PowerPoint Blog
Freepath is a great, new addition to my PowerPoint software collection. So why did I use the term "PowerPoint software collection"? That's because many users just call Freepath a great PowerPoint alternative! That's funny since Freepath has no way to create an outline, or print handouts! So without further distracting you about alternatives, let me tell you more about Freepath.
Freepath is a playlist program with a refreshingly, different approach:
That's what I learned from my initial half-an-hour with Freepath - I'm in touch with Lou Douros, President of Grass Roots Software, who make Freepath to do a full review soon on Indezine.com - meanwhile, you can download a free trial from their site...
Today's free template is Hand Hues - download here...
Cliff Atkinson published a book last year called "Beyond Bullet Points" about how to combat "PowerPoint fatigue": the deadening sameness of Microsoft Corp.'s commonly used presentation software. The book caught the eye of W. Mark Lanier, a Houston-based trial lawyer. What happened next sounds like an episode of a ripped-from-the-headlines TV crime drama. Lanier, who was suing Merck & Co. on behalf of a man who died while taking the painkiller Vioxx, hired Atkinson as a consultant to help with his opening argument. The resulting 253-slide presentation was so mold-breaking — so the opposite of boring — that it was dubbed "CSI: PowerPoint."
Read more on the Los Angeles Times site...
You can also read an earlier interview with Cliff Atkinson on the Indezine.com site...
Today's free template is Grey Pink - download here...
Today's free template is Petal Dew - download here...
I just got back from a vacation to Coorg, a pleasant district (county) located in the southern state of Karnataka, India. Although it is more well known for its coffee plantations, Coorg is also a naturalist's delight with thick forests and gushing waterfalls. The climate isn't too cold like Ooty or some of the other Indian hill resorts but it is still much cooler than the scorching Indian plains during the summer months. The main towns in this district include Siddapur and Madikeri - Madikeri, which is located on a higher altitude is also the district headquarters. Most of these pictures were taken in and around Madikeri.
See the pictures here...
Today's free template is Exotica - download here...
Plextor Corp., a developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, announced the PX-PA15AW Wireless Projector Adapter. The new device uses wireless technology to enable users to broadcast Microsoft PowerPoint presentations from most Wi-Fi enabled computers to a VGA/XVGA projector incorporating the adapter. The PX-PA15AW Wireless Projector Adapter utilizes Ethernet or Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology to receive, in real time, screen-captured images, graphics, and image content broadcast from most Wi-Fi enabled computers. Users can wirelessly share oversized image files, even PowerPoint files with embedded animation. High-performance algorithms detect the differential regions of the screen, allowing the system to present content at 15 frames-per-second on average for Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11a/b/g connectivity.
More on the Plextor site...
Today's free template is Freeze - download here...
Today's free template is Tendrils - download here...
Today's free template is Amoeba Floats - download here...
Julie Terberg is a PowerPoint MVP based in Michigan, United States. She's also an artist who uses Photoshop and PowerPoint together to great advantage. In this tutorial, she uses the Photoshop-PowerPoint approach again to create a convincing open book animation effect inside PowerPoint. Since she used stock imagery in her presentation, the sample presentation is password protected - that means you can only view the content and not edit the actual presentation. That's no issue actually since she provides step-by-step instructions to create the effect - and you can get two free stock images from Indezine Photos - just use the promo code ID36.
Check out this amazing tutorial here..
In this tutorial, Shawn Toh, a PowerPoint MVP from Singapore shows you how you can create a snowfall effect using nothing else apart from PowerPoint's own tools.
Learn and download a sample presentation here...
Check out the new Powerpoint Live video, an eight-minute vignette of conference imagery and video footage, using software and technology that you would learn all about at the conference.
The video has lively content and Rick Altman will tell you why PowerPoint Live is such a great event. They also have a download for the video available that you can share or see again later.
See the video now....
Today's free template is Blue Chalk - download here...
Today's free template is Hallucinating Diamonds - download here...
...once Apple has Windows Vista running smoothly on its operating system and helping its business sales, the company will try a more profitable avenue: marketing a version of OS X able to run on regular PC's that now use Windows. This strategy would turn Boot Camp on its head, as the company selling all those $140 retail copies of its operating system would be Apple. And with hundreds of millions of Windows machines in the world, getting even 1 percent of PC users to switch to OS X would be a huge new business for Apple. It would also create another headache for Microsoft. And that, in the end, is what Apple does best. Robert Cringely discusses more on the New York Times site...
Today's free template is Skyweave - download here...
Today's free template is Reflection - download here...
'Windows' Macs Could Take Bite Out of Microsoft
For the legions of diehard Apple fans, the announcement that some Mac computers would be able to run Windows was nothing short of earth shattering. "It's huge news for the Mac community. It's a real bombshell," said author Leander Kahney. "Hell has frozen over, black is white, two plus two equals five, the whole fabric of the universe has been ripped open." More on the ABC News site...
Macintosh cult greets Apple's Windows
After long imploring computer users to "think different" and defining the Macintosh as a lone bulwark against the Windows onslaught, Apple Computer has decided to open the gate, at least a bit. Two decades after the first Mac arrived, Apple said it would offer users of its latest models a simple way to run the Microsoft Windows operating system and its own. That means a single Apple computer will run programs written for either the Mac or Windows, though it will have to shut down one system to start the other. More on The Times of India site...
Windows on Mac, Simultaneously
Apple Computer's surprise software release allowing the company's newest Intel-based Macs to run Windows has put "virtualization" -- an alternative, and arguably superior, method of achieving the same result -- in the spotlight. Released Wednesday, Apple's Boot Camp beta installs Microsoft's OS in a partition on the hard drive, thus offering Mac users the option of booting up either with OS X or Windows XP. Virtualization, by contrast, allows Macs to run Windows and Mac OS X not just on the same machine, but at the same time, with only a slight drop in performance. More on the Wired News site...
No mass market shoo-in for Apple’s Boot Camp
Apple's decision to run Windows natively on the Mac through its Boot Camp project may be a landmark in the history of computing but its net effect on business IT buyers will be zip. The fact is that the Mac user and the PC user remain two tribes forced to coexist in one universe by unfathomable fate. More on the Inquirer site...
The Apple CEO is well known for his electrifying presentations. Here are five tips to make your next talk just as mesmerizing - or close. Apple Computer, now celebrating 30 years of innovation, has revolutionized the way we use computers and listen to music. Now its charismatic co-founder, Steve Jobs, has transformed the corporate pitch. Anyone who has watched a Jobs keynote will tell you he is one of the most extraordinary speakers in Corporate America. Jobs learned a long time ago that a leader must be a company evangelist and brand spokesperson. Carmine Gallo explains more on the BusinessWeek site...
FlashSpring is giving away two licenses of its PowerPoint to Flash converter software - to take part in this giveaway, just fill in this giveaway form...!
If you are a PowerPoint creator such as a designer, teacher, or someone who creates PowerPoints in the office, you know that getting a good quality map into PowerPoint is not the easiest of things you can do. It might involve buying some expensive maps that come only in EPS or Adobe Illustrator formats. Again these open only in Adobe Illustrator or any of the other few high-end graphic applications that are more oriented towards professional graphic designers rather than PowerPoint creators.
And even if you manage to go so far, you still need to get your maps into PowerPoint - for that you will need to export to a graphic file format that PowerPoint understands. And then you'll discover that none of those maps can be easily edited using PowerPoint's own tools. By this time, you probably give up the whole idea of using a map in your presentation!
That's the reason I was so happy to see a collection of maps that were actually PowerPoint presentations. Let us explore more...
Today's free template is Celtic Pattern - download here...
As Flash SWFs get more ubiquitous, there's a need for a tool that helps you organize and reuse your content. InstantFX SE Flash Browser / Transformer is one such product - apart from being a Flash SWF browser, it also includes an internal Flash SWF library. In addition, it plugs into Microsoft Office applications like FrontPage and PowerPoint so that all these SWFs can be inserted in web pages or slides with one click.
In this review, I'll explore the PowerPoint add-in option that allows you to browse and edit Flash clip art, SWFs saved on your system, and even SWFs that can be found in your browser cache!
Read the full review here...
Today's free template is Denim Pockets - download here...
Today's free template is Blooms 05 - download here...
The end of the tech rivalry was foreshadowed by Apple's announcement that the company would be moving its Macintosh computers to Intel-based systems. That would theoretically mean that someday, Microsoft's Windows operating system would become available on the Mac. I was among the many people who hoped it would come to pass. But neither Steve Jobs of Apple nor Microsoft's Bill Gates gave us any hint that their companies would cooperate on such a combination -- even though for years they have been in "coopertition" -- a combination of cooperation and competition.
David Radin examines the curious connection between Apple and Microsoft...
Today's free template is Oriental 01 - download here...
It’s 9:30 in the morning and you’ve made it to the third presentation of today’s marketing meeting. The presenter is pretty much reading word for word from a deck of 40 slides, which are mostly densely worded, bulleted items with an occasional chart or graph thrown in. You have no interest in the topic, and to keep from falling asleep during the next 30 minutes, you are taking this opportunity to proofread some documents for a pressing deadline.
Carla Kimball explains more...
Today's free template is Zigzag Cheesecake - download here...
Archives:
April 2003 | May 2003 | December 2003 | January 2004 | February 2004 | March 2004 | April 2004 | May 2004 | June 2004 | July 2004 | August 2004 | September 2004 | October 2004 | November 2004 | December 2004 | January 2005 | February 2005 | March 2005 | April 2005 | May 2005 | June 2005 | July 2005 | August 2005 | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006 | May 2006 | June 2006 | July 2006 | August 2006 | September 2006 | October 2006 | November 2006 | December 2006 | January 2007 | February 2007 | March 2007 | April 2007 | May 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | August 2007 | September 2007 | October 2007 | November 2007 | December 2007 | January 2008 | February 2008 | March 2008 | April 2008 | May 2008 | June 2008 | July 2008 | August 2008 | September 2008 | October 2008 | November 2008 | December 2008 | January 2009 | February 2009 | March 2009 | April 2009 | May 2009 | June 2009 | July 2009 | August 2009 | September 2009 | October 2009 | November 2009 | December 2009 | January 2010 |
Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. His client list includes Intel, Chase, Barclays, IBM, Nokia, and many others. 
