PowerPoint: Love ya, mean it, don't ever change... (April 28, 2008)

Freepath plays PowerPoint, among other things. And if I may say so, it does a pretty good job of it too. Just drag any .ppt(x) file into Freepath’s playlist and it’s ready for you. The same goes for any image, Word document, PDF, Excel, URL, Music, Movie or Flash/Shockwave file.

PowerPoint does a nice job of creating interesting entrances, exits and transitions for your various graphics and bullet points. Freepath plays them all. Other applications and web apps import PowerPoint files, but they flatten the images. That is, they remove all the glitz. Freepath launches the PowerPoint file in its native application, so those cool effects work exactly as you would expect.

Freepath sees PowerPoint as a nice package of slides that can be made to play seamlessly alongside other files, including some that are otherwise incompatible. Freepath rips each .ppt into a “chooser” window where you can actually pick which slide you want to show, in or out of order. Here’s what the chooser looks like:

Of course it’s also worth pointing out that you can open several PowerPoints at the same time in Freepath. That way you can jump from one slide in any .ppt to any other slide in any other .ppt. This is especially helpful when you consider Freepath’s advanced optional use of Two Monitors. That’s what I’ll talk about in the next post here on the Freepath Blog.

Meanwhile, below is an interview I did last year at PowerPoint Live in New Orleans with Geetesh Bajaj from Indezine.com. Besides coming up at the top of any Google search for PowerPoint blogs, Geetesh is also a Microsoft MVP. You’ll see quickly in this YouTube video that this visionary slide maven recognizes the powerful synergy between Freepath and PowerPoint.

.PLAY Your Stuff (April 14, 2008)

Nope, that’s not a typo. “.play” is the new file extension for Freepath’s portable playlists. You version 1.0 Players will recognize the idea, but we called it a “GoFile” back then. Here’s how it works.

Playlists in Freepath are really a bunch of links to the actual files on your hard drive or URL’s from the web. When you make a cue (usually done by dragging the files into Freepath, or by using the “Import” button on the toolbar), those thumbnail images in your open playlist “point” to the actual file. When you think about it, just sending pointers to another person wouldn’t help much if the file still lives on your PC.

The Freepath 2.0 Export function packs up all those items in your playlist into a .play. Freepath will give the file the same name as the original playlist, for example if your playlist is named “History101″, the exported file will be “History101.play".

There are three ways to export. Use the File:Export menu. Right click on the playlist in the Library, choose “Export". Click the “Export” button over the preview window.

We have always felt that in this world of social computing, there has been a fairly large gap in the area of presentations. That’s what Freepath’s playlist-centric world view aims to facilitate. It’s all about sharing. (Back in kindergarten, you did it through show and tell, now that you’re all grown up, you can show, tell and pass your files around.)

Ideas that stick. When it gets right down to it we’re, all of us, trying to influence or inspire, sometimes outright change our audiences; right? When you press your ideas into this thing commonly known as a “presentation", you run the risk of becoming a matter of history as soon as you leave the building. Those who .play their presentations have the added ability to leave behind any of their assets as an easy to transport file. Since Freepath 2.0 is a free download, anybody in the audience with a Windows PC can open and relive the magic of your playlist. We think that’s the way it should be.

Of course, you’ll want to abide by all rules governing the use of copyrighted materials. But that’s all pretty simple: find out what the work’s author or artist wants, (usually attribution, or cash) and give it to him or her. And it goes without saying, if they don’t want you to spread their stuff around, well… don’t.

Next time I’ll tell you about how Freepath makes it easy to stream lists of online videos without having to download and convert them.

The Library: A Better Way to Manage Playlists (April 08, 2008)

Content is only useful if you can get to it easily. That’s why Freepath 2.0 features a library of playlists. This listing of your collections of assets from your computer and the web makes it a snap to move from one item to the next.

This is especially helpful when playing during an interactive session. Question and answer doesn’t always go as you had planned. Sometimes you’ve got that PowerPoint slide from last week’s presentation. No problem. Just click on last week’s playlist and launch the PowerPoint of your choice.

Now with multi-select, you can cut or copy whole chunks of one playlist and paste them into another. Or even easier, just drag them from playlist to playlist. It’s also very easy to make new playlists. That green “+” you see at the top of the Library is the click that makes it happen. And of course, you can rename any playlist you want just by clicking on the last given name.

Freepath is many things to many people. Here’s one common denominator: known content is useful content. We’ll continue to add functionality to the way Freepath 2.0 knows about and serves you just the right stuff, if even when you’re presenting in real time.

It all works, as I said last time, just like you wanted it to.

Next time I write, I’ll tell you about the improvements we’ve made in exporting your Playlists. You’ll love how easy it is to make your content sharable.

"Streaming Video is Dead" (So You Would Think) (April 21, 2008)

A browser does not great presentation video make. Wow, that sounded like Yoda. Point is, if you look around a little, you’ll see that browsers are great for watching videos with one or two of your pals, but in a board room or lecture hall?? Not so much.

Just because “certain” software makes it hard to present web video, there’s no reason to think it useless. Streamed videos are online for a reason, they’re darned easy to watch that way. Problem is, they’re usually Flash (.flv to be exact). And even if you download the thing, it’s not so easy to use in a presentation. PowerPoint doesn’t want you navving away from its slides, and even Alt-Tabbing to that shareware .flv-player is awkward.

Enter Freepath 2.0. Remember, you can play all those other kinds of media, like PowerPoint slides right through Freepath. And if you want to go to a website, all you need is an internet connection, and who doesn’t have one of those these days. I mean even five years ago, I was checking my email from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia right next to a guy sipping warm mare’s milk. What a world.

So Freepath. An internet connection, faster the better. You’re set. Drop the link to your YouTube movie or Hulu, Netflix, iBloks, or even slide.com into your playlist. Only one more step. Show it. You can even choose to click the “full-screen” option found on most of these sites.

So why do we think so much of web-based content? Because it’s sometimes the best way to tell your story. Millions of videos with parts of your story are right there for you to use. We’ve all said those dreaded words, “I can’t” when it comes to some of the best ways to influence our audiences. The web isn’t just for research anymore, got a URL? Freepath will show it.

And if you read back one post, you’ll see that Freepath also lets you pack a .play (our transportable playlists) and send it to anyone you want. Imagine collecting up what you think are the funniest clips on YouTube into one sharable playlist! Here are 10 ways Freepath players have thought of using Freepath for streaming videos:

Make ‘em Laugh. What a great way to start a boring training event.
Virtual Field Trip. Uploaded vacation videos are a LOT cheaper than airfare.
YouTube Party! (Junior High boys, no accounting for taste).
Safety 101. What NOT to do in the warehouse during lunch.
Family Reunion. Fifteen grandkids, one playlist.
Weird Science. The textbook isn’t clear on how the Mentos get into the diet cola.
Customer Testimonials. They’re already talking about your products, show them off.
Breaking News. Lead off your keynote with this morning’s news.
Webcam Wallpaper. Your class can’t take their eyes off the Osprey nest.
Disaster Briefing. Response teams prepare and learn from real-time uploads.

I bet you can come up with about 50 more uses just from your own experience. So we’d have to say streaming video is alive and well… as long as you have an easy, affordable way to show it… Hmmmmmm. (Why do you think we called it “Free” path?)

Next time around, some old news. PowerPoint. Wait, don’t get me wrong, we think PowerPoint is great, it’s just that with Freepath, it’s even better!

Counting Down (April 2, 2008)

Get ready for the easiest way to share your all your cool digital favorites with anyone in the world. Leading up to the general release of Freepath 2.0, we’ll show you a little bit of what we’ve been up to these past months. If you haven’t signed up for the free download of version 2.0, just drop your email address in over there at the “Register for Free” on the left.

Many of you Version 1.0 “Players” have made excellent feature requests. We prioritized your most popular ideas and are confident you’ll like the improvements that have resulted from your input.

One of those was a resizable interface. Freepath 2.0’s new interface is pretty much exactly what you asked for. You can use more of your desktop for a larger playlist if you want, or bring it down to a minimum size that will fit even in those ancient 800x600 monitors.

The playlist is now even more functional than ever. You’ll be happy to know that you can multi-select using your “Shift” or “Control” key while clicking. Copy, cut, paste and even delete whole chunks of your digital story in a single keystroke! Freepath 2.0 is Vista compatible. Those of you running XP won’t be disappointed, but as you can see in the screen capture above, we make the most of the Vista aesthetic and accompanying functionality.

In my next posting, I’ll show you what we’re doing with the new Playlist Library. Once again, in response to your input, we’ve created a fast and easy way for you to organize your content between audiences. I know it helps to see screen shots of the application, so I’ll try to snap some off for you.

We’ve previewed some of the early interaction design with educators, business presenters, students, and others who share their videos, websites, pictures and documents on a daily basis. The overwhelming response was “WOW". One teacher even said, “I’ve waited all my career for this very application…”

Until next time, remember to do whatever it takes to make your point!