New Tech Toy - Mind-Mapping Software

Mind-mapping and knowledge-mapping have been around for a while, but I never bothered with them for personal use because there was too much overhead with taxonomy, price, etc. I finally downloaded an evaluation version (i.e., after 100 days, you can only create 100 thoughts in a project) of a product, and have been using it quite a lot lately. It's the first thing that has really replaced notes on a white board and Post-It Notes and scraps of paper for immediate and long-range 'to do' lists.

It is really what I wanted: a graphic heirarchy of topics that you can arrange at any time (i.e., add or delete links, change parent and children relationships), add information about one of your topics at any time, in a structured (types, keywords) or free-form format (text notes). Customization for colors, graphics, hyperlinks, etc., so you can link to all of the stuff that you mentally associate with a topic. Despite all of the information, the files are suprisingly small: 51kb for a project that includes everything associated with fixing up a new house, and all of my tech projects.

I used a product called "Personal Brain" (v3.0) from a company called "The Brain Technologies" ( http://www.thebrain.com ), which describes itself as "Virtual Search and Cataloging Software". They also have an enterprise version, and some suprising customers, including the U.N.

3GSM (Mobile Phone) World Conference 2007

http://3gsmworldcongress.com/index.asp

The World Conference of the GSM (association of mobile communications industry) was held last week in Barcelona. Mobile devices continue to pick up features - phones with interchangable memory cards that can store data, take pictures, play MP3 files, and also do the phone thing.

As usual, engadget, http://www.engadgetmobile.com/ has reviews of the major products, and the BBC also has video coverage, blogs, etc. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6366261.stm

KidCast - Podcasts & Blogs by kids for kids

http://www.kid-cast.com/

This is a kid-friendly site set up by a friend so that kids can share their ideas with other kids. There's fun stuff but there's also serious stuff that kids are into - like Black History Month, books they're reading, trips they've taken, etc. Apparently a few classrooms make regular contributions about what they're studying, etc.

The archives go back to May 2005.

It's monitored, so nothing gets posted without a human (adult) checking the content out first.

If you have a kid, sign them up -- or check it out for your own reading/ listening enjoyment.

Proof that Horoscopes are CR*P

George W. Bush and the Dalai Lama have the same birthday: July 6.
Enough said.

Check out the Office of Tibet site "The Official Agency of H.H. The Dalai Lama and Tibetan Governement in Exile To The Americas": http://www.tibetoffice.org/en/