IT Nerds Turning To Mind Mapping For Complex Problem Solving

by Brad Isaac May 11, 2009
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CIO magazine interviewed me recently about Mind Mapping and why I use it.  The article appeared last night: Brad Isaac, CIO at Breslow Starling Frost Warner, an accounting firm, uses a mind mapping application from Mindjet for project management. In situations like deploying a new server, mind mapping helps him keep track of the project […]

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Money is Boring – 2 Simple & Powerful Questions Breathe New Life Into Stale Goals

by Brad Isaac April 29, 2009

Need more perspective on your major goals?  You might need to ask the right questions. Check out this video: I think the first question is easy.  What do you want?  You – at least have a broad perspective on the answer.  Then, of course, you should refine it so it is specific I think when […]

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Eat With Silverware, Lose Some Weight

by Brad Isaac April 22, 2009

People often comment about me being thin – maybe too thin.  I can’t help but feel the trick I am about to tell you has something to do to keep lean. When I was in ROTC boot camp at Quantico, the drill sergeants felt they needed to teach us everything from the ground up. Yes, […]

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Will TaskBlaze Kill Twitter? This Reader Thinks So…

by Brad Isaac April 10, 2009
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I am still excited to be coding TaskBlaze’s next generation of features – including new automatic posting of tasks to Twitter.  But apparently not everyone happy.  In one email, the writer indicated the new TweetBlaze feature will kill Twitter. But before I get further into that subject, I want to mention the TaskBlaze updates since […]

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New TaskBlaze with Twitter Messaging, Custom Skins & More…

by Brad Isaac April 7, 2009

The new TaskBlaze beta is here! What is TaskBlaze? TaskBlaze is simply the easiest task timer and tracker you’ve ever used.  Plus, it’s the most precise and effective.  It automatically updates your Outlook or Google calendar with the exact time you spent on your task. So accounting for your time, being more effective, billing, making […]

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How Learning About ‘Different’ People Can Decrease Ignorance

by Brad Isaac April 2, 2009

My wife and I didn’t know we had a problem. Our son had gone from being a kind and lovable boy of 10 to someone prone to violent tantrums, outrageously offensive remarks to other kids, parents and teachers.  He was getting suspended from school on a weekly basis for incidents I thought were borderline crazy. […]

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TaskBlaze Task Timer is Back!

by Brad Isaac March 31, 2009

Many people love TaskBlaze.  But admittedly, there are some headaches.  Those who use the old Beta version know it’s got some bugs.  Although it looks simple, there’s a lot of coding that went into building it.

 
Default Skin

Well, I’ve been burning the midnight oil on the latest version.  It fixes a lot of bugs and introduces new features too.  I am tidying up a few things and then will post a beta in a few days.

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come:

  1. Post what you are doing to Twitter – Feeling social?  You can now Tweet what you are doing via TaskBlaze!  When you start a new task, your you can set it so your task-tweet automatically gets posted to Twitter.   Integration with Facebook and other services on the way.
  2. New Timer Engine – I rebuilt the timing engine so it is much more reliable, easier to understand, and more bulletproof.
  3. Improved skinning – Those of you who like customizing TaskBlaze can now go hog wild.  Skinning is now “folder based.”  That means pop your skin into a folder and pick it from a dropdown.  You can have as many different skins as you want.
  4. Left4Dead Smoker Skin

  5. No more textbox clutter – Want to see your skin?  The Textboxes now hide to display your task, tags and other relevant info.
  6. Font color picker – Choose the color of the fonts displayed in Taskblaze.
  7. 30 Second Throbber -  What’s a throbber?  In the case of TaskBlaze, it is a ‘blink’ of your main button to catch your attention and remind you to stay on task.  Many wanted this feature.  It’s in the new beta.
  8. Display optimized for older PCs – There was a display headache with older PCs where Taskblaze would look funky.  This newly optimized display works for those PCs.
  9. Send to a friend – Many of you indicated you wanted an easier way to share the pleasures of TaskBlaze.  Now with the click of a button, TaskBlaze will create you an email that you can customize and send the download link to your friends.

 

Blueblazin’ Skin

I am especially thrilled with the Twitter posting abilities of the new version.  Where Twitter asks “What are you doing now”.  With TaskBlaze you can tell people really what you are doing and track it at the same time. :)  

So check back in a few days and I’ll have a new Beta ready for testing.

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