Presentations: Explosive Growth Projection

Slideshare Announces Release of Slidecast Audio-Synching Software

Slideshare, a community for users and creators of presentations, where participants can host and share their own presentations and download those of others, has announced the availability of Slidecast. Slidecast is a multimedia format for synchronizing audio files with slide decks.

Users must upload their slides to Slideshare and have a URL for a streamable mp3 file for audio. They can also divide an audio file equally among each slide, or set beginning and ending points for each slide.


Pacific Media Associates Projects Stuff

Pacific Media Associates, a research firm in Menlo Park, Calif. that covers large-screen displays, markets, and manufacturers, has projected that the "new breed of front projectors," which includes mini-projectors such as toy and gaming projectors and snap-on, standalone and embedded mini-projectors, will experience "explosive growth" between now and 2011.

Pacific Media president William Cogshall says that the popularity of cameras in cell phones and the increasing number of components companies and new projector designs make this growth highly likely, although he called the forecast "highly speculative."

"…the success of these products depends on both the continued evolution of technologies to produce designs that achieve goals of smallness, brightness, low power, and low cost and the readiness of consumers to embrace this potentially 'cool' product concept," Cogshall says.

In other projector research, Pacific Media announced that unit sales for rear-projection TVs fell for the second straight month in May, down 12 percent compared to April. "As expected, the bulk of the sales were for the larger sizes," says Rosemary Abowd, vice president at Pacific Media. "On a unit basis, 75 percent of the models sold were 55" or larger. Consumers continue to prefer flat panel HDTVs, and falling prices for LCD and plasma models have erased rear projection's price advantage in the smaller sizes."