http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/?utm_source=rss Copyright 2012, Thinkmap Inc. All Rights Reserved. en Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:00:00 UTC 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/2874?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 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2874 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2522?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 05:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2522 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2302?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 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2302 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2202?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 05:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2202 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2048?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 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/2048 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1996?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 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1996 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1842?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 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1842 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1782?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 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1782 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1760?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 05:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1760 Announcements http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1588?utm_source=rss Since we launched the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/bee/) this past summer, we've been delighted to see how much you've all been playing it. The numbers tell the tale: so far about 500,000 words have been spelled by about 15,000 players. All of that player data has allowed us to improve the Bee on a continuous basis: every five minutes, words are rescored for difficulty taking into account the latest results from spellers. We've made some additional changes to fit the Bee to different skill levels, in order it make it an even more challenging and educational experience for players of all ages and abilities. Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:00:00 UTC http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/announcements/1588