Reduce the File Size Of PowerPoint Presentations

Gur Saran has a large ppt slideshow that weighs around 25 MB and he's looking for options to compress the PowerPoint file and share it as an email attachment.

If you have such a bulky PowerPoint presentation, chances are that you have embedded some high-resolution images and photographs in the presentation that's causing the PPT file size to explode.

You can however significantly decrease the size of PowerPoint presentations in some simple steps:

1. Click the Compress Picture button (available in Picture Tools Format ribbon of PowerPoint 2007) and select "Options". Now choose Email (96 ppi) as the target output and click OK. This should change all the pictures used in your Presentation to an optimal size.


(For PowerPoint XP and 2003, the "Compress Picture" setting can be accessed from the Picture Toolbar or by right-clicking any image used in the PPT and selecting "Format Picture". Choose the Web setting.)

The picture compression trick should solve most of your PowerPoint file size woes. If the issue still persists, read the next two tips.

2. Incase you are using any BMP wallpapers or scanned TIFF images in the PowerPoint presentation, convert them to JPG and reinsert.

3. Are there any audio mp3 file or movie clips embedded in the Presentation slides. You may upload them on a website (like Twango) and place a hyperlink in your presentation.

Your PowerPoint Presentation should now be light and more manageable. The other solution is to use Scribd or Slideshare where your friends can even download the original PPT file or watch it online as a Flash object.

The Official Dell Ubuntu Homepage is now live

We'll soon have an option to buy Dell desktops and laptops pre-installed with Ubuntu 7.04, one of the most popular Linux distros. This was announced by Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, on Dell's corporate blog.

The Dell-Ubuntu tie-up announcement should generate enough excitement among Linux cheerleaders and even in China where Naked PCs are popular, though for different reasons.

Currently, a Microsoft sponsored tagline that says "Dell recommends Windows Vista™ Business." is pasted on almost every webpage of the Dell.com website.

Not sure if that'll change in near future because Dell is likely to advocate Ubuntu only for consumer PC's and not businesses. You may however be surprised to learn that Dell founder & CEO Michael Dell is an Ubuntu fan himself and his home laptop runs on Ubuntu.

Dell has just launched a placeholder website for Ubuntu at dell.com/ubuntu.

Overall, this development may bring down the prices of Dell machines and help Dell make inroads into the Linux community. For Ubuntu, it's an excellent opportunity to become mainstream.

How Fast Do Search Engines Index Fresh Content

Yesterday was a unique day in the blogosphere. Following the crackdown by Digg staff, the infamous hex key - 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0 - was written all over the Internet from blogs to news portals to social websites.

Legal issues apart, this mutiny at Digg gives us a great opportunity to compare the indexing behaviour of search engines and how frequently search bots scroll the web in pursuit of fresh content.

We executed a search for 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0 (without quotes) on all major web and blogs search engines and here are the results.



Microsoft owned Live search has just 18k pages containing the HD DVD key while Google has indexed over half a million documents containing that number.



In case of Blog Search Engines, Bloglines (owned by Ask.com) found 6160 blogs and RSS feeds that mentioned the HD DVD key while Technorati suggested the number as 2200. Google Blog Search results were ~5.5k.

This stylish and fantastic Bubble Head or egg-head webcam is a concept by Nanjing OIOI Design. The webcam is aimed at youth and students. The Bubble Head web cam has more functionalities than just shooting video as standard web cam. This web cam also incorporate a clock around the lens that shows the time even when the web camera is not in use, and have stubby little flexible arms that can hold a pen or pencil.
The unique and functional bubble egghead web cam is expected to be a next hot “sale item” if the concept makes it to mass production. Below is a photo to show you the several designs of this web cam concept, sure one will be your favorite.

Smoking kills Internet2

Say what you want about net neutrality, at least the Internet hasn't been taken out by a hobo. Unlike the regular Internet we all use everyday, which was originally designed to distribute the AACS hex key withstand a nuclear attack, Internet2 is designed primarily for speed -- up to 9.08Gbps in most recent tests. All that juice comes at the price of redundant network links, though -- which means the whole thing got taken offline last night when a homeless man threw a cigarette onto a mattress under Boston's Longfellow Bridge, starting a blaze that eventually melted the fiber-optic link between Boston and New York. While initial estimates called for a service outage of 1-2 days, quick-thinking techs were able to get service going again in just 4 hours. Good thing, too -- if the panic that sets in around here when our DSL goes out is any indication, with the kind of bandwidth these guys were missing out on, there must've been wailing in the street.

Microsoft employee blogs about switch to Ubuntu

With the release of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, many users might be considering making the switch to Linux. But one particular user who has decided to blog about his switch is worth noting.

He's a Microsoft employee who has decided that he needs to try something new for his own peace of mind. And the new thing he's trying is Ubuntu.

Now, there are a lot of folks out there who will try to make this into something bigger than it is. He's not giving up on Windows or quitting his job at Microsoft. He's installing and learning to use a new operating system. He even posts that he considered switching to Mac OS X but wasn't ready to buy any new hardware.

But the blog is still worth a read if you've recently installed Ubuntu or are considering making the switch. As he documents his progress, you'll find a good set up tips for using Linux from someone who's used to Windows.

Google expands personalization with iGoogle

Google Inc. is stepping up efforts to allow its users to personalize how they search the Web, moving beyond the one-size-fits-all approach to search it already offers.

Officials told reporters at Google's Silicon Valley headquarters on Monday of moves to allow users to share their own writings, photos, lists and other creative efforts, as well as to give consumers personalized views of the Web through use of their geographical location and search history.

The world's top provider of Web search services is bringing together the more idiosyncratic approach to finding information on the Internet under the umbrella term "iGoogle", the new name for its enhanced personalized home page services."We want to personalize the traditional notion of search," Sep Kamvar, lead engineer for the personalization push, told reporters. "I am an eclectic person. But everyone is. We can't go about designing products for the average person."

Launch: Web-based Yahoo! Messenger released

Yahoo!'s answer to web-based Google Talk is now live on the tubes: Yahoo! Messenger for the Web lets you chat, download-free, on the Y! network right inside the web browser.

Let's cut to the chase. Web-based Y! Messenger takes the desktop app experience in the browser to a whole new level with some killer features: "so-and-so is typing" notification while your chat buddy is composing a message (Campfire, you need this), slick tab title scrolling of a new message when Web Messenger is in a background tab, online per-contact message history, a tabbed interface for multiple chats and an animated selection of Y!'s classically fun and expressive emoticons. Also, Y! Messenger plays nice with Windows Live Messenger, too.

It was on Yahoo! Messenger that I fell in love with chatting back in the late 90's, so I'd be lying if I said Messenger for the Web didn't make my heart skip a beat or two tonight. Browser support is impressive, too: you can get your web-based Y! chat on in Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera AND Safari. My Y!-loyal pal over in IT lockdown is literally throwing a party over this, she hasn't had her favorite instant messenger at the office for so long. Sign in with your Yahoo! account over at http://web.im (nice domain, Yahoo) to give it a spin. Thanks, Ryan!

Yahoo! Messenger for the Web