How I learned that Adobe Captivate is more than a demo capturing tool?

Recently, I was honored to be rewarded with the Most Valuable Participant (MVP) badge for my contributions to the Adobe community forums. This made me look back how I ended up getting here from where I was about 2-3 years ago.

Till Adobe Captivate 6, I used the tool primarily to capture transactions and generate simulations in demo, try-me, and assess-me modes. I just add introduction and closing slides before the simulation and I was done with Captivate.

But one day while looking for some solution on the Adobe community forums I came across several posts where users were asking questions about features that I didn't even know about. More importantly, these were features I could use so well in my own courses. Soon after that, I ended up spending hours on these forums browsing through the posts as old as a month.

In this exercise, I discovered the real power of Captivate. The biggest influencer for me has been Lieve Weymeis, or Lilybiri as she is popularly known as in Adobe circles. She is one of the few experts who selflessly help fellow users on the community every single day. I got a reference to her blog in one of her replies to a user query and since then she has become my Captivate guru. This is the only blog which primarily focuses on advanced features of Captivate. Honestly, I am not aware of any other website/ blog which offers such in-depth information for free.

Apart from Lilybiri, I am also learning from Jim Leichliter (Captivate-Javascript), Rick Stone a.k.a Captiv8r, and Rod Ward.

As I started getting more hands-on with the tool, I felt a better way to learn is to take up real-life examples. For this, along with working on use cases of my own, I started to reproduce the issues users posted on the forums and share the solution whenever I had one. If somebody else posted a solution, I practiced that as well. If the solution didn't work for me, I asked for more info. I spent many evenings and weekends doing this. Gradually, I was ready to offer to immediate solutions for many issues.

This helped me a lot even professionally. My newfound knowledge helped me come up with some great interactivities, reusable components, and game-based quizzes for our own courses, making them more engaging than ever.

I am aware that I have only scratched the surface of Captivate and there are many more things to uncover. Even today, I try to practice the same way. However, I must admit the frequency is not as much as I want to. I have my reasons, but then they are probably excuses. But one thing is for sure. it will not stop anytime soon.

CES 2015

Every year, I look forward to CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and MWC (Mobile World Congress) conferences. This year's CES was mostly about Internet of Things. In fact so much that, some said it was about Internet of Everything and I could not agree more. 

Here is a glimpse.

Aren't these cool?

Parrot Pot: The first question my mom asks me whenever she comes back from a day's outing, is whether I watered plants? My usual answer, "Oh! I forgot". If you are anything like me, you will love Parrot Pot. Why? Coz it automates your job. Check out this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwbsNkBbnAY

AmpStrip: There are many healthcare-wearables now at various stages of development. But this one caught my eye because of its size and ease. Just peel it and stick it. It does all the hard work of monitoring the most critical part of your body, the heart. What else does it do? Check it out here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i4iF7mNulI

MakerBot's composite metal 3D printer: I have always been fascinated by the realistic output of 3D printers. Now, with the composite metal option, I can only see their benefits growing.

Sony's Smart Eye: Yayy!!! Finally I have some hopes of getting a "Glass". 
http://www.cnet.com/news/sony-teases-new-head-wearables-at-ces-2015-smarteyeglass-attach-and-the-smart-b-trainer/

Connected cars: Wow!!! Cars that charge, drive, and park on their own, cars that assess your driving skills and send report to your insurance company, gesture controlled car, watch-controlled cars...

Do we really need these tech?

mamaRoo's baby rocker: Putting your kid back to sleep when it suddenly wakes up from a nap is no easy task. But is it really worth "automating"? 
http://coolmomtech.com/2015/01/4moms-mamaroo-infant-seat-and-swing/

Baby Gigl: Inclinometer in this bottle tells you how to hold the it while feeding your baby.
http://mashable.com/2015/01/04/smart-baby-bottle-baby-gigl/

Smart pacifier Pacif-i: GPS tracker for your toddler. Well, among other things.
http://www.popsci.com/ces-2015-smart-pacifier-peace-mind-blue-maestro

Sensoria's smart socks: Socks that track your exercise and send the data to your mobile. Just curious. Do they stink as well? 
http://www.cnet.com/products/sensoria-fitness-smart-sock/

Digitsole insoles: What if you don't like wearing socks? Don't worry, your insoles can track them. 
http://www.digitsole.com/#video

Sidewing:

You get into the car to go to office. But it stops by your favorite coffee shop on the way. The guy at the takeaway counter hands over your preferred coffee. By the time your finish your coffee, you have arrived at your office. You get down, wrap up your work, and your car is at the door to take you to the dinner party your friends have organized for you. Once you are out of it, you are taken to the airport just in time to receive your son who is coming home for vacations. Your car drops you at your house, goes to the 24/7 service center to get some minor repairs done, and is back in the garage fully geared up for another day's grind.

You car knows everything. It is connected. And, this is just a sample.

Shettikere Yoga Madhava temple

This was one of those unplanned trips. Since we three cousins had time after dropping my aunt and uncle at Yeshwantpur Railway Station at 1.45 p.m, we decided to visit Hoysala temples at Vigna Sante and Shettikere in Tumkur district.

Half way through, considering the road condition, distance, traffic, etc., we realized that we can cover only Shettikere.

Shettikere

We reached Shettikere at about 5 p.m. Though the temple was closed, a kid in front of the temple led us to the priest's house and got us temple keys.

We took some snaps in and around the temple. But we still did not know anything about it (info available on the internet not included).

Entrance

Main deity: Yoga Madhava

We thought of asking the priest and came out of the temple. Just outside the temple, we stopped a localite to ask for an alternative route back home as the road we took to reach here was pretty bad. But as soon as we told him that we came from Bangalore, this guy volunteered to give us all the information he had about the temple. Here is what he told:

• Earlier, the current village of Shettikere was divided into two parts, Bharatapuri and Shettikere. As per that, the temple is actually in Bharatapuri.
• The temple was constructed in one day and one night.
• The huge dhwajasthambha (flagstaff, the single stone pillar in front of the temple) was carried by one person. The boulders used in the temple wall were also carried by human beings.

• Two chariots, made of silver and bronze, are believed to be buried deep inside the ground on either side of the main temple complex.

• The inscription inside the temple gives all the details about the temple. One can read by holding a mirror to it.

• The main deity is facing east.
• The area around the temple encroached by villages.

After getting all the details, we visited the priest's house, thanked him, and started our journey back home.

Route:

Onward: Bangalore > Gubbi > Kibbanahalli Cross > Chikkanayakanahalli > Shettikere
Return: Shettikere > Saasalu > Kibbanahalli cross > Gubbi > Bangalore

Sidewing:

• The father of the kid who got us keys and the current priest were classmates.
• The priest told us that Bhyrappa, the only person who knew the complete history of the temple, passed away. 
• The temple looks magnificient when it is lit in the evenings. The main deity can then be seen from a distance of 300 meters outside the temple complex. We did not wait till then though.
• The guy who gave us all the details was drunk. No, not the priest. I am referring to the other guy.