Cool Tool #1: Jing (Screen-capture tool)

"Screencasting" is another word for screen capture. You can download programs that will let you record pictures, video and audio on your screen.This is fairly old technology by today's standards, but I'm not exactly up-to-date on the latest gagetry. I wanted to give Jing a try to see if there would be a faster way for me to take screenshots and save pictures on my computer. I'm still using the method I learned over ten years ago:

• "Print Screen"
• Open MS Paint
• "Paste" (not using the shortcut keys)
• "Select" the area I want
• "Crop"
• Save

So let's give it a shot. Oh boy...

After you click on this link and download your free trial of Jing, you'll see that there's a little sun at the top of your screen. When you hover your courser over the little sun, three rays will appear: Capture, History, and Settings.

*Ironically, I had to use my old method to capture this pic.

Hit "Capture" to take screenshots and to record videos. Hit "History" to view the files you've saved. Fairly simple.

I tested the picture capture first. It's very straightforward, especially after you watch the video tutorial on Jing's website. The screenshot procedure is quick and simple. For example, my first picture captured with Jing:

Capturing this screenshot and uploading it here to my post took about 30 seconds. And I didn't have to open MS Paint. I'm impressed!

As for the video-capture technology, I'm a bit out of-my element. The test swf file I made wouldn't upload to this blog post when I clicked the little director's clapboard in the toolbar (see below).

Instead of just saving the video, you can choose to upload the video to Screencast.com. I couldn't view the video because it requires Adobe Flash Player. I'm unfamiliar with other video file types (I believe mov is another common type), but anyone who may want to use Jing as a video capture device may need to have a different program to convert their files.

I think more than anything, I will be using this tool for capturing images and saving them more quickly. I'll definitely be using it all the time when I'm blogging now. It's so much easier than my old method! I would recommend this to anyone who uses still images to augment their blog posts, makes Powerpoint presentations, or who is interested in saving a bit of info from a web page (example):

Although the video-capture aspect of the technology is a sticking point for me, it may be only a minor hurdle for someone who's used to working with video files. Overall, I would highly recommend this program for teachers and students.