PowerPoint and Presenting Blog: February 2006

 
Today's free template is Spotlight 04 - download here...

 

Office 2007 XML formats use compression technologies so files tend to take up much less disk space. Internal data storage of the Office XML Formats is segmented into discreet components—for example, embedded code is stored separately from the document content inside the file. Each component within a single file is compressed using ZIP compression technology. In addition to the compression of each document segment, the entire document is also compressed using ZIP compression. As a result, the sizes of Microsoft Office Word documents, Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations are reduced. The amount of compression and size savings varies per file. More on the Data Compression News Blog...

 

Ellen Finkelstein, author of How to Do Everything with PowerPoint 2003 shows you how you can create an effective PowerPoint timer that is just perfect if you want to get your audience to settle down before you start or for breaks. The timer requires no coding and can be created in a few minutes - if you don't want to do that, you can even download Ellen's finished presentation! More on Ellen's site...

When will Microsoft Office 2007 development be completed? Great question. Microsoft was said to be shooting for August, but BusinessWeek has reported that the product will be completed later, possibly in September or October. Ed Bott, author of several Microsoft Office and Windows books, is also predicting that Office 2007 development will finish in October. What are these predictions based on? More on the Ars Technica site...

Microsoft will sell two new business versions of its Office software, adding features that make it easier for workers to collaborate online. Office Professional Plus 2007 includes instant messaging software that uses video and voice. Office Enterprise 2007 will let workers quickly set up internet sites to collaborate on projects. More on the Australian IT site...

Microsoft is set to unveil its long-awaited branding, packaging, and pricing for the next version of Office, which is expected to be available later this year. As widely expected, the product, code-named Office 12, will be dubbed Office 2007. And while neither retail nor business customers should see much of a difference in pricing between it and its predecessor, the company has made some changes in packaging and branding, particularly to the Office suites that business customers typically buy, according to Parri Munsell, an information worker group program manager at Microsoft. Read more on PCWorld.com...

 



Studio F calls its latest volume of PowerPoint templates "edgy" - this volume is a departure for them from their normal subtle designs. The difference this time around is that the designs themselves are more bold and striking - and as Studio F mentions in its publicity material, the designs still do not distract from the actual content of the presentation. Read the full review here...

TopByteLabs released PowerShrink Version 2.1, an update of their software that optimizes PowerPoint presentations while compressing them up to 95 percent. It also launched a special enterprise license, which covers all personal computers of the company. More on the eMediaWire site...

Creating a pendulum swing animation is possible using PowerPoint 2002 or later - and involves creating a hidden pivot point. A pendulum (the real type) swings back and forth on a pivot point at the top of the weight's string, so we will need to create a shape that appears to swing at the end of a string and repeats back and forth from this pivot point. Bill Dilworth shows you the steps...

 
Today's free template is Woven Again - download here...

 
Today's free template is Ray Reds - download here...

 
In a recent online poll of 382 business managers, some 71 percent of respondents said that they have fallen asleep or been sleepy during an “uninteresting” presentation, according to a survey by Infommersion Inc. More on the EETimes.com site...

 
Today's free template is Groove - download here...

Grass Roots Software launched their new product Freepath at Demo 2006. "Freepath is the first and best tool that lets everyday presenters blend media from a range of desktop applications into one seamless presentation," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMO 2006. More on the PR Newswire site...

 
Today's free template is Pineapple Arrows - download here...

 

Diganta Saha is an Indezine reader that I have been corresponding with - he's provided valuable information on video formats for cross platform video. Diganta uses PowerPoint 2004 on the Mac - and he uses QuickTime Professional on the Mac to convert his QuickTime videos to file formats compatible that are compatible with PowerPoint for Windows (and Mac). Over to Diganta...

This is for any of you or your users trying to get PowerPoint (PPT) with movie files to have the maximum compatibility with all platforms. I've gone through a large range of formats that Quicktime Pro can output and have concluded that PowerPoint will work with Windows and Mac on these movie formats below.

Using Quicktime Pro

- AVI : Compression None
- AVI : Compression Cinepak
- Quicktime : Compression Cinepak (works most of the time)

Using ffMpegX to creat MPEG-1 (select VCD mpeg2enc ), also a free alternative to Quicktime Pro

- MPEG-1 (VCD)

Download ffMpegX here...

One caveat is that when using Office 2004 on the Mac to create PowerPoint presentations with video files with any of the working formats mentioned above, the preview of the first frame does not show on Windows. Double clicking on the blank space where the movie would be in the PowerPoint file on Windows will start the movie. I experimented with Quicktime movie with Photo-JPEG compression which showed the first frame of the movie on a Windows computer, however it did not play the movie at all.

This can be fixed on a Windows computer by unlinking and relinking any of the movie files formats mentioned above and saving the file. Saving it on Windows makes any of the movie files formats recommended above, preview the first frame of the movie correctly on both the Mac and Windows computers. This seems to be a serious bug with Office 2004 Powerpoint in terms of interoperability when it comes to movie files. I remember that Microsoft used to have an easy feedback webpage, but now its far more convoluted to send any bug reports. Does anyone know of Scott Erickson's or Roz Ho's contact info?

To get in touch with Diganta, just send feedback through this form, and I'll forward it to him. Thank you, Diganta.

 
Today's free template is Blue Doily - download here...