Wednesday, October 31, 2007

PersonalBrain 4.1.2.5

We're excited to announce the release version of 4.1!!!!!

Here are a few links:

Additionally, we had a great webinar this week with PersonalBrain enthusiast Sandy Ping from Venture Forward. In case you missed it, you can still watch the recording.

Also, there seems to be a lot of buzz this week about creating SiteBrains. Our support team has been sending out links to the SiteBrain 202 Recording like crazy! Check it out and see how easy it can be to publish your own SiteBrain!

Have a great week,
Matt

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Selecting Multiple Thoughts

I've noticed a lot of questions coming into our Support Mailbox about how to mass select groups of thoughts, so I'd thought I'd share some tips on my blog today.


Selecting Multiple Thoughts


You can select multiple Thoughts and then apply actions—link, unlink, delete, set Thought type, and other actions you would apply to an individual Thought—to the selected Thoughts en masse (yes, I'm feeling French today). When multiple Thoughts are selected they are listed in a selection box on the left side of the Plex and they are highlighted in the Plex itself.




To select Thoughts:
  • Hold down the Ctrl key as you click a Thought.
  • Hold down the Ctrl key as you click a gate to select all the Thoughts connected to that gate.

To de-select Thoughts:

  • Click the close button at the top right of the selection box to de-select all selected thoughts.
  • Hold down the Ctrl key as you click a Thought (either in the Plex or in the selection box) to de-select just that Thought.

To perform actions on selected Thoughts:

  • Right-click in the selection box and select the action of your choice on the context menu. The entries in this menu are also displayed in the Edit menu.

Selection box options allow you to make numerous different changes to large groups of Thoughts at one time. Try it out! A great tool for LARGE BRAINS ;)

Matt

Thursday, October 18, 2007

New Brains - New Classes


We've had one of the busiest weeks ever at TheBrain Technologies. Here's what's new:

Another PersonalBrain 4.0 Feature Focus Webinar has been scheduled for October 25th. It's become quite a popular event to see Harlan Hugh (TheBrain Technologies CEO, inventor of TheBrain, Black Belt and all around Cool Guy) show off some of the fantastic new features. And believe me... there are plenty! Especially with the latest release of 4.1.2.0 Beta!!!!

New PersonalBrain 4.1.2.0 Beta released. You may be shivering at the term "beta", but you won't be sorry once you upgrade. Version 4.1.2.0 is very stable and has some FANTASTIC new enhancements. My personal favorite is the copy and paste of thoughts from one Brain file to another. Not to mention, the long awaited BRAIN THOUGHT MERGE feature! Download your free trial today, or join Harlan's class on the 25th to see it in action.

Internal operations covered a range of events. We sent out our October 2007 newsletter and we're putting together some new materials for our upcoming appearance at KMWorld 2007 in San Jose.

So let's run down those links again:

Visualizing and Integrating Information the Way You Think with PersonalBrain 4.0
Thursday, October 25
10:30 am Pacific
http://www.thebrain.com/pb4webinar

Download PersonalBrain 4.1.2.0 Beta
http://www.thebrain.com/download

October 2007 Newsletter
http://www.thebrain.com/site/emails/Oct-2007.htm

KMWorld and Intranets 2007
November 6 - 8, 2007
McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, CA
Booth 119
http://www.kmworld.com/kmw07/

And lets not forget... Tomorrow is PersonalBrain 101. We've had a new record number of signups, so it should be a good one! I look forward to seeing you there.

-Matt

Monday, October 15, 2007

Sherman Hu’s Introduction to the Mind Mapping Space

For those of you that are interested in learning more about the mind mapping space Sherman Hu provides an excellent overview of the tools out there, including PersonalBrain.




Check out his podcast. ( You must have QuickTime installed to watch) FYI he’s saved the best for last so watch everything or fast forward to his Brain.


Sherman will also be speaking at Blogworld & New Media expo so if you are at the show, don’t miss his session.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

New October Webinar

We've just posted a new webinar event for October 30th. The Art of Innovation and Dynamic Knowledge Capture. You can sign up at:

http://www.thebrain.com/#-124

This webinar will be co-hosted by Sandy Ping. Sandy is the CEO of VentureForward and acclaimed inventor. The founders of VentureForward have been granted hundreds of patents during their many years of product and process development. These patents cover marketplace successes such as the Tide Buzz Ultrasonic Pen, Swiffer WetJet, and Cascade Action Packs.

Did I just read that right? The Swiffer WetJet?!?!?! I have two, LARGE, brown, shedding Labrador Retrievers and a lot of hardwood floors. I LOVE my Swiffer WetJet. Sandy is a genius! And he's also an avid PersonalBrain and BrainEKP user. He even has his company EKP online. You can find a link on his website:

I'm looking forward to this one! Also looking forward to tomorrow's PB101 class. If you're new to PersonalBrain... I hope to see you there!

Matt

Sunday, October 7, 2007

PersonalBrain Getting Started Basics, Adding Unrecognized Programs and Thought Labels.

Thanks to everyone who attended our 101 class on Friday! Aside from the odd WebEx slowdown for a few attendees at the beginning it was a nice interactive session.

We focused on the basics of constructing Thought relationships, as well as editing and expanding your Brain. Throughout our session there were many questions on everything from virtual Thoughts to tagging Thoughts. Here are some highlights:

Getting Started
To reiterate, when getting started it is best to create a basic hierarchy of information and then start adding files and making associative connections.

Start with your name then some general subcategories below. So in my case, I started with Shelley, then under Shelley I created Business, Personal, Philosophy, and Resources. Under Business, I created child Thoughts for Departments, Team, Research and Projects. Under Personal, I created Family, Friends, Hobbies, House Issues and Vacation.



Tip: Use the semicolon to create multiple Thoughts at once.



Adding Files and Folders

Integrating existing information is just as easy. Simply drag and drop files or Web pages into your Brain and new Thoughts will be created. You can also drag and drop folders to create virtual Thoughts. To add a file to an existing Thought right click and select Add Attachment.


Fine Tuning

  • To rename or forget a Thought, right click the Thought and select Rename or Forget.

  • To unlink a Thought, click on the link and select unlink

  • To delete a Thought, hold down the shift key and right click on the Thought and select Delete

  • To select multiple Thoughts for linking and/or unlinking, hold down the control key and click on each Thought to bring up the selection box. Then when you have everything selected activate the Thought you want to link these Thoughts to and right click on the selection box to choose your action.

OK now lets fast forward to the end of the class... If you want the full deal, sign up next week. :)

Other Interesting Questions

Dragging and dropping from Outlook: If a message is moved will PersonalBrain still connect to it?

If you drag and drop a message into your Brain and then move that message to a different folder inside of Outlook, PersonalBrain will still be able to find it as long as you don’t delete it.

How do you create content for an unrecognized program in PersonalBrain?

One of our participants had some software installed whose content type was not available for selection from the Add Attachment dialog box and wanted to know how to add it. Well first off, PersonalBrain recognizes most standard programs like Microsoft Office etc. But, you might come across the odd one that does not register its file type with Windows and so will need to be added. The way to do this is to create an empty file that is then used as a template and will appear in the list.

To create a file template right click on a Thought and select Add Attachment. This brings up the Add Attachment dialog box. From there, select the Templates... button. This launches the Template window and you can drag and drop your template file so it will now be accessible from the default Add Attachment list.

What’s the difference between tags, labels and Thought types? When should I use each?

In the properties area you can add tags to your Thought. These tags are then indexed in PersonalBrain search so that you can hone in on the right Thought quickly. This is particularly useful if you want to name a Thought differently from the way you might search for it. For instance I might have my lawyer in my Brain, Jill Brown, but tags for Jill Brown could be trademark research, legal, consultants. Thought Labels on the other hand are visible in the plex under the Thought when you mouse over them. So use labels when you actually want to see additional information on that thought. Thought types on the other hand enable you to further define information. You might have Thought types for people, staff members, and types of projects for example. Creating a Thought type gives you the option to specify other Thoughts that are alike in some way using the Thought type. The advantage of Thought types is that you can visually distinguish key types of information and filter these Thought types in reports and searches.


Next week: Matt’s back at the helm of PB101 so for those of you who want to see even more example Brains or get Matt’s spin on getting stared, join us again!! The last 15 to 20 minutes in these sessions (or in our case last week, the last hour and 15 minutes) is all participant driven. If you have a specific question it’s a great way to get it answered and see how it’s done. I will be back in on the 101s from time to time, so I’ll chat with everyone again soon.

Cheers and happy braining!

Shelley

Friday, October 5, 2007

Shelley Hayduk Hosts PB101

Those of you that logged into PersonalBrain101 today got a special treat. I was tied up on some other calls, so Shelley Hayduk (VP of Sales and Marketing/TheBrain Technologies Co-Founder) was today's host.

It's always great to see the other features that Shelley and my other colleagues like to display. Plus you got a sneak peak at her own PersonalBrain file!

I'll be back on PB101 next week.

Matt