Maybe you have heard of Twitter.

Its part social network

Part Micro Blog

With Twitter Blocks its also one part three dimensional (two and a half) mind map.

OK, so that is using the term mind mapping rather loosely.

Twitter Blocks enable you to visualize the Twitter movements of your friends or even people that are following you or your friends through the Twittersphere.

I have no idea if Twittersphere is a real thing, but it seemed to fit the bill.  think Blogosphere + Twitter -> a Micro Blog and get TwitterSphere.

This is a great example of a conceptual application for Web 2.0 technology.

Its also one that shows how mind mapping concepts, software and technologies could be adapted to fit into the social networking revolution.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social network that enables people to submit short text entries from a cell phone SMS message, email or computer.  The short messages provide casual little updates about where a person is, what they are doing, what they are thinking etc.

For example a series of Twitter Entries might look like this

Woke Up Tired

Sweating Profusely after long run

too much traffic

Productive Afternoon

Traffic Lights Suck!

Need to let off steam with the Guys

Hot at the poker tables!

Not so Hot, Going to bed early

Context for TwitterSphere

When I first saw this concept I was reading a short article at Webware.com.  They presented Twitter Blocks well, but they summarized and my first impression was that this could be a MindMapping tool for people.

I came across an excellent resource providing information on 100 different online resources and tools for freelancers.

I wanted to internalize the information in a way that I could rapidly work with in multiple settings in the future if I ever needed to find the right tool for the job. So of course I mindmapped out the tools listed, plus I added in the tools suggested in the comments and I added a bunch of my own.

Now I have a great starting point for the future whenever I need to build up the list or find something I need quickly. I linked back to the original article from my MindMap Central topic and I created sub maps for each of the categories identified. This kept each category of items viewable at a single glance.

I’ve provided snapshots of these maps below. For more details about each of the tools I suggest a quick visit over to the site yourself as it really does have a great deal of information.

In the meantime, I did this experiment in part to internalize the info as I mentioned, but also in part to find a more rapid way of mindmapping this type of information from primary sources on the web. I hope to find more efficient ways to achieve this goal in the future.

MindMeister the Online Collaborative Mind Mapping tool went live today. They are officially out of their super secret beta!

This online mindmapping tool has a lot of potential. I see it as one part mind map and one part Wiki or a Wiki in MindMap form.

Multiple users can easily collaborate on mind maps together at the same time online. The system offers tracking of all of the updates done on the mind maps. It allows the import from other mind mapping program such as Freemind and also Mindmanager.

It seemed fairly basic interface at this point in time, it has a very Web 2.0 look and feel but it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that you might find in mindmanager and to certain extent it’s even still catching up with the Freemind product.

However it is collaborative and it does allow multiple people to work on a mind map at the same time. That is huge and very significant for lots of reasons.

MindMapped Disucssion Forum

It could also be considered something akin to an online mind mapped discussion forum. Users can show up and essentially chat or discuss a topic each person taking a threat is there voice. Or they can jump from one thread to the next and add portions or modify portions of another person’s threat.

In a future article I will show you a quick video introduction of this great new product.

As I mentioned recently I have recently investigated the potential to link QuickBase into Microsoft Project. The ability is there today. A user can download a desktop application that serves as the tool that downloads the relevant data from QuickBase and pipes it into Project. You can then work on it in Project and later push it back up to QuickBase.

Via this tool, It should be theoretically possible to create a link from QuickBase to the Desktop Ap to Microsoft Project and then to Mindjet’s MindManager and all the way back again.

Given Mindjet’s past work with an accelerator that works with Salesforce.com I recommended that QuickBase should consider exploring contact with MindJet to build out a similar accelerator there as well. QuickBase would have a greater advantage over Salesforce.com in this potential future. QuickBase provides CRM like Salesforce.com but it also provide Project Management and general Database abilities (plus online access in real time to that Database!).

So in theory an Accelerator could enable QuickBase to become the online Database element for MindManager that could enable realtime sharing of MindMaps across Networks!

Now they just need to meet each other and collaborate.

“Intuit let me introduce you to Mindjet.”

“Mindjet let me introduce you to Intuit.”

Sounds like a joint venture made in heaven.

SalesForce.com may have made the model of moving great software capabilities to the web but they were not the end all solution. Today I would like to cover an excellent example of an improving technology that has improved primarily because it has moved to the Web.

I am reviewing services provided by a sponsor MerchantOS. This is a sponsored review but it is an excellent application and example of the right way build a web based tool for mass adoption.

In this case we’re talking about point of sale software (POS software) services moved from the cash register in a store to a computer in the store connected to the internet. Up front my first and primary concern centered around internet connectivity, what happens when the internet goes down?

MerchantOS provides a system that allows transactions to continue even while the internet is down, caching the transactions for a resynchronization once service is brought back up, so the issue is greatly reduced.

Now in the case of this product web based POS has been very aptly covered by Merchant OS. They have done an excellent job of describing the benefits of their offering. I think that the words are excellent, but would also like to provide a map of those details to help you see the big picture a little more rapidly.

Above is our MindMap of the MerchantOS Web Based POS Systems

Technorati tags: MerchantOS, Benefits of Online POS System

This week we are covering a new sponsor, Siterra. Siterra provides a web based project management and property management system for cell phone towers. Their services can also be utilized with other real estate related products as their web based solutions generally offers a Real Estate Management Software solution for many items from oil rigs, to outdoor advertising displays to retail stores and corporate offices.

Cell phone towers as an example can prove to be a major challenge to manage for owners. The towers have to be inspected, inventory of the components on and in the tower premises has to be monitored, equipment maintenance has to be scheduled, maintenance of the land and access routes needs to be kept up, upgrades and service needs to be performed and more.

Plus all of this has to be done for many wireless carrier customers as any given tower may hold antennas and equipment for multiple wireless carriers covering a particular area. The need for a project management solution in this situation is very high and Siterra offers a web based solution to meet these needs.

Filmator.net provides an interesting online solution for creating video slide shows.  Users can bring together an audio file in an MP3 format and bring in a series of images or slides and put them together online through Filmator’s solution producing an online presentation.

The images can be set to trigger at specific times throughout the audio file, with many advanced options like layering and fading the images in and out through transitions.

The service will even resize images to standardize them during the import phase.  I have looked for a service like this for some time and this appears to be a very easy way to go about it.  The process is very thorough and includes many steps along the way for setting up title pages and the appropriate tags.

Users could achieve a similar effect by purchasing software from Adobe and working in flash, but that can be very expensive.

Below is a video from filmator.net that walks a user through a tutorial for creating a video that I found very helpful in understanding their process.

In general the service is free to artists and charges commercial interests for the work they do utilizing the online service.  You can view the video on their site in a full page screen also.

This is one of the more comprehensive tools that I have found like this on the web.  It is very thorough and as such can deliver a very useful and complete presentation replete with the appropriate tags and descriptions and items that make these types of presentations extra useful.

Mindjet MindManager Instant Meeting Powered by WebEx

MindManager has a new integration offering focused on Web Conferencing Services. This time with WebEx. The integration looks solid enough judging it by the Quick Tour. I’d have to question the need for integration though as most web meeting software can achieve a similar result. WebEx has always seemed a bit expensive to me (ignoring MS Livemeeting rates all together).

For two thirds the monthly rate I can get a similar experience from GoTo meeting. Doesn’t include the free trial month if your new to GoToMeeting.

For any users that have tried the WebEx offer, if there is a portion of the integration that I’m missing, please fill me in. I would like to see the value in the offering if its there.

Correction – Title of this article originally published on 3-18, has been corrected from Weblink to WebEx. Body of Article corrected also.