Thumbstacks Presentations Online

Thumbstacks is a webapplication for building online presentations. The application uses Flash when a Flash player is installed else Ajax. The people behind Thumbstacks created two versions. When you login and a Flash player is detected the Flash version starts.

Thumbstacks runs on top of a LightTPD webserver that is fast, better configurable and safer then Apache. These criteria are especially important for websites that require good performance due to the heavy load put on them. Thumbstacks provides users an online presentation builder tool but this is not "powerpoint over the web". Some important functions are missing to obtain that qualification, for example animations and multimedia. As far as I am concerned webbased presentation tools do not need to possess all these functions. It should only be possible to create a presentation online and to share it with other people.

Thumbstacks is created and maintained by the company Structured Data, LLC in New York.

Thumbstacks could in my opinion complete the Google Doc & Spreadsheet portfolio with a presentation tool. After Google added the wordprocessor Writely a while back only a presentation tool is lacking to become a webbased office suite. Thumbstacks could well fill up that gap.

However it is still a question whether office users are awaiting an online weboffice suite. I believe it is a matter of time before everyone wants to see documents, presentations and spreadsheets online, at any place and time. It should become available as soon as possible because in many business environments the urge to documents together and share information is high. At least it would decrease the mailing of documents.

Thumbstacks has another nice feature, controlling a presentation from a distance. This makes it possible to present your presentation to a number of people over the web during a virtual meeting. Currently it is restricted to 5 viewers, I presume they mean browser sessions. You can guide your meeting participants through your presentation. Technically  Thumbstacks a HTTPXMLRequest function to setup a synchroneous connection. The only thing you need to do is send the link to your presentation to the participants.

If you would like to play a bit with Thumbstacks that is possible without having to apply for a useraccount. Just go to the website Thumbstacks and start the presentation builder tool.

When you apply for a useraccount you are able to store your presentations on the server of Thumbstacks. Your can then share your presentations by sending the link - URL - to someone. To obtain a useraccount you only have to enter your emailaddress and a password. You will get an email for validation of your subscription. Just follow the instructions in the email and on the website.

To investigate Thumbstacks I applied for an account myselve and created a presentation. During the building of my presentation I noticed that the standard shortcut functions (ctrl-x, ctrl-c, ...) are also working. I could easily remove objects, cut and paste, without having to use my mouse. A strong advantage for an online webapplication.

When you start creating a presentation you can choose a template out of several themes. You can add slides to your presentation by right clicking on the mouse at right side of your page. You have different  layout functions available for enhancing the look of your presentation, similar to powerpoint (fonts, outlining, bold, etc). You can import images and pictures.

When your mouse is positioned in the middle of the window and you click on the right mouse button you will open a window that enables you to add several obejects, for example images and photos. But you can also update your slide properties. The slide properties are information and style. With information you can record the title of your slide. With style you can set the slide behavior and background color. Behavior determines the way the lines of text are shown, stepwise or per two. The number of settings is limited but sufficient for building a standard presentation. 

It is very easy to set the background color of objects. Just select the object, right click and select Object Properties and then set the background color. For an example see the title box in the startpage of my presentation.

You can store your presentation offline. Click on the menubar and select the icon Publish Presentation and then select Export HTML...

If one compares Thumbstacks with Empressr then the main difference is the ability to remotely control a presentation and giuide people from a distance through the presentation. Furthermore Thumbstacks is a bit more windows oriented. Thumbstacks is definitely a good online presentation tool for the building of simple presentations.

EU considers taxing emails and SMSs

A new tax threat is facing the European Union members. Email considered free for a long time seems to become the new cashcow for the European Union lawmakers.


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers are investigating a proposed tax on emails and mobile phone text messages as a way to fund the 25-member bloc in the future.

A European Parliament working group is reviewing the idea, tabled by Alain Lamassoure, a prominent French MEP and member of the centre-right European People's Party, the assembly's largest group.

Lamassoure, a member of Jacques Chirac's UMP party, is proposing to add a tax of around 1.5 cents (0.8 pence) on text or SMS messages and a 0.00001 cent levy on every email sent.

"This is peanuts, but given the billions of transactions every day, this could still raise an immense income," he said.

Currently the EU budget is funded through a combination of import duties, value added tax revenues and direct contributions from member states -- the so-called "Gross National Income resource", which is calculated according to wealth.

However, following a year-long battle over the current seven-year budget, agreed last December, it was decided that the way in which the EU is funded should be changed, with new proposals expected by 2008/2009.

A single "EU tax" has found support among many of the 25 EU governments, MEP's and the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Other ideas include a tax on airline tickets and an extra levy on oil companies.

In Italy, the concept of a tax on texting was floated in the past, as a way to help offset the country's huge deficit, although it was flatly rejected by the outgoing government.

But Lamassoure argues that with billions of emails and texts sent around the world, it's a novel and simple way to raise funds from new technology.

"Exchanges between countries have ballooned, so everyone would understand that the money to finance the EU should come from the benefits engendered by the EU," he said.


Dutch version: EU overweegt belasting op e-mail en SMS | 31-05-2006

De Europese Unie bekijkt de mogelijkheden om belasting te heffen op SMS-berichten en e-mails als alternatief op het huidige financieringssysteem van de Europese Commissie.

Op dit moment wordt de EU gefinancierd door importbelasting, BTW-opbrengsten en directe bijdragen van lidstaten. Eind vorig jaar is besloten dat er een alternatieve manier moet worden gezocht als bron van inkomsten. In 2008/2009 moeten concrete voorstellen op tafel liggen.

Een werkgroep van het Europees Parlement bekijkt nu het voorstel om 1,5 eurocent belasting te heffen op SMS-berichten en 0,00001 eurocent op elke verzonden email.

Het idee om een Europese belasting te heffen vindt veel steun bij de 25 lidstaten. Andere ideeën die nu bestaan zijn belastingen op vliegtickets en extra belasting op oliebedrijven.

Manage your web links using BlogLinker

I have been using - BlogLinker for a while now. I am using it mainly for managing the web links I publish on my blog.

"blogLinker.com is a free tool to manage your web links on your blog/website and to dramatically increase traffic to your site. It can be embedded anywhere in your web page and can be easily configured to fit the existing design of your site. blogLinker is the only tool of its kind." (copied from their site)

The idea behind BlogLinker is that when you link to a member of BlogLinker, the member will automatically link back to you. Now and then you get a mail someone linked to your blog/website. You can then validate whether the link should become visible on your blog/website.

The disadvantage of BlogLinker is you cannot add multiple blogs/websites to one account. You have to create an account for each of your sites. This becomes a problem when one is running multiple sites under the same account.

Do you want to see an example. Have a look a my website: Kampeer-Avontuur in the right corner you will find a box with title Links. These links come from my membership at BlogLinker.

Keep track of your visitors using MapStats

I have been reading a lot about Google Maps and Yahoo Maps implementations. I came around a nice feature to track your visitors and display them on a world map.

Blog Flux is offering free functionality for tracking your website visitors. Not only does it provide the normal statistics and graphs, they have incorporated the system into Google Maps! Instantly see where your latest visitors are coming from, and find out what they are looking for.

Getting Blog Flux MapStats running is extremely easy. Just follow the simple steps:
- Goto mapstats.blogflux.com

- Register for an account

- Submit your blog to the Blog Flux directory.

- Copy and paste the JavaScript found in the user control panel onto your blog. JavaScript is below the column Statistics.

You are ready to start tracking your visitors.

How can you view your stats.
Either click this button on your website or go to the user control panel and check your stats there.

You can also show your recent visitors on your website. Therefore you need to retrieve the Live Cities HTML Code and paste it onto your website. Like I did in the right bar.

Rollyo is the fast, easy way to create personal search engines

Rollyo is a new search engine that you can personalize. You can restrict the searches to only those sites you already know and trust.

With Rollyo, you can easily create your own custom search engines, and explore and save those created by others.

Rollyo puts the power of Yahoo! Search in your hands, by giving you the tools to create your own personal search engines - with no programming required. All you have to do is pick the sites you want to search.

How does it work?
Sign up at rollyo.com
Select Create a Searchroll or Tools at the top of their website.
Select Put a Rollyo SearchBox on your site. Now you can add your own site to the searchroll or add other sites you trust on the roll.

You can even import your Bookmarks and add them to your SearchBox.

Have a look on my website in the right column.

Dynamically insert customized greetings on your page for FREE

Today I noticed several weblogs present a customized greeting to visitors. A bit of searching on the web lead me to GeoPhrases.

GeoPhrase provides a free service for presenting customized welcome messages on your web pages. They have a default greeting message which requires no registration.

Their basic service requires no sign up or registration - just cut and paste a very small piece of code onto your home page.

If you want to create your own message you have to sign up. All of it is FREE.

See my welcome message in the right corner of the top bar.

Blingo launches Search Engine

There is a new search engine on the web called Blingo. The Blingo search engine is powered by Google and thus you will get the best search results.

Why would you start using Blingo instead of Google. Now Blingo is a search engine with a twist. Each search on Blingo gives you a chance to win prizes.

Why would you not give it a try?