Electronics for imaging has refined eBeam, its little $500 alternative to bulky digital whiteboards that enables you to print the content of a conventional whiteboard, distribute it across a network or record a meeting (with audio) as it unfolds.
The units previously unnamed software, Mediator, lets you drag any bit-mapped file into the whiteboard window as a back- ground upon which remote users can make annotations. Previous shortcomings noted by eWeek Labs have been fixed—eBeam now supports Microsofts Net Meeting, zooms are user-definable, and the pens shut off automatically.
Macintosh users have, as is their wont, spoken up, with the result that EFI has promised an alpha Macintosh version of the heretofore Windows-only product.
I think eBeam can clearly make meetings more productive, but the plethora of cables and connectors made the system a bit awkward to carry and set up. Perhaps a Bluetooth environment offers a sleeker future for this intelligent and well-designed product.
EFI is at www.e-beam.com.