The Multimedia Exchange archive
Tools
Giving Audacity a try
Finally got around to giving Audacity, the free audio editing tool, a try. I was surprised at the number of...
June 10, 2005
Qarbon adds ViewletBuilder for the Mac
For those looking for a tool to create Flash-based presentations and tutorials on the Macintosh platform, Qarbon is now offering...
May 24, 2005
Sorenson releases Squeeze 4.1
Sorenson Media has shipped a new update for one of my favorite tools: the Squeeze Compression Suite. Key among the...
April 21, 2005
Skype recording saga continues
Still no luck on recording a Skype call using one (Windows 2000) machine. I had three potential options and so...
April 15, 2005
The softphone experiment: Take 2
In our first try at using the Avaya Softphone for telecommuting, we ran into problems with our browser-based content management...
April 04, 2005
QoSmetrics adds MPEG support
QoSmetrics announced it is adding support for measuring the quality of MPEG streams to its V-Factor. Carriers, services providers and...
The softphone experience
When I told the Network World IT staff of my Skype experiment they said I should try out the company's...
March 29, 2005
I've got Skype
I've finally got on board with the 31 million other people that have figured out Skype is pretty cool. For...
March 23, 2005
AOL adds voice chat to ICQ 5
A new version of ICQ is available from AOL that features push-to-talk instant voice conferencing, peer-to-peer asynchronous chat and improved...
Avid buying Pinnacle Systems
Avid Technologies, makers of high-end video editing systems, is buying Pinnacle Systems, which offers its own line of editing and...
March 22, 2005
Videoblogging
Serious Magic, the people that brought us Visual Communicator, today announced VlogIT here at DEMO, a tool for creating video...
February 14, 2005
Customizing Squeeze
I use Sorenson Squeeze to encode the master WAV file for Radio into the three formats we stream each week....
January 25, 2005
Sony announces SoundForge 8
Sony announced today it will begin shipping SoundForge 8 at the end of February. SoundForge 8??!? I am still using...
January 20, 2005
Non-iPod podcasting
If you're looking to get on the Podcasting bandwagon but don't have an iPod, you can still download audio files...
January 19, 2005
Sorenson Squeeze 4.1 announced
Sorenson will ship version 4.1 of its Squeeze compression utility later this quarter with new support for AAC Plus Audio...
January 11, 2005
Corel buys Jasc
Corel Software today scooped up Jasc Software, maker of Paint Shop Pro, one of the best photo editing tools short...
October 14, 2004
New slideshow option for home users
Christmas is coming and that means tons of digital photos will be taken. NewSoft is hoping to capitalize on the...
September 30, 2004
Squeeze 4 shipping
Sorenson announced today that is has begun shipping the latest version of Squeeze, a media compression suite that supports all...
August 25, 2004
BitTorrent how-to
I've written about the BitTorrent file sharing system in the past, but never a how-to on how it works from...
Macromedia 'emerging' issues
Macromedia has published a few Tech Notes regarding "emerging issues" surrounding some updates for Director MX 2004, Fireworks MX 2004...
August 03, 2004
Director books available
Macromedia has published a list reference books for those looking to delve more into Director MX 2004. Check the list...
Apple, Real tit-for-tat continues
The go 'round between Apple and Real over that latter's Harmony software for getting non-iTunes music (read: Music sold by...
Flash MX update available
There's a new update available for Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. Version 7.2 is said to make...
July 29, 2004
iView Media Pro 2
Yesterday at MacWorld, I stopped by the iView Multimedia booth to take a look at its iView MediaPro 2 product,...
July 14, 2004
GarageBand class
Berkleemusic.com, the online extension of the prestigious Berklee School of Music, will begin offering an online course in GarageBand, Apple's...
Encrypting iChats
Apple's got a tool out called ChatBarrier X3 that encrypts two-way iChat conversations using a virtually unbreakable 512-bit key. Both...
July 12, 2004
Wash your audio
Background noise from air conditioners, lighting or tape hiss can be a nightmare for those creating audio presentations (or video...
June 22, 2004
Squeeze 4 on the way
Sorenson Media this week began previewing the upcoming Squeeze 4 release, due out later this summer. The new release features...
June 11, 2004
SnagIt 7.1 available
A new update to the popular SnagIt screen capture utility with a number of new goodies is now available. Version...
Streaming resources for educators
The University of Wisconsin has a great streaming media resource site for those interested in using the technology for teaching....
May 26, 2004
All about testing
Literally. We've got two new presentations online that look at the ins and outs of testing various technologies. Joel Snyder...
May 21, 2004
Record streamed music
Like the old days of using a cassette recorder to tape songs off the radio, Applian Technologies' Replay Music can...
May 19, 2004
Wildform updated Flix Pro
For those doing a lot of Flash video encoding, Wildform's new Flix Pro 4 may be worth a gander. In...
Easy green screen
Jason Zada raves about a green screen technology called "Chromatte"....
May 17, 2004
Ulead VideoStudio 8 available
Ulead is now shipping VideoStudio 8, featuring new visual and audio effects, filters and more. Ulead has also improved its...
May 06, 2004
muvee adds new stylePack
muvee Technologies is offering add-a new Pro Classic stylePack, a set of 24 professional video styles that can be used...
Anystream adds AOL format
This item sort of slipped through the crack that is my e-mail inbox: Anystream has added support for the AOL...
ContentGuard DRM SDK available
ContentGuard is delivering a software development kit for ISVs that want to add MPEG Rights Expression Language (REL) to their...
April 14, 2004
PlayFair code relocated to India
The PlayFair DRM-cracking code for iTunes has been removed from SourceForge but is available on a server in India. Sounds...
April 09, 2004
iTunes DRM cracked
A group has cracked the digital rights management scheme that's used to protect files downloaded from Apple's iTunes music service....
April 06, 2004
IVT, Akamai partner
Interactive Video Technologies (IVT) today launched a new component to its MediaPlatform 3.0 that allows for presenters to use the...
Kasenna adds vForge and vFusion
Kasenna this week added two new products designed to tie their MPEG hardware together with other applications: vForge and vFusion....
April 05, 2004
Onfolio rocks
Okay, this doesn't quite fall into "multimedia", but we all use the Web for research and I had to share...
March 30, 2004
Cisco and IVT partner
Cisco is taking advantage of its in-house streaming experts and years its put in to building its own internal streaming...
March 25, 2004
'Scrubs' edited with FinalCut Pro
One of my favorite television shows, NBC's Scrubs, is edited entirely with Apple's FinalCut Pro software, the first network series...
March 05, 2004
Re-mastering songs on iTunes
Octiv last week announced Volume Logic for Windows, a "digital re-mastering plug-in available for the Apple iTunes player". What's it...
March 02, 2004
RoboHelp now supports Word 2003
For those that use Macromedia RoboHelp X5 and have Word 2003 installed there's good news: The two products are now...
Making presentations a Breeze
Macromedia has released its first major enhancement of Breeze since it acquired the technology when it scooped up Presedia just...
February 10, 2004
Apple GarageBand reviewed
Ars Technica reviews Apple's GarageBand, a music creation application that's part of the iLife suite: GarageBand has many endearing qualities....
February 04, 2004
Pinnacle Studio 9
Pinnacle Systems took the wraps off Pinnacle Studio 9 yesterday, beefing up an already strong product. Among the highlights of...
January 08, 2004
Got to get an 'iLife'
Most of the buzz out of MacWorld yesterday centered around the new iPod mini (a 4 gigabyte player that comes...
January 07, 2004
Macromedia unveils Director MX 2004
Macromedia today announced the newest version of its multimedia authoring tool, Director MX 2004. The new release, due out in...
January 05, 2004
Discreet releases combustion 3 for Mac
Discreet is using this week's MacWorld show to unveil its combustion 3 visual effects and 3D compositing software for the...
Using Pinnacle Studio 8
I just finished (at 4 this morning) my first major project using Pinnacle Systems Studio 8 editing tool and I...
December 19, 2003
MediaSite Live in action
If you're a structural engineering buff or want to see an example of a live Web event, check out the...
December 16, 2003
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated
Looks like our initial reports of WinAmp's demise may have been a bit off. Version 5.0 of the player was...
MPEG4 analysis tool
The problem with standards is that if one group impements the specification slightly different than another group, interoperability is thrown...
December 02, 2003
Reflect Systems tackles corporate Web casting
Reflect Systems recently unveiled a new combination of creation/management tools, servers and hosting designed to take IT out of the...
November 25, 2003
Agility Presenter now Apreso
AnyStream this week shipped an updated version of its Agility Presenter software, now called Apreso for PowerPoint. (The new name...
November 20, 2003
TechSmith updates SnagIt, Camtasia Studio
TechSmith this week released updated versions of its SnagIt screen capture utility and Camtasio Studio product for recording on screen...
November 14, 2003
ViewletCam captures screen animation
Qarbon has developed a new application for capture on-screen activity and exporting the results to a Flash file for sharing...
New muvee autoProducer
The folks at muvee Technologies have released yet another version of their autoProducer video production software. This fun little application...
November 04, 2003
Audio processing from Omnia
Onmia Audio last week introduced a new audio processing application for streaming media producers designed to enhance a raw audio...
Sonic Foundry upgrades Mediasite Live
With only one product line to focus on since selling off its software tools division this past summer, Sonic Foundry...
November 03, 2003
MS Producer 2003 shipping
Amid the hoopla of last week's Office 2003 launch was the newest version of Microsoft Producer, which converts a standard...
October 27, 2003
RoboDemo 5.0 and RoboPresenter
This news is a week or two old but still worth noting: eHelp has shipped version 5.0 of RoboDemo and...
New Plus! Digital Media Edition from Microsoft
Microsoft's got a new version of its Plus! Digital Media Edition (DME) for Windows XP out and it's full of...
October 15, 2003
Sawyer Media debuts Enterprise Media Producer 2.0
Companies with an interest in rich media corporate communications and training have another option for producing, managing and delivering media...
October 14, 2003
New SIP and H.323 testing tools
For those charges with managing and maintaining an IP voice and/or video network, Delta Protocol Test Solutions has released a...
October 09, 2003
RealConverter Pro 3.1 available
A new version of RealConverter Pro, a batch tool for resizing and formatting images, is now shipping from RealSoft.com. Version...
September 15, 2003
Discreet announces Combustion 3
Discreet this week announced a new version of its Combustion desktop visual effects and 3D compositing software. Version 3, which...
September 10, 2003
Quick photo galleries
Two friends from college (one of whom works for Network World) got married this weekend in a beautiful ceremony on...
September 08, 2003
Three flavors of Qarbon ViewletBuilder 4
Qarbon's got three new versions of its ViewletBuilder 4 product shipping now: the standard release for those building Flash-based demos...
September 04, 2003
Scan your media files
With multiple machines in a home network, it can be difficult to find a certain media file that could be...
August 27, 2003
Screenshot capture and management
Grab and Send is a new screenshot capture and management tool from 3rd Eye Solutions that lets users edit, highlight...
August 07, 2003
Apple's DVD Studio Pro 2
Apple will begin shipping its DVD Studio Pro 2 authoring tool on August 18th. The new release features customizable templates,...
August 06, 2003
Home video Magix
There's a new video editing tool on the market for the budding Steven Spielberg sitting at home: MAGIX Movie Edit...
New MP3 editor/recorder
Super MP3 Recorder Pro 5.0 from Admire Soft is said to be able to convert any sound being played through...
August 04, 2003
Agility Presenter shines
Check out this multimedia presentation that's part of our Buyer's Guide package on collaborative workspaces. You'll need Internet Explorer and...
July 29, 2003
Inetcam targets high-volume multicasting
Software maker Inetcam has come out with a new product designed to help push streaming to the masses using multicast...
July 21, 2003
New analysis tool for 3G-324M
Dilithium Networks announced a new version of its analysis and testing tool for those implementing 3G-324M, a protocol for streaming...
Add sound to pictures
SoundPix 2.0 is now available from the company with the same name. SoundPix allows user to do just what its...
July 17, 2003
Apple looks to entice Premiere users
Looking to convert Adobe Premiere users into Final Cut Pro/Express customers, Apple launched a new program today that offers significant...
July 16, 2003
RoboDemo adds more Flash integration
eHelp has released a new module that enabled its RoboDemo users to edit or integrate their projects using Flash MX....
July 15, 2003
One-click media conversion?
Got an e-mail late last week inviting me to try out a new tool from Mystik Media: ContextConvert Pro. Allegedly,...
July 14, 2003
Macromedia Breeze goes Live
Macromedia's online presentation offering now has a live component, allowing users to conduct Webconferencing meetings from their desktop using a...
July 10, 2003
Autonomy to acquire Virage
Autonomy, which develops content aggregation software, is adding multimedia to its arsenal with a planned acquisition of Virage, which makes...
Service pack for Cleaner XL
Discreet has released the first service pack for its Cleaner XL encoding tool. The new update is said to include...
July 09, 2003
Adobe drops Mac support for Premiere
Those of you who love your Mac and Adobe Premiere are going to be disappointed when the new version of...
July 08, 2003
Apple 'Shakes' it up
Apple today released Shake 3, its compositing and visual effects software for the Mac. The new version features the ability...
June 20, 2003
IVT releases MediaPlatform 2.0
Interactive Video Technologies (IVT) has upgrade its MediaPlatform software offering to include support for Cisco's Application and Content Networking Systems...
June 18, 2003
New Producer beta released
Microsoft today released a beta version of its latest Producer application, used for combining PowerPoint presentations with audio and video...
June 16, 2003
CyberLink PowerProducer 2.0 available
CyberLink has added a number of features to version 2.0 of its consumer-oriented video editing software, PowerProducer. Included in the...
June 12, 2003
Final Cut Pro 4.0 ships Flag Day
Apple says customers will be able to buy the newest version of Final Cut Pro on Saturday, June 14, beginning...
June 05, 2003
A PVR for Internet radio
TiVo and Replay TV fans can now get similar tool for recording their favorite Internet radio programs. Replay Radio 3.0...
May 19, 2003
Sorensen releases Squeeze 3.5
One of my favorite tools has a new update. Sorenson Media today released version 3.5 of its Sorenson Squeeze for...
May 13, 2003
Sonic Foundry sells desktop products to Sony
Are you a fan of Sonic Foundry's Vegas, Acid and Sound Forge desktop multimedia editing products? Well, turn your affections...
May 05, 2003
Camtasia Studio 1.1 available
TechSmith has released version 1.1 of its Camtasia Studio application for capturing screen activity on a Windows machine and turning...
Streaming media load testing with Spirent
I got a demo of Spirent Communications' streaming media load testing capability here at Networld+Interop Las Vegas 2003 and was...
April 30, 2003
The Vegas 90-Day Challenge
Do you use and profess love for Sonic Foundry's Vegas 4.0? The Sonic Foundry wants to hear from you. The...
April 17, 2003
A couple new photo tools
Looking for a photo editor for your digital and scanned pics? Add the Abacre Photo Editor to your list of...
April 11, 2003
Mix and mash a presentation with Media Mixer
Biznews24, a New Hampshire-based company, has developed a new product for non-techies to create Web or CD-based presentations that combine...
April 10, 2003
Serious Magic adds Real output support
Serious Magic has made RealNetworks RealVideo 9 the default output format for its Visual Communicator product line. Previously, only Windows...
April 09, 2003
Adobe Encore DVD
Adobe is targeting the professional video editor with its new $549 Encore DVD package used to author and burn DVDs....
April 01, 2003
Looking for a technical reference book? Turn to Books24x7
In the course of researching an article, I interviewed a representative from Books24x7, a company I'd never heard of until...
March 10, 2003
Discreet ships Cleaner XL
The long wait is over. Mac users have had a new version of Discreet's Cleaner product for a few months,...
March 05, 2003
Macromedia makes Presedia products a breeze
Macromedia is starting to pick the fruits of last month's acquisition of Presedia, which makes tools for converting PowerPoint presentations...
February 25, 2003
Spirent adds Windows Media support
Testing equipment maker Spirent Communications' new 5.0 software release for its Avalanche/2200 and Avalanche/SmartBits systems now support Windows Media Format....
February 18, 2003
Vegas Video 4 ships
Sonic Foundry has begun shipping Vegas Video 4, the latest and greatest video editing package from the company. The new...
February 06, 2003
Ulead releases VideoStudio 7
Video enthusiasts will soon have another low-cost entry on the market for editing videos on the home PC: Ulead VideoStudio...
February 03, 2003
It's been one week...
What a week it's been since I last updated the Multimedia Exchange. I was down at ComNet in Washington, D.C....
January 30, 2003
Discreet updates visual effects tools
Discreet today announced new versions of its popular digital effects products: Inferno 5, Flame 8 and Flint 8 are now...
January 23, 2003
Update on Sorenson Squeeze 3
In our entry yesterday regarding the Sorenson Squeeze 3 Compression Suite, I mentioned that it supported Windows Media 8 and...
January 22, 2003
Sorenson Squeeze 3 now shipping
Sorenson's Squeeze 3 Compression Suite, one of my favorite new tools, is now generally available. The suite lets you easily...
January 21, 2003
New batch audio file conversion utility
AudioI has released version 1.0 of its Complete Audio Converter utility for converting between MP3, WAV, Windows Media Audio, Ogg...
January 16, 2003
Discreet Character Studio 4 ships
Discreet announced it has begun shipping Character Studio 4 for creating animated characters in a film. New features, according to...
January 15, 2003
Learn Flash MX and PhotoShop 7
Sybex has come out with two new tutorial products that allow customers to get hands-on experience with Flash MX and...
January 13, 2003
Make your own DVD movies
A new version of Muvee's autoProducer line will be available at the end of the month, allowing users to output...
January 10, 2003
Avid plants a seed
Avid Technologies is looking to cultivate a larger customer base by releasing a free version of its popular video editing...
January 08, 2003
Apple's new Final Cut Express
Among the many new releases this week at Macworld by Apple is Final Cut Express, a DV-specific video editing package...
Free version of Maya 3D tool available
At Macworld, Alias/Wavefront announced the availability of Maya 4.5 Personal Learning Edition, a free version of the company's 3D animation...
Discreet makes a splash at MacWorld
It's again time for another round of Macworld where rabid Apple fans drool over the latest news from the company....
January 07, 2003
