Impress with the slideshow of your life

9th, Nov. 2021
Today Boinx Software launches the newest version of the slideshow maker software, FotoMagico® 6. The new FotoMagico 6 unites computer and handheld-based workflows into one because it runs on Macs and on iPads. For the first time, you can freely work and play your slideshows on your favorite device, whenever, wherever you like it. Store your projects in your iCloud Drive to keep them synced across multiple devices.

FotoMagico is a real-time slideshow editor, which instantly plays slideshows in full resolution without wasting time for rendering. The new presets make it easier to create engaging vertical Instagram Stories or 4k horizontal slideshows. FotoMagico 6 comes with a set of addons for music, titles, frames and guides for visual storytelling to make your next slideshow the best slideshow of your life. It is an all-inclusive solution, which contains the existing and future addons* available for download directly within the new download manager inside the application.

Apart from the addons, the new FotoMagico 6 comes with more features that are tailored for the photographer community. The new Map Assistant lets you easily animate travel routes. A new set of visual effects are added to images, videos, and layers. The included Music Packs contain royalty-free music prepared with FotoMagico Beat Markers for easy transitions to the rhythm of the music.

The FotoMagico 6 comes with an improved user interface and allows to export slideshow projects much faster. The entire app has been rewritten from scratch with the latest Apple® technology like Swift, SwiftUI, and Metal. This means that FotoMagico 6 is fully future-proof as it is based on the most advanced technology and is ready to run on the new Apple® Silicon M1® processor family.

FotoMagico is the gold standard for slideshows on the Mac.

Launch Live Stream

Boinx Software invites customers and the press to join their live stream launch of FotoMagico 6. The event will cover a quick overview, new features and tricks as well as a questions & answer section.

Date
9th, November

Time
9 AM PST – 12 PM EST/EDT – 18:00 CET – 20:00 AST – 22:30 IST – 01:00(+1) CST

YouTube Link
https://youtube.com/boinxsoftware/live/

Facebook Link
https://www.facebook.com/boinsoftware/live/

Price and availability

The start of sales is the 9th, November 2021. FotoMagico 6 is priced at $7.99 (USD) per month and can be purchased as of today from the new homepage at http://fotomagico.com/. Customers who have purchased any version of FotoMagico 5 after the 1st of June 2021 will be entitled to a free 12 month period of FotoMagico 6. Details can be found at https://fotomagico.com/upgrade/

Boinx Software International GmbH is a German computer software company, incorporated in Germering, in the greater Munich metropolitan area. Boinx has been historically specialized in software for Apple Inc. platforms. In 1996 Boinx Software was founded by the brothers Achim and Oliver Breidenbach, following their passion for mac-based software. The company roots go back to 1976 when their father brought the first Apple I computers back to Europe after meeting Steve Jobs.

Boinx Software has gained public attention by winning several Apple Design Awards for apps like BoinxTV, mimoLive, iStopMotion and FotoMagico.

*exceptions may occur in the future due to 3rd party licenses regulations

Oliver Breidenbach,
CEO, Boinx Software

Steffen Skopp,
Head of Marketing, Boinx Software

It was early in 1977 when Mr. Breidenbach Senior met Steve Jobs for the first and the last time. Breidenbach Senior, who was one of the first people in Europe working on microcomputers, had heard about the newly founded company Apple and wanted to see for himself what it was about. The encounter lasted with not just a brief handshake but went on over for a lunch. The meeting resulted in Mr. Breidenbach Senior bringing home several Apple 1 computers, probably the first of their kind in Europe. This eventually marked the entry of the brand Apple to the European continent.
One computer was brought straight to the basement of the family house, which was then, the microcomputer lab of Mr. Breidenbach Senior. His love and passion for technology passed on to his kids Oliver and Achim, which encouraged them to the founding of the Boinx Software Company twenty years later.

Sharing the same love and passion for technology

Looking back at the time both Oliver and Achim have a proud and emotional recollection of the memory wherein their father met one of the greatest technology geniuses of his time. Oliver draws a lot of similarities between Steve Jobs and his father. Both had great interest and fascination for technology and both of them had a similar fate in the end. Also, they continued to do what they loved the most, until the last days before they died, that is, driving innovation at the company that they founded. It was also a sheer coincidence that Oliver happened to visit Apple’s office, which is almost 5800 miles away from his office in Europe, on the day Steve Jobs died. He was visiting the Apple headquarters for presenting a demo for one of the new products, codenamed Ziegenbart (eng. for Goatee), which became iStopMotion for iPad later.

Meeting the Co-Founder of Apple

2014 will be remembered as the year when the founders of Boinx met the Apple Co-Founder Steve „The Woz“ Wozniak. Every year, Oliver and Achim used to spends a week at the world’s largest IT trade show, CeBIT, which garnered a footfall of more than 8,000,000 visitors.

Steve Wozniak was invited to speak at the trade show and agreed to a brief meeting with Oliver and Achim before his talk. They patiently waited in the lobby of the hotel, filled with mixed feelings such as excitement and nervousness. Only a minute after the agreed time, Woz exits the elevators and strides through the lobby, approaching the brothers with a big, warm smile on his face. The brothers and WOZ shook hands and exchange business cards. Woz’s card being the coolest card ever, laser-cut aluminum and his famous phone number encoded like an ancient punch card.

In conversation with “The WOZ”

As the meeting progressed, WOZ saw the Apple 1 board and immediately his eyes lit up and you can see the excitement of the memories it brings back to his mind. WOZ recalled and shared with the brothers, – “When I designed the Apple 1, I wasn’t designing a computer, I wanted to design a terminal to access this new thing I had discovered, the Arpanet. Back then the Arpanet had only a couple of nodes and you got access by dial-up from a terminal. So I built a terminal,” he also explained, shedding light on one of the things that puzzled the brothers about the design of the Apple 1. He added, “Then I thought: why not add a computer directly on the board so we wouldn’t have to dial-up?“ That is why the board features two distinct sections, the terminal and the computer that communicate through a very slow serial connection just as if you would dial up to a mainframe. 

Achim fondly remembers the rendezvous with the WOZ and recalls that he noticed how Woz’s eyes sparkle when he talks about all the great ideas they had back in those days. As shared by WOZ “I was always good at engineering things, making things work, but I wasn’t good at finishing the product, like making the board look good. It was always Steve doing that,”. That was an end to their 25 minutes meeting and at the end of which WOZ graciously signed the Apple 1 board as a memento for them to keep and cherish for a lifetime.

To know more about the first Apple 1 computer that the family owns and the brother’s meeting with the WOZ many years later, we asked them few questions. 

Where is the Apple 1 board now? 

Oliver: It’s in a bank vault.

Did your father had visitors amongst tech geeks and enthusiasts at that time who would come to your house to see the first-ever Apple computer?

Achim: Almost nobody knew about Apple and there weren’t many computers anyway. I was interested in playing games and I learned programming to make games.

Oliver: Over the years, the Apple 1 was lent to various museums and exhibitions.

What other similarities can you draw between Steve Jobs and your father?

Oliver: They had the same fate in the end and both died because of cancer. But they were different personalities. My father was a scientist and physicist while Steve Jobs was more of an artist and a college dropout.

Achim: One thing similar about them was their love for technology and passion for products that they built. A customer-centric approach to product design. 

What was the idea behind meeting Woz after so many years? Were you confident that he will agree to meet you guys?

Achim: I wrote to him about tech stuff at various times and he was kind enough to answer. We met him at Macworld, where we showed him our apps at the booth. He was also one of the first customers. So I just wrote an email to him asking if we can meet and talk and take a photo with him. He agreed to it and then we just set up an appointment for Hannover. 

What is more special to you – meeting Woz or the fact that your family was the first one to own an Apple in entire Europe?

Achim: At that time when my father bought Apple 1 computer, it was very early on and in the beginning it wasn’t special at all because nobody knew about it much. This fact became special in the last 15 to 20 years.

Oliver: Meeting Woz was very special and having a chance to talk and know his side of the story is priceless.

Boinx Software has spent more than two decades creating software solutions that are easy to use and powerful in application.

More than two decades spent on creating products and offering solutions that are easy to use but powerful in application.

A remarkable heritage

The roots of Boinx Software go back more than 25 years and one of the most significant years was 1977. Back then, Mr. Breidenbach Senior was the first to bring an Apple 1 computer to Europe, which was the first computer model of the newly founded Apple Computers, Inc. the year earlier.

The founders Oliver and Achim Breidenbach recall it being nothing special back then as many people would not even know computers at all, nor would not have heard anything about a company called Apple from the USA.

The Apple 1 computer was brought straight to the basement of the family house of Oliver and Achim Breidenbach, which was then the microcomputer lab of Mr. Breidenbach Senior. Naturally, the brothers grew up in an environment surrounded by computers and technology.

From childish coding to real-world problem solving

Achim started publishing self-developed software in his teenage years. In 1986 the family traded one Apple 1 computer back to Apple Computers, Inc. in exchange for a new top-line Macintosh. Apple 1 computers are very rare and a fully functional unit was sold in 2020 in an auction for $458,711. But back in the 80s, the brothers did various projects for customers that required delivering technology and programming solutions, so they were in high need of new computer hardware and the old Apple 1 wasn’t worth a fortune – yet.

After finishing university the brothers got reunited in 1996 and founded Boinx Software, a German software company that offers easy-to-use technology solutions that is capable of great performance. Oliver shared, “we named it Boinx Software – so that it is easily pronounced by both Americans and Europeans, it can be a sound and ends with X because that was in fashion at that time.” 

The Woz becomes a customer

The first product that the new company launched was the iStopMotion app in 2002. Steve Wozniak, also known by his nickname “Woz”, co-founder and chief engineer at Apple was among the first customers. “Later we met him in person at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco where we had our first trade show booth. His kind words about our products were a great encouragement”, recalls Oliver. iStopMotion we developed out of the passion from their childhood for stop motion movies.

Highly rewarded software

Boinx’s software applications have been rewarded with several Apple Design Awards and press awards. BoinxTV, the predecessor of mimoLive has been rewarded with the Best Mac OS X Leopard Developer Showcase, FotoMagico award for the Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics & Media Application Runner-up & Best Mac OS X User Experience – Runner-up.

Silver Jubilee – 25 Years

On May 8th, 2021 Boinx Software turns 25 years of age. All these years the company has been focussing on delivering easy-to-use and powerful solutions for the Apple Computer Platforms.

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Changes

Version 5.10.1 April, 2021

New Features

• New: Added new commands to Layer API Endpoints in the HTTP API: cycleThroughVariantsBackwards, setLiveFirstVariant and setLiveLastVariant.
• New: Added context menues to the layer input parameter labels to grab some specific HTTP API calls for those parameters.
• New: Output destinations can be updated via HTTP GET request with an ?update= parameter just like the layers.
• New: Right clicking on layer parameter labels gives you access to a context menu to copy HTTP API URLs to control individual parameters.
• New: Added a “Powered by mimoLive” layer.
• Enhancement: The context menu items “Copy API URL” for buttons and text input fields creating URLs specific for that layer variant.
• Enhancement: The URL produced by the “Copy API URL” context menus for changing a layer value contains the current value now.
• Enhancement: Added a new option to the Split Screen layer to reset the solo mode when going live.

Important Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Facebook comments did not show up when anonymised by Facebook. (In order for mimoLive to be able to see author and avatar for the comment, the commenter now needs to have mimoLive added as a “Business Integration” in their Facebook account.)
• Fixed: YouTube login failed with some Google accounts. YouTube requires the Google account to have a channel associated in order to be able to log in with mimoLive.
• Fixed: mimoLive became unresponsive in a rare combination of macOS version and graphics card.
• Fixed: Placeholder sources weren’t restored in layer settings.
• Fixed: Split Screen layer behaved incorrectly when switching it live if there was a source in solo mode.
• Fixed: The Slideshow Source glitched on start.
• Fixed: The PIP Window layer didn’t apply the dissolve transition for its shadow and had difficulties to switch between variants.
• Fixed: The Copy-API-URL context menu entries only worked for the layer but not for a specific variant.
• Fixed: mimoLive occasionally crashed when adding and removing a lot of layer variants.
• Fixed: Preserve “dumb” quotes in the source code editor text field in the Automation layer making it easier to create Automation scripts.
• Fixed: mimoLive occasionally crashed when working with Remote Control Surfaces.
• Fixed: The AV Sync Source generated click sounds.
• Fixed: The editing of in and out points of movie files with fractional frame rates didn’t work correctly.
• Fixed: mimoLive crashed occasionally when stopping a live stream.
• Fixed: mimoLive crashed when clearing the file name field in a File Recording output destination.
• Fixed: mimoLive crashed sometimes when closing a document and the HTTP server was running.
• Fixed: Text Source didn’t update when updated via the HTTP API.
• Fixed: There was an audio drift for USB audio interfaces in combination with the T2 chipset in some Mac models.
• Fixed: The JSON response for the HTTP API calls was missing data when doing sparse filtering.
• Fixed: The Slideshow was reset when switching it live in another layer.

System Requirements

mimoLive requires a Mac running macOS 10.14 or higher. We highly recommend using macOS 10.15 (Catalina)

This software uses code of FFmpeg licensed under the LGPLv2.1 and its source can be downloaded here.

https://boinx.com/connect/mimolive/versionhistory/5.10

Changes:

New Features:

• New: Added an incoming and outgoing transition to the Count Down layer.
• New: The Auto Video Switcher layer now uses a dissolve transition at the start and end.
• New: Split Screen Layer: Added a border option that also can be automatically highlighted by the audio levels of the sources or manually by buttons.
• New: In the Show Settings the file path of the mimoLive document is shown with a “Reveal in Finder” button.
• New: Right-click on the Start Show button shows a context menu to copy the API Endpoints for controlling the show.
• New: Now mimoLive can process API calls via the URL handler mimolive2://api/v1/…
• Enhancement: Added the source type to the HTTP API source attributes. For mimoCall sources there is also the Call Room ID as well as the connection status.
• Enhancement: Opening large documents with lots of audio mixes is much faster now.
• Enhancement: Chroma Key filters: The backdrop option is now more visible in the UI – it almost feels like a new feature ;-). It enables you to define a background for the chroma keyed source.
• Enhancement: Option-click on a layer parameter group will collapse all groups below at once.
• Enhancement: The custom layout in Split Screen layer changed to base dimensions so it’s easier to enter the right coordinates for each box.
• Enhancement: Updated NDI® Framework to version 4.6 to enable NDI on Apple Silicon M1 Macs and macOS 11 Big Sur.

Important Bug Fixes:

• Fixed: YouTube Comments for live streams should work again.
• Fixed: Split Screen Layer: The pan option for the ePTZ controls didn’t work.
• Fixed: When dragging layers from one document to another, associated placeholder images where duplicated in the target document.
• Fixed: When dragging sources from one document to another, the sources ended up in the standard groups for that type of source rather than in the drop location.
• Fixed: mimoLive reported an outdated Virtual Camera Plugin when running on macOS Big Sur and certain 3rd party software was installed.
• Fixed: Updated The Virtual Camera Plugin to version 1.4 to make it work on Apple Silicon M1 Macs and macOS 11 Big Sur.
• Fixed: Disconnecting a mimoCall on the caller end sometimes crashed mimoLive.
• Fixed: File recording name changed unexpectedly from show title to document file name.
• Fixed: Play List source didn’t loop when set to X-fade (regression).
• Fixed: Video source with filters shows nice flowers for an blick of an eye when activated.
• Fixed: Keyboard shortcuts with Num pad keys wheren’t working.
• Fixed: In the Live Streaming Output Destination renaming a custom Audio Mix was disabled in the context menu.
• Fixed: Rearranging video sources or output destinations was difficult because the autoscrolling was to erratic.
• Fixed: UI glitches on macOS 11 Big Sur.
• Fixed: iPhone Demo 2D layer didn’t rotate the iPhone-X graphic.
• Fixed: There was a memory leak when closing a document containing a Web Browser Capture Source.
• Fixed: Working with Audio Only layer fades could bring mimoLive to a hold.

System Requirements:

mimoLive requires a Mac running macOS 10.13 or higher. We highly recommend using macOS 10.15 (Catalina)

Enlarge your mouse cursor

That’s a simple hack: just go to the Apple menu > System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Zoom to make the change. But if you’re looking for even more visibility, or perhaps a bit of a highlight in a video presentation or even show keystrokes as well, you’ll need a third-party application like Mousepose.

Highlight the mouse cursor

Improve your presentation by giving your audience a visual help to follow your on-screen activity. Mousepose works for on-screen presentations as the laser pointer for classic presentations on stage. It highlights the mouse cursor and drives the attention to it. Your presentation will be much easier to follow and your audience will engage more with you. Control the behaviour with a customer shortcut like Command+M.

Visualize keystrokes

Additionally, Mousepose can display your keystrokes which makes it easier to follow the human interaction with the Mac. Control the behaviour with a customer shortcut like Command+K.

Mousepose is the must-have tool for presenting on a Mac.

Start Trial today – download here.

What is the mimoCall Beta Testing?

Beta testing is an opportunity for real users to use a product in a production environment, with the goal of uncovering any bugs or issues so they can be addressed before a general release. We want to give you access to our latest development and test it under real-world conditions. Please let us know if you experience any problems.

What’s new in mimoCall Beta?

The new mimoCall will have an improved web interface and runs on several more browsers, including Safari on iOS (iPad&iPhone) as well as Chrome on Android smart devices. This is a game changer for everyone using mimoCall.

The new compatibility allows you to access mimoCall on any platform with many browser available to choose from. The mobile and desktop clients have the some features and this gives more people access to use mimoCall with interview partners, and remote video calls.

The new mimoCall interface

The new mimoCall has a much more intuitive user interface. It works on mobile device in portrait and landscape orientation.

Modify your invitation link for the new mimoCall beta:

To use the new mimoCall beta client, simply insert a /beta to the mimoCall invitation URL: 
https://call.mimo.live/beta/xxxx-yyyy-zzzz

Make the new mimoCall beta your new default:

You can also make mimoLive to create the beta link by default:

• Navigate to the “Debug Preferences” by holding the Option-key when accessing the mimoLive main menu.
• Choose “General” tab
• Select “Use alternative mimoCall Invitation Link”

Choose new mimoCall beta from the browser

You can also click on the “Try the new beta version” link at the bottom of the screen in the older client while running a mimoCall in your web browser.

Feedback and Reporting

We run these beta tests to give you access to our latest technology and we like to ask for your feedbacks and error reports (bugs).
Please let us know how it works for you in the Forum.

UPDATE January 1st, 2021:

All the best for the New Year!

• mimoLive 5.9.1 has improved compatibility with Big Sur. There are a few outstanding cosmetic issues. Please keep reporting issues if you find them.
• mimoLive 5.9.1 mostly works on M1 Macs using Rosetta 2. There is a significant change to how Rosetta 2 on M1 schedules tasks compared to Intel Macs that’s causing the Program Out to not perform well, and NDI isn’t working yet. We’re working on fixing those issues.

Mac users are quick to adopt new releases and technology, and that’s largely a good thing. M1 is getting rave reviews regarding performance per money and it is very power efficient. 

However, we always advise our users to carefully test and evaluate a new macOS versions and Mac models before updating production machines to it.

UPDATE June 2021: The issues is fixed in MS Teams for macOS Version 1.4.00.8872 and higher.

The current version of Microsoft Teams (below 1.4.00.8872) does not load virtual camera devices on macOS. We are hoping that Microsoft will fix this in an update.
This behaviour is seen in the current version Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.28778.

There are two options to work around this issue:

1. Run an older version of Microsoft Teams
2. Remove Teams Code Signature to enable virtual camera in MS Teams
3. Run Microsoft Teams in a Chrome Browser

Please be aware that both workarounds contain certain risks and that these workarounds are not recommended.

Option 1: Use an old version of MS Teams

Delete the Teams app and re-download an older version of MS Teams.

Download Microsoft Teams 1.3.00.15561

Option 2: Remove MS Teams code signature

Removing Team’s code signature is another way to re-enable virtual cameras. To do this:

1) Ensure that you have the latest version of Microsoft Teams, by picking Check for Update from the menu in the top right corner of the Teams window.
(Tested with MS Teams 1.3.00.28778)

2) Once you’ve assured that you are up to date, completely quit Teams.
3) Open the Terminal app, found in Applications → Utilities.
4) Copy and paste this command into Terminal and press return:

sudo codesign --remove-signature "/Applications/Microsoft Teams.app/Contents/Frameworks/Microsoft Teams Helper (Renderer).app"

5) It will prompt for your Mac’s admin password. Note that you will not see anything happens when you type it. Press return.

6) Re-open Teams and choose mimoLive from the camera option menu in your next video call.

Option 3: Run MS Teams in a Chrome Browser

This one is simple, start your MS Teams conference in your Chrome Browser and you will get access to your virtual camera from mimoLive.

Upgrade to FotoMagico 6 for the Latest Updates and Enhanced Features

Please note that this update is the final one for FotoMagico 5, and future updates and bug fixes will no longer be available for this version. To continue receiving updates and support, users are encouraged to upgrade to FotoMagico 6. This new version offers even more powerful features and improved performance, making it the best choice for creating amazing photo slideshows. So if you’re looking to take your slideshows to the next level, upgrading to FotoMagico 6 is the way to go.

Download from
https://boinx.com/connect/fotomagico/versionhistory/5.6.14