Thought Stream

Yes, I too have noticed the rise of ‘grided’ illustrations by popular media.  Anil, however, asks the proper questions here.

With all the free office clones floating about, including Google’s Docs&Spreadsheets, you knew it was just a matter of time that Microsoft would have to offer something to counter.  Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley is blogging about such a move.  Apparently, the new Microsoft Works will run on an advertising supported model, and will be available as a free application when released later this year.  This is not Microsoft’s first foray into free office applications, as the company released a free version, but highly restricted, of its accounting software recently.  While this is not ‘official’ news,  the move is not at all surprising.

MindMeister, an online mind mapping tool I wrote about a while back, has recently been updated.  Some highlights:

New Features:

• Links on ideas (URL and email links, links to other maps and nodes)
• Note and link previews
• Automatic layouting (no overlaps)
• Automatic canvas resizing (for large maps)
• Export as PDF
• Start new map from idea
• Changes view date slider
• Browse public maps (with rating)
• Zooming in public maps (iframe)
• Team Edition
• MindMeister API

Enhancements:

• Reworked, more organic lines
• Enhanced printing (choose size)
• Remove icon via right-click
• Display only changes since last visit
• Cut & Paste between maps (not only copy)
• Link to node (in Copy as Text)
• Simplified main menu

Steady improvements to MindMeister have really made it a powerful online, collaborative mind mapping tool.

I’m constantly on the lookout for better, more productive ways to manage information at a personal level (Personal Knowledge Management - PKM). One of the more unique PKM tools out there is this product called PersonalBrain, made by TheBrain Technologies. PersonalBrain operates very much like a three dimensional mind mapping tool. I’ve tried PersonalBrain in the past, but never really got the hang of it. TheBrain has just released a new version, which addresses much of the quirkiness of past iterations. Michael Sampson has posted a nice summary of the new features

Jeremy Wagstaff, most notably of the Wall Street Journal, has been writing a lot about PersonalBrain on his weblog. He recently posted an excellent example of how he uses PersonalBrain. I’m still not quite sure how I’d use it, but an upcoming webcast by the folks at TheBrain may help a bit. If you’re interested in checking out this unique knowledge tool, you’ll need to quickly sign up for the July 31st Webex session at TheBrain’s website.

There are few web 2.0 companies that get as much positive buzz as 37Signals does. For the uninitiated, 37Signals is the company behind some of the more practical web applications and productivity tools available today. One of their most popular applications, Backpack, was recently updated. Essentially, backpack is a light wiki-type application that allows you to create task lists, manage notes, and store files all within a simple/elegant web interface. When first launched a couple of years ago, Backpack received enormous amount of buzz, and helped catapult 37Signals into the web 2.0 mainstream. In recent times, however, Backpack had fallen behind in updates, and quite a few users openly wondered if 37Signals had abandoned the project. While the company might have put Backpack on the back burner, it has re-assumed center stage with some nice tweaks and enhancements to the interface. A complete list of updates can be seen here.

Search, finally

I’ve used Backpack, on and off, since it’s inception. The application is deceptively simple, but can also be very frustrating. One of the major frustrations that drove me away from daily Backpack use was the lack of a search capability. Well, as you can see on the right, that has been corrected. Can you imagine having a central repository of notes, ideas, or tasks that didn’t have any ability to search? Just by adding a search capability, 37Signals has substantially enhanced the usability of Backpack. Search is not perfect, as it only presents back the page on which a searched term resides.

Move stuff around

Another major complaint about Backpack was the inability to move sections (lists, notes, attachments, etc.) from page to page. 37Signals had already incorporated a slick drag-drop capability to move stuff around within a page, but not to other pages. This has now been fixed. Sections can be dragged onto other pages, and sections can be moved about anywhere on a given page. This is really, really nice. One big miss here is that individual list items can’t be moved from page to page. I’d certainly like to see that sometime soon.

There are a bunch of other tweaks worth checking out. Overall, this is a worthy upgrade to Backpack, not a huge improvement, but they’ve addressed many shortcomings in this iteration.

By the way, Satchel users will be happy to hear that the upgrade only caused minor hiccups in the ability to synchronize Backpack with the PalmOS based Satchel.

If you have wondered how to become more efficient with email, listen to Merlin (long, but worth watching):

The update to Wordpress 2.2.1 is complete.  Comments are back, and luckily, it looks like the old comments weren’t lost.  Sorry for those who were looking to get the Grand Central invites.

It looks like most of the plugins are working normally, except the sideblog plugin.  I’ve deactivated that one.

Back to normal blogging…

With comments down, I figure this is the best time to attempt an upgrade. The site will be transitioning over to WP 2.2.1 today, so pardon the broken links, etc.

Thanks,

Nitin

Update: The upgrade seems to have gone without a hitch, and commenting is back as well.

I’ve been so busy of late, that I haven’t upgraded WordPress…it looks like commenting is broken on the blog. Sorry for those who were trying comment. If are looking to get an invite to Grand Central, please email me directly.

I’ll upgrade the site this week, and make sure comments get back on track.

Update: I’m out of Grand Central invites.

Engadget (who else?) has unearthed some hazy pictures of a possible Nokia N800 successor with a sliding keyboard.  As I wrote back in February:

Nokia may have built a better device if they had incorporated a slide down keyboard. Given the ?bump? on the backside that accommodates the camera and stylus, adding incremental depth to the unit by adding a slide down keyboard would have made it much more useful.Nokia may have built a better device if they had incorporated a slide down keyboard. Given the ?bump? on the backside that accommodates the camera and stylus, adding incremental depth to the unit by adding a slide down keyboard would have made it much more useful.

I know that I’m not the only one who has seen this deficiency in the N800, so it’s encouraging to see that Nokia may be listening (and reading) to user feedback on this device.  The only troubling point on the leaked pictures is that it looks pretty ugly.