This week we have 5 not so obvious eBeam wheel features to share with you. This will be especially helpful for new eBeam users but maybe helpful for old pros as well. These features are found in the PC version of eBeam Interact version 2.1. Some but not all of these features are present on the Mac software.

Textbox:

Ever wonder how you change the size and font type in a textbox? This is easily overlooked. When you have the textbox selected in scrapbook simply click on the text icon in the center of the wheel. Up comes a mini wheel allowing you to choose the font, style and size of your choice. In addition, at the bottom of the window you can check to underline and select an alternative color from the drop down!

Finger Pointer:

The finger pointer is a simple hand pointing. This feature is buried under the mouse icon on the eBeam wheel and is only available when sharing your lesson in a meeting. Quick tip if you do not want to share your lesson but do want to use the finger pointer follow these steps:

• Click on the Share/End Meeting icon in the scrapbook toolbar
• Share the lesson with a password
• Now the pointer will be active
• Position and Place the pointer however you like

New Slide Shortcut:

An easy way to add a new slide is by tapping the ‘new slide’ icon in the scrapbook toolbar. Well you can make it even easier by adding the same icon to the eBeam wheel. Just tap and hold down on the camera – a sub menu will appear with the new slide icon to the left. Select it for an even easier way to add a new slide.

Specific Feature Help:

Ever wanted quick help or how to information for a particular eBeam wheel button? You wish is our command – select the button you want to know more about. For an example select the highlighter – then right-click in the center of the wheel, choose ‘about highlighter’. You can do this for each button on the eBeam wheel.

All Shapes and Sizes:

Like the New Slide shortcut there is a shape library button hidden under the textbox button. Select it and at your fingertips are basic shapes you can scale and color.

Have you been surprised and delighted by a little nugget feature within eBeam recently? We would love to hear about it!

You may not be aware that a major update of eBeam Projection for PC was released in August. Christened version 2.1, the software comes with many feature enhancements. The three major feature updates include: Flickr search integration, Video recording to Flash and WMV and Scrapbook Image Writer.

Let me briefly explain each of these:

Flicker search integration
Everyone uses and loves the image gallery, it is a great way to quickly and easily dress up your lesson slides. However the image gallery has had one shortcoming – you are limited to the images you have loaded into the image gallery. What if you want a specific image not already in the gallery? You have to search your computer or internet for it and then import it to the image gallery before even using it. Well we have a novel solution to all that hassle – Flicker image search is now integrated into the image gallery in scrapbook. Say you need an ‘airplane’ image – just type it into the search box and the image gallery will draw applicable images in real time off Flicker’s online image database. Scroll through the results and simply drag and drop onto your lesson slide!

Video Recording to Flash and WMV
Many teachers like to record their lessons as they teach. eBeam’s scrapbook has featured video and audio recording for some time. However we had only given one video format option which tended to create large files that do not work well on a website. So we have added to new video format options. The common WMV – windows media video and more importantly Flash. Flash is the standard video format on the internet today – small file size and good quality make it excellent for web use. Also, youtube and common blogging platforms use Flash video. I encourage you to give it a try with your next lesson!

Scrapbook Image Writer
This is a simple feature but can be very useful. Now you can print to scrapbook from any software on your computer. For example – open a file in Microsoft Word and select print. Select another printer – ‘Scrapbook Image Writer’. Print – now your Word document should show in scrapbook. Neat, huh?

If you have not picked up version 2.1 for PC yet you can download it here now: Download Software