ShowMate-PowerPoint Presentations from your BlackBerry

The mobile application space has really been incredible to watch and while the Apple App Store gets a lot of press there are some really unique applications in the BlackBerry world as well. As someone who does a lot of presentations, I was intrigued by a product called Impatica ShowMate, which would allow me to present my PowerPoint presentations directly from my BlackBerry Curve. The ShowMate itself is extremely small and portable(3.5" x 2.5" x 1") with built in Bluetooth that you plug into your VGA cable that is attached to your data projector. Once your Impatica ShowMate is connected to your projector you can launch your PowerPoint presentation from your BlackBerry and view it. Your BlackBerry communicates to the ShowMate via the Bluetooth connection and allows you to control your slide presentation directly from your BlackBerry.

When you order the ShowMate, in the box you will find a CD to Install the Impatica Software, the ShowMate itself and a USB power cord along with some international receptacles that you can use when you travel abroad. In order to use the ShowMate the first thing you will need to do is install the Imaptica for PowerPoint software on your computer as well as the Impatica Presentation Viewer on your BlackBerry. I was able to download the Impatica PowerPoint Viewer directly over the air directly from my BlackBerry using my BlackBerry browser. While the CD to install the Impatica for PowerPoint software is in the box, Impatica suggests that you go to their website and download it to insure that you have the latest version. I was very familiar with the Impatica for PowerPoint software having done a review of it several years ago and within minutes I was up and running. The Impatica for PowerPoint software, formats your existing PowerPoint presentations (.ppt and .pptx) so that when they are outputted, can be run from your BlackBerry. The software significantly reduces the original size of your PowerPoint presentations while maintaining transitions, links, and animations. Once you have converted your presentations (works with Macintosh & Windows) with the Impatica for PowerPoint software the software lets you easily transfer your presentation directly to your BlackBerry via a USB Cable.

Once your PowerPoint presentation lands on your BlackBerry you can preview it using the Impatica PowerPoint Viewer. Making the Bluetooth connection from my BlackBerry Curve to the ShowMate was fast and easy to do. When I projected my PowerPoint presentation all of the links, transitions, and animations were preserved as if I was running it from my computer. I should mention all of the text and images were clear with excellent fidelity. Using my BlackBerry I could move forward or back through the presentation if I needed to. While doing my presentation I could also access my slide notes, if I choose to. Having access to a really portable way to present is now possible- just add this solution to the 3M MP 120 pico presenter and you could leave your laptop at home. So if you are looking for a really portable way to do your presentations from a BlackBerry then you need to look at the Impatica ShowMate. For more information about the Impatica ShowMate click here.

Editor's Note: You can also use the ShowMate to present any of your applications or contents on your BlackBerry. In order to use ShowMate in this manner you can download the free Impatica Connector application to your BlackBerry over the air. Once installed you can now connect via Bluetooth to the ShowMate and see the view the contents of your BlackBerry and through the data projector. When used in this manner, the ShowMate makes for a great training tool!

Poll Everywhere Adds Macintosh Support for Keynote and Powerpoint

PollEverywhere today announced that it will now support live data polling within Keynote and PowerPoint Mac.

Here’s how to download the Deskbar: when viewing your poll as either a “Live Chart” or “Live Text Wall”, click “Download Slide” and then “Keynote and PPT Mac”.

Impatica 4 for PowerPoint

While PowerPoint has become a standard in many classrooms for creating presentations and multimedia projects it is often more difficult to share these presentation over the web. Many of us who want to embed photographs, audio and transitions to our PowerPoint presentations soon learn that when we attempt to put them on the web that the files become incredibly large and cumbersome to work with. This is where Impatica 4 for PowerPoint comes in. It is an extremely handy utility that not only compresses your PowerPoint files but optimizes it for streaming over the Internet. Impatica 4 for PowerPoint often can compress your PowerPoint files by up to 95% which really impacts on the time it takes to view them on the web. Moreover, Impatica 4 for PowerPoint will convert your PowerPoint files into a small Java application so that your PowerPoint presentation can be viewed by anyone who has a Java enabled browser. This means that you don’t have to be concerned if the individual viewing your presentation has a compatible copy of PowerPoint. Right within the browser, individuals can view the presentation complete with graphics, sound, narration and transitions as it was intended to be viewed. As a faculty member at a college, I am always concerned about others reusing my intellectual property and with Impatica 4 for PowerPoint, I know that individuals will only be able view my PowerPoint presentations but that they can not edit or make changes to it.

You might be saying to yourself well how does this work? The truth be known, using Impatica 4 for PowerPoint is a very easy application to use. To use Impatica 4 for PowerPoint you simply double click on the icon and it brings up the application. You are now ready to add your PowerPoint presentation. You can accomplish this by clicking on the Add button or better yet, simply drag your file into the application to get started. Impatica 4 for PowerPoint is available for both Macintosh and Windows and works equally well on both platforms.

Some of the new features for Impatica for PowerPoint version 4 include:

* Support for the PowerPoint 2007 file format
* Support for Intel-based Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows Vista computers
* Support for Palm OS viewing and projecting with the Impatica ShowMate
* Adjustable, scalable playback window
* Full screen viewing capabilities
* Enhanced logging
* Support for PowerPoint 2007 multi-stop gradients such as rainbow
* Expanded audio support in the PowerPoint 2007 file format (any audio format supported by QuickTime)
* New graphics and color scheme for user interface
* New installer mechanism for Windows computers


Once you have added the file you can customize how your viewers will interact with your PowerPoint presentation by having Impatica add playback controls. By clicking on the Media and Animation Tab you can easily configure your video and sound that viewers will be accessing.. You may need to play around with audio compression feature in Impatica to derive the best results once your PowerPoint is streamed to the web. One of the really nice featured that is built into Impatica 4 is its integration with Blackboard. If you are a college faculty member you will really like this feature. Impatica 4 for PowerPoint is capable of creating an archived file for Blackboard that adds a significant compression factor and allows you to upload the final file compressed. When the student is ready to view the file Blackboard is able to decompress the file so the student can view it.

Once you have set all of the features you simply click on the Translate button and your PowerPoint presentation is processed. Once your PowerPoint presentation has been processed you can now connect to your server from within Impatica and upload the files. Having a built in FTP client is really a fantastic feature and makes it very fast for uploading the files. Once your have uploaded your PowerPoint presentation Impatica creates a html file and places all of the necessary files on the server so that your presentation can be viewed with any Java enabled browser. This point should not be missed. Now that you have used Impatica for PowerPoint and placed the files on the web anyone with a web browser can view your files and don’t need to have PowerPoint installed on their computer. Likewise, if you are concerned about putting your PowerPoint presentation on the web and giving others access to your intellectual property, then this is the perfect solution for you. Now users can view your PowerPoint presentations, but don’t have access to change it. I have found Impatica 4 to be an easy to use tool that has lots of uses for the work and teaching that I do. If you are using PowerPoint as part of your teaching or professional development then you will want to use Impatica 4 for PowerPoint and give your viewers access to your presentations regardless if they PowerPoint installed on their computer or not. Impatica makes PowerPoint accessible from any browser and compresses it so that they are previewed quickly through any Java enable browser. For more information about Impatica for PowerPoint go to www.impatica.com/offers/inclusiontimes/


If you are interested in supporting the work that I do on the blog, please click on the link above to get special discount pricing. To take a look at a sample PowerPoint presentation that I put on the web click on this link.