Sparkboard Screen Annotation

[SkipperWoods]

So I have been interested in this screen annotation feature since the day I bought my first 55" Spark Board nearly a year ago and at the time everything had just been released and so I figured that the feature would be coming soon in future software releases as the data sheet indicated from day 1...

     Excerpt from Spark Board 70 Data Sheet:

     "●  Annotate on shared documents (future software release) "

Well here we are a year later and we still don't have this feature.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Spark Board and Cisco Spark and I think both have huge potential. I also see that the developers seem to be hard at work developing new features and releasing updates all the time which is great, but the feature I want the most (as do all of the users that I support) is the ability to digitally mark over the top of a file in the Spark room or something that is being shared wirelessly or via HDMI to the Spark Board.

This is a game changing feature! I'm a hardware guy so I realize there are likely many software hurdles that I'm unaware of with bringing this feature to market but I wanted to at least relay that there is GREAT interest in this feature and I would love to know if there are any updates on an ETA for the feature.

Keep up the great work if you are on the development team at Spark!

Sincerely,

Skip

[skilambi]

You will be happy to know this code does exist and Cisco offices can show this, get with your local Cisco account team. I heard it is imminent but at least we know it's not vaporware.

[christophm]

Hi together,

Skip's question is still unanswered. When is ETA?
I've also seen the code - however it was only working during a screen share from a Spark app. I have not seen the possibility to take any file in the room, present it and annotate there.
We are also very Cisco minded, the concepts are brilliant, but the execution - as in this case - lacks the ambitions other competitors come up with.

[SkipperWoods]

Christoph,

I am anxiously awaiting this release as well, but figured I would give you this nugget for you to hopefully find some solace in. Last week at the Cisco Live Local Event in Nashville, TN I was able to see a picture of this working on another device (was hoping to actually see the code on the demo Spark Board they had onsite but I guess beggars can't be choosers) and I asked a bunch of questions about how it works.

Here are the Q&A's:

1.) Can you annotate on files and/or local presentations via HDMI?

     a.) Yes to both, the way it works is it simply takes a screen shot of whatever is on the screen and sets that as the      background for the whiteboard and allows for normal drawing and such as well as posting snapshots in the Spark      Space.

2.) Can you still share that annotation live?

     a.) I was told that it would work just like the whiteboard does since it is simply a background to the whiteboard.

3.) When can I expect to see the release? 

     a.) No one would even hint at an answer to this as to not compromise NDA's I'm guessing but I got the feeling that they expected it before the end of this year (next couple months) but this was in no way anything official.

I will just keep waiting and hoping that the next time I check for updates it's just sitting there waiting for me to install it!

Hope this helps!

-Skip-

[christophm]

Hi Skip,

thank you very much for your excellent and helpful answer.

However, we have a couple of boards and when you open www.ciscospark.com you see this guy annotating a bicycle. Some of my users/customers just ask me how to do it...

So lets hope that it will be anytime soon...

Again thank you and best regards from Austria!

Christoph

[shabbarbabrawala]

Do we now have an eta on this