By Staff Writer – John Federico (@gadgetboy)

It must be about a year ago that I discovered Prezi. It’s an online presentation application with a twist – literally. See, unlike the slide deck format that we’re all accustomed to, Prezi uses a single-page format coupled with animation tools. So, instead of flipping page to page, you pan, zoom, twist and stop on an area of your presentation as you progress through it, almost like traveling through a map.

While a powerful and unique way to express ideas, I found Prezi to be highly complex – so much so that I was hesitant to invest the time to learn it. Apparently I wasn’t the only one as the company just update the service in order to simplify the menu options and improve ease-of-use.

According to the Company, text is easier to edit, and the new editor has half the menus of the previous version – all while adding more features (if you want them) including the ability to embed YouTube videos.

I have renewed excitement for this tool which will pair nicely with my Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch Tablet.

The Prezi business is a freemium model offering free and premium versions. The “Public” (free) version enables you to create, show and share Prezi’s online and present offline. However, your content is always publicly viewable and has a Prezi watermark. You’re limited to 100 MB of online storage.

For $59/year ($4.90 monthly) the “Enjoy” version adds the ability to make content private and remove the Prezi watermark, which should be enough for most people. Your account is limited to 500 MB of online storage.

If you want to the ability to create Prezi’s offline then you need Prezi Desktop, which is only available in the “Pro” version which includes 2 GB of online storage for $159/year ($13.25/monthly).

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a sample Prezi is worth a million. Check out this short Prezi that provides an overview of all the new changes:

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