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!

Over the last several years at TechSmith we have been continually looking for ways to improve the screen capture experience with Snagit. While some of these experiments have come to fruition, like All-in-One Capture, not every test has been successful. Attempts at capturing smell failed miserably when it turned out that every capture ended up smelling like feet. There was a failed experiment with dust capture, which was supposed to allow you to put a special dust on a physical object and capture the 3D outline. Turns out the dust was extremely cost-prohibitive.

We rejoice in every failed experiment knowing that we are one step closer to the next revolution in capture technology. Today, we are happy to announce the newest and fastest way to capture your screen, ever.

Welcome BlinkCapture™ from TechSmith

Can't see the video? View it on YouTube.

BlinkCapture is revolutionary. Using eye-tracking technology and a web camera Snagit can easily detect when you purposely blink at your screen, initiating a screen capture. With the multiple sharing options, BlinkCapture will also tweet or post to Facebook automatically.

BlinkCapture eliminates the need to use a hotkey shortcut or even a mouse. The eye-tracking has built in sensitivity levels to make sure that you capture only what you want. Of course, since it's paired with Snagit you can take advantage of all of the other great features of the software. BlinkCapture works on Windows and Mac platforms.

"I honestly don't miss using my mouse. I didn't think Snagit could really get any easier." said Mike Robins, an early beta tester. Another early tester, Tammy Bane was impressed with productivity increases, "Snagit has always been my secret weapon, but now it really feels that way. My capture efficiency has gone up at least 300%."

Do you want to capture faster? Improve productivity? Download a free trial of Snagit today. See what else is in the TechSmith lab. Or share your great ideas for how we can make Snagit or any of TechSmith products better.

I'm happy to announce new versions of Snagit 11 for Windows and Snagit on Mac 2 are available today!

You've asked and we've listened. The number one request from Snagit users? Video! The new release of Snagit is full of new video features and capabilities on both platforms!

What's new in Snagit?

• Video Capture (Windows and Mac)
• Video Outputs to Camtasia Studio, Screencast.com, YouTube, FTP, Facebook and Twitter (Windows and Mac)
• Image Outputs to Facebook, Twitter and Evernote (Windows and Mac)
• New Stamps (Windows and Mac)
• Paste from Clipboard (Windows and Mac)
• Centered Canvas (Windows)
• Updated, time saving profiles and more available to download (Windows)
• Easier Resizing (Windows)
• More Zoom Options (Windows)
• Spell Check (Windows)
• Change Canvas Color (Mac)
• Color Filters (Mac)
• Webcam Image Capture (Mac)

Use Snagit's video capture to reproduce software bugs, show coworkers certain features of specialized software, or make training aids for clients. See popular uses for Snagit here and real-life examples here of how people use Snagit.

And, I also have some news about Jing. Jing Pro is heading into retirement starting today, February 28, 2012. All current Jing Pro customers will have their subscriptions extended free of charge until February 28, 2013 and can purchase an upgrade to the new Snagit at a 50 percent discount. With Snagit, users will no longer have a five minute video recording limit, and for images will have the freedom to blur sensitive information, scroll and capture long webpages and documents and enhance screenshots like never before. And, fear not, the free version of Jing is not going anywhere.

Already a Snagit user? Thank you! Upgrade pricing is $24.95 for current Jing Pro subscribers and existing Snagit users. New to Snagit? You can purchase the software for $49.95 (which includes a free Screencast.com account with 2GB of storage and 2GB of transfer bandwidth monthly). Snagit on Mac is now also available in the Mac App Store.

Useful Links:

• Snagit / Snagit on Mac: www.techsmith.com/snagit
• Download a Free Trial: www.techsmith.com/download/snagit/default.asp
• Snagit on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Snagit
• Snagit on Twitter: https://twitter.com/snagit
• TechSmith on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChannelTechSmith
• TechSmith: www.techsmith.com

I can't wait to hear what you think about the new versions of Snagit! What will you snag today?

Have an iPad and Camtasia Studio? TechSmith just released an app called FastTrack that lets you take the complete series of Camtasia Studio 7 tutorials anywhere your iPad can go.

Some of the cool things you can do:

• View Camtasia Studio tutorials offline
• Follow along in Camtasia (use iPad as extra screen)
• Search across videos
• Skim video transcripts (Tip: rotate iPad to portrait mode to see transcripts)
• Give on-the-spot feedback to TechSmith tutorial creators

The app was developed as a TechSmith Labs initiative, which means it's an experiment. We're hoping to learn the answers to questions like: Is this the kind of thing customers find useful? Should we add community or social features? Add tutorials for other products?

Give it a whirl and tell us what you think over on our feedback site!

FastTrack FAQ

Q: Why create an app with videos that are already available online?
A: While the videos are available online, that doesn't necessarily make them very portable. If you are commuting, on a trip, or somewhere without a wifi or network connection you won't have access to the content. Part of the idea behind TechSmith FastTrack is to make this content available when you're ready to learn.

Q: Isn't it weird to put how-to videos about a desktop program on an iPad?
A: There are lots of things that are weird, but putting video content focused on learning is probably not one of them. In fact, having this content on the iPad actually makes a lot of sense. First off, when you're using a program like Camtasia Studio, it's actually easier to watch a how-to video on the iPad and follow along. Switching back and forth between the video and the application can be cognitively taxing and asking people to put a lot of information in short-term memory. Like a training manual or book, the iPad app delivery is flexible and readily available. Best part is, you don't have to use paper weights to hold the book open to the right page as you work - the video will be right there waiting. So if making content easily available in a different context is weird (but not so different than a PDF, physical book or e-book), than call us guilty.

Q: So all this does is play videos?
A: Yes, pretty much it. It's very focused and targeted. Anyone who wants to learn Camtasia Studio basics will benefit. Could we decide to do more, add more content, make it something more than it is? Yes, perhaps. A lot of that depends on feedback and how people end up using it. That's why we want to hear what you think!

Q: So where's the Android version?
A: We definitely recognize that the value of an app like FastTrack cuts across tablet operating systems. At this point, we are only starting to evaluate the possibilities and future options of delivering learning content on mobile tablet devices. As we better understand the impact and possibilities of an app like FastTrack, we will need to decide if and how we support other versions. For now, if you want to see a Android or other platform version of FastTrack, please leave us some feedback.

One of the best parts of being an evangelist is that I get to share the good news with you. Today is one of those days! Camtasia for Mac 2 is here! You spoke up. We listened. We've redesigned and rebuilt Camtasia for Mac to help you create engaging, high-quality videos...faster, easier, and with more consistency.

What's new in Camtasia for Mac 2?

• Editor tweaks - The editor interface has been redesigned so it's easier and faster to find what you need.
• Extend Frame - this makes it easier to lengthen individual frames of a video to give yourself more time to highlight specific points of interest, or add more time for narration.
• Custom annotations - you can easily copy and paste them into your timeline and reuse the effects throughout your video, or for a future project.
• Annotations - you can point out specific features throughout your video. Easily add speech bubbles, arrows, shapes, lines and more. Additionally, callouts can easily be animated, including the tails of the callouts, to follow certain points of emphasis in the video.
• Tilt and restore animations - these make it easy for users to manipulate video into a more effective display.
• Mobile device frames - now you have a simple and effective way to demonstrate your mobile device apps! Record video of your app in a simulator and showcase the device your app runs on by adding a frame around your videos!
• Cursor FX - Draw attention to mouse clicks by highlighting, magnifying or spotlighting the point of emphasis.
• Blur Effect - now you can easily hide private information on the screen.
• Production tweaks - Produce your videos 40-60% faster with higher quality output. Export an HD-quality file with a flash wrapper and HTML 5 fallback, so no matter where your viewers watch your video, even from a browser that is not Flash-enabled, your content will work.

Download a free, 30-day trial of Camtasia for Mac 2. New users can purchase the software for $99. Already have Camtasia for Mac version 1? Current users can upgrade to version 2 for $49. Camtasia for Mac 2 will also be available in the Mac App Store soon.

And, as always, we want to know what you think about the new release. Feel free to share your thoughts here on the blog or on our new community site. We need to hear what you'd like to see in the next version!

Mini demos of new features

At TechSmith, I can guarantee to you that we're always working on something new. I'm happy to share with you something exciting we've been cooking up. Welcome the newest app to the TechSmith family, Coach's Eye!

What is Coach's Eye? It's a new iOS 5 application for the iPhone and iPod touch. It's an app that provides coaches, athletes and parents a way to capture, analyze and share athletic performance on video using their iPhone or iPod touch. You can provide instant feedback to an athlete!

Rather than me talking about it, check out this video of Coach's Eye in action.

Some key features of Coach's Eye include:

• Digital Flywheel: Coaches can jump directly to precise points of interest by spinning the unique digital flywheel either forward or reverse.
• Slow motion, frame-by-frame review and analysis: Coaches can more precisely explain plays, review form, fine-tune mechanics and more by slowing everything down.
• Drawing on videos: Coaches can complement videos with telestrator shapes and lines, the same way sportscasters break down and analyze plays.
• Output to free hosting on CoachsEye.com: Coaches can keep all of the reviews they've completed, so they can refer back and replay them for others.
• Immediate video compositing: Coaches' narration, drawing and replay are compressed into a single review on the device, eliminating the time delay between video capture and feedback delivery.
• Built to maximize iOS 5 functionality: AirPlay mirroring enables coaches to output content from their device to a television without using cables to utilize the footage in the film room, and device notifications prevent updates from interrupting other device activity.

And, Coach's Eye is useful for more than just sports videos. We've been using the app for making videos about a variety of topics from an office tour to an informative video about how to properly use chopsticks. Check it out our Education Evangelist, Dave McCollom's video below about chopsticks. The possibilities for Coach's Eye are endless. :-)

Useful links for learning more about Coach's Eye:

• Coach's Eye website
• Download Coach's Eye
• Video Overview of Coach's Eye
• Coach's Eye on YouTube
• Coach's Eye on Facebook
• Coach's Eye on Twitter
• Coach's Eye Blog

As always, I can't wait to see what you create and hear your feedback. How will you use it?

At TechSmith we're gearing up for something new. We're kicking off a new app called Coach's Eye. What is Coaches Eye? It is a way to record an athlete, point out problems, and review as needed.

And, have you ever thought to yourself... "Gee, I could really use a t-shirt cannon!"? If you're like me, the thought crosses your mind often. There's a least a situation once a week where I could use a t-shirt canon. I mean, who doesn't want, no, need a t-shirt cannon?! It's your lucky day! Want a chance to be entered to win a custom t-shirt cannon and be notified with the news about Coaches Eye upcoming release? It's easy - all you have to do is sign up now. And if you want additional entries, you can head over to the Facebook page to get your very own referral link.

Sign up here!

Oh, and if you do win the t-shirt cannon, I just might have to deliver it to you in person. I mean, you'd let me try it out, wouldn't you?

There are a lot of prizes up for grabs. You could win:

• Grand Prize- Micro-Mini™ T-shirt Cannon and 100 t-shirts customized with your logo
• 1st- Callaway Diablo set of irons and driver
• 2nd- $500 Gift Card for Dick's Sporting Goods
• 3rd- 32 GB Apple iPod Touch

If you're the lucky soul that refers our Grand Prize winner, don't worry, you won't go home empty handed. Our Tell A Friend Prize will win you a 32 GB Apple iPod touch for your efforts.

Good luck! For more info about the contest and to sign up go here and check out the official rules.

Still reading? Here's a little easter egg for you... If you can't see the video, click here.

Being an evangelist, by definition, means that I get to be the bearer of good tidings. Today I get to do that! I'm happy to share with you a new iPad app that we've been working on at TechSmith. Meet ScreenChomp!

ScreenChomp is a digital whiteboard that users can write and draw on with the touch of a finger. You can draw using twelve different pen colors. All activity on ScreenChomp can be easily recorded and then if you want, edited through Camtasia for Mac or Camtasia Studio. The videos produced in ScreenChomp can be downloaded as MP4 files, making them easy to share on ScreenChomp.com, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes, Blackboard and other video hosting platforms.

Why would you use a recordable whiteboard? Well, ScreenChomp lets you jot down your ideas and easily share them with everyone or a few select people. It's a helpful app for everyone, but developed with teachers and students in mind. Plus, the price is right - ScreenChomp is free!

Think about using ScreenChomp to do a variety of things like:

• Send helpful tutoring videos home with students
• Allow kids to create videos that help their classmates
• Explain complexities from afar
• Record your most recent brilliant idea
• Share doodles with friends and family

Download ScreenChomp from the Apple App Store here!

Here's a quick video of ScreenChomp in action.

Like ScreenChomp on Facebook here. Follow ScreenChomp on Twitter here

And, the good news doesn't stop with ScreenChomp. We're also launching TechSmith Labs. TechSmith labs will be the place where we can foster innovative products and features. Plus we want to make sure we receive your useful feedback to improve our existing applications.

Nitty gritty details, features and capabilities of ScreenChomp:

• Record and share audio and video presentations
• Import background images to annotate and narrate
• Import and rotate pictures
• HD MP4 video output with multiple sharing options
• Twelve pen colors
• Free video hosting on ScreenChomp.com
• Ability to edit content in Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac
• ScreenChomp is available for the iPad (iPad1 and 2), iOS 4.2 or later.
• ScreenChomp can import one image as a background before the recording starts. You can scale and rotate that image, but you cannot import more than one or after the recording starts.

What do you think of ScreenChomp? Share your feedback here

Photo credit: Speedin'

Camtasia for Mac users may have noticed something different in your screencast projects after installing our free Lion-ready update a couple of weeks ago. It's the good kind of different, not the other kind.

The version history for Camtasia for Mac 1.2.2 includes this rather modest item: "Overall improved recording performance." What, in fact, happened is that our development team rewrote the TechSmith Capture Codec, a core element of our recording engine.

And with today's release of Camtasia Relay 3.1, users of our enterprise product on both Mac and Windows get this new, under-the-hood technology too!

How does this benefit you? First, by making your content look better than ever. Second, by saving you time and hard drive space when working with project files.

Smoother recordings

Any high-motion content you capture will look smoother. High motion content being things like PowerPoint or Keynote animations, a Flash game, a movie trailer (for educational or journalistic purposes, please), and even everyday screen recordings that have lots of activity going on. And because the new recording engine demands less of your system resources (CPU), desktop applications that you're recording should behave much more responsively—more like they do when you're not recording them.

So go nuts and add a little more motion to your screencast projects!

This video illustrates the difference between the old and new capture engine... (click here if you can't see the video below)

Camtasia already did a great job of maintaining visual clarity or sharpness of shapes and text on screen. So the noticeable improvement here is in higher frame rates, resulting in smooth motion that more closely mirrors the original content. Take a look at 00:09, for example, and notice the difference in Captain Jing's hands.

To make this comparison video, our instructional designer, Conan (a.k.a., @camtasiamac), played back a Captain Jing video at 1440 x 900 (a common resolution for laptops) and captured it off the screen. He captured it once with Camtasia for Mac 1.2 and once with Camtasia for Mac 1.2.2, then put both clips together on the canvas at reduced dimensions and produced an MP4. Conan used a MacBook Pro with 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM on OS X 10.6.8, in case you were wondering.

With your own projects, expect to see increased benefit from the new codec as you capture content with more motion and at larger dimensions. The differences can become very extreme at the highest dimensions, as illustrated by another capture Conan did at 1920 x 1200.

Faster transport of recordings

Normally when you boost video quality or framerate, the file size also increases. But somehow our dev team managed to suspend one of the laws of nature and dramatically decreased the file sizes of recordings.

The graph shows comparative recording file sizes for various types of content we tested. Every recording is unique (which is why we left off the units) but the point is, your recording files should be a lot smaller now. By way of example, the Captain Jing capture above was 304MB using the old codec and 94MB using the new one.

If you're using Camtasia Relay, this means it takes less time for the raw recording to upload from your computer to the server. And people using the portable recorder can fit more minutes of recording on a thumb drive.

And Camtasia for Mac users will save a lot of time and hard drive space when storing, backing up, or transporting project files. Handy when you're working with a team or storing your stuff in the cloud.

We realize that this kind of under-the-hood improvement may not seem sexy, but we knew it would help you deliver higher quality videos to your viewers and spend less time doing it...which seemed to us like a win!

Please let us know what kind of impact you see on your own projects, both in terms of smoother motion and smaller recording files. Leave a comment on this post or find us on Twitter, Facebook, or our new Q&A forum.

Daniel Foster is the "social media guy" for TechSmith. He enjoys iceboating, ice cream socials, and isosceles triangles. Tweet him up @fosteronomo or put him in a Google+ Circle.

Photo credit: autan

Our superstar development teams have updated Camtasia, Jing, and Snagit to work on the soon-to-be-released Apple OS X 10.7 (aka "Lion"). Why is this necessary? Because there are serious incompatibilities between Lion and Camtasia, Jing, Camtasia Relay, and, to a lesser degree, Snagit. (More info...)

You can download these free maintenance releases now--they will work on your current operating system AND on Lion when it's released.

• Download Camtasia for Mac update | details
• Download Jing update | details
• Download Snagit on Mac update
• Updated 7/20: Download Camtasia Relay 3.1 | details

Something amiss? Get help from our support team--they're friendly, fast, and free!

Have questions? Give us a shout at our Q&A site or on Twitter.

Most of you probably know that TechSmith is a global company, but did you also know that one of our largest international offices is in Tokyo, Japan?

We opened our Japanese office in April 2009 to increase our connection with the Japanese and Asian markets, but over the past two years, the office has become much more than an expansion of our company. Although TechSmith is headquartered in Okemos, Michigan, we are excited that our family spans the entire world.

We were devastated at the news of the tragic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown. We knew that our TechSmith family in Japan would need support and we wanted to help. At our headquarters, employees have taken up a collection to donate to help Japan recover as quickly as possible. Every donation given by a TechSmith employee has been equally matched by the company to send to Japan.

We interviewed a few employees in Japan to gain a better understanding of how these tragedies have affected their lives, work and family. I'll share their stories with you in a couple of blog posts...

Meet our first interviewee, Hiroshi Kusaka, TechSmith's Country Manager in Tokyo.

The earthquake took everyone in the country by surprise, and Hiroshi cannot explain how he managed to stay safe. He said that he has never experienced an earthquake like the 8.9 magnitude quake that hit the country on March 11th. Although earthquakes are fairly common in Tokyo, the earthquake was, noticeably, the largest Hiroshi has ever felt. The last reported earthquake of this magnitude was over a century ago.

Hiroshi, like most people in Japan, is just trying to continue his life normally. Of course there are some things that make this slightly complicated, like the serious shortage of food and gasoline. And even though some things are more difficult now, Hiroshi has been able to remain comforted and informed by keeping up with news from the internet and real-time reports via Twitter.

Through it all, Hiroshi keeps a positive attitude in remembering that Japan has made heroic recoveries before and is confident that "Japan will recover again." He believes that what the country needs most right now is peace of mind and encouragement.

Our thoughts remain with TechSmith's overseas family and all of the Japanese people affected by these tragedies.

As you know, we're always listening to your feedback and looking for new and innovative ways to enhance visual communications. And, a picture is worth 1000 words, a video is worth 1000×1024 words, but that's not always enough. TechSmith Labs has been hard at work on some new technology that I'm happy to announce today. TechSmith has developed a device that is able to convert smells into bits and bytes and then back again. Welcome the TechSmith Olfactory Sensory Device (OSD)!

We prototyped the OSD with our Makerbot. With the OSD, we are able to 'sniff' the air around a capture. Now, think back... some of your most powerful memories involve smell. The smell of an apple pie baking or your mother's perfume can take you back to a place in time... Studies show that smell plus images are more powerful than images alone. And, that's where the OSD comes in.

OSD is easy to use. You just plug it in any usb port (a ThunderBolt connection for iPad is under development), push the red button. The OSD simply sniffs the air, and converts the molecules into digital format that can then be easily reproduce with any OSD extractor module. Smells captured with OSD do not expire so you can easily build a catalog of smells to use with image.

You can read all the details about the OSD here.

And, better yet, be sure to check out the video below to see OSD in action.

Who would like to be the first person to have the TechSmith OSD? What smells would you add to your visual communications?

...Mac App Store meet Camtasia for Mac! I'm happy to announce that Camtasia for Mac is now available in Mac App Store!

One of the best things about purchasing through the Mac App Store is that whenever we update Camtasia for Mac, the Mac App Store will let you know when an update is available. That way you always have the latest version of Camtasia for Mac! The other nice benefit is that if you buy a new Mac, you can load it with apps you already own. So, it's easy to have Camtasia for Mac on your new computer.

You can click on the image below to see a preview of Camtasia for Mac in the store. You'll also note that there is a place for reviews. I'd really appreciate you to leaving your review of Camtasia for Mac to help others with their purchase decision.

The Screencast.com team has been hard at work implementing some great new features. Dirk Frazier, the Screencast.com Product Manager has a blog post here that outlines all the new features.

One of the new big features if that free and Pro users can now tap into the power of Google Analytics. That means you'll have more data about the viewing of your content.

Also, we've created a Silverlight-based caption editor right on Screencast.com. That means you can add or change captions to your video if it is already on Screencast.com. Check out the tutorial!

Flash hotspots are now supported by our HTML5 player. This means your Camtasia Studio hotspots will work in non-Flash conditions- for example on an iPad. Screencast.com now also supports WebM video and we now have feature parity among our Flash, Silverlight, and HTML5 viewing environments.

Screencast.com gets social with this new release. We've integrate Screencast.com with Facebook, Twitter, and Get Satisfaction. Your viewers of public content will be able to "Tweet" or "Like" the content that they're viewing. We've also integrated with Get Satisfaction. You can join our community of users and interact with TechSmithies from all areas of the company. Get Satisfaction is a place for us to hear your feedback and help your answer questions. From your Library or Folder view, you can use the Feedback tab on the right hand side of the screen, or just visit http://feedback.techsmith.com.

Learn more about Screencast.com's social features in the video below. It runs less than 2 minutes and I promise you'll laugh after watching the video!

What other features would you like to see added to Screencast.com?

I always liked the saying, 'Go big or go home!'. Well, it's been one of those kind of days at TechSmith. In addition to Snagit on Mac being released, Camtasia Relay 3 is also ready for primetime!

Easy lecture capture gets easy captioning with Camtasia Relay 3. There are lots of great new features in the new release including:

• Transcribing audio into closed captions for both Flash and Silverlight
• Integrated caption editor to expedite the correction process
• iPad production presets
• Automatic audio input adjustment during live recordings that intelligently boosts or decreases the microphone input
• Improved searchable video features
• Full editing capability offered through a free license of Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2 with each purchase of Camtasia Relay 3
• Screencast.com support for closed captions, HTML5-enabled mobile device playback and improved Silverlight support for an end-to-end hosted solution
• Sonic Foundry Mediasite integration for flexibility, allowing content to be automatically uploaded to a centrally-managed Mediasite's catalog (available later this year)

Camtasia Relay 3 better integrates with Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac so you can add more polish to your videos. Camtasia Relay 3 now comes with a complementary license of Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac.

Read more about what's new here. Look good?

Guess what the biggest feature request is for Snagit? For years, the number one feature request has been to bring Snagit to the Mac platform.

Today I'm happy to announce that this feature request has been fulfilled! Please help us celebrate the release of Snagit on Mac today!

Snagit was built from the ground up just for Mac users. We had input from over 100,000 beta testers that helped us build it.

Snagit on Mac has lots of great features and functionality, including:

• Capture: Snagit allows users to capture any image from their screen at the click of a button or hotkey, including scrolling web pages, windows, images and regions or areas of the screen.
• Snagit Editor: Edit captures with callouts, arrows, lines and numerous other finishing touches. Users can manage recent captures in an image tray and drag multiple images from the tray to the canvas to combine them. All screen captures are automatically saved, allowing users to grab multiple images, and work on them later.
• Share: Easily share captures by saving in a range of popular image formats or exporting with a single click to emails, FTP sites or to Screencast.com, TechSmith's own hosting site.
• Auto-scrolling capture: Capture images below what is visible on the screen, for example when capturing a lengthy web page.
• Drag-and-Drop: Snagit on Mac supports the Mac standard drag-and-drop function to popular applications like iWorks, Microsoft Office and more.

You can learn more about the new release of Snagit on Mac here.

Already own a license of Snagit on the PC? If you own Snagit v10, you're also entitled to a free copy of Snagit on Mac. If you're a new user, you pay just one price for a license of Snagit on Windows and Mac ($49.95). If you have an older version of Snagit on the PC, you can upgrade a single user license to Snagit v10 and get Snagit on Mac for only $24.95. More users or questions? Contact sales.

Ready to try out Snagit for Mac? Download the 30 day, fully functional eval here.

And, TechSmith extends a huge thank you to our 100,000 beta testers! Our products are better because of you! Please continue to send us feedback for future releases.

What do you think of the new release of Snagit on the Mac?

If you're reading this blog, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that at some point you have visited TechSmith's website. :-) That's great, but did you know that we're also active on a lot of other communities beyond TechSmith's own website?

Feel free to check us out on a variety of other sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. They're another place you can connect with us and get an inside view of TechSmith.

And, if you know of other sites or communities that would be useful for TechSmith to explore, please let me know. We're always looking for new places to connect and learn with you.

TechSmith Blogs

• The Visual Lounge
• The Visual Lounge - German
• Education Community Blog
• Jing Blog
• Screencast.com Blog

Twitter:

• @techsmith - all things TechSmith including tips, tricks, polls, news, job postings, tradeshow news, and more. Written by Daniel Foster, New Media Specialist and I
• @techsmithEDU - all things TechSmith in the Education world, written by Education Evangelist Dave McCollom
• @techsmith_de - all things TechSmith in Germany, written by German Evangelist Anton Bollen
• @techsmith_jp - all things TechSmith in Japan
• @snagit_jp - Snagit updates in Japan
• @camtasia_jp - Camtasia updates in Japan
• @camtasia tips - Camtasia tips and tricks
• @camtasiamac - Camtasia for Mac tips and tricks
• @jingtips - Updates, news and tips from the Jing team
• TechSmith Team - A list of TechSmith employees that tweet
• @betsyweber - That's me!

Facebook Fan Pages:

• Snagit
• Camtasia
• Jing

Video:

• Channel TechSmith on YouTube - we've got over a 100 videos here and are adding more all the time...

Flickr:

• TechSmith - view some pics at TechSmith events, tradeshows and around the office
• My Flickr pics - pics from my TechSmith travels, customer meet-ups, see inside TechSmith, view our tradeshow events and more... (Don't want to look through over 11,000 pics? You can start at this TechSmith photo set or these tradeshow pics). I add new pics weekly!

One of my favorite quotes is, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."

And, we've been busy at TechSmith listening to your feedback. I'm happy to share the good news that all products in the Camtasia family are getting upgrades! This includes Camtasia Studio (Windows), Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Relay (server-based).

Available today are upgrades to TechSmith Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2. They both now work more seamlessly with Camtasia Relay. For example, users can now record a camera stream with Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac, edit it on their desktop and send to Camtasia Relay for publishing/distribution.

What else is new in Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2? New features include:

• Simplified captioning support
• Multiple language support
• Speech-to-text transcription (Camtasia Studio)
• Importing common caption file formats (SRT and SAMI) and sync with video
• Ability to search the content within the videos you create
• Screencast.com support for closed captions, caption-based video search, and HTML5-enabled mobile device playback for an end-to-end hosted solution
• iPad production presets (Camtasia Studio)
• 64 bit Codec Support (Camtasia Studio)

See Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2 for a complete list of what's new complete with tutorial videos

The updates to Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac are available today and you can download the upgrades here.

Also, Camtasia Relay 3 (server-based) is getting an upgrade soon. The Camtasia Relay 3 server software is designed for lecture capture and distribution - capturing a variety of lectures on video and distributing them to many people in different formats.

Some of Camtasia Relay's new features include:

• Full editing capability offered through a free license of Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2 with every purchase of Camtasia Relay 3

• Transcribing audio into closed captions for both Flash and Silverlight
• Integrated caption editor to expedite the correction process
• iPad production presets
• Improved searchable video features
• Screencast.com support for closed captions, HTML5-enabled mobile device playback and improved Silverlight support for an end-to-end hosted solution

The Camtasia Relay 3 upgrade is coming soon. You can see what's new here . I'll post here on the blog as soon as it is available.

What do you think about the new features? Will you use them?

Then I have some good news for you!

Welcome Snagit 10 in German! You can find out all the details about the release on Anton Bollen's blog here (Remember? Anton is the newest member of our evangelist team based in Berlin).

And, just like the English version, you can download a fully functional eval copy of the German version of Snagit 10 to try for 30 days. Download your copy here.

A new French version of Snagit 10 also came out today! All of the details about the new release can be found here. Download the eval version of Snagit 10 in French here and try it for 30 days.

And, for all the news in Germany, please follow on Anton's blog here and on twitter here.

I'd love to hear your feedback if you're using the German or French versions of Snagit. What do you think?

I'm happy to announce that there is a new kid on the block! No, not a new boy band member, but rather a new TechSmith evangelist! Anton Bollen will be joining Education Evangelist, Dave McCollom and me! Anton is TechSmith's new European Evangelist. He'll be focused on Germany and will be based in Berlin.

I hope you'll put him to work - need someone from TechSmith at your next event in Europe? Need help with your workshop? Want to share your story or feedback about using the German or French version of our software? Anton would love to hear from you!

Some of you may already "know" Anton from his training videos. He has been making lots of screencasts for our Training department over the last few years. We shot a quick video so you could 'meet' Anton. In this quick video, you'll learn more about Anton, his history at TechSmith and even who he is rooting for in the World Cup. The video runs just over 4 minutes long.

Anton is also taking over the German Visual Lounge blog. You can contact Anton via the blog, read the latest news and learn where he is going to be next.

Back in 2006, TechSmith launched UserVue to help our users conduct remote usability testing. And, like many of our products, we needed UserVue so we could conduct our own testing on our website and products.

Fast forward to 2010. The demand for UserVue has not been growing as much as we'd like. Therefore, TechSmith will be discontinuing development on UserVue and will be phased out shortly. Although we're no longer offering annual licenses of UserVue, we will continue to provide monthly subscriptions and free technical support for a short period of time. The last day to purchase UserVue will be July 19, 2010, and as of August 24, 2010, service for UserVue will officially end.

Still need to conduct remote usability tests? Here are some other options to conduct remote usability testing using Morae instead of UserVue:

You can use Morae with any available screensharing application, such as GotoMeeting or Webex. Simply install Recorder and run it on the facilitator's computer. Use the screensharing application to connect with your remote participant. You can either view what the participant does on his/her computer, or give the participant control of the facilitator's computer in order to share a prototype. Either way, Morae Recorder will capture everything the participant does on the screen. You can then analyze the remote sessions with Morae Manager and create video highlights to share. You can find a detailed tutorial on how to use Morae for remote testing here (PDF).

To all those who used UserVue - Thank you for your support of UserVue and TechSmith through the years. We appreciate it and hope you keep the feedback coming so we can continue to develop products you need.

There's a new kid on the block! No, I'm not talking about the boy band from the 80's. I'm talking about a new release of Snagit!

The Snagit team has been hard at work listening to your feedback and working on Snagit. And, I'm happy to announce that Snagit 10 is available today! I hope you'll try it out!

What's new in Snagit 10? Lots of new features and functionality including:

• All-in-One Capture - This is my favorite feature and saves me a lot of time! With Snagit 10, you can select a full screen, region, window or auto-scrolling (vertical and horizontal) area during the capture process with a single hot key or mouse click. Snagit 10 gives you an enhanced magnifier window and cross-hairs to give you exact, down-to-the-pixel precision when performing a region capture. Want to see it in action? Here's a screencast (runs 1:11 minutes). Or, prefer a written tutorial? You can learn about the All-in-One Capture here.

• Transparency - Have you ever tried snagging an image that has rounded corners or has an irregularly shaped edge? In the past, you'd get a white box around the whole image and extra parts of your background showing. With Snagit 10, you can remove the solid white background to allow captured images to float seamlessly on web pages, complex presentation slides and color documents. Check out this screencast all about transparency here (54 seconds).

• New text possibilities - Did you know you can capture and edit hard-to-grab text from websites and applications with Snagit? Not many people know about the Text Capture option in Snagit. We've updated the Text Capture feature so you can capture not only the text from a website but also its formatting. Edit text color, font style, size and more with easy-to-use Snagit editing tools. Rotate text boxes a full 360 degrees.

• Direct output to Screencast.com - I often like to share what I capture to get feedback or input on my screen captures. With Snagit 10, there is a new Screencast.com direct output that makes it easy to share and store your screen captures. You can make your capture on Screencast.com public, private or password protected plus viewers can leave comments on your capture. You can see a screencast about this feature here (51 seconds).

• New edge effects - Snagit 10 has some great new edge effects that give your captures a fresh, modern look like a page curl. We also added a new horizontal and vertical cut-out effects so you can remove unwanted sections of a web page or image. You can see a quick screencast of the cut-out effect in action here (40 seconds).

• Auto-scroll enhancement - Snagit 10 now has a faster auto-scroll capture which includes a new notification window to signify when scrolling is in progress.

• Editor Color Options - You asked and we listened. One of our popular requests was to have the option to change the color of the Snagit 10 editor background. Change it to blue or silver, or keep the default black.

As always, you can try out a full featured, 30 day trial copy of Snagit 10 by downloading it here. We also have lots of new free training and tutorials all about Snagit 10 which you can visit here.

I can't wait for you to try Snagit 10! Thanks to your feedback, we can keep improving Snagit. So, please keep the feedback coming! Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or email us your feedback.

We're celebrating today at TechSmith and we hope you'll join in too! We're happy to introduce Camtasia Relay 2! If you're new to Camtasia Relay, it gives you enterprise-wide screen recording and enables multiple people to record meetings, training, lectures and more with just three clicks. Once recorded, the files are automatically sent to the server and made available for viewing online, on an iPod or just about anywhere.

What's new in Camtasia Relay 2?

• Searchable video - Viewers can jump directly to the content they need by searching for a word or phrase that the presenter said or displayed on a slide (Flash and Silverlight formats only).
• Visual table of contents
• Better support for multiple displays
• Audio at a glance - Camtasia Relay displays the audio levels for all connected microphones and guides presenters to choose the best one.
• Moodle notifications
• Enhanced profile creation - A new, step-by-step interface helps admins quickly set up profiles while eliminating file and format mismatches.
• Silverlight output

These are just the highlights about what's new in Camtasia Relay 2. If you want to learn more, my partner in crime, Dave McCollom, TechSmith's Education Evangelist has posted more details about the new release here.

Curious about Camtasia Relay and need more information? We have some free webinars. We have separate webinars for administrators and presenters - sign up for one or both here. To learn more and get started right away with a free trial, visit the Camtasia Relay home page.

The day is finally here! And, I'm excited to report two good pieces of news! Not only do we have a new version of Camtasia Studio 7 available today, but we also have a new release for Camtasia for Mac 1.1! You can download trials of each here.

Over the past few days, I've shared with you some of the new features coming in Camtasia Studio 7. The last one I wanted to share with you was Camtasia Studio's new library. The library makes your videos look awesome - it comes stocked with a range of professionally-designed assets like audio effects, background images, and more from Digital Juice. You can find additional free library content here. The library makes it easy to store your callouts, title slides and other assets so you can use them again in your next project or even share them with colleagues.

Check out the quick video below to see the new library in action. It runs less than a minute long.

What's new in Camtasia Studio 7? Here's a quick list:

• Library for reusable content
• New callouts (including sketch motion and keystrokes)
• New cursor effects and workflow
• Copy and Paste functionality on timeline
• Improved SmartFocus performance
• Improved recording performance
• Improved YouTube integration
• Improved Audio Enhancements

If you want to see the entire list of what's new, please visit here.

And, while you talked and shared feedback, we listened and took notes. Camtasia for Mac 1.1 is also available today with your top feature requests added! It's a free upgrade for all Camtasia for Mac 1.0 owners.

Included in the update to Camtasia for Mac is the option to do a region recording. You can select a custom area or from preset dimensions to record only a part of your screen. This can eliminate the need to crop and zoom. Use multiple displays? You can also choose which monitor you'd like to record.

Also added in Camtasia for Mac 1.1 is the ability to pause your recording. Perfect if you take a breather or recompose yourself. Plus, there were several audio enhancements as well. You can do a voice-only recording and capture the microphone audio only (skip recording the screen video). It allows you to record a voiceover. You can also scrub your audio clean from distractions like keyboard clicks, fan noise, and overly loud or uneven voice levels. Effects include clipping reduction, clicking reduction, dynamics processor, noise reduction and pitch adjustment.

You can see more information about what's new in Camtasia for Mac 1.1 here.

Enough talk about the new releases! Go try them out. I'd love to hear what you think and your feedback! Enjoy!

In less than 24 hours you'll be able to kick the tires on Camtasia Studio 7! In lieu of a sneak peek video today, I thought I'd share an interesting time lapse overview video that we created for Camtasia Studio 7. It's a quick video that runs just over 2 minutes.

One of the common questions we hear at TechSmith is "How do we make our videos?" I asked Kelly Rush, our marketing video producer, to give a short overview of the process...

"Hey everyone. For the Camtasia Studio 7 overview video, we wanted to try something a little bit different from some of our previous videos. Starting out, Daniel Foster (our newsletter writer) and I sat down and brainstormed what we thought would be an interesting story to tell, based on conversations that we've had with Camtasia Studio users. After we finished coming up with the concept, Daniel took some time to write out the full script, after which we did a quick storyboard (consisting mostly of professional-looking stick figures).

After that, we read through the narrative to get a sense of timing for each shot, knowing ahead of time that we'd need a lot of coordination between the time-lapse approach that we were going to be using, and the timing of each individual scene. When that was figured out, we recruited the services of Ann Morgan, graphic artist here at TechSmith, to begin more formally sculpting out the visual elements of the story (sans stick figures, thankfully).

The next step was the actual production process. Ann used the master drawings she created as a reference for what she would draw on the whiteboard. With my Canon Rebel XT set to one-second intervals, I'd instruct Ann when to begin drawing, and along the way let her know how much time was left. The result of this was around 2,000 still pictures, which were then stitched together into an animated video in Adobe Premiere Pro.

For the audio process, I used a Zoom H4 handheld recorder to record myself reading the narration that Daniel had previously written. I composed the music using Apple's GarageBand software on an M-Audio keystation digital keyboard.

The screen video elements in the video were recorded and produced with Camtasia Studio 7. This was then combined with the animated stills, audio narration, and background music, again in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Finally, the video was brought back once more into Camtasia Studio to add a Flash hot-spot at the end of the video (which won't be working on the YouTube version of the video, but will become available when the video appears on our website).

Thanks Betsy! Back to you!"

We also shot a "Behind the Scenes" video showing you how we did it... You can see Ann, Daniel and Kelly in action! The video runs just over a minute long and gives you a view of the 'set'.

Enjoy! And, let the countdown begin! More features and functionality will be shown off tomorrow so stay tuned! How are you going to bide your time waiting for Camtasia Studio 7?! :-)

I'm writing this post from Lansing GiveCamp tonight... one handed! I had minor surgery yesterday on my hand and I'm in a cast now. I've been having fun decorating the cast with some TechSmith stickers - geek chic! So, if you notice that the next few blog posts are short, you'll know why! :-)

Today's sneak peek video is about the audio enhancements coming in Camtasia Studio 7. The screencast runs less than a minute long. Sound good?! :-)

In just a few days, you'll be able to kick the tires on Camtasia Studio 7 yourself! I hope you like what you see! We can't wait to hear your feedback and see what you create!

YouTube is the world's leading video community on the web. In fact, in 2008 it became the number 2 search engine. Plain and simple... if you want your screencast in front of millions of people, YouTube is the place to be!

With Camtasia Studio 7, you'll be able to produce and upload HD-quality videos to YouTube without even leaving Camtasia Studio! It's even easier to share your screencasts with the world.

Check out today's sneak peek screencast below. It runs less than a minute long.

Just a few more days until you'll be able to try Camtasia Studio 7! I can't wait to hear what you think!

When making a screencast, you want to make sure your viewers are easily able to follow along. I've noticed in the past, sometimes I leave details out of narration. Maybe a task is routine to me, like using hotkeys shortcuts, and I forget to mention it. This makes my video harder to follow, less engaging and can confuse viewers.

A new feature coming in Camtasia Studio 7 is the option of making your keystrokes visible to viewers! We've added 'Keystroke Callouts'. Camtasia Studio 7 automatically takes note of any keyboard shortcuts used during recording and can show the keys as a graphic overlay in your video. And, the best part? It's fully automated which means less work for me and my viewers benefit! And, just like the other callouts in Camtasia Studio 7, you have the option to add keystrokes and change their style.

Check out the screencast below to see the keystroke callouts in action. It's a quick video running less than a minute long.

Will you use this feature?

Coming in Camtasia Studio 7 are editable cursor effects! A nice, new feature in Camtasia Studio 7 is that you'll be able to help viewers follow along by enlarging the mouse pointer, making it a spotlight, or visualizing clicks... while you're in editing mode. The cursor now has it's own track on the timeline. You control how (and whether) the cursor appears at any point on the timeline!

Check out today's screencast below. It's a quick one that runs just under a minute long.

Thanks for tuning into today's sneak peek... I hope you like what you see in Camtasia Studio v7 so far!

Are you ready to get a sneak peek at what's coming in Camtasia Studio 7? I thought so!

Our first sneak peek is at Camtasia Studio's callouts. You'll notice there are new callout styles and now there is support for image transparency. Also, check out the new sketch motion callouts - these are animated shapes that appear to be hand-drawn right onto the video. It's a great way to call out attention to the important parts of your screencast.

Watch the new callouts in action in the screencast below. It's a quick video that runs less than a minute long.

Any bets on what tomorrow's Sneak Peek will be?

As you know, we're getting ready to release Camtasia Studio 7. It will be available on March 30th. Over the next few days, I'll be sharing with you several sneak peek screencasts of the new features so you can see Camtasia Studio 7 in action!

Also, we have a new Product Manager for Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac - meet Shane Lovellette! We shot a quick video so you could meet Shane, hear what the team does with all the feedback you send in, and share some updates about the new Camtasia Studio 7 release. And, not to worry, the former Camtasia Product Manager, Troy Stein is still at TechSmith. He's on to his next adventure working with Sales to provide solutions to our customers.

Sneak peek videos start Monday! Hope you'll tune in and chime in on what you think, want and need...

I've heard a few questions from people asking about upcoming release of Camtasia Studio 7 and new purchases.

Because we are so close to the release date, anyone from now on who purchases Camtasia Studio 6, will be getting a free upgrade to version 7. You will not need to contact TechSmith, it will be automatic!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Sales

The rumors are true! I'm excited to share the news that Camtasia Studio 7 is coming soon!

UPDATE: Embedded video below should play just fine now. :-) Click the pic below to see the video. Sorry for problems with the embedded vid.

Stay tuned for news here on the Visual Lounge blog and on our TechSmith YouTube channel. More updates, information, and of course more videos about Camtasia Studio 7 will be posted shortly.

Should we save you a piece of the cake?

I've been a Mac user at home for a long time and recently made the switch at work when we released Camtasia for Mac. One of the things I missed on the Mac was Snagit. Sure, sure, there's the built in screencapture just as there's the printscreen button on the PC, but I need more options for blogging, reporting and other tasks. After using Snagit nearly every day for the past 10 years, I can't do my job or other tasks without it.

I'm happy to announce that the wait is over... TechSmith has a public beta for Snagit for Mac available to you right now. You can find more information about the Snagit for Mac the beta here.

We want to make sure we're developing products that work for you. Help us build a Snagit for Mac that you want. So, please provide feedback about features and functionality as well as report bugs here.

Keep in mind that this is a beta version of Snagit for Mac. It is not the final build of Snagit for Mac, but we are far enough along in our development cycle to share it with you. Since it is beta, every feature may not work perfectly. There will still be some time to incorporate some feature feedback from this public beta into the final release. And, your feature suggestions gathered during this public beta will influence future releases of the software. Your feedback is important at every stage.
  
We will not be offering individual technical support for the Snagit for Mac beta. However, we will be providing regular updates about new builds, common issues and problems beta users are facing on a regular basis here on the Visual Lounge Blog. And you can exchange ideas with other customers using the beta here. Snagit for Mac is available in English only right now, but it available to users worldwide.
 
 Check out this brief overview screencast about Snagit for Mac.

Thanks for kicking the tires on the Snagit for Mac beta! We look forward to your feedback and working with you on this new release! Our products are better because of you!

What do you think?

If you're a Jing user, you may have noticed that Jing had an update today! All Jing users, both free and Pro users, now have the ability to post your Jing captures and screencasts straight to Twitter!

You can find more details here including a screencast showing the new feature in action. Or, check out the recent posts on the Jing Blog.

Will you use the new Twitter sharing option? And, now that we've added the new Twitter option, what features or functionality would you like to see added in the next Jing update?

Sometimes words are not enough! Especially when you only have 140 characters on Twitter. Soon, you'll be able to easily add visuals and screencasts to Twitter with the click of a button in Jing!

There will be a Jing update on December 8 that will give you a fast and easy way to add your Jing screen captures and screencasts to Twitter!

How will it work? Simple! Set up a new Share button in Jing for Twitter.

Just as always, you will capture an image or make a video of your desktop

Share your capture by selecting the 'Twitter' button. A box will automatically pop up and you can create your tweet in the text box. Jing will post your tweet along with a link to your Jing screen capture or screencast.

That's it! Tweet away!

And, best of all, the price is right. This new feature is free to all Jing users! On December 8, Jing should alert you that there is a new update available. Update Jing and you should be ready to start tweeting your screen captures and Jing-casts!

Can't wait to see what you create! Jing me @betsyweber or @techsmith. Or, be sure to follow @jingtips for the latest tips and tricks all about Jing!

It's been 5 years since Jon Udell invited his readers to propose names for making videos of software. They landed on the term Screencast for this genre.

And, since then, screencasting has grown leaps and bounds. It's easier to record and produce a screencast. Software and hardware have improved. The barriers to entry on screencasting have been lowered. You don't need a production studio or expensive, complex equipment to do it.

Our newsletter writer, Daniel Foster, recently wrote an article for one of my favorite blogs, ReadWriteWeb (RWW) about the rise of the micro-screencast that reviews some of the history of screencasting and some tips. You can read the post here.

How will you celebrate the 5th anniversary of the term 'Screencast' (someone please make me a screencast!)? :-) What do you think the future holds for this medium?

Good news! We've been busy at TechSmith working on Camtasia Relay! And, I'm happy to report that we have a new release of Camtasia Relay available.

And, if you are an existing Camtasia Relay customer, the new version is a free update! You can find more info here!

Not familiar with Camtasia Relay? Camtasia Relay makes it easy for instructors and presenters to record live lectures, training or presentations on a Mac or PC and publish the videos automatically in multiple formats (for Web and portable media devices). Your audience can view and listen to the recorded lectures and presentations online linked via Blackboard, iTunes U, or on mobile devices such as the iPod or iPhone.

What's new?

• Support for Snow Leopard and Windows 7 operating systems

• The addition of publishing using WebDAV opens access to more media servers such as Microsoft Sharepoint.

• Improved Real Media outputs.

• Smaller MP4 file sizes for easier and quicker file transfers.

• Enhanced LDAP integration for simple use and better integration with more LDAP directories.This makes it easy for an IT staff to quickly and easily set up and assign recording profiles for organizations based on the needs of the presenter and their audience.

Calling all Camtasia users! There have been some great resources cropping up on the internet for screencasters and Camtasia users that I wanted to share with all of you.

First up, check out Scrast. Scrast is a site all about screencasting. Scrast launched earlier this year and they've been adding more content, tips and tricks and tutorials all the time. They have a nice section with 'Tips for better Screencasts' and a section dedicated to Camtasia.

Also, Camtasia Studio expert, Lon Naylor has set up the Camtasia Users Group. There are already 155 members sharing tips, tricks and techniques in the group. I love the tagline for the group, "Simply useful Camtasia stuff!".

Have you found other useful sites for Camtasia users and screencasters?

I've got someone new for you to meet. I know you'll like her! Meet Tiffany Wood - She's the new Snagit Product Manager!

Don't worry, Tony Dunckel, is still with TechSmith. He's recently been promoted from Snagit Product Manager to our Director of Web and Enterprise Services and he's still wearing the hat of the Jing Product Manager. So he's still got at least one foot in the fun stuff ;-)

I grabbed a quick video with Tiffany last week. Check it out below. It runs less than 2 minutes - meet Tiffany, and even hear which is her favorite football team. Any guesses?

And, I also had a chance to ask Tiffany a few questions. Here's what she had to say...

• How have images and screenshots changed your own communication for the better?
TW: I have been using Snagit for at least seven years, well before I was lucky enough to work here at TechSmith - I cannot imagine my life without it. I use Snagit every day. Screen captures visually convey ideas and concepts, guide people through a process, and add polish to presentations.

• What do you use Snagit for primarily?
TW: Right now, I use Snagit to create presentations about Snagit, capture feedback from customers, create mockups to share ideas, and capture receipts from online transactions.

I also enjoy adding funny callouts to pictures I send to family and friends back in Wisconsin.

• What are the last three captures in your Open Captures Tray?
TW: My last three captures are a pie chart illustrating the top feature requests for Snagit, a Snagit dialog box I had a question about, and the Green Bay Packers football schedule.

• Is there one feature of Snagit that has flat-out delighted you? Tell me about it...
TW: It's difficult to pick one feature, two of my favorites are the Tray in Editor so I can easily drag multiple captures together to create a composite capture. Another favorite is whenever I capture something online, like an interesting gift idea for my sister, Snagit stores the link to the website for me so I can go back later.

Tiffany is here to help you, to listen and to continue to make Snagit even better. You'll see her on the road at Tradeshows and on Twitter at @snagit. Do you have any questions for her?

Now that we've released Camtasia for Mac, one of the top questions I've been hearing is, 'Will there be Snagit for the Mac?!'

Well, you asked for it. The good news just keeps coming today! I'm pleased to share the news that you will be getting your wish! I'm happy to announce that TechSmith is in the early stages of actively developing Snagit for the Mac!

Want to keep up with the latest news about Snagit on the Mac? You can sign up to receive email updates here. I'll also post any news and info here on the blog and on Twitter.

Today is the day that many of you have been waiting for! I'm really happy and pleased to finally be able to share Camtasia for Mac v1.0 with you! Thank you for supporting us on this fun journey! We built Camtasia for Mac from the ground up. We conducted focus groups, surveys, and received great feedback from a good number of very early beta testers, and did lots of usability testing. I hope you enjoy the product as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Get comfortable, this is a long blog post! I wanted to show you what is new in Camtasia for Mac as well as answer some question I've been hearing lately.

So, on with the show!

Tour

Last week I shared with you some sneak peek screencasts about some of the features in Camtasia for Mac. Want to see Camtasia for Mac in action? Check out this useful Overview Video. Or, you can read our product tour here.

Getting Started

Ready to take Camtasia for Mac v1.0 on a test drive and kick the tires? Download a fully functional, 30 day copy of Camtasia for Mac here!

You'll find hours of free training here. And, like all TechSmith products, we offer free tech support here whether you're using the eval or whether you've purchased Camtasia for Mac. We stand by our products.

Making the Switch

Are you a veteran Camtasia Studio user and want to make the switch to Camtasia for Mac? You can check out some training videos to help you transition to Camtasia for Mac here.

One of the questions I've been hearing a lot is if you can share your recordings from Camtasia Studio on the PC with Camtasia for Mac? You can share your source files across products and platforms. Make sure you check out this tutorial about the Camtasia for Mac file formats and how to share files across computers here.

Another question I've heard is if you will be able to use the same license on both platforms, transfer it over or get credit? Well, Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Studio are separate products that require separate licenses. As a special for our PC users, for a limited time, customers who already own a valid license for Camtasia Studio 6.0 or later are eligible for an additional discount on Camtasia for Mac. And, new customers purchasing Camtasia for both platforms are eligible for the same discount. If you have questions or are a Camtasia Studio v6 user that needs to request your discount, contact our Sales Department here

Is there a difference between Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Studio?

Yes, Camtasia Studio for the PC and Camtasia for Mac are different. You can see what is different between the products here. Each product has some features the other doesn't. Why? Well, Camtasia for Mac is a new product. Camtasia Studio is over nine years old with years of growth and development under its belt. Camtasia for Mac has been and will continue to be built on to meet the specific needs of our users on the Mac platform. Since Camtasia for Mac seeks to solve the specific problems and needs of our Mac users, there are and will likely continue to be distinct differences between the features in the two products. However, you'll also notice some similarities. As always, developing our products is an ongoing conversation with you, our customer, so that we offer the best products to meet your needs. We are working very hard to ensure that our Mac versions of our products are not just PC software made for the Mac - we want our products to be the best in the market for visual communication solutions for the Mac.

System Requirements

Required:
• Mac computer with an Intel processor
• Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later
• Quartz Extreme support
• 1GB of RAM
• Approximately 4GB of available disk space
• QuickTime 7.5.5 or later
• CD drive required for installation
Recommended:
• Mac computer with an Intel processor (dual core 2.0GHz or faster)
• 2GB of RAM or greater
• At least 4GB of disk space available for subsequent recordings

What's the word on the street?

Our beta testers put Camtasia for Mac through the paces. Here's what they had to say about Camtasia for Mac and some of their screencasts.

"Camtasia for Mac is as intuitive as a professional-grade screencasting software can be," said John Basile, team leader at Scraster Professional Screencasting. "It's amazingly well thought out and its performance--even since its beta stage--has proved flawless. Camtasia for Mac is a very welcomed game-changer in the world of screencasting." A Scraster screencast created with Camtasia for Mac can be viewed here.

"Camtasia for Mac has already been key to iPhone app marketing for Bickbot," said John Ellenich, lead designer for Bickbot.com. "It creates stunning screencasts of our apps, which helps us rise above other developers." A Bickbot.com screencast created with Camtasia for Mac of their new iPhone application, Strokes, can be viewed here.

I'd love to see what you create with Camtasia for Mac. Email me with a link to your screencast or post it in the blog comments!

We need your help

What next? Well, you tell us. That's where we need your help. We cannot develop products without you. Give Camtasia for Mac v1.0 a try and let us know what you think. We're listening - we need to know what you want and need in future versions. Please comment on the blog or send us feedback here.

So... what do you think of Camatsia for Mac?

Welcome to Day 5 of our sneak peeks of Camtasia for Mac. I heard my fellow TechSmithies celebrated the upcoming release back at our home office with a cake! I hope someone saved me a piece! :-)

After you've created your screencast in Camtasia for Mac, chances are that you want to share your masterpiece. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can share your screencasts on the web, Screencast.com, on YouTube or on an iPod or iPhone.

Camtasia for Mac produces files with all the options that QuickTime currently supports including the playback of high quality H.264 MOV videos in the Flash player that are great looking, accommodate mobile and Web playback, and handles both screen content as well as camera video.

Want to share your screencasts on YouTube? Camtasia for Mac screen recording can be automatically uploaded to your YouTube account for normal, high-quality or HD playback when created and produced with the appropriate specifications.

Camtasia for Mac is also integrated with Screencast.com so you can host and share your videos exactly how you created them with no-recompressing or reformatting and you retain complete control and ownership of all your content.

Tired of reading about it? Let's see it in action! Check out this screencast! It runs 45 seconds long.

And, I wanted to thank everyone - I appreciate all the comments and feedback so far. Keep the questions coming. Unfortunately, I cannot answer some of your questions until we launch on Tuesday, August 25. All will be revealed on that day. :-) And, you'll be able to try out Camtasia for Mac yourself. I can't wait to see what you create!

We're on day three of our sneak peek series for Camtasia for Mac. In just a few days, you'll be able to take Camtasia for Mac for a test drive and 'kick the tires'!

Today's sneak peek is about Camtasia for Mac's 'Canvas'. The Canvas is where you get to show off your creativity. You can resize your screencast by manipulating the canvas. Adding images and graphics to your screencast? You can drag them around the canvas to change the placement and resize them.

Camtasia for Mac always records at full screen, but you can easily resize your screencasts with the Canvas. And, with a click of the mouse you can easily hide everything but the desired window.

Check out the Canvas in action in the video below. The screencast runs less than a minute long.

Look good?

It's time for another sneak peek all about Camtasia for Mac!

One of the things that sets a good screencast apart from a great screencast is a little polish. After you've recorded your screencast, you can use Camtasia for Mac's sophisticated editing options to make your screencasts standout from the rest.

Whether you're new to screencasting or are an expert, Camtasia for Mac has great features and options for you. Camtasia for Mac gives you the freedom to add new content to your project and has the ability to add multiple audio tracks, and virtually unlimited video tracks to layer on images and additional video for depth, understanding and entertainment so your audience is engaged. And, the multiple audio and video tracks can be moved and edited independently so it's easy to update and add new elements while maintaining maximum creative control.

And, in Camtasia for Mac, you can use more advanced editing functions without having to worry about your existing audio, video and images getting out of sync.

Check out this screencast that shows you how to add polish to your screencasts with Camtasia for Mac. It's a short video that runs less than 40 seconds.

I hope you like what you see!

I've never been good at keeping secrets. Even to this day, I still have a hard time keeping holiday gifts or other news as a secret - I just get so excited and have to share the good news!

So, blog readers, you get the benefit from my weakness! I'm going to let you in on a few secrets as we get closer to the launch of Camtasia for Mac on August 25.

Up first is a sneak peek of one of the new features in Camtasia for Mac - SmartFocus. Those of you familiar with Camtasia Studio on Windows will recognize this feature. Camtasia for Mac will also include TechSmith's patented SmartFocus technology.

How does SmartFocus work? You can record the whole screen while the SmartFocus technology keeps track where all the action happens during the recording behind the scenes. Then, when it's time to edit the video, SmartFocus automatically zooms in on the parts of the screen that I need to show which helps focus viewers attention. That means I can record full screen and deliver my screen recorded videos at any dimension with superb clarity at any size - whether it's for my blog, website, or an Apple mobile device like an iPhone.

SmartFocus is completely automatic, but if I choose, I can add and edit SmartFocus key frames for greater precision over zoom and pans, as well as edit key frames of any element on the timeline and change its location and properties over time. So, it can be automatic or customizable. Your choice.

It's great for creating dynamic screencasts or to highlight a particular section of your screen, or create a fly-over effect, or focus your viewer's attention for greater detail.

Want to see it in action? Check out this quick screencast. It is less than a minute long.

Look like a feature you'll use? What do you think?

Stay tuned... more news to come tomorrow. :-)

We're busy working behind the scenes at TechSmith gearing up for the launch of Camtasia for Mac later this month! We're excited and hope you are too!

In the interim, I thought you might be curious about what kind of videos you'll be able to easily make with Camtasia for Mac. So, roll out the red carpet, grab some popcorn, and get comfortable... check out a screencast, Troy Stein, recently made using Camtasia for Mac.

Stay tuned... I'll be sharing more information and additional screencasts as we count down to the release of Camtasia for Mac on August 25!

You have probably already heard that we've been working on Camtasia for Mac. I'm happy to say that the wait is finally over ...well almost :-)

Camtasia for Mac will be available on August 25! Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing more information and details with you about the release.

Camtasia for Mac will have a special introductory price of $99, through the end of 2009. After that, the MSRP will be $149.

I've posted some preview screenshots of the UI (user interface) of Camtasia for Mac at the end of this blog post.

In the meantime, if you'd like to be alerted the minute Camtasia for Mac is available, please sign up here and we'll get the news to you as soon as possible. And, you can follow the news here on the blog and on twitter too.

Are you excited? Because we are! Thanks for all your feedback at tradeshows, events, via email, twitter, and blogs about Camtasia for Mac. We could not have created it without your input and help! And, we look forward to more feedback from you - you make our products better!

Screenshot of Camtasia for Mac Editor:

As you know, I love my job and I love working at TechSmith! :-)

I feel very fortunate that I look forward to going to my job to every day. And for me, my job is perfect - I'm surrounded by smart and inspiring TechSmithies and users who continually amazed me. And, I love working working with people (internal and external), utilizing technology, being creative, participating at tradeshows and in the community (online and off), and being a user advocate. Plus, I love the fact that every day is different - there is no typical day.

We've been building the Evangelist team over the last few years. Dave McCollom, our Education Evangelist, joined the team in 2007 and we're now ready to jump the pond and add a European Evangelist.

You may be wondering what kind of activities does this role do? Some activities include:

• You'll need to be a power listener. As the old saying goes, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." You'll need to do just as much (if not more) listening as talking. Dave and I each attend several conferences and events a year to get feedback and talk with our users. We speak at shows, work in the booth, coordinate meet-ups with users, etc. And, we make sure the user's voice is heard back at TechSmith so we can make products that meet the needs of our users.

• We're evangelist for our evangelists! We spread the word about them online and offline - at tradeshows, on the blog and our website, and internally at TechSmith.

• Get ready to write! Lots. You'll be sending lots of e-mail, writing blog posts, creating presentations, tweeting on twitter, writing articles...

• You will also create lots of screencasts and screencaptures with Snagit, Jing, and Camtasia Studio. :-)

Interested in joining Dave and me on the Evangelist team? You can see the full job posting and requirements here. And, you can also apply online here.

I'm happy to share some good news with you! My partner in crime, Dave McCollom, our Education Evangelist at TechSmith has just launched a brand new blog. Plus, he's added a new page chock full of great resources for educators that are using all TechSmith products.

There already are some tutorials and examples showing how to creatively use Snagit, Camtasia Studio and Jing in the classroom. Dave will be working to provide you with more content all the time. We made the site with you in mind and need your input on what you need and how to improve. So, poke around the site and let us know what you think.

Check out some useful links from the new site below!

Education Community Site

Screencast Tour of Community Site (also embedded in the first post on the Education Blog)

Education Blog

Want some creative inspiration in the classroom? Check out some of these ideas and examples (you can find more on the TechSmith Education Community site too!):

Introduction to Screen Capture in Education

Students Demonstrate Understanding via Video

Have a "digital hallway" to display student work

Create quick "how-to" guides for students and staff

Make a video for when you or students are absent

Provide Thorough and Personalized Feedback to Students

Capture Instructional Content for Additional Student Practice

If any of you educators out there have any Snagit, Camtasia Studio, or Jing content and/or stories that you'd like to share please let Dave know! And, please keep the feedback coming...

Hey Camtasia Studio and Jing users! Are you up for a challenge?! I thought so! MindBites has a screencast contest and the grand prize is $1,000!

I know what you're asking yourself. Self? So, what is MindBites? Well, MindBites is a website where you can find, publish, sell and distribute video tutorials and how-to lessons (on the MindBites site, on your own site, and across the web). You can find instructional videos on everything from Calculus lessons to Photoshop tutorials.

Now, how do you win the screencast contest? Simply register at MindBites and then create and upload an original screencast tutorial. The lesson must be instructional in nature, focused on tech (e.g. software, development, or gaming), at least three minutes long, and meet the standard MindBites lesson guidelines. You can find the rules here.

What can you win? Well, there are two prizes - The Grand Prize winner will receive $1000 plus a copy of Camtasia Studio and Snagit. There is also a People's Choice Award winner who will walk away with $500 and a copy of Snagit!

So, what's the timeline?

* April 21st - Contest and weekly People's Choice voting begins
* May 18th (11:59 PM CST) - Entry Deadline
* May 19th - Daily People's Choicevoting begins
* May 26th (11:59 PM CST) - Daily voting ends
* May 27th - Winners announced

How do you vote? Simply login or register as a user (don't worry it's free and painless), click on the "All Entries - Vote!" tab here and add your vote to your favorite. And, as an added bonus every time you vote, 10¢ goes to the Youth for Technology Foundation (up to $1000)! Vote - it's for a good cause!

If you're on Twitter, you can follow along at @mindbites for reports on the contest and the hashtag to use on Twitter to tag contest tweets is: #cast4cash

And, in the interest of transparency, I have to let you know that TechSmith is a sponsor and I have the honor of being a judge.

I would love to see a Jing or Camtasia Studio user win this contest! And, I'm looking forward to seeing the great screencasts you create! Make me proud!

What would you do with the $1,000 if you win the Screencast contest?!

Lots of good news at TechSmith today. In addition to putting FLV back in Camtasia Studio v6.0.2, I'm happy to announce that Camtasia Studio v6.0.2 is now available in German! Details are here.

And, we've launched a German version of the Visual Lounge Blog! The content will be similar to this blog, but in German :-) and with some additional contributing editors. So, for all the news, some tips and tricks and to see the great things people are doing with our German versions of software, please visit here.

And, you can view other blogs at TechSmith here.

Bis bald!

You've spoken and we've listened! As promised, we brought back the FLV format in Camtasia Studio v6.0.2 today.

Download the update here. It is a free upgrade if you purchased Camtasia Studio v6.

If you'd like to see everything updated in Camtasia Studio v6.0.2, visit here.

Thanks for your patience and feedback. We appreciate it! What would like to see added to Camtasia Studio next?

"The stars at night, are big and bright... Deep in the heart of Texas!!!" I always think of that song when I'm in Texas. I'll spare you my singing (you can thank me later). Next week, the TechSmith crew is heading down to Austin, Texas for the SXSW Interactive Festival! Tony Dunckel - the Snagit and Jing Product Manager, Mike Kujansuu - the Camtasia Studio and Morae Marketing Manager, Brooks Andrus - Senior Flash Developer, and I are headed south to the event.

I have 10 One-Day Tickets to the SXSW Interactive Festival to give away! First come, first serve! The ticket is good for one of the following days:

• Saturday, March 14, Noon - 6pm
• Sunday, March 15, Noon - 6pm
• Monday, March 16, Noon - 4pm

If you'd like a ticket, email me or contact me on Twitter (@betsyweber or @techsmith).

If you're in the area or attending SXSW, we'd love to meet up with you, hear your feedback about the products, do a screencast, or just hang out! Beverage of your choice is on me!

After SXSW wraps up, I'll be headed to Microsoft Mix09 in Las Vegas. Same rule there. Email or tweet me if you'd like to meet-up! I'd love to see you there!

If you're a Screencast.com user, you may have noticed some new features available to you today!

Customizable Pages: If you're a Screencast.com Pro user, you can now change the color, upload your logo, change the headers and footers, and customize your Screencast.com pages.

Training made a great video showing how to customize your Screencast.com pages. Check out the screencast below. It runs less than 3 minutes.

Optimized Display: One of the nice things about Screencast.com is that it does not alter your content by resizing or recompressing it. But, sometimes I'd have a problem sharing my image or video created on my large monitors. Often my viewer would have a smaller display. They'd end up having to scroll to see the image or video. Not ideal for my viewer or my content. Now Screencast.com will display your images and videos automatically at 800 × 500. This ensures that your viewers will not have to scroll and have a better experience viewing your content. And, they have the option to see your image or video full size if they choose. Oh, and your original file will not be altered.

My image before optimized display (Scrolling needed! Booooooo!):

My image after optimized display (No scrolling needed to see whole pic. W00t!):

Thumbnails: If you're like me, you have several different types of files in your folders. We've added icons for Flash, Quicktime, WMV, Camtasia Studio, PDF, and images so viewers can tell what type of file they are going to view.

Content Navigation: Viewers can now move easily between your content. You'll notice that there are now thumbnails below your content and above are 'previous' and 'next' controls. Viewers can easily navigate through multiple files you want to share.

I hope you like the new features! And, as always, we need your feedback to build better products. What would you like to see in Screencast.com next?

You can keep up to date on all the TechSmith blogs, including the Screencast.com one, here.

We've been listening to your feedback on our Forums, through our product feedback form, Twitter, Facebook, and via email. And, one of the things we heard after releasing Camtasia Studio v6 was that you wanted us to put back in support for the FLV video file format.

Well, I'm happy to report that we plan to release an update to Camtasia Studio as soon as possible and we will put back the FLV option. Our goal is to have Camtasia Studio v6.0.2 available to you by March. There will still be support for MPEG-4 in Camtasia Studio as well.

Curious about why we removed FLV and added MPEG-4?

With the launch of Camtasia Studio 6.0, we decided to replace FLV with the MPEG-4 video format. MPEG-4 is awesome for high definition video - it offers high quality video and smaller file sizes which is great for video on the Web.

What we did not realize was how many of you were using your Camtasia Studio video in delivery systems that do not support MPEG-4 video yet.

Bottom line is that we messed up by removing FLV as soon as we did, but we're working on fixing it.

And, we want to avoid these kinds of mistakes in the future. So, we need to hear from you! Keep the feedback coming - we're listening and learning! And, thanks for sticking with us...

If you've ever purchased a car, then you're familiar with that 'new car smell'. Sometimes I wish software software came with that smell! Maybe someone needs to invent 'smell-o-vision' for computers. :-)

And, speaking of 'new' - I'm happy to announce that we have a new version of Jing available today. Meet Jing Pro! While Jing Pro doesn't come with that funny new car smell, it does come with something better - lots of great new features!

So, what's new with Jing Pro?

• YouTube support. You can upload a video to YouTube directly from Jing. Jing also gives you the link to your video.

• For screencasts, in addition to the SWF file format, Jing Pro now offers a H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format video option. Without getting too technical, this format excels at capturing video with a lot of motion, is much more suited for editing, and is supported on YouTube. And, for those of you who have been wanting to tweak your Jing videos, you can now import them into Camtasia Studio 6 or iMovie to edit, merge or anything you want.

• Branding removal. At the end of a Jing Pro-produced video, there is no Jing logo and branding.

You can upgrade to Jing Pro for $14.95 a year. And, we're not forcing you to upgrade to Jing Pro. The free version of Jing is still available complete with complimentary hosting on Screencast.com (2 GB of storage and 2 GB of transfer bandwidth per month). And, we also have free tech support for both Jing and Jing Pro. There is a great Help Center for Jing that is full of tips and tricks.

Jing Pro was built based on customer feedback. So, we need to hear from you! What do you think?

What's the old saying? 'Time flies when you're having fun!'. Well, I have been having lots of fun and I can't believe it is 2009 already. I swear time is moving faster. It has been awhile since I've given you an update on Camtasia for the Mac and I thought you might like a glimpse of some of our progress.

We've been running some usability tests on Camtasia for the Mac which have been very insightful. And, we've been making changes based on the feedback we're getting. Also, to give you an idea of its look and feel, here are some recent screenshots of the Recorder and Main User Interface.

And, in the software world, I've learned nothing is final until it is released to the public. So, please keep in mind that these are pre-release screenshots and things are subject to change. We're looking at a mid-2009 release. I do not have pricing info or final feature list for you just yet. As soon as I have more details, I'll post them here.

And, again, let me extend our thanks - we're building Camtasia for the Mac based on your feedback and comments. So, keep them coming. We appreciate your input and insight!

It's been awhile since we've had an update about Camtasia Studio on the Mac. The planets aligned last week and Troy Stein, the Camtasia Studio Product Manager, and I were actually both in the office on the same day. I was able to get a quick video with him about the project!

It's a quick video and runs just over 5 minutes long. I hope it answers some of your questions and offers you some insight into what we're working on.

I will be giving you regular updates here on the blog and via Twitter. And, we have a Mac newsletter - sign up for a subscription or get the RSS feed here.

What questions do you have about Camtasia Studio for the Mac? Troy and I will be making another video soon.

Hey Blog Readers... I've got some insider news just for you! We've been working hard on a new product called Camtasia Relay. And, it's finally ready for beta testing.

So, what is Camtasia Relay? It is lecture and presentation capture for the masses - perfect for businesses and academia. Say you are a professor and you want to capture and share your lecture. Camtasia Relay makes it easy for you to do this - there is a simple recorder that's easy to use (see pic on the left). Step in the classroom or the boardroom, tell Camtasia Relay to record and deliver your presentation. After you're done recording, Camtasia Relay does all the work for you. You can automatically produce the recording into different formats, name the files and copy the files to different servers. There is an automated distribution system to share your recorded presentations easily.

This is TechSmith's first server-side offering. And, no new hardware is required - Camtasia Relay runs securely on your existing networks, Windows servers, PCs and Macs. The Camtasia Relay recorder runs on the local machine. It records full motion video so you capture exactly what happens during a lecture or presentation.

We've been eating our own dogfood and using Camtasia Relay internally at TechSmith. We've always had a mandatory Monday Morning Meeting for all staff at TechSmith. That's our time to get up to speed on company wide news and events. We've been using Camtasia Relay internally to record the Monday Morning Meeting. That way everyone knows what happened in the meeting. This is perfect for me as I often miss the meeting if I'm traveling. I no longer have to be out of the loop on any news or company wide discussions.

We're having a public beta. Sign-up starts today for 100 qualified people (you must have your own server). You can apply for the beta test here.

You can find more information about Camtaisa Relay here. And, you can watch an intro video and see Camtasia Relay in action here.

Rich Boys, the Product Manager for Camtasia Relay, sat down with me last week to explain what Camtasia Relay is, who it is for and how you can get in on the beta. The video runs about 3 minutes long.

Materials used to create this video:

Stay tuned - we'll be doing regular screencasts and videos about Camtasia Relay!

Break out the balloons and party hats! It's time to celebrate Jing's birthday! Hard to believe that it has already been a year since we started the testing the concept of the Jing Project! To celebrate, we're making Jing an official offering of TechSmith.

Don't worry, it's still free! And, as our thanks to all the Jing users, we're upgrading your complimentary Screencast.com account to 2GB of storage and 2GB of transfer bandwidth!

We still need your help with Jing - so keep the feedback coming. And, you can always find the latest news and interact with the Jing team on their blog here.

Tony Dunckel, the Jing Product Manager, sat down for a quick interview with me. We talked about the history of Jing to where we are today and what the future holds for Jing. It's a quick video running under 3:25 minutes.

Happy Birthday, Jing! I can't wait to see what happens between now and your 2nd birthday!

We're celebrating today at TechSmith because we've just released Camtasia Studio v5.1 in German! You can learn all about it here.

Dieter Schiecke also has a nice blog post here about the release and will be giving away a copy of the new software. Visit his blog and maybe you'll win a copy!

I'm also happy to announce that we have a new German Learning Center. It has 20+ written tutorials, plus tutorial videos! You can check it out here.

We're celebrating today at TechSmith! Our hosting service, Screencast.com has moved out of beta and into version 1.0! What does this mean to you? You get a totally redesigned and easy-to-use interface! Here are some of Screencast.com's features:

Take a tour here or if video is your thing, watch an intro video here!

And, don't forget to check out the Screencast.com blog for the latest news!

Have you tried Screencast.com? There is a free 60 day trial so you have nothing to lose. And, as you know, we're always looking for your feedback! Many of the improvements to Screencast.com's user interface have been the direct result of customer feedback. You can send your feedback to us in a couple different ways - you can use this form to email your feedback or feel free to comment here or on the Screencast.com blog.

I have exciting news today! We've been working hard on a new version of SnagIt v9 for you and it is available today! You can download it here.

Now, on to what's new! Click the screenshot below to view the 'What's New' video. And, you can read about all the new features here.

Here are some of my new favorite features. I'd love to hear what yours are.

Multi-image Capability - Now it's easy to combine images easily. I always found myself taking multiple screen captures and then wanting to edit and combine them. In the past, I would fight with SnagIt to do this. Not anymore! SnagIt 9 makes it easy to combine two or more images into one and recent captures are always visible in SnagIt's new Open Captures Tray. This makes it easy to drag-and-drop images onto the canvas to create a composite image.

Media Library - Often I want to take multiple screen captures but do not want to be bogged down to name the files or figure out where I want to save the files. SnagIt's new media library stores all of your captures automatically. And, you can view and sort your images however you like. It's easy to print or share multiple images via email or FTP.

Visual Search Pane - I'm always losing stuff - keys, files, papers... you name it. At least with SnagIt's new Visual Search Pane, I can find my screen captures later by date or website I captured it from. Now if SnagIt could just help me find my keys...

Custom Tagging options - SnagIt 9 helps me stay organized. As I capture images for projects, I can tag them with a keyword of "blog" or set the "Important" flag. I don't need to save anything in folders. I can view all the files I tagged "blog" with a click!

Nitty gritty details:

SnagIt 9 supports Microsoft Windows XP, XP x64, and Vista.

We also made a decision to update the price of SnagIt 9 from $39.95 to $49.95. We've made investments into SnagIt 9 to make it a more valuable tool for you and we hope you'll agree that SnagIt 9 is a better, richer, more versatile version of the software you love.

For the next 60 days, you can upgrade your existing copy of SnagIt for the upgrade price of $19.95. After 60 days, the upgrade price is $24.95.

Everyone at TechSmith would like to extend a big thank you to you - SnagIt would not be the product it is today without your loyal support. And, we know how much we owe you for SnagIt's success. We are better because of you.

And for a little trip down memory lane... Check out this screenshot of SnagIt v1.6! 17 years later, who could have guessed this "little" program, would become what it is today?! I can't wait to see what the next 17 years bring!

What's next? You tell me! I'd love to hear your feedback about SnagIt 9. Comment away!

I'm happy to share some news with you - there is a new release of Camtasia Studio v5.1! This is a free upgrade if you have Camtasia Studio v5.0.

Here's a quick update of what's new:

Callouts, callout, callouts! We have lots of new updates for callouts. There is a new Spotlight callout that dims everything on the screen except for the part you want to emphasize. The new Highlighter callout is a bright, bold highlighter pen for the screen. Plus, add and edit callouts faster and easily.

Third audio track now available - we've added a third audio track on the timeline. This makes is easy to add background or other audio to your screencasts.

Create screencasts for the iPhone and iTouch easily - We've added a preset for the dimensions of the iPhone and iTouch so you can produce videos quickly that look great on these devices.

ExpressShow is now available for the Flash FLV format - FLV videos are typically longer and contain more motion or camera video. Now you can wrap FLV videos in the ExpressShow template. They'll look great with full-screen playback, a floating table of contents and custom "about" box.

Organize, share and present Flash videos with the updated Camtasia Theater - Want to share several Flash videos online together? Use Camtasia Theater to create a customizable Web menu for any of your Camtasia Studio-produced Flash videos. ExpressShow, SWF, and FLV. Use Camtasia Theater to create a table of contents which makes it easily jump between videos.

You can find out all the details here about the new version. For information about how to upgrade, please visit here.

What do you think? Do you like the new features?

I just wanted to post reminder that we've got some great monthly newsletters filled with additional tips, tricks and interviews that you can subscribe to either via email or RSS feed here. You'll also notice that we have a new Mac newsletter where you can keep up to date on what we're up to on the Mac front.

Recently, Peter Gillberg, one of TechSmith's resellers at SoftwareCasa, launched two blogs - SnagIt Guide and the Camtasia-Guide. Both blogs are filled with tips, tricks and tutorials about both products. That's Peter in the picture with me at Microsoft TechEd last year.

Here's a place for you to not only learn what's going on with Screencast.com, but to also give your feedback directly to the team - many different members of the Screencast.com team will be participating from Developers to QA to Product Management. Dirk Frazier, pictured left, is the Product Manager for Screencast.com and would love to hear from you. What do you like about Screencast.com? What would you like changed or added? If you were the Product Manager of Screencast.com, what would you do? Check out their new blog and comment away!

You can help shape the future of our products. Did you know that?

One of the requests I often hear at shows and meet-ups is about Mac versions of SnagIt and Camtasia Studio. We take every piece of feedback and product requests very seriously.

Because of your feedback, we're moving to release new products and expand our current products on both the PC and Mac Platforms.

And, the Jing Project is our first experiment in the Mac arena.

So, if you'd like to be in the loop about any new TechSmith products on the Mac, we've set up a News and Notification List which you can sign up for here.

And, as always, keep the feedback coming...our products are better because of the feedback and input you give us.

'Jing me!' I hope that's a phrase I start to hear more often! I have a secret to share with you loyal blog readers...Today we are launching a new "project" called the Jing Project. And, you're among the first to know about it.

So, what is the Jing Project? That's a great question. We're hoping you will help us answer that and tell us where you'd like this experiment to go. Jing is all about the instant capture and sharing of images or video. It's perfect for improving and supplementing those daily conversations that you're already having in email, on IM chats, blogs...

And...we have not only a Windows version, but also a Mac version! Woot! We realized we have to be platform-independent and could not limit it to just one platform if we're making a product all about conversations.

Questions about Jing? There's a new blog devoted to all things Jing. The Jing blog will serve as one of the primary places for you to give your feedback about Jing and to find out the latest news. Contributors to the blog are pictured below (left to right): Tony Dunckel , the SnagIt Product Manager (he is the Jing Project Manager in his 'spare' time), Michael Malinak, Lead Developer for Jing, Don Sherry, Mac Jing Developer, Alan Dennis, Interface designer, Nick Gorsline, Senior Web Designer, Chris McQueen, Instructional Design, and Matt Dyer, Tech Writing. I'll be posting to the Jing blog periodically to show off all the great things people are doing with Jing. So, please send me examples of the ways you're using Jing.

Want to get started using Jing? Check this out. And, we need your feedback! Head over to the Jing Project Homepage to leave your feedback.

I'd love to see you using Jing! Here are some ideas to get you started - use Jing to add comments to the Visual Lounge or other blog posts. Use Jing to make your IMs or emails more visual with images and videos. I'm on Skype (betsyweber) and IM (MSN: b.weber@techsmith.com) most of the day so feel free to 'Jing' me!

We're celebrating the release of Morae 2.0 today at TechSmith! We listened to feedback from users and our beta testers and made lots of updates and changes.

Some of the updates include:

• Graphing - Let Morae do the work for you. Morae 2.0 will calculate data and build graphs for you. Makes it easy to visualize your results.
• Built-in Survey Tool - you can easily measure participant satisfaction with Morae's new built-in survey too. No need for a separate tool.
• Tasks - Quit killing trees by using paper to track participant tasks. You can now define the tasks you want participants to perform in Morae 2.0.
• Markers - you can now view, edit, add more detail, and fix mistakes to your markers during logging on-the-fly...

More information about the release is here, complete with a Getting Started Video.

The Morae Product Manager, Shane Lovellette, sat with me to do a quick screencast to show off what's new in Morae 2.0. Click the screenshot below to watch the screencast. It runs just under 14 minutes.

Materials used in this screencast:

Hardware:

• Dell Latitude D820
• Samson CO3U Microphone

Software:

• Camtasia Studio v4.0.1
• Morae 2.0

Upgrade questions? Visit here!

Interested in making Morae better? Drop me an e-mail if you'd like to join our Advisory Board and start sharing your thoughts and feedback for future versions!

And, we'd love to get any of your feedback about the release. Please visit our feedback form here to send feedback directly to the Morae team.

I thought I'd share the good news with you! TechSmith is on the move! We're staying in mid-Michigan and moving our headquarters to Lansing, Michigan.

Currently we're down the road in Okemos, Michigan and are housed in several different buildings. Not only is it difficult logistically, but it's just not fun to trudge through the snow to other buildings for meetings.

Click here to read more about our expansion. You can even watch a video showing some of current office and an interview with our President and Founder, Bill Hamilton (he's pictured below).

There's another video here about our news. This video shows other parts of our office building and there are different interview questions for Bill Hamilton.

And, as the article states, we are expanding - not just our office space, but also the staff. If you'd like to work at TechSmith, get the ball rolling and check out our career opportunities by visiting here. I have so much fun on the job that it can hardly be called work! Don't you want to come work with us?

Put on your party hats, SnagIt Users...SnagIt 8.2 has been released today! What are you going to do to celebrate?!

My favorite feature? The print enhancements. It would never fail, I'd print my SnagIt captures and they'd be about the size of my thumbnail and usually unreadable. SnagIt 8.2 makes it easier to print your screen captures the same way you see them on the screen. Thank you, SnagIt team! You have no idea how many trees this will save...

I also like the new Callout styles. The callouts were updated with new styles - plain and glassy (I like glassy - so pretty and shiny!). The glassy ones are nice because they're transparent and don't cover up the words or images behind them. Also, you can create and save custom callouts with characteristics like size, shape, color and angle of rotation. This is useful if you want to reuse your custom callouts over and over again.

Planning to run Vista and Office 2007? SnagIt is compatible and ready to capture anything on Vista and Office 12.

And, I love this new feature...we have new SnagIt accessories so I can send my screen captures directly to Word, PowerPoint, Excel, MindManager, or Flickr with one click! I will be putting those to good use, especially the Flickr one (Have I told you lately how much I love Flickr?!)! Check out the accessories page here.

You can find out more information about what's new in SnagIt 8.2 here and download it here. Screencast should be coming later this week I'm told.

What's your favorite new feature or enhancement? What's on your wishlist for future releases?

And, that's why I don't have a new video from Troy for our 30 videos in 30 days series...

Sorry, the team is out playing kickball and dodgeball. You'll get two videos on Monday assuming Troy didn't get injured in today's celebration!

We hope you'll join us in the celebration of Camtasia Studio 4 when it's released soon too!

Remember Nick Hodges from Delphi? He was making 30 Camtasia Studio videos in 30 days. Well, he's inspired us to do the same! Troy Stein, the Camtasia Studio Product Manager, is making 30 videos in 30 days about Camtasia Studio!

Up this week topics will range from recording tips to recording Vista and PowerPoint to editing with precision. Tune in each day for a new, exciting video.

So, let's get started. Today's video is all about recording tips like highlighting the cursor and smoothing it, as well as learning about "Take 2" markers and using F9 to pause...Click the screenshot below to start the video.

Any topic or feature you'd like to see covered in the next 29 videos?

The Astoria Project is no longer...it's now operating under its official name - UserVue!

The beta of UserVue is still rolling along, and you still have time to join in if you're interested. The beta will run until we launch UserVue around the end of September.

There was a new update of UserVue last week. There were several new, important features:

• Integrated telephone calling and recording - UserVue will call the facilitator and participant over the phone, automatically record the conversation, and synchronize the audio with the participant video.
• Improved participant interface - The user interface for the participant has been greatly improved to take up much less screen space. It is now unobtrusive for the participant and very simple to use.
• Video scaling for facilitator and observers - The screen video from the participant can now be scaled in the facilitator and observer applications. This makes the screen video view higher quality.
• Event capture is now integrated - RRT is now part of UserVue so all Web page changes, mouse clicks, keystrokes, and window events are captured and synchronized with the video when you import the recording into Morae Manager.

Please join our beta...We want and need as much feedback as possible from the new changes.

The product Web page has been updated here: http://www.techsmith.com/uservue.asp. Check out your new favorite program!

Earlier this week I posted some dates for some classroom training on Morae here. I just heard from our training department that in order to incorporate the newest features and functionality available in Morae 2.0, they're going to modify the dates.

Once I hear what the new dates are, I'll be sure to post them here. Coming soon!

On a side note, what cities would you like us to train in? I'll pass on your feedback to the training department. No guarantees on where they'll end up, but if we can show demand, they'll consider other cities!

Our developers have worked their fingers to the bone coding away for you. SnagIt 8.1 has been released on Tuesday! Depending on your version, you may even have a free upgrade!

So, what's in this release? Lots of good stuff. Remember how you can make those interactive screenshots with SnagIt? The ones where you add the Flash hotspots to your screen captures so text or images pop up when you click or mouse over the hotspot on the image? Well, we took it a step further.

Now, you can add those interactive images right on your PowerPoint slides. You'll have the edge over other people's PowerPoint slides - you can display pop-ups of detailed chart information, click on links to go directly online, and make your presentation an interactive experience.

Be sure to check out PowerPoint MVP Geetesh Bajaj's Hotspot tutorial here, as he's more eloquent than I am...

And another PowerPoint feature - with SnagIt's PowerPoint add-in, you can embed and play any .swf (Flash) files from your slides. If you've ever tried to add a video to your PowerPoint slides before, you know it wasn't easy - but now it is.

Let's talk about callouts. We've made them more flexible - you can resize, reshape, change the color and rotate them. You can also save your custom callouts so you can use them over and over again.

There are also more options for the SnagIt add-in toolbars in PowerPoint and Internet Explorer - you can now choose to keep the links in your captures intact and also save captures as PDF. And for SnagIt COM users - Web page (keep links) and Save to PDF options are now available in the custom development environment.

And, last, SnagIt is now completely compatible with the new 64-bit operating system and Internet Explorer 7.

Read more about the release here. Or, click on the screenshot below to see the marketing video about what's new in SnagIt 8.1.

I had the SnagIt Product Manager, Tony Dunckel, walk me through the new release and all the new features today. As soon as the screencast is edited, we'll post it here. Hopefully later this week.

Are there other SnagIt features would you like to see more in-depth screencasts about?

Camtasia Studio 3.1.1 has landed, so it's now easier to customize and share your videos!

We now have more Flash Playback bars. And, remember the 'Classic' look in older Camtasia Studio versions? Well, we made a mistake by removing it from Camtasia Studio 3.1. We had no idea that you would miss it. So, we listened to you and brought it back. If you need to have the same look and feel as your previously-created videos, it's now again possible. There's a nice Matte or Glass control bar too - check them out.

Other features include support for SCORM 2004, an option to split long timelines into multiple movies, and XHTML-Compliant production files.

What's better than a software upgrade? A free one. If you have Camtasia Studio 3.0 or 3.1, it's a FREE update.

Product Manager, Troy Stein, and the Lead Developer, Dave O'Rourke, made a screencast about Camtasia Studio 3.1.1. Click the screenshot below to watch the video. It's almost 16 minutes long so get comfortable. Or, read more about the release and download it from here.

Consequently, it's great to hear what you love about Camtasia Studio, but we need to know what you don't like about it as well - so we can improve. E-mail, call me on my cell - 517.410.0030, Skype me at - betsyweber, IM me on MSN IM at - b.weber@techsmith.com, comment on the blog, use the feedback form...do whatever it takes!