MagPointer ($) - Interact with PowerPoint

PowerPoint, despite some negative reviews and thoughts about its use in the classroom, can still be a valuable tool for teachers to use to present information.  It's not really PowerPoint that is the issue, it is generally the creator of the presentation and presenter that is the problem.  Well, MagPointer hope to help with the presentation aspect of PowerPoint.  With MagPointer, which is a downloadable extension for PowerPoint, allows users to interact with the content on slides by framing, zooming, focusing, and enlarging aspects of a presentation.

MagPointer is currently in Beta and can be used for free for 60 days.  After that, it will be an introductory price of $9.95.  If you feel like this is something you would be interested in, here are some other features that could be used with your presentation.

• Selecting and enlarging a specific slide object

• Creating frames to focus on specific areas in a slide

• Highlighting text paragraphs, table cells, rows or columns

• High-quality picture enlargement

• Dimming the screen outside of the selected object

• Navigation through slide elements

• Laser pointer

• Easy-to-use powerful magnifier

• Magnifier spots (“frozen” enlarged highlighted areas)

Even though there is a price, I think it is a reasonable one, and as much as PowerPoint is still the tool of choice for so many teachers, improving how it is used can be very beneficial.  MagPointer is easy-to-use and intuitive. Use the floating smart bar located at the right edge of the screen, or:

• Left-click to select objects
• Left-click and drag to create frames
• Right-click and drag to activate magnifying glass

Two Bookmarking Tools

Clipular is a service that allows users to quickly and easily take a snippet of a website or take a complete screenshot and then save them as bookmarks so that user can annotate them.  Using Chrome there is an extension that will provide users with the ability to use the tools and access their "scrapbook."  Users can also "right click" their mouse to get the clip service as well.  There is also a keyboard shortcut as well.  The Magic Wand allows users to add effects, stickers, crop, draw, and add text to their capture.  Once created, users can search for the text inside the clips or by the tags given to the captures.  Users can also share their captures from within the app.  Worth taking a look for capturing information from the web.   For more information, see the video below. 

KeepOne is another option for storing bookmarks.  Users can sign in with Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or through an email and password.  KeepOne is currently in Beta and easily allows users to organize photos, videos, texts, and other web information all in one place.  You can also share what you save with others that use the service.  Sign up now and new users will be rewarded with VIP privileges and services.