Notescribe Now has More Power in Premium Version

Creating a data base with custom tags and references for your research just got a shot of steroids. Higher Symmetry, creator of Notescribe, the searchable, custom data base software, has just released a new premium version.
The original version allowed the user to create one data base with various categories. The new Premium version allows the user to create as many seperate data bases as they want. There are other features as well, but based on my conversations with Jeff, that seemed to be the main feature of the premium release.
Now you can have a data base for recipes, a data base for movies, a data base for science topics, etc. and do it all with a very user-friendly interface. I am excited to say that the company has been working on a way to allow a text to speech engine work with the program so those with visual impairments can hear their notes. I have to commend them for this. They stepped up to the plate and have put some energy and time into this development. I feel good about supporting a company that is willing to listen and work on accessibility features at folks' request. Thanks Jeff!
I do a lot of searches online where I find and copy text for notes off onto Word documents. With Notescribe I can do the same copy/paste, but put it in a searchable system for retrieval and have my sources listed as well. It takes the same amount of time, but now instead of folders full of Word docs, I have one system and it is searchable by keywords I build in.
I interviewed Jeff Sholl, the CEO of Higher Symmetry Software and creator of Notescribe a while back with a segment "Organizing Your World with Notescribe". He had mentioned that a new premium package was coming. He also said that anyone who has purchased the original Notescribe can upgrade to the new for the difference in price. This is a great tool and the basic and premium versions are available in a trial download for free. If you already have the basic version, you can trial the premium add on for a 10 days to do a test drive. The cost to upgrade from basic is just $15.

I have a big day today at our Children's Rodeo for Special Needs Kids. I will be getting some great interviews and stories to share, so stay connected for results of that. I have several other items of interest that I will be sharing later this week as well. I Hope you have a great Wednesday!

All the best to you!
Lon



Bookmark this on Delicious

Notescribe CEO on No Limits 2 Learning Live

Time to Organize

Do you ever say, "Its' time to get organized" then go out and buy a new file organizer, some tubs, and file boxes and get your life in order? I find that I am able to be more productive when my life is in order and I can find what I am looking for.
Notescribe does that for all those documents on your computer that you save in folders under different topics, and it is very powerful. When I type a new note, copy some text in and add a hyperlink reference, I can assign key words to locate it later with a great built-in search engine. I downloaded the free trial and have been playing with it and will be buying a permanent copy for organizing my notes.

Using Notescribe for Student Support as Assistive Technology
If you are or know of a student that has a learning disorder or disability that could use a computer tool to organize material from class, then this software could be a good support. I think the uses for students with TBI, ADD/ADHD, etc. could be huge. Being able to organize class notes and topics as well as other information can be a valuable help to those with the need to have support in that area.

I will be interviewing Jeff Sholl, CEO and founder of Higher Symmetry Software and developer of Notescribe tomorrow, Wednesday, July 23 at 12 noon Pacific time. I asked the Notescribe folks if their founder would like to share on Blog Talk Radio on my show and they were thrilled. We have set the interview for tomorrow. After hearing all the cool uses for the software that I haven't even thought of yet, I will just need to take the time to start organizing all those files on my computer...
You can access the interview and listen during the live stream at No Limits 2 Learning Live on Blog Talk Radio. The archive will be available after the show on my sidebar player or at the link above. I am also going to start working on transcripts of the files for download for the hearing impaired to be able to follow along with these shows. Sorry it hasn't happened yet, but I will work on it ASAP.
Don't forget also- Assistive Technology Blog Carnival submissions can be sent to me up until Friday, July 25 at lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

All the best to you!
Lon

Post note 7/23/08: For some reason the Blog Talk Radio Service dropped out for about a minute through the middle of this interview. Their server had been down earlier so it was a tech glitch. If you hang with the interview a minute or less, it comes back- don't give up. I am editing the interview and taking out the dead space so you can listen to the interview without it at my site http://www.nolimits2learning.com/ . Sorry for any inconvenience.



image credit:http://www.smartorganizing.net/

New Talk Show Guest, Interviews & AT Blog Carnival This Week

I have some quick news for you as to what is going on here at No limits 2 Learning. I was able to interview my uncle, Hubert Thornburg, who was a pioneering special education teacher in Oregon from the 1950's through the 70's. He saw the origin of special education in Oregon and was asked to be one of the first pioneer teachers for this in the state. I spent two mornings with him while on a family visit in Portland area last week. I have a lot of editing to do, but I think the interview will be interesting and enjoyable when it is done. I hope to have it up and some old pictures he shared with me by the time school starts in September.

The CEO of Notescribe, Jeff Sholl, will be my guest this week on No Limits 2 Learning Live on Blog Talk Radio. The show is being scheduled for Wednesday this week later in the day, but I will have more specifics for you tomorrow after we finalize the time, etc. Notescribe is a great way to put all your information under a search and keyword system. You can enter all your sources for citations so they are viewed in APA format for various media. If you are in college, working on a masters or doctorate - or just doing research, this software would be invaluable to you. The interview will be a chance for the founder to share about the software in more depth as well as share the story of how it came about. I am looking forward to it and hope you can listen in.

Our next edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival is due out July 28. Submissions need to be to me by this Friday, July 25. I know folks are busy and on vacations, etc. so we will post what we get even if it is a smaller one this month. If you have a post to share, please send it to me at lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

All the best to you!

Lon

Organize Your Written World with Notescribe

I have discovered a great new tool, but I have been putting it on the back-burner until I had some time to do it justice and really spend some time with it. The tool is Notescribe. I have piles of folders on my computer with bits and pieces of notes from speakers, conferences, audio learning sessions on Mp3 or CD, video tutorials, etc. I also do a lot of research for writing, training and professional development. If you are like me, you have tried to organize your folders and files into some system that makes sense for you. What if there were a program that allowed you to take all the notes you wanted, add in keywords and categories, drop them in a list under a category and add a search engine to find a note on a topic quickly and easily?

Welcome to Notescribe.

The software has an "Add new note" feature and the note is a notecard-sized window. You can fill it in, place it in a category, add keywords for searchability and even attach a file to it to have to open. If you have some old notes in a Word document, you can copy and paste them into a new note with all pertinent tracking tags/keywords to set up your database.

To search your database you are developing, you type in a search word that was a keyword (I would recommend thinking through your keywords you attach to a note so you have all possibilities of what you might try to use to find the note again) and then let it bring up the results.

The real power of the program is in the search engine. That is what attracts me. Because of the volumes of material I have written and saved, I can use a system like this to further organize my life. I might not go back and enter all the archives of past work, but if I start now to begin to enter my research and notes into Notescribe, after awhile, I will begin to see a searchable body of work at my fingertips to make my life easier.

One feature I tried to add in Notescribe and it didn't work, was to use my text to speech floating toolbar from Natural Reader with it. I thought it would be nice to see the application work for the visually impaired, or just to have a text to speech engine to use to hear my notes read back to me. Unfortunately, the interface of the two didn't mesh. I could highlight text in a note and have the Natural Reader toolbar over the page, but when I clicked to hear the note with the reader, the highlight went off the chosen text and the reader didn't do anything. The windows were seperate and I couldn't get them to work together. Another option would be to copy and paste the note text into a reader screen and then hear it.

I am impressed with the systematic way a person could use this software to archive and organize information as a really accessible database. I would like to begin to put my AT notes and info from various products and websites into Notescribe and build an accessible database of information.

For students, Notescribe can be a valuable tool to compliment a laptop that is taken to school to record assignments and information/notes and resources for exam and final paper prep. There is a source for the note feature that allows you to build a citation based on what media you are working in. Jake McGrew, CEO and designer, has shared on their blog that there is a calendar feature coming out that will allow organization of appointments, assignment due dates, homework, etc. They are working on email and text messaging reminders as well. you can read about these and other updates, news, etc. on the Notescribe blog.

I am excited about the potential for this software and the company. You can download a 30 day free-trial or purchase the software at a very low reasonable price. Check it out and get your computer clutter under control.

All the best to you!

Lon