I've mentioned some options for iPhone-based mind mapping before, but I'm pretty excited to let everyone know about the release of MindMeister for iPhone (iTunes Link). MindMeister is a web-based mind mapping application with excellent import and export features for most major formats.

They've been focused on collaboration from the beginning, allowing realtime editing of mind maps by multiple participants, and including Skype integration. The iPhone version allows you to download your maps from your account (or start from scratch) and sync changes back to your maps, share maps, and export as MindManager, Freemind, Word, PDF or image files.

MindMeister for iPhone (and iPod touch) is an evolution of the MindMaker application, which was acquired by MindMeister. While the online version of MindMeister allows for a range of icons, images and metadata on each node, the iPhone version currently lacks a lot of this functionality. However, it provides a fast, simple way to edit the text of nodes, adding to existing maps or creating new ones on-the-go. The navigation is an intuitive pan-and-zoom, tap-to-edit interface which is pretty standard among iPhone mind-mapping apps. It also incorporates the GeistesBlitz feature of MindMeister, which allows you to instantly add ideas to a default map, or create a basic map from scratch, through email or a variety of other methods (there's a REST API available if you feel like adding your own points of access).

As an aside, I'd like to point out that the online version has some cool tricks. For example, you can import a tab-indented outline from a text file and turn it into a map automatically (just go to "Import Mindmap" and select a text file). Also, if you're editing a map, select a node and then click the image or note button ... not the dropdown menu, just click the button. It will do a quick search of Google Images or Wikipedia, respectively, and insert the results. Don't like the image it found for your text? Click again. Try it, it's fun.

While I'm not completely sold on iPhone mind-mapping (paper is pretty fast), the syncing, sharing, rapid-entry features of MindMeister make it my top pick. It's not just about device portability, it's about data portability; with MindMeister, my maps can end up in just about any format I want them to, and I can share them directly and get feedback instantly. MindMeister for iPhone is currently $6.99 in the App Store. If you're a MindMaker user, it's a free upgrade. The MindMeister.com online service has plans ranging from free to $6/month, with a $15/year academic option.

Kerio has released version 6.6 of Kerio MailServer, another push forward in their campaign to take a bite out of the Microsoft Exchange market. We mentioned the ActiveSync capabilities of Kerio MailServer in July, and have noted the expanding capabilities of the 6.x releases as an increasingly viable alternative to Exchange. Version 6.6 encompasses a variety of improvements, including expanded features for mobile and iPhone users. Two items which stand out prominently are the addition of resource scheduling and the Exchange Migration Tool.

Resource scheduling allows shared company resources -- anything from conference rooms and projectors to company cars -- to be scheduled and reserved using MailServer's shared calendars. Access controls can be specified by administrators for each resource, and a "Reservation Manager" can be assigned with add/edit/delete priveleges. Mac users can access the resource schedules through Entourage or iCal (although Kerio is less thrilled with the inelegance of the iCal solution and its LDAP dependencies). PC users have access through Outlook, and everyone can schedule resources through Kerio Webmail, which is fully compatible with Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The Kerio Exchange Migration Tool is provided free of charge to Kerio 6.6 users, and is designed to take a lot of the fear out of making a transition from Exchange to Kerio. It runs on a Windows box (works fine with virtualization) between the Exchange and Kerio servers and, in about 4 clicks, transfers all of the existing Exchange data, users, etc. to Kerio MailServer.

Additional features in 6.6 include improved iPhone support (with HTML email and attachment viewing), and an iCal auto-configuration script which is generated by the server for each Mac user. The auto-configuration sets up CalDAV and LDAP to work with Kerio, handling all of the details without requiring the user to know anything more than their own machine's administrative password and their Kerio MailServer login information.

The new version maintains the same prices, starting at $499 for 10 users ($599 with McAfee Anti-Virus) and add-on packages for additional users starting at $120 (+5 users). Current users with a subscription can, as far as I can tell, upgrade for free.

Egnyte, another entry in the list of "cloud storage" applications, has updated to version 1.5 with some valuable new features. Geared toward organizations and businesses needing centralized document storage, it provides a cross-platform solution for uploading, storing, sharing and collaborating on files. The latest version of Egnyte features:

• Shared and private folders
• File versioning
• A tagging system for non-hierarchical file organization
• Readily-available previews of compatible image formats
• Folder export with zip archiving/compression
• WebDAV support and an accompanying Mac desktop application
• Continuous backup of local files
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Per-folder access control

Egnyte 1.5 has become a viable FTP replacement for medium to large organizations with multiple, project-specific FTP repositories. A new drag and drop interface allows any user to upload multiple files of any size, and provides in-memory compression for faster transfers. A "Hot Sharing" feature quickly generates public URLs for hosted files, allowing easy collaboration with users outside of your Egnyte account without requiring a login.

Pricing begins at $15/month per "Power User" (administrative users) and includes unlimited access for "Standard Users" (everybody else). Standard Users don't get the desktop access (WebDAV) or its related ability to automatically back up local files to the Egnyte server; add $15/mo for each user who will require those capabilities. Special pricing is available for non-profits and academic institutions. See the Egnyte homepage for more information.

When I posted about the Zimbra collaboration suite a little while ago, it was noted in the comments that, while the Zimbra client is now working in Safari 3, the server isn't yet Leopard-compatible. Kerio MailServer offers a Safari 3 and Leopard-compatible alternative with a lot of groupware functionality.

Kerio's Safari 3 compatibility stems mostly from the fact that it doesn't have a rich text editor in the client, but it works flawlessly for plain text email and the interface is as smooth and AJAXy as Zimbra's. Kerio has had a Mac version of the server since 2003, with drop-in Exchange replacement capability and the ability to sync contacts, calendars and email without the need for an external client. Kerio has even had iPhone sync since last Fall.

Kerio's pricing structure is slightly different from Zimbra's, but competitive; there's no open source Kerio version, as there is with Zimbra. But if you're in the market for a Leopard-based mail server and collaboration solution, Kerio seems to be a pretty good choice.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love Safari. Unfortunately, not all web developers are hip to it, especially when it comes to Ajax-based web apps. In fact, I'd have trouble naming very many web-based, "WYSIWYG" editors, let alone full collaboration suites, that work well with Safari. That's why I was pleased to hear that the Leopard-loving folks at Zimbra, the open source messaging and collaboration suite, have announced expanded support for Mac users, including Safari compatibility. To the best of my knowledge (and according to their press release), this makes them the first major collaboration suite to support Safari.

And the support, especially in the document editor, is good. It uses valid XHTML tags and CSS to create cross-browser compatibility. I think the feature I love the most right now is the full support for rich text pasting (and no font tags). If you're using Firefox, you get page previews, monetary conversions and more when hovering over different bits of information. These seem to be missing on Safari, but that could be on account of an odd setting in my configuration.

In addition to Safari support, Zimbra has also added support for CalDav, allowing iCal 3 to sync and share calendars through its server. And for the mobile set, they've added a mobile HTML client that makes the suite iPhone compatible. With the preexisting Zimbra Connector for iSync, Zimbra users can sync their email, address books and calendars to their iPhone.

You can catch Zimbra at Macworld in booth W-4348. Zimbra is available for free as the ZCS 5.0 Open Source Edition. They also offer a Network Edition with commercial support, educational discounts available. And for the curious, you can demo the suite online at their website.

QuarkXPress 7 has hit the streets, but it oddly isn't a Universal Binary (Steve Jobs, if you remember, announced at January's Macworld event that Quark had a beta UB version available). A UB update to version 7 is reportedly going to be made available later this summer (I guess Adobe isn't the only big software house having trouble). This new version brings plenty of new features to the table including enhancements to typography, color management, transparency (apparently it can do such advanced things as color opacity, drop shadows and alpha channels now), non-destructive mask manipulation, revolutionary 'Composition Zones' which let you design once and use anywhere with live updates, as well as improvements to productivity and collaboration, output and digital workflow and much more. Check out Quark's entire new feature list for the full details, as well as Macsimum News with summaries of what all the new features mean to you.

Quark is also taking QuarkXPress on tour through seven US cities as well as Toronoto, Canada. Take a look at their schedule for details and registration information.