MyThoughts for Mac
05/07/11 23:16 Filed in: Software
The bears are big fans of the whole idea of mindmapping. Not always the practice, but they love the idea. That said, they have often felt that the Mac was not well served by the mindmapping software available.
To put it bluntly, the options were uninspiring. Novamind had been one of the early leaders, until it lost its way in the prolonged development of version 5, which seems to allow endless tweaking of the look of your mindmap, rather than making it easy to capture your thoughts. iMindMap promised much with its newest version (also 5), including a new “native interface”. You might have thought that this meant an end to the Java front-end, but it didn’t. The new version has another Java front-end, different but no better. The program also loses some of the features that the previous version had. Mindjet MindManager for Mac is up to version 9, but the last few versions appear to have been attempts to extract additional upgrade fees out of users without really adding to the program’s functionality. The export of mindmaps to Pages and Word is still bug-ridden and clunky.
There is MindNode Pro, which is a very nice little program, if a little basic. But there is one shining light in the Mac mindmap firmament. MyThoughts for Mac combines a native Mac front-end with the ease of use that you would expect. It has some really neat clip art and all the features that you could reasonably expect (or need). While it doesn’t have an iPhone or iPad version (have you tried mindmapping on an iPhone?), there are other good mindmapping solutions for the iPad if you need this flexibility.
MyThoughts has a very nice notes editor and browser, if you want to add additional notes. It supports floating text and hyperlinks - which can either be links to files or URLs. It lets you specify the fonts to use for each level of your mindmap (that may may seem a small matter, but not all Mac mindmapping tools allow this). It also allows you to add relationships to link topics.
You can collapse branches to avoid clutter and have a good level of control over the shape and position of branches. If you want to use boxes for branches you can do that too. You have a good degree of control over printing, with the ability to add headers, footers and images to the printout. You can also align and scale the map to make best use of the paper.
You can import from FreeMind and OPML files. For exporting, MyThoughts can save mindmaps as PDFs, RTF, OPML and Word documents or as an image file. The latest release as at the time of this update (1.3.0) features a number of enhancements for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).
The interface is elegant and uncluttered, allowing you to concentrate on capturing your ideas quickly and easily. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t lavish some care and attention on your mindmap. MyThoughts actually turns out some of the best looking mindmaps around. Best of all, it is produced by a small software house that is attentive and responsive. MyThoughts for Mac is available both at the Mac App Store and direct from Mode de Vie.
To put it bluntly, the options were uninspiring. Novamind had been one of the early leaders, until it lost its way in the prolonged development of version 5, which seems to allow endless tweaking of the look of your mindmap, rather than making it easy to capture your thoughts. iMindMap promised much with its newest version (also 5), including a new “native interface”. You might have thought that this meant an end to the Java front-end, but it didn’t. The new version has another Java front-end, different but no better. The program also loses some of the features that the previous version had. Mindjet MindManager for Mac is up to version 9, but the last few versions appear to have been attempts to extract additional upgrade fees out of users without really adding to the program’s functionality. The export of mindmaps to Pages and Word is still bug-ridden and clunky.
There is MindNode Pro, which is a very nice little program, if a little basic. But there is one shining light in the Mac mindmap firmament. MyThoughts for Mac combines a native Mac front-end with the ease of use that you would expect. It has some really neat clip art and all the features that you could reasonably expect (or need). While it doesn’t have an iPhone or iPad version (have you tried mindmapping on an iPhone?), there are other good mindmapping solutions for the iPad if you need this flexibility.
MyThoughts has a very nice notes editor and browser, if you want to add additional notes. It supports floating text and hyperlinks - which can either be links to files or URLs. It lets you specify the fonts to use for each level of your mindmap (that may may seem a small matter, but not all Mac mindmapping tools allow this). It also allows you to add relationships to link topics.
You can collapse branches to avoid clutter and have a good level of control over the shape and position of branches. If you want to use boxes for branches you can do that too. You have a good degree of control over printing, with the ability to add headers, footers and images to the printout. You can also align and scale the map to make best use of the paper.
You can import from FreeMind and OPML files. For exporting, MyThoughts can save mindmaps as PDFs, RTF, OPML and Word documents or as an image file. The latest release as at the time of this update (1.3.0) features a number of enhancements for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).
The interface is elegant and uncluttered, allowing you to concentrate on capturing your ideas quickly and easily. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t lavish some care and attention on your mindmap. MyThoughts actually turns out some of the best looking mindmaps around. Best of all, it is produced by a small software house that is attentive and responsive. MyThoughts for Mac is available both at the Mac App Store and direct from Mode de Vie.
Apogee Duet 2
12/06/11 11:34 Filed in: Hardware
Time marches on, and Curly's eye tends to stray to the latest and greatest new hardware. So it was with the Apogee Duet 2, which arrived promising better sound than before, fancy OLED displays and support for balanced outputs.
As Curly pointed out to me, this meant that he could connect up his Quad active speakers directly without any of the electrical gremlins that afflicted the previous setup. Once he had shown me the OLED displays and touch buttons, the sale was made. In this case, we used Digital Village. Since this was a pre-order and Apogee eventually delayed the launch, I was very impressed that Digital Village kept me updated and gave me the chance to cancel as the dates shifted. Anyway, Curly and I showed unparalleled patience and eventually the Duet 2 arrived.
The new box is roughly a similar size to the old one, but very different in looks with an inlaid black plastic front that hides the two touch sensitive controls and OLED displays. There is now a USB 2.0 connection rather than FireWire - probably because FireWire's days appear numbered rather than any failings in it as a standard. The new breakout cables combine some of the previous connections to reduce the bulk.
So how does it sound? In a word, lovely. The sound is indeed very pleasing. Is it much better than the existing Duet in sound quality? It isn't night and day, but it does seem to offer a slightly better overall sound. The new features are nice too, and the unit does look very good.
The downsides are that the delays in launch seem symptomatic of Apogee struggling to get the units ready in time (in fact, supplies still seem to be erratic). There have been a few firmware updates already and the unit has tended to lose connection with the Mac rather more frequently than Curly would like. It also tends to send a nasty spike through the speakers on boot up. However, the latest driver and firmware versions are showing some promise so things are improving. A beta version appeared on launch day for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), which was very welcome.
It has been a slightly bumpy launch, but the hardware shows plenty of promise. It isn't a big jump over the original Duet (which is still an excellent piece of kit), and there are not really too many compelling reasons to upgrade. But I'm sure Apogee will continue to hone the drivers and firmware and show the Duet 2 to be a fine little unit.
As Curly pointed out to me, this meant that he could connect up his Quad active speakers directly without any of the electrical gremlins that afflicted the previous setup. Once he had shown me the OLED displays and touch buttons, the sale was made. In this case, we used Digital Village. Since this was a pre-order and Apogee eventually delayed the launch, I was very impressed that Digital Village kept me updated and gave me the chance to cancel as the dates shifted. Anyway, Curly and I showed unparalleled patience and eventually the Duet 2 arrived.
The new box is roughly a similar size to the old one, but very different in looks with an inlaid black plastic front that hides the two touch sensitive controls and OLED displays. There is now a USB 2.0 connection rather than FireWire - probably because FireWire's days appear numbered rather than any failings in it as a standard. The new breakout cables combine some of the previous connections to reduce the bulk.
So how does it sound? In a word, lovely. The sound is indeed very pleasing. Is it much better than the existing Duet in sound quality? It isn't night and day, but it does seem to offer a slightly better overall sound. The new features are nice too, and the unit does look very good.
The downsides are that the delays in launch seem symptomatic of Apogee struggling to get the units ready in time (in fact, supplies still seem to be erratic). There have been a few firmware updates already and the unit has tended to lose connection with the Mac rather more frequently than Curly would like. It also tends to send a nasty spike through the speakers on boot up. However, the latest driver and firmware versions are showing some promise so things are improving. A beta version appeared on launch day for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), which was very welcome.
It has been a slightly bumpy launch, but the hardware shows plenty of promise. It isn't a big jump over the original Duet (which is still an excellent piece of kit), and there are not really too many compelling reasons to upgrade. But I'm sure Apogee will continue to hone the drivers and firmware and show the Duet 2 to be a fine little unit.