New guide

I have just uploaded a new guide to iDVD. The guide is available in the support section of the Laptop Lounge site.

Cool little photo app

This is a neat program to add a little visual appeal to a blog or wiki. Thumbscrew allows you to quickly rotate an image and add a drop shadow or border. The only controls you have are in the preferences (you can change the rotation angle, etc.) but a nice thing is that you can drop a folder of images and it will go through all of them and create thumbnails. By default, the thumbnails are saved in the same folder as the originals. This is similar to the rotate effect in iWeb.

Interesting Mapping Tool

Maplib.net is an interesting application of the Google Maps API. The idea is that you can upload any image (the larger the better) and then use Google Map controls to navigate it by zooming, panning, etc. just as you would with a Google Map. I already thought of a good idea for how to use this: create an annotated screenshot of any application’s interface, with each section labeled.

Maplib is a little rough (it’s in serious beta…I had a hard time placing and removing markers). The interface to the people viewing the image will be familiar, and you can copy some code on the site and post it to a blog or another website.

Web 2.0 Presentation tool

Spresent is going to be one of my favotire web 2.0 apps.  This flash interface allows you to create a presentation completely online (with images, audio, tables, charts, etc.)   It’s like having access to PowerPoint from any computer.

One thing I like is that it can add credits at the end for any media you want to add to a presentation (and Flickr images are supported).  It can be used with audio to create a much better enhanced podcast (with bigger slides).

Get it here.

Enhanced Podcast on Windows

Yes, it is possible to do it.  I tried it yesterday.  You have to download Windows Media Encoder, then use one of the components called Windows File Editor (WME is a suite of the encoder and a couple of tools, one of which is the file editor).  You can then open your file and play it back.  You can pause at different points and add a marker.  You can also add a script that will open a website, but I did not like the way this worked.  First of all, the person viewing the file has to change their preferences for the scripts to work (Tools > Options > Security > Allow scripts).  Second, the scripts are activated without user intervention in a way that is a little abrupt.  It would be better if the links showed up on the screen while the file is playing so you then had an option.  I don’t know if the new WMP supports this or if it works differently under Vista with the new WMP.

Once you’re finished setting markers, do a File > Save and Index and save your file with a new file name.  To use the markers, open it with Windows Media Player and then go to File > Markers and select the marker you want to skip to.

I tried to convert the file into iPod format using Videora, but the markers were gone.  What you can do is save two versions (one for the computer that can be viewed using WMP, and one for the iPod that has been converted using Videora).  If you don’t have Videora, go out and grab it.  This is a great little program that allows you to do a one-click conversion of any .wmv file to .mp4, which can be played on the iPod.

ImageWell Updated

ImageWell is one of my favorite free programs for the Mac. This is a very easy to use program that I use to edit screenshots by cropping, adding callouts, arrows, etc. I also use it to convert screenshots from the .png default used on the Mac to .jpg and other formats.

If you pay $15 you can get an upgrade that allows you to do batch processing.

Web 2.0 video

This video on YouTube does a great job of summarizing what web 2.0 is all about. It also raises some important issues related to the new web and the way in which information is created and consumed in this new environment:

Site of the Week

This week’s site is Scrapblog. This is currently in beta, so use at your own risk. Scrapblog allows you to create a scrapbook online using all the web 2.0 goodness we’ve come to know and love…you can even have a page with layers in it so that you can add stickers, captions, and more. I’m thinking this may be a good site to use for digital storytelling. It has good integration with Flickr.

The site can be slow at times (due to it being in heavy development) but that should improve once the new version is out.

More Software Guides

The following guides are now available in the Support section of the Laptop Initiative website:

• Keynote 3: Updated to include 3D charts, new table features, and more
• Pages 2: includes mail merge and other new features
• iWeb: covers everything you need to know to get a site created

Almost done with all the iLife and iWork guides…just in time for Apple rumors to get started about new versions of all of these coming out next month at the MacWorld conference. There is a rumor about a new spreadsheet application called Charts (Excel lite) as well as a new version of Keynote with expanded podcasting support. Pages 3 is supposed to have two modes: word processing and page layout, as well as stronger collaboration features. iWeb 2 is rumored to add user created templates (a big improvement that was lacking in iWeb 1), dynamic content such as sorting in Photo pages, integration with Flickr, Google Ads so you can finally make money with iWeb sites…and all of the new programs will supposedly let you buy additional templates.

At least I will have all of these done so now all I have to do is update them with the new features…

Friday Links

Three great mapping websites to check out:

• Wayfaring: allows you to easily build your own maps. I am using it to build a map of every place I have ever lived.
• Neighboroo: provides different types of overlays for Google Maps, such as population by race, population density, crime rates, average income, etc.
• Frappr: another site for making your own websites. This one allows you to add them to MySpace and has other social features
• Wikimapia: their goal is to describe the whole world using a wiki and Google Maps

Enjoy those sites. If you want more, visit Google Maps Mania. This site has a comprehensive roundup of all Google Maps mashups.