DorkoTech MindManager Contest Winners!
Just want to say thanks to everyone that entered. I recieved a lot of great enteries and enjoyed hearing everyone's stories. Here are the winners! I don't have e-mails for some of you so if you won if you could please leave me your e-mail I can then send the prizes out! The first place winner also needs to send me his address so I can mail out the copy of
MindManager.
The WinnersFirst Place MindManager License: Neil Ingram
Second Place Camtasia Studio License: John Lee
Third Place SnagIt License: John Hill
A Brief Break in the Action
One of my greatest characteristics (IMHO) is my spontaneity and ability to just enjoy life! For a long time I was a pre-dental student and studying was my life. I was so focused on getting into grad school that I literally let life pass me by. Since putting those goals on hold and persuing a more imediate future in pharmaceuitcal/medical sales I've been able to let my guard down a bit. No longer do I feel pressured to study "all the time". In fact I found I don't nearly have to study as much when I am more relaxed. For some reason information seems to stick more as I gain confidence in myself and try to throw a postive spin on everything around me.
I was able to live out a lot this up north this weekend. I just packed my bags Friday and decided to head up North to my friend's cabin. Unfortunatley in the heat of the moment I did not have time to update the contest or blog about some of the news over at Mindjet. I was 3 hours away from home with my Tablet but internet was out of the question. I apologize for the break in the action but still want to encourage everyone to live life for themselves. I have a lot of pre-med and dental friends and too often I see them get stressed out over school. So everyone do me a favor...unplug that machine and don't forget to enjoy life! Because life is too short to stress over all the other meaningless stuff.
Introducing Students to MindManager: Dorko Demo
Well the Note Talkers contest has long passed and I can say I am absolutely loving my prizes!
ResultsManager has been a lot of fun and I've talked to
Kyle McFarlin a few times now and he has been very helpful in my adventures with
ResultsManager. I hope to post about all of this soon!
In the meanwhile I thought I would share the video/screencast I made for that contest. I thought they were going to post all the screencasts but I have not seen this done yet so I figured what the heck...I'll post mine.
This Dorko Demo was designed to promote
MindManager to students. My goal was to create a quick (under 10 minutes) presentation for students to present the features and capabilities of
MindManager. I wanted to get students excited about
MindManager and leave them with the feeling that
MindManager can assist in their everyday tasks as a student. I tried to present as many examples in an effort to reveal that
MindManager is great at several tasks like note taking, making To-Do-Lists and even serving as an active desktop. I also wanted to make apparent that
MindManager is great for brainstorming papers as well as organizing all your class related information like handouts, images, and ebooks!
My original intent was to go back over the Dorko Demo and clean it up a bit. I then planned to make it as seamless as possible and distribute it to students at school or provide a place to download and watch it.
MindManager is still very foreign to the student population and I felt a fun demo video of
MindManager would get them talking at the very least. Unfortunately I have not had the time to edit it so it remains as a poorly executed presentation, but the concepts and intentions embedded within it are still valuable so I might as well share it!
This version of "
Introducing Students to MindManager" is 12.3 MB and runs 8:47. It is choppy because of the file size and I had numerous problems trying to encode it properly with Camtasia Studio. I have a good copy that is much smoother and displays all the transitions correctly but its 177 MB and I figured no one would want to download that huge of a file. I have a 1000 GB transfer limit so I could probably handle it but decided to stick with the smaller file for the time being. I can provide a link to the larger file if you want to or even send it to you on a CD. The smaller file has its obvious faults but I think the ideas and concepts I am trying to share are still there and others may get some value from it.
Introducing Students to MindManagerDorko Demo and Note Talkers Contest Winner
Contest Reminders!
Just want to remind you that you still have a week to enter the
DorkoTech Contest! I have recieved a lot of great comments but there is always room for more so don't forget to leave a comment and enter for your chance at a copy of
MindManager or
TechSmith's Camtasia Studio and SnagIt
Also there is great contest going over at
GottaBeMobile! They are giving away a
free licence to TEO 3.0! I have yet to get my hands on the program but I've heard great things about it so make sure to enter there as well. That contest ends tonight so hurry up!
The Gettysburg Address as a mind map
I think I see more and more Mind Maps everyday now! It's great! I've converted some forms from a Real Estate program I am taking into
MindManager Maps and I am working on some forms/
MindManager Mind Maps that I think I may be able to use when I go into Pharmaceutical and/or Medical Sales.
Chuck Frey recently took the same approach to Lincolns's Gettysburg Address. Although he complains that it is not much better than the PowerPoint version he drafted the map from I tend to disagree as it allows me to see it in a new fashion. Thanks Chuck!
The Gettysburg Address as a mind map
via The Mind Mapping Software Weblog
Map Explorer Now Supports Ink
Well it looks as if Michael Scherotter took
my complaint against no ink support in the
MindJet MindManager map explorer plug-in to heart as he recently
fixed the problem! I guess all you have to do is ask and you shall receive!
I did test it out and can report it sort of works. Don't get me wrong I love that
MindJet took the initiative to fix this problem but for whatever reason the ink might as well stay blank because I can't read the ink in the map explorer. I tried adjusting my ink scaling, writing bigger, and using a thicker pen but still no improvement.
The one thing I did like is that if you hover over the topic you can see a screen tip of the text which then is easily read. This is definitely better than nothing but I think I will continue to switch between outline view if I really need to navigate in the manner the map explorer provides as the former allows me to easily read my ink text.
Again I don't mean to complain and I actually hate doing it but at the same time I don't want to sugar coat my impressions as that just wouldn't be fair. Thanks again for the support though and hopefully this is a situation unique to my own Tablet PC.
MindJet MindManager Map Explorer Now Supports Inkvia MindJet LabsDownload the new version of the Map Explorer Here!
PC Mag Buying Guide: Back to School Laptops
I know school is probably the last thing on your mind right now but if you're in the market for a new laptop I suggest you start looking early! Whether you are heading off to college and need a new computer or just want to upgrade I always recommend to students that they start looking for laptops at least a month before that first crazy class starts. This gives you plenty of time for the computer to ship (if buying online) as well as gives you time to play around and become familiar with it before your frantically dealing with classes.
The later part is the most important in my opinion and I learned that lesson quite well last fall when I purchased my Lenovo X41 Tablet PC. The one thing with a Tablet PC especially is that it takes some to become accustomed to it. Learning how to set everything up and figuring out which program to takes notes with takes time and getting all this sorted before classes start is essential if you want to be succesfull.
Of course before figuring out if OneNote, GoBinder or MindManager is for you, a notebook (I always recommend notebooks/Tablet PCs over desktops these days) must be purchased. This can be a challenge in itself and I often work with students to help in this decision, especially in the Tablet PC market as many are still quite foreign to the idea.
PC Mag though has made it a little easier for traditional laptop buyers though with this great
back to school guide. I suggest you take a look at it if your in the market for a new machine!
Buying Guide: Back-To-School Laptopvia PC Mag
DorkoTech Contest!
Help celebrate the 6 month anniversary of the DorkoTech blog! To give a little something back to all those that have supported me and
DorkoTech the past few months I am running a contest with prizes everyone I think will enjoy!
I am a technology DORK
o! I love technology, gadgets, software and everything that has to do with them! Technology even helped in the inspiration of the name DorkoTech! As much as I enjoy the smell of opening a new gadget or turning on a toy for the first time, I also enjoy hearing about others and their experiences with technolgy. Because of this I want to hear all about the devices and tools all of
you are using! I also want to hear how it has made an impact on your life as I know technology has touched my life in numerous ways.
So what do you have to do?All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, with your name, occupation, and tell me about the piece of technology that has made the greatest impact on your life. This can either be a hardware device like a Tablet PC or software related like my favorite tool
MindManager. Actually I dare you to be creative with your choice and there are very few limits on the actual piece of technology that you can write about!
What will I win?Up for grabs is a fully licenced copy of
MindJet MindManager Pro 6! If I recieve a lot of great entries I may also give away a copy of
TechSmith's Camtasia Studio and a copy of
TechSmith's SnagIt as well, so everyone should enter!
Check out the
DorkoTech Contest Page for more details!
To Get You Started...
To get the ball rolling I'll share one of mine and you can use it as an example to see what I mean. You can share as much detail as you want about yourself but I always like to go a bit beyond and would like to share a little bit about myself for those that are new!
Jason Dorko of DorkoTech
Student at Oakland University: Studying Biology with a minor in MIS; plans to pursue career in pharmaceutical/medical sales after graduation in 2007.
I have a lot of gadgets and toys but for me software is often at the heart of it all. Software unlocks the full potential of any device!. My recent discovery of MindManager has made this quite apparent and changed the way I go about my day in almost every way!
MindManager is not the only program I use and I feel there are other programs that are better at doing particular tasks but MindManager is still one of the first programs I start every morning. It houses almost everything I need to do (or links to it) on any particular day (thanks to GTD and ResultsManager.) It organizes all my information for classes, my website, and pharmaceutical research that I conduct on a daily basis. It allows me to "flush" everything out of my mind and store it in a secure and reliable destination. It then does all this and is able to report back all of it in a visual, free flowing mind map. Common goals and tasks start to reveal themselves and complex information becomes organized and easily managed. Projects can be easily worked through from start to finish and again it accomplishes this in a way that is more natural for my brain than previous methods permitted.
MindManager now assists in all of these daily activites. The GTD methodology and ResultsManager now play a big part of this, but MindManager has always remained at the center of things. Without MindManager everything else would seem to fall apart. I honestly don't know how I managed everything before MindManager!
I could go on for days about MindManager but if you've read my blog at all or viewed any of my Dorko Demo's then you are already aware of its impact on my life!
Since MindManager is so key to my everyday tasks I am very excited to be able to offer the same piece of software as the grand prize! It has had a monumental effect on my life and even if you don't win I suggest you try out the product for yourself! You can download a free 21 day trial to give a test for yourself. If your a student make sure to check out the education discount price as I have seen it on sites like journeyed for only $129.98! Figuring it's regularly $349 that is quite the deal!!
Also make sure to check out the DorkoTech Contest Page for more details!
DorkoTech Blog 6 Months Old!
I remember making my first webpage in notebook years ago. Basically I had this black background with slime green letters and a fancy hit counter on the bottom. I also had an easy to remember address that ended with something like 343242342.... One could say I had my own "my space" way before teenagers started plastering digital pictures on the web. In fact when I started my first web page digital cameras were not even around!
I've come a long ways since then! I've had several webpages and with each new one I have managed to make improvements. My skills in the web programming/designing area have seem to tapered off but I like to think I now make up for it with content. I even seem to have regular readers (that are not family members or close friends) which just goes to show how far I have come!
For the last 6 months now I have maintained a blog on my
DorkoTech website. I went with the blog format over at traditional webpage as I felt it would allow me to update more often and I would no longer have to reorganize and sort all my pages every time I want to change something. I originally planned to create my own database, template, design and everything else for the blog but quickly realized the time required to invest in all that was just not worth it. The idea was to have an easy to maintain structure that allowed me to post content on a regular basis. Creating and maintaining all that myself started to interfere with my original intentions. I then switched over to using blogger and since then have been blessed with much support and have been able to reach more people than I ever imagined!
I thank everyone that actually visits the blog and has supported me throughout the past few months. The blog and my website will probably undergo many changes throughout the next few months as I make the transition from college student to pharmaceutical/medical representative. I encourage you to stick with me as I plan to share this experience and I can guarantee you I will post as much as I can about the technologies and related topics that are of greatest interest.
To thank everyone for their support I plan to have my own little anniversary surprise. Usually the one celebrating the anniversary receives the gifts but I have always been a bigger fan of giving than receiving!
Stay Tuned!
Google comes to Ann Arbor Michigan
Here in Detroit we are basically known for only one thing, and that is cars. Auto capital of the world (at least for the time being) has been our title of choice but we may soon need to find a new king to crown if Michigan wants to regain it's former glory. Sure we have some great sports teams, and Oakland County has been voted one of the best counties to live in but what Michigan truly lacks is technology centers. Technology is now a booming business and has such an impact on everyone's lives that I have always wondered why Michigan never tried to establish any sort of silicon valley for itself. However if we want to keep rolling along Michigan is going to eventually have to get on board and become involved with the technology market. In we continue to rely so much on the auto industry our economy is surely going to stall out and it will be as if we have a fleet of SUVs with no gas to travel forward.
However maybe things will turn around with Google now making its way to Ann Arbor. This is a terrific step in the right direction and I once again happy to see Google leading the way. With Google now playing in Detroit's playground I hope to see more technology, pharmaceutical, medical, and information technologies follow suit.
Google is not actually setting up in Detroit but instead is making a stand in the city of Ann Arbor. Most see Ann Arbor as home to the University of Michgan and the Michigan Wolverines. A city town no doubt, but Ann Arbor is a bit more sophisticated that your typical crazy college town. In fact many graduates stay in the area, raise familes, and Ann Arbor has become a renowned culture area and more recently a growing technology center. Ann Arbor is a very exciting city with lots of recent growth in the technology field and I suspect this may be why Google choose the site.. In fact, a Pfizer research lab is also located nearby and with many renowned doctors in the area there may be a chance of a pharmaceutical representative job in the area for me yet!
My dad works for GM so I have always been partial to the auto industry and GM for that matter. I'd love to see GM bounce back from everything but at the same time I'm glad to see Michigan moving away from its dependence on GM and the other auto manufacturing companies.
It's not to often that I get to brag about the technology aspect of Michigan but with Google now here I expect to see a lot more exciting changes!
Here are links to the recent news!
Google announcement underscores Ann Arbor's economic status The Detroit News OnlineGoogle to hire 1000 jobs in MichThe Detroit News Online
Great Video on Proscape, GSK and Tablet PCs
I have not had the opportunity to post as much as I would like recently with a new job at a local pharmacy. Those Dorko Demo's are always constantly being pushed back as there are many other things I "have to" get done. No matter how busy I get though I research pharmaceutical companies and major news in the pharma industry almost everyday.
The other night I decided to take a closer look at
Proscape Technologies. If you recall
Proscape is the company that works with
GlaxoSmithKline to assist their pharmaceutical sales representatives in the field with closed loop marketing strategies and software. You might also remember that
GSK recently won the
2006 Microsoft Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Award in sales and marketing.
Proscape was a big contributor to
GSK's success in sales and they really impressed me with their work with Tablet PCs.
To provide a brief background,
Proscape Technologies is a major provider of marketing and sales effectiveness software and specifically develops their software for Tablet PCs. They often work with pharmaceutical companies likes
GSK, and these partnerships unleash the full potential of Tablet PCs for sales representatives. They also allow representatives to report back results from recent meetings, which allows others to analyze and develop successful and efficient marketing strategies.
While making by way through their site I discovered
this video. I was quite impressed with its presentation and it really sells the idea of the Tablet PC quite well. It also exemplifies many of the concepts I presented in my
last post about GSK and Tablet PCs. It presents exactly what I would like to do as a future pharmaceutical rep and the kind of technology I plan to incorporate in my daily ventures out in the field.
GSK Video Case Studyvia Proscape Technologies
Note: I had trouble clicking on the link and streaming it to my media player. Instead I right clicked it, downloaded it to my hard drive, and then opened it with my media player. This seemed to work and I suggest you try the same if you're having troubles viewing it.
GlaxoSmithKline and Tablet PCs Combine Forces
GlaxoSmithKline recently won Microsoft’s 2006 Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences award for their use of Tablet PCs and it was incredibly exciting to see two of my interests, pharmaceutical sales and Tablet PCs, meet in such a celebration. I thought I would take some time to touch a bit more on the subject since it is so relevant to my own personal career goals as well as involves my passion for Tablet PCs. I also will comment and refer to some of my own experiences in an effort to show that the tools and technology students utilize today can have a significant effect when they enter career related fields.
For those of you unfamiliar with GlaxoSmithKline, or simply GSK, they are a cutting edge pharmaceutical company motivated to deliver quality and life improving products. Like so many of my own mission statements their goal is to improve the lives of others. Their mission statement “Do more, feel better, live longer” really encapsulates their goals and mission as a company in three brief phrases.
Some of the consumer products that you might have heard of but may never associated with gsk include, Abreva, Aquafresh, Nicorette, Lucozade, Panadol and Tums. They also have numerous well known prescription drugs; a few of them being Boniva, Flonase, Imitrex, Valtrex, Welbutrin and Zantec. These are only a sample of the products associated with GSK but I wanted to establish a level of familiarity as well as demonstrate that magnitude of GSK in the pharmaceutical world.
So what about the technology aspect right? In addition to producing, researching, manufacturing and selling products that will end up touching us all in some way, GSK is also a recent master of technology. This is the aspect of the company that allows them to reach the next level in the pharmaceutical sales department.
We all are exposed to technology everyday and I think we can agree that it drastically improves our efficiently at work, school and home. Those that embrace and deploy new technology successfully are often rewarded with an “edge” over their competition. GSK is a company that is embracing this idea and are enjoying the rewards it can bring.
“One of the ways GSK looks to address its evolving challenges is by equipping pharmaceutical sales representatives with the right technology and resources to meet their needs in the field.” The use of new and exciting technology is a wonderful idea but what lights my eyes is their use of a particular piece of equipment that
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