Connected Mind

Company / Author

Keith Coughtrey

Screenshots

Click for enlarged image.

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What they say

“Draw unique and memorable mind maps, store them in the cloud for free and access them anywhere.

Connected Mind is all about making connections.

To make your mind maps unique and memorable so they are easy to imprint on your mind, it aims to give you the same flexibility as you have with a hand-drawn map. All items are drawn by the user rather than set out automatically, so you don’t end up with maps that all look the same. This visual distinctiveness helps you make the neuron connections.

Connected Mind also embraces the internet as the ultimate learning resource and by being a browser-based tool, makes it easy to connect to references on the web and include rich web content and links in your notes.

There is no limit to the number of maps you can create and you can store them in the free cloud storage provided. There is no need to create an account. Simply sign in with your Google or GMail credentials and your maps can be stored in the cloud on a google database.

Once stored in the cloud, you can access your mind maps from any device that has Google Chrome installed.

Features

• Complete control over map layout
• Unlimited undo/redo
• Shortcut keys for common operations
• Speech recognition – speak the text of your branches
• Free cloud storage for every user (no need to create an account)
• Choice of over 60 fonts that don’t need to be installed
• Add rich format notes, including images and links, to any map item
• Notes displayed as you move your mouse over items
• Choice of 27 shapes, with color gradient fills
• Images added to your maps can be sized and clipped to any supported shape
• Autosaves after every change
• Have multiple maps open, with thumbnail images of each for selection
• Copy & paste between maps
• Import maps created in Freemind”

Observations

This is an iPad / Google Chrome / Android app. Colorful, organic, funky and aimed at classroom use. Mobile editions can connect to the Cloud. It has some rough edges, despite the spiffy appearance. There’s no zooming – the only mind mapper I can think of with that limitation. But the biggest issue is that objects are not really connected, so move one, and all the things connected to it stay where they are – each has to be adjusted one by one. This makes mapping with Connected Mind very slow. There are no branch outlines. There’s no export function not even to export images (users have to use a window print utility or PrintScreen). Maps cannot be embedded in web pages, other than as images. It has promise, but it’s not there yet. Review: http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping/blog/2011/09/the-un-connected-mind/

Their website

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/connected-mind/id659803223?mt=8 – Live

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.connectedmind.free – Dead

Operating System(s)

iPad | Android | browser based | Google Chrome |

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Price: Free; Android: $3  |  Status: Current  |  Date added: 2011-09-06