Archive for the ‘tablet pc’ Category

iPad mind mapping – iThoughtsHD – Will the world change?

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

I had a wide ranging chat with Craig Scott yesterday about his app iThoughtsHD and other mind mapping software.  It really is a new world when I can answer the question “Andrew, what is a good mind mapping app on the iPad?” I say “iThoughtsHD”. The questioner buys it for £5.99 and downloads it in front you.  Two minutes later they are using it.  That is a rather a different “sale” to MindManager on the PC or Mac desktop!  Here are Craig’s thoughts about his application on Visual Mapper: Mindmapping in a post-PC world

We did not know the answers to many of the questions we raised in our discussion, perhaps you can help?

Will iPad mind mapping apps eat the bottom end out of the desktop market or will it stimulate people to buy the extra functions of MindManager et al for their desktops?

Will the iPad produce more collaborative ventures than the desktop?  You have limited storage on the iPad,  so you must connect to some cloud storage e.g. Dropbox, at some point.

Craig knew of a private school where groups of  pupils were getting iPads. Will the platform and low cost of apps revolutionise the education process?  See what Fraser Speirs thinks http://speirs.org/

Does the Android Tablet have a chance against the iPad?  The mind mapping software on Android is not as prevalent as on the iPad.  I have Thinking Space on an HTC Wildfire.

What size is the cloud based mind mapping software user base?

Interesting times.  What do you think?

Posts about using MindManager in Ink Mode and Sketching

Friday, December 17th, 2010


Tablet PC MindManger Ink Sketch Draw

Ink Sketches in Topics – Achieving Higher Quality Export Images Ink Sketches in Topics – Achieving Higher Quality Export Images Ink to Text – What is the best strategy in MindManager Ink to Text – What is the best strategy in MindManager Forget the Text. Just use Pictures. MindManager and the Tablet PC does the job Forget the Text. Just use Pictures. MindManager and the Tablet PC does the job Using MindManager on the Tablet PC in ink mode Using MindManager on the Tablet PC in ink mode Using the MindManager Sketch Tool for the Tablet PC Using the MindManager Sketch Tool for the Tablet PC Using MindManager Ink Mode with the Tablet PC Using MindManager Ink Mode with the Tablet PC

Yesterday I received an enquiry about sketching with MindManager.  I quickly linked a map (by dragging and dropping the relevant search results off my blog to the map) to the related blog posts and emailed it to them.  Subsequently I have added some comments, used a sketch in the title and added the snow!

I have cheated with the font in the main topics. It has nothing to do with MindManager’s ink mode.  It was created with a web based tool which converts your handwriting from a Tablet PC or graphics tablet in to a font. Wish I could remember where.

Ink Sketches in Topics – Achieving Higher Quality Export Images

Monday, November 1st, 2010

With MindManager in ink mode on a Tablet PC (or a Windows 7 / Vista PC, a graphics tablet and Tablet PC tools enabled) you can sketch in a topic by making a traingle gesture. It’s a powerful tool for sketching ideas when brainstorming or making rough copies of graphs in a presentation.

I have always been frustrated when I turn the map into a graphic or web page. The rendering of the ink in the image is poor compared to the native on-screen ink (See images 1 and 2 below). This afternoon I realised there is an easy solution to the problem using the Snipping tool (screen grabber) that comes with Windows. Here is my process which replaces the sketch in a topic with an image (you may wish to save a sketch copy of the map first):

  1. Increase the map zoom to 200%. To get a higher resolution image.  You might want a higher zoom.
  2. Open the Snipping tool
  3. Select the sketch
  4. Copy
  5. Return to MindManager
  6. Select the topic with sketch
  7. Ctrl-Shift-Alt-v will the paste the image, replacing the sketch
Screen grab of the sketch in MindManager
Screen grab of the sketch when
the map is exported as an image
Screen grab of the sketch after
snipping in MindManager,
pasting in to the topic and
exporting as an image

Using MindManager Ink Mode with the Tablet PC

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Using MindManager in Ink ModeAs part of my session in the Mindjet MindManager 9 RoadShow I showed how you could use the Tablet PC with MindManager in ink mode to record a presentation.  The map is an overview of the process and tools used to do this. Click the image to see full size.

If you attach a graphics tablet to a PC running  Windows 7 or Vista, you can open Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features On or Off (LHS column) and enable the Table PC Components. Note you get much better visual feedback when using the Tablet PC.

As you can see the ink mode uses a set of gestures. I generally use the first 5. Getting the rest by right clicking or using the ribbons or Quick Access Toolbar. Customising your stylus button (using the Wacom driver) to be Ctrl helps for copying.

The ink to text tool can be found on the Extras Ribbon or by right clicking a topic. Generally I do a topic by topic conversion to make sure the text is correct and to add extra topics or edits.  I think you will only find two or three erros in the Accept All conversion shown below the ink map.

If you do not convert the ink to text, the map will contain the five versions of the text the ink to text engine proposes as conversions.  This enables search to find ink!

You can also write and sketch in the notes. This can be converted to text or an image.

My next blog will show how the process was used to report Bill Creekbaum’s presentation at the Mindjet MindManager 9 Road Show in London.

Ink to text conversion in MindManager

MindManager and the iPad or iThoughts v Ink Mode

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

A friend @ibl let me have a little go on his iPad today.

I was impressed by:

  • Screen quality particularly when playing a video to a group of ten people.  Sound was good enough as well.
  • Stroking the applications – they purred!
  • Lack of multi-tasking was balanced by the immediacy of moving between sleeping applications.
  • He signed on to his office PC via GoToMyPC via 3G.
  • iThoughts was easy to manipulate and the virtual keyboard was easy to type on.

Not impressed:

  • He had a special stylus which mimiced your finger but the ink to text in the application we tested was not as good as Windows 7 or MindManager.
  • The form factor was too light, slim, cool & smooth. You would not loose weight or build muscle tone with iPad! :)

iThoughts v Ink Mode on a Tablet PC with MindManager

Well as I said the moving around and creating topics with iThoughts was as good as and almost as  fluid as using MindManager in Ink Mode.  The virtual keyboard was good but I don’t think this is as easy one handed as writing with a pen.  So for me ink mode in MindManager still wins for quiet use at meetings.  In a crowd mapping at a conference the iPad is as good.

So Mindjet please step up to the iPad and create an ink version of iThoughts.  The ink to text conversion could even be done on the Mac or PC.

Meanwhile I will have to wrestle with £700 on an iPad versus trading my HP 2730p up to a HP 2740p Tablet PC with touch screen, SSD and 8GB ram!

Using a Tablet PC with MindManager in Mouse and Pen Mode

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

I have recorded two videos showing how you can improve your use of MindManager on the Tablet PC.

Using MindManager Windows in Mouse Mode with a Tablet PC

Using MindManager Windows in Pen Mode with a Tablet PC

I use both modes in different situations.

At a meeting or an event I will use ink mode to record speeches and discussions.  It is a very fluid method of mapping and you can keep up with the content.  I always convert the ink to text topic by topic after the event.  The convert all option is very good – 95% accurate – but just one topic of gobbledegook text can give you a real headache trying to remember what it was.  Surprisingly I can nearly always read my own handwriting.

I cannot keep up with meetings in mouse mode. There is a delay while ink is converted to text and the distraction of any typo’s which I immediately want to correct.  I use this mode for editing existing maps when I have my Tablet PC in the “slate” configuration.  It is also useful when presenting.  I find it easier to point at my PC than regain control of the mouse.  With a good extension lead or a wireless beamer you can even wander around and present with the Tablet PC.

What are your views and uses of the two different modes?

What would you like improved?

Here are a couple of things I would like:

  • When ink is converted to text it retains it’s colour. At the moment it reverts to the topic default.
  • When sketches are converted to images (e.g. export to Word or Web) the quality is the same.

MindManager and OneNote – How can these applications interact?

Monday, March 29th, 2010

A Tweet caught my eye this morning about using OneNote with MindManager. In this 4 minute video Raphael Malikian shows how you can paste ink from OneNote as text in MindManager. This prompted me to have a play and I discovered you could select several paragraphs in OneNote and paste them into MindManager as several topics. An empty line in OneNote starts a new topic in MindManager. It is also possible to drag and drop selected OneNote ink to MindManager.

Back in 2007 the OneNote Power Toys blog listed several ways in which OneNote and MindManager could interact including MindManager hyperlinks to OneNote tabs, transfering MindManager map images to OneNote and the Send to MindManager button in OneNote (Can’t find mine :(Searching the Mindjet Forum suggests it has gone AWOL in MM8)).

Are there addins for MindManager 8 and OneNote 2007 (and 2010 soon)?

What is the value of using OneNote compared to MindManager in Ink mode (my weapon of choise) on a Tablet PC?

Using MindManager on the Tablet PC in ink mode

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Michael Deutch has written this blog recently:

Touch Me: 10 Resources to Learn More about MindManager’s Touch Capabilities

To prompt discussion about using MindManager on the Tablet PC. For some reason that neither Michael or I can work out my comments are not being published. I have tried from different PCs & browsers. So here is my positive and critical criticism of this mode:

Michael, thank you for referring to my efforts with the Tablet PC and MindManager above.

I have to admit to being someone who has used MindManager Ink mode a few times a week since 2005 when MindManager X5 Tablet became available. It has gone through 4 versions of HPs Tablet PCs currently a 2710p but the TC1100 was the best!

I use it in these three modes:

First: for personal brainstorming. Often standing up and away from the office desk.

Second: for personal note taking and often producing the minutes at meetings.

Third: for recording and publishing events on the web. Frequently I work with teams of people like Maurice mentioned and linked in your blog, to produce a comprehensive record of public and private events. These range from individual speakers, to management meetings, to two day annual conferences, to a rock festival. Using MindManager for three days in a field and in the dark later in the day must be one of the extreme uses.

Using MindManager ink mode is much less instrusive to the meeting than using a keyboard and a more fluid recording process.

MindManager ink mode is a core tool for ConferenceREACTION and the web export is used to produce all the web sites.

BUT MindManager ink mode has been frustrating me since 2005. Why?

1. The eraser on the end of my stylus does not work in MindManager. It does in all other applications.

2. The colour of the ink is not the colour of the converted text. It becomes the default colour.

3. The ink to text conversion was comparatively good on release in 2005. Better than XPs TabTIP but Vista overtook it and Windows 7 streaks away into the distance.

4. The conversion of ink to graphic images is poor. Primary concern is the conversion of sketches but it also applies when you want to put an Ink mind map in a document or on a web page. Borders appear around the ink and there is a granularity not present in the native MindManager map.

5. The clicking the ink colour tool does not return the stylus to ink mode from eraser mode but clicking the ink thickness tool does.

6. The lasso tool (ink dragging) is often sluggish taking several seconds to settle into the new position.

7. The high CPU usage of MindManager in general and the extreme CPU usage e.g. > 60% CPU time when the stylus is applied to the screen. Not good for someone who inking all day! This halves the battery life of Tablet PCs.

8. That there has been no significant development of ink mode since 2005!

9. I would like the mode to be associated with the map. That is when I change from a map I am editing in ink mode to a map that was previously being edited in mouse mode I want the the mode to change to mouse mode.

Despite all the above I will continue to use MindManager Ink mode because it does a brilliant job. You can just do it in pictures.

What is the missing link for MindManager? The killer add in you really want!

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

There are a multitude of add-ins for MindManager ranging from free to those costing more than a MindManager license. Some enable MindManager to emulate processes both proprietary and public. Others enhance an existing MindManager export or make a connection to a non-MS Office application.

Probably like me there are some you use frequently and others which you have no use for. There are probably many you unaware off or only just on your radar.

BUT what add-in would make a big difference to you? Here are a few of mine:

  • Social networking dashboards for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter & Ecademy
  • Synchronisation with Above & Beyond
  • A tool to help me manipulate XML files either pre-import or when in the map to add or remove information based on content of the file.
  • Alternative ink sketching tool e.g. embedded ArtRage2
  • An HTML based notes word processor

Or perhaps a better way of looking is there a market waiting for a MindManager combo?

Ink to Text – What is the best strategy in MindManager?

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

I tried a new strategy this morning. I have been going through topic by topic using the 5 drop down choices or editing the topics to correct any “anomalies”. This works well on the single screen of my Tablet PC.

Yesterday I inked two speeches or presentations. I delayed my ink to text conversion until I was back in the office this morning. In my large extension screen situated above my Tablet PC screen I had the ink map. I saved a copy to a new file e.g. meeting_text.mmap and opened it as another window in MindManager. MindManager is now stretched across both screens and I used Arrange View to split the maps across the MindManager work area. In the Tablet PC screen I automatically converted the ink to text using the Accept All option. I was then able to scan the ink and text comparing good and bad conversions, editing any bad conversions as I went around the map.

I think the new strategy was quicker but may be prone to the occasional missed anomaly.

What do you do?