2007 was a great year for FloSpace. Let us count the ways:

• In April 2007, FloSpace launched version 2.0 of FloPrompter and a revamped web site. This was a milestone release for FloPrompter and sales have jumped dramatically! Feature highlights introduced with version 2.0:
  • Smooth scrolling in the teleprompter player window.
  • The Microsoft Office 2007 style of design, including customizable themes.
  • Customizable text background color for the authoring and player windows.
  • All version 1.0 customers were offered free updates to 2.0!
• In May, FloSpace launched our customer support telephone number. It’s a 617 number because we’re based in Cambridge, Massachusetts!
• Throughout the summer and fall, FloSpace released frequent software updates, each release offering a few more features. And of course, all version 2.xx updates are free for current customers!
• Late Summer, FloSpace introduced support for wireless presenters and programmable foot switches. The wireless presenters have been popular with video production companies, voiceover talent, and other professional speakers, while support for programmable foot switches seems to have become popular with bands!
• In August, FloSpace launched a blog. Our goal is to maintain a constant dialog with our customers, not only communicating new feature releases, but also sharing information on how other customers are using FloPrompter and sharing customer feedback.
• In September, FloSpace started distributing FloPrompter on Amazon.com.
• In October, FloSpace published another landmark release — FloPrompter version 2.3. This important release included the following key features:
  • Spellchecking,
  • An integrated thesaurus,
  • Find & replace,
  • Expanded integration with Microsoft Word and Adobe Reader (PDF).
• In November, FloSpace began offering PayPal as a payment option.
• Throughout the Fall, FloSpace continued to release updated versions of FloPrompter with new features. One of the coolest of the new features launched last fall was the automatic software update checking.
• And throughout the year, we’ve offered personalized customer support including taking calls late into the evening (weekdays and weekends), researching how to do cool but uncommon things with FloPrompter (like integrating with VBScript), and working hard to solve an incredibly vexing problem with user permissions on computers in managed IT environments (like schools and government agencies).

2007 Customer Feedback

Since launching FloPrompter version 2.0 last April, we’ve received a lot of great feedback from customers. Much of the feedback has requested specific features, some of which we’ve already added, and some of which we plan on adding throughout 2008. But first, we’d like to share a few excerpts from customer emails…

• “Frankly, I’ve looked the Internet far and wide to find a program that does what yours does, everything else we’ve tried is crap in comparison, your software is excellent in every way, other than it will not do mirror text.”
  • This is our #1 requested feature! We’re planning on adding mirrored text support within the next couple of months, so please check back soon. – Anthony
• “I downloaded a 30-day trial at home of your Teleprompter software because our students at our high school do live TV announcements several times a year. So far, I’ve been very pleased at the quality of the product upon my first review of it, and I’m giving consideration to purchasing it. It appears to be a handy product to give our ‘budding news anchors’ a real taste of what it’s like to work with a scrolling teleprompter. Plus, it’s easy to use.”
  • We’re glad to say that this school technology specialist did make a purchase. – Anthony
• “I know you and Mark are working though this, but I just want to thank you again. This has to be one of the best product support instances I have had. Thank you again for making a great product and offering such great support.”
  • The issue we were working through was how to integrate with VBScript. It took 2 or 3 days, but we figured it out! – Anthony
• “You have a great product, and you will certainly succeed!”
  • Thanks! We hope so, too… 🙂 – Anthony

2008 Roadmap

We’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made on FloPrompter in 2007. It’s a great product! However, we’re far from satisfied — there are a number of features we still need to add to make FloPrompter a truly world-class software product. Here are a few highlights:

• Mirrored Text: As noted above, this is our #1 requested feature. We expect to release a version of FloPrompter with Mirrored Text support by March 2008. Watch for it!
• Blackout Panels: In professional video production houses, they need to be able to “blackout” the full background of the computer monitor so that only the teleprompter text is visible. No desktop wallpaper peeking through! This feature will be rolled out with Mirrored Text.
• Insert Images: Insert images into your document.
• View Invisible Characters: You know that little button on the Microsoft Word toolbar that, when pressed, allows you to see the paragraph marks, new line marks, and little dots between words designating a space? A lot of people prefer working with the invisible characters shown.
• FloPrompter in Other Languages: We expect to release FloPrompter in a few languages besides English. Probably Spanish, French and German first. Be sure to tell us if you would like to see it in another language!

2008 will be an exciting year as FloPrompter continues to mature and add exciting new features. Please be sure to send us your ideas on how we can improve this product, as well!

There has been a lot of interest in how to use a wireless presenter with FloSpace FloPrompter. The wireless presenter that we’ve tested with FloPrompter is called the Keyspan PR-US2 Presentation Remote. You can pick one up for less than $50 at Amazon.com. So if Santa was good to you and brought you one, here are a few tips!

The Keyspan wireless remote has two modes: Presentation and Media. Each are described separately below.

In Presentation Mode, the device acts like a mouse. (So this should really be called “Mouse Mode”!) The gray rubbery button moves the mouse around. The “Play” button is actually the mouse’s left button (for clicking on things), and the “Stop” button is the mouse’s right button (for showing context menus). The volume jog wheel acts as the arrow up and down keys. Because these are such core computer interactions, we have to allow the device to act like a mouse in this mode; we cannot change its behavior in the teleprompter player window to do other things with these keys.

In Media Mode, the device acts like a remote control for your computer’s media player. Here’s what the Keyspan’s buttons do in this mode to control the teleprompter player window:

• Play button: Toggles between starting and stopping the teleprompter scrolling action.
• Stop button: Stops the teleprompter.
• The gray rubbery button navigates between the broadcast segments —
  • Press Up: Previous segment
  • Press Down: Next segment
• The jog wheel on the right side of the device controls playback speed —
  • Up: Speeds it up. Note that this only happens after the “flick”. So “flick” the jog wheel up, then let it return to its normal position. After it returns to its normal position, that’s when the speed change happens.
  • Down: Slows it down. (Again, after the “flick” action.)
  • Press In On the Jog Wheel: Toggles the play/stop action.

In FloPrompter version 2.3.1, we implemented a cool little feature where the software will automatically check for updates. Considering how often we’ve been coming out with new features and enhancements, we thought this was a really good idea!

But what if you’re an IT administrator at a school, for example, and you’re not keen on the idea of the students in a computer lab checking for updates and attempting to install them? The good news is that IT administrators can turn off this feature altogether and hide everything in the UI that has to do with update checking.

First, let’s review how the automatic software update check feature normally works.

Users can opt whether to allow the software to automatically check for newly published updates in the Options Dialog (as shown below). If the box is checked, the software will occasionally check the FloSpace.com web site to see if a new version is available. (Note that it won’t automatically download any software! Customers decide for themselves when and if to update the software.)

Users can also opt to manually check for updates whenever they like by clicking on the View tab, and then clicking on the Check Updates button (see below).

But if you’re an IT administrator, you may not want your users to even see the checkbox in the Options Dialog nor the Check Updates button on the View tab. What could you do?

Fortunately, FloSpace considered this issue when we designed the automatic update feature. We implemented something called a “software update check policy” feature. If it’s against your school’s or company’s policy for end users to manage software updates, then you can access this secret feature to hide the auto-update controls in the user interface. Here’s what the software update check policy dialog looks like:

If that checkbox is checked, then users see the “Check Updates” button on the View tab and they can see a checkbox for automatically checking for updates in the Options Dialog.

However, if the box is UNchecked on the policy dialog, then the “Check Updates” button on the View tab disappears! Similarly, the setting on the Options Dialog for automatically checking for updates is gone! See what happens to the Options Dialog:

Compare this screenshot of the Options Dialog with the one at the top. See how the “Automatically check for updates” option has disappeared? We’ve also hidden the “Check Updates” button from the View tab.

How does one get access to the feature for setting the software update check policy? If this is a feature you’d like to use in your school, organization, or company, please send an email to info@flospace.com and we’ll send you the secret code for accessing the policy dialog.

Well, it’s been two weeks, so I guess it’s time for an update! 🙂

Here is a minor update offering two new features requested by users:

• Always On Top: When this feature is selected, the Teleprompter Player window is always visible, even when other programs are running.
• Auto-Hide Control Bar: Click this button to have FloPrompter automatically hide the control bar (shown at the bottom of the window) during teleprompter playback. So if you find that being able to see the control buttons while running the teleprompter, you can rest easier. Just remember to view the Help file for the list of keyboard shortcuts so you can stop playback and redisplay the control bar!! (F12 is one shortcut for toggling the playback on/off.)

Both of the new options have been located in an Options popup button in the bottom right-hand corner of the Teleprompter Player window. The Loop feature’s button has also been moved there. Here’s a screenshot:

Options Dialog Updated

In addition to adding two new features, we overhauled the look of the Options Dialog. Previously, all options were shown on the same screen — including all of those for the general preferences and preferences specific to the Teleprompter Player window. Now, we’ve split them so that the General options are on one tab, and the Teleprompter Player window’s options are on a second tab. Note the cool new tab style, too!

Update Recommendation: If you wish. This is a “soft recommendation” to update. The two new features in version 2.3.1.6 were fairly minor, so most folks won’t notice the difference. If you decide to update, this is, of course, a free update for all FloPrompter customers! FloPrompter customers are always requested to download the latest version on the FloSpace Downloads page.

NOTE: Anyone who has NOT updated to version 2.3 yet should definitely update today! Version 2.3 introduced many enhancements to the word processor, including find & replace, spellchecking, a thesaurus; direct import and export with Microsoft Word, HTML and (for export only) PDF; and an automatic software update checking utility.

Many thanks to the customers who requested these feature enhancements. As you can see, your comments are heard and result in direct improvements to the software!

I’m proud to say that our customers have written to us many times with kind words about FloPrompter and our exceptional customer service. Well, today we received an email from on of our customers in California who wrote this wonderful testimonial:

Flo-Praise

My name is Scott and I am the drummer in a “Live Karaoke Band” called The Ringtones. For a “live band Karaoke” to be a true success, the band’s greatest challenge is to make sure the lyrics to a song are accurate and that the lyrics scroll at the correct speed with the music. With so many different teleprompter packages to choose from, FloSpace not only stood out, it was hands down the very best choice we could have made. With FloSpace’s ease-of-use a given, a key factor was how well it works with a number of alternative input devices, such as a footswitch controller – an integral part of our show and the live karaoke process. Add to that the incredibly low price and you soon realize why some of the big-budget, old-school companies are running scared.

Of course, using FloSpace to teleprompt live-band karaoke requires a bit of finesse and truly the best part about the program is the support I have received from the company. Additionally, the programmers are quite responsive and have already addressed a number of our specific needs and incorporated those features into a recent release.

FloSpace is hands-down the very best value of any teleprompter out there and I stake the band’s reputation on it every gig! Give it a free test drive – you won’t be disappointed.

Scott – FloSpace Lover
The Ringtones
www.TheRingTonesLive.com

Thanks a ton for your kind words, Scott! We’re going to keep trying our hardest to live up to your high expectations and continue innovating with our products!

While doing some web surfing tonight, I came across a cool web site called American Rhetoric. They have the full text and in many cases sound and video to accompany dozens of great American speeches.

What I found particularly intriguing is their online Speech Bank, which contains great speeches from Native American leaders and US presidents, speeches on 9/11 and the Iraq war, and even speeches from popular American films.

The site in general, and the Speech Bank in particular, are definitely worth spending some time exploring! Also strongly recommended, check out their listing of the Top 100 speeches by rank:

www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

We received our first sale to a customer in France today. Many thanks to le monsieur de Toulouse!

A quick note on internationalization, as long as we’re on the topic…

As our customers may have noticed, FloPrompter is currently only available with an English user interface. We plan on translating FloPrompter into a few languages in the first half of 2008. The list of languages hasn’t been finalized yet, but will likely include Spanish (Continental), French (Continental), and German to start. If you have a strong desire to see FloPrompter in another language, please let us know!

For awhile now, I’ve felt that FloPrompter’s Splash Screen and About Dialog were a bit dull. The version of the logo that was on the dialogs wasn’t quite nice enough and the white backgrounds were a bit too starkly bright. So this weekend, I finally did something about it!

Check ’em out! For easy comparisons, here are the old and new Splash Screens (shown against a portion of my laptop’s desktop wallpaper):

(New Splash Screen)

(Old Splash Screen)

I like the new reflection effect with the beveled FloSpace company icon. Plus, the new Splash Screen has a blue background that is partially transparent. Nice!

So after I redid the Splash Screen, I realized that the About Dialog also needed a little facelift. Here are before and after images of the About Dialog:

(New About Dialog in the Black theme with a dark red accent color)

(Old About Dialog)

Update Recommendation: If you wish. Literally, the only changes in this update were updating the looks of the Splash Screen and About Dialog. So if you really dig the facelifts in these two dialogs, you may enjoy the update, but otherwise no worries. If you decide to update, this is, of course, a free update for all FloPrompter customers! FloPrompter customers are always requested to download the latest version on the FloSpace Downloads page.

Lately, we’ve gotten a lot of inquiries from prospective customers asking if FloPrompter can mirror the text on the teleprompter screen. Here’s an example of what the feature will look like (someday!):

Unfortunately, the answer is that FloPrompter does not currently support this feature. This has been a wicked difficult feature to figure out… Of course, customers don’t want excuses, they want products with their priority features in them! Which is totally understandable — I want that feature, too.

So while the bad news is that FloPrompter doesn’t support the feature yet, the good news is that it’s on the roadmap for implementation in the first quarter of 2008. And believe me, when we finally do implement this feature, it’ll be a Big Deal and we’ll definitely have a special announcement for it on the FloSpace.com home page! 🙂

Stay tuned to this blog for this and other features as we roll them out…