The storyline has still been kept under wraps for Dan browns new novel “The lost symbol”, but it is believed to focus on freemasonry, with the lost symbol of the title a reference to a ciphered pictogram in an ancient book called The Key of Solomon.

Brown had said that writing the new novel was "a strange and wonderful journey".

Buy Online -The Lost Symbol

They are works of fiction, but Brown tells us they are based on fact: "All organisations in this novel exist,” says a foreword to The Last Symbol, "including the Freemasons, the Invisible College, the Office of Security, the SMSC, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences”. Similarly, at the beginning of The Da Vinci Code, we learn that The Priory of Sion is a real secret society founded in 1099.

Dan Brown’s new novel ‘The Last Symbol’ will be launching a series of puzzles, codes, and teasers on social networking sites like Facebook, as a part of their promotional campaign. The Lost Symbol, the new book by Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons author Dan Brown, takes us once again into a world of shadowy cabals, hidden messages and secret conspiracies.

The publishers have also revealed six million copies of the book will be printed on its first run, reports the BBC.

GET THE BOOK NOW FROM AMAZON BOOK STORE

If you’re familiar with previous versions of the program, you may be lost the first time you fire up the new PowerPoint; or you would be if it weren’t for PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual.

This new book, written specifically for this version of the software, not only offers the basics of how to create, save, set up, run, and print a basic bullets-and-background slideshow, but takes you into the world of multimedia, animation, and interactivity.

You’ll learn how to add pictures, sound, video, animated effects, and controls (buttons and links) to their slides, along with ways to pull text, spreadsheets, and animations created in other programs.
You can also create your own reusable design templates and learn to automate repetitive tasks with macros.

Learn how to take advantage of advanced functions (such as adding custom background images) that existed in previous PowerPoint versions, but were so cleverly hidden that few people ever found them.

F1

Display Help or the Office Assistant

SHIFT+F1

Start context-sensitive Help

F2

Select the text box (with text or an object selected inside the text box) or select the text within a text box (with the text box selected)

ALT+F2

Carry out Save As command

ALT+SHIFT+F2

Carry out Save command (File menu)

SHIFT+F3

Change the case of letters

F4

Repeat the last action

SHIFT+F4

Repeat the last Find (Find Next)

CTRL+F4

Close the window

ALT+F4

Quit PowerPoint

ALT+SHIFT+F4

Quit PowerPoint

F5

Carry out Slide Show command (View menu)

CTRL+F5

Restore the presentation window size

ALT+F5

Restore the program window size

F6

Move to the next pane

SHIFT+F6

Move to the previous pane

CTRL+F6

Move to the next presentation window

CTRL+SHIFT+F6

Move to the previous presentation window

F7

Carry out Spelling command (Tools menu)

CTRL+F7

Carry out Move command (presentation Control menu)

ALT+F7

Find next misspelling (Automatic Spell Checking enabled)

CTRL+F8

Carry out Size command (presentation Control menu)

F10

Activate the menu bar

SHIFT+F10

Display a shortcut menu

CTRL+F10

Maximize the presentation window

ALT+F10

Maximize the program window

CTRL+SHIFT+F10

Activate the menu bar

ALT+F11

Display Visual Basic code

F12

Carry out Save As command (File menu)

SHIFT+F12

Carry out Save command (File menu)

CTRL+F12

Carry out Open command (File menu)

CTRL+SHIFT+F12

Carry out Print command (File menu)

Keys for working with presentations

CTRL+N

Create a new presentation

CTRL+M

Insert a new slide

CTRL+D

Make a copy of the selected slide

CTRL+O

Open a presentation

CTRL+W

Close a presentation

CTRL+P

Print a presentation

CTRL+S

Save a presentation

F5

Run a presentation

ALT+F4

Quit PowerPoint

CTRL+F

Find text, formatting, and special items

CTRL+H

Replace text, specific formatting, and special items

CTRL+K

Insert a hyperlink

F7

Check spelling

ESC

Cancel an action

CTRL+Z

Undo an action

CTRL+Y

Redo or repeat an action

F6

Switch to the next pane (clockwise)

SHIFT+F6

Switch to the previous pane (counterclockwise)

Keys for browsing hyperlinks in a slide show

TAB

Go to the first or next hyperlink

SHIFT+TAB

Go to the last or previous hyperlink

ENTER while a hyperlink is selected

Perform the "mouse click" behavior of the selected hyperlink

SHIFT+ENTER while a hyperlink is selected

Perform the "mouse over" behavior of the selected hyperlink

Keys for deleting and copying text and objects

BACKSPACE

Delete one character to the left

CTRL+BACKSPACE

Delete one word to the left

DELETE

Delete one character to the right

CTRL+DELETE

Delete one word to the right

CTRL+X

Cut selected object

CTRL+C

Copy selected object

CTRL+V

Paste cut or copied object

CTRL+Z

Undo the last action

Keys for moving around in text

LEFT ARROW

One character to the left

RIGHT ARROW

One character to the right

UP ARROW

One line up

DOWN ARROW

One line down

CTRL+LEFT ARROW

One word to the left

CTRL+RIGHT ARROW

One word to the right

END

To the end of a line

HOME

To the beginning of a line

CTRL+UP ARROW

Up one paragraph

CTRL+DOWN ARROW

Down one paragraph

CTRL+END

To the end of a text box

CTRL+HOME

To the beginning of a text box

CTRL+ENTER

To the next title or body text placeholder (see note)

SHIFT+F4

To repeat the last Find action

Keys for selecting text and objects

SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW

One character to the right

SHIFT+LEFT ARROW

One character to the left

CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW

To the end of a word

CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW

To the beginning of a word

SHIFT+UP ARROW

One line up

SHIFT+DOWN ARROW

One line down

ESC

An object (with text selected inside the object)

TAB or SHIFT+TAB until the object you want is selected

An object (with an object selected)

ENTER

Text within an object

CTRL+A (in the slide pane)

All objects

CTRL+A (in slide sorter view)

All slides

CTRL+A (in the outline pane)

All text

Change or resize the font

CTRL+SHIFT+P

Change the font size

CTRL+SHIFT+>

Increase the font size

CTRL+SHIFT+<

Decrease the font size

CTRL+SHIFT+F

Change the font

Apply character formats

CTRL+T

Change the formatting of characters (Font command, Format menu)

SHIFT+F3

Change the case of letters

CTRL+B

Apply bold formatting

CTRL+U

Apply an underline

CTRL+I

Apply italic formatting

CTRL+EQUAL SIGN

Apply subscript formatting (automatic spacing)

CTRL+SHIFT+PLUS SIGN

Apply superscript formatting (automatic spacing)

CTRL+SPACEBAR

Remove manual character formatting

Copy text formats

CTRL+SHIFT+C

Copy formats

CTRL+SHIFT+V

Paste formats

Align paragraphs

CTRL+E

Center a paragraph

CTRL+J

Justify a paragraph

CTRL+L

Left align a paragraph

CTRL+R

Right align a paragraph

Slide show controls

N, ENTER, PAGE DOWN, RIGHT ARROW, DOWN ARROW, or the SPACEBAR (or click the mouse)

Perform the next animation or advance to the next slide

P, PAGE UP, LEFT ARROW, UP ARROW, or BACKSPACE

Perform the previous animation or return to the previous slide

<number>+ENTER

Go to slide <number>

B or PERIOD

Display a black screen, or return to the slide show from a black screen

W or COMMA

Display a white screen, or return to the slide show from a white screen

S or PLUS SIGN

Stop or restart an automatic slide show

ESC, CTRL+BREAK, or HYPHEN

End a slide show

E

Erase on-screen annotations

H

Go to next hidden slide

T

Set new timings while rehearsing

O

Use original timings while rehearsing

M

Use mouse-click to advance while rehearsing

Both mouse buttons for 2 seconds

Return to the first slide

CTRL+P

Redisplay hidden pointer and/or change the pointer to a pen

CTRL+A

Redisplay hidden pointer and/or change the pointer to an arrow

CTRL+H

Hide the pointer and button immediately

CTRL+U

Hide the pointer and button in 15 seconds

SHIFT+F10 (or right-click)

Display the shortcut menu

TAB

Go to the first or next hyperlink on a slide

SHIFT+TAB

Go to the last or previous hyperlink on a slide

ENTER while a hyperlink is selected

Perform the "mouse click" behavior of the selected hyperlink

SHIFT+ENTER while a hyperlink is selected

Perform the "mouse over" behavior of the selected hyperlink

Tip   You can press F1 during a slide show to see a list of controls.

1 Keep it clear and simple! Fancy animation and backgrounds are distracting for the audience.

2 Use a large, clear font, eg. Arial or Comic Sans. Titles should be in a minimum of 30 point font. Text in dot points should be 20 – 22 point font. Do not use less than 20 point font. See the attached downloadable template.

3 Have no more than six (6) words per line, and no more than six (6) lines per slide. Use brief summaries of key points only. Copies of pages of text from your paper are unacceptable. Remember, your submitted paper has all the details.

4 Use dark colours (black, blue, green, red) on a light background, or light colours on a dark background. The text must stand out and preferably be bold.

5 Text should be in lower case, not all in capitals. This makes it much easier to read.

6 Limit the number of slides. Five or six slides should be plenty for a ten (10) minute presentation.

7 Have a title slide with acknowledgements.

8 Embedded photos may be used to illustrate your talk. Images should be no larger than 72 dpi jpg format. Do not drag in large images from other programs.

9 Complex graphs and tables are difficult to comprehend. It is better to summarise the key points as text and refer them to the graphs and tables in your paper.

1 Keep it clear and simple! Fancy animation and backgrounds are distracting for the audience.

2 Use a large, clear font, eg. Arial or Comic Sans. Titles should be in a minimum of 30 point font. Text in dot points should be 20 – 22 point font. Do not use less than 20 point font. See the attached downloadable template.

3 Have no more than six (6) words per line, and no more than six (6) lines per slide. Use brief summaries of key points only. Copies of pages of text from your paper are unacceptable. Remember, your submitted paper has all the details.

4 Use dark colours (black, blue, green, red) on a light background, or light colours on a dark background. The text must stand out and preferably be bold.

5 Text should be in lower case, not all in capitals. This makes it much easier to read.

6 Limit the number of slides. Five or six slides should be plenty for a ten (10) minute presentation.

7 Have a title slide with acknowledgements.

8 Embedded photos may be used to illustrate your talk. Images should be no larger than 72 dpi jpg format. Do not drag in large images from other programs.

9 Complex graphs and tables are difficult to comprehend. It is better to summarise the key points as text and refer them to the graphs and tables in your paper.

Solution:

There is no free legal powerpoint software.
HOWEVER, go to Microsoft website and you can download a free 60 day trial of it.
at the end of 60 days…it will cease to work unless you purchase.

openoffice.org has a program called impress that is very similar, and its free. Just when you save make sure to select powerpoint from the little drop down menu where it says format.

Source(s):

www.openoffice.org

 

Alternatives

There are alternatives that read and write PowerPoint files. There are two packages I’m aware of.
1. OpenOffice (Impress) is a presentation software that’s bundled with four other applications that include a word processor, spreadsheet application to name a few. It’s capable of saving presentations as .ppt files (you’ll see this option when you click File– then "Save As" an option called "Save as type" drop down menu. I’ve used it on various different occasions and have found that it works beautifully.
2. Lotus Symphony Presentations is also a presentation software that is bundled with a word processor and spreadsheet application. It’s quite similar to OpenOffice but has a very unique and different layout that may not cater towards everyone’s taste. It does have some useful features such as exporting presentation to PDF (Not sure if OpenOffice Impress has it).
Note: Lotus Symphony Suite is in Beta mode and requires a decent amount of RAM (1Gb Recommended. 512 bare minimum to get by).
Download Links:
OpenOffice ver. 2.3.0
http://download.openoffice.org/index.htm…
Lotus Symphony
https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/s…

You can buy powerpoint software from amazan below :

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Version Upgrade

PowerPoint is most famous software from Microsoft to make modern, Dynamic and Attractive slide show or presentations. there some tips and tricks to make your presentations more professional and attractive because When you are going before customers or team members, how you present can be almost as important as what you say.

1. Always try to make your visual information minimum to remember it easily .

2. Use guides to line up objects : In PowerPoint 2000, choose VIEW » GUIDES. (In PowerPoint 2002, choose VIEW » GRID AND GUIDES.) To add a guide, press the CTRL key and drag a guide onto the workspace. To delete a guide, drag it to the horizontal or vertical ruler.

3. Align objects perfectly: For a professional-looking layout, make sure your objects line up. Select two or more objects and from the Draw toolbar, choose Align or Distribute. Select one of the alignment options.

4. Create your own templates: Try to create your own templates if possible . When you’ve created a presentation that you can reuse in modified form, save it as a template. Choose FILE » SAVE AS. Choose Design Template (*.pot) from the Save as Type drop-down list and click Save. Now is easy to start new presentations with your saved templates.

5.Reduce the text margins: Reduce the text margins to get more into a text message in your presentation . Right-click the placeholder or autoshape and choose FORMAT » PLACEHOLDER or FORMAT » AUTOSHAPE. Click the Text Box tab. In the Internal Margin section reduce the numbers for the left, right, top and bottom margins. For placeholders with no visible border, set the margins to zero. Click OK.

6. Align text at a decimal point: If you have a list of dollars and cents, for instance, to line them up, use a decimal tab. Select the text placeholder and click the tab button at the far left of its ruler until the tab symbol with a dot appears. (Choose VIEW » RULER if the ruler isn’t visible.) Press the TAB key in front of the text you want to align.

7. Use Microsoft Producer: Use Microsoft Producer, a free download, to combine and synchronize a presentation that includes PowerPoint slides, video, audio and still images. Go to microsoft.com. Choose PowerPoint as the product and check Add-ins and Extras.

8.Widen the bars in a bar chart for readability : Widen your bars chart to easily readability . Double-click on the chart to activate it, then double-click on the bars to select them all. In the Format Data Series dialog box, click the Options tab and reduce the Gap Width. Click OK.

9. Format realistic shadows : Add proper angle shadow to your object to creates a sense of depth. to make your object realistic change their color, size or direction . Select the object, click Shadow Style on the Draw toolbar, then choose Shadow Settings. In the Shadow Settings toolbar, you can change the shadow’s color and nudge the shadow in any direction

10. Remove Sound icons from your slides: If you insert a sound, for example, PowerPoint places a sound icon on the slide. If you choose to play the sound automatically, you won’t need the icon. Just drag it off the slide and it won’t appear in Slide Show view.

When uploading PowerPoint slides, Live Classroom automatically converts each slide to an image (GIF) that is viewable over the internet. The tips below will help you too keep the image sizes down and ensure that the slides will appear quickly for you students during a presentation.

• Choose a solid color or a very simple design for the slide background. Examples listed below
• Avoid using gradient fills
• Keep the number of different colors used to a minimum
• Reduce/avoid the number/size of any high-quality pictures you include on your slide

Resize an image

· Click the image,

· place your mouse over the bottom right corner of the image,

· wait till the mouse cursor turns into a two-headed arrow,

· hold the left mouse button and drag the corner.

Move an image

· Place your mouse over the image,

· wait till the mouse cursor turns into a four-headed arrow,

· hold the left mouse button and drag the image.

Delete an image

· Click it to highlight it

· and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Create a text box

You can resize, move and delete a text box as you would an image.

You may label pictures by using text boxes.

Click the Text Box icon (with an A and lines of text) on the Drawing toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

· Click and drag to create the text box.

There are also icons for creating lines and arrows (click the relevant icon next to AutoShapes bottom left and click at each end of the line/arrow).

Insert links

· Create a new slide (with the basic layout with a heading and a list of bullets).

· Go to the page you want to link to in your browser.

Select the Web address of the page in the Address bar at the top and copy it by going to Edit | Copy or pressing Ctrl-C.

· Click the PowerPoint icon on your task bar (bottom of the screen) to return to PowerPoint.

· Click in the bullet where you want it to go and paste in the Web address by going to Edit | Paste or pressing Ctrl-V.

· If you press the spacebar after the address, it should turn into a hyperlink.

You can also make your presentation more interactive by including links to other slides in the presentation:

· Type the text e.g. First Slide and highlight it.

Go to Insert | Hyperlink.

Select Place in This Document in the left pane and then the slide to which you want to link.

Insert sound files

Your file should ideally be in .mp3 format, as e.g. .wav files are large and may slow PowerPoint down.

Go to Insert | Movies and Sounds and select Sound from File.

Start the show

Either go to the View menu and click Slide Show or press F5.

Press the spacebar or click the left mouse button to move to the next slide.
Press Page Up to go to the previous slide.

Press B to display a black slide. Press B again to return to your presentation. You may want to do this to attract the audience’s attention or to use the screen for some other purpose.

Return to Normal View, by pressing the Esc key.

Sort slides

Go to the View menu and click Slide Sorter.

You can move a slide with the mouse by clicking the slide, holding down the left mouse button and releasing it where you want the slide to go. A | should appear.

To delete a slide, click on it and press Delete.

To copy a slide, click on it and press Ctrl-C. Go to where you want the copy. Press Ctrl-V to paste it.

Animations

Remember that the eye reads from left to right. This means that Appear under More Effects tends to be the most useful one.

‘Animations’ allow the content of a slide to appear an element at a time after you click the left mouse button. This is useful, as it prevents your audience from reading ahead.

Go to View | Normal and select the slide to which you want to apply the animation.

Click the down-arrow on the left of the X that closes the task pane (right) and select the Custom Animation task pane. Use the Slide Design — Animation Schemes task pane instead if you want to apply the animation to all slides.

Click the part of the slide to which you want to apply the effect (usually the lower part where the bullets are) and click the Add Effect button in the task pane.

Click Entrance and click the effect you want to apply.

Setting the look and feel

To apply a co-ordinated colour scheme to your presentation, click the down-arrow on the left of the X that closes the task pane (right) and select Slide-Design – Color Schemes. Chose a colour scheme with a pastel background and dark text. If you want to modify one of the schemes, click the Edit Color Schemes button at the bottom of the task pane.

Use the Slide Master on the View | Master menu to add anything, e.g. a footer or image, which is to appear on every slide. It can also be used to set the fonts to be used in the presentation.

Handouts

Go to the File menu and select Print. In the Print what box, select Handouts. Slides per page should be set to 6 (3 if you want space on the right for them to take notes).

Connecting your computer to the projector

· Connect the lead from the projector to the Monitor socket on the back of your computer. (If you have an Apple laptop, you need a display adapter. There are several sorts, so it’s best to ask in the shop.)

· Your computer may have a key to switch the presentation alternately between your computer, your computer and the projector, and just the projector:
In the case of a laptop, try holding down the Fn key and pressing F5, F7, F8 or one of the other function keys. It may have a monitor icon (two squares) on it.

· Some remote controls have a choice between Video (i.e. VHS or DVD) and RGB (which actually means computer, i.e. the option you need).

Tips

· If you make a mistake, press Ctrl-Z immediately. That should undo it.

· Keep the text on your slides to a minimum
– use bullet points.

· Use upper case letters sparingly – they are difficult to read.

· If you need manually to break a line in the middle of a bullet point, use Shift-Enter (NOT Enter which would create another bullet point).

· Keep slide titles as short as possible.

· Make headings between 36-48pt*.

Why some presentations fail

*This is not an issue, unless you change the font size defaults.

· more than three fonts or colours in a presentation

· a point size less than 28pt (they wouldn’t be able to read it!)*

· more than six bullet points on a slide

· more than three images on a slide

· too much sound (you could use it once for comic effect…)

If you want to create printable pages that have notes or descriptive text associated with each slide, PowerPoint has a feature designed to do just this called Notes Pages, or Speaker’s Notes (depending on which version you’re using). To view the Notes page for any slide, go to the View menu and select Notes Pages. You will see an image of your slide there, and a placeholder for adding your script, notes, or any other text you wish. You can cut-and-paste text from Word here if you like. To print these pages, bring up the Print dialog, and at the bottom of the dialog where it says "Print What:", select Notes Pages. These pages were originally designed to be used as audience hand outs (with space for the audience to take notes) but were also used by many as speaker’s notes: the text block would have the script of the presentation, to be used by the speaker, or for sales binders to educated sales people.

Making Presentation Files Smaller

Prior to PowerPoint 97, there was no internal file compression code inside of PowerPoint, and files could get pretty big quickly. The most common cause of large files is the addition of large bitmaps. PowerPoint 97 compresses these bitmaps, but previous versions do not. To keep your presentations as small as you can, try reducing the resolution of your bitmaps, which will bring their size down tremendously. For viewing on screen, the bitmaps don’t need to be more than 96 dpi; they won’t print nicely until they’re up around 150 or higher, but the screen always displays at 96 dpi, so if the primary viewing medium is the screen, there’s no point in having the bitmaps be a higher resolution. Also, the bitmap format can make a big difference to your file sizes. JPEG and PNG both have good internal compression code. GIF has some, but not as good as JPEG. BMP files are the largest; TIFF files will also be very large.

Sometimes, as you’re working on a presentation, you’ll notice that the file seems to get bigger for no reason.  To get rid of this "bloating", save the file using "File/Save As" and give the file a new name.  This can reduce the file size up to 50%.

Building Presentations for Distribution to Others

If you’re making a PowerPoint presentation that you intend to distribute to lots of different people, here are some important things to watch out for that will cause problems:

1. Stick with the fonts that come installed with Windows; Fancy fonts that appear on your machine will cause problems if everyone else doesn’t have them.

2. Avoid embedding sounds and videos: these will not go from Mac to Windows gracefully, and you have to be very careful about how you insert the files in order to get them to "travel" properly. See the FAQ section for more information on this.

3. Try looking at the presentation on a different platform (Mac vs Windows); be prepared for some visual changes in your file–the version or platform may not support some of the features you’ve put in, so be sure to sanity check your file on several different machines and versions BEFORE you distribute it!

Coming soon

PowerPoint Tips
Keeping pictures and artwork in proportion
Resizing pictures
Enabling PowerPoint slides in Word 95
Adding shapes to a PowerPoint slide
Maximizing the clipart library in PowerPoint97
Practicing PowerPoint presentations
Using only part of a picture in PowerPoint
Tips on using scanned photos in PowerPoint
Using layers in PowerPoint
Using graphics with text efficiently
Changing the background color in PowerPoint
Creating your own text logo in PowerPoint
Resizing a graphic without messing up aspect ratio and position
Recording a narration in PowerPoint
Spell checking a PowerPoint slide
Using PowerPoint’s semitransparent feature
Justifying text properly in PowerPoint
Making a PowerPoint slide with a semi-transparent background
Resizing text that is grouped with a picture
Adding a personal note to a PowerPoint slide
Hiding slides in PowerPoint
Showing a hidden slide during a PowerPoint presentation
Adding an Action button to a PowerPoint slide
Adding a background sound to a PowerPoint slide
Using AVI files with presentations
Automating a movie from a slide
Starting a slide show automatically from a double-click
Quickly setting transition effects for a slide show
Aligning PowerPoint objects
Using the new custom animations of PowerPoint 97
Using colors effectively in a presentation
Using curved text in PowerPoint
Sending a Word outline into PowerPoint
Creating signs
Tips on doing a PowerPoint presentation
Animating objects in PowerPoint
A good sense of humor equals a good presentation
Adding PowerPoint text
Getting information on your ClipArts
The new PowerPoint 97 plug-in that allow you to use PowerPoint presentations on the web.
Starting PowerPoint without the slide dialog box
Displaying the Animations toolbar
Using transitions to enhance your slide show