The Blog

New & Improved

In the coming days, you will see some changes to the site.  We are working with the site design and we  have added some new features.  Please be patient as we make these changes.  I will post additional information once we go live with the changes. Brent Pugh - March 22, 2007

Listed & Reviewed

On February 19th, Acorn was listed on EmilyChang.com, one of the premier directories for web applications and social software.  In addition, Chris Gilmer from Web Worker Daily gave Acorn its first public review on February 21st.  We would like to thank Emily and Chris for their support.  Due in large part to the publicity of these two sites, Acorn is now being used in 73 countries and all 50 U.S. states. Brent Pugh - February 23, 2007

Continued Growth

Acorn now has a more recognizable web address: http://www.ManageMyIdeas.com.  The name of the service will continue to be Acorn, but you should update your bookmarks and links to point to this new URL.  Acorn is getting visits from people all over the world: France, Denmark, England, Spain, Poland, India, China, Egypt, Canada, and 19 different states in the U.S.  Invite your friends to use Acorn.  It is a fun way to share thoughts and ideas.  To invite people to share your ideas, you can use the "Manage Associates" link under the "Sharing" tab.  Just type in the email of the person you wish to invite and wait for them to accept the invitation.  It's easy!  Brent Pugh - January 25, 2007

New Features

On January 7th, 2007, we released a new version of Acorn.   Here are the major changes: 1) The login screen has a new look which will hopefully appeal to new users and give them a little insight to the features of Acorn.  2) The "My Ideas" section had some major revisions including an improved description box.  Previously, when a user typed in a description and clicked "Update", the description would return without any formatting and the user would have to click "edit" to make any additional revisions.  In this release, the description box is always in edit mode and when the user hits "Update", the description returns with all of your formatting and ready for the next edit. 3) Also in the "My Ideas" section, you will notice that there are now three tabs attached to the description box.  The first tab is "description" - that's where you can write down your thoughts.  The second tab is "sharing" - you can now invite people to view your thoughts and ideas (more about sharing in #4 below).  The third tab is "comments" - this is where you can write yourself a note about your idea or if the idea is shared, you can leave comments to each other about the idea (more about comments in #5 below). 4) Sharing is one of the main purposes of Acorn.  When you first click the "Sharing" tab, you will see the name of your idea at the top, a section that reads "Share with", and the words "You have not shared this idea with anyone."  In order for you to share your thoughts, you must invite people to be your Associate.  To do this, you click the link titled "Manage Associates", type in the email of the person with which you wish to associate and then wait for them to accept your invitation.  Once they have accepted, you will see their user name in your "Share with" box. Select their name and click "Update."  Now they can see your idea.  Once a person is in your "Share with" list, you can decide to share ideas with them or to keep an idea private.  All ideas are private unless you specifically choose to share them with someone.  You can share the same idea with as many people as you like. 5) Comments are a nice way to leave yourself or an Associate a note about an idea.  You simply click the idea, then click the "Comments" tab.  You will see the name of the idea at the top and a place to type in a message.  Once you type your message, you can click the "Add" button, or you can hit enter on your keyboard to submit the message.  Each comment is date and time stamped and includes the username of the person who made the comment.  Comments can be deleted if necessary. 6) We are experimenting with a Chat feature.  On the main navigation bar, you will now see "Chat".  This allows users to communicate in real time with other Acorn users.  This feature is still in development, but we put it in to test it out.  Let us know what you think. Thanks for your continued support on this project.  Several users have provided useful feedback by using the feedback tool at the bottom of each page.  New users are signing up from all over the United States and Europe.  Invite your friends to sign-up!  Brad and I will continue to develop new features, so check this page for updates. Brent Pugh - January 11, 2007

One Month!

Today marks one month from the time that we released the Acorn website.  As of today, there are 173 ideas recorded in Acorn.  Not too bad for our little website! Brad and I are designing and developing more improvements to the site.  Updates include: a new login screen, improved description box, the ability to share ideas, and more.  Brad has done a great job developing these new features!  They rival anything available commercially.  Included in this next release will be a tool that will allow you to invite your associates, friends, and family to sign-up for Acorn.  Once they sign-up, their names will show up in an "associates list" and you will be able to share ideas and comments with them.  Collaborate on a group project, coordinate an upcoming family event, or share a business idea.  Let us know how you use this tool, so that we can share with others.  As always, please feel free to use the feedback forms available at the bottom of every page to let us know what improvements you would like to see in Acorn.  Enjoy! Brent Pugh - December 16, 2006

What's Next?

Idea sharing!  Maybe you have a business idea, a group project at school, or a work project...all of these involve groups of people that share ideas with one another.  Currently, Acorn is set-up so that an individual can quickly create and develop ideas.  A future update will allow users to share ideas with one another by forming groups.  Users will have the option to keep an idea private or to share the idea with a group.  Private ideas will only be visible to you, while group ideas will be visible to all the members of your group.  More details about idea sharing will be provided once we get closer to releasing the feature. On a side note, we are grateful to all those who have joined Acorn over the past week.  We want you to add as many ideas to the site as possible, so that we can test the site stability, speed, and database size.  Thanks to all those who have used the feedback tool.  The feedback will help us make the site better, so if you see something you like or dislike just let us know.  Enjoy! Brent Pugh - November 21, 2006

About Acorn

Acorn began on October 12, 2006. Acorn has gone from idea to reality in about 30 days. My brother, Brad, and I needed a place to track our ideas, so we made Acorn. Acorn works well for us, so now we are sharing it with you.  Brad lives in California and I live in Utah. We call each other and talk for hours about our business ideas (a skill that we learned from our Dad). Well...after hundreds of ideas (some of which are pretty good) we finally created a tool to help us list, develop, and evaluate our ideas. Acorn is still being developed. There are several ideas that we have for the site, but we would like you to try it out and let us know what you like and don't like. We have a feedback tool at the bottom of each page that you can use to communicate with Brad and me. Brad and I will be using this page as a blog to keep you posted on our development. Enjoy!  Brent Pugh - November 16, 2006