Dynamite Desktop Document Scanners
Some of you might me aware of my
recent scanner purchase and how happy I am about it and its ability to do duplex ADF scanning. Although it has worked great for me I should report that I have a reader that has purchased the same scanner but was not able to use the duplex scanning due to the unusual sized paper of his textbooks. For his particular situation I may recommend that he invest a bit more money to get a dedicated document scanner with ADF that should be able to handle a whole assortment of different sized papers. For me the $250 Canon MP830 was a steal! Printer, duplex scanning and fax machine all wrapped up into one easy package made a lot of sense. However it does have its limitations and how long it will last scanning 1000+ page textbooks will ultimately be the true test.
A dedicated document scanner is going to work much better if you have a lot of lose leaf papers that you want to digitize. It will also probably work faster and have more options but they are also going to cost a bit more green.
PC Mag has done a nice job of listing off some of the best document scanners out there and if you're willing to spend a tad more money you might be able to find a scanner that serves your needs better. I know when I have some more money (poor college student at the moment) I will probably invest in a more document orientated scanner like the ones listed but for now my MP830 is doing just fine!
Dynamite Desktop Document Scanners
via PC Mag
Education Based MindJet MindManager Webinar
I have attended a few
MindJet webinars and so far all of them have been high class professional and interesting that have taught me at least something new. On August 30th MindJet will host another webinar but this time it's on a topic that is right up my alley, the education scene!
Unfortunately the webinar is going to be more directed towards professors and faculty members but you may be able to take away some knowledge from the webinar and share it with your teachers if you are a student. That way they may actually start using
MindManager themselves and your notes won't have to be altered to try to fit into a
MindManager Map.
What I would be interested to see is how someone would teach a class like physiology using
MindManager. I have a really great physiology professor that uses these terrific diagrams to capture a present the information in a visual way. Personally I think these methods are far superior to a
MindManager Map so I do question the sorts of topics that can be taught with MindManager effectively. I guess I would rather see OneNote used for situations like this instead of
MindManager but this is just my personal preference.
I unfortuantely will be in class the day of the webinar (first day of school!) so will not be able to view it live. Hopefully they will record it and I can watch it when I have some time. At the very least it should be interesting and if you're at all interested in
MindManager in the educational field I suggest you attend!
Best Practices for Faculty using MindManager in the Education Environment
Presenter: Scott Markham, Channel Sales Manager Education, Mindjet Corporation
Time: 10:00 am Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -07:00, San Francisco)
Date: Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Description: This 30-minute webinar focuses on best practices for faculty members on using MindManager within the education environment. Learn more about using the mapping method to visualize information, develop ideas, enhance learning and increase productivity.
Enroll Here!Other Great MindJet Webinars!
GyroQ = Dorko's New Digital Inbox!
I actually heard about the
Gyronix plug-in quite some time ago and was incredibly excited at the time but it seems everyone has let the cat out of the bag now so I feel I can properly share why this plug-in is so exciting for me!
First off I am not going to bore you with what
GyroQ is all about. Quite frankly
RobiNZ CADs blog and
Eric Mack have done this already so it would be a waste of my time and yours to read about it all over again. If you are unfamiliar with what
GyroQ is then I suggest you take a look at these posts so you have a understanding of what it is all about.
GyroQ - a powerful MindManager capture toolvia Eric Mack OnlineCapturing thoughts in a MindManager Mapvia RobiNZ CAD BlogWhy am I so excited about the plug-in?Basically it will steamline my digital inbox process! I use
ResultsManager in combination with
MindManager everyday to stay on track with all my next actions and activities It automatically creates my To-Do-Lists via the ResultsManager Dashboards and I always know what is on the agenda for any particular day. Because
ResultsManager is such a part of my everyday I use the built-in Inbox map part to store all my random thoughts. If I think of something I want to blog about I make a quick topic in my DorkoTech MindManager map and place it in the inbox where I can sort through it later.
So where does GyroQ come in? As much as I use
MindManager it's not the only program I use. When school rolls around next week OneNote will really start to become more involved in my daily tasks. This is because I use OneNote to take notes in class as it's freedom to draw large diagrams and write all over just can't be duplicated with
MindManager. However there will be times when I am sitting in class and spontaneously remember I have to study for another class or have an activity I need to complete later that night. To make sure it gets into MindManager (and my ResultsManager dashboards) I would normally have to open
MindManager up and insert it somewhere. Now though I can quickly use GyroQ to add it and then deal with it later. This will allow me to capture what's on my mind more easily and make sure it ends up in a place where it will not be forgotten about, thus allowing me to focus more of my attention to class and free my mind of any unrelated tasks.
Another way to look at GyroQ is to compare it to OneNote's quick New Side Note Icon that sits in the system tray. Previously I would use this as it would allow me to capture my ideas very easily and then I would later insert them into
MindManager when I had a chance. GyroQ eliminates one of those steps and allows all my information, tasks, and ideas to sit within
MindManager and never have the chance to get lost with all my class notes in OneNote.
I'll make sure to post my progess with GyroQ when I am able to get my hands on it!
Blogging for big bucks
I saw
this article today and it really got me thinking....maybe I should just become a full time blogger and make Dorko Demo's and blog about
MindManager, Tablet PCs and the GTD lifestyle more often? Somehow I just don't think I have enough readers though right now to quit my day job as a student but it is inspiring at the very least. This site makes barely enough to pay for its hosting service and we have others making some real money in the blogsphere.
What do you guys think?
Blogging for Big Bucksvia CNNMoney.com
Scanning Textbooks Dorko Demo
It's been just over 2 weeks now since I first received my Canon MP830 all in one printer, scanner, copier and fax machine and so far every encounter with it has been extraordinary pleasant. I am happy to report that my new scanner has not disappointed and that my progress to become increasingly paperless is moving along nicely! To share/brag a bit about my new scanner I thought I would make a Dorko Demo featuring it in action. I had the day off today and despite having numerous things to do I figured I would have no problem creating a quick little hardware demo and demonstrate the procedure of how I scanned my last 1000+ page textbook the other day!
Unfortunately things never work the way they are suppose to and this Dorko Demo is a sad excuse for what I hoped it would become. Basically my X41 Tablet PC has let me down again in the performance department and just didn't allow me to do all the media and video producing I would have liked. I know it's an ultra portable and not a video production apparatus but sometimes I just wish it could do a bit more when it comes to screencasts and webcams. To add bad news to the already volatile pot I didn't have time to fix this Dorko Demo in an effort to make it easier to watch.
The X41's performance issues had trouble aligning the video and audio so the first part of the demo has this terrible mouth moving but not aligned with the words effect. The second part of the Dorko Demo ran into problems when I tried using Camtasia Studio to record and scanning at the same time. I suppose they both write to the hard drive during operation and this led to the entire video being out of sync.
My hope is that if you're really interested in how I scanned my Physiology textbook with the Canon MP830 scanner and Auto Document Feeder you will try to bear through it all and somehow end up realizing just how great a scanner/printer it really is!
I apologize for the poor video skills and maybe I should steer clear from using Camtasia Studio and webcams with the Tablet for awhile and just stick to old fashion posts as I think my attempt to use video this time around wasn't as successful as I had originally hoped. :(
Dorko Demo: Scanning Textbooks with the Canon MP830
Back To Everything!
Back from a vacation up north, back from a week away from DorkoTech, back to school in less than two weeks! Yeah it's all about getting back to the basics for me right now and things don't seem to be slowing down. I took a much needed break to reset my mind from working 40 hours weeks, finishing off my summer class and getting ready for my last semester in college! Well I am refreshed and ready for new beginnings but time will definitely be of great value to me so I don't know how often I will be able to keep this blog going strong when school starts up. I'll do my best but I am also going to try to work more than I ever have and continue to research Pharma companies as much as I can! Those are the items that fall into the "Absolutely Must Get Done" activities so the blog is going to continue to get shifted to the someday maybe and when I have some extra time categories.
While we are in the Back to School mode I thought I would share the cool new (I think it is new)
Microsoft Tablet PC site that I ran into today.
I am also working on a video of my progress with scanning my textbooks with my new Canon MP830 Scanner. Let me just say that I was able to scan my 1100 page Medical Physiology book in one day easily. Now you may say that's a long day of scanning right? Well let me just say that while the ADF was going crazy I also was able to eat lunch, clean my room, file away some old files, iron some shirts and pants, completed several loads of laundry and the list goes on. Basically the scanner did most of the work while I continued on with everything else I had to do. I did have to check on it quite often but it never really interfered with my day and I never felt as if I was wasting time sitting there scanning myself. The thin pages of the textbook also did seem to be a problem and I only had 2 sort of paper jams. (Actually it just did not feed so not destroyed pages or anything of the sort) I was quite impressed and I must say I absolutely love it now! More on that later thought!
Enjoy the Microsoft Tablet PC Site for now!
128 USB Drive for $2.99!
Every student needs a USB drive! It's one of those must have accessories that I recommend to every student! They allow you to carry music, a PowerPoint Presentation, or a word document to edit in the computer lab when you computer crashes. There are just too many reasons not to have one! I always keep one in my gadget bag at all times and have found it incredibly useful in the clutch. CompUSA is offering one for 2.99 so there is no reason not to get one. You can also find larger format ones for a bit more but for about the price of a large bag of candy I think most students will be able to spare the $3!
Pick up yours now at CompUSA!
Let the Scanning Begin!
Like Tracy I have a lot of scanning to do! I have not found ebook versions of my textbooks this time so if I want to have digital copies it looks as if I am going to have to scan them myself. Luckily I just bought this awesome new scanner!
After talking to Kyle McFarlin a few weeks back I decided I really needed to invest in a new scanner. The one I currently own is old and takes forever to scan! The quality is also an issue and I firmly believe that if I want to do do something like scan all my documents I am going to have to make the procedure a lot more fun! Otherwise I just will put it off and not do it. The process also has to be streamlined in order to recieve any benefit from the time investment of sitting there and scanning all those documents.
So I began my quest for the ultimate scanner. After a lot of research it came down to either the
Opticbook 3600 or the
Canon MP830. The Opticbook 3600 is the scanner
Tracy and many others that decide to go paperless use as it is perfect for scanning textbooks. Its unique ability to scan to the very edge of the page makes it perfect for archiving and storing the pages of your textbooks. The price was about $239 which in my opinion was not bad for a dedicated book scanning scanner. Tracy has also outlined the entire procedure for
scanning with Opticbook so I knew I would not be alone in my adventures. However the ability to scan textbooks and books easily was really its only selling point. Althgouh I would scan a lot of pages of my textbooks it's not the only thing the scanner would be scanning. I would like to be able to scan photos and other documents and I viewed the purchase as a long time investment. Would I be scanning books in the next two years? This being my last year of college I just didn't know how valuable this feature would be later down the road. Also I have a feeling more ebooks and readers will make themselves available to the public so a scanner dedicated to scanning books may no longer be needed at a future point either. I could though go all out and use it to scan all my old books and textbooks so the decision was still muddy. I had to look at other options in order to make an educated final decision.
The other scanner I looked at was the Canon MP830. Actually the MP830 is not just a scanner but is technically considered an All-In-One (AIO). That is it scans, copies, faxes and prints. The most attractive feature of the MP830 for me was the 35 page ADF (auto document feeder). I really wanted an ADF as lately I have become very organized but at the same time very busy! Sitting around turning the pages is a real waste of my time and there is nothing more attractive that loading 35 pages into the ADF while I go off and do something else. Tracy has already admitted she has hours of scanning to do and although you can do other activities while scanning I just feel I could be more productive with an ADF. The best thing about this ADF is that it has duplex scanning (duplex printing too!) That means for example that if I am scanning a page that is double sided (text and images on both sides) the scanner can automatically scan both sides. Essentially it has the ability to scan 70 pages on its own! This is very attractive with my current schedule and my desire to already scan and digitize many of the papers in my room. One could say I'm slowly making the transition to paperless and I feel an ADF will greatly enhance this transformation.
The MP830 is also a fully featured copier and printer. It can also make copies and print digital photos without being hooked up to a computer. Although my computer is almost always connected there are times when I come back from class, laptop still packed away, and just want to make a quick copy. Being able to make the copy without the computer is a nice feature to have during these times.
It also performs the same task with printing photos. It has slots for memory cards and Pictbridge support. My current printer was lacking these features as well so the Canon would prove to be more than just a scanner! It also has the ability to do duplex printing which I would have loved to have when I was printing off pages of my ebook last semester! As I continued the debate of scanners, the Canon MP830 started to reveal itself as a great ADF scanner in addition to providing better printing features than my current printer!
I found the MP830 for $250 at Newegg with free shipping so price was not a factor in the decision. The Opticbook would allow me to scan all my textbooks with the binding still attached. I could do this with the MP830 but it would be much more difficult and I would not be able to take advantage of the ADF. I could use the ADF if I removed the binding but then selling the textbook back would be out of the question.
The canon is also an excellent printer, copier and fax machine so I knew the investment would be worthwhile. I already had a printer, but it was old and didn't have nearly as many of the features as the MP830 offered. The ability to have one stand alone device and not a separate printer and scanner was also very attractive. Would I want to remove the binding though and lose the ability to ever sell back my textbooks? This is basically what it came down to...
At the end of the day my final answer was yes! Time is money these days and sitting around flipping pages in order to save $50 on the ability to sell the book back later just did not make sense. Multiply that by 4 books though and you're probably looking at $200 and thinking to yourself that I am just throwing my money out the window. For those of you that see it like this I don't expect you to follow my reasoning but let me just share a little insight.
I figure the Canon with the ADF I will save an average of 25 hours of scanning throughout the semester. (Yes I do that much scanning!!!) If I take those 25 hours and instead invest my time in researching a future pharm company I want to work for or relax my brain so I can be more relaxed and study more efficiently then that loss in money is well worth it!
My Canon MP830 came in the mail yesterday and I currently am having a blast with it! Duplex scanning and printing is the best and the speed of both scanning and priniting will save me more time than I previously calculated. It may not scan textbooks but I feel I made the right decision and look forward to makeing myself even more paperless this upcoming semester!
Opticbook 3600 and Scanning
via Student Tablet PC
Opticbook 3600 Product Page
via PlusTek
Opticbook 3600 Review
via PC Mag
Canon MP830 Product Page
via Canon
Canon MP830 Review
via PC Mag
MindManager Brainstorming Competition
Here is another great MindManager Contest! Addressed for students you basically have to show of your MindManager skills and apply them towards completing a project. Interestingly enough I do this every day! Thanks to the planning and Next Actions tracking of ResultsManager I feel it is not even a contest for me it would be just me sharing how I actually use MindManager on an everday basis. The contest does not end till April 27 2007 (oddly enough) so I guess you have a lot of time!
The purpose of this competition is to evaluate your ability and skill to utilize MindManager in organizing an action plan on a large project. Competition Theme: Dissolution of Chaos! The student's challenge in this competition is to transform brainstorming ideas, and strategic thinking into blueprints for action: enabling students and educators to work faster, smarter, and with greater coordination using MindManager Pro. The student should use MindManager and apply it to a class assignment or class project. Show your ideas that come from your brainstorming as well as the concept that you eventually choose. Exhibit your logic or thought processes in developing your assignment or project. Demonstrate your mapping skills, compare and contrast ideas, plan effectively, and create a plan of action. Please keep the file size under 10MB.
Dissolution of Chaos! : Contest is hosted by
Studica Skills
Tablet PCs are helping Pharmaceutical reps detail physicians
This is a
great article detailing the many positive aspects of using a Tablet PC as a pharmaceutical representative. It discuses everything I have mentioned at some point on this site but does this is a more compact manner. It is just one more example that provides enthusiasm for me of my future in pharmaceutical/medical sales. I have the drive, the Tablet PC know how, the creativity, and the power to think like daVinci (I hope you all had a chance to attend the webinar hosted by
MindJet the other day!) so now all I have to do is finish off my last year as a college student and find a Pharmaceutical/Medical company willing to take a chance on a former pre-dental student with little experience but enough creativity and know how to make their investment worthwhile!
If your new to Tablet PCs in the pharmaceutical sales field definitely take a look at
this article! If your familiar read it as well as it is yet another source and proclamation on how great the Tablet PC platform really is!
Tablet PCs are helping reps detail physicians
via Pharmaceutical Representative
How To: Linking MindManager topics to OneNote paragraphs, sections or senstence!
One of the coolest features in OneNote 207 is the ability to link to just about anything! You can link to paragraphs, sentences, images and even subpages! In essence you can write something like see CNS description and have it link to a particular part of your notes in a totally different portion of your notebook! It's an incredibly powerful feature. Trying to combine this accessibility to MindManager the first thing I tried to do when I downloaded by Beta copy of OneNote 2007 was to link to a particular paragraph or page of a section. You can already link to a top level section but the ability to link to a particular page or even paragraph was not enabled.
I tried for a while to overcome this feature, staring at some XML and parsing code for awhile but quickly realized I was investing much more time that I really had. Luckily for me though I stumbled on this
post from GottaBeMobile that walks you through the procedure of performing this feature with MindManager. I thank them greatly as I really see myself see-sawing between OneNote and MindManager during my last year of college and this ability really allows some connectivity to flow between the two! Now all we need is
MindJet to make a nice little plug-in that allows this feature to flow more seamlessly. How about you highlight a paragraph or right click a subpage and have the option to "send link to MindManager" or a button that can easily do this from OneNote like we already have in Outlook! I know OneNote 2007 is still in Beta but I am recommending it to a lot of students as a lot of the new features drive circles around the former version. I am also sure they would have no problem finding a few beta testers out there to give the plug-in a whirl before it hits the general public.
To get the step-by-step details on how to link to a OneNote section, paragraph, page, subpage or sentence please visit the
GottaBeMobile post!Thank again guys!
MindJet MindManager Plug-ins!
I've been a bit slacking on my
MindJet MindManager updates but the
MindJet Solutions Lab has been up to some great work! I think the add-in's really add value to
MindManager and continually spark new and innovative ways to use
MindManager in my everyday life!
Trip Route Mapping with Microsoft Virtual Earth
This is a cool plug-in that allows
MindManager to map out directions to your favorite destinations. All you have to do is enter the addresses as topics, create a relationship between the two, right click on the relationship and hit
Get Route. A hyperlink is then created to a webpage that uses Microsoft's Virtual Earth to map out the route.
I don't know how handy it would be for me personally but someone that manages meetings or contacts may find it very helpful. I could see myself using it in collaboration with
ResultsManager. For example I plan to use
ResultsManager to manage all the different contacts and doctors I need to interact with when I become a pharmaceutical/medical rep. Getting to each doctor's office could be difficult so having a plug-in that creates directions would essentially allow me to keep all my important information in one spot (A MindManager Map) This would include topics to discuss, contact information and directions. I do wonder if
TEO 3.0 may handle this task better with its map routing features. I have almost all my addresses and contacts in Outlook already so it makes more sense to use
TEO for most trips. The only way that contact information gets into
MindManager in the first place is via Outlook so it may actually be more work to use MindManager to map out directions vs using
TEO 3.0. Since I have not bought
TEO 3.0 yet I can't say which method I would prefer but I do like the option to use
MindManager for this task.
Trevor from
Student Tablet PC has made a very
nice entry on this plug-in and it would be nearly impossible for me to explain the plug-in any better than he did! I recommend you take a look at the post and even view the
video demonstration which very clearly demonstrates the power of this plug-in.
There is also a great plug-in contest so make sure to submit your ideas as well! If I wasn't so darn busy I would send over my whole book of ideas but again time is against me!
Download the Mindjet MindManager Trip Route Mapping with Virtual Earth Plug-in Here!Read a great review of the Trip Route plug-in here!via Student Table PCMindManager Map Explorer Plug-In
I've blogged about the
Map Explorer Plug-in a few times now on DorkTech but I am happy to announce that this plug-in has received an upgrade since its previous release. I suggested that users have the ability to choose whether or not they want the map explorer to display ink topics as ink or try to convert them to text. Well again ask and you shall receive. This is now an option and I don't think I honestly have much to complain about anymore! The ink is also rendered a bit better but still a little blurry in my opinion. I'm happy with it though and I would consider leaving the topics in their natural ink output with this upgrade.
MindJet continues to impress me and their effor to please (even their plug-in's) demonstrates how devoted they are to making their customers happy!
Download the MindJet MindManager Map Explorer Plug-in Here!Way to go MindJet!
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