Data Management
Adobe delivers high-impact training and demonstration materials
Adobe Systems Inc. announced Adobe Captivate 3 software, an eLearning authoring tool for the delivery of computer-based simulations, scenario-based training and interactive quizzes. Adobe Captivate 3 offers enhanced features including multi-mode recording, rerecording, Microsoft PowerPoint import capabilities and support for media formats, such as Adobe Flash Player compatible .SWF, MP3, and AVI files.
Adobe Captivate 3 creates software training in a screen capture session. The screen capture generates multiple learner modes, including demonstrations with mouse movements and automated text descriptions of each recorded task, practice simulations with instructional automated or customized feedback, and assessments with scored user interactions.
Adobe Captivate 3 enables authors to create quizzes and helps reduce cheating by randomly drawing questions from a pool and shuffling answers in multiple-choice formats. Adobe Captivate 3 also offers a large library of quiz question types, including sequencing, short answer, fill-in-the-blank, true/false, matching with drag and drop, and image hotspots. The rerecording feature captures actions taken in Internet Explorer Web applications, enabling learning professionals to build interactive software demonstrations with step-by-step instructions.
The enhanced Microsoft PowerPoint import functionality supports the conversion of slide animations into Flash Player compatible SWF format and allows authors to create interactive presentations incorporating audio and video. Support for MP3, AVI, FLA and FLV files, as well as visual effects — such as rollover objects and animated slide transitions — add impact to demonstrations and materials.
Based on the Adobe Flash technology, Adobe Captivate 3 software automatically generates interactive Adobe Flash Player-compatible content, allowing files to be e-mailed, posted to Web sites, intranet sites, online help systems and more. The XML export and import feature simplifies the localization process of projects by exporting captions to the XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF).
Adobe Captivate 3 integrates with other Adobe software, including Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Connect, Adobe FrameMaker and Adobe RoboHelp, as well as with other eLearning tools such as SCORM 2004, SCORM 1.2, AICC and PENS compliant Learning Management Systems (LMS).
Adobe Captivate 3 will be available for Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista and is expected to ship in August 2007 or later this summer at an estimated price of US$699. Localized versions in French, German, Japanese, Italian and Spanish are expected to be available in September 2007. Users of Macromedia Captivate 1 and Adobe Captivate 2 can upgrade to Adobe Captivate 3 for an estimated price of US$299. Volume discounts, government and education licensing are also available to eligible customers. To learn more about Adobe Captivate 3, please visit www.adobe.com/go/captivate.
Infrastructure
BinarySense releases HDDlife v.3.0
BinarySense Ltd. announces the release of version 3.0 of HDDlife, a solution for controlling the condition of your hard drives.
At startup, the tool will show the list of hard drives, displaying the percentage of their health along with their temperature. You can always send the hard drive indicator to the system tray. HDDlife 3.0 also uses advanced mathematical algorithms to give estimates of disk health.
The utility comes with integrated S.M.A.R.T. technology support. It allows HDDlife 3.0 to monitor S.M.A.R.T. attributes in real time. The tool will alert you at once if one of the monitored attributes exceeds the threshold values. And it can run regular checkups to inform you daily about disk conditions and performance.
Now users can monitor the status of a USB hard disk just like any other ordinary hard drive. The program currently supports external hard drives from IO-Data and Western Digital Passport. Also HDDlife 3.0 can safeguard your disk drives against overheat. The power management feature allows you to define power consumption values manually.
HDDlife also comes with a gadget for Windows Sidebar that will display the information about the hard disk, including its temperature and health. It will also let you observe read/write operations of your drives at any time. A freeware version of this gadget with some functional limitations is available too.
HDDlife 3.0 runs under all 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Vista and costs US$19 for a single-user licence. Licensed customers are entitled to the fully-functional version of the product, free technical support and free upgrades. Additional information on HDDlife 3.0, as well as a free trial copy is available free of charge from http://www.HDDlife.com/
Nicomsoft controls display devices via DDC/CI protocol
Nicomsoft announced WinI2C/DDC 2.30, a version of its library that allows users to control display devices in Windows via the DDC/CI protocol. The library allows you to send DDC/CI commands via the standard video cable (VGA or DVI) and control display devices that support the DDC/CI protocol: CRT/LCD monitors, projectors, plasma panels, etc.
The library is designed for producers of monitors, developers of color calibration software for monitors or OSD replacement utilities. It can be integrated into assets inventory software in order to provide information about installed display devices. WinI2C/DDC can also be used for In System Programming (ISP) via VGA/DVI.
WinI2C/DDC library offers all functions needed to communicate with display devices. It can enumerate installed monitors, get DDC/CI monitor capabilities, read EDID (extended display identification data) directly from the monitor. There is also an ability to read and change monitor settings, such as brightness, contrast, screen position, size, color gain, etc. The library has low-level functions for communicating with the monitor via I2C bus.
Key features:
- Supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
- Supports many video chipsets (nVidia, ATI, Intel, S3, SiS, Matrox, etc.)
- Advanced detection of I2C capability in video cards
- Supports configurations with several monitors
- APIs for enumerating monitors and getting their EDID and capabilities
- Built-in EDID parser
- APIs for working with the I2C bus directly and working with DDC-CI commands
- APIs for working with the I2C lines (SDA and SCL lines)
- Can be used with a lot of programming languages (any language that supports DLLs or COM objects).
- Sample projects with complete source code for various programming languages (C/C++, VB, Delphi, C#, VB.NET) are available as well as detailed documentation for APIs, structures and types.
WinI2C/DDC 2.30 runs under Microsoft Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and starts at US$149. The Developer licence allows you to distribute WinI2X/DDC drivers and DLLs as part of your software without having to pay royalties. The licensed customers are entitled to one year of free upgrades and technical support. Additional information on the product, as well as its free 30-day evaluation version is available from www.nicomsoft.com.