PaperShow for Teachers is a Big Hit at MacWorld 2011

I'm back from spending a couple days in San Francisco at MacWorld 2011. MacWorld 2011 was very well attended and it was great having the opportunity to speak to so many educators at the Canson Booth, as we demoed PaperShow for Teachers. It was very energizing to watch so many people get really get excited about the product and the solution that we were offering. Many teachers liked the fact that they could walk around with the notebook and were not chained to the front of the classroom. We had other educators who really liked the idea that it could be used to annotate Keynote or PowerPoint presentations. Others were excited that they could use PaperShow for Teachers when they are doing webinars and online learning.

While I was MacWorld 2011 Conference I was interviewed by Mike Schramm from the The Unofficial Apple Weblog which was streamed via UStream. I had a chance to demo PaperShow for Teachers and share with the audience a thing are two about the program. You can watch the interview below.

Xpaper to the Rescue

In the last week, I have several different opportunities to use Xpaper which really helped me out in a pinch. In the first instance, I was completing a credit check application to a computer distributor so that I could resell Okidata printers as part of digital pen and paper solution. The company dutifully sent me a link to their Credit Application which I completed online. When the form was completed, I was able to save it as a PDF- now my challenge was that the Credit Application had to be signed by me in several places. With Xpaper that was an easy task! I simply printed the Credit Application Form using the Xpaper driver to my OkiData printer and signed the Credit Application Form with my Logitech Digital pen. When I docked my pen I had a crystal clear PDF with my signature ready to email back to the computer company. Using the built-in workflow my signed PDF was automatically uploaded and stored to GoggleDocs. How is that for automation? There are a host of different work-flow routing (SharePoint) and connectors (ftp, email) that make storing your documents easy to accomplish. All of this took seconds to accomplish with Xpaper. Back in the day I would have had to scan the entire document and it would have never looked as good as the output from Xpaper. Find out how your business or company can use Xpaper to automate your paper work flow and make the paper work for you! To arrange a free demo click here to register and I will be in touch with you.

The "PaperShow Guy" is Off to MacWorld 2011

Yes- some folks have affectionately coined me the "PaperShow Guy" and I will be in all my glory next week when I arrive in San Francisco for MacWorld 2011. If you get to MacWorld 2011 Conference please stop by the Canson Booth 1001 and say hello and try out PaperShow for Teachers. PaperShow for Teachers won Best of Show at MacWorld 2010, and we are excited to show you the latest developments with the product which educators are really excited about. So stop by Booth 1001 and say hello and try out PaperShow for Teachers. PaperShow for Teachers has a rich set of features that your students will find very engaging. We will be offering special MacWorld 2011 pricing for PaperShow for Teachers as well was for PaperShow Enterprise Edition - so come over and take advantage of the special promotions. Hope to see you there!

Printing To the iPad with the HP 6500A

One of the really nice features of iOS 4.2 is the ability to print from the iPad to certain select printers. At this time there are several HP printers that support wireless printing using Apple's AirPrint technology. I had the opportunity today to set up the HP 6500A printer which supports the AirPrint capabilities for one of my clients who needs this capability at school, so that she can print out the written work she does in Pages from her iPad. HP provides very clear directions on how to set up the printer and configuring the wireless component was very easy and straightforward using the built-in touch screen. However, when I attempted to print from my iPad, for some reason it did not see the printer and I received feedback on my iPad that "No printers were found." I scratched my head and tried reconfiguring the wireless connection when I realized that there was a Menu item called Web services. When I selected this feature the HP 6500A asked me if  I wanted to check for updates and I pressed "Yes."  Once the printer had downloaded the updates I was now able to see the printer from within Pages and I was off and running. So if you get stuck remember to check for Updates on your HP Printer.

Adobe Delivers Technical Communication Suite 3

Streamlined, Simplified Workflows Powered by New Versions of FrameMaker and RoboHelp

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 11, 2011 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Technical Communication Suite 3, the latest version of its complete single-source authoring and multi-device publishing toolkit for the creation and publication of rich, standards-compliant technical information and training material. The new improved version of Adobe’s industry-leading suite enables technical writers, help authors and instructional designers to efficiently author, enrich, manage, and seamlessly publish content to multiple channels and devices. Adobe also introduced new versions of the suite’s core products: Adobe FrameMaker® 10, a powerful template-based authoring and publishing solution for technical content; and Adobe RoboHelp® 9, an HTML and XML help, policy and knowledgebase authoring and publishing solution. Adobe Photoshop® CS5, Adobe Captivate® 5 and Adobe Acrobat® X Pro round out the suite, integrating powerful image editing, eLearning and demo creation, and dynamic PDF functionalities. “Today’s technical communication end user – from an average consumer to a design engineer – expects content experiences that are clear, concise and more engaging,” said Naresh Gupta, senior vice president, Print and Publishing at Adobe. “Technical Communication Suite 3 customers can meet this demand by creating documentation that is increasingly interactive, rich and socially enabled – all with one set of tools, within one user interface.”
New Features
Technical Communication Suite 3
• Enhanced single-sourcing: Import FrameMaker content into RoboHelp with support for FrameMaker books. Directly link DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) maps, automatically convert table and list styles, and publish multiple RoboHelp outputs from within the native authoring environment.
• Dynamic “single-click” publishing: Create standards-compliant XML and DITA (1.2) content and output to multiple formats, including print, PDF, Adobe AIR™, WebHelp, EPUB, XML and HTML, and deliver it to a wide range of mobile devices, such as eReaders, smartphones and tablets. Lend your content to search engine optimization, via enhanced metadata tagging of published content.
• Expanded multimedia capabilities: Take advantage of more than 45 video and audio formats and engage audiences by adding 3D models, training demos and simulations.
FrameMaker 10
• Standards support: Take advantage of significantly enhanced XML/DITA authoring capabilities of FrameMaker 10, which is an early adopter of industry standards including DITA 1.2.
• Usability enhancements: Work more efficiently with standards-compliant, prebuilt tools and templates designed for easier authoring. Use utilities like Auto Spell Check, Highlight Support, scrolling for lengthy dialogue, and enhanced Find and Replace to get the job done faster.
• Content Management System (CMS) connectors: Integrate seamlessly with leading content management systems, including Documentum and MS SharePoint. While competitors often sell these connectors for thousands of dollars, they will be included in FrameMaker 10 at no additional cost. Single-source, review, manage and automatically publish content faster and smarter – all within your favorite technical authoring tool.

Adobe Announces Technical Communication Suite 3

RoboHelp 9
• More personalized, optimized end-user experiences:
o Enable users to filter help systems based on their role, department, geography, products, operating system, or any other parameter, ensuring the most relevant information is instantly available.
o Enrich the quality of documentation by allowing users to add comments, rate helpfulness or generate relevant content independently.
o Create rich, interactive materials by adding access to external Web content including Google search, blogs,
wikis and forums.
• Efficient Workflows: Collaborate with authors, subject matter experts and readers using advanced PDF shared reviews, live linking of shared resources, moderation-enabled workflows through Adobe AIR Help, topic-rating and other multiauthor environment capabilities.

Adobe FrameMaker Server 10 and Adobe RoboHelp Server 9, the server versions of the core FrameMaker and RoboHelp products, are two separate releases that complement the new suite and help streamline enterprise workflows.

Pricing and Availability
Technical Communication Suite 3, FrameMaker 10 and RoboHelp 9 are immediately available in English, French, German and
Japanese versions through Adobe Authorized Resellers and the Adobe Store. Estimated street price for Technical Communication
Suite 3 is US$1899 (upgrades from US$699). FrameMaker 10 and RoboHelp 9 are also available as standalone products.
Estimated street price for FrameMaker 10 and RoboHelp 9 is US$999 each (upgrades from US$399). For details on FrameMaker
Server 10 and RoboHelp Server 9 pricing visit http://www.adobe.com/products/framemakerserver.html and
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelpserver.html
About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.
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© 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Olympic Limited Releases OPTi-Docs for MindManager

As a long time MindManger User it is really exciting to see how 3rd party companies can expand the functionality of the program with add-ins. I have come to know Nigel Goult from Olympic Limited and over the years he and his company have developed some very innovative and unique add-ins for MindManager. I had a chance to catch up with Nigel last week and he shared with me some of his new development work that he just completed on Opti-Docs for MindManger.

Brian: Tell us about your company Olympic Limited?
Nigel: Olympic is a supplier of information management tools and a developer of value added solutions/content. We primarily focus on MindManager add-in development but are steadily working our way towards platform independent solutions and have just recently completed our first solution for PRINCE2 project management, OPTi-P2 for Windows. Our knowledge of MindManager spans almost ten years across three companies and we have been involved in add-in development since MindManager X5.

Brian; Tell us about Olympic  and the range of your products?
Nigel: One of our recent goals was to start to create a brand for Olympic and that has now become what we call our "OPTi-Range" of solutions. Currently the range includes:
•    OPTi-P2 for MindManager, a PRINCE2 Project Management Solution
•    OPTi-Q for MindManager, a Quality Management System based on ISO9000
•    OPTi-Suite for MindManager, a utility add-in that extends MindManager
•    OPTi-P2 for Windows, a platform independent PRINCE2 solution for Windows
•    OPTi-Docs for MindManager, our latest MindManager add-in to manage documents linked to MindManager maps.
All of our products are developed with simplicity in mind. We believe that day to day activities such as project management, document management etc do not have to be complex and often simple solutions provide the best results. That is always the key objective whenever we look at producing a solution for any given task.
 Brian: Please share with us how Opti-DOCS came about?
Nigel: OPTi-Docs came about through several discussions I had with a long time colleague who is also a Mindjet MindManager Value Added partner like Olympic. During several conversations the fact that one of the first things that new users of MindManager tend to do is attach documents or files of some type into their maps became very apparent. This quite common task/use had always been obvious to me but I had never looked beyond the basics of the process and suddenly it struck me that currently there is no real way to easily control documents of this nature unless you are using something like Sharepoint etc. We did some thinking about what basic qualities an add-in would require and after a few brainstorms OPTi-Docs was born.
Brian: What are the Key Features?
We decided that the add-in would require several key features to really deliver benefit and as a minimum decided that a simple check-in/check-out mechanism was definitely required as well as an easily accessible top level overview of document changes so users could quickly see what changes had taken place for each document.
The add-in creates a new MindManager Task Pane that displays the details of documents on selected topics and this makes it easy for users to see the current status of the selected document and its history etc.
Auto-revision was also key to the add-in as was the ability to easily  include past document revisions in the map for other users who perhaps did not have OPTi-Docs installed. Above all the add-in had to be simple. We wanted it to be very much a background process that simply just worked for the users and we think that the release offers a truly easy to use system that delivers a good level of control for locally linked MindManager documents.

Brian: Talk about the Value proposition
Nigel: MindManager is a great tool for organizing documents but when you want to apply controls it is cumbersome to have to open a linked document and then save it with a new name and then have to re-link to the new file. This takes time and most people tend to just edit the document and then overwrite the original meaning they lose document history and the ability to audit changes through iterative documents. Using OPTi-Docs automates this process and provides a simple document control system with a minimum of user interaction.
OPTi-Docs can also be used with almost ANY file type so it is not just "documents" that can be controlled but any file that is going through an iterative change process. Image files, audio files, zip archives, even software applications and installers can all be controlled with OPTi-Docs.

Brian: How do you envision that users of MindManager would use Opti-DOCS?
Nigel: The possible user base for OPTi-Docs is very large. It can be used by anyone who links files to their MindManager maps but some very specific examples of user types are:
•    Project Managers
•    Quality Practitioners
•    Solicitors
•    Lawyers
•    Librarians
•    Software Developers
•    Graphic Artists
•    CAD Librarians
•    Human Resource Managers
•    Technical Authors
The list could go on...and on.
We developed the add-in to be compatible with MindManager versions 6, 7, 8 and 9 so users of earlier versions can also take advantage of the benefits that OPTi-Docs can offer.

Brian: What are some of the unique features of OPTi-Docs?
Nigel: OPTi-Docs does not have what I would call "unique" features. Check-in/Check-out routines and auto version increments etc are not unique, however, we are not aware of another solution that specifically aids MindManager users with this task except of course for the much larger Sharepoint type scenario's.

Brian:What do you see as the benefits of users using Opti-DOCs?
Nigel: Users benefit by gaining a level of control of documents in their maps. As mentioned earlier, the add-in's simplicity and background automation help users achieve control with very little effort or involvement except where necessary. Quick visibility of document status and change history also helps users understand their documents progress and helps users identify the current status/stage a document is at in its lifecycle.

Brian: What are your customers saying?
Nigel: OPTi-Docs has been very well received by our customers and has proved to be the second most popular add-in we offer. It has also aided users of of our other add-ins/solutions such as OPTi-P2 and OPT-Q, both solutions that have documentation attached to their main dashboards, by bringing document control to those solutions. In fact OPTi-Docs is now provided FREE to purchasers of OPTi-P2 and OPTi-Q to help users of those solutions get maximum value and benefit from them.

Brian: Are there plans for future developments for Opti-DOCS?
Nigel: OPTi-Docs is very much a product in what we call "fluid development" which means it is being improved as and when we come up with ideas or are presented with feedback from customers.
We are already working on several new features to be included in an update which will be available in Q1 of 2011. These will include roll back of revisions, an additional method of accessing document details and some maintenance options to help users manage the files that the add-in creates.


Brian: Nigel thanks so much spending the time talking about OPTi-Docs. and thank you and your company Olympic Limited for providing me with 3 licenses as part of an OPTI-Docs give away.  In order to be in the running for the free licenses I will need you to Tweet this statement. Read about how you can use OPTi-DOCS for MindManager to streamline your document management for the New Year!- http://bit.ly/hjUIAF

William Paterson University Accessbility Conference 2011

William Paterson University and Bergen County Special Services School District will be hosting the Accessibility Conference 2011: Reaching & Teaching All Learners Through Technology, which will be held on January 13, 2011 in Wayne , NJ. This looks to be one of the premiere assistive technology conferences to be
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offered this year in New Jersey and I hope you can come out and spend the day with us. Dave Marra, from Apple Computer will be the keynote and share with us all of the excitement Apple has generated with their lineup of exciting products that have touched the lives of students we work with. Throughout the day there will be ongoing presentations and workshops which I'm sure you will find relevant and important in the work that you do.

During the day I will be presenting on Innovative Uses for Digital Pen Technology.  So if you want to learn about the Livescribe Smartpen, or PaperShow for Teachers, or Xpaper then stop on by find out how these innovative solutions can be used in the classroom. Find out how these innovative digital pen and paper solutions can change the way you teach and offer you a range of outstanding benefits.