New Connect Beta (Brio) On Adobe Labs--and a mini preview

Note: This blog post is from 2007. Some content may be outdated--though not necessarily. Same with links and subsequent comments from myself or others. Corrections are welcome, in the comments. And I may revise the content as necessary.

It's a hosted service, not something you download, and it allows you to have up to 3 meeting participants.

Be sure to see the "Product Details" tab of the labs page, which offers more info about the new release, including some modest release notes. Most significant is the question most likely to be asked by those using Connect now:

"How is Brio different from Adobe Acrobat Connect?"

• Richer expression in the Chat Pod with sizes, colors, and emoticons.
• Text layout controls in the Note Pod including bullets, size, and color.
• Save as .doc file option for meeting Chat and Notes.
• Upload files to distribute to your meeting participants.
• Voice over IP option as an alternative to teleconferencing.
• Right click menus.
• Access to key meeting features while screen sharing with new palette.
• Whiteboard Pod with option to save your work as a .png file.
• Annotate over screen sharing using whiteboarding tools with option to save as your work as a .png file.
• Personalized display images in the meeting attendee list.
• Additional options (accept all and automatic room entry) for accepting attendees to a meeting.
• New Role names (host, participant and audience) for attendees and more capabilities for participants making it easy to collaborate during meetings. Participants can now share their screen, enter notes, whiteboard automatically without being promoted to a presenter.

Note as well there that free audioconferencing by phone (in addition to the traditional embedded mic and camera feature) is available in the beta. No need to make a reservation. Just click on the phone icon upper right corner of your meeting room and select Adobe Conference Number. You'll see a text box with the call-in numbers as well as the meeting ID number. There's no charge for the service, however, long distance phone charges may apply.

This preview of Brio is currently only available in English.

Finally, to find out more, check out the lab forums for Brio.

I'll have more to say after I review it myself.

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