It’s a big day for us, as we may now finally break the news about what we’ve been working on in the MeisterLabs for the last few weeks. As of today, MindMeister is available to Google Apps users directly through the new Google Apps Marketplace, which Google announced last night!
This integration has been long in the making and we’re pretty excited about it as we think that MindMeister is a great extension to the existing array of apps in the Google suite. We certainly hope you will feel the same way, enjoying lots of productive mind mapping sessions using the Google Apps edition of MindMeister!
To get started, just add MindMeister to your Google Apps account – this takes just a few clicks and MindMeister will then be available to all team members through Google’s universal navigation. You can of course also connect existing accounts.
Google users have access to all MindMeister functions of course, plus a few more:
Single Sign-on: Users will automatically be signed in when they open MindMeister from the Google universal navigation, and will have mind maps automatically associated to their account.
Export to Google Docs: The MindMeister export dialog now has an additional function (and button) to export mind maps directly to your Google Docs space as PDF or image.
Share with Google contacts: Your MindMeister app contact list is prefilled with all your Google contacts, thereby enabling one click sharing with those that you collaborate most often with.
Keeping in theme with Google’s familiar style and feel, we’ve even added a specific user interface skin to make Google users feel more at home.
Needless to say, we’re quite proud to have been hand selected by the team in Mountain View as one of initial participants in the launch of the Google Apps Marketplace. As you can imagine, there was a ton of work that went into making all of this possible. Many thanks go out to the Apps Marketplace team for their constant feedback and support. Likewise, we’ve all had our heads buried in this project for quite a few weeks now, so please forgive our uncharacteristic relative silence as of late.
Converting existing accounts
If you’re one of the overwhelming majority of MindMeister users that also uses Google Apps/Docs, you can easily add MindMeister to your existing Google account via the Marketplace, while still retaining your existing MindMeister maps, contacts, links, file attachments, etc. Check out our Google Apps help section to find out exactly how to connect your existing account.
Please note: Connecting accounts currently works only for team (Business and Academic) accounts. Support for Premium users at no additional cost is in the works, we’ll keep you posted!
As with all things MindMeister, we’re always interested in your feedback. Let us know your thoughts on the MindMeister for Google Apps, and if you like it – why not submit a review?
The Olympic Games come along every 2 years. One rotation sees the summer games, the other the winter games. Each has it’s own unique attributes and associations, but given that a number of us are based in one of the greatest skiing countries on Earth (Austria), we tend to be a bit more preferential to the winter games.
In our quest to keep tabs on which country is leading the medal count, we’re constantly checking the latest news coming out of Vancouver, and bustling home each night to catch the day’s coverage on TV. But who’s playing who, and which race has heats, quarter-finals, semifinals, …. finals? With so many events happening, sometimes simultaneously, it can all get a bit overwhelming.
Trying to keep track of multiple events, all at different times, as well as having a precise overview of who’s leading and where, sounds a whole lot like just about every professional’s daily schedule.
With this in mind, we decided to keep track of the Vancouver Olympic Games 2010 in a familiar format: a mind map.
MindMeister Vancouver 2010 Schedule and Results
We created the map a few weeks back with data provided by the Vancouver Organizing Committee and update it on a daily basis. Initially, the map started out tracking only the events, but as the requests for results as well as medal counts have started arriving, we’re now including this information as well.
So whether you’re tracking Apolo Ohno’s quest to become the most medaled American winter athlete (one more to go, as he tied Bonnie Blair’s record 6 medals a few days ago), or want to catch Benjamin Raich and Romed Baumann tear down the mountain, you’ll never miss a beat with our Vancouver 2010 schedule and events mind map.
Now if we could just get the IOC to consider mind mapping as an official discipline….
Late last week we concluded our User Survey 2010, receiving an astounding 4,658 responses. Before we even get into some of the results, we’d like to send out a sincere “Thank You” to all of you that responded.
As with any form of surveys, some answers are to be expected. For example, the majority of MindMeister users hail from the United States, German users taking second place, and the United Kingdom brings home the bronze podium position. In the chart below, we’ve broken out usership representing 1% or more of those that responded.
Likewise, as we suspected, almost three quarters of you are Male, and two thirds of you are between 25 and 34 years of age. The IT industry is MindMeister’s primary field of usage, however, we saw significant increases in both the Education and Marketing categories.
One question/answer that really stood out to us was the staggering amount of MindMeister users also using Google Docs / Google Apps. We figured that a number of you were using this service, but we didn’t have a clear idea of just how many. The suite of 37 Signals tools scored quite high as well, but nowhere even close to the products those in Mountain View are pushing out.
Your opinions and comments have been truly insightful, and we’ve already started working on some improvements as well as new features suggested in the survey. Again, our sincere thanks to all of you that participated!
Update: 11 February 2010 – The lucky winners have been selected and emails dispatched! Thanks again for all of your valuable input!
Update: 4 February 2010 – Many thanks to all of you who participated in our customer survey. The survey is now closed, and we will be announcing the winners of the Amazon vouchers early next week.
Here at MindMeister we’re constantly conversing with industry experts from across a wide range of disciplines, not only introducing them to what MindMeister can do for them, but also gathering their feedback. And while these conversations have yielded a number of valuable insights, they’re still one-to-one conversations. To this end, we thought we’d bring the conversation to you, and see what you’ve got to say about MindMeister. The Good, The Bad, and/or The Ugly – we want to hear it!
The survey has been designed to take no longer than 3 minutes (or less), and will not only give us a better picture of who you are, but also help us to bring you the features and improvements you’d most like to see.
If adding your voice and opinion to the conversation here at MindMeister isn’t enough to get you excited about filling out a survey, how about a chance to win one of five $100 gift certificates from Amazon? The way we see it, Amazon’s got something for everybody, why not you too?
The survey is open from Thursday, January 28th until Tuesday, February 4th at 4pm Central European Time. Winners of the raffle will be announced shortly there after.
Thanks for your continued support…we’re eagerly awaiting to hear what you’ve got to say!
[Editors Note: This is a guest post by Robert Pagliarini, prolific user of MindMeister and author of The Other 8 Hours, the U.S. #1 national bestselling personal finance book. Robert has made numerous national television appearances including 20/20, Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, and ABC Morning News. He's also been featured in print with articles published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, and Money Magazine.]
Your financial life has a certain trajectory—similar to a train on a track. There will be twists and turns, but you can easily determine where you will end up if you stay on the financial track you’re currently on. What if the traditional methods of working hard, cutting expenses, and saving don’t work for you? Brown bagging it every day won’t cause you to jump tracks and end up somewhere completely different. The guy living in the mansion overlooking the ocean didn’t buy that house by clipping coupons, and the chick passing you in a $400,000 Maybach didn’t get that way by eliminating her morning latte. For most of us, the gap between where we are and where want to be is so wide that we’ll never be able to close it by following traditional financial advice.
What’s the solution? If you’re tired of scraping by you’ve got to create. If you want to move out of your apartment or make more than minimum wage, you’ve got to create. If you want a big house overlooking the ocean, to travel first class, to quit your job, or to drive your dream car, guess what? The answer is in the other 8 hours. The answer is to shift from being a full-time consumer to being a part-time Cre8tor.
A what? A Cre8tor is a creative entrepreneur who has a day job but wants more. He isn’t content with the status quo, and is less than thrilled with the thought of working another 40+ years. He knows that the only way to “jump the tracks” to get to a new financial level is to do something different during the other 8 hours. A Cre8tor utilizes his strengths, passions, and/or expertise to create something unique and valuable—maybe he’ll start a blog, work on an invention, write a screenplay, or start a business. If you settle for a paycheck, you’ll only be worth what your employer pays you. But if you create something valuable, there’s virtually no limit to your worth.
A long commute, brainless boss, and an empty bank account can wreak havoc on your outlook, hope, and purpose, but a side project or venture can bring inspiration to your life. When you’re passionate about what you’re creating during the other 8 hours, you can endure even the worst day. It will change your whole morning routine.
Creating provides purpose and it provides a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It provides the hope that life can improve. When you create, it engages your mind and your soul.
Should you really spend some of your precious other 8 hours creating, or would we be better off having fun and enjoying ourselves? Studies show that most of us are not fulfilled mentally or emotionally in our day jobs. We work, not because we are passionate about what we’re doing, but for a paycheck. Even though you might be stuck at your day job doing something that doesn’t fully capture your mind and heart, that doesn’t mean what you create during the other 8 hours has to feel like work. In fact, it shouldn’t feel like work at all. I want you to be excited and passionate about what you create and about the potential results you can achieve.
With very few exceptions, anybody who has attained any level of financial success has created something. It might be a book, a CD, an invention, a website, or whatever. Look around you. Everything you see was originally just an idea in someone’s head.
You are living in the most exciting and mind blowing time we have ever experienced. It is rich with opportunities that literally didn’t exist just a few years ago. Unless your last name was Rockefeller or Carnegie, it used to be incredibly difficult to become rich. Becoming a millionaire wasn’t even a dream or an ambition. It was such an impossibility that it wasn’t worth a moment’s thought.
Because of fantastic collaborative tools such as MindMeister, efficiencies, and a global economy, it’s much easier to become wealthy with much less effort than at any other time in history. As a Cre8tor, you’ll add more excitement and purpose into your life. You will live your passion and make more money.
The benefits to becoming a Cre8tor are clear. Now let me show you step-by-step how to become a Cre8tor. Go to other8hours.com to discover how you can become a Cre8tor and experience new wealth and purpose in your life.
P.S. – As an exclusive bonus, get four free critical resources that will help you live your richest life. Go to other8hours.com to get an Other 8 Hours assessment, poster, video, and audio now!
About The Other 8 Hours & Robert Pagliarini
In his new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose, Robert empowers people to live life to the fullest by radically changing the way they spend “The Other 8 Hours” – the 8 hours not spent sleeping or working. With Robert’s guidance, people will begin looking beyond their job, hour-long commute, credit card debt, or even just that gnawing feeling that life is sometimes passing them by. They’ll get fresh solutions for carving out more time. And they’ll find the inspiration to spend that free time in a more productive way — whether it is starting a business, writing a blog, losing weight, or developing a hobby.
Robert is obsessed with making the most of his other 8 hours to create an ideal life. He’s also obsessed with sharing what he knows, inspiring others to achieve their ideal life, and learning from others who are improving their lives.
Happy Holidays fellow MindMeisters! We’ve been working hard to get a number of improvements out before years’ end, and now it’s time to kick back just a bit and enjoy the holidays. The only thing missing now is our (by now almost too obligatory) holiday promotion:
From now until the end of 2009, we’re offering a 15% discount on all Premium Account upgrades and purchases. Remember, Premium account holders have access to:
in the Promotion Code field on the payment page and we’ll automatically take 15% off your Premium Account fee.
We’ve also almost completed a number of other frequently requested features which just didn’t make it into this release but should be available in early 2010. Organizing your mind maps into folders is in the works, as well as better formatting options, themes and templates for mind maps, disconnected (floating) nodes, and a number of task feature enhancements.
From all of us here at the MeisterLabs, have a safe, sound, and Happy Holiday Season!
In our continued commitment to bringing you the ultimate collaborative mind mapping experience we’re happy to announce a host of new features!
Si, nous parlons Dansk
MindMeister is now supported in six languages. In addition to our existing English, German and Japanese support, we’re happy to offer Spanish, French, and Danish versions. All versions have been proofread, but if you’re a native speaker of any of these languages and find an error – please let us know by sending us an email.
In-Map Chat
While we’ve supported Skype integration for quite some time, not everyone has, or has the ability to use Skype at all times while working on a mind map. To this end, we’ve introduced a chat feature directly within the browser window. To get started chatting with fellow collaborators, simply click on their name at the bottom of your mind map to open a chat window.
Embedded Maps now with Live Update
Initially debuted during the TEDxAmsterdam live mind mapping sessions, embedded maps now include the option to continuously poll MindMeister for updates. This option opens up an entirely new avenue in mind mapping, as live sessions can now be streamed to not only collaborators, but the entire world.
New publish features, embed wizard
You can now put your public maps in categories in the revamped Publish dialog and customize embedding options in the new Embed Wizard. Premium users can choose to hide the “Share” button and MindMeister logo in their embedded map.
Improved Public Map Features
Our public map listings have undergone a major change in the way that they are discoverable and shareable. Now searchable by both language and category, these changes should serve to improve the usefulness of the public maps directory, as well as make it far more easy to use as a reference and resource tool.
Monthly Payment Option for Team Users
Users of our Business and Academic Editions now have the option to pay on a monthly basis, as opposed to yearly. This now means that users will only pay for the time that they need to use our service – short projects, annual reviews, etc. At the same time, should Team Users opt for a yearly subscription, we’re now offering 2 months for free.
Additional new features
Faster and more relevant map search – searching through your mind maps has now been streamlined. By default, search parameters will search through your map titles. If no matching terms are found, the MindMeister system will then search through the text of all your maps until matches are found.
Better Email Notifications – we’ve improved a number of features within the email notifications that should allow users to more easily identify what changes have been made to what maps, and by whom.
Alphabetize now with numbers – the Alphabetize function now sorts numbers correctly.
During this festive time of year, we’d also like to take this space to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Holiday Season, and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
Since it’s inception in 1984, the TED events have been all about “Ideas Worth Spreading”. Realizing that they couldn’t be everywhere all the time, the TED group established the TEDx program, which allows private individuals to organize, design, and host events that are meant to provide attendees with a TED-like experience.
Tomorrow, another TEDx event will be taking place in the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam. Similar to other TED events that take place around the world, the TEDxAmsterdam event has a full schedule in place with speakers ranging from the Minister of European Affairs to the President of Programming and Development at MTV. In all, 450 option and business leaders from all walks of life will be attending the event hosted at the Royal Tropical Institute.
Since many a good idea have come out of previous TED events around the world, the TEDxAmsterdam organizers are going above and beyond to ensure that even those that could not attend the event in person will be able to share in the experience.
Live mind mapping courtesy of MindMeister
Even though we’ll not be physically at the event, MindMeister has been selected to take part in the TED experience. Throughout the day, selected speakers will have their talks mind mapped in real time using our software service. The live mind mapping team includes Alexis van Dam from hypershifters.com, Ronald Vijfhuizen of WorldofMinds.com and Jerre Lubberts from aHaCoaching.nl.
Our Dutch partners will be constructing mind maps of these talks live, and they’ll not only be projected around the event for all participants to view, but also live streamed at http://www.mindmeister.com/TEDxAmsterdam2009 for the entire world to share in.
The schedule of expected speakers can be found here, and events range from 9 am to 9 pm Central European Time. Should you not be able to tune in to any of the live mind mapping events, we’ll be archiving the content on the above URL for future reference and viewing.
Many thanks go out to the live mind mapping team in Amsterdam, and a sincere ‘enjoy!’ to all speakers and attendees of tomorrows event.
You may have noticed that the front page of MindMeister is wearing it’s very own Halloween costume today (you need to be logged out to see it). While technically Halloween doesn’t get fully underway until tomorrow evening, we’re betting that there’s some trick or treating already going on in your office, classroom, or anywhere else you use MindMeister.
And as is customary with events surrounding All Hallows Eve, we’ve got a bit of Trick-or-Treating going on at the MeisterLabs as well. There were a number of ideas bantered around the office (inverting all maps color schemes, replacing all icons with Jack-O-Lanterns, etc.), we decided that it might be best to keep all the tricks in-house, and send the treats out to the MindMeister community.
In lieu of sending out packets of sugary goodies to each and every one of you (dentists rejoice!), we thought we’d do the next best thing – save you a bit of dough.
Until the stroke of Midnight on October 31st, we’re offering a 20 percent discount on all Premium account upgrades and purchases.
As a reminder, Premium account benefits include:
An unlimited amount of mindmaps vs. a limit of 3 with Basic accounts
Export MindMeister maps to FreeMind and MindManager™ formats
Hi folks! No new announcements regarding the MindMeister service and/or our iPhone app. Rather, I’d like to take this space to introduce myself. My name is Dan Taylor, I’m an American living in Vienna, Austria, and I’ve recently started working with the team at MindMeister.
I must admit, prior to sitting down with Michael and talking through what MindMeister is, and what you can accomplish with it, I hadn’t really used a service like this before. Fast forward just a few days, and I’ve started mapping out a few projects that I’m working on, adding timelines, due dates, priority, connections, links…in other words, I’ve tasted the MindMeister kool-aid, and I’m hooked.
A little bit about me. I’ve been involved with the online space for over 10 years now, starting out during the first dot com boom selling online ad space for an entertainment portal (remember banner ads? Yeah…I sold them). Post bubble burst, I had an outstanding opportunity to move to the United Kingdom and work with a fundraising agency that worked with some amazing charities around the world. Just over a year later, it was time to pack the bags again, as I was asked to move back to the states, and together with a partner, founded and built the American branch of said organization. Here, I filled the shoes of National Recruitment Manager. A few years, and a whole lotta advertising and brand marketing later, I took the position of Director of Marketing at a prominent online video sharing site. With one thing leading to the other, I moved to Austria with my wife just over two years ago. Since this time, I started working as a marketing consultant, and have been involved in a number of campaigns and projects, everything from SEO to Social Media engagement, original content creation, video and graphics works, and the list goes on.
What interests me most about MindMeister is the untapped potential of every single one of our users. Sure, MindMeister is a great way to map out thoughts and ideas, but what gets me going are some of the truly incredible ways some individuals and companies are using our product. Toss the GeistesBlitz arm of MindMeister’s services in there, and you’ve got some truly staggering power at your fingertips.
So thanks again to Michael and the entire MindMeister team for their more than welcoming gestures. And thank you to all of you who’ve made MindMeister a success thus far.
As I’m now privy to see what’s going on behind the scenes at the MindMeister camp, I’m not willing to tell you what we’ve got in store over the next few months, but I will say this….watch this space, as some new and exciting things will start appearing soon!
This is the weblog of www.mindmeister.com, the online mind mapping tool. In the true spirit of Web 2.0 we've decided to abandon our anti-social news page for a nice commentable blog. There are lots of greatmind mappingblogs out there so we'll restrict ourselves to discussing MindMeister related stuff only (that's a promise!). Find out more
If adding your voice and opinion to the conversation here at MindMeister isn’t enough to get you excited about filling out a 
What’s the solution? If you’re tired of scraping by you’ve got to create. If you want to move out of your apartment or make more than minimum wage, you’ve got to create. If you want a big house overlooking the ocean, to travel first class, to quit your job, or to drive your dream car, guess what? The answer is in the other 8 hours. The answer is to shift from being a full-time consumer to being a part-time Cre8tor.
From now until the end of 2009, we’re offering a 15% discount on all Premium Account upgrades and purchases. Remember, Premium account holders have access to:
Users of our Business and Academic Editions now have the option to pay on a monthly basis, as opposed to yearly. This now means that users will only pay for the time that they need to use our service – short projects, annual reviews, etc. At the same time, should Team Users opt for a yearly subscription, we’re now offering 2 months for free.
I must admit, prior to sitting down with Michael and talking through what MindMeister is, and what you can accomplish with it, I hadn’t really used a service like this before. Fast forward just a few days, and I’ve started mapping out a few projects that I’m working on, adding timelines, due dates, priority, connections, links…in other words, I’ve tasted the MindMeister kool-aid, and I’m hooked.