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I was going through our inventory the other day and found a few extra copies of some great books and DVDs. Rather than have them sit around, I thought they should be put to good use.

I have 2 copies of the Flash 8 Video book by TechSmith friend, Tom Green (remember him from here?) and Jordan Chilcott.

Which reminds, me...The Flash 8 Video book is from Friends of Ed. They're running a Flash Video contest called Video:FLV'ED, through December 31. You can win a copy of Camtasia Studio among other great prizes like an Apple Macbook. Details are here.

Also, remember last year when we went to Fog Creek Software's office to use Morae to conduct usability testing on their new product, Copilot? You can read all about it here or here. While we were there, they were filming a documentary called, Aardvark'd. I have a few extra copies of the Aardvark'd DVD up for grabs. Also, Aardvark'd is being shown on the Documentary Channel - looks like you can catch it on January 5.

And, I have a few autographed books to share from Joel Spolsky of Joel on Software and Fog Creek Software fame! I have 3 copies of the following:

Joel on Software - If you don't know Joel, you should. I'm a huge fan of Joel's blog, Joel on Software - I learn something from him in every post. This book is a collection of some of the best articles from his blog. You don't have to be a developer to gain value from this book (or his blog) - It's useful for anyone in product or project management, managers, designers...heck, this book is useful if you work with or know a developer!

User Interface Design for Programmers - This is an entertaining and valuable book that teaches you about good User Interface (UI) design. My favorite chapter is chapter 13 - Those Pesky Usability Tests. Joel talks about "The Joel Uncertainty Principle" which states, "You can never accurately measure the usability of a software prodcut". You'll have to read the book to find out more! It also goes over how to conduct usability tests that actually work. You can read more about the book here. This is a great book for all you Morae and UserVue users out there.

The Best Software Writing I - I loved this book. When I heard about Joel's book being about software writing, I was skeptical that it would be engaging. Believe it or not, the essays are interesting and from a wide range of contributors!

All of the books by Joel Spolsky are autographed. How cool is that?! Keep in mind that all of Joel's books are good for just about anyone - you don't need to be a developer.

I'm not going to make you jump through any hoops for these or conduct some elaborate contest. I just ask that you put the books to good use and read them. Maybe give yourself some good karma and pass them on when you're done. E-mail me if you'd like one of the books or Aardvark'd DVD. I'll post in the comments when all the books and DVDs have found new homes.