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Scrybe - the online productivity suite I'm dying to try
In this era of worshipping at the temple of "The David" (Getting Things Done), there is no shortage of offline and online productivity suites. With that in mind, I rarely get all that excited about the new Web 2.0 offerings that get a bit of buzz here and there. But Scrybe appears to be different.
Way different.
Like wow different. Here, just watch:
Scrybe is an online organizer that is grounded in one word: context. The user interface is designed to always give the user context relating to the data they are dealing with. So if you're working in your calendar, you can fly up to a year view, or dig down all the way to a day view, and all of the related information is intelligently displayed so that you never lose track of where you are. Watching the video on their site, you immediately get a feeling of "that just makes sense". Google Calendar is good, but doesn't appear to be as good as this.
Before moving on to other features of the online organizer, I should stop for a moment and mention that while Scrybe is an online organizer, it's the first one to support the ability to work with it offline, seamlessly. You simply set your browser to offline mode, and navigate to your Scrybe account the way you would if you were online, and everything works exactly as it does online. As soon as you have an internet connection, your changes will synchronize back to your online account.
The video shows seamless importing of popular document formats like Excel, Word and Acrobat, and can take a list from Excel and turn it into a todo list immediately. Information from within Scrybe can also be exported back out to these popular formats.
The Todo list portion of Scrybe is also grounded in the concept of always maintaining context; a list for a specific project will contain items that are also related to dates, for example, as well as a parent category for Work, Home, or however else you choose to organize your todo lists. Todos can be viewed based on any of these contexts, as well as viewed by the date that reminders have been set for them. Think Backpack on steroids.
There is a note taking component to Scrybe as well, that seems somewhat similar to Google Notebook, but maintains connections to the other portions of the Scrybe organizer, therefore maintaining your frame of reference - yet again, it's about context.
Finally, Scrybe takes an interesting perspective when talking about synchronization: instead of worrying about how to interact with the myriad of devices that are out there, they simply provide intelligent printable templates that can be folded and tucked into your back pocket, so you can take all of the relevant information you need with you for the coming week. Brilliant.
Unfortunately, Scrybe is not yet available to try, but the site proudly proclaims that it will be launching in beta in October. Seeing that October is running out, it should be soon. We've been in contact with one of the co-founders, and understand that Scrybe will be running a closed beta initially. We've been promised a beta account during the closed beta period, so we'll certainly give our feedback when that happens. We'll also make sure to let you all know as soon as the public beta is available. For now, check out the video, and let us know in the comments if we're right to be as excited as we are.
Comments
66
Subscribe to commentsNikOct 21st 2006 12:09PM
Re: having to transfer things after writing them down on paper
It can be argued this is a good thing forcing you to rethink and organize your notes and todos, sorta like recopying your notes from a meeting etc..
However if I may be hypocritical, I would still like it to sync with my Palm :p
shanOct 21st 2006 12:09PM
can it import from google calendar ;) ?
shanOct 21st 2006 12:09PM
I might switch as well if it supports the browser in the nokia770...I believe it's opera
Jon MossOct 21st 2006 12:09PM
Now this is looking VERY , very good. Some neat features, obvious time and thought gone into it and a lovely UI. When can we test this out!?!? SOON I hope!
Mark MolloyOct 21st 2006 1:27PM
Intelligent and insightful coverage of software I will look forward to using myself. But, I have a question. We are at beta (for students only) with a product we think will change the world even more profoundly -- the general-purpose double auction. I am interested in the opinions of the sort of insightful people who write blogs such as this, and the commentary on it. I think we have something very good to bring to the world, but also a lot to learn about how to present it, which of the features we are planning are most important to make it genuinely useful, etc. See http://www.darple.com for our beta offering; please contact me at help@darple.com if you are willing to provide thoughtful input. Thanks! -Mark Molloy, Darple founder & CEO.
Dave FourputtOct 22nd 2006 12:07AM
Outstanding!
If it syncs with my Blackberry then I will be sold on this!
Geri SonkinOct 22nd 2006 12:43PM
This looks incredible. I would love to be able to beta test it when it's available to the public.
venOct 22nd 2006 12:07AM
This only works if *you* are *committed* to using it; kinda of like why majority of people never switched over to PDAs from paper-pencil.
It's been proven over and over that everyone manages time differently and there is no "right way" that turns you into an efficient person.
grapeshotOct 22nd 2006 12:07AM
This looks very cool. I love how everything remains in context. The note taking feature looks like it would be more handy than Google Notebook -- which I've just started using but I'm not finding to be all that. In fact, it looks about as handy as Keynote.
It looks like I should be able to use it on my Mac and on my PC, and even at work, where the IT department has our computers locked up tight.
I've been trying out Google's calendar, and Yahoo's calendar, and I'm not happy with either one of those.
Although I love the paper syncing (which I find charming and quaint), if this can sync with my Outlook at work (which we HAVE to use) and/or my Palm, then I'll definitely give it a serious trial.
Trevor ThompsonOct 22nd 2006 12:07AM
Oh Google I love you dearly and you won't find a bigger or more loyal
fan but this Scrybe thing will really test my faithfulness when it is
released. Google I would love you to buy scrybe or copy em', I think i
speak for many!!!!!!!!
engtechOct 22nd 2006 12:07AM
You can find the author's comments on synchronization support on my blog.
ngOct 22nd 2006 12:07AM
Personally, I think the printing to paper feature is very cool. For me, paper trumps everything in terms of simplicity, speed, and freedom.
RichOct 22nd 2006 9:52AM
If this is for real, then let's count the nano-seconds till Google aquires 'em.
Pranav ShahOct 22nd 2006 5:46AM
Google will take over Scrybe in May 2007!
KeithOct 22nd 2006 9:51AM
Sounds like I really have to give this apps a try.
LongTimeMicrosoftMomAndPopUserOct 23rd 2006 3:48AM
I've been a reluctant Microsoft user for years and years. So now, I welcome, no, I embrace, the opportunity to finally free myself from clunky and unreliable Office software. I'm not worried about the learning curve because the iScrybe offering looks amazingly easy to use.
Hopefully, this is good riddance to Microsoft Office! Maybe next, someone can put the whole operating system into a browser and we can get rid of Windows.
Andreas MaternOct 23rd 2006 11:56AM
Why is this such a big deal? Its a calendar program. It has a few fancy features - most notably the dragging of appointments, but other than that, I don't see it as a "Wow!" application. What am I missing?
miloOct 24th 2006 12:19PM
WOW!!
Robert-PaulOct 24th 2006 12:19PM
The papersync is per-fect for me! I have no portable device, so I can put the print in my filofax ! Now I use Google calendar, but if Scrybe is free, I will definately goning to use it !
If you have a portable device, you don't HAVE to print your calendar ;-) !
VipralionOct 25th 2006 11:00AM
Wow... This looks like such a breeze to operate.
I especially like the working offline option as I'm not always connected to the net with my laptop and so using something like Google Calendar obviously won't work.
I'm excited to see how it really works once they start to get the program into beta.