Kent Newsome pointed me this morning in the direction of a New York Times article on the demise of radio. Kent summarises that there are two underlying causes of the trend away from radio - alternative delivery models (online services, portable music players, mobile phones) and advertising. In passing I wonder if it's too late for a radio version of TiVo.
One thing that we have in the UK that makes for a different equation to the USA is the BBC. On the drive to work in the morning I tend not to like to listen to music and inane DJ's who sound like they've had a few too many happy injections just don't do it for me. Fortunately there is BBC Radio 4 and "The Today Programme", an intelligent news and current affairs programme for grown ups that examines the state of the nation (and the rest of the world) on a daily basis. As with all BBC programming, it's advertising free.
The Today Programme website now publishes an audio archive of the last seven days of transmissions and you can even get podcasts of key interviews.
Tags: Kent Newsome, radio, BBC, The Today Programme
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Videoblogging probably isn't for me...
Robert Scoble has picked up on the whole videoblogging debate via Techmeme, that I first ran into over at Mathew Ingram's blog.
Dave Winer, the blogfather, has some sage advice in a comment on Robert's post. If Dave doesn't mind me paraphrasing: there is much communication that lends itself to using the written word, in some circumstances audio might be better and sometimes there is just no substitute for video.
Personally, to extend one of Mathew's analogies, I have a "voice for print" which is why I never got into the podcasting thing. I come from a part of the world where inhabitants are called Geordie’s and we sound like this:
www.bobjude.co.uk/bobjude/geordie/geordie.htm
Things won’t improve much if I tried videoblogging :)
Tags: Robert Scoble, Mathew Ingram, Dave Winer, Geordie, videoblogging
Dave Winer, the blogfather, has some sage advice in a comment on Robert's post. If Dave doesn't mind me paraphrasing: there is much communication that lends itself to using the written word, in some circumstances audio might be better and sometimes there is just no substitute for video.
Personally, to extend one of Mathew's analogies, I have a "voice for print" which is why I never got into the podcasting thing. I come from a part of the world where inhabitants are called Geordie’s and we sound like this:
www.bobjude.co.uk/bobjude/geordie/geordie.htm
Things won’t improve much if I tried videoblogging :)
Tags: Robert Scoble, Mathew Ingram, Dave Winer, Geordie, videoblogging
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Out with an old meme, in with the new
TDavid over at things that... make you go hmm shares a stunning video of an acoustic performance of the Bon Jovi classic Livin' on a Prayer by Finnish guitarist Tomi Paldanius.
Pity the same can't be said of the video which marks the return of Gary Brolsma (the Numa Numa guy)
Tags: TDavid, Bon Jovi, Gary Brolsma
Pity the same can't be said of the video which marks the return of Gary Brolsma (the Numa Numa guy)
Tags: TDavid, Bon Jovi, Gary Brolsma
All change for the A list
I wrote the other day that for as long as I could remember the top gun as far as blogs were concerned was Boing Boing. For some reason the Technorati popular blogs page appeared on Techmeme today so, whilst my plan this weekend includes culling some of the blogs I read because I feel obliged to read them rather than because I'm truly interested, I thought I'd check out the current Top 100 list to see what was going on in the world of the A list.
I got one major surprise from looking at the current list - Boing Boing has lost it's mojo. It's no longer the most linked to blog. Engadget has stolen the top slot!
I noted that TechCrunch has basically come out of nowhere and joined the Top 10 in a little over a year. Congratulations to Mike Arrington, even though I have to confess that TechCrunch is top of my hit list for the weekend cull of my subscriptions.
I further noted that leaving Microsoft hasn't harmed the Scobleizer's mojo, at least so far.
I'm curious why gapingvoid isn't higher up the list. I'm a great fan of Hugh MacLeod's work.
Dave Winer looks like he's about to fall from the A list, he's currently hanging on in there at number 100, but I fear that he'll have to hand over his key to the gate before too long.
I counted up that I read 5 of the top 10 blogs and 19 of the Top 100. Looking over the current list the only blog that stood out as one I should consider subscribing to is ze frank. We could all do with more laughter in our lives, no?
Tags: Technorati, Top+100, blogs, blogging
I got one major surprise from looking at the current list - Boing Boing has lost it's mojo. It's no longer the most linked to blog. Engadget has stolen the top slot!
I noted that TechCrunch has basically come out of nowhere and joined the Top 10 in a little over a year. Congratulations to Mike Arrington, even though I have to confess that TechCrunch is top of my hit list for the weekend cull of my subscriptions.
I further noted that leaving Microsoft hasn't harmed the Scobleizer's mojo, at least so far.
I'm curious why gapingvoid isn't higher up the list. I'm a great fan of Hugh MacLeod's work.
Dave Winer looks like he's about to fall from the A list, he's currently hanging on in there at number 100, but I fear that he'll have to hand over his key to the gate before too long.
I counted up that I read 5 of the top 10 blogs and 19 of the Top 100. Looking over the current list the only blog that stood out as one I should consider subscribing to is ze frank. We could all do with more laughter in our lives, no?
Tags: Technorati, Top+100, blogs, blogging
Fallen, a long way
Fallen, the debut album by Evanescence, was one of my musical highlights of 2003. So I had very high expectations for the follow up album, The Open Door , which I got to hear for the first time today.
Sad to say, I was very disappointed.
Tags: Evanescence, Fallen, The Open Door
Sad to say, I was very disappointed.
Tags: Evanescence, Fallen, The Open Door
Thursday, September 07, 2006
What does the ultimate blog post teach us?
The ultimate blog post is a pretty funny (and a somewhat cynical) view of some of the more popular blogs out there. One of the things it teaches us though is that blogs often write for specific niches, in a specific style, and have a specific slant; and if what that blog writes about isn't really your niche, style or slant - it may be that you have a peripheral interest but it's not where your heart is - then pretty soon that blog is going to get boring to you.
Kent Newsome has reached the end of the road with the blogs that are boring him. I think I'm reaching a similar point with some of the blogs in my subscriptions list, although possibly not for the same reasons in all cases.
I know that some of the blogs I subscribe to, I subscribe to because I feel like I ought to.
Boing Boing is a classic example. I subscribe because it's generally thought to be the number one blog out there, and it's held the top spot on Technorati for as long as I can remember. If I'm brutally honest though I'm interested in less than 10% of the posts which actually makes for quite a lot of wasted attention.
TechCrunch is another example. I think I subscribe to give myself the comfort that I'm not missing out on the latest and greatest Web 2.0 news, whereas I actually get the best of that news filtered by other writers (Robert Scoble, Steve Rubel, Kent Newsome and Mathew Ingram amongst others) and from Techmeme.
I think this weekend might be a good time for a clear out. I'll add a task to my Zoho Project.
Getting back to Kent, and the points he makes today, I think there are a few comments I'd like to make at this point:
(1) There's certainly the age old question of why we blog in the first place at play here. I still like the answer I came up with the other day.
(2) It would make for a better blogosphere if some of the influential players within it exhibited better linking behaviour.
(3) Linking and commenting is how we connect to each other in the blogosphere. If we're all honest about it, we could all be a bit better at that.
(4) Climbing the blogging hill is hard, and getting harder. I can see, daily, Kent making efforts to converse with bloggers up at the top of the hill and I can also see the silence with which those efforts are generally rewarded. That must just get tiring after a while. I'd be very surprised if the people that Kent is reaching out to don't have a vanity watchlist on Technorati (or some equivalent), so he has (in my book) every right to ask, periodically, the rhetorical question "why am I being ignored?"
So where does all this take us? The bottom line for Kent is a question: How do I find people I'd converse with in the real world in the blogosphere? Part of the answer to that (as already identified) is to go find the blogs that talk about what you talk about in the real world. If I've read your blog correctly in the past Kent, you don't talk about technology and blogging in the real world so culling the tech blogs and the meta blogs is a good place to start.
Let me hypothesise that part of the rest of the answer is that for all the web 2.0 hype about sociable media there isn't an online community that you'd actually feel comfortable hanging out in at the moment. MySpace and FaceBook certainly don't fit your profile. YouTube - nope. Flickr - you're interested but not that deadly serious about photography.
So where's your web 2.0 community? And (with tongue firmly in cheek) - is that a business opportunity????
Tags: blogs, blogging, web+2.0, Kent Newsome
Kent Newsome has reached the end of the road with the blogs that are boring him. I think I'm reaching a similar point with some of the blogs in my subscriptions list, although possibly not for the same reasons in all cases.
I know that some of the blogs I subscribe to, I subscribe to because I feel like I ought to.
Boing Boing is a classic example. I subscribe because it's generally thought to be the number one blog out there, and it's held the top spot on Technorati for as long as I can remember. If I'm brutally honest though I'm interested in less than 10% of the posts which actually makes for quite a lot of wasted attention.
TechCrunch is another example. I think I subscribe to give myself the comfort that I'm not missing out on the latest and greatest Web 2.0 news, whereas I actually get the best of that news filtered by other writers (Robert Scoble, Steve Rubel, Kent Newsome and Mathew Ingram amongst others) and from Techmeme.
I think this weekend might be a good time for a clear out. I'll add a task to my Zoho Project.
Getting back to Kent, and the points he makes today, I think there are a few comments I'd like to make at this point:
(1) There's certainly the age old question of why we blog in the first place at play here. I still like the answer I came up with the other day.
(2) It would make for a better blogosphere if some of the influential players within it exhibited better linking behaviour.
(3) Linking and commenting is how we connect to each other in the blogosphere. If we're all honest about it, we could all be a bit better at that.
(4) Climbing the blogging hill is hard, and getting harder. I can see, daily, Kent making efforts to converse with bloggers up at the top of the hill and I can also see the silence with which those efforts are generally rewarded. That must just get tiring after a while. I'd be very surprised if the people that Kent is reaching out to don't have a vanity watchlist on Technorati (or some equivalent), so he has (in my book) every right to ask, periodically, the rhetorical question "why am I being ignored?"
So where does all this take us? The bottom line for Kent is a question: How do I find people I'd converse with in the real world in the blogosphere? Part of the answer to that (as already identified) is to go find the blogs that talk about what you talk about in the real world. If I've read your blog correctly in the past Kent, you don't talk about technology and blogging in the real world so culling the tech blogs and the meta blogs is a good place to start.
Let me hypothesise that part of the rest of the answer is that for all the web 2.0 hype about sociable media there isn't an online community that you'd actually feel comfortable hanging out in at the moment. MySpace and FaceBook certainly don't fit your profile. YouTube - nope. Flickr - you're interested but not that deadly serious about photography.
So where's your web 2.0 community? And (with tongue firmly in cheek) - is that a business opportunity????
Tags: blogs, blogging, web+2.0, Kent Newsome
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
A different approach to creating a resume / CV
A quick definition: what Americans / Canadians call a resume is generally referred to in the UK as a CV (short for Curriculum Vitae).
I originally found the resume of Chris Heuer via the MindJet Blog. It inspired me to try something similar. I could see that the mind map was put together using MindManager but I couldn't figure out the tool used to compile the rest of the document. My first thought was he'd done the document entirely in Mind Manager using floating topics to do the text boxes. Then I thought for a while that it might be a word document, but I could not come close to the kind of layout and formatting that was achieved in the text boxes containing his bio and strengths.
I wrote to Chris to find out the secret. What I discovered was that he created the mind map in MindManager and then output it to a PDF file. He then opened it up in Photoshop, copied it and pasted it into a new document where he did the layout design. I didn't have Photoshop at the time so I decided to try and see what I could do entirely within a native MindManager mind map.
I'm quite pleased with the results:
You can a larger scale version of the image here:
http://steve.newson.googlepages.com/SteveNewsonCV2006.pdf
or here:
http://static.flickr.com/80/236054089_403e98ebd8_o.png
I'm always on the lookout for interesting uses of MindManager. I don't think that this style of CV is going to replace more traditional approaches anytime soon and I generally send a word version of my CV alongside this visual style, but I do think the approach says something about me in the sense that I do absolutely believe in the power of information visualisation and mind mapping.
I've placed a copy of the native MindManager (mmap) file here, if you can't get it from there then drop me a line via steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy. All I ask is that if you extend the idea further then I'd love to see the results.
Tags: MindManager, Mindjet, CV, resume
I originally found the resume of Chris Heuer via the MindJet Blog. It inspired me to try something similar. I could see that the mind map was put together using MindManager but I couldn't figure out the tool used to compile the rest of the document. My first thought was he'd done the document entirely in Mind Manager using floating topics to do the text boxes. Then I thought for a while that it might be a word document, but I could not come close to the kind of layout and formatting that was achieved in the text boxes containing his bio and strengths.
I wrote to Chris to find out the secret. What I discovered was that he created the mind map in MindManager and then output it to a PDF file. He then opened it up in Photoshop, copied it and pasted it into a new document where he did the layout design. I didn't have Photoshop at the time so I decided to try and see what I could do entirely within a native MindManager mind map.
I'm quite pleased with the results:
You can a larger scale version of the image here:
http://steve.newson.googlepages.com/SteveNewsonCV2006.pdf
or here:
http://static.flickr.com/80/236054089_403e98ebd8_o.png
I'm always on the lookout for interesting uses of MindManager. I don't think that this style of CV is going to replace more traditional approaches anytime soon and I generally send a word version of my CV alongside this visual style, but I do think the approach says something about me in the sense that I do absolutely believe in the power of information visualisation and mind mapping.
I've placed a copy of the native MindManager (mmap) file here, if you can't get it from there then drop me a line via steve.newson@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy. All I ask is that if you extend the idea further then I'd love to see the results.
Tags: MindManager, Mindjet, CV, resume
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Zoho Projects
I caught the announcement of a new addition to the Zoho productivity suite on TechCrunch and have had a few minutes to play with it over the last 24 hours. Zoho Projects is an online project mangement tool that helps project managers and / or project teams to easily organize their work & track progress. The only issue of note in the blogosphere seems to be questioning the Zoho strategy of building a feature rich application.
I found the product to be intuitive, which is good as there doesn't seem to be any "how to" documentation so far, other than a product tour quicktime movie. Robin Good at MasterNewMedia has taken the quicktime movie and added a voice over, the resultant screencast is being hosted at YouTube.
In short order I was able to:
- customise my settings, set up a project and add users (project team members)
- add tasks and milestones
- schedule a project meeting (with the application handling notication of the participants)
- upload documents connected with the project and have the application handle version control
- submit a timesheet for the hours expended against a task
- look at an overview of my project on a calendar or dashboard
I'm most impressed. What a great collaboration tool for projects. I also found it very stable for a beta release.
Even better, the product is free for one project. Zoho intend to have plans ranging from free (for one project) up to an enterprise plan (unlimited projects, $80/month).
I definitely recommend it.
Tags: Zoho Projects
I found the product to be intuitive, which is good as there doesn't seem to be any "how to" documentation so far, other than a product tour quicktime movie. Robin Good at MasterNewMedia has taken the quicktime movie and added a voice over, the resultant screencast is being hosted at YouTube.
In short order I was able to:
- customise my settings, set up a project and add users (project team members)
- add tasks and milestones
- schedule a project meeting (with the application handling notication of the participants)
- upload documents connected with the project and have the application handle version control
- submit a timesheet for the hours expended against a task
- look at an overview of my project on a calendar or dashboard
I'm most impressed. What a great collaboration tool for projects. I also found it very stable for a beta release.
Even better, the product is free for one project. Zoho intend to have plans ranging from free (for one project) up to an enterprise plan (unlimited projects, $80/month).
I definitely recommend it.
Tags: Zoho Projects
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Magazine 2.0 Wars
Kent Newsome has written a very funny, tongue in cheek, post about the MySpace plan to launch a magazine.
Then he gone and done it, by launching Newsome.Org, the magazine. In true Web 2.0 tradition today I'm launching Newson.Net, the competition; with more features, more gossip , more naked pictures of Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, but absolutely no business model.
I'll certainly shift more copies than Kent's overpriced Newsome.Org, but will it get me any morepublicity links?
Here's issue one...
Then he gone and done it, by launching Newsome.Org, the magazine. In true Web 2.0 tradition today I'm launching Newson.Net, the competition; with more features, more gossip , more naked pictures of Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, but absolutely no business model.
I'll certainly shift more copies than Kent's overpriced Newsome.Org, but will it get me any more
Here's issue one...
Tags: Kent Newsome, Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, Dave Winer, Chris Pirillo, Hugh Macleod
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Collaboration
I picked up on Boing Boing that Google has finally gotten around to re-launching Writely. I may be wrong but I have the feeling that the timing is not unconnected with the recent launch of Live Writer. So I get to write this post on Writely and test out it's ability to function as a blogging tool. Unlike Live Writer, blog posting is not the primary function of Writely so the first thing that becomes obvious is that it's not as WYSIWYG as Live Writer. The second thing I picked up is the absence of a tag generator for Technorati. Whilst I have this functionality in Live Writer as a result of a plugin at least I have the functionality.
On the plus side for Writely, it's internet based rather than desktop based, so I can get at documents anywhere. And then, like Google Spreadsheets, it comes with collaboration tools built in, although chat is missing. I seem to have been looking at a lot of collaborative tools recently including MindManager, Webex, GoToMeeting, Google Spreadsheets and now Writely. So I'm feeling in collaborative mood. Anyone want to write a book?
Update: When I posted to my blog from Writely, the document title didn't transfer as the post title and I can't immediately see why not.
Verdict: For now I'm going to stick with Live Writer as my blog authoring tool, but I suspect Google will not let the challenge of Live Writer go unanswered for long. I will, however, check out Writely in a bit more detail as a collaborative document authoring tool.
P.S. Techmeme and TechCrunch seem to be a bit behind on the story of the re-launch. Maybe it's because it's Sunday or is everyone TechCrunched?
Tags: Writely, Live Writer
On the plus side for Writely, it's internet based rather than desktop based, so I can get at documents anywhere. And then, like Google Spreadsheets, it comes with collaboration tools built in, although chat is missing. I seem to have been looking at a lot of collaborative tools recently including MindManager, Webex, GoToMeeting, Google Spreadsheets and now Writely. So I'm feeling in collaborative mood. Anyone want to write a book?
Update: When I posted to my blog from Writely, the document title didn't transfer as the post title and I can't immediately see why not.
Verdict: For now I'm going to stick with Live Writer as my blog authoring tool, but I suspect Google will not let the challenge of Live Writer go unanswered for long. I will, however, check out Writely in a bit more detail as a collaborative document authoring tool.
P.S. Techmeme and TechCrunch seem to be a bit behind on the story of the re-launch. Maybe it's because it's Sunday or is everyone TechCrunched?
Tags: Writely, Live Writer
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Curiosita
Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm a fan of MindManager. Mindjet (the makers of MindManager) recently hosted a Webinar delivered by Michael Gelb, author of "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci".
The resources from that webinar are now available online.
Michael theorises that there are seven principles to thinking like Leonardo. The first of these is "Curiosita", which roughly translates as an insatiably curious approach to life. One way that Leonardo manifested this principle was in his notebooks. Leonardo carried a notebook with him at all times, so that he could jot down ideas, impressions and observations as they occurred. The process of note taking was of great importance to Leonardo.
Eighteen sheets of Leonardo's notebooks were purchased by Bill Gates for 30.8 million dollars in November 1994.
If there is a connection between this post and my last one, perhaps blogging actually represents a desire to share our insatiable curiosity with each other. If Leonardo was alive today I believe he would certainly be a blogger and probably a mind mapper.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Michael Gelb, Leonardo da Vinci, blogs, blogging
The resources from that webinar are now available online.
Michael theorises that there are seven principles to thinking like Leonardo. The first of these is "Curiosita", which roughly translates as an insatiably curious approach to life. One way that Leonardo manifested this principle was in his notebooks. Leonardo carried a notebook with him at all times, so that he could jot down ideas, impressions and observations as they occurred. The process of note taking was of great importance to Leonardo.
Eighteen sheets of Leonardo's notebooks were purchased by Bill Gates for 30.8 million dollars in November 1994.
If there is a connection between this post and my last one, perhaps blogging actually represents a desire to share our insatiable curiosity with each other. If Leonardo was alive today I believe he would certainly be a blogger and probably a mind mapper.
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Michael Gelb, Leonardo da Vinci, blogs, blogging
Dry Spell
I haven't written to my blog recently and this afternoon I've been pondering on the reasons for that.
I have been busy at work, climbing a learning curve with a new project, but it's more than that. As I have been so busy I have fallen a little behind with my blog reading but not by much, and by the end of the weekend I'll have caught up even if with some feeds I will achieve inbox zero by judicious use of the delete key.
It's not that I haven't had anything to say, because like most people I tend to have an opinion on lots of things. I do feel that I haven't had anything particularly worthwhile to say and contributing to the echo chamber by regurgitating the efforts of others doesn't hold much appeal as a route to overcoming a dry spell. I've asked myself whether it's procrastination and that isn't what's going on. It does , however, feel like I've fallen off the bandwagon so this post is an attempt to dust myself down and get back in the saddle.
Being a bit of a geek it helped that I had a new toy to try out to write this post with. Yep, I wrote this post with Live Writer and I'm indebted to Kent Newsome for the pointers to Live Writer plugins. My preliminary take on Live Writer is that the setup and configuration is very smooth and it's great to finally blog using a WYSIWYG approach.
If you stop by, please leave me a comment, I could do with the encouragement. If you're feeling really generous, a link would be nice too!
Tags: blogs, blogging, procrastination, inbox zero, echo chamber
I have been busy at work, climbing a learning curve with a new project, but it's more than that. As I have been so busy I have fallen a little behind with my blog reading but not by much, and by the end of the weekend I'll have caught up even if with some feeds I will achieve inbox zero by judicious use of the delete key.
It's not that I haven't had anything to say, because like most people I tend to have an opinion on lots of things. I do feel that I haven't had anything particularly worthwhile to say and contributing to the echo chamber by regurgitating the efforts of others doesn't hold much appeal as a route to overcoming a dry spell. I've asked myself whether it's procrastination and that isn't what's going on. It does , however, feel like I've fallen off the bandwagon so this post is an attempt to dust myself down and get back in the saddle.
Being a bit of a geek it helped that I had a new toy to try out to write this post with. Yep, I wrote this post with Live Writer and I'm indebted to Kent Newsome for the pointers to Live Writer plugins. My preliminary take on Live Writer is that the setup and configuration is very smooth and it's great to finally blog using a WYSIWYG approach.
If you stop by, please leave me a comment, I could do with the encouragement. If you're feeling really generous, a link would be nice too!
Tags: blogs, blogging, procrastination, inbox zero, echo chamber
Monday, July 17, 2006
Memories of my youth...
I recently set up a Technorati watchlist to keep an eye out for any mention of my hometown of Wallsend. Wallsend is so named as it's the town at the end of Hadrian's Wall.
Over the weekend the watchlist turned up this nugget from a fellow Geordie in exile, which included this fascinating photograph by Norman Dunn...
When this picture was taken in 1969 I would have been around 7 or 8 years old. I have a vague recollection from about that age of seeing a vessel launched at the Swan Hunter yard and an overwhelming memory of the sound of chains dragging over the ground and a colossal storm of dust being generated, but to be honest I don't know if the launch I recall was the Esso Northumbria or not.
In any case, it's a small world.
Tags: Wallsend
Over the weekend the watchlist turned up this nugget from a fellow Geordie in exile, which included this fascinating photograph by Norman Dunn...
When this picture was taken in 1969 I would have been around 7 or 8 years old. I have a vague recollection from about that age of seeing a vessel launched at the Swan Hunter yard and an overwhelming memory of the sound of chains dragging over the ground and a colossal storm of dust being generated, but to be honest I don't know if the launch I recall was the Esso Northumbria or not.
In any case, it's a small world.
Tags: Wallsend
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Creating web albums with Picasa
I finally got round to taking up the invitation from Google to create web albums using Picasa.
My public gallery can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.newson
Tags: Picasa
My public gallery can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steve.newson
Tags: Picasa
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Ten ways to become more proficient with MindManager
I received an email today from someone new to MindManger asking for "my opinion on the best method / resource to become proficient." I thought it would be worthwhile sharing the answer here on my blog.
(1) If you're new to mind mapping then I'd recommend reading some Tony Buzan material such as "Use Your Head".
(2) You can get a copy of my mind mapped book notes on "Use Your Head" here:
http://stevenewson.blogspot.com/2006/06/use-your-head.html
(3) The product itself comes with a pretty good learning center that contains some excellent built in animated tutorials.
(4) Mindjet have some additional animated tutorials online.
(5) I didn't go this route myself but the Mindjet site also has links to training resources including computer based training, open seminars and Mindjet certified trainers.
(5) I bought the MindManager for Dummies book [which was written for MindManager 5 and does not yet appear to have been updated for MindManager 6]
(6) I joined the MindManager group on Yahoo and downloaded the maps in the files area and looked at how others were using the product. [Andrew Wilcox, a frequent contributor to the group, offers MindManager training and online coaching.]
(7) I search the internet for MindManager maps, download them and look at how others are building maps
(8) I subscribe to the Mindjet newsletter and Mindjet blog to pick up hints and tips
(9) I use Technorati to find and subscribe to blogs about MindManager.
(10) I also use Technorati watchlists for "Mind Mapping" and "MindManager" so pick up on mentions of these terms in the blogosphere
Ok, so I lied about there being just ten ways, here's a bonus tip...
(11) Brett Bumeter, who I "met" through MindManager group on Yahoo writes intelligently about MindManager, as well as the latest trends in Knowledge Management, software and gadgets over at Maven Mapper's Information.
Please leave a comment if you have other suggestions to add to the list....
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, information visualization
(1) If you're new to mind mapping then I'd recommend reading some Tony Buzan material such as "Use Your Head".
(2) You can get a copy of my mind mapped book notes on "Use Your Head" here:
http://stevenewson.blogspot.com/2006/06/use-your-head.html
(3) The product itself comes with a pretty good learning center that contains some excellent built in animated tutorials.
(4) Mindjet have some additional animated tutorials online.
(5) I didn't go this route myself but the Mindjet site also has links to training resources including computer based training, open seminars and Mindjet certified trainers.
(5) I bought the MindManager for Dummies book [which was written for MindManager 5 and does not yet appear to have been updated for MindManager 6]
(6) I joined the MindManager group on Yahoo and downloaded the maps in the files area and looked at how others were using the product. [Andrew Wilcox, a frequent contributor to the group, offers MindManager training and online coaching.]
(7) I search the internet for MindManager maps, download them and look at how others are building maps
(8) I subscribe to the Mindjet newsletter and Mindjet blog to pick up hints and tips
(9) I use Technorati to find and subscribe to blogs about MindManager.
(10) I also use Technorati watchlists for "Mind Mapping" and "MindManager" so pick up on mentions of these terms in the blogosphere
Ok, so I lied about there being just ten ways, here's a bonus tip...
(11) Brett Bumeter, who I "met" through MindManager group on Yahoo writes intelligently about MindManager, as well as the latest trends in Knowledge Management, software and gadgets over at Maven Mapper's Information.
Please leave a comment if you have other suggestions to add to the list....
Tags: Mindjet, MindManager, Mind Mapping, information visualization
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Making good stuff happen
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a long post called "Attitude is everything..." based on a parable about having a positive approach to life.
In the parable the answer to the question "how are you doing?" was always "if I was any better I'd be twins".
At the moment I'm re-reading Scott Berkun's "The Art of Project Management" and I found the answer to the question "what are you doing?"; which is "I'm making good stuff happen".
I find the first mantra "if I was any better I'd be twins" doesn't seem to fit my personality so I think I need to come up with a variation, but I do like "I'm making good stuff happen".
I'll try it out.
Tags: Project Management, Scott Berkun, Lifehack
In the parable the answer to the question "how are you doing?" was always "if I was any better I'd be twins".
At the moment I'm re-reading Scott Berkun's "The Art of Project Management" and I found the answer to the question "what are you doing?"; which is "I'm making good stuff happen".
I find the first mantra "if I was any better I'd be twins" doesn't seem to fit my personality so I think I need to come up with a variation, but I do like "I'm making good stuff happen".
I'll try it out.
Tags: Project Management, Scott Berkun, Lifehack
More on the SnagIt to Flickr extension...
I originally blogged about the SnagIt to Flickr extension back in May and followed up about possible problems the extension might cause your Flickr account in June.
That makes it appropriate to link to an clarification on the issue from Betsy Weber, Chief Evangelist at Techsmith.
Tags: SnagIt, Techsmith, Flickr
That makes it appropriate to link to an clarification on the issue from Betsy Weber, Chief Evangelist at Techsmith.
Flickr has a policy stating any account (free or paid) that has more than half of their images as non-photographic content (screenshots, etc.) will be turned from public to private.Thanks for clearing that up Betsy.
Basically this means that once a user has over half of his images as non-photographic content, his images on Flickr will no longer be made searchable by the greater Flickr community or viewable in the public area. If Flickr finds your account having more than half of your content as non-photographic content, they may mark you as NIPSA - 'Not in Public Site Areas'. Users that reach this state will still be able to upload and share images on Flickr.
Tags: SnagIt, Techsmith, Flickr
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Close encounter with an owl
Linda had an up close and personal encounter with an owl at the Hollowell Steam & Heavy Horse Show today.
I'm enjoying the new camera.
I'm enjoying the new camera.
Steam Engine
1917 Fowler engine named 'Prince of Wales' owned by Mr. D Woodward of Buglawton.
A classic from times gone by.
Tags: Steam Engine
A classic from times gone by.
Tags: Steam Engine
Bernese Mountain Dog
We went to the the Hollowell Steam and Heavy Horse Show today, and I took this picture of a Bernese Mountain Dog. In their native Switzerland they were used extensivley to pull small carts containing farm produce between mountain farms, dairies and markets.
Interacting with them for a few minutes we found them to be very sweet natured creatures.
Tags: Bernese Mountain Dog
Interacting with them for a few minutes we found them to be very sweet natured creatures.
Tags: Bernese Mountain Dog
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