Learn to think visually - Chuck Frey interview Jamie Nast

Jamie Nast, author of "Idea Mapping" best-seller book, is interviewed by Chuck Frey, editor of the the mindmapping software blog.


I have found this statement quite true "At every level of the organization the challenge is how leaders can get their arms around an overwhelming amount of information, make sense out of it, and then take the appropriate actions...".

Read the full interview here.

Zoho Share

Zoho has just announced the newest member of its family - Zoho Share; it's one more place for one to share their files.

Zoho says:

Zoho Share is a service where the user can browse and share favourite files..

Browse:Browse files based on different file types Presentations, Documents, PDF and Spreadsheets based on time, popularity, license, tags or search your favourite documents with the prefered keywords..

Share:Upload your favourite files and publish it with the license you prefer to.

Getting Serious About Getting Things Done

This Business Week article presents David Allen and his GTD methodology; text in fact is a brief description of GTS; no news for those who have already read Allen's first book "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity", but is quite recomended for all newcomers.


Also in Lifehacker.

Which is the best to-do list manager ?

Thousands of readers voted in Lifehacker for the to-do list manager they like most.

I have personally voted for MindManager, but the good and old pen'n'paper is used for near 1/3 of readers; this the final result:

• Pen and Paper 29% (1262 votes)
• Microsoft Outlook 23% (1000 votes)
• Remember the Milk 19% (826 votes)
• Plain Text 12% (532 votes)
• Todoist 4% (177 votes)
• Other 11% (487 votes)

To see details of each tool, follow this link to the original post.

40 years of the mouse (no, not Mickey Mouse)

Our loved friend completes 40 years this year ! Cheers to Doug Engelbart !

In 1968, the first version of what we now know as a mouse was presented by Douglas Engelbart at the Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, CA. The first comercial computer delivered with a mouse was the Apple Lisa, in 1983; now, the estimatives are that 400 million mice are sold every year.


I use a mouse at home (do not like the touchpad of my laptop) but do not use at work (love the IBM trackpoint of my T61 Thinkpad) - what is the future of the mouse ? how long will it survive ? what technology will make it obsolete ? what is the creative option ?

The sites we like most

Here at The Creative Option, we are addicted to some sites, we can't stay a day without reading all new posts; these are some of them:

• Lifehacker - our "bible", how can someone live without it in his newsreader ?
• Lifehacker Australia - a Lifehacker with local touch from Australia
• 43Folders - want the news about GTD and personal productivity ? Found it !
• Mindmapping software blog - news, resources, researchs on mind mapping.
• Michael on Mind Mapping - "everything you need to know about how to use mind mapping..."
• Opção Criativa - our blog in portuguese

Comments are welcome.

MobileMe - the cloud service from Apple

After some issues identified when MobileMe was launched in July, the service seems to be stable now, and new minor enhancements are done constantly.

MobileMe is the cloud service from Apple, targeted at iPhone users, but even Windows PC users will benefity from the service. If offers a list of services that, although missing some features that may keep power users away, will serve the majority of customers looking for a basic synchronization service.

The services offered are:

• Calendar
• To-do list integrated to calendar
  
• Contacts
• e-mail (imap, with 5 aliases)
• File archive
• Photo management
• Sync with Windows, Mac and iPhone
• 20Gb of storage

When we compare every single application to their established competitors, Apple's MobileMe seems to be a decade behind them, but to have all applications in the same place, and the information sync'ed among all user devices and accessible from web demands attention.

A 60 day trial account is available, so every one can try if before commiting US$99/year (or US$145/year for a family account).

Comments are welcome.

"The Creative Option" is your new option

This is the launch of "The Creative Option" blog, the english version of the famous "Opção Criativa", edited in portuguese.

To create an english version was already in our development plan, as we are now able to reach a much higher number of readers.
We hope you all enjoy our posts and tips about productivity, creativity, colaboration and mind-mapping. Comments are always welcome.
Have a nice life !