CNET Editors' review
PersonalBrain is a full-featured mind-mapping program, designed to create a "digital home for your mind" that can help you visually organize almost any sort of process or project as a dynamic, interconnected system of Thoughts (called a Brain). PersonalBrain gives you a fairly intuitive interface for collecting, organizing, viewing, and navigating ideas, tasks, Web sites, related documents, and more.
Whether you're building a complex Web site or conducting academic research, this app can help you build searchable networks of information with tools for taking notes, creating shortcuts (pins), zooming out to get a higher-level view of your Brain (with "Distant Thoughts" and Outline views), and even generating reports. WebBrain publishing lets you sync a Brain between multiple machines, or upload a version for fellow collaborators to see. A new Transparent mode also lets you view a Brain directly on top of any other application without obscuring it, for a futuristic HUD vibe--and a related Mini mode makes it easy to keep a floating search box handy. PersonalBrain also has nice extras like a global system of tags and types, a calendar that can sync with Google Calendars, a full-screen Presentation Mode, support for HTML export, and integration with Outlook as well as Spotlight, QuickLook, and core Mac apps like Address Book.
Personal preference can be especially finicky for this sort of software, so definitely try before you buy and check out the app's user guide and tutorials (and even weekly Web trainings). PersonalBrain offers a 30-day trial of its Pro version, although a cheaper Core and much more lightweight Free version are also available.
Publisher's Description
From TheBrain Technologies:
Dynamic mind mapping software that lets you work the way you think. See and do more with PersonalBrain's dynamic user interface and advanced linking software. Organize ideas, projects, contacts, files, and Web pages associatively to capture your thinking and perspective. Use PersonalBrain for business projects or as an "everything in your life manager" so you can get the big picture on all your information and drill down to the right file or detail in seconds. See key relationships and ideas at glance. Map out your thinking and complex business processes. Visualize folder structures, business relationships, contacts and ideas. Navigate across all key topics and information through PersonalBrain's dynamic Thought network. Key features include: animated visual interface, easy drag and drop of files, folders and Web pages, and advanced search and editing.
What's new in this version:
- Updated version of notes editor. Fixes image copy and paste issues on Mac OS X.
- Fixed: Some Brains cannot be opened due to errors while repairing favicons.
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All versions:
3.4 starsout of 5 votes
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Current version:
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My rating:
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Results 1-5 of 5
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"good product"
Version: PersonalBrain 6.0.6.1
Pros
powerful mind-mapping and/or project management tool.
Cons
the build-up of a useful "brain" is hard work
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"Interested But Pass"
Version: PersonalBrain 6.0.4.8
Pros
Just like other mindmap software.
Cons
Expensive, like other mindmap software.
Summary
With the free Xmind available, I don't know why people would pay $250 for mindmap software anymore. Maybe $20 for a personal and $50 for a pro version, but that depends on features and capability. I cut my mindmap teeth on MindJet and ConceptDRAW's products - which are in the same ball park price and feature-wise. So far, Xmind does everything that I need, including linking objects, etc, which is why I haven't had a reason to upgrade from versions 7 and 5 of Mindjet and ConceptDRAW, respectively. Viewing attachments in an app is nice, but there isn't a piece of software that does it without a spinning beachball popping up and slowing a system down, unless one has a lot of RAM - which also is affected by the size of the attachment, size of the app's database, and how many apps they routinely have open.
On top of that, Xmind has a free community. So I don't understand the $250 for the software, and then $6.25/month fee for the WebBrain service. Where as Xmind is $49/year, but that's IF they want to go for the Pro version. Comparison-wise, it's cheaper to go with Xmind (free or $49/year), or PersonalBrain ($224/year or $234/year (includes WebBrain fee)). -
"TheBrain is a great product"
Version: PersonalBrain 5.5.2.0
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
PersonalBrain provides a cross platform tool that allows you to organise your thoughts and data in myriad of ways. In fact once you get used to it, you will stop using finder or explorer to find your files within your file system (which can only have one hierarchy structure) and you
will put them in your brain where you can refer to to them in many different ways.
Think mindmapping Plus data storage Plus search on steroids
Its a really good product
Paul -
"Now I'm happy !"
Version: PersonalBrain 5.0.1.9
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
I stumbled over this tool and I am really happy with it. I am german - so I have to adopt to the missing language flexibility - but the offered way of organizing my thoughts, linking my files and data into this "brain model" is the kind of way to work on a computer I always was looking for. For me it is the next step beyond mindmapping or concept maps which I used until now.
Great Idea and great tool!!!
It is not really cheap, but you still get something useful in the free version.
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"Mac and Java, yeah right."
Version: PersonalBrain 5.0.1.0
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.
Just what I've always wanted, a big, fat, clunky, fugly Java app on my Macintosh. Big surprise that this is a cross-platform app? Hardly.
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