Link via tuaw.com
 I’m not going to go over every one, but there’s one that stands out for me: Mindjet MindManager. All of these apps provide excellent mind mapping tools, so it’s the extra features which make them most worthwhile. MindManager provides the best integration with OS X, allowing hyperlinks to urls, files, emails and anything else which can create a link in OS X, AppleScript integration, Spotlight and Quick Look integration, export to many popular formats, outline mode, note attachments and more. Its mapping tools allow for a huge variety of aesthetic choices, and creating boundaries, relationships, callouts and other vital mind mapping tasks is a breeze. Many of the other programs which offer the same tools fail to integrate with the OS at the same level MindManager does. MindManager is $129US, which is likely a little steep for most students. Mindjet provides an academic purchasing program for students, faculty and non-profits.
MindManager 7 Mac is available at an academic discount price of $99.
Link via Wired.com
Keepin’ it canonical: Leland Chee, continuity database administrator at Lucas Licensing, maintains the Holocron — a vast FileMaker database that’s consulted to make sure that any new elements added to the Star Wars franchise fit within the existing mythology.
To Star Wars fans, Chee is the Keeper of the Holocron, arguably the leading expert on everything that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. His official title is continuity database administrator for the Lucas Licensing arm of Lucasfilm—which means Chee keeps meticulous track of not just the six live-action movies but also cartoons, TV specials, scores of videogames and reference books, and hundreds of novels and comics.
Of course, Chee’s Holocron isn’t a Force-sensitive crystal. It’s a FileMaker database, a searchable repository of more than 30,000 entries covering almost every character, planet, and weapon mentioned, however fleetingly, in the vast array of Star Wars titles and products.
FileMaker Pro 9 is available at an academic discount price of $179.
Link via The Mindjet Blog
 Mindjet has announced some exciting new MindManager Pro 7 web-based trainings. Trainings focus on everything from Fundamentals to MindManager’s integration with Microsoft Project 2007.
MindManager Pro 7 is available at an academic discount price of $149.
Link via itsartmag.com
Wacom, the leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and intuitive interface devices, today announces that the Intuos3 A4 pen tablet is the first to be used in outer space. Astronauts are using the pen tablet in a series of experiments analysing the way they perceive distances and dimensions during their time in the International Space Station (ISS).
Two Wacom Intuos3 A4 tablets are being utilised as part of the neuroscientific research project known as ‘3D Space’. The ‘3D Space’ project aims to examine changes in astronauts’ mental representations of their surrounding environment. “3D Space is designed to test the hypothesis that altered visual perception affects motor control,” explains Eric Lorigny, payload developer at CNES. “The astronaut is asked to reproduce shapes or text on the pen tablet. The pen tablet allows us to record and analyse the reactions both on earth and in space.”
Intuos 3 6×11 is available at an academic discount price of $329.
Link via The Guardian
 Now in version 2, Adobe’s Lightroom is a tool both for the professional and for the well-heeled and/or serious enthusiast (£189.98 on Amazon.co.uk, upgrade £79.98). If you’ve got Photoshop, it integrates well with that application, allowing you to flip between the pixel-level editing of Photoshop and the (I think) more useful workflow management tools of Lightroom. If you haven’t got Photoshop, you’ve got enough editing tools in Lightroom not to need another program.
Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available at an academic discount price of $98.
Link via ilovedesign.com
 Launch QuarkXPress® 8, take it for a free 60-day spin, and see how you can set trends by producing interactive design from one superior page-layout and design application, QuarkXPress 8!
Submit your entry for the Design Across Media contest on or before October 31, 2008, get your work showcased, and be eligible to win some fun prizes!
QuarkXPress 8.0 is available at an academic discount price of $199. Upgrades are available for $99.
Link via Animation Artist
There’s a great line in the movie “Wuthering Heights” where Lawrence Olivier says to his dying love “I can not live without my love, I can not die without my soul.” As my 10 month old son decided to destroy my Wacom grip pen, these words came to mind. Since getting the Intuos 3 tablet I have used nothing else in my work. Sadly I found myself a bit stymied trying to use the mouse once again.
I needed cheering up and decided to visit my friend Doug Little from Wacom. Doug showed me the new Cintiq 12WX, a perfect tool for storyboarding among other things. The ability to draw right on the tablet was tremendous. At under $1,000 it’s a great entry point to the next gen Wacom tablets.
Thanks to Doug for taking a few moments to be interviewed. For more info visit www.wacom.com
The Cintiq 12WX is available at for $999 from Creation Engine.
Link via EndNote
 EndNote X2 Basics
View the EndNote X2 tutorials online (Requires Flash Player 7 or above).
Download tutorials in Windows Media Player (WMV) format or MP4 format for off-line viewing.
EndNote X2 is available at an academic discount price of from Creation Engine.
Link via Quark
Students now can gain an edge in the marketplace by using their QuarkXPress education licenses commercially at no additional cost and upgrading at a special price after graduation
DENVER – 07-17-2007 Quark Inc. today announced universal availability of a program that enables students to use their QuarkXPress education licenses to produce creative materials for the marketplace while still in school.
Students can also continue using their education licenses for the current version of QuarkXPress after graduation for commercial design and production. Quark has also extended this policy to education licenses for Quark Interactive Designer and Quark Print Collection.
QuarkXPress 8.0 is available at an academic discount price of $199. Upgrades are available for $99.
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