Screencasts meets Zlides and RSS

I'm working on yet another presentation. I'm having trouble getting it written because I really don't have the right tools.

Screencasts are the greatest way take an presentation and make it available on the web. Just making your PowerPoint available does not cut it. Sometimes people read their PowerPoint stack as their presentation, but then you have a terrible presentation.

Also, most of my presentations talk about the web and web sites. I'm sick and tired of screen capturing into PowerPoint. Besides, think about the workflow. Go to web site, screen capture, paste into PowerPoint, convert PowerPoint to web, post on web. This is not very efficient and makes for a terrible presentation if you have to cut away from your PowerPoint to you browser.

So I was thinking more about Zlides.com and how to make a better presentation. The basic premise of Zlides is that the presentation is a RSS feeds. That is the elegant design.

But Zlides as it currently exists depends on creating the content within Zlides. I think I have a way to incorporate an demo within Zlides. So for example, the presentation would go: Zlide one, Zlide two, http://www.abcedmindedness.com, Zlide four. In other words, the third zlide would not be content from zlides.com but rather a redirect to a website's page. The problem is that the zlide's player was meant to be a single page web application and I would need a new approach.

What got me thinking about all of this was the tabs in Firefox. Why not load up the presentation in Firefox where each "slide" was a different tab. Since the presentation is an RSS feed, you could "subscribe" to the presentation as a "Live Bookmark". Then you can "Open All Tabs" to load all of the "slides" including the demo web pages into your browser. Hit F11 and then tab through your presentation live.

Now take your presentation and use your favorite screencasting software. With very little effort you now have a screencast of your presentation which is much more effective than putting the PowerPoints online.

Now to make this work.

Frameworks have it wrong?

I'm beginning to think that programming frameworks like Rails and Struts have it all wrong. It started with looking at how they do Ajax/JavaScript. Agile and Getting Real says to create the interface first. Frameworks are not about interface. Still thinking.

Dream Car

My dream has nothing to do with a car. Are two words when put together always an ad pitch?

Social Bookmarking Video

This is a great explanation of how to get started using del.icio.us.

Flyod

Sara Corbett's article about Floyd Landis, '06 winner of the Tour de France, describes the purgatory of awaiting a verdict. Smartly she uses the phrase "suspicious imbalance in his body's testosterone" to describe the drug test results that started Landis' trouble. This is far more accurate than almost any other reporting. Even if the verdict is in his favor, the only redemption for Landis may be another shot at the Tour de France.

Figleaf presents Adobe ColdFusion 8

Fig Leaf Software had the Tim Buntel, senior product marketing manager from Adobe in DC yesterday to present the latest and greatest version of ColdFusion. With version 8, ColdFusion still maintains a place at the table for Web Development. Actually, calling our work web development is misleading because we are really developing internet applications for a wider variety of formats and devices. For example, it is now possible to create an application that is entirely pdf based. I hadn't thought of pdf as Web 2.0 (an Adobe did make this claim). The presentation yesterday made it clear that when looking at this wider scope of application, especially for the enterprise, ColdFusion not only is at the table but elbowing a few others to take a more prominent place. Since Allaire, the product has now fully transitioned from a cutting edge, inexpensive, solo web programming tool to an enterprise application with support that works with the enterprise backend. So thanks to Fig Leaf folks for keeping us update on ColdFusion and Adobe.

microformats and Firefox Operator

Just installed a great new plugin for Firefox called Operator and I highly recommend it. It will let you view and export microformats. I'm incorporating the hcard into greatuncle.com.

Jared Diamond on Colbert

I've recently been reading Jared Diamond's books. These are the "missing" history books that I wish I had in high school. If you have ever considered picking up one of his books, I can highly recommend both Collapse and the Third Chimpanzee. Next I will be reading Gun, Germs and Steel.

For now, Collapse is one of the ten most influential books I have ever read.

Open House Crank

Open houses are a game. People walk in and they are watched because so few are serious buyers. And it must be boring for agents sitting in a house for 3 hours when you'd rather be with your family and you know the odds to getting a buyer a slim. But too many real estate agents give up too early and lose focus. Even though I'm in a T-shirt and bike shorts I have the money to buy this house! I'm getting tired of your attitude and your commission!

Renee Eats Ice Cream