I wonder if Kevin Tofel will give this a try with his ‘Computing in the Cloud’ challenge. MindJet, maker of the excellent MindManager mind mapping software, is heading into the cloud. MindJet Connect allows online collaboration for MindManager users with three different versions and price levels. (Click on the image below for a larger version.)

Via WebWorker Daily

This will be good news for those who use MindManager and need to do some project managment. MindJet, the makers of the excellent mindmapping tool, MindManager, has acquired JCVGantt, a project managing tool. MindManager has long been one of the premiere Inking applciations for the Tablet PC, and accordng to James Kendrick of jkOnTheRun, JCVGantt is also very Ink friendly. I’ve used and continue to use MindManager as one of my core apps, but have never used JCVGantt, but it looks like this will be an interesting addition to the MindJet family and for users.

If you are a previous MindManager owner you can purchase the JCVGantt add-in for $129. If you’re heading into this for the first time a combo package will set you back $399. There is also a 21 day free trial.

On Sunday afternoons, I normally sit back in a quiet area in our house to do some reading, as well as planning for the next week. I'm normally in tablet mode, sitting back in a recliner, working in MindManager for the planning part. The really nice part of a Sunday afternoon is turning the Tablet off and getting in to some good reading ( which typically leads to a great nap! )

In our weekend discussion of why a person should look at a Tablet PC, the value of the below MindManager map is hard to explain to someone. Notice the personal handwriting, links to Outlook emails, links to sections in OneNote, and more. This is typically a map I'll work out of the entire week, make changes / additions, etc. Sure, a person can MindMap and hyperlink with a regular notebook, but nothing compares to working in tablet mode and doing it with a pen. I'm able to stay much more creative when working with a pen than with a keyboard.

Ok, time to run. There is a big, fluffy pillow calling my name.

The extreme cold, that is. Mindjet just announced the completion of a 5 year planning process for an Ice Warrior team trekking the Northwest Passage and making a try for the Arctic Pole.

This latest expedition with a team of novices, marshalled by world famous Arctic-explorer, Jim McNeill, will attempt an extreme polar journey that will thoroughly explore the North West Passage. Jim will then return to his base camp in Resolute Bay, the second most northerly community in Canada before attempting to reach the Northern Pole of Inaccessibility in a crucial scientific exploration of the Arctic Ocean, by aircraft. The pole otherwise known as the Arctic Pole, has never before been reached and stands as the very last World First in Polar history. The planning for this epic journey started in 2003 under the leadership of Jim and with the use of MindManager, a visual information mapping tool. The software was used by the Ice Warrior team to plan all their logistics and critical contingency measures down to the extreme detail during the preparation of this human endurance test.

This has to be the most incredibly complex mind-mapping that I've ever heard of. You can read about the story in the press release, but I hope to hear more about how they team actually does with the trek.

Read more about Ice Warrior project.

via The Mindjet Blog

GBM reader Phillip sent us a link to a guy that used Snag-It and MindManager to take notes with during a training session.  It's an interesting concept to morph the two together.  I use SnagIt, from TechSmith (one of our site sponsors), in a similar fashion, but not in combination with MindManager.  I normally just take a 'snag' and it automatically gets sent into the clipboard - then I can paste it about anywhere. 

I can see how capturing the screen, adding ink notes/arrows and sending it to MindManager would be very useful during a technical session.  I was in one last week and would have like to use it then...  Maybe I need to take a look at that link for the MM plugin for SnagIt.

We’ve linked to Tony Buzan’s iMindMap software and videos on mind mapping before. Mr. Buzan has published some new videos and articles that might be worth a look if you are just starting to explore mind mapping. The articles lay out the principals of mind mapping and the videos do the same but from obviously a more visual approach.

After we first linked to iMindMap several users here gave it a try, as did I. For what it is worth on a Tablet PC, I prefer using MindJet’s MindManager. MindManager works much more intuitively with a Tablet PC and Inking in my opinion. But remember there are different strokes for different folks, so you might want to give iMindMap a try. There is a 30 day free trial for you to give it a go.

Here comes a crazy mobile week. The big trip this week is to head to Memphis for auditions at the UPTA conference. That’s a 5 day conference where we will audition over 600 actors and then interview about 200 or so for possible jobs in our next season which begins in June. More on that later. (Note some of the links in this post are affiliate.)

In the State Capitol

But before we head off to UPTA, I am spending a day doing some political lobbying on behalf of the Arts in our state (and my theatre in particular.) I, and other members of my team, leave this afternoon to head to Richmond. (We’re leaving early enough so we can get into our hotel and watch the Super Bowl.) Early tomorrow morning, we’re off to the state capitol and a day full of appointments. We’ll be using our mobile phones (both voice and text messaging) to keep in touch throughout the day, as appointments often change due to the legislators’ schedules. I’ve planned out the day in MindManager and will be using my Tablet PC to keep track of our progress throughout the day. It will be a fast moving day and interestingly enough most of the work will come in the follow up that we have to do the next day, so keeping accurate records of conversations is a must.

On to the Auditions

Mid-week we head off to the UPTA conference. For this conference (and another one in March) we basically carry a small office with us. The tools I’ll be using will be the Lenovo ThinkPad X61 Tablet PC, the HTC Mogul, the Canon Pixma i90 Printer, a LogiTech webcam, and, for brief bits of relaxation, the iPod Touch. I’ll also be carrying a video camera to tape some auditions. I primarily use OneNote 2007 in keeping track of interviews and auditions. I’ve chronicled how I do that in the past, but it has been awhile, so I’ll be updating my process some this year. It has been a successful method of keeping track of actors and interviewees.

Twitter: A Different Communication Method?

Not only do we audition and interview at the conference, but I also do much of my ongoing work for the theatre there as well. In essence a big portion of our office moves to Memphis for the week. Communication is the key as we have a number of big pressing issues (we’re in the middle of renovating the theatre) and there are some issues coming up that we know in advance are going to require relatively immediate responses by me. Auditions are like attending a public event. Cell phones are turned off for courtesy (if an auditor’s cell phone goes off during the audition he/she pays the fee for that actor’s audition!) but the WiFi is plentiful. We are going to try something different this trip as far as a communication method. In the past we’ve used SMS messaging at these events when the folks back home have to reach me. But the buzz of a cell phone in stun mode can still distract. So, I’m going to be using the iPod Touch to follow direct messages from the home office on Twitter. I could just as easily use the HTC Mogul for that, but I’m experimenting, and I want to see if the Touch will do the trick here. We’ll see how that works.

It should be an interesting, but exhausting period of time. As a side note, my participation here on GBM will be light during the auditions. I’m also trying out a couple of new (to me) gadgets and accessories and if all goes well, I’ll be reporting about that either from the road, or after I return.

Although mindmapping has its origins from quite a few sources, Tony Buzan lays claim as the “Inventor of Mind Mapping.” He certainly has had an impact on the development of using mind mapping as a tool. Well now he’s selling his own mindmapping software, iMindMap. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, it looks to be a competitor for MindJet’s MindMap Pro, and from what I’ve seen works well with a Tablet PC. I’ve just run across this software (thanks to a link from Marc Orchant) and will be checking it out soon. There is a 30 day free trial if you’re interested in checking this out.

In the meantime, here is a video that not only gives you an idea of the software but a little background on mindmapping in general.

I've had MindJet MindManager Pro 6 (FYI, the current version is 7 and I can't wait to upgrade and have a look at the new features) for quite a while now and used to use it from time to time.  I usually break it out when we are starting a new project and need to map out project tasks and resources.  Then we take that and bring in the subtasks, get a good feel of everything.  Then with a bunch of other people in the office conference room we start brainstorming ideas.  It wasn't a daily occurrence for me, but it was a great tool for what we were trying to do.

Well, that has changed a little lately.  I have taken on the quest of personally trying to get my daily tasks a little more organized.  To do that - I am trying to follow in the footsteps of Dennis, one of our fearless leaders ( that's scary huh??).  He'll create a map daily of what he needs to do in the morning so he can follow that throughout the day.  That's what I have been doing.  So far, I have been doing it for a week and it has really improved my productivity and helped me accomplish things on a more regular basis.

I've been using the default 'To-Do List' template to start out each day for right now.  That helps me get things going in a organized manner.  So far I have made a few changes to the map and saved it as my very own template.  The image above is the default view of the To-Do list, and one major change I have made is to convert all the default fields over to be "Ink" boxes instead of text.  There's nothing like sitting at my desk in tablet mode with my feet kicked up on the desk - pen in one hand and coffee in the other - writing out my daily tasks. :) And, something I found today is that you can drag and drop topics from map to map!!  That's great if you are waiting for an answer to a question or just carrying over different tasks from day to day.  I am still exploring and figuring out new things as I work around MindManager Pro, but just thought I would share with everybody how things are going.

I'll keep everybody updated and when I get my template set up after a little while longer, I might even post up the Map Template for people to use!  How do you use MM in your daily routine?

Great article in The New York Times (registration required) about author Richard Powers who uses a Tablet PC to do his research and write his novels. His most famous book is The Echo Maker and he stored most of his research in OneNote and maps out his story and characters’ histories using MindManager. He dictates his work using speech recognition on a Tablet PC. The article also discusses the technology other authors use as well. Using this Tablet PC for this kind of creativity is a natural as far as I’m concerned.

Hat Tip to jkOnTheRun

If you’re interested in Mindjet’s new MindManager 7 and have been hearing about the lite version that only costs $99 then here’s a link for you. The Mind Mapping Sofware Weblog is linking to a Summary of MindManager 7 Lite’s features that Andrew Wilcox has put together in the MindManger Forums (registration required.)

Here’s a quick excerpt:

All the features for producing two dimensional maps from MindManager Pro 7 have been retained.  Missing are the exports and integration with the Microsoft Office products, task management and other features.

Check out the rest here.

Andrew Wilcox has also put together a handy pdf that compares the features of the full and lite versions side-by-side.

Lots of interest around the new release of MindManager 7, the excellent mindmapping tool from MindJet. William at The Student Tablet PC has put together an excellent “ground up” walk through of the program. Check it out here.

Jamie Nast, author of IdeaMapping, will be conducting a MindJet Webinar on June 5 powered by the new MindManager 7 (scheduled to be released the end of this month.) This looks like a good way to get your feet wet with what’s new in version 7. You can register for the webinar at this link.

Via The Mind Mapping Software Weblog

Folks in the GBM Forums are getting excited and deservedly so. MindJet has announced that MindManager 7 is about ready to roll out of Beta on May 30, 2007. Here’s the scoop from the MindJet site where you can sign up for an email notification that lets you know when the new version is available for purchase.

MindManager Pro 7 for Microsoft Windows features a new interface based on the Microsoft Office Fluent™ UI – designed to enable people to quickly discover and utilize more capabilities within MindManager. New usability enhancements include easier browsing within the Ribbon which has logically grouped tabs, contextual tabs for better navigation, new map styles for faster formatting and enhanced ScreenTips, just to name a few.

Tight integration with Microsoft applications in MindManager means users can launch Excel, Word, Project or Outlook from within MindManager as well as import or export key content or information easily to any Microsoft Office application. Saved queries and views, advanced sorting, topic-level formatting, and the centralization of map subtopics further streamline the easy navigation and visualization of particular sets of information within a Mindjet map.

MindManager maps can be linked to variety of data sources beyond Microsoft® Office, such as RSS feeds, websites, and popular applications like Salesforce.com®, enabling users to capture, organize, and visualize complex information. Integration with leading productivity applications and enterprise solutions saves users time and ensures quick data exchange for dashboard and presentation creation, contact and content management, data and project management, and more.

And if you’re looking for more info on what’s under the hood in MindManager 7 check out The Mind Mapping Software Weblog. Here’s a link to the press release.

 I've been testing Gyronix's Gyroq MindManager add-in and was running in to some conflicts with it and the new OneNote 2007 MindManager add-in. After working with Nick Duffill, of Gyronix, we determined that the problem resided with the OneNote 2007 add-in, and Nick went off to work with MindManager to address the issue.

I just heard from Nick today that MindJet has fixed the problem. If you use the OneNote 2007 add-in, it is important that you update to the new version because it fixes a problem with MindManager not shutting down correctly when started from OneNote's Sent To MindManager option.

By the way, if you use MindJet's MindManager, I'd encourage you to take a look at Gyronix's GyroQ add-in. It is a great way to capture quick thoughts throughout the day without opening MindManager and fumbling with the UI. It is also a quick and easy way to gather brainstorming thoughts that you need to organize later. Look for an InkShow on GyroQ next month from Dennis Rice.

Now, this is an add-on to MindManager I have been waiting for - hyperlinking and send-to functionality between the two applications. I can see this add-on playing a huge role in productivity on my tablet pc as I use both applications and need to interact with both a great deal. Often times, I have notes in both places for the same project.

In this post, I talked about how a person could hyperlink between OneNote 2007 and MindManager. Fortunately, this new MindManager add-on takes care of it.

I'm installing it as I write up this post, but will let the add-on description and images speak for themselves ( click to view larger images of the screen shots ).

From the MindJet Labs:

This demonstrates a synergistic relationship between two applications, Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 and Mindjet MindManager Pro 6:

• From MindManager, you can easily map out the Notebooks, Sections, and Pages, including hyperlinks to the notebooks, sections, and pages:
  Select File...Open...OneNote 2007 Notebooks.
• From MindManager, you can send the current map to OneNote as an image that you can sketch on and annotate:
  Select File...Export...Microsoft Office OneNote 2007.
• From OneNote, you can send a page to MindManager as a hyperlinked topic:
  Press the Send to MindManager button on the Standard toolbar in OneNote.

The add-on is available to download, but you have to join the MindJet Labs in order to download it.

We all have our methods of compiling our Christmas Wish lists and sharing them with our friends and families. (Amazon.com is my sharing list of choice.) But Jason Dorko of the DorkoTech Blog, who blogs quite incessantly about his uses for MindManager, has decided to mindmap his wish list and has posted it for his friends and family to see. Go here to read the article and if you are using IE with the MindManager plug-in you can actually see what  brand and color of racquet balls Jason is looking to find under his Christmas tree.

Anybody else mindmap their Christmas wish lists?

Just got this in from Mindjet announcing a great Word 2007 for MindManager support - built especially for those who don't have MindManager but need to edit them.

You can download this add-in for Word 2007 here.

Mindjet Corporation, the global leader of productivity software for visualizing and managing information, today announced in conjunction with the Microsoft Office 2007 introduction that it has released its Word 2007 Map Editor for Mindjet® MindManager® (at http://mindjet.com/office2007). The free add-in increases the productivity of business teams. It combines the benefits of MindManager, the most effective way to quickly capture, organize, and share unstructured information, with the widespread usage and familiarity of Microsoft Word. The new Map Editor removes a key barrier to collaboration by enabling efficient information flow between applications.

"This is brilliant!” said Marc Orchant, VP of Marketing at Foldera, Inc. (www.foldera.com).  “I can already think of half a dozen projects I'll immediately be able to put this to use in. Based on what I've seen in the many months I have been working with the new Office beta, this is far and a way the best integration play from any third party. Bravo!"

Word 2007 Map Editor for Mindjet® MindManager® enables business team members who do not yet use MindManager to use Word 2007 to access and edit information captured in MindManager visual “maps.” They can then send the edited Word document back to MindManager users, who will see these changes reflected in the original map.

The add-in extends to Word 2007 users the ability to edit more than just text. Word users are now be able to communicate complex information quickly by inserting into the Word document a predefined set of MindManager icons, images, priorities, resources, and hierarchical structures. Microsoft Office users, representing millions of users in total, will now be able to better visualize and share ideas and information, make decisions and take action.

“This announcement represents a key step in our continued strategy with Microsoft to deliver valuable tools that address the complete business and planning needs of our combined customer base,” said Scott Raskin, CEO of Mindjet. “Microsoft’s adoption of the new Office Open XML file formats will bring about a sea-change in how people share information. The ability to effortlessly pass content from one application to another, as we have demonstrated with our new Map Editor, will significantly improve productivity and collaboration.”

By exposing the capabilities of one application to the users of the other, the new Mindjet add-in gives users the freedom to work in the application they prefer (MindManager or Word 2007) while still having access to the unique strengths of the other application.  This “round-trip” integration is a key facet in allowing the two-way sharing and editing of visual maps from either application.

Microsoft’s adoption of the Office Open XML file formats enables Mindjet to improve its Microsoft Office integration for faster exports and better information exchange with to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.

“Microsoft users will now be able to create highly interactive visual maps of information they would otherwise see simply as text-only outlines,” Raskin said. “The combination of MindManager rich visual interface and the familiarity of Word 2007 give business users an excellent new way to create and manage information and ideas.”

The Word 2007 Map Editor for Mindjet® MindManager® is free and available immediately at http://mindjetlabs.com/cs/files/folders/mindjetlabs/entry72.aspx.

This weekend, I posted 6 tips on how to improve the touch experience on Ultra-Mobile PCs and Tablet PCs.

Craig Pringle, a fellow Tablet PC MVP, has written a 5 part series on this subject, and goes into more depth from an application perspective. I encourage you to check out Craig's posts - great stuff:

• Getting More from a Small Screen Tablet - Part1: The OS
• Getting More from a Small Screen Tablet - Part 2: Mind Manager
• Getting More from a Small Screen Tablet - Part 3: Office, IE et al
• Getting More from a Small Screen Tablet - Part 4: ActiveWords
• Getting More from a Small Screen Tablet - Part 5: TEO

A few days ago we posted about an interesting new capability with Mindjet’s MindManager software that allows users to edit mindmaps in Word 2007. Michael Scherotter, Solution Platform Product Manager at Mindjet,  now informs us, that due to popular demand, he will be conducting a free Webinar on Using Word 2007 to Edit MindManager Maps on Tuesday, September 26, at 10:00am PST. You can sign up for the webinar here. 

UPDATE: GBM reader Tom McGee signed up for the free webinar but shortly thereafter received an email saying it has been postponed to a later unspecified date. We’ll update when we know the date.