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 .

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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 .

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NewTek‘s improvements on their original TriCaster put the TriCaster Pro high on my wish list and captures another NAB award.

Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 11:55 PM .

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A few months ago D’San released The Laptop SoundPort.
If you need to get PC audio to a sound system this is the way to go. I’ve been using it for a while and I have replaced my Whirlwind PCDI with the SoundPort as my primary unit. It’s a fraction of the size and weight of most direct boxes I’ve seen and it works perfectly. The ground lift feature is the main reason I use direct boxes and the SoundPort adds a volume control. And audio techs like it when all they have to do is run a regular balanced mic (XLR) cable for computer audio . Retail price on D’San’s website is $75 USD. I think The Laptop SoundPort is a worthy investment for presenters and show technicians.

Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 5:14 PM .

2 Comments »

I discovered a great free product on Maelstrom Solutions website called Vortex Password Manager.

“How many different passwords and usernames do you need to remember? Many of us try and use the same select few for most of our daily lives, but often sites have such different login requirements that we need to deviate from our favorite password or username choices. Rather than writing them down on a piece of paper and storing them under your keyboard, we have created a nice little application that is simple to use and keeps your data protected from others. “

I’ve downloaded it… goodbye to trying to remember and hide my passwords!

Posted by Mary Waldera at 11:38 AM .

1 Comment »

Of all the programs the Presentation Council makes available to the presentation professionals community, one of the most useful is their series of live webinars exploring various presentation tools, techniques and technologies. In case you missed the live events, here are links to the archived versions of the three most recent:

Tom Bunzel, “Using Video Effectively In Your Presentation”

Rick Altman, “Too Many Chefs?: The Fragile Art of Collaboration”

Julie Irvin, “How to Effectively Communicate Data Charts & Graphs”

As the schedule of future webinars are announced, we’ll post it here.

Posted by Lee Potts at 9:33 PM .

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While troubleshooting a problem for a friend I found a good site with lots of Windows tweaks and fixes.
Kelly’s Korner is a Microsoft MVP site and is worth a look for fixes and cool stuff in general.

…………..TD

Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 11:45 AM .

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I asked the founder of PixelCorps, Alex Lindsay, what his organization uses to create their very personal and useful software tutorials.

Snapz Pro X 2 allows you to effortlessly record anything on your screen, saving it as a QuickTime® movie or screenshot that can be emailed, put up on the web, or passed around however you please.

This easy software package costs $69. Upgrades from Snapz Pro X 1.0 w/ movie capture are $20.

Great for making a static screenshot with automatic drop shadow or size perimeters; creating a movie is just as easy. Fantastic for on-line tutorials that feel natural and unscripted.Download a free demo version from our web site today or check out the demo movies we’ve created and see for yourself.

Posted by Peter Durand at 11:53 PM .

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SalesCircular.com is a newspaper sales circular aggregator.
It’s very handy especially for electronics and computer gear.
Choose your state and the site speaks for itself.

www.salescircular.com

Posted by Todd Dunn, CTS at 7:57 PM .

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This “>thumbnail image provides link to an example of vidoe blog created with the demo version of the new Vlog It! tool from Serious Magic.
I originally created the video in Communicator using the V-screen and teleprompter and then dropped it into Vlog It! Amazingly Vlog It! itself has these same features — the main difference from the Communicator product is that it doesn’t output the same range of professional quality higher res video files.

As a bonus of this product, the FLV file (which normally takes Flash to create and use) along with the thumbnail images from your blog are in My Documents\Vlog It!\My Output.

Perhaps the coolest feature is the way to instantly create a blog thumbnail file and then drag and drop it into your blog’s editor. (Note: there is a slight glitch with the music coming up twice in this version but I think it serves to give you the idea). I see the Video Blog as a great presentation follow up tool to provide professionals with a way to follow up with their clients and audience.

As more and more portable devices play video, the subscription capabilities of text blogs will also be easier to incorporate into video downloads, making this a very cool rich media tool.

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 1:45 PM .

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Video-on-the-go stole the show last week at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show. More than 150,000 people swarmed Las Vegas to see the latest electronic gadgets, gizmos and thingamajigs, demonstrating once again the bottomless demand for products and services that nobody needs.

Many of the announcements by hardware and services companies focused on devices to create, transmit and display video whenever and wherever. Giants such as, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Cisco, Sony, Palm, Starz, RCA and Verizon focused much of their hype on bringing television and video to the Web and to portable devices.

Video Podcasting, as both entertainment delivery and personal communication, is shaping up to be the NBT (next big thing.) And that has major implications for anyone who creates and delivers presentations.

The trend suggests that, just as Web conferencing and collaboration moved presentations out of the meeting room and into cyberspace, the arrival of portable, wireless, video-capable capture and display devices makes it possible to deliver rich media presentations on demand to any location at any time.

As video becomes more available, it also becomes more desirable. Video will quickly become expected fare in mobile business communications, which presents significant production, budgetary and skillset challenges to professional media communicators.

In addition, video is becoming a two-way street. Someday soon, video capture and transmission will be as commonplace as cellphone snapshots are today. Video will move from being push media to being interactive media. Presenters and audience alike will have mobile video capability.

The age of Me-TV is upon us. Watch it.

Posted by Robert L. Lindstrom at 1:38 PM .

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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 3:42 PM .

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To: All News and Wire Services
For Immediate Release:

Professor PowerPoint™ Loses Tenure
By Tom Bunzel

As an active member of the Visual Being web log, the Presentations Council of InfoComm International and the presentations community at large, I need to inform you all of a change in my circumstances necessitated by my recent correspondence with Microsoft’s law firm, Katten Muchin Rosenman.

I was contacted by a member of that firm a short while ago and informed that my use of the phrase “Professor PowerPoint™” was an improper use of its trademark and among other matters, potentially created confusion as to my relationship with Microsoft.

As many of you know, I have spent a fair amount of time and effort writing articles and books, educating users and in many ways promoting the use of PowerPoint™ in creating and enhancing presentations. However, when I explained these circumstances in some detail, I was informed that while Microsoft certainly appreciated my endeavors, my continued use of the trademarked name PowerPoint™ in my business and web site was inappropriate.

After consulting Microsoft’s web site pertaining to the proper use of its trademarks, I realized that there was no way I could continue as Professor PowerPoint™ without violating the clearly set forth canon of: “Do Not Use Microsoft Names or Trademarks as Part of Your Name”. There was very little wiggle room in that sentence.

To my relief the attorney added that Microsoft was not taking an aggressive posture in this issue. Since I had no great interest in retaining a law firm with the names of three partners on its letterhead, I appreciate that position immensely and sincerely.

So it is with some regret that this week I am publicly and irrevocably renouncing my position as Professor PowerPoint™, and now also admit that I got most of my diplomas through self study. (My B.A. in English from Tufts University is, alas, legitimate).

Obviously I had hoped to complete my career as a fully tenured Professor PowerPoint™ basking in the glory of a position in an albeit virtual and wholly nonexistent campus, but that is not to be. As of today the ProfessorPowerPoint™ web site is no more, and I have assumed a new position…

Henceforth my web site will be www.professorppt.com, and I hope that those of you who have linked to me in the past or referenced me in your own work will make the necessary adjustment.

The title of this web site has now been changed to “The Presentation Professor” (even though I shall remain, in reality, a humble untenured teaching assistant).

Let me make it perfectly clear that this entirely new web site has no relationship with either Presenters University or Presentations Magazine (even though I am an intermittent Contributing Editor at Presentations). Let me state for the record that I am also in no way connected to the “Ask the Professor” professor at Presenters University, the Video Professor on national television, nor any other real or virtual institution of higher education in the presentations industry. If in fact there are any other professors, real or virtual, teaching in the presentations community, I simply ask, can we all just get along?

It is indeed with a sad and heavy heart that I leave this entirely nonexistent campus, and set forth in search of new vistas in the presentations (and not just PowerPoint™) universe. I hope you will not forsake me for my past transgressions and continue to count me as a valued colleague as I carve out what I hope will be a new area of specialization and expertise beyond PowerPoint™ and into the virtually infinite realm of communicating more effectively using technology. (Oops, not to be confused with David Paradi’s http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com).

I will post my new office hours shortly but drop in any time. With fondest memories of a great ride, I remain sincerely,

Tom Bunzel
The Presentation Professor

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 4:10 PM .

5 Comments »

After delivering a web conference for the Presentations Council a few weeks ago, I wrote up my experience with some tips on do’s and don’ts for my InformIT web site. For anyone contemplating following in my steps, this might be a useful read.

Posted by Tom Bunzel at 3:18 PM .

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