helps a lot as well—but most of my other wish lists remain.
(Version 6.4) | |
| Sep 14 2009 |
XPLICIT Dear Curio Developer(s), "CMD " is for switching the application's windows. It's a default, pre-set shortcut. You shouldn't assign another command.
(Version 6.0) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jan 19 2009 |
ROGER KATZ CAUTION - MacUpdate in NOT up-to-date at 7PM 19 Jan '09. The MacUpdate links do NOT give the Curio 5.4.1 versions. I used the MacUpdate links, and was only able to download Curio Standard 5.3.1 and Curio Pro 5.40. Nevertheless, I was able to successfully get the 5.4.1 versions directly from the developer's website.
(Version 5.4.1) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Nov 19 2008 |
N2ITV42 Can't say enough about this program - does it all for the creative professional. The price does seem high at first, but you get over that once it becomes a staple of your workflow
(Version 5.3) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Oct 5 2008 |
MAR6473 I've been using Curio for a couple of months now. Once you start using it you realize what a unique program it is. I looked at it before but the price turned me off right away. $149 seems like a lot when I was already using another note taking app that cost $35 for collecting info and managing research projects. Beyond being able to collect a lot of information and organize it, it lets you spread it out, move it around, interconnect it, etc... It's sort of like being able to spread all your bits of info out onto a big table to get a good look at everything. The mind mapping feature does everything I need and is great for organizing your information (There are other mind mapping apps that have more features than Curio. You just have to try it to see if it does everything you want. For me, there is a lot of strength in Curio's ability to do a bunch of thing within one document). Omnioutliner and Omnigraffle are fantastic programs but I can do everything I used to do in both of them in Curio. The developers are very responsive which has reassured my confidence in the app. For project organization, research, and collecting information on a given subject, it does everything I need. If you need advanced word processing tools, you can embed Word or Pages documents into your Curio project. They give you an extended 60 day trial so it gives you enough time to really try it out. If you just want to mind map, there are apps that just do that, if you just want something to dump bits of info into to collect over time, Journler is great. But, for general project and research management with a lot of flexibility that really helps you get organized, Curio really stands out.
(Version 5.1) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Sep 24 2008 |
TECHWRITER I think the important thing to look at here is the magnitude of the upgrades. Version 5 is really bristling with new, compelling features. Curio is turning into a virtual 'control centre' for my day-to-day work. It's open all the time, both in the office and at home, so the value of the product for me is far, far beyond a measly $70 per year. If the next version adds as many major improvements as the last one, another $70 will be a bargain.
(Version 5.1) | |
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