Mindjet MindManager 2012 Professional for Windows!

San Francisco – September 13, 2011 — Mindjet®, the company that improves how people work together, today announced the release of Mindjet MindManager® 2012 Professional for Windows®, the most powerful version of the world’s leading visual information software. MindManager 2012 is designed for today’s professionals who need to spark ideas and collaborate with their teams for more productive outcomes.

MindManager 2012 is the most significant release in the product’s history including real-time co-editing, enhanced information maps and new desktop interface, plus new brainstorming features that guide users to unleash their team’s creativity. The innovative feature directs teams to:

• Utilize predefined challenge questions to promote different ways of thinking about the subject
• Use inspiration cards to generate hundreds of fresh ideas
• Leverages MindManager’s powerful visual experience to refine concepts and plans

"MindManager 2012 has been designed to meet the needs of today’s professional who are constantly barraged with new opportunities and pressing business challenges,” said Blaine Mathieu, chief products officer, Mindjet. “The new guided brainstorming feature organizes an outpouring of ideas that can be quickly honed into real solutions for real business needs.”

In addition, MindManager 2012 integrates with Mindjet Connect®, Mindjet’s cloud-based service (see separate release) to provide open and full sharing of MindManager maps with anyone, anywhere, on any device.

“Through the Connect cloud-based service, MindManager 2012 customers can freely collaborate on maps with anyone,” said Mathieu. “The combination of MindManager 2012 and Connect is nothing short of the future of the collaboration for teams and businesses.”

MindManager 2012 is available on September 22nd for the upgrade price of $179 USD and $399 USD for new customers at http://www.mindjet.com/mindmanager-pricing.

For more information about MindManager 2012 visit the Mindjet blog athttp://blog.mindjet.com.

About Mindjet:

Two million individuals, small businesses and Fortune 1000® companies using Mindjet understand that working visually and collaboratively brings results. We set the standard in mind mapping and now our focus is to provide collaborative work management solutions that dramatically improve how people can work better together, accomplish goals more successfully and be more productive.

Forty-six of BusinessWeek®’s "World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies" rely on Mindjet to see the big picture – let us show you too

Mindjet Premieres Cloud-Based Collaborative Work Management

Acquires social collaboration innovator Cohuman for optimized team accountability and launches Mindjet Connect, a free online service to improve how people work together

San Francisco – September 12, 2011 — Mindjet®, the company that improves how people work together, today announced new Mindjet Connect® collaborative work management software to help groups working toward common goals get more done. Mindjet Connect is a cloud-based service that helps groups visualize their best ideas and plans, securely manage and share files, get teams on the same page and access information anywhere, at any time.

Forrester®’s Rob Koplowitz indicated in his 2011 report that 43% of information workers work from multiple locations over the course of a month, and that 42% work outside of the corporate firewall. Work is decentralized, moving faster and likely to keep changing at a rapid pace to keep up with the similarly frenetic pace of change in communications, business and technology. Mindjet Connect addresses the needs of this changing workforce.

"Work today is different. Individuals and teams are overloaded, increasingly virtual and knee deep in unstructured information, resulting in a lack of clarity, accountability and action,” said Scott Raskin, Mindjet CEO. “Mindjet Connect goes beyond document management and file sharing, and includes a powerful way to visualize information that provides faster insight and better results."

Mindjet also announced the acquisition of Cohuman® (www.cohuman.com), a social task-based web service that keeps teams in sync by making information more people-centric, organized and transparent. With social aspects similar to Facebook® and Twitter®, Cohuman gives people the ability to better coordinate with colleagues on projects and tasks.

"Where Mindjet Connect helps teams get on the same page, Cohuman helps teams stay on the same page,” said Raskin. “The combination of Cohuman and Mindjet Connect will further Mindjet’s vision to help people work better, together."

With these announcements, Mindjet is well-positioned to be the leading provider of collaborative work management software.

Mindjet Connect will be available free of charge on September 22, 2011 athttp://www.mindjet.com/connect. To find out more about Mindjet Connect visithttp://blog.mindjet.com. To learn more about Cohuman visithttp://blog.cohuman.com.

About Mindjet:

Two million individuals, small businesses and Fortune 1000® companies using Mindjet understand that working visually and collaboratively brings results. We set the standard in mind mapping and now our focus is to provide collaborative work management solutions that dramatically improve how people can work better together, accomplish goals more successfully and be more productive.

Forty-six of BusinessWeek®’s "World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies" rely on Mindjet to see the big picture – let us show you too.

###

Mindjet, Mindjet Connect and Cohuman are trademarks of Mindjet, registered in the US and other jurisdictions. Forrester, Facebook, Twitter, Fortune 1000 and BusinessWeek are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc., Facebook, Inc., Twitter, Inc., Time Inc. and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., respectively, registered in the US and other jurisdictions.

Using Comapping for Workshops

As much as I enjoy the power of desktop mind mapping applications and use them all of time in the work that I do, one of the tools that I am relying on more these days is Comapping, an online mind mapping collaboration tool. Comapping can be accessed from any computer and browser that is connected to the Internet and gives me the flexibility to organize my ideas, add hyperlinks as well as attachments. Comapping does a great job allowing you to share your maps when they are done and I have been taking advantage of this feature for years now when I teach my graduate courses. For each class I create an interactive agenda with Comapping and then publish it to my Moodle classroom account for all my students to access.

Recently I have done a number of workshops and needed a quick way for my participants to be able to jump from web site to web site to view the contents. Using Comapping I was able to create the agenda embed the hyperlinks which made the day go so much more smoothly for me. Publishing your Comapping maps to the web is really quite simple and easy to do and when you are done you are given a unique URL that you can then pass out to your students. Because the URL is rather long, I generally log into my Bit.ly account shorten it and customize the link so that when I get to the workshop I just have to give out the shortened URL.

Comapping is also unique in that it allows you to embed your attachments that your participants can access from the map.  In the example below you will see that I have embedded a number of Quick Reference Cards for the SOLO training I have coming up. This will make it easy for my participants to access these reference materials on the day of the training as well as when they are back in their classroom. You will also see that there are live links to the Don Johnston Website for additional support videos that can be quickly accessed from the Comapping map. Using this technique not only saves me from printing costs and paper, but models for teachers what is possible as we move from analog to a digital  materials. So interact with the Comapping map below and let me know you thoughts about using Comapping in the work that you do. If you are interested in learning how you can do this shoot me an email.

Tweeting with ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7

While I was on vacation last week, I received a Press Release from CS Odessa about the release of the new MindTweet feature that was now integrated into to their flagship product ConceptDraw MINDMAP, and just today I had a chance to give it a try. Once you install the latest version of ConceptDraw MINDMAP V 7.1.0 you will now see the familiar Tweet icon on your toolbar. To start using the MindTweet feature you will need to authorize ConceptDraw MINDMAP to access your Twitter account which was quick and flawless. Once your account is authorized it is a cinch to use the feature to tweet directly from within ConceptDraw MINDMAP. Being able to tweet from within ConceptDraw MINDMAP is really a great idea and lets you get an overview of  what you have been tweeting. Having access to the brainstorming tool within ConceptDraw MINDMAP makes it a snap to quickly go from ideas to tweets with a click of the icon.

To get started tweeting from within ConceptDraw MINDMAP you simply type your tweet within a topic and then click on the Tweet icon on the toolbar. Once you do this the Tweet dialog box comes up where you can preview or edit your tweet before sending it. ConceptDraw MINDMAP also allows you to automatically place a check mark within the topic to give you a visual cue that it has been tweeted. If you have hyperlinked a URL to a topic it will also come over in the tweet which is handy. With ConceptDraw MINDMAP you can quickly create a dashboard for your tweets so that you can see how your campaign is coming along. It would be nice if in future release if you were able to set the date and time of when your Tweets were sent. Likewise it would be great if you could generate a ConceptDraw MINDMAP from a Twitter hashtag or from a particular person you are following. Overall, ConceptDraw MINDMAP does a great job of integrating tweeting and provides me with a dashboard for my tweets - which gives me a great overview within a powerful mind mapping application.


http://www.tonkinnews.com

SmartDraw VP Upgrade -Adds New Mind Mapping Features

If you follow the mind mapping arena you will probably have noticed the blogs and videos that SmartDraw has created about the benefits of visual communication. The videos are done very well and really speak to the heart of the issue- with the right visuals we can all be more efficient and productive at what we do.SmartDraw VP has a good balance of tools for many of the tasks that you may need to accomplish throughout the day. While the mind mapping features that are found in SmartDraw VP are not as extensive as a stand alone application there is a synergy among the tools that might make it an ideal tool for the work you do. The mind mapping tool in SmartDraw VP is ideal for brainstorming, project planing and for developing time lines. SmartDraw VP lets you quickly move from the mind mapping view to a time line or Gantt chart view with a click of the mouse.

In the recent upgrade to SmartDraw VP you will now be able to format your mind map Center, All Right or All Left giving you new options for how your mind maps are displayed on the screen. I for one find that many people who are not familiar with mind mapping have an easier time when I present a mind map using the All Right formatting. Similarly, it is now really easy to create a mind map in SmartDraw VP by importing a text outline. I tried this feature by typing a simple outline into the Notepad and importing it into SmartDraw VP. After each main idea I pressed the Enter key and for each subtopic I used the Tab key to indent the text. Once I had my outline completed I used the new Import Text Outline feature and voila there I had a perfectly formatted mind map.If you are eligible I would highly recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of SmartDraw VP so that you can take advantage of these new mind mapping features. SmartDraw VP is a handy tool with lots of  ways to help you become more productive in your working environment. If you haven't taken a look at SmartDraw VP, it has a good balance of tools that can give you the edge as you head down the path to becoming a better visual communicator. You can download a 30 day trial of SmartDraw VP by clicking on this link.

Working with PaperShow for Teachers in the Classroom

This past week I have had a chance to work with several teachers showing them how they can use PaperShow for Teachers in the classroom to support their special education students in the classroom. While the first couple of minutes of the sessions were demonstrating the mechanical aspect of how to use PaperShow for Teachers we did get a chance to come up with some great ways to use it in the classroom. Many of the teachers enjoyed being able to to walk around the room when talking to their students while using PaperShow for Teachers as they put up ideas on the board. The students were totally amazed by the technology and all of them enjoyed writing on the PaperShow Notebook and watching their ideas come to life. The two special education teachers that I worked with used PaperShow for Teachers to brainstorm ideas as a pre-writing activity which really provided the students with the support they needed. Another teacher drew a a graphic organizer using the circle and line tools with PaperShow for Teachers and had the students fill in some of the idea bubbles. After the session was over both teachers talked to me about all the possible way they could use PaperShow for Teachers in the inclusion classroom to support students with learning differences. Both special education teachers were really excited with all of the possibilities and how it could be used with students to scaffold their learning.

If you would like a free demo of PaperShow for Teachers please feel free to contact me

MindGenius 4 is Released

MindGenius has been on the fast track with its development cycle and has released MindGenius 4 which is packed with some very useful features. MindGenius 4 adds a new Brainstorming mode which makes it very easy to record your ideas. MindGenius users will also like how the brainstorm session can be associated to a particular question n a Question set which can help to focus the session. Once you are done with the brainstorming session you can create a Question - Centric map based on what you brainstormed that is well organized using the questions as the primary node and the ideas the sibling nodes. This is an extremely useful feature and one that I know many mind mappers will find invaluable.

MindGenius 4 has now added a presentation mode to the product which makes it an ideal tool for developing and presenting your ideas. The Presentation view is easy to use and for those of us that have been PowerPoint to death- using mind maps for our presentations is a refreshing alternative. MindGenius had added lots of other features to the Project Management side of the software package which I will address in another blog post. But for now, download the free Trial of MindGenius and explore all of the new and exciting productivity features that have added to this new version.

Using Comapping for Creating a Classroom Agenda

One of the handiest tools that I use when I teach is Comapping- it has been a fantastic tool for developing the agenda for each and every class that I teach on campus. Comapping allows me to map out what I am going to cover with links and attachments that makes it very easy for my students to access and use. Once I have completed my agenda map for the classroom session, I simply Publish to Web from within Comapping and grab the embedding code that is generated. Once I have the embedding code I simply paste it into Moodle to generate the mind map. Here is an example below of a agenda map that I recently used in a class this week.

Using WebspirationPRO for Brainstorming Ideas

I recently started using WebspirationPRO, which is a software as service application from Inspiration which allows me to brainstorm and think visually in the cloud. As  along time Inspiration user, I feel right at home using WebspirationPRO since many of the conventions used are those that can be found on the desktop version. To this day, RapidFire remains one of my favorite tools when I am brainstorming- it is easy to use and very efficient when you want to get your ideas down. WebspirationPRO supports RapidFire and within minutes my ideas were literally shooting out around my central idea. While WebspirationPRO has a nice library of pictures and clip art it does allow you to bring in your own graphics which was easy and straightforward to do. When it is time to share my visual map I was able to use the Sharing feature and publish it to the web with a unique URL. Once you publish your visual map you can also capture the embedding code that is handy to paste into blogs and wikis making it easy to share. You can see visual organizer above.

Once you start using WebspirationPRO you will swear that it feels just like a desktop application until you realize that you can now access your files from any computer connected to the internet that has a browser, and that is what makes this application really stand out. Having access to my files from any computer is the new law of the land for me. The more I work with the computers - the more I want my files available 24/7 to me from anywhere I am connected. In this sense applications like WebspirationPRO become even more important to me- now if it only worked on the iPad. But yes, I know it is on the road map!

PS: Coming Soon - information about a 1 day iPad Summer Institute to be held in New Jersey

Inspiration Launches Webspiration Pro

It was really exciting to learn about the launch of Webspiration Pro from Inspiration, which is geared for business professionals and college students. Launched as software as a service all you need is a browser an a account to get started to access this feature rich tool for visual thinking. Webspiration Pro is sold as a subscription and if you act now you can get some really great deals on the pricing. Webspiration is ideal for brainstorming and collaborating with colleagues when working on shared projects. Using Webspiration it is easy to invite, comment,  chat with collaborators as you are working on your ideas. You will find Webspiration to be easy and intuitive to use with the right mix of features. I have always enjoyed using Inspiration on the desktop and now with the release of Webspiration it affords the capability to share my ideas and collaborate across time zones. When I'm ready, I can publish my maps to my blog or web site with the provided URL and embed code. So if you have the chance take the time to look at the release of Webspiration Pro. There is a free 30 day Trial - so get started and let me know what you think? And by the way, Inspiration is working on an iPad App for Webspiration which should be pretty cool! More to come.

Using Matchware's MindView 4 in Presentation Mode

I have been using MindView 4 Business Edition since it was released but haven't had the chance to use the Presentation Mode until yesterday. While planning my workshop and presentation for a Tech Day at a local school, I decided to plan out what I would cover in MindView 4 so that I could test out the new Presentation Mode. When planning my workshops, I tend to like to use mind maps to brainstorm and decide upon what I will cover. I tend to use Left/Right maps when planning my sessions since I think it is easier for my participants who are not as familiar with mind mapping to digest the content. I provided each participant with a printed mind map with the content so that they could take notes and then used the Presentation Mode in MindView 4 during the workshop.


Using the Presentation Mode in MindView 4 could not have been any easier- I simply clicked on the Presentation Mode and within seconds the presentation palette showed up that let me advance from topic to topic. MindView 4 opened each topic and subtopic as it advanced and then would close the topic as it advanced to the next one. I found it very easy to use while I was presenting and I believe it helped the participants to focus in on what I would be covering during the session. I put together a short screencast to show you how easy it was to use the Presentation Mode in MindView 4. Please feel free to download a Free Trial Version of MindView 4 and try the Presentation Mode for yourself.



PS: You will also be glad to know that you can advance through the topics by using a wireless presenter remote.

MindView 4 Adds Audio Sound Recording

Matchware Inc., has added a number of new features to MindView 4, but one of my favorites is the ability to quickly record and idea and attach it to my mind map. You know there are times when you are brainstorming that the ideas are just flowing and what better way to capture it by simply doing a quick audio recording. To record audio in MindView 4 you simply click on the idea in your map and then click on the Insert tab and Click on the Sound icon. This brings up the Recording palette and you are then ready to record your ideas. Simple and elegant. Watch the video below to see just how easy it is to add an audio recording to your MindView 4 mind maps. To try out MindView 4 click here for a full working Trial Version.

MindView 4 from Matchware- Quick Thoughts About the Upgrade

Over the past couple of weeks I have had a chance to review a number of software applications that have recently been released. All of the applications have represented a major commitment from the developers to release these upgraded products to give the user a better experience when using their product. If there is a trend that I see in the world of software, it is that rather than the developers adding a host of new features they really have spent the time on refinements in the user interface and the ease of use. Many of the companies are spending their efforts to really understand their user base and to  include only features that make sense for their product. Feature creep is always a problem with mature software applications and it was great to see that Matchware, Inc. choose to go down a path to refine and only add functionality that made sense to their flagship product, MindView 4, which was recently released.

Businesses that have invested in MindView 3 will feel right at home when upgrading to MindView 4. MindView 4 now sports the new Office 2010 interface which is both aesthetically pleasing and well organized. Moving about the program with the new Office 2010 interface is very intuitive and the functions are clearly organized to make it easier to use. MindView 4 has incorporated some new styles for your maps which are easy to apply and are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It is much easier in MindView 4 to edit and format text and change the color of the branches. Likewise Matchware has made it very easy now to place your images on branches by simply dragging them to the location of your choice. You can now place your images on the top, right and left of the text within the branch. I am also enjoying the ability to attach an audio note to a branch which is a quick and easy way to capture my ideas. Matchware has also added the ability to export to a PDF file with different styles which makes it easy for me to share my maps for those individuals that don't own a copy of MindView 4. Exporting your mind maps to a PDF is fast and straightforward and the results are outstanding. The addition of the Presentation Mode is outstanding and one I know I will use more often when I use MindView 4 during the presentations and workshops that I often give. It is the little changes and the attention to detail that I feel really highlights this update and brings huge value to upgrading to MindView 4.

Look for additional posts as I delve into this upgrade with a focus on collaboration and project management.. To give MindView 4 a try download a Trial Version by clicking on this link.

Sharing Ideas with PaperShow for Teachers in the Classroom

As much as interactive whiteboards pervade the classroom landscape it is amazing what you can do with PaperShow for Teachers to get students involved and engaged in the classroom instruction. PaperShow for Teachers provides a great vehicle for students to actively record their ideas as apart of a classroom discussion. PaperShow for Teachers has a 30 foot range from the computer which is ideal for walking around the classroom and having students make contributions to the lesson. Students will feel right at home using the digital pen and paper notebook to capture their ideas that their classmates can then see. Teachers will find it easy to pass the notebook and pen around the classroom and give students the opportunity to contribute to the classroom discussion. Once students have made their contribution, the notebook file can be saved in a PDF format, emailed or placed on the schools website to share.

PaperShow for Teachers makes for a great tool when students are brainstorming or story-boarding ideas. Consider setting up a learning center with a laptop, a LCD projector and PaperShow for Teachers. Students can then use PaperShow for Teachers to mind map their ideas or brainstorm while working in a small group. There is no need to complete the entire session during one class- just save the the file you are working on the PaperShow for Teachers USB key and you can always revisit it, the next time the class meets.

While many PaperShow for Teachers users-use it to deliver more engaging presentations, PaperShow for Teachers is an ideal tool for actively engaging students when they need to analyze or annotate images, diagrams or pictures. Using the PaperShow for Teachers application that resides on the USB key you can quickly bring in a series of images- print them using a color printer on the 8 1/2 x11 interactive paper and be ready to use them with the digital pen to mark up. Simply place the images you would like to use in a folder and PaperShow for Teachers will dutifully import them and get them ready to print on the interactive paper.Once the images are printed on the paper you can use all of the PaperShow for Teachers tools to annotate and mark up the images. This feature gives teachers the flexibility to bring in whatever pictures they need for a particular lesson. Once you do one time you will see just how easy it is do accomplish and how much fun it is to use in the classroom. So make you lessons more interactive by printing images with PaperShow for Teachers and then pass the binder with the images around the classroom to engage the students. Using images, students can identify certain features on the picture, comment about the picture, add additional ideas and then save them if it so desired.

At just $249 dollars, PaperShow for Teachers gives you tremendous value and a way to engage students in the classroom by providing them more opportunities to participate and interact with ideas and images. Contact me if you would like a free demonstration of PaperShow for Teachers.

Mind Mapping in the Cloud with Comapping

As I try to move more and more of my work to the cloud I keep going back to one application time and time again and that is Comapping. Comapping is a simple and easy to use mind mapping application that runs within the browser and gives me access to my maps from anywhere that I have access to the web. I should note up front, that Comapping has really become a great way for me to share information when I am presenting or teaching my graduate courses. It is easy to place web links and attach documents to the map which then gives my students access to the information that I need to provide them.

In many ways my Comapping maps can be thought up as a way for me to transport information that I need to share with others. One of the key features of Comapping is the ability to publish the information in such a way that it is easy to re-purpose it on a wiki, Blog, Google Site, or within Moodle. I have developed a number of Comapping maps for my graduate classes that I teach which is ideal since Comapping provides me with the embed code to publish it right within Moodle. This feature alone is worth its weight in gold. Now my students have access to web resources that are just a click away or they can download PDF files that I have attached to the map. If you haven't tried Comapping I urge you to take a look at it and see how it can help you manage the information more efficiently.

Here is an example of a Comapping map that I have used for some of my presentations:

Matchware Announces Mindview 4

It just came to my attention that Matchware has announced MindView 4 which is chock full of new and exciting features. One of the hallmarks of this release is collaboration and the ability to share your MindView 4 maps in a shared workspace.This feature will certainly herald in new and innovative ways to use mind mapping in the work space. Matchware has also included some new formatting and styles that can qucikly be applied and there is now the ability to Export to PDF which looks interesting.I for one am looking forward to finding out first hand the ins and outs of what looks to me to be a fantastic upgrade. Hope to do a review soon!

PersonalBrain 6 is Officially Released Today

Marina del Rey, CA – October 5, 2010 – TheBrain Technologies, the leading provider of dynamic visualization and knowledgebase software, announced its newest release, PersonalBrain 6, which augments PersonalBrain publishing and provides synchronization of Brains across multiple platforms and machines.

Like the human mind, with PersonalBrain, users can make associative connections so ideas and files can be related to anything else. There is no limit to the number of connections an idea can have. PersonalBrain’s highly scalable user interface and database enable a virtually unlimited amount of information to be stored and visualized in a digital Brain. PersonalBrain has been downloaded by over a million users. Over half of the Fortune 100 organizations use PersonalBrain to organize information, brainstorm, manage projects and communicate complex ideas more intuitively.

PersonalBrain’s context rich interface provides an intelligent platform for sharing large information sets. Business managers, researchers, teachers, hobbyists and users worldwide publish their brains online at http://webbrain.com. PersonalBrain 6 takes Brain publishing to the next level by enabling one-step synchronization to WebBrain.com. Now users can share, backup, and synchronize across multiple platforms for universal access to their digital thinking.

“With PersonalBrain 6 you can access your Thoughts and information from the cloud or desktop,” said Harlan Hugh, Chief Technology Officer of TheBrain. “But what’s really unique is the desktop synchronization so whether you are on the road or even offline you can still take your Brain with you. With encrypted data transfer users’ mission critical information can be safely and quickly synchronized across multiple computers.”

PersonalBrain 6 has over 100 new features and enhancements including:

• One Click WebBrain Publishing – Share your Brain with the world on WebBrain.com. Users can publish publicly, unlisted or privately. Send links to key Thoughts or areas in their Brain and track comments from the WebBrain.com community. Published Brains can be embedded in blogs or Web sites and are searched and indexed by all search engines.

• Secure Synchronization and Backup – Get access to your complete digital memory and knowledgebase anywhere. Synchronize your Brain across multiple machines, platforms and location. One step WebBrain publishing gives users and their coworkers instant access to information online or offline on the desktop.

• Increased Performance – Work at the speed of Thought with twice the navigation speed powered by an augmented database backend. PersonalBrain’s dynamic user interface enables one to visually navigate across all relevant information quickly and intelligently. PersonalBrain 6 makes digital Brains even faster and more reliable. This increased speed further enhances the ability to easily create Brains with hundreds of thousands of Thoughts while increasing productivity.

• Transparent Visualization – Connect your thinking to your work patterns. With PersonalBrain 6’s transparent mode users can float their Brains over top of their desktop or any application while still working. This revolutionary view enables Thought visualization to be seamlessly integrated with any activity.

·         Windows Explorer Integration  – Organize files and documents under multiple topics so you can move beyond linear file folder structures. With PersonalBrain 6 in addition to easy drag and drop of files, users can now right click on any file and use the “Send To” command to instantly add it to their Brain. Now, no file is more than two clicks away from your Brain.

·         More Tools for Getting Things Done  -  Get complete task management and mental clarity by creating Thoughts for all key tasks and projects in your life. Action-oriented PersonalBrains enhance productivity. With PersonalBrain 6 users can gain control of projects and to-dos with checkbox lists in notes, a more powerful calendar, and Google calendar synchronization.

·         Augmented Thought Type Visualization –  Create key information types and tag information with a wide variety of attributes to further delineate information and contextualize tasks. PersonalBrain 6’s new Thought Type display lets you visualize relationships between types and centralizes management of types.

PersonalBrain 6 Pricing and Availability

PersonalBrain 6 is a complimentary upgrade to registered PersonalBrain 5.0 users who purchased after February 1, 2010. Upgrades are $119.95 for other PersonalBrain 5 users. Upgrades can be purchased online at http://www.thebrain.com/purchase

PersonalBrain 6 is offered in three editions: Free, Core, and Pro (the most powerful edition). PersonalBrain Free is offered at no charge. The Free edition does not expire and lets anyone link ideas and Web pages on their desktops. Pro and Core editions are priced as follows: PersonalBrain Pro $249.95, PersonalBrain Core $149.95.

PersonalBrain 6 is cross platform and runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux machines and is available in 7 languages. English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Dutch.

WebBrain Services Pricing

WebBrain.com is a hosting service for PersonalBrain users. You can share your Brain online or browse other published Brains at http://webbrain.com.

WebBrain Free Services – Users can publish Brains for free with WebBrain Free Services which includes:

§  Publish Brains to share with the world

§  Unlimited Thoughts including support for Web link attachments

§  Brains can include Thought images/icons, notes, custom colors, and wallpaper

§  Brains cannot include file attachments

§  Upload as many Brains as you want

WebBrain.com Premium Services – Enables users to securely synchronize their Brain across multiple machines and publish publicly or privately. This service includes all types of file attachments – up to 50 MB each

§  Use your online Brain as a back-up – you can download it whenever and wherever you need offline access to it

§  Upload as many Brains as you want – up to 10 GB total

§  Subscriptions are $7.95 monthly or $74.95 annually.

About TheBrain Technologies
TheBrain® Technologies helps people see, share and find information faster. TheBrain’s Enterprise Knowledge Platform, BrainEKP™,  provides a complete knowledge management solution for companies that includes visual search, content management and powerful access control for mass Thought collaboration. TheBrain’s PersonalBrain™ Software helps users organize and capture ideas, projects and information on their desktops and synchronize their digital knowledge hubs online or to any machine cross platform.

Over half of the Fortune 100 use TheBrain, now downloaded by over a million people. TheBrain’s Government customers include the Department of Defense, Navy Special Warfare, as well as multiple state and municipal organizations. Everyone is encouraged to download PersonalBrain at http://www.thebrain.com to visualize their thinking or e-mail info@thebrain.com for more information.

TheBrain, PersonalBrain, BrainEKP and WebBrain are trademarks or registered trademarks of TheBrain Technologies LP. All other corporate names or trademarks stated herein are the property of their respective companies. Copyright © 2010 TheBrain Technologies LP.

Mindjet Sets Up Community for Shaing MindManager Maps

As a devoted Mindjet customer, we invite you to the release of a new Map Sharing Community.

Announcing MapsforThat.com – Mindjet’s new map sharing destination. Maps for That is a community dedicated to connection users to share, rate and comment on your favorite and most useful maps.

This community is about you – the user. We want to hear what you think, what you would like to see and how we can continue to improve. Please upload maps, send feedback, write up and let us know how we can make it the premier mapping community.

With the new Maps for That community you will be able to:

• Upload, download and view maps in one all inclusive community.
• Comment, rate and share maps with the rest of the world.
• Get the most valuable and popular map templates for MindManager.
  
• Bring your mapping skills to the forefront for everyone to see.

What are you waiting for? Log in with your Mindjet username and password, create a screen name and start uploading! Show off your best work and start seeing how others are getting their best ideas.

First Winner of the MindManager 9 Give Away!

Hi I'm Max a 38 yearold nurse working in a pediatric intensive care unit on a highly specialized teaching hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. Besides my work I am doing a Masters degree in Critical Care Nursing.

I was introduced to mind mapping while working in the e-learning industry in the United Kingdom some years ago. I have been using MindManager on and off ever since. But using mind maps has really become extremely useful to me now that I am focusing on highly complex issues in nursing. In my nursing practice, being able to mind map helps me to see the big picture and how events are connected. The dysfunction of one organ often affects other organs and starts a cascade of complications and things to consider. And this is the reason why mind maps and MindManager have become so useful for me. It can be difficult getting a quick overview of a particular situation or disease if you stick to text documents. With MindManager I can easily create a mind map and I can quickly go back and review it when needed. Also, it is very easy to alter the mind map as new treatments are introduced. Computer-based mind mapping has proved to be a huge benefit as my library is growing. It is relatively easy to relate two or more subjects (maps or topics) or even combine them. (I have never really been much of a pen & paper mind-mapper).

On a more practical level, I generally export my mind maps as PDF files and upload them to Dropbox so I can visit them while at work (where we don't have any sort of mind mapping software installed). I have also installed Mindjet for iPhone on my iPod which I carry in my pocket at all times while at work.

As a nurse working in a fairly complex an intense environment, I have found that mind mapping has introduced a way to ensure a quicker way to get an overview of a subject or situation. This is for the benefit of the patient but also for me as I feel a lot more confident because I can be fairly sure that I won't forget something important, 4 AM in the morning.

I would also like to see some of the principles behind mind mapping used in medical documentation. It can sometimes be a bit of a daunting experience trying to find the right information in the medical notes as the files just add up. I think it would prove to be a huge advantage knowing exactly what branch to look into (for example a branch covering cardiac issues or a branch covering surgical interventions).

I feel that both my knowledge of advanced nursing as well as using MindManager have really accelerated my learning and retention of information.

Thanks Max for sharing how you use MindManager in the work you do in helping your patients and let us know how you make out with yourfree license for MindManager 9 which I know you will thoroughly enjoy! Thank you Mindjet for sending me licenses for this give away!

Mindjet MindManager 9 Giveaway

On the heels of the release of Mindjet MindManager 9, I am very excited to announce that I will be giving away 5 fully licensed copies of Mindjet MindManager 9. MindManager 9 is fast, fluid and now has integrated Gantt Chart & Resource Planning capabilities built right into the application.

So here is an incredible opportunity to land a free copy of Mindjet MindManager 9. Ok so what is the hook? To enter the Mindjet MindManager 9 GiveAway all you need to do is be a Guest Blogger and share how you are using mind mapping in your business or educational setting. If you would like you could create a screencast or video and demonstrate how mind mapping has had an impact on the work that you do. It is really that easy. Each winner will be highlighted on my blog which is a great way to give you and your company or school great exposure. To enter the contest please click here. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment! Good luck!