PowerPoint Blog
Today's free template is Frosted Glass - download here...
Today's free template is Pure Electric - download here...
Articulate has issued a free upgrade for Engage, their interaction creation tool for e-learning courses. This free upgrade addresses several minor issues.
More on the Articulate site...
Categories: articulate, powerpoint
Today's free template is Tunnel - download here...
Today's free template is Spring into Action - download here...
Today's free template is Wireframe - download here...
Naoko Miyazaki is one of the founding members and the VP of Marketing and Sales at Miraizon. Before Miraizon, she held various marketing and management positions at software companies in both Tokyo and Silicon Valley, California.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Cinematize and how it evolved. Also, how does the product work with commercial, encrypted DVDs?
Naoko: Cinematize 2's predecessor, Cinematize 1, was originally released in the summer of 2003. At that time, we noticed that there were already many one-to-one DVD copy tools but no single tool that allowed you to easily and quickly extract editable clips off of DVDs while keeping the original high quality. We also noticed that more and more people were using DVDs purely as a medium of storage, taking advantage of the high capacity to replace tapes and CDs. We saw people creating family videos on DVD. We saw churches using DVDs to capture their Sunday services. Doctors were using DVDs to record their operations. We felt it was necessary to create an easy-to-use tool that allowed not only pros but also amateurs to easily extract audio and video clips off of their DVDs for reuse.
Cinematize 2 and Cinematize 2 Pro evolved to meet the needs of customers who wanted increased control over the extraction process. We also wanted to better handle both the increasingly complex DVDs being produced by professionals as well as the discs produced by popular DVD recorders.
Now the question of commercial encrypted DVDs. First of all, as I said before, many of our customers are using non-commercial DVDs such as those they created themselves or that are created for them by service bureaus. Also, some older commercial DVDs and European commercial DVDs are not encrypted at all. Most of the recent Hollywood blockbusters are encrypted, however, and we cannot avoid addressing the issue of how to handle them. Our software packaging and web site include the disclaimer that "Cinematize extracts from any DVDs including commercial DVDs decrypted with popular ripping tools."
In the US, we have a law called the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) which makes "circumvention of encryption" illegal. This provision of the DMCA, however, contradicts the long-established "fair use" provision of existing copyright law which legally allows duplication and modification of copyrighted materials for non-commercial purposes. The fair-use provision of copyright law is what permits photocopiers and VCRs, for example, to be sold and used freely. We are not legal experts, but as far as we know nobody has really resolved the fundamental conflict between the DMCA and the fair-use provision. It has not been tested fully in courts.
The movie studios seem to prefer the current ambiguity of the law because it allows them to sue any company that includes decryption technology in their products. To avoid these problems, Miraizon as a commercial software company for legal, rather than technical or marketing reasons, does not provide any capability to remove encryption from DVDs. Instead, users must do this on their own and at their own risk. As far as we know, no individual has ever been prosecuted for ripping a DVD. In fact, the process of removing DVD encryption has become rather an open secret these days, covered in mainstream computer magazines. I won't go into any details, but there seem to be plenty of free decryption tools available out there for anyone who cares to look for them.
Geetesh: How do PowerPoint users typically use Cinematize.
Naoko: Teachers are a good example of combining PowerPoint with Cinematize. We have many teachers from the middle school to the college level using Cinematize 2 to create PowerPoint presentations with embedded multimedia clips. Teachers have a limited time to show what they want to their students. Instead of the time-consuming process of playing a DVD, finding the right location, and then switching to another DVD, if you can gather the right movie clips beforehand and put them in your PowerPoint presentation, you can deliver much more efficient and effective lecture.
We also know that many medical doctors use Cinematize to create PowerPoint presentations. They often record surgical procedures and patient interviews on DVDs, extract the highlights, put them into PowerPoint, and use these presentations in medical conferences or for teaching purposes.
Another popular application is creating PowerPoint presentations for weddings and parties. Many people now have a service bureau transfer their old VHS tapes or 8 mm movies to DVDs. Cinematize is very useful in extracting short clips off of those DVDs and converting them into formats compatible with PowerPoint.
With Cinematize, you can extract audio, video, and subtitles, alone or together as a movie. You can also create a still image off of DVDs. So PowerPoint users can choose just the right format for their presentations.
Categories: add-in, powerpoint, movies, interviews
Cinematize extracts movie clips from a DVD -- then it saves those extracts into different movie file formats that can be inserted in PowerPoint. And now the folks who create Cinematize have launched a Professional version of the same product. So what does it do better than the basic version?
Read more here...
Categories: add-in, powerpoint, movies
Today's free template is Digit Spheres - download here...
Bronwyn Lane is from TopByteLabs, a Germany based company that creates several optimization programs including a PowerPoint file optimization software called PowerShrink.
In this conversation, Bronwyn tells us more about the need for PowerShrink, and how it performs.
Geetesh: Tell us more about yourself and PowerShrink.
Bronwyn: PowerShrink was founded in early 2004. At that time, the product's main aim was to compress a PowerPoint document, while keeping the presentation itself at its best. Since 2004, we at TopByteLabs have made many upgrades to make the product more specific and unique. We now provide free templates, trial versions and even other software programs to complement PowerShrink.
I joined TopByteLabs Ltd. in July 2006 -- my responsibilities are in helping market all their programs -- something that suits my marketing background immensely. I wanted to work with a self driven, qualified team that would help me as much as I could help them. In TopByteLabs, I have found that. Not only are they a energetic fun team, they also inspire each other.
Geetesh: How does PowerShrink evaluate the presentation, and compress it.
Bronwyn: PowerShrink starts with evaluating the Microsoft PowerPoint file, looking for embedded pictures and objects. This is important for file security so that no data gets lost.
When this is done, the pictures and objects are optimized to the user specifications set in the program settings. At this point, PowerShrink creates a copy of the presentation never putting the original file at risk, also saving a copy of the original. The copy is created with embedded images that are optimized (shrunk). At this stage, embedded objects are converted to pictures, if this option was chosen.
PowerShrink also has the option to batch-shrink multiple files. The average compression rate for PowerShrink is 62%. This saves time and space for everyone using PowerShrink.
Categories: add-in, powerpoint, interviews
Today's free template is Blue Sandstone - download here...
Today's free template is Placid Reflection - download here...
Corporate trainers and salespeople are now discovering that they can sustain attention -- and ensure a higher content retention level -- by using animated characters called avatars that talk, sing, dance, gesture, tell jokes and generally liven up the proceedings.
Learn more with Tom Atkins...
Categories: add-in, powerpoint
Giveaways and More
Champagne RemotePoint Promo
Focus on SlideShare
Articulate Presenter 5
News and Happenings
Read more here...
Categories: ezine, powerpoint
Today's free template is Cobweb - download here...
Today's free template is Textured 17 - download here...
Today's free template is Textured 16 - download here...
Today's free template is Wooden Drapes - download here...
In addition to four security bulletins issued Wednesday for Office on Windows, Microsoft has released Office 2004 for Mac version 11.3. The update includes undisclosed security fixes, along with bug fixes in Word and PowerPoint.
More on the BetaNews site...
Categories: powerpoint, office_mac
Today's free template is Mud Pool - download here...
These free templates were created for a Columbus Day theme.
At Indezine.com, we love your feedback - if you want to share your stories about how you use our templates, send them through our feedback form...
You can also suggest a template theme, but be aware that we already have a long list of requested themes that we are working on.
Categories: templates, powerpoint
In this series of posts on SlideShare, I have shown you how you can get an invite and join SlideShare -- and also how you can upload your PowerPoint presentations to the SlideShare server. In this post, I'll explore how you can share your SlideShare slides and presentations.
Follow these steps to share your uploaded slides and presentations:
Note: Shared presentations can be viewed by SlideShare members.
Figure 1: An open presentation
Figure 2: The Share window
Categories: slideshare, powerpoint
Today's free template is Textured 15 - download here...
Articulate Presenter enables you to convert a PowerPoint presentation to a Flash SWF based online rich media content -- Presenter also includes several bells and whistles such as the ability to insert quizzes, Flash animations, narrations, and web objects. The output is entirely customizable, includes interactivity, and reduces the file size so that the content can also be sent by e-mail.
Read the full review here...
Categories: add-in, powerpoint, powerpoint_flash
In the last SlideShare post, I showed you how you can join SlideShare and get an invite. In this post, I'll show you how you can upload a presentation to the SlideShare site. In the next SlideShare post, I will show you how you can share the uploaded presentation slides with others.
Follow these steps to upload your presentation slides:
In the next post on SlideShare, I will show you how you can share your uploaded slides.
Figure 1: Start uploading your slides
Figure 2: Provide upload details
Enter a title, description and tags for the presentation you are uploading -- then, click on the Upload button.
Once this is done, the uploaded presentation can be viewed as an online Flash-based slideshow. Click the Title link, as shown in Figure 3 to see the slideshow of the uploaded presentation.
Figure 3: The uploaded presentation
Categories: slideshare, powerpoint
Today's free template is Green Rays - download here...
There are so many site that let you upload and share photos and videos -- it was only a matter of time before you had one that lets you upload and share slides and presentations. And that's exactly what SlideShare is -- simple, easy to use, and effective.
In a series of posts, I'll explore SlideShare, which I must add is in beta now. To join SlideShare, you need an invite -- that's something you can request on the SlideShare site itself (see Figure 1 below). Or get hold of an existing SlideShare member who can send you an invite.
Figure 1: Get an invite
Joining SlideShare
Once you have an invite, click the link in the invite email to get to the sign up form that you can see in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Signup for SlideShare
Fill in all the form fields as required -- do choose a username and password -- and click the Sign Up button. The next time when you will log into the SlideShare site, log in using your username and password. In my next SlideShare post, I'll teach you how you can upload your presentation slides.
Categories: powerpoint, slideshare
PowerPoint MVP Austin Myers loves to work with all sorts of multimedia issues in PowerPoint and now with a simple piece of code that he is giving away for free, you can place text over video in a PowerPoint slide! I have lost count of how many times I have told users that this is not possible -- and now I'm changing my response on this one to tell users that it can be done!
As Austin mentions "...I happened across something that made the little light go on, I gave it a try, and believe it or not the result was I discovered how to display text over video. The key to doing this is to use "controls" to hold the text".
Take a look here to see Austin's tutorial...
Austin also makes the amazing PFCMedia, PFCExpress , and PFCPro products -- do download trial versions of these products at his site while reading his text over video tutorial!
Categories: movies, powerpoint, tutorials
Together with a not so serious flaw in the .NET framework, Microsoft will issue 11 patches in all, including six for Windows and four for the Office suite, including flaws in PowerPoint and Word 2000. These patches are expected to be released on Tuesday, the 10th of October.
More on the iTWire site...
Categories: powerpoint
Today's free template is Ornamentia - download here...
Today's free template is Lemon Pepper - download here...
In a separate review, I looked at WildPresenter which is actually a suite of applications that includes capture, an editing environment, and PowerPoint to Flash export options. Wildform, the company that creates WildPresenter recognizes that many users don't need all those options -- so they created a scaled down version called WildPresenter Lite that limits the abilities to the editing environment only -- so that you can create your own content with shapes, text, images, etc.
Read the full review...
Categories: wildpresenter, powerpoint, add-in
Today's free template is Yellow Paisley - download here...
SlideShare -- the YouTube of PowerPoint
SlideShare launches today -- the YouTube of Powerpoint. While Powerpoint destroys thought, so does TV. And misgivings aside, slides can be an art form in and of itself. They are objects you spin stories around. It is easy to embed a presentation and player within a site, blog or wiki.
More on this Corante blog...
SlideShare brings PowerPoint to the Web-sharing world
Writely and Google Spreadsheets are fast becoming a regular part of my mobile life, and now here's SlideShare jumping into the mix. (TechCrunch this morning turned me on to it.)
SlideShare is a bit different from some of the other "Office-killer" apps popping up across the Web (and ZohoShow and Thumbstacks are also players). Rather than being a direct assault on Word and Excel, these PowerPoint sharing tools are more what YouTube is to a video editing app: the next step in the process. After you've done the heavy lifting and created a presentation, they let you share it without having to send a bunch of thick e-mails around.
More on The Utility Belt blog...
Categories: powerpoint, slideshare
To create a distinction between WildPresenter and WildPresenter Lite for customers, Wildform announced a new upgrade for WildPresenter -- and now it's called WildPresenter Pro. The upgrade is free for current WildPresenter customers.
Leonard Dumanovsky of Wildform sent me a list of these improvements in the new version:
More info and a free trial of WildPresenter Pro can be found here...
Categories: wildpresenter, powerpoint, add-in
Today's free template is Cosmos Overlap - download here...
Today's free template is Twirled Pattern - download here...
Mary Waldera explains how important preparation is to pulling off a successful meeting. If you find yourself involved in an all day long meeting or a conference that lasts several days with multiple speakers in a large venue setting, or even if you have a few speakers at client meeting, there are several things you can do to prepare for and equipment you can use to pull off a professional, informative, and well-executed presentation.
Read more here...
Categories: techniques, powerpoint, education
Today's free template is Australia Flag 07 - download here...
Today's free template is Circled Web - download here...
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