ClearContext Corporate Blog

We’ve been heads down on our new release for some time.  I will have lots to tell you about IMS 3.0 in the near term, but for now I wanted to point you to an interesting article on why we’re so addicted to email.  Mind Hacks analyzes the compulsion to check mail, opening the article with this premise:

“Now email isn’t a drug – it doesn’t deliver a chemical into your bloodstream. Yet it is clearly addictive. I’m a normal rational person (which is to say I’m just normally maladjusted) and I know that I don’t need to check my email as often as it do – certainly not immediately after checking it the first time for Goodness’ sake! – but still I am compelled. What’s going on, and can psychological science help me out?”

If you find this stuff as interesting as I do, then read the rest of the article (and re-read Clive Thompson’s NYT article Meet the LifeHackers because it’s equally fascinating).

If you don’t have time to read the article because Outlook keeps dinging you with unread mail, then give yourself a fighting chance at breaking the addiction by turning off all email notifications via Tools > Options > Preferences > E-Mail Options > Advanced E-Mail Options.  Your productivity will skyrocket.

[Hat tip to lifehacker for the pointer.]

Recently, we went over to Microsoft and gave Don Campbell a demo of IMS Pro 3.0.  The result is a 6.5 minute screencast highlighting our new features.  In the demo we’re running an Alpha version of ClearContext 3.0 against the Beta 2 release of the 2007 Microsoft Office system.  Give it a watch and let us know what you think.

We’re recruiting beta testers to try out the Beta 1 test release of ClearContext IMS Pro 3.0.  Details on this release are here.  If you are running Office 2007 or Office 2003 and are interested in taking part in our beta test program, please drop us a line at beta at clearcontext dot com.  I’m anxious to hear what you think about the new product!

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who signed up for the beta over the weekend.  If you sent a beta request and did not hear back from us, please resend.  Ironically, I had some email issues that may have caused me to drop your note.  Thanks!