This evening I’m working on or from a mind map on a lake in North Carolina.  I work from Lake Wylie in my own wifi cove with a covered fishing dock. A high top bar serves dual purposes for serving drinks and serving as my desk.  I recently installed a pull down projector screen on the dock, and have moved my portable projector outside tonight to work from a mind map that I created with MindManager a few days ago.

The unique setting tonight with a thousand frogs chiming in their opinions about topic changes juxtaposed with the setting where the map was created made me pause.  I created the mindmap last week in the Nevada desert in Laughlin.  I worked with my friend Joe Klein on a brainstorm evolved into a business plan upgrade.  We worked from his home in Laughlin where I used the projector to display the map from his dining room table onto the vertical blinds that cover the sliding glass doors to his patio and hot tub.

The mindmap in the picture is of course the default map with MindManager 8, the map I’m working on in reality is top secret! 

Going from the desert to a lake in North Carolina is definitely two examples of the extreme.  In the past I’ve worked on planes, in conference rooms, at a soccer field and a McDonalds. Brainstorming, a function that is one of MindManager’s strengths, is definitely the type of activity that can work well when you place the participants outside the box. Its not required, but can produce some interesting results.  So where is it that you mindmap?  Do you use that location exclusively?  Do you mix it up and if so do you mix it up on purpose or just by chance?

I ask the question mostly because I’m curious and partly because I’m curious if the location drives better results or hinders results (like when the sun glares down on a screen outside, or when the mosquitoes get to thick on your projector screen or when the sun melts the silicon in your laptop back into sand particles in the desert). 

Today, I’m publishing the fourth video demonstrating how you can mindmap with your voice.  I have Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 and MindManager 8 installed on my computer and when I add this great little tool, called VoxEnable, I can mind map with my voice.

I can say something and it creates a topic, say something more and create a sub topic, say something more and move a topic around. I can say something and a boundary is put around a set of topics.

If you missed the former video entries on this topic, I will next work with the software in a more in depth way once I have had a chance to deep dive into the software.  If you have questions about the software or suggestions on something I should/could test, let me know and I’ll try to generate a video of the result. 

Related Articles:

1. MindManager Powered by Your Voice is Here!

2. MindManager Powered by Your Voice Part 2 Navigation Demonstration

3. VoxEnable Powering MindManager 8 with Your Voice Using Dragon Naturally Speaking Part 3

Here’s my third video (quick reviews) of VoxEnable helping MindManager and Dragon Naturally Speaking work together.  I also quoted a press release on the two programs below.  I’ve got 2 more of these quick video reviews on VoxEnable to share here, before I’ll spend a couple weeks working more closely with the program to see just how much I can get out of it and whether I can make it part of my must have list of tools.  At first glance, I do think that it has this potential so far, but it takes time to change the culture of what you do and how you do it.  So time will tell more soon.

Release date: December 10, 2008
Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10® brings a voice-activated dimension to Mindjet’s MindManager® 8 helping individuals to save time, conquer information overload, and be more effective.

London UK, 10th December 08, Mindjet, the leading provider of applications for mind mapping and interactive visual collaboration and Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN), a leading provider of speech solutions, today announced the release of the breakthrough productivity application, VoxEnable(TM) that delivers ‘hands-free’ mind-mapping to the desktop.

In an innovative collaboration Mindjet’s MindManager 8, the market-leading mind-mapping tool, has been combined with Nuance’s Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10®, the world’s best-selling speech recognition software, to bring a new voice-activated dimension to mind-mapping, liberating individuals and helping them save time, conquer information overload, and be more effective.

"Mindjet and Nuance are recognised software innovators in their respective markets so by bringing the two technologies together with our VoxEnable(TM) application we have created a powerful productivity tool that is now completely voice-enabled," said Ian Bourne, of Citnexus, the partner that developed VoxEnable. "MindManager is used by more than 1.5 million people today including professionals, educators and home users for brainstorming, developing plans, creating presentations, and accomplishing a limitless number of other tasks. By enabling all your commands through Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 users can capture, organise, and communicate information without having to type it using a PC keyboard."

The Dragon voice-enablement engine delivers what matters most in speech-recognition software – 99% levels of accuracy at three times the speed of most typists and unrivalled ease of use. To begin building a mind-map a user issues the instruction ‘new topic’ or ’start brainstorm’ then the software tool starts building the map based on the voice-commands. Over 150 voice-enabled functions have been incorporated into this release and users can transcribe and create MindManager 8 visualisations which can be manipulated, scrolled, scaled, zoomed, printed and exported by voice. Text can be dictated directly into topics with formatting, editing and search capabilities.

"Speech technology with mind-mapping is going to be a potent productivity combination. Imagine never having to scribe your thoughts and ideas down again but instead ‘energise’ the way ‘brainstorms’ or planning meetings are conducted, said Rob Furnivall of Mindjet UK "Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10’s near-perfect accuracy and easy-to-use interface feeds into the Mindjet’s feature-rich MindManager 8 visualisation tool to deliver a unique experience that helps you manage ideas and information more smartly."

MindManager 8 is the latest incarnation of the award-winning productivity tool that allows you to map your ideas and information visually, starting with a central topic surrounded by subtopics arranged on lines, or "branches." The map is a visual diagram that imitates the creator’s thoughts, with the interactive benefits of embedded data, live hyperlinks, collaboration capabilities, and much more.
MindManager is an indispensable fifth productivity application, along with the word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and e-mail. MindManager 8 integrates and augments with all of these applications, so you can capture, organise, and act upon limitless ideas, data and knowledge without ever leaving your mind map.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred gives businesses and advanced PC users the power to create documents, reports and emails three times faster than most people type through voice commands. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 allows users to surf the Web or dictate and edit in Microsoft Word and Excel, Corel WordPerfect and most other Windows-based applications. Commands can be dictated into a handheld device when away from a PC or using a Bluetooth microphone. A high-quality headset is included. Pricing and Availability Prices start at £129. More information on the various versions of both MindManager and Dragon software, plus special pricing for education and charity can be found on the Citnexus website www.citnexus.co.uk.

About Mindjet Mindjet (www.mindjet.com) is the leading provider of applications for mind mapping and interactive visual collaboration. Its award-winning products are revolutionising the way people engage with information, ideas and each other. More than 1.5 million people (including executives, managers, engineers, salespeople, marketers, strategic consultants, business analysts and administrators in nearly every industry) use Mindjet MindManager to save significant amounts of time, conquer information overload, and become more productive. Companies and individuals around the world use Mindjet’s powerful built-in collaboration capabilities to build strategic plans, run effective meetings, hold insightful brainstorming sessions, manage projects and succeed with almost any business or personal productivity challenge. Mindjet’s products are available for immediate trial or purchase at www.mindjet.com/products/trials. Mindjet is headquartered in San Francisco and has more than 200 employees in the U.S.,

Europe and Asia

Nuance Communications, Inc. Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance, the Nuance logo, Dragon and NaturallySpeaking are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

About Citnexus Citnexus is a software reseller and developer. Citnexus has developed the VoxEnable(TM) application that provides over 150 functions through a seamless interface between Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 and Mindjet MindManager 8

VoxEnable is a trademark of Citnexus Trading Limited. www.citnexus.co.uk

Yesterday, we uploaded a video of VoxEnable that makes it possible to drive MindManager 8 with Dragon Naturally Speaking 10.  I know that kind of sounds like driving your car with a remote control device, but it can be very liberating.  We have multiple senses and the ability to create content very quickly.  You can type everything into a MindMap, but there are times when you can get that thought out faster and quicker using your voice alone or in conjunction with a mouse and keyboard.

Here is our second video in this series and we will share the other videos to complete this soon!

Yesterday’s Article  – MindManager Powered by Your Voice is Here!

For a couple years now, I have been looking forward to the day when I could power MindManager with my voice.  I could think it, speak it, and it would be mapped!

A couple years back, I picked up on Dragon Naturally Speaking 9, then upgraded to version 10.  Neither version plays nice with MindManager 5, 6, 7, or 8!

Fortunately, a great little company has come up with a cheap solution to bridge that gap and the software is called VoxEnable.

Now, I sat down a week ago and created a series of videos showing how VoxEnable made it possible to use Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 with MindManager 8.  It worked beautifully.

Unfortunately, I had my video/audio recording settings cross wired, and the audio of my voice didn’t make it into the video.  Today, I finally got around to making those videos.  They are a little low tech as I created them on the airplane coming out here.   

That itself was a fun little experiment.  I wanted to see how the airplane sound quality might impact Dragon Naturally Speaking.  (End result, no impact at all, it worked great).

The first video is above, and I will have some more videos to follow this as I get a chance to publish them this week, so don’t forget to subscribe to our site if you haven’t already!

Great News!  Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 and MindManager 8 might soon work well together.

I have reviewed in the past the limitations of using Dragon Naturally Speaking with MindManager.  It works, a bit but it doesn’t work nearly as well as either program work alone.  Recognizing this problem a solution has been developed in the form of software that is supposed to bridge the gap and make it possible to run MindManager 8 using Dragon Naturally Speaking 10.

The company, Citnexus, that has created this solution, calls the software VoxEnable.

I’ve just heard about this and written to the company to get more information.  In reviewing the shopping cart, it is less than clear how this software sells or ads on to existing configurations.

I for example own both Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 and MindManger 8.

VoxEnable seems to come bundled with upgrades for both Dragon and MindManager and it comes stand alone.

I could be wrong (as I’ll admit I’m confused by the pricing and product descriptions) but I think if you already have both Dragon and MindManager that the software only costs £29.95.

In the meantime, you can play with Dragon and MindManager 8 together without VoxEnable, but you will not get anything productive done.  Without a boost, the two just are not good enough alone.  I’m hoping that VoxEnable puts them both over the top, but I’ll let you know. . . . 

Technorati Tags: Dragon Naturally Speaking,MindManager 8,VoxEnable,limitations,Cinexus,MindManger,product,software

Windows Live Tags: Dragon Naturally Speaking,MindManager 8,VoxEnable,limitations,Cinexus,MindManger,product,software

I’m still working through my first impressions of the new MindManager 8.  In general, it is a little more than an evolutionary move forward for Mindjet. The player makes it possible for a person creating a mindmap to publish the mindmap in an interactive fashion on the internet or in a pdf file.

You can see an excellent demonstration of this by Andrew Wilcox of Cabre.

One thing that strikes me as a simple player upgrade that would be beneficial, enabling users to view the player in full screen mode.  Ergo, push a button, and view the player temporarily outside of the web page it is located on, like you can with a YouTube video player (and many other video services).  Obviously Adobe supports this functionality, and I’m going to dig into the possibility of creating this option manually in the code.

I’m also curious to test the system to see how it might work with my Western Digital external hard drive.  I’ve recently been working to push all of my data and maps to a central storage system, that I can access via the web.  I’m curious how those relative and permanent hyperlinks in a player map might work hosted essentially on one of these drives.

With the support of some great people at Mindjet, I was able to get my MindManager installation upgraded to version 7.2.374.  When I first attempted to upgrade, I had not yet had a chance to scope out “why” I needed to upgrade.

In general with MindManager, I always presume that a newer version will fix a few bugs and be more stable and I can always benefit from that.

Here are some of the more specific issues that the new upgrade solves for MindManager Pro 7 as well as for MindManager running with MindManager Connect.

 

MindManager Pro 7 Service Pack 2 & Mindjet Connect Known Issues: June 12, 2008 MindManager Pro 7 SP2 Issues

Issue: Opening a shared map stored on Mindjet Connect with a branch that has a depth of more than 40 linked sub?topics will cause MindManager to crash (Maps).

Workaround: Do not open a shared map containing a branch that has a depth of more than 40 linked sub­topics.

Issue: Save As does not work when saving to a WebDAV (e.g. SharePoint, eRoom, etc.) location.

Workaround: None. Save the file to your local file system and use the WebDAV server’s upload mechanism. Once the file is stored on the WebDAV server, you can open, edit, and save changes as normal.

Issue: Customers that request activation using the “Manual, via Email” method may have the

emailed license key blocked by their firewall.

Workaround: Depending on your firewall and mail server settings, the license bin file emailed from Mindjet to you may be blocked. If this is the case, Mindjet Customer Support may have to rename the file (e.g. to license.txt) and you will need to rename the file to the expected format. Mindjet Customer Support will provide appropriate instruction when necessary.

Issue: Windows Vista users that open a map from the Mindjet Learning Center and attempt to

export it as a web page will receive an error that the user does not have sufficient privileges.

Workaround: This problem typically occurs when User Access Control (UAC) has been enabled on Vista. This level of increased protection/ security prohibits this operation. You will need to work with your IT administrator to adjust privileges accordingly.

Issue: A crash occurs if the user presses <ALT><F> for an extended period of time.

Workaround: Press <ALT><F> and release when the application menu is activated. Avoid holding this key combination for more than a couple of seconds.

 

Issue: The Insert Sub-topic gesture does not work when in Pen mode.

Workaround: None.

Issue: Some customers may experience problems when activating MindManager Pro.

Workaround: In certain rare cases, customers may experience a failure during the MindManager Pro activation process. In many cases, it is believed that personal firewalls or background system maintenance activities may cause a problem. If you encounter this type of problem, please contact Mindjet Customer Support.

Issue: Attachments in a Mindjet Connect map cannot be edited (read-only).

Workaround: Instead of embedding an attachment directly in the map itself, import the attachment as a secondary document and create a link in the map to the secondary document and then use the Check In/Check Out feature to modify secondary documents.

Complete the following steps to work around:

1. In the Workspace Manager, select the workspace from your Workspace List that you want to add a secondary document.

2. Select Import from the Documents ribbon-menu (or alternately, right-click on the Workspace name or in the documents list and select Import).

3. Using the Browse dialog box, select the document/file that you want to import and press the Import button.

4. In your map, right-click on the topic/sub-topic that you want to add the referenced document.

5. Select the Add Hyperlink menu item from the pop-up menu.

6. Press the MindManager button to the right of the Link To field.

7. Select the Workspace that you selected in step 1 above.

8. Press the Select a Document button.

9. Select the document that you imported in step 2 from the document list.

10. Press the OK button.

 

Issue: Concurrent (simultaneous) editing of Topic Notes by multiple users is not supported.

Workaround: None. Only a single person may edit a topic’s notes at any given time. Changes to topic notes may be lost if multiple users attempt to edit the same topic’s notes at the same time.

Issue: Executing a search that looks for content that you have added to a Mindjet Connect map

less than 10 minutes ago will not find the result.

Workaround: Wait until 10 minutes have elapsed from adding your content before executing your search.

Issue: MindManager 7 Pro SP2 WebDAV support does not work on Windows Vista.

Workaround: None. Users wanting to utilize the WebDAV functionality of MindManager 7 Pro SP2 must do so using Windows XP.

Issue: Windows Administrator rights are required to install MindManager Pro 7 SP2.

Workaround: Make sure that you have Administrator rights.

Mindjet Connect Issues

Issue: Workspaces are limited to having a maximum of 150 users.

Workaround: None: There is a limit of 150 users per workspace. If you add all 150 users at once, be prepared to allow sufficient time (perhaps 10 minutes or more) to process adding all users to the workspace.

Additionally, if a workspace already has many users, such as 125, and you add 25 users, be prepared to leave sufficient time to add these additional 25 users (10+ minutes).

Issue: Opening many Mindjet Connect workspaces may cause MindManager to close slowly.

Workaround: Do not open (access during a single session) more than 20 workspaces.

 

Issue: Opening the Add Workspace, Add Member, or other Workspace Manager dialog box may

cause MindManager Pro to appear non-responsive.

Workaround: If MindManager appears non-responsive while you have a dialog box open in the Workspace Manager, close any open dialog boxes.

Issue: Changing Mindjet Single Sign On (SSO) password may cause MindManager Pro to become

stuck in “connecting” mode if password changed while signed in with MindManager Pro.

Workaround: You will need to sign out and then sign back in to reconnect with your new password. Simply going off line and pressing Connect will not work.

Issue: Deleting and destroying a workspace containing many files may cause your queue to get

stuck.

Workaround: If your workspace contains many files, you are advised to first delete and destroy the contents of your workspace in smaller segments (e.g. 5 or 10 files at a time). Once you have reduced the size of your workspace to 10 maps/files or less, you can delete and destroy the workspace safely.

Issue: Workspace Documents, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, or Project files, can only be edited

from their original workspace and not from a shared location.

Workaround: Edit workspace documents in the workspace where the actual document is located (and not in the shared location).

Issue: Closing MindManager Pro immediately after saving a large map to a new workspace may

cause MindManager Pro to quit unexpectedly.

Workaround: Please wait a brief period of time after saving a large map to a new workspace before closing MindManager Pro.

Issue: Maximum secondary file size is 10 MB and maps are limited to a maximum of 10MB in total

attachments.

Workaround: None.

NOTE: A map or a workspace document already belonging to a workspace that grows beyond 10 MB during an editing session could cause MindManager to crash or become unstable.

 

Issue: Copying or duplicating two or more large maps or workspace documents at the same time

may cause MindManager Pro 7 S
P2 to go offline and require restart.

Workaround: None. Do not copy or duplicate more than one large map or workspace document at one time.

Issue: Import dialog box may not appear when user initiates an import and may cause

MindManager to appear frozen.

Workaround: The import dialog box is opened but is not displayed to the user, causing MindManager to appear non-responsive.

Complete the following steps to work around this issue:

1. Press <ALT><F4>.

This will allow MindManager 7 SP2 to respond to user input.

2. Restart MindManager.

After restarting MindManager, the Import process should work as expected.

Issue: Clicking on a hyperlink to a secondary document that is currently checked out will cause

the document to open in the background.

Workaround: Select the document’s application from your Windows taskbar (it may be highlighted).

Issue: MindManager appears frozen when a dialog window is open in the Workspace Manager (e.g.

an Add Workspace, Add User, or Import File dialog box).

Workaround: Finish or cancel the process you started in the Workspace Manager so that the dialog window closes. Once closed, you will be able to access MindManager as expected.

Issue: Invitations sent to web mail email clients (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc.) to join an Instant

Meeting will fail.

Workaround: None.

 

Issue: Participants in an Instant Meeting that have been granted remote control by the Moderator

may not be able to remotely operate applications on the Moderator’s machine if that machine is running Windows Vista with User Access Control (UAC) activated.

Workaround: None.

Issue: Users may not be able to save Instant Meeting Whiteboard sessions if they are running

Windows Vista with User Access Control (UAC) activated.

Workaround: None.

Issue: The following SQL stop words are not searchable in Mindjet Connect:

about, 1, after, 2, all, also, 3, an, 4, and, 5, another, 6, any, 7, are, 8, as, 9, at, 0, be, $, because, been, before, being, between, both, but, by, came, can, come, could, did, do, does, each, else, for, from, get, got, has, had, he, have, her, here, him, himself, his, how, if, in, into, is, it, its, just, like, make, many, me, might, more, most, much, must, my, never, no, now, of, on, only, or, other, our, out, over, re, said, same, see, should, since, so, some, still, such, take, than, that, the, their, them, then, there, these, they, this, those, through, to, too, under, up, use, very, want, was, way, we, well, were, what, when, where, which, while, who, will, with, would, you, your, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, I, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

Workaround: None.

Issue: Mindjet Connect maps that are added to the My Maps shortcuts (e.g. My Projects) may not

be searchable if the user selects the map shortcut (e.g. My Projects) as the search location.

Workaround: None.

 

Network Issues

Issue: Hyperlinks to Mindjet Connect maps, workspace documents, topics, workspaces, etc. do

not function correctly when MindManager Pro 7 SP2 is offline (not currently connect to Mindjet Connect).

Workaround: Ensure that MindManager Pro 7 SP2 is connected to Mindjet Connect.

Issue: Instant Meeting closes when the moderator connection drops (e.g. weak wireless

connection).

Workaround: The moderator will need to restore their network connection and initiate a new Instant Meeting session. It is best to ensure that you have a stable network connection (either a wired or a strong wireless) prior to initiating an Instant Meeting.

Issue: Uploading large maps or secondary documents on a slow network connection (e.g. 128Kb)

may cause a connectivity warning to appear.

Workaround: None. If the connection is maintained, the operation will continue until complete, though you may continue to receive the connectivity warning.

Note. To get this information converted from a PDF on the mindjet site into something I could introduce to you in a text form, I had to use a new tool that I am re-learning to love called OmniPage Pro 16.  It is an optical character recognition program that converts images of text into a writable document

Some users, like yours truly, will receive the message that their license key is not accepted

The MindManager license key you submitted was not accepted.

If you read the statement on invalid license keys, you will see the following:

Mindjet has recently contacted users of MindManager who have registered an invalid license key.

A valid Mindjet license key represents legal compliance and ensures quality product and support from Mindjet. In addition, with the release of MindManager Pro 7 Service Pack 2 in early 2008, Mindjet will be implementing a more secure software installation process requiring all customers to have a valid license key for authentication and product activation.

To ensure that you remain in legal compliance and to install future Service Packs and upgrades, you should obtain a valid license key. You can use your current key to purchase an upgrade on the Mindjet online store or from one of the many Mindjet authorized resellers listed on our website.

Unfortunately, a variety of sources illegally distribute or sell Mindjet license keys. We encourage you to provide any information that would help us identify the source of the invalid key above.

If you feel that you have purchased a license key from an authorized source and have received this email in error, please contact Mindjet Customer Service.

Mindjet Contact Details:

Contact Phone: +1 (415) 229-4200

If you try to call, you have to call between 8 am and 5 pm pst.  I’d offer up more information, but I tried calling 50 minutes late and will have to wait until tomorrow morning to determine how to solve this problem myself. 

The “Re-enter your MindManager License Key” link does not work.

I tried that link several times and it does nothing.  I was able to use the back button and get back to the form entry section.  On my second attempt, I removed the dashes from the license key to see if that would help, but in my case, I had no luck.

For the record, I am using a press license of MindManager 7 issued to me by Mindjet directly in 2007.  It could be possible that the press license is not covered in the upgrade.  I left a voice mail with PR at Mindjet to inquire into this possibility and hope to find the answer out tomorrow.

I originally thought I might have some issues with my Mindjet account.  That worked like a charm this time, and I seem to have swapped it for a new little issue. 

Unlike many programs where you might find the license key by clicking on the help menu and then clicking on about, in MindManager 7.0 or 7.1 you have to click on the tools tab menu, then click on license key before a pop up window with your license key will be presented.

Its pretty easy, but if you are trained and set in your ways looking for the Help menu button, it might be a little disorientating at first.