Enhance the PowerPoint using LaTex

When preparing the upcoming presentation, I find equation is a big problem in PowerPoint. Capture the screen maybe a good choice or buy the expensive MathType. In the past, TexPoint was a great software, but it is not any more in terms of performance-price ratio，since TexPoint charges US$30 and I don't agree with the author about that US$30 is a small money.

When you read this article, you should know, of course, I have found an alternative tool and it is free ;P. The tool is Tex4PPT, which brings the Tex equation power to your PowerPoint. The newest version is released in 2005, it is not compatible with PowerPoint 2007 (but the author said new version compatible with PowerPoint 2007 will be released). I tested it in PowerPoint 2003, the equation display is really good.

More information can be found in the official website: http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~srg/softwaretools/presentation/TeX4PPT/.

Chinese version:

在幻灯片中使用Latex公式

http://time360.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post.html

Enjoy table editing in LaTex

In LaTex, editing tables, especially large tables always drive you crazy. People who use Winshell and WinEdt can use table creation wizard, but what can other people do using other latex editors? Suffering the pain? The answer is no.

Latable is the savior. Here are the features in their website:

• Near-WYSIWYG editing style;
• Real-time LaTeX code preview;
• Simple navigation through the table;
• Limited clipboard support for import/export into other spreadsheet and text editors;
• CSV file format support;
• Generates 'tabular', 'array' and custom environments;
• Support for custom column formats;

I want to point out that it supports prefix and postfix, which is a useful feature. And of course, it is more powerful than WinEdt table wizard.
The official website is http://www.g32.org/latable/index.html where the figure in this post comes.

Update: now the official website is not accessible. Visit http://www.box.net/shared/xnoxmmkkxh to download the software (version 0.72). Note that, the Latable on CTAN is not the newest version.

Free software 19: Mousotron Pro

How many meters does your mouse cursor move every day ?
How many mouse clicks do you do ? How many keystrokes do you use?

If you are interested in these data, try this software: Mousotron. Here are the features listed in the website:

Features

- view distance in Metric system or English system
- Animated background (turn on/off option)
- Support for all monitor sizes
- Stay-on-Top option
- Runs on startup
- Saves distance history
- Easy Setup
- display number of keystrokes
- display number of mouseclicks (left, right, middle and double)
- configurable display options
- Time logging and display in several modes
- Scroll Wheel Support
- Upload your scores online
- Multiple Languages : English, French, German and lots more

The official website: http://www.blacksunsoftware.com/mousotron.html.