There are many commercially available software tools for creating and manipulating mindmaps. The premier free and open source alternative is called FreeMind. It is a high productivity tool, written in Java (runs on any platform that has Java – Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) and provides all needed functionality for creating, editing and printing mindmaps:

So you want to write a completely new metaphysics? Why don’t you use FreeMind? You have a tool at hand that remarkably resembles the tray slips of Robert Pirsig, described in his sequel to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance called Lila. Do you want to refactor your essays in a similar way you would refactor software? Or do you want to keep personal knowledge base, which is easy to manage? Why don’t you try FreeMind? Do you want to prioritize, know where you are, where you’ve been and where you are heading, as Stephen Covey would advise you? Have you tried FreeMind to keep track of all the things that are needed for that?

Here is a nice overview/tutorial on FreeMind‘s main features:

Update: Other interesting services for tracking airplanes:
http://www.airnavlive.com – geo mapping of flights, similar to RadarVirtuel
http://data.flight24.com – live flight tracking
http://www.flightstats.com – live flight tracking

TinEye is the “reverse image search engine” you need – you just have to upload your image (or give the URL-address, if it is published on a webpage), and you will get results from other pages, containing the same image. It gives you the chance to learn what it is, since you will probbably get pages, containing info about it. Here is how it works:

It is also a good tool to see who is using your images

It also allows you to publish your own stories and books for kids. And to send paper books for digitizing.

What’s the Deal with ePub Bud?
Well, it’s pretty much just “YouTube for Children’s eBooks.”

So far, it features hundreds of children’s books in epub format (hence the name of the site), with covers, short synopsis, suitable age, ratings and reviews, etc. It looks like a project with a lot of potential to grow and be really useful.

[via Michel]

I am also very keen on learning new things and gathering knowledge in various spheres of life. So, I was very excited, when several years ago, one of the most prominent universities in the IT sphere – the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), decided to start an innovative project – to make the courses, taught to MIT students, available online. Since then, many universities have made this step, and as a result, you can now “attend” top universities’ courses from the comfort of your own home, to mix and match content according to your own interests and needs, and to design unique curricula for yourselves.

So here is (hopefully, an ever growing) list of links to the publicly available university courses and other knowledge resources:

Academic Earth [http://www.academicearth.org/]
MIT Open CourseWare (OCW) project [http://ocw.mit.edu]
MIT World [http://mitworld.mit.edu]
UC Berkeley Webcasts [http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php]
Open Yale Courses [http://oyc.yale.edu]
Apple iTunes U [http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning]
Research Channel Video Library [http://www.researchchannel.org]
Sceince Stage [http://sciencestage.com]
TeacherTube [http://www.teachertube.com]
TED Talks [http://www.ted.com]
Udemy [http://www.udemy.com]
videolectures.net [http://videolectures.net]
YouTube EDU [http://www.youtube.com/education]
Yovisto [http://www.yovisto.com]
RSA [http://www.thersa.org]
Open CourseWare Consortium [http://www.ocwconsortium.org]

Feel free to propose other valuable resources, that belong to the list. Also, be sure to revisit this article, as it is my intention to keep the list updated as I find other valuable resources.

[Image by svilen001, taken from www.sxc.hu]

MagCloud started as an HP Labs incubation project to evaluate new, online marketplaces for buying and selling custom and niche magazines with print on demand fulfillment. MagCloud is inventing new ways to bring consumers and publishers together in a web-based marketplace where choice, flexibility and print on demand are the cornerstones of the community.

Give it a try!

As it is described on their website:

Introducing AlwaysOnPC, the world’s first personal cloud computer that works from any device, anywhere – including your iPhone™.

Your own online virtual personal computer loaded with a full set of applications and 2 GB of personal file storage. Accessible from an iPhone (other platforms tba) as well as any netbook, laptop, desktop, Internet kiosk.

The service includes an always-on PC with 2 GB of storage, available for documents, files, photos, etc. It is ideal for the travelers, who need to access their desktop remotely from different locations – a computer, their iPhone and soon-to-come other internet-connected platforms. It includes a variety of applications:

• Internet applications – Firefox browser, Email client, Instant messenger (supporting multiple IM services, such as AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, etc.)
• Office package (Word processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation application, Project-management application)
• Utilities (Contacts manager, Calendar, Text editor, Archive manager, Calculator, Dictionary, etc.)
• Multimedia (Movie player (no sound for the time being!), GIMP – a full-featured image editor, etc.)
• Games (17 board and puzzle games)

and even some heavy-duty programming tools including Eclipse and Glade interface designer.

Important! You can get a free registration to try it for 5 days, but in order to get the service permanent, you have to download the AlwaysOnPC app from the Apple AppStore (a one-time 29.99 USD) and login from your iPhone or iPod.
From Xform Computing.

Google Wave has been presented at the Google I/O 2009. I was amazed when I watched the demo presentation, the features and functionality combined in such a simple and convenient way! And what is amazing for me is the fact, that the technology is as equally appealing for the teenager as it is for the corporate manager! And bearing so much potential for future uses, that it will change the way people communicate, just like Skype did. Have a look:

[Via Seth Godin. Didn't I tell you to follow his blog's RSS feed?]