Virtual Ink Announces New mimio 1.6 for the Macintosh New Software Release
Supports Mac OS X and Offers Direct Export to iMovie
NECC, CHICAGO, IL – June 25, 2001 – Virtual Ink Corp., manufacturers of
mimio=AE, the award winning collaboration tool that instantly turns any
whiteboard into a digital device that captures handwritten color text and
drawings as real-time data, today announced mimio 1.6 for the Macintosh.
This latest release of mimio for the Macintosh supports the advanced
features of Mac OS X, Apple’s next generation operating system. In
addition, a new feature allows mimio users to directly export handwritten
content as video clips to iMovie, Apple’s popular digital video editing
software.
“With mimio 1.6 for the Mac, we demonstrate our full commitment to the
Macintosh platform and to develop innovative solutions to enable whiteboard
generated content to become a part of the original multimedia creation in
education and business,” said Greg McHale, president and CEO of Virtual
Ink. “The dry erase whiteboard is a center-point for creating, sharing and
presenting ideas in both schools and offices. With mimio 1.6 for the Mac,
those ideas can be combined with audio and video to create media files more
easily on Apple’s advanced new operating system.”
“With such innovations as iMovie and Mac OS X, the Macintosh is the most
powerful and most flexible platform for education,” said Ron Okamoto,
Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “By supporting the
iMovie file format and Mac OS X, Virtual Ink has further ensured that mimio
will be a valuable addition to any Mac classroom.”
With support for the new export file formats, Virtual Ink has made it easy
for users to export mimio “ink” files to iMovie with one simple step. Once
in iMovie a user can provide a voice-over narrative and footage shot with a
digital video camera and then compress to QuickTime. Since mimio records
“strokes over time”, users sequentially capture their content as they fill
the whiteboard. The content captured by mimio can be segmented and viewed
as thumbnails as the user progresses from one topic or full whiteboard to
the next. With mimio 1.6 for the Mac, these thumbnails can be exported as
individual clips in an iMovie project. In iMovie a user can grab all the
strokes seen on each board with a single click, and drop them into place
with the audio, video, and other media clips in the final movie.
mimio 1.6 is the third release of software for the Macintosh market and
will be available in the summer of 2001 for download on the Virtual Ink Web
site www.mimio.com at no charge.
About mimio for the Macintosh
Weighing less than two and a half pounds, mimio fits into a standard
briefcase or computer bag, sets up in seconds, and requires no special
training to operate. Incorporating a unique combination of infrared and
ultrasound technologies, mimio captures everything that is written or drawn
on the whiteboard to a computer, in color and in real-time.
mimio for the Mac includes the mimio capture bar, mimio eraser, USB adapter
and new light, thin mimio marker styli. Ordinary dry-erase markers are
slipped into one of the four mimio styli, which have four color-coded
smartCaps(tm) for use with red, green, blue, and black markers. The
recorded pen color is determined by which cap is placed on the end of the
stylus. A mimio carrying case is available for purchase separately.
mimio also includes mimioMouse=AE software. When mimio is combined with a
Macintosh with video-out and an LCD projector, mimioMouse allows any
whiteboard to be converted into an interactive touch screen when the
desktop is projected onto the mimio-enabled whiteboard. With mimioMouse,
the mimio stylus becomes a mouse, allowing the user to click, double click,
open and close applications and otherwise control the functionality of
their computer directly from the whiteboard.
About Virtual Ink
Founded in 1997, Virtual Ink Corp. is a leading developer of natural,
intuitive collaboration technologies for traditional business, education
and government applications, as well as for e-business and e-learning.
Virtual Ink’s first product, the award-winning mimio, is the first
completely portable device that turns virtually any whiteboard or flat
surface into a digital workspace for capturing, managing and sharing
information anytime, anywhere. Virtual Ink received major funding from Bear
Stearns Merchant Banking, CMG @Ventures, IDG Ventures, and Intel Capital.
Privately held, Virtual Ink is based in Boston, Mass., and can be reached
at 617-623-8387 or on the Web at http://www.mimio.com. The company
distributes its products worldwide and has offices in Boston, London and
Tokyo.
For a sample iMove created with mimio go to:
http://www.mimio.com/education/mac/samples.shtml