DorkoTech

6.13.2006

MindManager and Microsoft World Cup Toys

I am a huge World Cup fan! Playing soccer for most of my youth I have incredible respect for the game and all it represents. I was always small for my age but soccer provided the perfect opportunity for me to capitalize on my small and quick stature and I played for many years! I even hope to one day start playing again for fun as I really do miss the game!

Despite the USA's lack of respect for the game the rest of the world understands the beauty behind the sport. Basketball, football, hockey and baseball are fun to watch every now and then but soccer will always hold a special place in my heart as an activity that allowed my self confidence to grow.

The USA's loss yesterday was very disappointing but maybe these two toys from Microsoft and MindJet MindManager will help shine some light on your day!

Microsoft has a free Microsoft Soccer Scorecard (also called the Microsoft Football Scorecard) that allows you to keep live stats of you favorite teams. It's a plugin that sits on your desktop and resembles the gadgets that I now have scattered around with Vista. I really love those gadgets and makes me feel like I now have something to compare to my apple friends and their widgets. I also like that you can make the plug-in transparent so it sits there all time but not intrusive my any means. Thumbs up from me! You can find the download here.

MindJet has also joined the party with their own World Cup toy/map. I'm glad to see that they too have taken the time and effort to show their support. MindJet has a great MindManager Map that has up-to-date RSS feeds, information on group standings, and the world cup schedule all within a click away. Maybe I should set this map as my active desktop? Remember if you don't own MindManager you can download the free MindManager Viewer.