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!

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!