Empressr is a web based application that allows you to insert images quick and easily from the web, onto a presentation. Presentations can be password protected, and the owner of the presentation can see who has viewed the presentation, how many times they've seen it, and how long they looked at it. The owner can also manage who is allowed to have access to the presentation. Empressr can sometimes be difficult for students to work with, and you can only have up to five presentations at a time. I think this is a tool that I would consider using, especially for presentations that need a lot of visual aids. I do think, however, that I would use Powerpoint before Empressr because you can add more text into a Powerpoint.

Google Docs is an office application that has the option to create a presentation, or multiple kinds of word documents. Google Docs saves your work after each key stroke which guarentees you won't lose your work if something happens to the computer while you are working. Since you must have an account to access Google Docs, you can access your work anywhere as long as you have your username and password. For presentations, there are a limited amount of themes to work with that can make presentations somewhat boring for younger students. Google Docs is something that I use and rely on for almost all of my school work. It is very user friendly, and I like that it can be accessed anywhere and at anytime. 

Glogster is a web based program where you can create interactive "posters". This program lets you customize your project with "stickers" and other fun tools, and also offers a great variety of themes. You can share your creations right off of the site with others which makes it easy to present. There is a teacher program for glogster which requires you to pay a fee when you sign up. The fee is optional, but if you choose not to pay it, you will only have access to a limited amount of tools and themes. I used Glogster in highschool and loved it! It makes for a really interesting presentation that is more fun to look at than a Powerpoint. I would use this more often if there were more available without paying a fee.

Slideshare is a program that is very similar to Powerpoint. However, there are some advantages that Slideshare offers that Powerpoint does not. Some of these include being able to share presentations on multiple social networking sites, and has an online format that is similar to YouTube which makes it easier to access for the public. There are paid upgrades that allow you to do more and more with each upgrade that you pay for. I have never used Slideshare but I would definitely consider using it over Powerpoint. This would make it much easier to share with others, and allow me to easily pull up presentations on computers that I haven't worked on before. 

VoiceThread is an online presentation program where you can comment on presentations, doodle while listening to a presentation, and is mp3 and DVD compatible. You do need to have an account to view presentations which can make it more difficult for others to see them. There are paid upgrades to the program, and it also offers a teacher version and a k-12 program for students to use as well. The owner of presentations can control who views their presentation which would be great for teachers to share with their students. I think I would consider using VoiceThread in my classroom because it allows you to embed the presentations onto web pages, and the different ways to comment on presentations would make a great way to grade and give feedback to students presentations. 

Zoho Show is a presentation tool that offers a large amount of design themes and clipart, where you can create, design, and share your presentations. This site also offers desktop sharing, which can make it easier to access in the classroom. Zoho Chat makes it easy for teachers and other students to give immediate feedback on presentations. Zoho does not allow sharing so it can be difficult for more than one person to edit at a time, transitions can be somewhat slow, and sometimes animations can freeze or not work at all. I have not used Zoho Show, but I would definitely use it for different projects that I may have in the future.

Prezi is an online presentation application that offers slideshow settings, and a canvas setting. Prezi goes beyond the typical slideshow where the user can create different themes, and use many features to make for an interesting presentation. Many of the presntation features make it difficult to add too much text, which can keep students from putting unimportant information into the presentation, and only focus on the important information. Prezi only allows you to insert certain images which can make it more difficult to find and use images that you need. I have used Prezi before, and once learning how to work it, it can be very enjoyable to work with.

Sliderocket, like the above presentation tools, is a web based application. This tool let's you create, manage, measure, and share presentations online or offline. It can connect you to a certain audience of your choosing. There is a free version of this tool, but only offers a limited amount of what you can use like themes, and other add ons. I would try this tool out to see if I liked it, but I would most likely use powerpoint over this application.