webqem blog

Adobe has released version 8 of its Photoshop Elements image-editing software and Premiere Elements video-editing software. The bundle offers the most complete photo and video solution by integrating two powerful, yet easy-to-use, products.

With this release, Adobe gives users a completely enhanced ‘Organizer’, which serves as a feature-rich media hub for user’s photos and videos. From the Organizer, user can easily launch directly into Photoshop Elements 8 to create extraordinary photos or Premiere Elements 8 to effortlessly make movies with new, automated features.

Photoshop Elements comes in both Windows and Mac versions, however Premiere Elements is windows only. These new pieces of software are a step down from their Photoshop & Premiere Pro CS4 versions, but still offer lots for your money. For more information please visit the software page of our website.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the first many maxoom online seminars. We were overwhelmed by the number of people that attended and by the amount of interest generated.

For those of you that were unable to attend, you missed out on a quality presentation by our operations director, Larry Adler. Larry used a Connect Pro Meeting room to show off the capabilities of the maxoom software, along with useful demonstration videos.

Thankfully we were able to record the meeting, so if you did miss it, we have a recording available now. Enjoy.

The power of Adobe Connect Pro has found its way into a unique not-for-profit organisation by the name of Mensheds Australia. Mensheds Australia specialise in the health and well-being of men through local organisations that act like a social groups aka a ‘Men’s shed’.

One of the biggest challenges faced by Mensheds Australia was reaching men throughout the country, in particular in remote areas. Furthermore, even where men’s sheds have been established, successfully managing and maintaining them was particularly hard to achieve from head office in Sydney as each men’s shed requires resources, training, and detailed information 24/7.

So, thanks to the team at webqem, Mensheds Australia has implemented a very successful solution – Adobe Connect Pro. From an administrative perspective, Connect Pro has drastically reduced the cost of delivery, travel, training, and Occupational Health & Safety compliance. Explains managing director Peter Sergeant, “When you consider the thousands of documents and information packages used by Mensheds Australia to communicate and collaborate with individual men’s sheds and our partners everywhere, Acrobat Connect Pro is worth approximately $5 million to our organisation.”

Now Mensheds can conduct online meetings to remote areas via Connect Meetings. They can provide access to an plethora of information via the Connect Pro Training module, and can easily create engaging mulitmedia presentations via Adobe Presenter.

The feedback from supporters and stakeholders on the organisation’s portal, www.mensheds.com.au has been outstanding and exceeded all expectations. “Simply put, without Acrobat Connect Professional, we would not have been able to continue with our work at Mensheds,” concludes Sergeant. “We couldn’t deliver the volume of information needed anywhere near as efficiently and compellingly without the Adobe software.”

For more information about this success story, you can view a full article online.

webqem had the pleasure of exhibiting at the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) 2009 conference at Star City Casino. We were situated next to the windows and had a picturesque view of the Sydney’s Darling Harbour. At the exhibition, we showed off some of our cooler technologies such as Connect Pro and maxoom, in particular the 3D spin & zoom. webqem was privaleged to be assigned by the MTAA to prepare 3D spins of some of their award winning medical technology. The final presentation was outstanding.

webqem’s operation director, Larry Adler, had the privilege of speaking at one of the MTAA’s workshops, where he spoke on the topic of ‘Delivering professional initiatives to build workforce capacity’. Larry’s input was speaking about about how the MTAA use Connect Pro to their advantage.

Thank you to the MTAA for inviting Larry to speak and webqem to exhibit at their 2009 conference.

Come join the webqem team at an online seminar about our new dynamic imaging software – maxoom. The online seminar goes for only 60 minutes, and will be hosted by our Operations Director, Larry Adler. For the online seminar we will be using a Connect meeting room, so all you need is an internet browser with Flash installed.

During this online seminar Larry will show you how maxoom can:

• Instantly create multiple image sizes from the single master image
• Update images across your website instantly
• Create interactive online catalogues directly from your print materials
• Enhance your customer’s online experience with 3D spin & detail zoom
• Store and distribute assets with your own hosted solution, creating a new revenue stream

If you would like to attend, all you need to do is go to the registration page and fill out the form. We look forward to seeing you all online.

webqem has a lot of fun producing great online solutions for some of the biggest names in Australia. With so much work, there are now two management positions available in our team:

Digital Producer/Account Manager

We’re looking for the right person to join our team in this KEY role. You’ll be responsible for account managing and coordinating digital projects.

Salary range is $60K – $90K + Super, dependent on experience. Experience with larger website and application project management is a definite advantage.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Taking, analysing and writing briefs and proposals for online solutions
• Analysing business requirements and helping shape the right solutions
• Managing client relations including: communication with clients, liaison, providing WIP reports, identifying new business opportunities, etc.
• Cost estimates, project management and resource scheduling of each of your client’s projects
• Working with the designers and developers to oversee production and deliver the great results our clients have come to expect from us

For more details, see the full ad, or contact webqem at jobs@webqem.com.

Business Development Manager

An exciting role for a sales person who is passionate about IT and software who can seek out business opportunities with new and existing clients.

• Exciting technology and software solutions
• Great package with uncapped commission
• National Sales Role with a market leader

Webqem is a leader among online digital agencies. We help our clients with marketing, e-learning, training and software solutions. Our software sales have grown so dramatically over the last 12 months we need high calibre sales people for our business development team. If you are a sales person who is experienced, confident and understands how to develop and deliver a solution for a client, we would like to talk to you.

Salary range is $90K – $110K OTE uncapped.

For more details, see the full ad, or contact webqem at jobs@webqem.com.

We have some great eSeminars in October for beginner designers. Software that will be covered during these eSeminars include: Dreamweaver, Flash and Illustrator. We encourage you to register for these free eSeminars, even if your skill level is beyond a beginner, it is always useful to get back to basics. Check out the topics that will be covered.

October eSeminars Design for Beginners topics:

• Getting started with CSS 1st Oct

• How to create tabbed menus and AJAX controls in Dreamweaver 8th Oct

• Flash for Beginners 22nd Oct

• Getting started with Illustrator 29th Oct

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This is your last chance to see CS4 live and in the flesh in 2009. Tips, Tricks and Techniques to help you get more from your software and help the fight against cancer all at the same time. Learn from Industry Experts how to become more proficient and get more from you suite. All of the time, marketing and facilities have been donated for this event.

When:  Sept 30th, from 9.00am to 4.00pm

Where: Zenith Centre, Railway St, Chatswood NSW 2067

Agenda:

• 8.45am – Registration
• 9.00am – 10.00am – The Fast & The Furious with After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop
• 10.00am – 1.00pm – The Workflow Shoot out – InDesign, Photoshop, Flash & Illustrator 12 workflow techniques to get the best from your CS4
• Part 1 10.00am – 11.00am – Coffee break – Part 2 11.20am – 1.00pm
• Lunch break 1.00 – 1.30pm
• 1.30 – 2.15pm – Wired for Sound – Become an audio aficionado with Soundbooth
• 2.15 – 4.00pm – Flash Forward – Leverage the social power of Flash to stretch your brand

Tickets are $100 and are fully tax deductible as donation to the Cancer Council.

To register for the event go to the registration page and fill out the form.

So it seems like the world of online education is growing. Yes, this is no surprise, as the internet is taking over our lives, but more surprising is online education for K-12 students, which according to Jodi Church’s online article ‘Is online education more effective than traditional learning?’, is becoming more prominent.

Recent studies have proven the benefits of online education, as Church writes: “According to a recent study conducted by SRI International for the US Department of Education, online learners perform slightly better than students in traditional face-to-face classrooms.” A key outcome of this report is that it will put an end to the myth that online learning is inferior to traditional learning, as well as generating greater interest in developing technology for education.

A client of webqem’s – Kaplan University, is at the forefront of developing online education. Kaplan is renowned as a giant in online university degrees, and is now offering programs for students in grades 6 to 12 – an area previously untouched by online education. One of Kaplan’s key technologies for online education is Adobe Connect Pro and Presenter, which they use to conduct online meetings and to develop high impact online presentations.

So how much further will online education grow? It seems like we have only scraped the surface of the possibilities as many education institutions are only now  just adopting online education, so lets just say there is still a long way to go.

Leading kitchen retailer – Australian Kitchen Industries (AKI), is prospering from the power of Adobe Connect Pro. In recent years, AKI has significantly grown and prospered into a large franchise. With this growth, communicating with, and training it’s geographically dispersed network of franchisees had become particularly difficult and more costly. To streamline training and communications company-wide, AKI found a cost-effective, powerful solution: Adobe Presenter and Adobe Connect Pro software.

Since implementing Connect Pro, AKI have noticeably benefited from the high-impact web conferencing and ease of access that eLearning provides. Over 400 people across the company are now using Connect Pro to conduct online meetings and training. The solution has been so successful that it, amazingly, paid for itself within the first seven months. The team from webqem were instrumental in implementing this solution, which involved: software procurement, installation, hosting & training. A full report is available online.