GorillaMask.net: Real Life Super Mario Bros. Re-enactment
This is one of the funniest things I have seen in quite some time. For everyone that loves the classic video games or just really enjoys creative thinking this is some great fun to watch!
GorillaMask.net: Real Life Super Mario Bros. Re-enactmentfrom CNET News.com
Getting Things Done and ResultsManager
School is out and one would think I would be more relaxed than ever, however the exact opposite has occurred. With the last few internships failing on me I am frantically scavenging for new ones. I also have this website with an enormous amount of projects, demos and articles I would like to complete. There is also that
Note Talker Contest which I have hit a wall with along with my goals of cleaning and reorganizing my room. I also need to backup last semesters class data and numerous other projects!
It seems school was actually a bit less frantic with classes, studying and a few posts on DorkoTech every now and then. It took up a lot of time but the actual number of "projects" attacking my mind was nothing I couldn't handle. School provided a lot of the structure and there were very few loose ends.
This scenario has recently transformed more into a run away train, on the loose traveling 100 mph, drenched with spikes of fire ready to pierce through the oncoming nuclear power plant it is ready to collide with. If I didn't do something a colossal explosion would have erupted within my brain. I had to sit down and actually think about what was going on what I was going to do to overcome these feelings.
The first thing I did was pick up
David Allen's Getting Things Done book. I've heard so many success stories stemming from this work of genius but never picked it up. The reason was that during the school year I had a pretty good system that worked very well for me. However that old system was now failing with this new change and increase of actual projects. I knew something had to be done and a reworking of my old organizational skills was required for my survival. I raced through the first chapter today and already see myself nodding my head to many of the things he writes about. I also love all the little encouragement quotes and sayings in the margins which keeps my brain focused and prevents my ADD personality from naturally searching for distractions. It gives me something to focus on without venturing too far from the actual book itself.
With an increase in projects I think this may give
ResultsManager the perfect opportunity to show off it's stuff. I am still working on a second article about
ResultsManager and a possible Dorko Demo demonstrating the setup a student would go through to use
Gyronix ResultsManager as a program to organize classes. Although I feel
ResultsManager may not be entirely helpful in my current class schedule and organizing I do feel it can help me now as I have many loose ends and actual projects I would like to accomplish. I am going to email
Gyronix soon asking them to extend my trial. They recently sent me an email asking me if I needed an extension and feel I really could use the added time. I got one extension so I am feel I may be pressing my luck but I was unfortunately unable to really test out
ResultsManager during the last few weeks of school. I was busy worrying about finals and a flood of material coming at me at the last minute. Attempting to throw
ResultsManager into the mix would have lead to an immediate explosion within my brain. It's be like adding gasoline to the already hot fire. My mind and body were already spread thin and I just didn't have the time to devote any real energy to the application. Since I am having trouble with the internships I unfortunately have a bit more time on my hands so anything productive I can do would help with the coping process. Really looking into the inner working of
ResultsManager I feel would be a good use of my time.
Also since I am now engaged in
David Allen's novel I feel I will be more familiar with the Getting Things Done (GTD) style and will have more of the tools required to take advantage of
ResultsManager. I think my new more project oriented schedule will allow both these tools to become a more dominating force in my day. I'll keep you updated and post about my journey with these two utilities and look foward to untangling that mess of projects and creating some really great things!
Dorko Demo: MindManager Active Desktop
This is
my first Dorko Demo! It's technically not my first video or my first experience with
Camtasia Studio but since I have a lot more videos in store, and not all of them will feature
MindManager, I figured it would be appropriate to add a nice little nickname to all screencasts I create with
Camtasia. They will feature a broad assortment of software demos, tips and tricks and whatever else I decide to come up with. I am thinking about even making a single page for all my Dorko Demos so that you can get to them all very easily.
This first Dorko Demo was inspired by the several emails I received regarding my MindManager SE video that kicked off that excellent Note Talkers/MindManager Contest. (I hope your working on entries!) In the video I demonstrated my ability to incorporate a MindManager Map onto my Active Desktop. This allowed an actual MindManager map to sit there and interact with me without even opening the program! I though it was very creative idea and many of you did as well!
What I did not show is how I actually went about creating the MindManager map and the whole procedure of getting it on the desktop so you can interact with it. When you saw the video you saw it already there and witnessed me clicking away and sharing its features. The easiest way then to address those emails was to create a video demonstrating the actual process so that everyone can allow MindManager to take over the desktop!
So here is my first Dorko Demo demonstrating how to create a MindManager Active Desktop
Dorko Demo : MindManager Active Desktop Demo
Internet Explorer Plug-In required to view embedded map
Internet Explorer Plug-In
Here is the html file to create the web page if you don't want to make it yourself!
MindManager Active Desktop html file
Notes:
I didn't notice this part when making the video but when you view the source from the web it adds this little section. Your number is probably different but you don't need it and can delete it if you want.
Also some of the and letters that you need to replace may be hard to read with the low quality of the video (trying to keep the size down) so I took some screen clippings of those sections so you can see them better!
Replace this part with the name of your map. Remember to keep the Quotes
Replace this part with the file name path of where your map is saved on your computer. The default location that MindManager saves maps is a folder called "My Maps" under "My Documents" but you may have set a different location.
Again if you have questions or have problems please leave a comment or email me and I'll do my best to help you out!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Tablet PCs in Education
Rob Bushway from
GottaBeMobile pointed me to a Blackboard blog from
Melissa Chotiner. She posted recently about the use of Tablet PCs in education. This is an inreasing theme and one I am glad to personally observe and be a part of. In fact I think I find a new Tablet PC blog every day and for awhile questioned whether another blog like
DorkoTech could actually be of any benefit. However I've decided I can provide new perspective and opinions on this increasing field.
Melissa mentioned the
Student Tablet PC and I think sites like that as well as mine can be considered great ways of getting the word on on Tablet PCs and increasing students awareness of such valuable technology.
From
GottaBeMobile.com
New RSS Feed
RSS stand for Really Simple Syndication but sometimes it is just not that simple. There are so many different versions of
RSS that most of us have given up on actually writing our own and just use the features of our favorite blogging tool that can create it for us automatically. I use blogger which actually creates a feed for me using the Atom format. I started using
feedburner a while back but never really played around with the settings or anything like that. I actually just used it hoping it would create a true "RSS" feed for users that had readers that may not support the atom format. Well today when I was working on my Active Desktop video I tried to make a smart part RSS feed for my blog and received a polite error informing me that
my RSS feed was not valid. How bad does it look if your sitting making an Active Desktop video with RSS feeds and people can't even add your own blog to it! Well realizing this was a problem I started playing with the
feedburner settings. Altering some settings
my feed is converted into RSS 2.0 format. It now works with the
MindManager smart parts RSS feed creator. So you may want to update your
RSS feed if you actually subscribe to it. The old one should still work but if you have problems please let me know and I'll see what I can do to make it work for everyone. The Active Desktop video should be done by tomorrow.
Facebook is Growing Up
Facebook Me! It's a phrase a lot of college students here but that phrase may no longer be exclusive just to students. I don't know exactly how many student are on facebook but it has to be a lot! The college networking website has expanded to the High School field and now seems to be venturing out into the business world. It seems some
Microsoft employees now have the ability to log on. With so many college students on the network it makes sense for large corporations to get involved in the possibility of matching up future graduates with employers. I don't know if this is the route they're going or if they are just looking for a new way for employees of large corporations to interact. Whatever the reason, sites like facebook and myspace are increasingly becoming incorporated into our lives.
TechCrunch » Facebook Goes Beyond College, High School Markets
Annotating Images
Since my adoption of
MindManager I have been able to create some very nice notes. I can visually organize facts, create hyperlinks to web pages and make relationships and connections to assist in my learning. However there are still some features in
OneNote that I really do miss. One of these features is the ability to directly mark up and annotate figures. Since I worked with E-Textbooks this semester many of the figures and images were easy to extract and insert into my notes. It is easy to insert an image in both
OneNote and
MindManager but where
OneNote wins this battle is in its ability to interact and directly write on those inserted images. So I am partial to
MindManager but still want to annotate and insert pictures! What’s a guy to do?
This is of course is not just a limitation of MindManger but is just one of those barriers in the Tablet PC OS. Currently adding text and inking images is not as seamless as it should be. I have seen effort from Microsoft to improve the interactions of users with pictures and a Tablet PC. Microsoft Max has intrigued me from the beginning and I still would like to evaluate it sometime soon. (I’ve learned by now not to play with beta software on your tablet if it contains all your class notes and files) Hopefully in the next upcoming version of Vista these hurdles will be overcome. But Vista is due out who knows when and you have a Tablet PC now and want to mark them up! Again what to do?
To solve this problem I have come up with many solutions and I am sure you have many of your own but I’ll share just a few for now.
Your first option is to open up the image on your screen, take a screen clipping and then annotate it with you favorite screen capture tool. If you have a Tablet PC and the Microsoft Experience Pack then the clipping tool is very nice and lets your annotate it very quickly. SnagIt is another option. It is a much more sophisticated screen capture tool but it seems to lack in the inking department. It’s superb for working heavily with screen clippings but what may be to complex for someone that wishes to simply circle or mark something very quickly. Personally there are times I would like to just draw a funny face on a friend and email it to them!
You could use a program like Autodesk SketchBook (formerly known as Alisa Sketchbook) to accomplish any of these feats. The program allows you too add an image and draw just about anything you can think of all over it. With paintbrush, pencil and pen settings it’s aimed towards more professional projects but could be used for simple annotation. However the overkill button once again goes off the search for something a bit simpler continues.
P’Ink is another program that interests me. I don’t know all too much about it but it seems to be specially designed to handle and annotate digital pictures. It’s on that list of programs to look at and you may find it interesting. It probably is a suitable choice but I just don’t know enough about it to use it.
My latest solution is free in that it uses the Snipping Tool from the Microsoft Experience Pack but bypasses the actual snipping part! If you use the Snipping Tool you’ll know that after you have made you selection/clipping and added your annotations you arrive at the send to button. At this point you have some options. You can email it, copy it to the clipboard, save it or edit it. Previously when I used the snipping tool in conjunction with MindManger I would just copy it and then paste it into my MindManager map. If I wanted to keep the annotations so that I could use the image with the annotations later I would save it, then insert or hyperlink to it in MindManager.
I really disliked the process of opening the picture, taking a screen clipping, making my annotations and then finally being able to insert it. What if I could just skip the whole clipping part and go right to the annotating? Remember the editor window button? If you recall, hitting this button will bring your clipping to an editor. From here you can highlight, erase, lasso move annotations, or add additional ones! It’s a simple and easy way to add ink annotations.
I really liked this editor and started wondering if you could open images and edit them from within the editor itself. It turns out you can! Just go file, open and you can start navigating through your computer. You may need to change the file format at the button since it looks for a snipping tool file first, but after doing that you should be able to open GIFs, PNGs, JPEGs and Bitmaps. Once you have the file open you’re free to annotate away. You can then save it as new file or rewrite the original. I’ve also been able to change and save as a different format that that of the original. I should note that if you save it in any format other than a Snipping Tool File (*.snip) you will not be able to edit any of your annotations later on. Saving it in those other formats burns the ink to the image and thus it becomes a part of the image and can not be edited. With this in mind you may not want to save over the original.
Once you are done annotating, you can now go ahead and insert it into MindManager or to the destination of your choice. Your ink on the image won’t be searchable or anything along those lines since MindManger can’t see the ink, it only sees it as in image. However you do have a marked up document with ink annotations in a MindManger map. I can perform this maneuver quite efficiently now, however it still takes more time than I would like, but at least its there. OneNote still wins this battle of editing images with ink directly but at least MindManger can go into the fight no longer empty handed. I really wish MindManager could handle images and ink better but until it then this is the next best option for me. It also allows me to quickly edit and annotate any picture and get it where I want!
I should note at this point that the Snipping Tool Editor gathers all you clippings and stores them to memory. If you start editing a lot of images and don’t close them you may end up acquiring many images in memory which could start to effect performance. Here is what the help file has to say…
The Snipping Tool Editor collects all of the snips you capture while Snipping Tool is loaded in memory. For example, if you snip and e-mail from the Snipping Tool menu, a copy of the snip is also collected to the Editor, where you can later modify, save, or discard the copy. Or, you can ignore the copy and it will be discarded when Snipping Tool is unloaded from memory the next time you log out or reboot.
Note: If you use Snipping Tool heavily, the Editor will accumulate a large collection of snips, in which case you may want to periodically select File, Close All or File, Exit Snipping Tool from the Editor to clear this collection and free up computer memory.
With this Snipping Tool Editor knowledge at hand you may now be asking yourself how to open it without actually making a snipping? I mean the purpose of all this was to easily annotate images. Well this was my train of thought so I immediately went to the help section of the Snipping Tool and finally came to the section about the Snipping Tool Editor. After reading through the features I came to a “Tip for advanced users.” This tip tells you exactly how to create a shortcut and open the editor directly.
You first are going to need to find your shortcut to the snipping tool itself. This may be found on your desktop but probably is tucked within the Microsoft Experience Pack Folder on the start menu. If you have trouble locating it let me know! I’d be glad to help. Once you find it I like to send it to the desktop. (Rick Click on icon, send to, send to desktop as shortcut)
Once on the desktop it’s time to edit the target. Right Click on the icon you just made on the desktop and click on properties. You should now see a window that looks like the one on the right. Fine the target line. Go to the end and enter “ /e” (That is include the space but not the quotes. Your target line should now look like the one below. Click apply and then ok. You can easily rename your shortcut anything you would like it. You can then add it to your start menu, add it as quick launch icon or leave it right there on the desktop.
Where ever you put it you now have access to free ink image editor. I love SnagIt and actually used it for all the clippings in this post, but you can’t ink with it as naturally as you can with the Snipping Tool Editor. The Snipping Tool is also free to anyone with a Tablet PC. If you want something simple to quickly add annotations to images that are inserted into MindManager or just want to draw a goofy face on a friend then the Snipping Tool Editor may just be the tool for you!
What is TEO 3 and Einstein Technologies?
What is
TEO 3.0 and
Einstein Technologies? That was actually my first question when I saw a new post on my RSS reader from
Student Tablet PC. I had heard of
TEO 2.0 and
Einstein Technologies before but I never had any interest. I saw it mentioned on
Tablet PC Buzz every now and then and people seemed to talk about it highly but again no peak of interest emerged. This was probably because I knew the program was an add-in for Outlook. After all
TEO stands for Tablet Enhancements for Outlook. One would think I'd immediately be drawn to it because of my Tablet PC love but at the time I really did not use Outlook all that much so what could it do for me? I really only had two email accounts and Outlook express could handle that just fine so I never even really bothered to load up Outlook 2003 for quite some time. One may ask why I didn't use Outlook at first. It's actually a pretty long story but let's say I became incredibly frustrated with it when I tried to use it with a Pocket PC to manage my classes and schedule. Outlook just does not work well for students in my opinion.
GoBinder is actually my choice at the moment, although I am trying to get away from it. So what would cause this Outlook hating dork to all of a sudden have a change in heart about Outlook and
TEO....how about a girl named Tracy Hooten over at
Student Tablet PC and
her review on the latest
beta of TEO 3.0
Tracy's great review has inspired me to look into TEO. Although I can't try out the latest beta I can try out the current version. In seems almost like going backwards but you have to be a registered owner of TEO 2.0 to try out the beta. Since I have never played with it before I don't think it would be wise to shell out some dough just to try TEO 3.0 out. So hopefully I'll have some time to at least get an idea of what TEO is all about. If I end up loving it I may just buy TEO 2.0 right away but only time will tell.
Check out Tracy's excellent review of TEO 3.0 from Einstein Technologies and you too may join the club of users giving it so much praise.
For more information of TEO 3.0 check out their web page as well as two great ink shows about it from GottaBeMobile!
TEO 3.0 Exclusive Preview InkShow
from GottaBeMobile
TEO 3.0 Research Assistant InkShow
from GottaBeMobile
MindManager Active Desktop Update
Recently I have received a few emails regarding my latest
MindManager video, (
MinManager Takes Over the Desktop) where I demonstrated my use of
MindManager and its incorporation as a clickable map right onto my desktop. What I did not do is demonstrate exactly how I went about doing this. I understand that there is more to it than meets the eye and since so many of you have asked I figured it would only be appropriate to create a little tutorial via
Camtasia Studio.
I am assuming there were probably no problems in the actual creation of the map but getting it to actually show up and work could provide some difficulties. If there are any particular parts or problems with the setup that have you scratching your head drop a comment or
email me and I'll make sure to emphasize that part of the procedure.
I only have a few more days of school and will then have some time to work on it but I just wanted to give everyone the opportunity to add questions before I started the project. I plan to have the tutorial up by the end of the weekend so hopefully that is not too long of a wait.
I also re-uploaded the original
MindManager Takes Over The Desktop video and decreased the quality and size. The first one was around 50 mb and after a 10 GB bandwidth usage per day rate I decided it would be better for both my hosting service and everyone else to scale it down a bit. It's now around 9 mb now so it should load up MUCH quicker!
The Bottom Line on E-Textbooks
This article makes another good point against the whole e-textbook concept.
"
Even so, most students aren't interested, because the books can't be sold back"Slashdot | DRM Lite for Electronic TextbooksThe full article from
The New York Times can be found
hereThe Bottom Line on E-Textbooks
Detroit Basketball!
You'll often hear me complain about the cold weather here in Michigan but this time of year it really heats up in Detroit. Living in Auburn Hills (home of the Palace where the Pistons place) and a short drive from Joe Louis it's really exciting to have some great sports team! (Let's forgot about the Lions and Tigers for a moment!) This year we are very lucky to have two awesome teams! The Pistons and Red Wings both finished in top spots during the regular season and the play-offs are on their way. I have just a few more days of school and then it's time to chill with friends and watch Detroit try to make two runs at a championship! I can't wait!
Let's Go Detroit!!!
Note Talkers Contest Extended
I was very pleased to here that the
Note Talkers Contest was
extended today! I hope the contest has brought more attention to the
Note Talkers site and
MindManager software as well as all of their sponsors. I know I personally was glad to hear that the contest was extended since I have been crazy busy with school comming to an end. I also have finals on Monday and Tuesday and having some more time to work on my
MindManager maps lets me put it off for a few more days and concentrate on finals instead!
I should be back with lots of updates as soon as I finish this semester and I look foward to writing a few articles about
ResultsManager, my semester with ebooks and about my complete school year experience with a Tablet PC.
Will Tablet PCs replace Textbooks?
Will Tablet PCs replace Textbooks? I personally don't think so! This
quick post from
PC World really caught my attention today. Bill Gates proclaims that "In fact, we see a day where every student, instead of their textbooks, will simply have their tablet computer connected up to the wireless Internet." Ohh Mr. Gates if only you were a student!
I started this semester with the hope of bringing the dream of digital textbooks to a reality. After all they are cheaper, you can carry them everytwhere you go and actually make a lot of sense on paper. I even wrote an enthusthiastic
article before I began this jouney with ebooks. Now that semester is comming to a close I am expecting to write an article describing my feelings, observations and conclusions about ebooks and their ability to replace those heavy textbooks. I would love to cry out and rejoice how wonderful they are but without going into too many details at the moment let me just say we have some time before I see students turning to their tablets and leaving behind the textbooks.
I even experienced two differnt formats of this ebook world. One was purchased through SafariX and required an internet connection to view. The other was in the Adobe PDF format. As an individual that likes to adopt new and innovating technology I regretfully must tell you that I feel neither is an adequate replacment to those medevial textbooks. I have lots of reasons to back up these feelings and plan to share them in an article when school is finished. I currently have a lot of students eagerly awaiting my analysis so I really want to spend some time writing it all up but for now just wanted to share the thoughts of a student who has actually done the whole ebook thing for an entire semester.
Go ahead and
read the article yourself but stay tuned to hear the real story behind digital textbooks!
Will Tablet PCs replace Textbooks from PC World
MindManager Update
I don't know exactly when the
latest update was released but when I was checking up with Eric Mack at
EricMackOnline I saw him commenting on some
MindManager news. I then decided to check to see if there were any updates this morning (By going to help, check for updates in MindManager) and sure enough there is an update! SP1 build 6.1.809 has many updates including a Lotus Notes hyperlink, that Eric hinted about, as well as some overall performance improvements. For the full list of updates and information check it out
here!
I'll let you know if I see any improvements myself when I have a chance but for now if you own
MindJet MindManager go ahead and
download the latest
service patch!
ResultsManager Ignorance?
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting with
Kyle McFarlin, a
Gyronix Implementation Consultant. He was gracious enough to offer to go over how to use
ResultsManager in a college setting. This was after I had complained about not finding much use in for its price tag of $285. In fact I recently came across a blog from
Walter Terry that criticizes individuals like me for being ignorant in our inability to see the true value in
ResultsManager. After our meeting I admit I do have a greater appreciation for
ResultsManager but it is not for everyone. I still take offense to those that accuse me of getting caught up on the details and failing to see the big picture and I question his appraisal of others.
For one students fall into a category that have some of the most complex schedules on the planet. Those in the business world and with steady jobs may fail to see that our jobs as students do not have days with clear starts and endings. In fact there are weeks that go by where the border between one day and next are often blurred by long nights of studying and early morning classes. I even have a few classmates that are going back to school and have a family, another job, classes and dance lessons to juggle. With so many things coming at them from every direction it may make sense for one sit up on their soap box and proclaim that ResultsManager or any other planning software tool will provide them with great success. Unfortunately every individual’s situation is different and just because something works for one does not mean it will work for everyone else.
For example, MindManager works very well at organizing many of my classes and schedule but I have a few friends that really would obtain no true value from using it. They have systems of organizing that work and allow them to be successful and I would never parade around shooting off comments that they “just don’t get it.” If MindManager or ResultsManager works for you, great! Share you knowledge and experience with others and let them see all the amazing things it has allowed you to accomplish. But if someone sincerely tries your approach and it does not coordinate with their lifestyle realize that it just may not be for them. There are those out there that do fail to find the true value in certain applications but there are also others like myself that simply can not benefit from your amazing discovery and this does not make us ignorant.
I may be taking his post a little too sensitive but it really bothered me for some reason and for whatever felt the need to say something. I of course agree that many people fail to see the true value in ResultsManager and I personally hope to clarify and explain its usefulness in future posts. I started earlier last week with my first brief article and when school starts to calm down and I have some more time (hopefully before my latest trial wears out!) I plan to continue explaining and dissecting ResultsManager. I guess I just have a different approach than Mr. Terry.
Dorko's Favorite Anatomy Sites
A few weeks ago I had an online assignment for my Anatomy Lab where we had to go on the internet and discover useful anatomy websites. We then had to post them on WebCT and comment on others. This was a cool assignment (at least I thought) because this professor was the first that finally understood the importance of using the internet as a teaching tool. There are so many great resources to be found that I constantly am amazed when teachers discourage the use of the internet. I personally think the internet has some of the best resources available and I love having a wireless connection on campus and the ability to look up anything with just a few clicks and keyboard strokes. Since I hope you find this blog to be a resource in itself, I figured I would just share the links to some of these great Anatomy Sites! So start clicking away and venture off into the world of human anatomy! If you have any of your own sites I would love to hear from you so that I may share them with everyone else! If you find a particular site interesting a comment would also be much enjoyed! Well without anymore delay here they are!
Dorko's Favorite Human Anatomy Websites!Instant AnatomyHuman Anatomy: Dartmouth Medical SchoolUniversity of Minnesota: WebAnatomyVascular AnatomyGetBodySmart: Interactive Tutorials and Quizzes On Human Anatomy and PhysiologyHuman Anatomy OnlineMEDtropolis Human anatomy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaIC Anatomy SiteNetAnatomy.com
Good Luck and Congratulations Students!
I've been very busy lately (when am I not?) finishing off the semester. I am sure college students around the country are experiencing the same feelings but I would just like to take a moment to wish everyone good luck as they take on those nasty finals. You've been working hard all semester so don't get to up tight or stressed out about them! Just take a calm deep breath here and there and do your best!
I also personally have many friends graduating and/or heading off to graduate school very soon. I may make a more sincere post about it later but just in case I get flooded with work when school does finally end I would like to wish all of them the best of luck in the near future. I can't believe how many of my friends will be off in the real world working away or studying to become doctors. It is really is an exciting time for all of them! Again good luck and keep in touch as I would love to hear about all the amazing things each and everyone of you are doing!
"Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
DailyTech - Lenovo ThinkPad Backlash
In a
previous post I wrote about the possible news of a new
Lenovo Smartphone but unfortunately in this world good news is always followed by bad it seems. Now I personally really like the fact that
Lenovo was making strides with new models in the ThinkPad lineup. I was even considering recommending a widescreen Z60 to a friend that insisted on having a widescreen notebook. I thought the design was also refreshing but apparently I am a minority in this sense as those that usually buy the ThinkPad brand, especially corporate customers, are not as warm to the new changes. It seems
Lenovo is even considering removing some of these models from the lineup and it really is unfortunate to see this.
DailyTech - Lenovo ThinkPad Backlash
Lenovo Smartphone?
I think if
Lenovo had a student street team I would be the first to sign up! I of course own the
Lenovo X41 Tablet and really like what this company is doing with the ThinkPad brand. Making my way over to
jkontherun this little write up about a possible new smartphone from
Lenovo really got me excited. I've been holding off on a smartphone for awhile now...my phone is now going on three years and in terms of tech gadgets it is really starting to stink up my arsenal of gadgets. Maybe with a new smartphone from
Lenovo I will be able to update my mobile companion. If they do release one I know I will be in line to get one right away! Yeah Lenovo!
Check out the
full article at
MobileMag!
ResultsManager Setup
IntroLast Friday I had the pleasure of meeting with
Kyle McFarlin, from Gyronix, about
ResultsManager . I think the meeting went very well and I think me and Ryan connected on many levels. For one, we both are from the same area of Rochester Hills Michigan, or the Roach as the kids like to call it. (just goes to show you that despite my young age I am starting to lose touch with younger crowds). We both are always on the front of adopting new technology and making these connections was important in allowing both of us to see where the other was coming from. After our meeting I was not prancing around with my credit card in hand ready to surrender it to Gyronix but I do have a much greater appreciation for
ResultsManager . It really is not just a “$285 plug-in” as I referred to it previously. I think that as my career progresses down its path (whatever that path may be) I will end up eventually having a nice reunion with
ResultsManager. At that time I will embrace it with open arms and allow it to play a more dominant role in my organization of projects and activities than my current situation permits.
Just because I am not proclaiming ResultsManager as my hero in fighting clutter and activity management currently, does not mean it can’t have a profound affect in your life. There are actually many individuals and instances where I feel ResultsManager could significantly impact the process by which one tackles various projects they encounter. From a student’s perspective the incorporation of ResultsManager has to be viewed from a more abstract level. The application is clearly not designed for students but I think some may be able to find benefit from it. I personally plan to work with it as much as I can before my trial expires. I feel that any knowledge or insight I gain now may actually end up providing to be useful down the road when I find a more suitable situation for ResultsManager to unleash its powers.
Retreating back to the present for a moment I am faced with a bit of dilemma. I want to demonstrate exactly what ResultsManager is and how a student may potentially be able to benefit from it now. Since most of my support currently resides in the fact that I feel it will be of more value later it is very easy for one to clearly stop reading now and wait for that later moment. I also can’t promise it will become this wonderful tool later down the road as I am not a crystal ball. However, I can assure you that Gyronix ResultsManager is worth your while to look at. In fact the more time I invest in it myself the closer I come to breaking down and actually buying it myself. I guess I know I won’t be able to take full advantage of all its resources now but am so clearly convinced it will prove to be worthwhile down the road that I can see its initial overwhelming price tag as an investment in my future for many years to come.
When I first sat down to write this article I actually had a very difficult time launching the process and transcribing my thoughts to words. I believe this is because ResultsManager is such a vast program. Although it does sing in unison with MindManager it can carry its own tune. Of course no musical composition sounds complete without the entire ensemble and I suppose the same could be said for MindManager and ResultsManager . Only when the two join and work together can the full score be fully appreciated and enjoyed. Also, like any great musical piece there are many parts and layers. Attempting to describe just a few of these features does not give ResultsManager justice. I feel that even with a full one hour session with Kyle we were only able to dissect that first few layers. There many more topics I need to examine on my own before I can really sit here and give final judgment.
To prevent myself from writing a novel on ResultsManager I wish to only cover some of the very basics. I plan on revisiting this topic several times like I did with MindManger in order to reveal the entire story, but my goal for right now is to intrigue you enough to motivate a visit to the Gyronix website. My hope is this will cascade down to an eventual reading and personal discovery of ResultsManager. To get you started I plan to walk through the initial setup at this point. The setup is a very crucial piece to being successful with ResultsManager and was actually the first obstacle I ran into from my attempt to use it from a student’s perspective.
A student’s perspective is one of the dominant concepts I would like to capture as I share my experience with ResultsManager. I won’t be able to present the whole story in one article as there is just too much to cover but if you stick with me I hope to artificially create that “ah ha” moment where you can start to see the real magic behind ResultsManager.
As a student I often feel I hold a certain light to applications that can often reveal just how valuable a particular piece of software is to my fellow classmates. However, many of the concepts discussed and covered in these next few articles can be carried over into other areas. I even encourage you to look into other uses that may be more valuable to your particular situation. Personally I am currently investigating possible scenarios where ResultsManager may be helpful to doctors as they organize and manage medical and dental practices. I have taken a recent interest in these topics and feel I may be able to share knowledge with professionals that operate in the medical field. But that is more than enough background for now so lets get started!
Starting off with ResultsManager
I personally had difficulty getting started with ResultsManager and it was until my meeting with Kyle that the concepts behind ResultsManager actually started to become visible. (literally!) Even with my initial frustrations you may actually find yourself running into difficulties before even getting to ResultsManager . This is because ResultsManager is embedded within the MindManager program itself. You need to have a comfort level with MindManager before trying to add one more piece to the puzzle. Take some time before loading up ResultsManager to make sure you are comfortable with the basics behind MindManager. That way when you do install ResultsManager your experience will not be biased by a misunderstanding in general MindManager practices. ResultsManager even includes a MindManager Essentials PDF with the program so if you are new I highly recommend you take a look at this as well.
Once you’re ready to start your journey with ResultsManager the obvious question is where to start. I recommend you start with the express wizard. This will allow you to create many of the parts and labels that allow you to organize and work with your new map features. More importantly, it allows you to create your Map Central. This is going to be a very critical section as it’s your central hub, as I like to call it, which allows you to launch to and access all your other projects or classes. The Map Central that the wizard creates is probably not going to be all too useful the way they create it. If you’re comfortable with MindManager you may even be able to make your own. Please see the manual if this is the path you would like to follow. Using the wizard simply allows you to visually observe the premise of what the map central is going to be all about.
Setting it up
The Map Central that the wizard creates is not going to be all that helpful the way it currently stands. To customize it to fit your needs as a student it will require some tweaking. To first setup your classes you can start your organization off by going in two directions. You could have each class branching off from your main central, or you could create a topic/folder called classes and then place your classes here. Because I am currently trying to use MindManager and ResultsManager in all aspects of my life I use the former path. This is because I find that ResultsManager is most valuable when you have a large number of maps associated with activities. By incorporating it into my lifestyle, school, work, and a DorkoTech map it allows ResultsManager to really show off its stuff. If you only have a few maps associated with activities and prefer a daily to do list style then ResultsManager may be of little help. It really shines when you allow it see the whole picture, organizing all the different varying aspects of you life. Going in this direction is scary, especially for new users. For this reason I will proceed down the path where your classes are organized around your Map Central. This does not really allow ResultsManager to “show off” as much but again I feel is easier for students to relate to the first time they work with ResultsManager. Creating hyperlinks to maps and folders is important as this is what allows ResultsManager to scan all your maps looking for activities. You do this the same way you normally do in MindManager and again if your uncomfortable with doing so spend so time with MindManager alone or check out my first MindManger Video where I demonstrated how to do so.
Setting Up Your Classes
After you have created your Map Central and initial links to your classes it is now time to start filling in the pieces. Traditional ResultsManager terminology needs to be tweaked here in order for your maps to be more student friendly. A lot of the core concepts are going to remain the same though so don’t feel that reading that 200 page manual will be a waste of time. In fact reading the manual is something I highly recommend if you really want to understand ResultsManager and get the most out of it. When you go about filling out these details you may want to familiarize yourself with the Getting Things Done (GTD) style. ResultsManager is the best application for applying this system to MindManager and being familiar with the concepts may allow you to create more maps that work in better synchronization with ResultsManager . Typically non-task information is going to be found on the right hand side while task related activities and information should be placed on the left. Maps are also read in a left to right clockwise fashion. Of course you don’t have to adhere to these guidelines but if choose not to then when you start using ResultsManager to setup automated dashboards you may find yourself with maps that may be a bit more disorganized than you would like. Getting a grasp on the basics now will be key to your success with ResultsManager later. If you start becoming a power user you definitely will not regret the extra time invested to learn these fundamentals so it’s good idea to get in the habit of doing so from the start.
The first topic you may observe from my example is the creation of an In-tray. I’ll be honest and say I really didn’t understand the purpose of this the first time it was introduced to me. I just kind of shook it off as something I would not use. Lately, as I try to transform and reword aspects of my classes I am finding a need for the in-tray. For me, the in-tray is a place where I can throw just about anything. If I know I have a goal or project I would like to accomplish but have not taken the time to break down the steps to accomplish this goal I will first drop it in the in-tray. When I have time later I can do go back to and file it is a new project or relate it to one of my current projects. I think everyone may have their own purpose for the in-tray and if you’re really good about staying organized you may not even need one but since I always have things flying at me I would sometimes just like to record it down and place it in such an area. I can then worry about later instead of having to stress over where it should go right at the moment, especially if I am busy or working on something totally different and don’t want to interrupt my thinking process. Just don’t let do many things build up in there!
The second topic can be something labeled as Resources. This is a great place to organize the many files or folders that may be associated with a class. For example, in many of my classes I have ebooks, digital copies of figures, note cards, or handouts. All these could be considered resources and could have links to them in this section. This will allow you to separate things that you need to do from resources that help you in doing so. Although the two are related and probably can be linked together if you need to, it streamlines the process of seeing exactly what you have to. I like to consider this section as my toolbox. Organized within in it are all the tools I need to accomplish and complete all my activities and projects on the left hand side of the map.
The left side is typically used for projects. Although many students do encounter “projects” throughout the semester, many others won’t be able to make this connection. To accommodate this for students that would still like to try ResultsManager the term project is going to need to be re-worked. For example, one can assign the desire to get an A in physiology as a project. In my example I have choosen, I phrased my physiology project as earning a 3.7. Although it may seem weird to phrase it this way I’ve been told by phrasing the initial goal as a completed project increases the potential of success. This puts a positive spin on the project and I can understand why this is recommended.
Setup Complete!
Well I hope at this point you are starting to see the framework that we are laying down for ResultsManager . At this point it may just seem like a lot of work for nothing but I assure you that in my next few articles we will start to dip into exactly how ResultsManager can take the framework of maps that we have created to start to generate automated task lists and project tracking maps. From these we will be able to view our progress throughout the semester as we work hard to accomplish our projects or goals of getting a desired grade. We will also start to add subprojects to our main projects to more clearly define our goals and actions of each class.
This article has already started to become a bit lengthy and I did not want to overload you with too much information too fast. ResultsManager takes some time to a get a hold so a slow and steady pace is my preferred method to revealing the entire package. Hopefully a slow start will also allow you to ask any questions you might have early on so you don’t get too far behind all at once if things are unclear. I’m always open to comments or emails so if you have a question or comment feel free to drop one. I might not get back to you right away but usually am able to respond when I have some free time.
This setup process is also critical in allowing the resources of ResultsManager to start to take hold of our many activities and projects. This is another reason while I wanted to address only this the first time through. Starting out easy, and getting the basics setup I feel will allow a higher rate of success as you work with ResultsManager. Although this setup process may seem boring right now, I guarantee you that if you stick with me and ResultsManager you will start to discover the true value in ResultsManager .
In the next few weeks I hope to actually produce a Camtasia Video demonstrating this technique and setup as well as the numerous other features hidden within ResultsManager. I currently am waiting on a new license for the tablet as I would really like to produce the demo on that instead of my desktop. I also plan to follow up this article with a few more that really start to take a deeper look into using ResultsManager on a daily basis. I hope you found this setup and introduction at least some what interesting and hope you will stick with me as I continue my journey with ResultsManager .
Med Students Train on Robots
I found this cool article on
Wired News and it's always cool to see how new technology is changing the way students are being taught. Noelle is the robot's name and is designed to help simulate the operation of delivering a baby. An operator can sit across the room and deliver signals wirelessly to interrupt a normal operation with multiple complications like a breach birth. It really is amazing technology and I think it can be very beneficial in providing future doctors with situations they may not normally encounter.
Check out the article yourself from
Wired News.
Wired News: Med Students Train on Robots
Ryan Gadz: Fellow Friend and Blooger
I don't normally post about every new website or blog I discover but sometimes you come across one that just deserves special attention. Ryan Gadzinski ,or
rdgadz for as long as I can remember, is a long term friend and tech savy geek. He is currently a designer but his love of technology seems to resonate in all of his work. We met many years back and I have always enjoyed hearing his opinions and thoughts on upcoming technologies. In fact he is the first guy I knew with a bluetooth phone and was even responsible for helping me to figure out how to set up my first web site. He is a creative and engaging designer and I hope to have him design some pieces for my own house some day.
He has recently joined the blogsphere with his own personal blog at
RyanGadz.com and if your at all interested in designing or just want to read about the thoughts of a fellow geek you should check out
his blog!
How to Keep a Clean Toothbrush - WikiHow
I think everyone by now knows I am a former pre-dental student but my love for dentistry has not followed the same path. With my Microbiology class I have become increasingly aware of all the crud that we are surrounded by and encounter on a daily basis. Most of it is harmless and just kind of repuslive to actually think about but some of it can be harmful. Your mouth and toothbrush provide great enviroments for pathogens so keeping them clean are important. Here is a how to article on keeping a clean toothbrush!
How to Keep a Clean Toothbrush - WikiHow
Lenovo Tablet PCs at Best Buy?
Well before you get too excited you may not actually see any Lenovo Tablet PCs sold at Best Buy as of yet. In fact you may not even find any Lenovo notebooks or desktops sold at you local Best Buy. However what is happening is that Lenovo and Best Buy are teaming up together to sell Lenovo technology products at the more than 135 "Best Buy For Business" locations. These "Best Buy for business locations are new to me but they seem to simply be outlets of Best Buy dedicated to providing services to the business community. I am sure it will making buying products from Best Buy much easier than actually running to the store itself or having to buy online like the rest of the general public. Despite being provided only to these select few it is still cool to think about the possibility of seeing an X41 Tablet in Best Buy stores sometime soon.
The ThinkPad lineup has traditionally been known to be more popular in the business sector as their reputation and durability are second to none. When Lenovo took over awhile back I think we were hoping that these values would be maintained and for the most part I feel they have been successful is adhering and maintaining to these standards. There have been times that disappointment has reared its face (don't get me started on shipping times) but I think they are always doing their best to improve and look forward to see how Lenovo plans to develop future products. They even seem to be making an effort in the consumer area with some of their newest models and are really transforming the idea of what a ThinkPad formerly was. I hope to see Lenovo make more effort in getting out their product and I see this as great step in the right direction.
Check out the press release for more information!
Lenovo Teams with Best Buy to Serve the PC Needs of Small Business Customers
Google, Google, Google
Well Google is now notorious for making news. After all I think just about everyone knows what google is. I think it is the most popular internet search engine right now and phrases like "google it" have become embedded into our daily conversations. It is no surprise to see google make headline news and I know I personally am always checking their stock, news, and updates as I am kind of obsessed about google in some ways. I think my greatest attraction is to how they run their business and am very intrigued by the roles they often choose to play. But enough about me going on and on about google. Instead I just wanted to share a few new headlines with you guys about google in case you too may be interested in what this internet giant is up to.
Google Opens up calendar Betafrom
Dailty Tech
Looks to eventually integrated into GMail and I wonder how long before it becomes an alternative to Outlook. I still use Outlook over my gmail account (yet check my gmail account via outlook) so it serves little use for me as of now but for those that use gmail religiously it may be the outlook alternative they have been waiting for.
Coming soon: Google Voice Searchfrom
jkOntheRun via
ars technica
Voice capabilities are still the one thing I think we are really lacking on the PC currently. We have great strides no doubt but I still think the whole process needs work. Google it seems is hoping to enter the voice command domain with a search engine that may take your spoken word and input it as the search data. I can just see myself now talking to my computer...."Cardiac Gross Anatomy...Google Now!"
Google Text Messages (SMS)from
Student Tablet PCBeen around for awhile but definitely deserves its credit. I must admit I used it more awhile back but have since kind of forgotten about its use. For all us without web based phones or declining to pay those premium for internet service, text messaging is still a great alternative to finding information like weather and movie times from our phones in an efficient and convenient manner.
MindManager Wish List 2
The MindManager Wish List is continuing to grow but I will just add two simple things for now. First, Mat Tamble, a fellow reader, reminded me about having symbols in
MindManager. I know I personally encounter the needs for symbols on a daily basis and really wish they were easier to insert into my maps. The really weird thing is that
MindManager can actually handle symbols so it would only be a mater or adding a symbol button. The only way I know of addressing the situation is by opening up the character map and copying them directly into
MindManager. I sometimes make a word or notepad document that contains all the symbols I use most often and then end up copying them into
MindManager from there. It's a bit easier but still a great annoyance.
I know
MindManager has the ability to use marco so maybe it would be only a mater of creating a macro. However I don't know of one and will be adding symbols to the
MindManager Wish List. OneNote is really good at accomplishing this with just a little button and I can't tell you how thankful it is there when I am dealing with α and β in my physiology class.
The second thing I would like to add to the list today is to have multiple windows. This may not make sense to many people I know but it would really be useful for many situations I encounter. For example I use multiple monitors. That is I have my Tablet PC and then an external monitor. Because I use
MindManager for so many different things I really would like to be able to see more than one map at a time. You can cascade them within the program but then the maps really get to small and it's hard to work with them. The best example I can come up for this feature is that I have my Oakland University
MindManager map. This map is always open so I would like to have that map open on one screen. Then I can click my way to another class if I need be. Then on the other monitor I would have a map that I cam constructing to take notes for a certain class. Since anatomy and physiology overlap I would like the possibility to compare these two maps on two different screens. OneNote can once again do this just by creating another window. I can then drag that new window to a new screen.
Dorko's MindManager Wish List - Subscripts
- Symbols
- Multiple Windows
Busy Busy Busy!
Well things are once again getting crazy for me! This is my last full week of school and I have finals coming up right around the corner. I am also working on an internship for the summer and I can't forget about the contest over at
Note Talkers! I am still working on some
MindManager maps for that as well!
My meeting with
Kyle McFarlin, the Gyronix ReultsManager consultant
I met with on Friday, went very well and I learned a lot more about using
ResultsManager. Thus I am also working on a little write up about our meeting and some things I learned about
ResultsManager. I also hope I can get some time to maybe make a new video about
ResultsManager using
Camtasia.
So I just thought I let you all know I have a lot going on but stay with me as there are many things I am working on for this site. I just need to finish off school and survive finals before all of it may be complete!
HealthBlog : Notebook or Tablet PC for your Practice? Go for the Tablet!
A cool article discussing the decision that many new practices are faced with. I'd always go for the tablet myself but this article tells you why! The article even mentions
MindManager for organizing complex projects and I can even think a few ways myself that
ResultsManager would help in the organization of many projects. Check out the article.
HealthBlog : Notebook or Tablet PC for your Practice? Go for the Tablet!
Updates at DorkoTech
I have been maintaining a webpage for several years now and although it has taken on numerous forms and names I've learned to change, modify and update it as I go. This need to modify and update and change designs is actually one of the things I really enjoy about the whole webpage process.
Up until now my web page never reached a wide audience and really was limited to friends and family. When I made my first webpage years ago I put up one of those neon green hit counters at the bottom that read "You are visitor number 123." Back then I was ecstatic when after several months (and multiple clicks of the refresh button) my counter would reach 1000 hits. Things are a bit different now. Everyone and their dog has either a blog or myspace page and it seems everyone has something to say. Despite the increasing number of sources my latest webpage/blog, DorkoTech, has started to reach a greater number of people and it now takes far less time to reach 1000 hits :)
With so many new visitors I thought it was necessary to update the
About Us page as well as make some other changes. For one I removed the services button at the top of the navigation bar. My website use to be accessed only by friends and fellow students and that nav bar was to inform them about services I provided to help set up and fix computers. This was by no means a business but similar to when one puts up a flyer in their neighborhood about the willingness to mow lawns for neighbors. Since the site was only seen by a select few I saw no harm.
Now with an increasing number of visitors I fear some may get the wrong idea about DorkoTech and this webpage. Trust me when I tell you this webpage does not generate any income for me or by any means is my attempt to generate some extra cash. I do have those google ads on the side, but I put those up in hopes to eliminate some of the cost of owning my own domain and hosting service. You have to earn $100 before google sends you a check and at the rate I'm going I'll be lucky to see that check in 3 years. By that time I will have spent much more on hosting. I'm not complaining about these fees as I don't mind paying them for the opportunity and flexibility to have my own personal webspace. I am just saying I don't make any money so don't go thinking that by visiting my site your putting green in Dorko's wallet. In fact I actually don't even have the time to setup students computers anymore and actually ended up doing it for free after only a few weeks. So no more service button.
Other minor changes include the "read more" links which allow me to display more posts on a single page and then just link to the full post if you choose to read on. I also have edited the comment links so you don't have to go to a separate page to view the comments.
I've also updated the
About Us page, like I said earlier, to introduce myself to new readers and hopefully form a more personal connection with those that visit. I've also been at work updating the
Links page to try to include many of the blogs , products, and website I enjoy visiting. I still have more to add but I'm getting there.
DorkoTech has grown in popularity and as it does I continually find pressure to devote more time to it. However I am still a student and have homework and studying to do. There may be droughts were I go a few days without posts but I usually am always able to get at least one up during the weekend. So be patient, keep on visiting and if your new to DorkoTech I hope you enjoy your visit and come back soon!
DorkoTech on TechSmith Blog
On one end being mentioned on the
TechSmith blog gives me the opportunity to do some bragging about actually making difference. It seems my
Setting Goals with MindManager Video or screencast has inspired
Betsy Weber over at
TechSmith to start using
MindManager the way I demonstrated in that
video. I am always pleased to here about others success with
MindManager and when I actually motivate one to start using or try a new way of working with
MindManager it really makes the hard work worth it!
At the other it gives me the opportunity to mention
TechSmith's Camtasia Studio. As I am sure all of you know, one of the categories for the
Note Talker contest is creating a screencast. Of course as far as I am aware you don't actually have to use
Camtasia Studio to create the screencast. However it is by far the easiest program in my opinion for creating such productions. I also believed whatever format you send you video in will in fact be converted to a
Camtasia screencast. So you might as well just give it a shot. To be honest though I have not tried any other type of program that claims to be able to perform similar tasks but I am sure they exist.
It is also the one program that I have used to create every one of my MindManager Videos and I have been pretty succesful with using it. It is easy enough to use to just capture the screen as you walk your viewers through a demonstration and has many very nice wizard modes that allow one to present the infromtaion without being a Camtasia Studio expert.
The program also provides many advanced features that allow you to edit your project but I have not had the time to experiement with these features. This contest may allow me to do so but this all depends on the many other things I need to acomplish.
I've also heard several stories where Camtasia Studio is used to do video demonstrations and tutorials that really allows users to present to the audience exactly what is going on and what they are doing on their computer. It records these actions and even allows you to format the project in an easy to distribute file. My last recroding was very big (50 mb I think!) as I forget to reduce the quality settings like the first two but shows you the flexibilty you have when it comes to the size of the final production.
Many websites like Student Tablet PC, GottaBeMobile, along with my very own have all taken advantage of the program. If your looking for a way to show off your MindManager maps and create a screencast for the contest I suggest you download the trial and give it a try. I had to load it up on my desktop computer (the trial on my Tablet PC ran out) but plan on using it to create the screencast I plan to submit for the Note Talker Contest. Despire my knowledge of the advanced features I know they do exist and hope to take some time to maybe learn them a bit more to create hopefully an entertaining, fun, and informative video demonstrating my very own use of MindManager.
For more information about TechSmith and or Camtasia Studio check out their webpage or download a trial! Also don't forget about the TechSmith blog, (called The Visual Lounge) in which I was mentioned by Betsy.
*On a totally unrelated note I learned that TechSmith is located in Okemos MI, which I drive by a lot of the time when I visit friends in East Lansing. Kyle McFarlin, the Gyronix consultant I met with today, also lived in my hometown of Rochester Hills MI. This just goes to show you despite this crazy techy world we live it is still a small world after all!
Wired News: 9,000-Year-Old Dentistry
As a former pre-dental student and one that is still very interested in the field of dentistry I found this article very interesting. It seems humans have been dreading going to the destist for even longer than we first thought. Check out the article from
Wired NewsWired News: 9,000-Year-Old Dentistry
ResultsManager Questions Anyone?
In a
previous post I mentioned I attempted to give
Gyronix ResultsManager a walk through. At the time I really saw the application as no more than an expensive plug-in. I also thought the tool was directed towards a business crowd and left little room for students to really take advantage of it.
In that post I also requested help from anyone that could direct and assist me in possibly uncovering the true gem that many find with
ResultsManager. I was very excited when I received an email from Kyle McFarlin, a Gyronix Implementation Consultant. He informed me that he is willing to generously take the time to meet with me and to happily show me how to use
ResultsManager. What makes Kyle even more equipped for addressing my concerns and providing a walk-through is that he actually used
ResultsManager and
MindManger to organize his classes when he was in school. This experience I feel will allow him to really relate to my concerns and questions about
ResultsManger from a student's perspective. Thus I have a
Skype meeting with him this Friday.
I know a couple of you responded to the post and shared your similar opinions with ResultsManger so I ask you to submit any questions, comments or concerns that you would like me to bring up during the meeting. I currently have some of my own but would love to use some of yours as wellso you can email me or leave me a comment and I'll make sure your voice is heard. I know its kind of short notice but with the collaboration of my questions and any that my readers submit, along with the willingness of Kyle to lead, I believe will we will uncover what ResultsManger is all about.
Now ResultsManager is very tutorial friendly. There are several tutorials and they send you I think 7 emails to get you started but at the same time there can be such thing as too much help. As a student time is often valuable and I'd rather play with a program, get the basics down to see if I like it, and then read the tutorial to discover the more advanced features. This is the process I incorporated into my evaluation of MindManger. Because MindManger was so easy and familiar from the start without a huge learning curve the process of learning the program was enjoyable.
Now as I increasingly incorporate MindManger into my daily life I find myself having to retreat back and possibly look at some of the tools available for MindManger. The Note Talkers contest has even introduced me to some new products that I did not even know existed! These new products have fueled the desire to continually work on my own maps for the contest in hopes of the possibility of winning one of those awesome packages! I've managed to do some terrific things with MindManger alone so I can't imagine what I could create with assistance from a few new tools!
So again Skype meeting with Kyle this Friday about ResultsManager, submit a comment or email me and I'll be happy to report back everything I learn!
MindManager Video SE
To kick off this terrific
MindManager Contest, brought to us by
MindManager and
Note Talkers along with their other sponsors, I decided to reveal my latest use of MindManager. So here is yet another video of me demonstrating how I use MindManager!
MindManager Video Special Edition: MindManager Takes Over The Desktop
This one came to me when I was up late one night thinking about different ways to use MindManager. (I think I am getting obsessed do you?) Despite my compulsiveness about MindManager I was pondering over how I use MindManager currently. The thought of it as my central hub as well as using it to schedule my daily tasks were a few of the many examples I came up with. I even demonstrated some of these uses in my first two videos. I then realized that MindManager is the first program I open up every day. I look at my schedule my classes or navigate to my OneNote section but whatever it is I do I do it through MindManager. I then got to thinking I really wish my Desktop could be one big MindManager map. And then I asked myself why can't it?
Many of us know you can customize the windows desktop with pretty pictures of dogs or crazy pictures of you with friends. However you can also assign a web page to the desktop. These are sometimes called active desktops and they allow you do do many functions that a static desktop could not. Although it is a web page remember that at the heart of things a webpage is just an html document so you don't even have to be connected to the internet to view it. So let's see how to make a MindManger webpage....hmm I JUST DID THAT in my DorkoTech: MindManager Style post!
So I fired up my html editor altered the template a bit and created myself a very nice webpage for a MindManager map. I then created my MindManager map that would sit there right on my desktop. I included categories like shortcuts, a link to my Oakland Univeristy central hub map where I access all my classes as well as a link to my MindManager maps I use for scheduling and a RSS feed link for fun.
In the end I created a very nice and functional active desktop and reveals around a MindManager map and allows me to access all my programs and other MindManager maps and really serves its purpose well. This MindManager video really speaks for itself so check it out to see the fully story.
If you interested in how I created it and want a more step my step approach to how I arrived at the final active desktop that you see in video let me know and maybe I can create a video of that process or make an entry about it. I would also love to hear your comments so don't be afraid to drop one or email me as I also love getting email from everyone that visits!
MindManager Takes Over the Desktop!Labels: mind mapping, MindManager
Note Talker Contest!
Note Talkers and
MindManger have teamed up to offer one terrific contest that I have been eagerly looking forward to since the
hint was dropped to me to few days back. I didn't want to share too much of the details then as it's not my contest to disclose but the details have been finalized and thus I am proud to announce the
Note Talker / MindManager Contest!
I love MindMangaer and use it every day so this contest is especially exciting for me and I plan to submit my entries as soon as I can. I have to go over all the official details to see if I have to change or alter any of my maps before I submit them but none the less I think I have so pretty good ideas. There are four categories and there will be one winner for each.
The first category is for best use of MindManger for Note Taking. These may include things like my Anatomy and Microbiology MindManager maps that I have shared. I also have a bunch more so its only a mater of choosing the best ones to submit in this case.
The second category is for best expression of "What's on your Mind?" I got an early glimpse at the advertising for the new student campaign and this is the theme they are going with. So start thinking about what your thinking about! This can be a very creative category and I think should really represent what occurs in our lives everyday! Through in some graphics and let the world know what your thinking!
The third category is for best Screencast. This included screencasts demonstrating the use of MindManger. I and Tracy among others have provided some very nice examples that should get you motivated to make your very own production demonstrating MindManger. Again go wild, get creative and put on a show that make everyone stop and think!
The fourth category is Judge's Choice. So here anything is possible as long as the Judge's like it! Again creativity and original thinking will be key factors here.
And maybe the most rewarding part of the contest if you win is the prizes. I really tip my hat to the guys at Note Talkers, MindManger and the other sponsors that have come together or offer some of the greatest packages around! A prize package of just under $1200 and including things like a full licenses to programs and tools like MindManger, Camtasia, VisualBubble.com, MindSystems KnowledgeLink Pro, MindManuals DecisionMill, and Gyronix ResultsManager Pro should have just about everyone scratching their brain looking to come up with some creative results.
This contest is amazing and everyone should enter. It really gives you a change to play around with MindManger as well as learn what it is all about if your new to the program. Even if you don't win any prizes I guarantee you that the knowledge acquired about such a terrific program will relieve the pain of not winning a little bit.
Can't wait to see what people come up and Good Luck Everyone! Let's See What's On Your Mind!
Full detials and official rules can be found at Note Talkers and on their contest tab!
DorkoTech: MindManager Style
My brain does not operate in a liner fashion and I constantly find myself wanting to transform many of the things I deal with into a
MindManager map. This way I can read something, go back compare two topics and relate them to one another. The process of learning and memory retention is directly related to number of connections you make. Simply put, if you have more ways to remember something or can relate to several other different situations you’re going to remember it better. This allows navigating through the material presented in a
MindManager map to become a much easier and memorable experience that allows you to take something away form the whole thing. The purpose of this blog is to help and inform others and allows you to do is very important to me and I think
MindManger may be able to help out.
Ok so what’s the point of me going on about this right? Well the purpose of this blog is to help students and others study smarter, discover Tablet PCs and other technologies that can all help us in the way we live our ways. If you can’t remember or find what your looking for on this blog then I have failed this mission.
You can use the google search button on the left hand side but it is still lacking in my opinion. Also because I have gone with the blogger service I don’t really have a way to categorize all my posts and entries like other blogs. That is I can’t have a tag or category called MindManager that lists all my entries involving MindManager. On my old blog I could do this since I had made the whole thing from scratch but in the end it became too much work to maintain. I could switch to a different service or format but overall I like this format and find it very easy to maintain. My solution and work in progress is to use MindManager to solve this dilemma.
A while back, MindManager introduced a cool little active-x browser plug-in that allows web publishers to publish maps on websites. The plug-in only works for IE and you have to download it here from MindJet but none the less thought it would be a cool way to let my readers navigate my blog.
I’ve only gotten through the January entries but this is pretty easy to organize so expect me to add them all in the next few weeks. Once I catch up it’ll just be a matter of adding a link to the MindManager map as I post and that is really not that hard. I also plan on formatting the map and webpage as time goes on so it is definitely a work in progress but I though I would share and let you see it as it progresses.
Now I can also share the map and have you download and view it on your computer via the MindManager Viewer software. This free application allows me to share maps and allows anybody, even those without the full MindManager program, to view, expand, close and navigate any map I create and decide to share. You also use the search function in either of these two scenarios to search and find a particular subject you are looking. I think I may end up doing this as well but let me know what you think or if you would be interested in this scenario.
Either way I am looking for an easier way for readers to navigate and find the information they are looking for and I think MindManager offers to be once again a very cool tool that may allow me to accomplish this. I somehow wish there was a way to use the search function to also search and find anything mentioned in my entries. Since the search will finds things that match your word in the title it doesn’t actually search the individual posts and everything mentioned in it. I guess you could use the google search for this. Nothing is without its limitations but hopefully through a combination of all these features you’ll be able to find everything you need on my blog. If you have any suggestions email me or leave a comment as I always love hearing what others have to say.
So without further delay here it is, DorkoTech: MindManager Style!
Facebook Me! It's a phrase a lot of college students here but that phrase may no longer be exclusive just to students. I don't know exactly how many student are on facebook but it has to be a lot! The college networking website has expanded to the High School field and now seems to be venturing out into the business world. It seems some Microsoft employees now have the ability to log on. With so many college students on the network it makes sense for large corporations to get involved in the possibility of matching up future graduates with employers. I don't know if this is the route they're going or if they are just looking for a new way for employees of large corporations to interact. Whatever the reason, sites like facebook and myspace are increasingly becoming incorporated into our lives.
You could use a program like Autodesk SketchBook (formerly known as Alisa Sketchbook) to accomplish any of these feats. The program allows you too add an image and draw just about anything you can think of all over it. With paintbrush, pencil and pen settings it’s aimed towards more professional projects but could be used for simple annotation. However the overkill button once again goes off the search for something a bit simpler continues.
You'll often hear me complain about the cold weather here in Michigan but this time of year it really heats up in Detroit. Living in Auburn Hills (home of the Palace where the Pistons place) and a short drive from Joe Louis it's really exciting to have some great sports team! (Let's forgot about the Lions and Tigers for a moment!) This year we are very lucky to have two awesome teams! The Pistons and Red Wings both finished in top spots during the regular season and the play-offs are on their way. I have just a few more days of school and then it's time to chill with friends and watch Detroit try to make two runs at a championship! I can't wait!
Ryan Gadz said...
I don't know exactly when the latest update was released but when I was checking up with Eric Mack at EricMackOnline I saw him commenting on some MindManager news. I then decided to check to see if there were any updates this morning (By going to help, check for updates in MindManager) and sure enough there is an update! SP1 build 6.1.809 has many updates including a Lotus Notes hyperlink, that Eric hinted about, as well as some overall performance improvements. For the full list of updates and information check it out here!
wterry said...
Well Google is now notorious for making news. After all I think just about everyone knows what google is. I think it is the most popular internet search engine right now and phrases like "google it" have become embedded into our daily conversations. It is no surprise to see google make headline news and I know I personally am always checking their stock, news, and updates as I am kind of obsessed about google in some ways. I think my greatest attraction is to how they run their business and am very intrigued by the roles they often choose to play. But enough about me going on and on about google. Instead I just wanted to share a few new headlines with you guys about google in case you too may be interested in what this internet giant is up to.
I know MindManager has the ability to use marco so maybe it would be only a mater of creating a macro. However I don't know of one and will be adding symbols to the MindManager Wish List. OneNote is really good at accomplishing this with just a little button and I can't tell you how thankful it is there when I am dealing with α and β in my physiology class.
I have been maintaining a webpage for several years now and although it has taken on numerous forms and names I've learned to change, modify and update it as I go. This need to modify and update and change designs is actually one of the things I really enjoy about the whole webpage process.
In a previous post I mentioned I attempted to give Gyronix ResultsManager a walk through. At the time I really saw the application as no more than an expensive plug-in. I also thought the tool was directed towards a business crowd and left little room for students to really take advantage of it.
Note Talkers and MindManger have teamed up to offer one terrific contest that I have been eagerly looking forward to since the hint was dropped to me to few days back. I didn't want to share too much of the details then as it's not my contest to disclose but the details have been finalized and thus I am proud to announce the Note Talker / MindManager Contest!
My brain does not operate in a liner fashion and I constantly find myself wanting to transform many of the things I deal with into a MindManager map. This way I can read something, go back compare two topics and relate them to one another. The process of learning and memory retention is directly related to number of connections you make. Simply put, if you have more ways to remember something or can relate to several other different situations you’re going to remember it better. This allows navigating through the material presented in a MindManager map to become a much easier and memorable experience that allows you to take something away form the whole thing. The purpose of this blog is to help and inform others and allows you to do is very important to me and I think MindManger may be able to help out.
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