The Visual Lounge lets you find out about TechSmith behind-the-scenes. Watch screencasts and videos from other customers, meet up with your fellow TechSmith users and staff, and get more tips and tricks!

Last week, I was in Las Vegas for Autodesk University. I had a great time at the show seeing people like SnagIt and Camtasia Studio experts Shaan Hurley and Robin Capper. And, of course, any trip to Las Vegas would not be complete without walking through all of the hotels. I always like to go to the Paris Hotel. Next week I'm off to the real Paris to attend BarCampParis15 and attend LeWeb3. I have a sneaking suspicion it will be nothing like the Las Vegas version of Paris. ;-)

I thought it would be nice to highlight some French screencasts! This week's Screencast of the Week comes from Emob, a French comapny that sells video trianing online. They have over 400 videos on their site...all made with Camtasia Studio!

Check out this great example of a Camtasia Studio screencast here on their blog in this post about PhotoShop. Or, click the image below for a direct link to one of their Camtasia Studio screencasts.

Any travel advice for me while I'm in Paris? What do I need to see? Where should I go eat? Any advice you have would be helpful. If you're attending the conference or live in Paris, I'd love to meet-up. Drop me an e-mail or give me a call on my cell (+1.517.410.0030 in the US or +1.517.974.2528 in Paris).

Do you think they'll let me screencast on top of the Eiffel Tower?

I was sad to hear the news this morning that my friend Marc Orchant suffered a massive heart attack on Sunday. More details can be found on the blognation blog here.

That's Marc in the picture to the left. We were at a TabletPC meet-up at CES earlier this year.

Marc has always been a big cheerleader for SnagIt, Camtasia Studio, Jing...and for me. He used SnagIt everyday and for every screencapture in his book about Outlook. Our products are better because of him...I'm better because of knowing him.

This whole thing has got me thinking about what's important and how I need to tell people how much they mean to me. And, I will finally go get that CPR training I've been putting off because I've been 'too busy'.

Marc's been so many things to me - mentor, copy editor, career counselor, tech guide, partner in crime and most importantly, he has been my friend. Please keep Marc and his family in your thoughts.

What do you get when you put together: PowerPoint slides, a TabletPC, Camtasia Studio, a wireless microphone and some biology?! One of the coolest classrooms around! You remember Kelly Carrier, right? He's a high school biology teacher at my alma mater, Okemos High School in Michigan.

Kelly is doing amazing things in his classroom with technology and his students love it! Check out an article written about Kelly in THE Journal here.

Do you think you would have gotten a better grade if your biology teacher had recorded their lectures? What cool uses of technology have you seen in the classroom lately?

Congrats, Kelly!

Do you sudoku? I have to admit that I'm a bit addicted to it. It is the perfect way to pass time on those long flights and when I'm standing in line anywhere. And, I feel like I'm exercising my brain by doing the math in the game.

Daniel Foster, TechSmith's new Newsletter writer, sent me a link for a sudoku screencast. I like it because the screencast is about a fun subject! Not all screencasts have to be about how to use software or a website. Click the screenshot below to watch the screencast. It runs just under 4 minutes.

And, Patty makes more screencasts! Check out Patty's other mathcasts here.

And, on a side note, if you'd like another option to share your screencasts, try Screencast.com. It does not scale your screencasts so your videos retain their original quality. There is a free trial for anyone who'd like to try it out here.

Any nominations for the next Screencast of the Week? I'm looking for some screencasts about the holidays. Have you seen any?

It's time for the Screencast of Week! This week is your lucky week - you get several screencasts! This summer I attended Ignite Seattle. I was enjoying the presentations and was so excited when I heard one of the presenters, Deepak Singh, say...'screencast'!

Turns out that Deepak is involved in a whole community of science screencasters, called Bioscreencast. This is a great resource - not only can you contribute your science screencasts here, but you can also request a screencast as well. Where was this when I was in high school or college?!

Remember Jean-Claude Bradley from Drexel University? He has posted some of his screencasts here on Bioscreencast.

And, if you're interested, check out Deepak's Ignite talk below.

<pAny nominations for next week's Screencast of the Week? Anyone using Jing or Camtasia Studio to make a holiday card?

Nothing like traveling somewhere you don't know much of the native language to get one thinking about user experience and usability.

I had a great time at LeWeb3 last week in Paris, but even doing small tasks like purchasing train tickets online or at a machine without an English option was a challenge...my middle school level French would only get me so far. OK, nowhere at all...

It is times like purchasing my tickets when I'm reminded just how important usability or user experience is...no matter the language.

Neo Insight (one of our Canadian distributors), wrote an article about their experiences with remote usability testing and UserVue this summer here. I wish some of the hotels and transportation systems had run some remote usability testing. I think I would have had an easier time booking my travel. And, I volunteer to help test if anyone is listening!

I am so thankful for the work, testing and thought that user experience, design and usability experts put into these types of projects...And, I'm extremely thankful for kindness of strangers all over the world. Without them, I'd still probably be stuck in Europe (which I'd enjoy for awhile).

And, don't even ask me about trying to order a meal abroad. :-)

I wasn't looking for this week's Screencast of the Week when I found it. Actually, I like to think that the screencast found me while I was wallowing on the couch, reading music blogs trying to recover from my cold.

I was reading the Puddlegum blog and noticed in the comments that someone had posted a link to a Camtasia Studio screencast! I loved that! So, I had to check it out - it was a screencast showing off all the cool things about Songbird. Click the screenshot below to launch the video.

Plus, I think the Songbird logo is cute. Or, maybe that's the cold medicine talking. ;-) (probably not though, it is pretty darn cute)

And, regular blogging should resume tomorrow, hopefully! Someone please pass the tissues...

I love to get holiday cards and letters, don't you? But, I'm not always the best at sending them every year. I always end up scrambling at the last minute to get them out on time and it adds a lot of undue stress.

I got an email this week from Jason Moore over at bigWebApps with his holiday card. I was happy to hear it was made with SnagIt!

Outside of his camera for the pics, the whole card was created in SnagIt!

Bypass the lines at the post office, skip printing and sealing envelopes (avoid paper cuts!), and save money on postage...This is my kind of holiday card! I think you know how I'll be creating and sending those family holiday cards next year!

And, isn't this a more environment friendly way of sending cards? Saves paper and doesn't add to the landfills. Have a greener and stress free holiday with SnagIt!

We had a lot of fun this year putting together our holiday card at TechSmith! I hope you will enjoy it too! Our theme this year was about remembering favorite toys of our past. Click on the photo below to view the card.

You can also see a photo gallery with over 50 TechSmithies and their favorite toys here.

High on my list of favorite toys was the Atari 5200 (this is where my love of computers and video games began) and a Snoopy doll...What were some of your favorite toys growing up?

Happy holidays! I hope you get a few new favorite toys this season...Thanks for 'playing' with TechSmith!

How do you sum up a year in just one post? I've been struggling with this post for awhile. Should I make a list of lessons learned, resolutions I know I'll break, or something completely different. Unsure of what parting words or great wisdom to share with you for 2007, I thought I'd simply say, 'thank you'.

I mean, at the end of the day, that's what matters...you! I'm so grateful you have supported and helped each other, TechSmith and me. You've inspired us and shared so much of your feedback and ideas. Our products and TechSmith are better because of you! And for this, I thank you!

And, what's up for 2008? Good question! If you had asked me this same question last year, I never could have guessed where 2007 would have taken us. I would have never predicted things like a Screencasting group or a Screenshot Addict group in Facebook. Or, meet-ups in Second Life or getting feature requests via Twitter. I do know we've got some exciting new blog series planned for 2008...watch for them soon. Maybe we'll pull another all-nighter screencasting again! :-) Keep the feedback coming and tell us where to go and what to do in 2008.

I look forward to another year of learning with you, sharing with you, meeting-up, and listening and talking with you. Thanks for a great year and for reading and commenting on the Visual Lounge blog! I can't wait to see where 2008 takes us! All the best in 2008!