Sunday, July 29, 2007

Baby Photo Slideshow & Photo Album

July 21, 2007

Exactly two years ago, on July 21, that was the day when Ted arrived, and from that day on, the three of us, Brian, Ted and I, was called a family. July 21 again, Happy Birthday, my dear!
Some days ago, getting an amazing copy of Photo Story Platinum from GAOTD, So wonderful, I started to make a baby photo story with the dazzling templates, add on clips and background music.

Some marvelous ideas came up to me:
  • Delivered the DVD photo album to Ted’s grandparents and they felt delighted to receive our baby photo album.
  • Made it as iPod movie, and showed off my baby’s photo album with friends!
  • Brian suggested sharing the baby album on YouTube, as well as a flash photo album for Myspace and blog, which were obviously great ideas!
  • Contacted ourpix.com, the webmaster of which saw my baby photo story and decided to put it on their website. Terrific! Thanks ourpix.com!
Ted, wish you would love this special birthday gift.
Best Regards,A happy mother, Priscilla





Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Wondershare iPhone Slideshow V1.0

June. 25th, 2007 – Wondershare Inc., the global award-winning provider of multimedia software for digital photographic & video and more, today released iPhone Slideshow, which is good news for iPhone fans.

Wondershare iPhone Slideshow is innovative facility to convert your digital photo and video to iPhone MP4 files. With powerful and flexible features, the program makes it easy to make your photo movie, along with emotive background music, playful clipart, and attractive transition effects conveniently! Just like a pro.

Top News in iPhone Slideshow Ver.1.0:

  • Support virtually almost all photo/video and audio formats;
  • Tons of transition and ken burns-styled effects bring your digital photo & video into life.
  • Use the built-in audio trimmer to crop songs and add fades;
  • Perfect good photos with editing tools including crop, rotate, clipart, text, frame, etc.
  • Easy video splitting. Choose the video segment you wanted before conversion.
  • At one click, get audio and video sync.
  • Its preview display in simulative iPhone screen enables you to make the creation enjoyable and vivid.
  • High quality MP4 video (iPhone video) in multiple output size;
  • High-speed encoder ensures smooth conversion of video and audio data;
  • Turn off your computer automatically to free you.
"We stick to provide software, which is not only for beginners to share their photo slideshows, but also for maestros to start a creative masterpiece." Said Sun, CIO of Wondershare Inc... "So we prefer to start the project with very clear steps for novices to follow. Besides, cool stuffs are added for creating a professional and unique photo slideshow." he continued,"In a word, we appreciate the support from all Wondershare users."

Pricing and Availability
iPhone Slideshow
is priced at $29.95 for Single-user personal license of the electronic versions. Multiple-user license are also available at special offer. It's certainly exciting news for all iPhone fans. To get more information and obtain a free trial version, please visit
http://www.photo-to-dvd.com/iphone-slideshow.html

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Ourpix.com is released – Focus on Your Needs!

Bound to please, Wondershare Inc. released the brand-new website – http://www.ourpix.com.

Ourpix.com is especially designed for Wondershare Photo Story Platinum. With the clear navigation and vivid interface, we wish you will have more fun surfing on net and better experience with Photo Story Platinum.

The best season for traveling is finally upon us! Any good ideas for your digital photos on journey? Not yet? Check out the sample, you will find the inspiration!

What’s your opinion? Come on baby, let the fun begin!

Monday, July 16, 2007

15-Minute Reviews :: Wondershare Photo Story Platinum v2.1.0

http://www.bladedthoth.com/reviews/15mrs/wondershare-photo-story-platinum-v2-1-0/

Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Wondershare Photo Story Platinum version 2.1.0 by WonderShare Software – An application to generate a digital album for your enjoyment.

Software Description
As Giveaway of the Day states:
“Not only an Album, not only Alluring. Photo Story Platinum gives you a new way to create photo albums from preset templates. These templates contain animations, effects & even transitions that are pre-arranged into interesting story. Simply add your photos, choose the templates, add some decorations, intro/end cast movie. Then share your story on Web, iPod/iPhone video, even author your own DVD.”

Quick Pros
Interface very easy to use – Professional look
Crop, rotate and filter each image individually
Selection of image movement templates, intro and end frames, decoration and more
Large selection of output options including FTP upload, screensaver, DVD burning and more
Resulting files are very good quality

Quick Cons
No music file preview functionality EDIT: It does have preview
Website output files should be simplified in name
SWF files should have had a preload animation/screen as glorious as the intro pages
Small glitches with the SWF files on two occasions
Delete button too easy to click on in main menu’s projects

Expansion
With so many people taking more photos than ever thanks to the advent of the digital camera and its ‘reusable film’ (Memory cards), people are looking for a way to present their photographs; Scrapbooks, albums, videos and more. This application fits into a few categories and provides another way to present your photographs to friends, family and the world.
The first part of this application that struck me was the professional-looking layout. It is as if the application has had years and money to throw at refining the interface. While there are a few awkward factors about the interface here and there, overall it is very smooth and easy to use.
There is a ton of features in this application – When I used this application, I found that I didn’t have to duck in and out to do chores related to the application; Granted I may still go into a photo-editing application for more advanced control of the original photos. There is control available over each individual image rather than just batch settings; Crop, rotate and a decent collection of filters can make the slide sing that much more. The more important filters are brightness, contrast and hue/saturation. The hue/saturation filter is odd for usage, but can help touch up the sky colors in your images.
There is also a large selection of image templates – IE: how they move on/off screen. There are even templates that more than one photo is used by the grouping; A good way to display a set of similar images. There is also a small selection of video intro and ending screens as well to introduce your slideshow and end it as well. With this, there are more templates available online at The author’s website.

I was surprised at the output selections. Not only can you create an SWF file for online use, you can also have it generate the HTML, or even have it upload it to an FTP site or online album site as well; there is even the ability to email it as well. You can also create an EXE file or turn it into a screensaver as well. You can also convert the file into a wide range of video formats, including presets for portable units and many more. The last one is DVD authoring and burning. With this, the application allows you to put in multiple albums you’ve created into the workplace and create a DVD, menu and all. There is even burning software built-in, so you again don’t have to step outside the application.
While the application does a lot and runs well, there is a few quirks I must touch on. First of all, there is no music file preview functionality; You’re left having to remember what songs are, and if you have a sizable collection, this may be a challenge to find the right file for your needs. EDIT: There is music file previewing available when you use the Music Setting button
As well, when the application creates the SWF and HTML files, it should simplify the names for web usage; spaces into underscores, and lowercase the name as well is what I would have done for easier handling online. Speaking on SWF files, while there is supposed to be a preloader screen, all I got was a black screen until the play button came up. I played around a bit but unfortunately could not find a fix for this and I am unsure why. I did have a glitch once where they play button didn’t want to come up when I had it on and another time that it got stuck looping the intro page.
One last note I must mention; Although the delete album function does ask you to confirm deletion of your file after you click delete, I found the delete and open buttons were a little too close to each other based on size and such and could see accidental deletion occuring still with the confirmation box.

Final Verdict
While there are little issues and that there could be more templates (The author is trying to build on the latter by offering a download page for more), this application is a really cool tool and it has ended up in my personal collection of applications. While free, I would definitely recommend picking it up; It is worth it to immortalize your images in a new form and bring life to your images. As for paying $49.95, this application is worth that much, so long as you plan on using it more than once or twice, and even then may still be worth it to many. That said, the author is offering people who download this application free from Giveaway of the Day a deal for now or down the road and available easily inside the application. You can purchase any future versions (which also offers full support) for $24.95, essentially half-price, which may well be worth it for any major improvements to the application which may come to be.

Posted by BladedThoth on Monday, July 16, 2007

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

How to add video captions to your slideshow

A photo slideshow, in addition to such basic video editing, like ken burns-style effects, transition effects, background music, believe it or not, will be greatly polished by adding some captions. Whenever possible, captions should coincide with the on-screen activity and sentiment. Most software can make it using transcript. Don't worry about that! Preferably, you can find an all-in-one tool such as Wondershare DVD Slideshow Builder, to caption your video fast and easily at your fingertips.

How It Works
In DVD slideshow Builder, first of all, you need to select the photo/video clip you want to caption in storyboard. In view box above, click 'Text' icon to open 'Caption Edit' panel.

Specified steps should be followed:
  • Point: Click the 'Play' button to playback the video from the beginning.
    Press 'Pause' when you find it the optimal start point to let captions to appear.
  • Text: Now, it's time to add the caption on this screen. Click '+' to active the text column and type the text content. On the contrary, click '-' to delete the text.
  • Effect: Drag the text box on the screen to adjust the position. Moreover, set the font family, size, color and action effects to enhance your slideshow.
  • Don’t forget to confirm it by clicking 'Set'.
  • Preview: Go back to the preview to check if your caption is Ok as you wish.

Note: If the starting point exceeds the length of the photo duration time, the caption won't display on the photo.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Flash Slideshow Business Solution







As a sales manager, Mike need to prepare business presentations for new products frequently.

Mike has been exhausted in preparing a persuasive presentation until he find Flash Slideshow Builder.

Wonderful!! With Flash Slideshow Builder, it can't be any easier to create professional-looking business flash presentations. Mike successfully achieves to:
  • Introduce products explicitly with vivid photos and text captions.
  • Archive the product photos in slideshow way - an orderly way.
  • Add voice narrations, such as experts’ comments and users’ compliment.
  • Make each page of the slideshow flash clickable and link to the corresponding product web page.
  • Post the introductory slideshow to product website and make the dull site more interesting.

Now, Mike feels that preparing for a business presentation is as easy as turn his hand over.