Stanza is a great book-reading application for the iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle, Mac and PC. So far I have only tested it on the iPhone, but I’m most impressed. It’s controlled by tapping three areas on the screen: left to go back, middle for configuration, and right to move forward. The font size is adjustable so you can make the text as easy to read as you like. There’s even a great feature to rotation-lock the phone so that if you’re reading it lying on your side it doesn’t auto-rotate.

Stanza offers a range of
classic texts for free

What I’m finding nicest, though, is the free books that are available. I’m currently reading through Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, and have several more classic texts lined up for when that’s done. If the library of free books turns up nothing, you can always digitise your own texts with the desktop application and import them to your mobile library. This is great if you want to read a document on the go but have struggled with the iPhone’s PDF display.

If you’re on any of the supported platforms, give Stanza a go. It’s a surprisingly simple idea (I mean, all it lets you do is read books!) but it’s become one of those tools I just can’t do without. Why not let us know how you get on with it in the comments?

HT: Headphonaught @ The Nanolog

Imagine the scene: You have a file (or files) that you need to share with someone else, how do you do it? I suppose the simple answer is as email attachment(s), but it’s not always that simple! What if you need to share it with more than one person? Do you have all the addresses? Will they be able to receive the files? Which format do you use?

This is where Drop.io comes in useful. It’s a free service, although there are extra benefits available for a small subscription. To quote: Drop.io is the simplest way to share files online. Simply set up a private space to drop any files by phone, email, web, widget or fax and then share them with whoever you want via a variety of outputs.

You can create a file sharing site and give people the address. It can be temporary or permanent, and you can choose how long before it deletes. If you want people to share files, links, photos or notes with you, simply give them the address of a drop! You can protect yourself by using a widget on a blog or website that keeps the address of the drop secret, although I have a public drop and have not found that it’s abused! Occasionally I have uploaded something private, I’ve simply encrypted it with AxCrypt first.

To quote again: A drop is a chunk of space you can use to store and share anything privately (pictures, videos, audio, documents, etc.), without accounts, registration, or an email address. Drops are not “searchable” and not “networked;” they just exist online as private points for exchange between individuals or groups.  Create as many drops as you want in as little as two clicks and set things like a password, whether others can add to the drop, and how long you want it to exist (you can renew later).

They’ve added extra features recently, there are some excellent built-in viewers, and there’s also a Firefox plugin! Check it out!

Image by billaday

They say school days are the best days of your life… I used to think “they” were crazy!

When I was at university, you very rarely saw anyone with a laptop in a lecture, and if they did have one you could be pretty sure they weren’t paying attention to the lecturer! Nowadays, though, personal technology is so pervasive that it would be unusual to attend a lecture and not see at least one laptop on a desk.

EDUChoices, a website dedicated to helping people make the right educational choices, lists ten cool gadgets for the keen student, ranging from the obviously useful pen-top computer to the more abstractly thought out hot-dog toaster! The list actually contains some great tech, so check it out… And if you’re not a student? What the heck - you might see something you like anyway! Personally, I’m rather taken with the pen-top computer!

EDUChoice’s 10 Awesome Gadgets That Even College Students Can Afford

Control your computers from a distance
with LogMeIn.com

When people hear I used to work in IT they often ask if I’ll have a look at their computer, which has been playing up ever since they installed that free program they downloaded last week. “Yeh, OK” I say - knowing full well that I was a Java and COBOL programmer, and have no idea what Windows is up to under the hood - and heaven-help me if someone asked me to look at a *nix system like Linux or a Mac!

Having said that, many problems can be solved by working through logical steps… this is hard if you’re not physically at the person’s computer, as you can’t see what you’re doing over the phone. LogMeIn, however, gives you the ability to remotely control someone’s computer and work on it as if you were right there!

Setting up an account on LogMeIn.com is quick and easy, and setting up a new computer for remote access is as simple as logging into your account and clicking on “Add Computer”. The software is downloaded, and the computer then appears the list of machines you have available to you. There is a disadvantage, though: either you have to have been on the remote machine to install the software, or you have to give your friend access to your LogMeIn account and let them install it… personally, I wouldn’t be happy giving someone else my login details, so I’d have to go along and install the software myself, and I might as well fix their computer while I’m there!

I do have a use for this, though. I have it installed on my home Mac, and my work PC - and I can access them both from any computer with an Internet connection! OK, so I can’t actually download any files from them, but I can look at them on-screen, and can e-mail them to myself by controlling the e-mail app. It’s also great to see that this works equally well on Macs and PCs. There’s even a Firefox extension to make controlling your remote computers quicker (without the extension, you will have to use a Java applet).

LogMeIn is a simple, free way of controlling computers by remote. Whether it’s for support, a file you’re forgotten, or just to freak your friends out by moving their mouse pointer, it’s worth a look. It might just save your life one day… (no, not really).

Visit LogMeIn.com to sign up.

Monitor network use
from your menubar.

All good geeks want to know what’s happening inside their computers, don’t they? What do you mean, “no”? Well, OK… but for those who do, and who use a Mac, there’s a nifty way of getting your system information into the menu bar so that you can keep an eye on it without having to open another program.

iSlayer’s iStat menus allow you to populate your menu bar with mini widgets that can help you keep an eye on the computer’s temperature, network usage, memory usage, and a raft of other useful information.

Some of you might be wondering why on earth you would want to do this, but there are a few things it can be good to monitor. Network usage, for instance. On Windows I was always able to get the network icon in the system tray and see from that whether my computer was transmitting or receiving network data. I haven’t found such an option on the Mac, so by adding a network monitor to my menu bar I can now see when the network is in use. That’s great if you’re worried about malware sending sensitive data home, or if you just want to see whether Firefox is working hard or has stopped working altogether :)

Monitoring memory or CPU usage can also tell you whether you are overtaxing your computer and should shut a few programs down, whilst monitoring the disk usage and activity can tell you whether you are running out of space (at a glance) or whether a poorly program is constantly trying to read data.

In the normal course of things you shouldn’t really have to care about this stuff, but if your computer starts acting a little odd it’s great to be able to do a little diagnosis quickly.

While we’re thinking about it, it’s worth pointing out that iSlayer also provide two system monitoring widgets for the dashboard and a nifty to-do manager. All their tools are free, and run on Mac OS X.

If you drive a car you’ll have noticed that fuel prices are pretty high at the moment, and I guess you’ve at least considered ways to cut down on the amount of money you’re spending on running your vehicle. As part of that, how about keeping track of when you fill up, how much fuel you put in, and your car’s fuel economy? Sounds like a lot of work, but FuelFrog can make the whole process nice and easy.

I’ve been tracking my fuel use for a few months now, and it’s handy to be able to see whether the car is performing well and whether I’m filling up more often than I would expect. As I can claim expenses for business miles, it’s also handy to be able to see whether the amount I’m given is covering the cost of fuel purchases.

By simply entering the distance travelled on your last tank, the price per gallon/litre, and the gallons/litres of fuel added FuelFrog will calculate your fuel economy and keep a record of your fillup. You can even tell the site what measuring system you use (e.g. the UK system of buying fuel in litres, but measuring economy in miles per gallon). And for one last piece of statistical fun, you can specify what car you are driving too.

FuelFrog also accepts updates from Twitter, meaning that you can update via SMS if you want to.

FuelFrog is free to use, and a handy way to track your fuel usage. Now to work out how to save fuel so that I’m not spending so much!

Papershow: making interactive meetings easier.

I’ve been trialling a new product over the last few weeks called Papershow. The Papershow website proudly proclaims that it will help you survive meetings, which is a pretty bold claim. I have to say that, while my meeting survival rate is up for debate, I’ve been pretty impressed with what I’ve seen.

Papershow is a bluetooth pen and USB dongle: the dongle plugs into your Windows PC and contains all the drivers and software needed to operate the pen. This, in combination with special paper, means that anything you draw or write in your notebook happens on-screen as well. It’s basically a smartboard that you control by drawing on paper rather than on the board itself. If you choose, your scrawls could then be projected for everyone to see in real-time.

But why not use a proper smartboard instead? Well, if that’s what you really want to do there’s no reason not to, but Papershow gives you another option. Choice is good, remember :) I find that the constant tapping on a smartboard is a little annoying, so it’s good not to have that. It’s also good to be able to pass the pen and notebook to someone else if they want to contribute to a diagram without having to wait for them to make their way to the board. The downside, though, is that it’s a bit odd not to have the person “presenting” actually standing at the front of the room, and if you are presenting yourself it’s a bit strange not being able to simply point to something on the board that you want to emphasise.

Having said that, this is a great piece of kit. The pen is thicker than normal but still easy to write with. The icons on the notebook take a bit of getting used to, but once you’re up to speed you can be changing colour, line thickness, and so on as if there’s no tomorrow. The pen and software are nice and responsive, and even managed to keep up with the hieroglyphs I laughingly call my handwriting.

The only thing that comes to mind as needing improvement is the manual; the booklet you get with the Papershow tells you how to get up and running, but it’s not particularly in-depth. Whilst Papershow is quite intuitive, I did spend quite a bit of time trying to work out how to wipe my documents off the dongle again. Perhaps a comprehensive manual would be a good idea for people who don’t want to play around with the software, or are afraid to do so in case they break something.

Oh, and one more nice feature to finish up with: you can import powerpoint slides and draw all over them. You have to use the special paper again, and this means printing your powerpoint out beforehand, but it is a good way of getting interaction in meetings by letting people write on your presentation. What this does mean, though, is that using Papershow isn’t quite as spontaneous as it looks in the promotional videos: you can’t just wander into a meeting, randomly pull your pen out, and start doodling away… but with a bit of forethought I can see this being a useful tool to have available.

For more information on Papershow, visit their site at www.survivingmeetings.com.

Well, I’m writing this post using it, so if this is a disaster I guess we’ll have our answer!

Set up is nice and easy: just install the app, open it up and enter your blog’s details (URL, username and password). The app then loads your last thirty posts and your categories. Writing a post is as simple as writing an email, with the only real problem being fat fingers on a small keyboard. There’s even the facility to add photos you’ve taken on them built in camera.

So this does actually make blogging about as easy as it can be given the limitations of using a mobile device… I wouldn’t want to try and write a huge post, but it’s certainly useful. Think I’ll keep it :)

Screenshots

  
  

OK, so we’re onto the final piece of software for mindmapping; a rather nifty Mac utility called Mindnode. What’s it like?

Unlike Freemind and Mind42.com, Mindnode has been built specifically for the Mac. Whilst that does restrict its target audience a bit, it also means that it actually looks and feels like a Mac application. But is it easy to use?

One thing I have noticed whilst looking at the various options for mindmapping is that each has different keyboard shortcuts. Once again, Mindnode is a bit different with Return creating a new sibling node, and Apple-Return creating a new child. Interestingly, Shift-Return actually creates a new root node, meaning you can have several mindmaps on the page at the same time.

The layout didn’t quite work properly
Click to enlarge

Once you’re used to adding nodes there’s not much else to this program. It does what it says in the tin: lets you create mindmaps. There is the option to recolour nodes and fiddle with fonts, but in the end all you really need it to do is draw a mindmap… and that’s what it does! I did find that the node positioning was a bit funny when just left to the default: it didn’t seem to realise that nodes were overlapping and just left them to it.

Some manual adjustments fixed the problem, but it is annoying. In the author’s defence, he is one man building what looks like a very polished application. The layout bug has been submitted, and I trust we will see a fix at some point. Other than this, though, Mindnode functions well, and even does that whole preview thing where the icon on your saved mindmaps is a tiny representation of the map you created.

Mindnode - nice face, shame about the bugs
Yes, another test map - click to enlarge

I think Mindnode produces the best looking maps so far, but it does suffer from having to manually adjust the placement of the nodes. Generally a decent piece of software, and easy to use, but needs a bug-fix soon.

Download Mindnode here.

Conclusion

So, over the last few posts we’ve looked at what mindmapping is (taking notes in a visual way by drawing the relationships between terms), and some tools to help you make use of it. Freemind, which works on any platform that has Java, Mind42.com, which lets you work in your browser, and Mindnode, a nifty but slightly flawed Mac app. There are a load more programs, sites, and techniques out there - if you think I have missed anything vital, please post it in the comments.

The real trick with mindmapping is just to see if it works for you. If not, don’t sweat it… find another note-taking technique that does. Even if mindmapping does work for you, you may find that you work best drawing maps by hand. Who knows? I hope that I have given you some starting points to explore this… now go, try it out, and let us know how you get on :)

Other posts in this series:

• Take effective notes with mindmaps
• Creating mindmaps with Freemind
• Creating mindmaps with Mind42

John already mentioned the main idea behind Mind42 in his comment: the 42 is, “for two”… Mind42 is intended as a way of allowing multiple people to work on the same mindmap. Now, before we go any further, I have to say that I haven’t tested collaboration in Mind42 - I’ve been using it as a mindmapping tool for when I’m not on my home computer. If anyone has experience of collaboration, please let us know in the comments! But just how easy is it to create a mindmap using this?

My major gripe about using online tools is that they tend to be a bit more clunky than desktop versions. Mind42, however, is actually pretty easy to use. You create a new mindmap and name it, and then have the option of clicking with the mouse or using keyboard shortcuts to create nodes. The tab key adds a new child node, while shift-tab adds a new sibling. This is where web-apps often fall down, but Mind42’s shortcuts make working without the mouse a piece of cake… at least for the basics.

Each node can be customised, adding attachments, URLs, converting the node to an image, or changing the colour. This opens up some creative opportunities that may make your map more intuitive when you come to look at it again later.

Mind42 also allows you to integrate your mindmap into a website either by a link, or using an iFrame to display the map (yes, yes, it’s another test map - it’s not meant to be that serious!).

You can also export your map as a PDF, PNG, RTF, MindManager, or Freemind document - handy if you do want to work online but ultimately prefer to work in your favourite program afterwards.

In short, Mind42 is easy to use once you get used to the keyboard shortcuts, does everything you’d expect for building mindmaps, and integrates with other program through export (and import) options. All in all, not too shabby.

Give it a go yourself!

Other posts in this series:

• Take effective notes with mindmaps
• Creating mindmaps with Freemind
• Creating mindmaps with Mindnode