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Presentation Facts is an on-going series of posts exploring what is known for sure about presentations and presentation visuals. The series is moderated by Robert Befus.
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Toshiba threw in the towel a few days ago. I expect to see some nice sales on HD-DVD players. I’ve already seen the entry level Toshiba player way under $200 with 7 free movies for a couple of months now. That was the sign of the impending doom for sure. Check out the Reuters release in a PC Mag article here.
Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 10:32 PM .
I’ve been impressed by an online video editing and archiving tool that lets you create a
“private label YouTube” - check it out.
http://members2.viditalk.com/view/?id=9DGHQ6GWTSYT34RF6B7S1
Posted by Tom Bunzel at 4:45 PM .
From ZDNet:
Excerpt:
Microsoft officials confirmed first thing on November 6 that Office 2007 has gone gold. (The Softies aren’t saying exactly when the product was released to manufacturing, but word is it happened on November 3.)
Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 5:15 PM .
For those who have admired Xcelsius but have been afraid to learn it or unwilling to buy it, now you can download the new FREE light version that comes with lots of tutorials.
Posted by Tom Bunzel at 2:16 PM .
Serious Magic, creators of Ovation, the popular PowerPoint enhancement software, has been acquired by Adobe. Adobe seems to be primarily interested in their video-related products. In the press release, Ovation isn’t even mentioned until the boilerplate verbiage at the end. They also say they will continue to sell the Serious Magic product line. However, as we’ve all seen in the past with acquisitions of this sort, there’s a big difference between selling and supporting/developing.
Posted by Lee Potts at 8:11 AM .
My new business book about PowerPoint is now available to read online. “Solving the PowerPoint Predicament: Using Digital Media for Effective Communication” is not a book specifically about PowerPoint, but the use of the program with third party tools to convey a message for business, academia or religious content. You can also buy the book on Amazon.
Posted by Tom Bunzel at 1:00 PM .
See more info here:
Congrats to Ernie Bailey, CTS, for getting Arkansas to be the first state to recognize AV Week.
California and others to follow.
Arkansas recognizes AV Week Oct. 22-28, 2006
…………….TD
Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 9:58 PM .
I’ve been using my Boom Bag for almost a year now with no problems. It’s a 21″ short trip suitcase like many others except for one thing. It’s also a portable sound system. The sound is decent and the volume will fill most small to medium sized hotel and meeting rooms. Forget lugging around sound dock solutions for your portable players. Just plug them into the Boom Bag and you’re set. It also has USB ports for charging anything able to charge via USB connection. I recently got the new rolling back pack version and was able to get almost everything out of my trusty Wenger bag and into the back pack. The new bag fit better in the smaller regional jet overhead compartments. All of these bags, or pieces of luggage, are great for the road warrior presenter with moderate presentation audio needs. Plug in your computer and you will have enough sound for a room of at least 50 people. There is a line out available to connect multiple bags for even more sound reinforcement. So far, I think it’s a great product. The luggage has a limited lifetime warranty and the sound system comes with a one year warranty. After the one year Boom Bags will replace a failed sound system for $50 for the lifetime of the bag. Is there anyone else making something like this?………….TD
Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 2:24 PM .
I’ve struggled with the dual-screen (multiple) monitor feature in Windows for the past year. After a coworker showed me this feature on a job I was working, I was anxious to learn how to do it because it looked so cool! Well I found out that it wasn’t such an easy task… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Mary Waldera at 9:40 AM .
Heads up:
From BetaNews.com:
“Symantec on Wednesday issued an advisory about a new trojan that takes advantage of an undocumented vulnerability in PowerPoint to infect a victim’s computer with a backdoor. The malware, dubbed Trojan.PPDropper.B, uses a malformed string to execute code and modify EXPLORER.EXE.
“While Symantec only gives PPDropper.B a risk level of “Very Low,” Sunbelt Software CEO Alex Eckelberry notes that the attack looks more intended for corporate espionage than causing widespread damage. The trojan is currently being spread via e-mail, with a subject containing Chinese characters.”
Posted by Lee Potts at 4:01 PM .
For those of you considering a move to HD video in your presentations check out a short and sweet piece in PC Mag “Are You Ready for HD?” Besides the Sony HD camcorder referred to in the article, I also suggest a look at some offerings from JVC. Ulead software has a plug in to work with HD content on your desktop but the article mentions the big problems using these gigantic files. Those who worked with digital video years ago will think they’ve been down this road before.
Posted by Tom Bunzel at 1:18 PM .
Very cool “multi-touch” screen technology. Watch the Quicktime video.
“While touch sensing is commonplace for single points of contact, multi-touch sensing enables a user to interact with a system with more than one finger at a time, as in chording and bi-manual operations. Such sensing devices are inherently also able to accommodate multiple users simultaneously, which is especially useful for larger interaction scenarios such as interactive walls and tabletops.”
Posted by Robert Befus at 4:53 PM .
From “Top Ten Truths About the Digital Ecosystem“, a recent post on the Dealing with Darwin blog:
“10. Images are king. Verbal content, by virtue of its sheer volume, is increasingly perceived as noise. We are entering a new era of collage, where the mind of the viewer is the assembling artist. Verbalization happens post facto, the residue of headline skimming and subconscious synthesis. The esthetics of digitally enhanced images will become increasingly powerful as a vehicle for cutting through the clutter. Manipulating semantics or semiotics via images will become increasingly sophisticated, both in the private and public sectors. High-definition displays and portable form factors will be popular mass markets. Indexing and searching images, on the other hand, while technologically interesting, will be of peripheral impact.”
Posted by Lee Potts at 8:00 AM .