Update on TheBrain, Workflow, Mohiomap and Other Apps

The biggest news since I last posted to this blog is the release of TheBrain for iOS devices, the iPhone and the iPad.  This opens up new possibilities not available with the desktop version of TB, in particular, interactivity with other iOS apps. See http://thebrain.com/products/ios/ .

Unfortunately, this interactivity, at present, is somewhat round-about, using other apps, particularly the new WorkFlow app. See https://workflow.is .

Mohiomap has expanded from mindmapping Evernotes to include files from Dropbox and Google Drive.   See https://www.moh.io/mohiomap/welcome.php .

I am re-posting here some commentary I wrote today in TheBrain Forums regarding these developments:

". . . thanks for the excellent outline of the problem of connection and interchange between TB and the many other useful information repositories.  I've been searching for the golden solution for decades now, back to the days of DOS Lotus Agenda and before.  In October 2013, I posted a diagram of My Knowledge Network at http://myknowledgenetwork.blogspot.com .  

Much progress has been made, particularly thanks to Evernote, and to a degree, TB, but the current state is still short of the ideal IT brain.

I am appreciative of Zenrain's bringing the iOS Workflow app to my attention, and to the custom workflows he's developed for adding to TB iOS app inbox.  Look forward to even more.

One other app to mention is Mohiomap, which has expanded from mapping EN notes, to now include Dropbox files and Google Drive files.  They are doing some interesting things with auto-linking of tags and Wikipedia articles.  I am hoping they will expand to include other repositories, such as Instapaper, Pocket, and maybe email.

Cloze is also doing some interesting combinations of calendar, email, social, contacts and saved articles, both in a web site, and in iOS apps.

p.s. Another hope I had in October 2013 was for a project between David Allen and Charles Simmonyi that sounded like had a lot of promise; unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any sign of progress or further mention since I posted the following to a LinkedIn group:

"I came across Charles Simonyi today -- billionaire, two times in space in the Soyuz, author of the word processor that became Microsoft Word, and an early MS employee, and much more.

The "more" includes being chairman of a company, named Intentional Software, in Bellevue, WA, A year ago, they partnered with David Allen, author of "Getting Things Done" aka GTD, (GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.) The problem they seek to fix is that "Many GTD Enthusiasts today are constantly looking for new ways to incorporate applications and their numerous computing devices into their workflow." That's me, and maybe you too.

Unfortunately, they don't have the solution yet -- at least, I couldn't find it. So, I did a Tweet to the CEO, and hope I will be able to report some interesting things later. The tie-in here is to TheBrain software that I mentioned yesterday, which has the new version 8 beta now available for free download. (I can't stress enough that you need to take a look at TheBrain -- it could change the way you handle information for the rest of your life!)

Read more about Charles Simonyi and the GTD project at Intentional Software, TheBrain, and knowledge management at these locations:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/softwares-final-frontier-a-conversation-with-charles-simonyi/278644/ ;

http://www.intentsoft.com/overview/gtd/ ;

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/seeking-a-magic-tool-for-personal-productivity/ ;"


p.p.s:  See http://www.intentsoft.com/solutions/gtd/ for a current link to Intentional and the GTD project, which appears to have not gotten off the ground; the above links are through LinkedIn or may no longer be available, but currently, this one is."

See http://forums.thebrain.com/post/my-second-topic-about-evernote-and-thebrain-glitch-in-my-first-topic-7286002?trail=15#3

A quick update on Mohiomap:  there is a discussion on MM in the LinkedIn Evernote Users group that might be of interest to you.

       "Marcus Boswell posted:
        Have any of you been utilising Mohiomap to build smart mind maps out of your 
        Evernote data? I am curious about your experiences."

I provided some responses there, particularly about how I am linking my Mohiomap of Evernote notes to my "TheBrain" application on my PC (and which then becomes available on my personal webbrain page, and on my iPod, iPhone and iPad).

Here's a clip of some of my Mohiomap Evernote links in my personal Brain program:

(Click to enlarge)

See the Mohiomap discussion in LinkedIn here.

(note -- you need to be a LinkedIn member, and possibly, an Evernote Group member to view the post; go to www.linkedin.com .)

Quick follow up to previous post -- here is what my Outlook toolbar looks like with the addins I mentioned:

Click to enlarge

Sticking Yellow Notes on My Emails -- New "Notes4Email" from Caelo

I've been trying out a new add-in for Outlook on my PC (Office 2010, 32-bit, Win 7 Pro, 64-bit) for the last ten days or so.  I think it is a keeper, so thought I'd let you know.

"Notes4Email" is new from Caelo; they describe  "adding a Note to your e-mails" as "Outlook's most wanted feature."  (See http://www.emailorganizer.com/support/notes4email.php .)

For me, the important things are that it is easy to write a note, easy to find the note, and that the add-in doesn't interfere with my numerous other ones.  It has passed these criteria with flying colors! (with a yellow color, that is.  :>)

I've been a big seeker of the perfect Personal Information Manager since back in the DOS days.  I still mourn the failure of Lotus to support and develop Agenda.  I became a fan of ECCO Pro, but unfortunately, that too became faded (but not dead, there is still a bunch of devoted fans, and I still have it on my 64-bit Windows 7 PC --- more on that maybe later).  In my previous posts here and in the future, you can see some of the programs I currently use.

But Outlook is nearly unavoidable, having driven so many others out of business or into obscurity.  So, I keep adding things to Outlook, to try to make it do all that I want.  They don't always work well together, and I've had to give up on some because of the crashes, or failures to load, that occur too often.

I get over 100 emails a day, so I really need something to make some standout, where I want to add a quick note; I don't have time to delete, or move to folders, all those emails every day.  I was already using "Single Click Filing," "Track Your Sent," and "eeminders" along with EverNote and OneNote add-ins.

Fortunately, "Notes4Email" is not one of those that crash or fail to load, and hasn't caused any problems since I installed it.  It works, and does just what it promises to do.  (I'll let you read the Caelo page for all those things, rather than repeating them all here.) But here are the highlights, quoted from their website:

"Easy, effective and reliable...
No complicated software, no additional database systems, no additional areas on your screen...
Simply add your comments in a native Outlook Note to your e-mail.
The note will be added as attachment so you will benefit from all features of Outlook attachments:

• See the first line of your Note directly in the reading pane of the email
• Simply click the Note attachment icon to see the entire content
• Forward the e-mail to share your note with others or use Reply to send without the note
• Use Outlook Search to search within your notes (Outlook also searches within attachments)
• An additional yellow category ('Notes4Email') makes your noted e-mails clearly visible and even easier to find.

No need to learn Outlook Notes... No need to learn Categories...
Simply focus on the comments you like to add and Notes4Email will do the rest."

http://www.emailorganizer.com/support/notes4email.php

BTW, I also use Neo Pro from Caelo, which is a stand-alone program that integrates with Outlook, for custom organization of emails and particularly fast and robust searching.  "Track Your Sent" and "Single Click Filing" are add-ins also from Caelo.

The "Notes4Email" show in the "Hot" list in Neo Pro, so I can easily see all the emails where I've added notes in one place without searching for them.  Other Outlook Categories all show separately the emails assigned to them in Neo Pro without having to do a search.

See all Caelo products at: http://www.emailorganizer.com/products/index.php#neopro .

They provide free downloads and trials too.

Could Microsoft OneNote Replace Evernote?

An interesting question raised in the Evernote Group on LinkedIn:  

"So with the cross-platform release of Microsoft OneNote, are you still as committed to EverNote?" 

(See http://www.linkedin.com/groups/So-crossplatform-release-Microsoft-OneNote-146528.S.5852158118233915394?trk=groups_most_recent-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egde_146528_member_5853161558162575364%2Egmr_146528 )

My answer is:  "Yes, definitely still committed to EN. I've had ON perhaps longer than EN, but use it only occasionally. I use EN multiple times each day. It's just easier/quicker to use EN, particularly using the desktop version."

One of the references in the post by Brian Bezanson is:  

"First look: Could Microsoft OneNote for Mac replace Evernote?"

Jeffery Battersby concludes:

"OneNote’s price, collaboration capabilities, and particularly its freeform note-taking feature make it a compelling application for capturing your ideas as quickly as possible. Whether it'll be a compelling alternative to Evernote remains to be seen."

Check out the features and pros/cons here:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2108501/first-look-could-microsoft-onenote-for-mac-replace-evernote.html

Just found this announcement of TheBrain 8, and adding it here for your reference:

TheBrain® 8 Delivers Advanced Information Management with Powerful New Knowledge Visualization Features

TheBrain 8 offers ready-made knowledge templates, over 1500 icons and timeline view for organizing ideas and information.

TheBrain 8 is offers over 50 time management, and mind mapping features for getting things done.

TheBrain 8’s new Timeline View enables deeper insight and understanding of users’ unique work habits and thinking.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 20, 2013

TheBrain Technologies, the leading provider of dynamic visualization and knowledge management software, announced its newest release, TheBrain 8.

TheBrain software’s unique approach to information organization enables users to create and link together thousands of digital Thoughts. TheBrain software has been downloaded by over a million users and over half of the Fortune 100 organizations use TheBrain for digital brainstorming, project management, and as a complete knowledgebase to find and connect their information.

TheBrain’s marque context-driven, visual interfaceoffers users an alternative to linear note taking apps, hierarchical file/folder sharing services and conventional mind mapping, by dynamically visualizing and reorienting users’ “Thought display” each time a topic is selected. TheBrain’s no limits semantic network and linking technology enables an unlimited number of topics, links and disparate data sources to be connected and navigated.

With faster application start up, enhanced multi-threading technology and multiple user interface updates, TheBrain 8 gives users even more powerful desktop visualization. TheBrain 8 augments the software’s data management capabilities by offering over 1500 icons to amplify key ideas, new visualization options and knowledge templates with prebuilt Thought zones, Types and Tags for ready-made semantic visualization.

“TheBrain 8’s new Timeline View enables deeper insight and understanding of users’ unique work habits and thinking. You can access all relevant associative connections through an instantly available chronological entry point,” said Harlan Hugh, TheBrain Technologies’ CEO. “Additionally with TheBrain 8 pre-populated knowledge templates users can leverage our Solution Team’s best practices right out of the box and get started quickly.”

TheBrain 8 has over 50 new features and enhancements . . .

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11352059.htm

I just tried an idea -- linking MohioMap items (which are EverNotes in a graphic SourceURL: http://forums.thebrain.com/post/evernote-integration-3016769?pid=1281650950#post1281650950

I just tried an idea -- linking MohioMap items (which are EverNotes in a graphical display) to TB -- and it worked!  Each EN in MM has a unique URL, so it can be dragged and dropped into TB.  Then, the link when clicked goes to the MM display, which shows the other notes that are linked to it.

You can, of course, copy and drop individual EN URLs from EN, into TB, but that way does not have the advantage of the graphical display of other notes linked to it.

So, this way is a visual or graphical extension of TB in an easy way for individual items, and of course, they then become searchable in TB -- at least, the title of the note does.

I tried the similar thing with CardDeck, a new way to display Evernotes, but that didn't work, because the EN cards don't have unique URLs therein.

See:  http://lifehacker.com/mohiomap-creates-a-mind-map-to-browse-your-evernote-1508827115 
and
http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/carddesk-visual-organizer-for-evernote/