MindManager 8 Webinar- What's New

Have you thought about upgrading to MindManager 8 but are not sure if the features match your needs? MindManager 8 is a substantial upgrade with many exciting and useful features that can make you a more efficient visual mapper. During this hour long webinar we will explore the many new features and give you a firsthand opportunity to see these features in action so that you can make a more informed decision as to whether you want to upgrade. Before the webinar you will have the opportunity to email the presenter with any specific question that you may have. So join me as we explore all of the exciting new features in MindManager 8. To register and pay for this webinar on December 22 at 1:00 pm EST click on the PayPal button on the top right of the blog. There is a nominal $35 dollar charge to participate in the webinar which can paid via PayPal. Once you are registered, you will be emailed information about logging on to the webinar and the teleconferencing phone number and access codes. Space is limited so sign up now!

Experience Task Automation Capabilities within MindManager 8 for Windows

If you haven't taken a look at some of the new features in MindManager 8 then you should take a look at this video tutorial that I put together for the November Mindjet Connections Newsletter on the new Task Automation Capabilities.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the day spending time with your friends and family. We have a lot to be thankful for! Brian

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen adds Handwriting Recognition

I have been using digital pen technology for a long time now but nothing has excited me more for the potential for this technology than the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. I have been writing about my experiences using the Pulse Smartpen on my blog since its release and it continues to amaze me what is possible. I knew that it was only a matter of time before the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen would add handwriting recognition and I am happy to report that Livescribe announced yesterday the release of MyScript for Livescribe 1.0 from VisionObjects- which adds this significant feature. For those of you who would like to try MyScript for Livescribe 1.0 you will have to upgrade your Livescribe Desktop to Version 1.4 from the Livescribe website. Once you have made the upgrade you can download the trial version of MyScript for Livescribe 1.0, which will automatically install the MyScript icon into the tool bar of your Livescribe Desktop software. MyScript for Livescribe 1.0 is an independent application that once engaged from the Livescribe Desktop software will launch. I should note that the MyScript for Livescribe software application is $29.95 and can be purchased from the VisionObjects website.

So how does it work you say? I updated my Livescribe Desktop to version 1.4 and installed the4 trial version of MyScript for Livescribe 1.0 without a hitch. Once installed there now appeared a new icon on my Livescribe Desktop toolbar. I opened a page of some notes I had just recently taken at a conference and clicked on the MyScript icon which automatically launched the MyScript for Livescribe 1.0 application. Once launched you see a two page view of your handwritten notes on the left hand side of the page and by simply clicking on the conversion icon you text is recognized and appears on the right hand side of the page. You can go into the MyScript Preferences and select from three different handwriting modes, Hand Print, Capital Letters, and Natural Handwriting to help the recognition engine along. One more click on the Word icon, and your text transfers to a Word document-pretty neat! Once in Word the text is fully editable and ready to be reformatted. I should note that handwriting recognition has come a long way but it is not perfect. From my perusal of the Word document I would have to say that I was really impressed with the conversion process- with a little spell checking and some formatting my notes are now editable in Word. Having handwriting recognition is a significant feature and one that will allow students and teachers to use this technology to move their notes into Word with the ability to modify and make whatever accommodations that are needed. This is wonderful assistive technology tool and one that keeps getting better and better. This is a great gift for the holiday season.

PollDaddy and MindManager 8

You probably know by now, that I like tinkering with new Web 2.0 services and decided to give PollDaddy a try. PollDaddy lets you create a free account and create polls and surveys free of charge. There are some limitations with the free account- but I decided to give it a try and see what happens. So if you can indulge me and fill out I the poll I created I would appreciate it.

On the heals of the release of MindManager 8 I thought it might be interesting to see what new features are most valuable to you and how you are using MindManager to accomplish your work and personal goals. I have also included some questions about your interest in training and what add-ins you are currently using with MindManager. So if you can take the time to complete it I will summarize the data and report back here with the results. Click here to go to the poll. Thanks- Brian

TwitterBerry for BlackBerry Curve

I have become a real fan of Twitter and am using it more and more to follow my colleagues and thought leaders in various fields. I have found it to be indispensable for following and tracking the latest trends in technology. Just recently I was able to follow the tweets for the DevLearn2008 Conference that I was unable to attend to keep up with the latest news from the conference. I'm sure you are finding interesting ways to use Twitter. Today I installed TwitterBerry on my BlackBerry Curve and now have full Twitter functionality from my smartphone. I tried it this evening with great success-now I have Twitter in the palm of my hands. You can Follow me on Twitter @assistivetek Hope to hear from you- so send me a tweet!

Export as Mindjet Player Tip- Linking Documents

I for one am having a great deal of fun experimenting with the new Export as Mindjet Player feature that can be found in MindManager 8. I have begun to export all of my MindManager maps to this format so that I can share them with my students on their Blackboard accounts. I have all of my lectures mapped out with links to web sites which I use for every class. Back in the days of MindManager 7, I would export my MindManager maps to PDF and post them to Blackboard, but the links were no longer live which always presented a problem. Now with the new Export as Mindjet Player I can put the maps on Blackboard and ask my students to open it and they can quickly jump from web site to web site as we talk about different topics. This has been a tremendous time saver for me. If you have taught using the internet- it is cumbersome when you have to stop and write the URL on the board and invariably some of your students are going to misspell the link and have trouble getting to where you want them to be.

One of the limitation of the first release of Export as Mindjet Player is that you can not embed your attachments. After thinking about this for a little while, I realized that while you can't attach documents that are stored on your computer, however, what about your documents that are stored on Google Docs or Acrobat.com? Instead of attaching documents to my MindManager maps I could simply hyperlink them to my documents. Yes- this does limit the number of attachments but it gets the job done. It was certainly worth trying and in fact my solution does work. Here is how to do it. In Google Docs open up your document that you want to be able to share and click the Share tab and select Publish as Web page. This will automatically create a unique URL that you can share with other to access your Google Docs. Now just create a link in Mindjet MindManager with that unique URL and you are ready to go. Remember you can also upload your Microsoft Word documents and bring them into Google Docs and be able to accomplish the same thing.

I have been using Acrobat.com for a lot of the consulting work that I am doing and it is just as easy to link your documents (Word, Excel, PDF's, etc) in your Acrobat.com account to your MindManager 8 maps and then Export as Mindjet Player and retain the attachments. In fact you will find the process a lot easier. Once you go to the MyFiles directory- simply select the file you want to link and make sure that you have selected Open Access which will let you share your files with others. Now simply click on the Copy URL button. Once you are back in MindManager 8 select the topic you want to link it to and bring up the Add Hyperlink and paste the link in. Now when you Export as Mindjet Player you will be able to access your documents from anywhere when you are connected to the internet.

While I hope that at some point in time we will be able to attach documents that can be embedded into the Mindjet Player for now this is a workaround that should serve us well for maps that we would like to share with others. Let me know what you think of this strategy. You can preview the file that I created by clicking here.