New tool, old tool

Posted on August 4, 2007
Filed Under Cool Stuff

I spend so much time on the Internet. I’m online at work all day and then I come home and spend a great deal of my evening and late night online as well. While online, I spend a great deal of time chatting with friends, family & co-workers on instant messenger. That boils down to a lot of typing. A LOT!

Way back when, I had been an early adapter of Skype. Skype is a fantastic little app that lets you video conference with any other Skype user no matter where they are in the world. All for free, I might add. Unfortunately, when I first started using it, hardly anybody else (at least that I knew) was using it, so it was a lot like the sound of one hand clapping.

This past week while watching one of the ThirtyDayChallenge videos, they talked about using Skype to stay in touch with team members. So I went ahead and downloaded the latest version of the software and was even able to access my original account. When I logged in to the service, it informed me that 5,467,999 people are online right now. That is considerably more than were using the software when I used it last. I’ve added a few people to my contact list and I hope to add more as the weeks roll on.

I strongly suggest you give Skype a try. Even if you don’t have a business need for video conferencing, there are dozens of other uses. A friend told me that they use Skype with his parents so that they can watch their grandchild play. What a great, great idea!

A new tool that I was introduced to through the ThirtyDayChallenge is called Jing Project. This is a tool that provides a service that I never knew I needed until I found the product. But, since finding it, I’ve found so many great uses for it. I’ll be installing this on every computer I come in contact with!

Jing Project has two simple functions. First, you can mark off an area of your screen and capture it as an image. Then, on your image you can add arrows to point out something specific, use the type tool to write a message, draw a rectangle around an area to highlight it. Once you are satisfied with the image, click the “share” button and it automatically uploads the image for you and copies the URL for your new image to the clipboard. Here’s a sample image I created while writing this blog post.

The second function of Jing allows you to create and share video. With voice-overs if you choose. You can view the sample here.

So the next time your friend asks you for help configuring settings in a program, create a quick Jing movie and show him how instead!

EDIT: Not sure how I missed this before, but Jing Project is made by the same folks (TechSmith) that created Camtasia which is another screen capture application that I’ve used at work for creating video demos. Camtasia is a bit more robust software solution than the current version of Jing Project. It will be interesting to see where they take Jing in the coming months.

Share and Enjoy: