ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a real need in today's society for students and individuals to become more adept at both understanding and creating visual graphics that depict information using graphs, mind maps,
charts, and pictographs. We are all bombarded with all kinds of information and data that is much more easily digested when put into a visual or graphic form. Many of us were first introduced to these type of graphics in the USA Today. It certainly was a point of departure from other newspapers as we learned how to decode the meaning of these artistically created graphs and charts that appeared in the paper. For many, it was a new way to digest information and make sense of an enormous amount of data in a condensed format.

But what tools are out there that can help students, educators and business people create well designed graphics without the need to be a professional graphic artist. While there are a number of applications that come to mind for creating educational and business graphics all assume some degree of artistic ability which may not be the case. One application which I was recently introduced to called SmartDraw 2008 takes a very unique approach to designing your presentation graphics. Using both templates and wizards you can produce professionally looking graphics within minutes of opening the application. SmartDraw 2008 is a Windows based application that will run on Vista, XP or Windows 2000. Before I write about SmartDraw 2008 I would like to thank Laurence Favrot, from SmartDraw for providing me with a copy of SmartDraw 2008 to review. SmartDraw 2008 is a comprehensive business and educational graphics application that supports creating the following types of graphics:

• €Flowcharts
• € Org Charts
  
• € Project Timelines
  
• € Gantt Charts
  
• € Marketing Charts
  
• € Bar Graphs & Pie Charts
  
• € Forms
  
• € Floor Plans
  
• € Scheduling Calendars
  
• € Mind maps
  
• € Mapping applications
  
• € and much more.
  

SmartDraw 2008 unlike other applications has you start with the end point in mind as you first select the template for the graphic that you are going to create. For the purpose of this demonstration I have decided to create a timeline. So first I select the Timeline SmartTemplate from the list of available templates. Once I have selected the a timeline template, I am presented with the template on the screen and can now use the SmartPanel to add individual
elements to my timeline. Setting the timeline's start and end times is easy to accomplish. I found the the process to be very intuitive and straightforward. If you do need assistance you can click on the Help icon and the Smarthelp panel will open to guide you through the process. One of
SmartDraw's strengths is the way it formats the graphic for you creating color styles and schemes that always produce professionally looking graphics. By simply selecting the timeline element I can apply a consistent color theme to my timeline with a click of the mouse. Because it is so easy to do you can easily test out different color themes to see what the results are
before printing out your graphic. Another strength of SmartDraw 2008 is its tight integration with Microsoft Office. With a click of the mouse I was able to transfer my timeline to Microsoft Word. For that matter I could have sent it to Excel, PowerPoint or saved it as a PDF file to share with others. SmartDraw 2008 has an extensive library of graphics to choose from which I was able to use to adorn my timeline. For someone who was new to SmartDraw 2008 I quickly became comfortable with the Smart Template and SmartPanel approach as was able to complete the timeline rather quickly.

There are hundreds of SmartTemplates to choose from when you first launch the
program, which gives you lots of starting out options. I did take a look at the mind mapping options in SmartDraw 2008, which is a new feature. While SmartDraw 2008 does give you the option to create and print mind maps it is not an ideal tool if you are planning to use your mind maps to manipulate or organize your information.

One of the new features of the latest upgrade to SmartDraw 2008 are LiveMaps
which lets you pull live map data off of the web and include it in your graphic. Using the Tele Atlas maps you can zoom in and select satellite view or hybrid views. I found it very easy to integrate the maps into my presentation graphic- and it is certainly a powerful feature that has been included in SmartDraw 2008.

Overall, I found SmartView 2008 to be an easy to use application for creating professionally designed graphics without the need to be a graphics artist. Using the system of SmartTemplates, SmartPanels, and SmartHelp moves you through the process of designing your graphic with all the right scaffolds in place. It is nice to know that the supports are in place if you need them or if you are more inclined you can manually design your graphic. If you are looking for one drawing program to help you communicate information in a professional manner then I would suggest you take a look at SmartDraw 2008. With SmartDraw's large SmartTemplate and graphics library I'm sure you will find a place for SmartDraw 2008 in your presentation toolkit- I know I have! If you are interested in trying out SmartDraw 2008 you can download a trial version from the website.

A lot of my readers have purchased the Fly Fusion Pentop computer from LeapFrog this holiday season and have been having some difficulties installing the software. I just received this email from LeapFrog that I wanted to pass along this information to you.

	Question
	What should I try? ..trouble with Fly Fusion downloads, Admin account, Flyworld and/or the Fly Store.
	Answer
	Thanks for being one of the first FLY Fusion Pentop Computer Users! Due to extremely high seasonal demand for FLY Fusion, many FLY Fusion users have had difficulty accessing FLY World, our FLY World Download Store or with their Admin account set up. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We have been working on these issues, and have made improvements that should help our users. As a special thank you for your patience, we want to offer our community of users a special gift! Please go to the FLY World PC Application, log on and click on the Download Store tab. We are offering 4 special downloads for use with your pen as a way of showing our appreciation for your patience and support for FLY. We will be providing updates on our FLY World Support site as we continue to release improvements to our online services. Check back on www.flyworld.com/support for updates, or call our Customer Support line directly at 1-800-701-LEAP (5327). Thank you for your support of FLY! The FLY Fusion Team

It has been a great year for the AssistiveTek Blog and I want to thank my readers and business sponsors for their support! I trust that 2008 will be even better with new and exciting Web 2.0 technologies. I think that this will be a pivotal year for software developers as they try to bridge the gap between their traditional software applications and software as a service model. I think that you will see many software publishers begin to build hooks into their software applications that will make it easier to publish documents, mind maps, and monitor projects on the web with true collaboration. So look for some exciting posts on the AssistiveTek Blog in the coming months. I once again plan on following new and exciting technologies that help to empower you in the work that you do. So stay tuned for more reviews in the areas of visual learning, mind mapping, project management, assistive technology, and Web 2.0 technologies. All the best to you and your families in the New Year ahead.

For those of you that would like to share your mind maps there is a new website that lets you do just that. You can go to Mappio.com to upload your FreeMind or MindManager mind maps. The developers of the site would like to make Mappio the "YouTube of Mind Mapping." Registration is free and it is a great way to share your ideas and mind maps. Once you upload your mind maps you can tag them and decide if you would like to make them public or private. If you find a mind map that you would like to use you can simply download the file and open it with the your mind mapping application. Mappio is certainly a great resource for those that are new to mind mapping or for those that want to get a idea of all the creative way that mind maps can be used. Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

I came across VozMe the other day and wanted to share this resource with you. VozMe lets you convert text into a mp3 file which is an easy way to create text to speech on your computer right within your browser. You simply paste text in the window and VozMe does the rest creating your mp3 file. Give it a try!

With the recent release of MindManager 7.1, I created this screencast to show you some of the new features that have been added to this release.

Here is the link

Here is another screencast showing you how you can move your project management data from Project Kickstart 4 to MindManager 7 Pro. You will notice how easy this process is!

Click here to view the screencast

In a previous post, I reviewed Project Kickstart 4, an easy to use project management software application and now wanted to share with you how this application can work seamlessly with MindManager 7 Pro. With many companies and individuals using mind mapping for all aspects of running a business it is great to know that there are other applications that can complement MindManager 7 Pro, in developing and managing projects. While MindManager Pro 7 is a wonderful tool to brainstorm and start project planning there will come a point in time when you will want to move the data to a project management piece of software. This is where Project Kickstart 4 comes in. Individuals can do their initial planning and brainstorming in MindManager Pro 7 and with a click of the mouse move the date right into Project Kickstart 4. Project Kickstart 4 adds a number of unique features for project planning and having access to a Gantt chart makes it a lot easier to track the project. I have created a short screencast showing you just how easy it is to export data from MindManger 7 Pro into Project Kickstart 4.

Click here to view the screencast

I have been using Eye-Fi for over a month now and really love the freedom of having my pictures uploaded to Phanfare automatically via my wifi home network. Eye-Fi has recently announced updates to their Eye-Fi software as well as a firmware update. I performed both updates without a hitch on my MacBook and was up and running within minutes. The new update now supports Mac Leopard (OS 10.5). Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Over the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to take a look at several project management software applications that work seamlessly with MindManager Pro 7. With this in mind, I took a look at Project KickStart 4, which is a very user friendly project management software application that can export data directly into MindManager Pro 7 and create a complete mind map. I would like to thank Roy Nierenberg at Experience In Software for providing me a copy of Project KickStart 4. for this review. Similarly, one can begin the project planning process in MindManager Pro 7 and export it directly to Project KickStart 4, with a click of the mouse. In this first posting, I will review Project KickStart 4 and talk about its features and ease of use.

Project KickStart 4 is a very easy to use project management software application that will have you up in running within minutes. Unlike other project management software applications, Project KickStart 4 is unique with regard to its interface and guidance that it provides along the way to helping you plan your project. Project KickStart 4 divides the project management process up into 9 different steps-which are all complemented with Libraries of reusable resources which move you quickly through the project management phases. Project KickStart 4 starts the process off by having you "name" the project which is then followed by identifying the "phases" of your project. As a project manager you simply move through Project KickStart 4 wizards by clicking on the Next button. If you need some assistance you can click on the Advisor button which is located on the bottom left of the screen. You also have access to a Phases Library of items that you can simply drag to the phases window making the process go very quickly. During the "goals" phase you have the opportunity to develop and think about your goals for the project. It is easy to move through this phase by using the Goals Library to open up some goals that you can drag into the window. You next move to "Similar" tasks, and from the Library of stored projects you can simply select tasks that might be similar to the project that you are currently working on. This feature really saves you a lot of time since many projects may have similar tasks that can be quickly modified or changed. As part of any project management you will need to list the names of the people that will be working on the project. You have the option of bringing in people from the People library, typing in their name(s) or you can also import names directly from Outlook. Moving to the next phase you will need to think about what "obstacles" may get in the way to reaching your project goals. Here you can identify some tasks that will help you minimize or avoid the obstacle as you move through the planning process. Now you are ready to "assign" tasks to people which is easily done by selecting the tasks and then clicking on the name of the person or persons. You can Control click and assign several people to one tasks to create a group task. As you move to the Task phase you have the opportunity to review, print and edit your task list as well as type notes and add attachments. Your final task in Project KickStart 4 is to review your Gantt chart and make any necessary revisions or changes. It is easy to change the working and non-working days by bringing up the Calendar and selecting the working and non-working days which will automatically recalibrate the length of the project. In the Gantt chart view you can quickly get an overview of your project milestones and set the percentage of the task that has been done. I would have wanted to be able to set the task dependencies in the Gantt view but this feature is not supported in ProjectKickstart v 4. However, the Gantt chart view gives you a great snapshot to keep your projects on time and within budget. While you can enter the costs associated with a task this is one area that Project KickStart 4 is weak. However, one of the really fantastic features in Project KickStart 4 is the ability to export the data directly to other software applications which in this case is handled very well. Project KickStart 4 can directly export data to: PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Word, Microsoft Project, ACT!, WBS Chart, and MindManager.

For individuals like myself, who may not be full-time project managers, Project KickStart 4, is a very well thought out application to help you plan small to medium sized projects with the ease and confidence of a seasoned project manager. Having worked through several projects with Project KickStart 4, I was really impressed with how the wizards and the Advisor dialogs made me carefully think through the project management process so that the outcome was realistic and manageable. I would have to say that Project KickStart 4 is in fact a very easy to use project management software application that delivers on its promise to get you up an running within 30 minutes without the need to have an advanced degree in project management.

In a future post, I will talk about the integration of Project KickStart 4 and MindManager Pro 7, which I'm sure will be of interest to you.

I just received an email from the Comapping Development Team that they have added a host of new features to their web based mindmapping application, CoMapping.

The Comapping development team is proud to present a new set of features, most of which we have developed in close cooperation with our customers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their constructive feedback and comments.

Below is a list of the main features and improvements made to the Comapping application:


* Create your own template maps

* Chat with collaborators

* Name your URL links

* E-mail your maps

* Export your map as an HTML webpage

* Attach a preview of maps when sharing

* New visual calendar in "Task info"

* Format multiple topics in one go

* Insert a map within a map

* New "extended subscription" plan

As I begin to think about how and where I save my resources-it is clear that having the ability to have access to my files 24/7 is the ideal scenario. I recently did a Mimio Xi presentation for a school district and developed a custom MimioStudio Notebook for the workshop. In the past I would have saved it to a flash drive and then transferred it to the computer that I would be presenting on. This time around, I used the Box.net service which gives you 1 GB of free storage space on their web site to store my presentation file. I have found Box.net to be easy to use and having that extra storage space has come in really handy in more than one occasion. The Box.net accounts are free and if you want you can upgrade your account to obtain more storage space should you need it.

I have heard rumors that Google will be making server space available for free in the upcoming months. The service will be called Gdrive and I have heard that they will be offering somewhere in the vicinity 50 GB of space for document storage. Now that will be really cool!

Take a look at the recent release of the Minjdet User Newsletter to find out how I am using MindManager Pro 7 in the work that I do. I have found Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 to be an indispensable tool when I teach. Find out in the interview all the creative ways I am using MindManager Pro 7. You can also download the mind map that I used for my recent webinar which highlights all the ways I am using MindManager Pro 7.

I just heard from Brad Allen at TPAssist 2007 that he has put up a number of free video tutorials that show you step by step how to use the MindManager plug-in, TPAssist 2007 with the My Life template mind map. These presentations are available via the web site and provide real working examples of how mind mapping can be an excellent environment for life management. You can get this FREE template RIGHT-NOW by using the Check For Updates button with-in the TPAssist 2007 Help Window. You can also download it from the web seminar page. This is a great resource and shows you the power and synergy of using MindManager 2007 and TPAssist 2007 together.

Last week Skype released a beta, Skype 2.7 for the Macintosh,which added host of new features and compatibility for users of OS 10.5- Leopard. More importantly Skype 2.7 for Macintosh with the right hardware can now deliver 640x480-pixel video by default. As long as your webcam can handle it, Skype promises to deliver high quality video conferencing calls at 25 fps. To be able to deliver this quality users will need to be running a Mac with dual Core 2 processor and have a broadband connection that is capable of at least 384 kbps upload speeds. The race for high quality video conferencing is just heating up in this space. Look for services like OoVoo and Sightspeed to raise the bar and push this market even further with new features and high quality video conferencing.