New software for technical authors from MadCap Software

MadCap Software has released on details some new products it will be releasing shortly. These include MadCap X-Edit and MadCap Press. What is striking is that MadCap really does seem to understand the problems technical communicators face in the real world. One of the issues technical authors often face is dealing with reviews of drafts… Read more »

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR

Back in the Autumn I posted about Abobe Air and how it could be used to provide a new medium for online Help. Today, I came across RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR, which is currently in beta. It converts RoboHelp 6 or 7 generated WebHelp files into a single AIR file, which can be shipped… Read more »

Will Nokia’s new technology reinvent the manual?

Nokia is developing new technology which could reinvent the user manual as we now know it. Combining a mobile phone’s camera with image recognition software, location tracking technologies and improved processing speeds, Nokia intends to provide users with “augmented mobile reality”. The goal is to enable anyone to look at the real world through their… Read more »

Better than Free: User Documentation?

Kevin Kelly has posted an interesting post called “Better Than Free.” It’s about what succeeds in a market where most assets are free. “The internet is a copy machine….When copies are super abundant, they become worthless. When copies are super abundant, stuff which can’t be copied becomes scarce and valuable.When copies are free, you need… Read more »

New how-to/instructional video sites

Another how-to/instructional video site has been launched – Howcast. The video player on the site lets you jump to different chapters or steps, lets you zoom in for a better look, and provides the transcript as well. Viewers can add comments in the form of tips, warnings and facts to each video. Howcast joins Expert… Read more »