http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/?utm_source=rss Copyright 2013, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/images/common/logo_on_white.gif http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/?utm_source=rss Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/words-in-the-wake-of-the-storm?utm_source=rss In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, our Lower Manhattan-based offices were shuttered and without power. Our employees — spread throughout the greater New York area — hunkered down in homes that had varying degrees of power, running water, Internet connectivity, and access to medical care, food, and other essential services. Communication happened by email and text message and the occasional phone call, though often what we encountered was not being able to communicate at all. Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/words-in-the-wake-of-the-storm Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/visual-thesaurus-expands-to-the-ipad-and-iphone?utm_source=rss We're proud to announce a major technological advance for Visual Thesaurus users. We've just released a new version of the Visual Thesaurus that works for the iPad and the iPhone, at no extra cost to subscribers. And whether you're using the VT in your Web browser, on your iPhone, or on your iPad, you'll enjoy lightning-fast load times. Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/visual-thesaurus-expands-to-the-ipad-and-iphone Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/visual-thesaurus-honored-with-world-technology-award?utm_source=rss We are pleased to announce that the World Technology Network (WTN) has named the Visual Thesaurus the winner of the 2010 World Technology Award for education. The honor, bestowed by the WTN at its World Technology Summit in New York City, recognizes the innovative contributions that the Visual Thesaurus and its parent company Thinkmap, Inc. have made in the educational field. Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/visual-thesaurus-honored-with-world-technology-award Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/spelling-bee-whizzes-hone-their-skills-with-the-visual-thesaurus?utm_source=rss The 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee kicks off today, with all eyes focused on the 273 young spellers gathered in Washington D.C. Thanks to national television exposure, the event is sure to spark renewed interest in the fascinating complexities of English spelling. The competitors have been studying hard, and the Visual Thesaurus has been proud to equip them with the ultimate training tool. The Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/bee/), a challenging online game, has shaped up to be one of the best resources available for premier spellers, while also providing addictive fun for the rest of us! Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/spelling-bee-whizzes-hone-their-skills-with-the-visual-thesaurus Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/ben-zimmer-named-new-york-times-language-columnist?utm_source=rss We are very pleased to announce that Ben Zimmer, executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com, has just been named the "On Language" columnist for The New York Times Magazine. He will be replacing William Safire, who passed away last year after writing the "On Language" column for thirty years. Beginning with the March 21 issue of the Magazine, Ben will be writing the column on a biweekly basis. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/ben-zimmer-named-new-york-times-language-columnist Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/the-visual-thesaurus-and-the-new-york-times-team-up-for-learning?utm_source=rss For the past few years, the Visual Thesaurus has been a proud partner of The New York Times Learning Network, helping students boost their reading, writing and communications skills. We've been working together to develop innovative lesson plans that integrate the Visual Thesaurus with engaging articles from the pages of The New York Times. Now, as the Learning Network gets a new look, re-launched as a Times blog, we're working even more closely to provide new resources for teaching and learning. Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/the-visual-thesaurus-and-the-new-york-times-team-up-for-learning Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/introducing-community-spelling-bees?utm_source=rss The Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/bee/) has been an enormously popular feature since we launched it last year, with nearly three million words played thus far. And now we're rolling out a new way to play the Bee. We're introducing Community Spelling Bees, generated from word lists created by our subscribers. You can concoct your own spelling bee from any word list, or test your spelling knowledge of lists of words put together by other members of the Visual Thesaurus community. Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/introducing-community-spelling-bees Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/grab-hold-of-your-vocabulary-with-vocabgrabber?utm_source=rss We're tremendously excited to present a new feature on the Visual Thesaurus website called VocabGrabber (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/vocabgrabber/), a tool that intelligently extracts words from any document you're interested in. All you need to do is copy a text and Vocabgrabber will instantly pull out the most useful vocabulary words and show you how those words are used in context. You can sort, filter, and save the lists, and also view Visual Thesaurus wordmaps and definitions. It's a boon for students, teachers, English language learners, or anyone who wants to bring some interactive fun to vocab learning. Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/grab-hold-of-your-vocabulary-with-vocabgrabber Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/word-lists-sharing-the-lexical-love?utm_source=rss In the two years since we launched word lists (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/wordlists/) on the Visual Thesaurus, subscribers have taken advantage of the feature to catalogue everything from economics vocabulary (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/wordlists/7629) to skateboarding verbs (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/wordlists/11611). Now it's easier than ever to organize your word lists and keep track of your favorite lists. Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/word-lists-sharing-the-lexical-love Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/introducing-our-new-page-for-educators?utm_source=rss We here at the Visual Thesaurus have a long-standing commitment to providing tools for teachers who want to get students excited about language. From our award-winning application to our high-quality lesson plans and other online content, we're constantly looking for ways to help educators enliven their classrooms. Now we're bringing all of those resources together on a redesigned educators page (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/educators/), together with some brand-new features. Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/introducing-our-new-page-for-educators