Offline Gmail and Offline Grad Student

My apologies for my disappearance online, again, lately. I am currently wrapping up my grad study and will be graduating in 5 months...needless to say; feeling the uber crunch lately. A combination of classes, job searching, house hunting, and trying to sleep in between has had its toll. But- the tales will go on...

Offline Gmail
As of a few moments ago, I am proud to say I am a user of the offline Gmail feature (found in Google Tabs of your account)! A much awaited feature by many, which allows Google Gears to use your browser to cache the most recent version of Gmail for offline use. Services like Zoho have used Google Gears for a while, and it is finally nice to see Google supporting it with their own Gmail!
The Rundown...
Say your on a flaky Internet connection eg. on a train, out in the boonies, or just bouncing from coffee shop to coffee shop. By having Google Gears installed in your browser and enabling the feature in your Gmail, you can use Gmail offline to draft, search, read your last synchronized emails. Once an Internet connection is reestablished, it resynchronizes with the Google servers and sends and receives your new mail. Just like a traditional mail client...but again, all from the browser! You have the option for Gmail to create a shortcut (seen left) that will launch your Gmail in your Gears enabled browser for easy recovery.

.
.

In the eyes of this grad student, this design is a MUST in the next evolution of online learning. Students need to be able to do their course work with nothing more than the LMS and and their browser. And have a way to have it moved from online, offline and on their Mobile device.

Xmind
A few months back in my classes, my professors were showing teaching and learning benefits from using mind mapping programs, such as Inspiration. It has never been my cup-of-tea as a learner, but I respect the effectiveness it has on learning. But, in the back of my mind I was thinking

"Why isn't there a free or an open source alternative or SaaS that would incorporate an online collaborative mind mapping (or brain storming) kind of thing. For a learning method that is so multi dimension, why is it being delivered in a very one dimensional way?"

Then, in Twitter, @angelamaiers Tweets about XMind.
XMind appears to offer something similar to what I was thinking. Users can create mind maps and publish them online.

From XMind.net
"XMind, combined with online sharing service, provides a revolutionary way to enable both team brainstorming and personal mind mapping. With this major upgrade, we bring Web 2.0 concepts on community sharing into a popular desktop application. New Gantt view allows project managers to easily track project tasks and schedules. You'll find many more useful and time-saving functions in XMind product family."

I have not spent time with it yet, but it is for Windows/Mac/Linux, and could have some potential for grounded and online educators alike.

Thanks to all who continue to read Tales from the Grad Student!