Tera's Blog

Someone at work asked if I knew when the new version of Office would be released for the Mac. Last I had heard, it would be...August. So, I went to Microsoft's Mactopia Website and while there wasn't any information on Office 2008, I did see that there was a back to school offer for Office 2004.

Click on the image for a larger view

That's right! "Buy Office for Mac before September 6th and RECIEVE an extra $25 rebate"

It's a good thing Office comes with spellcheck. Or someone at Microsoft might have to learn that whole i before e except after c thing....

Posted by at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recently, I received an email from Troy Stein of TechSmith with a status update on the development of Camtasia Studio for the Mac. They're not quite there yet, but they're getting close! In the meantime, they're testing a new product by the name of Jing.

It's definitely as step forward, especially for mac users. It captures still images or screen activity. While the images can be edited (call outs, text, etc), the videos can not. What's really cool is that both the images and the resulting flash based video can be saved locally or uploaded automatically to your account on screencast.com. At the end of the upload process, a copy of the url to the file is saved to your clipboard .

This has been extremely handy for creating mac based tutorials. But I'm still really looking forward to editing and podcast production capability (enhanced podcast production would be nice, too!) in a mac based Camtasia Studio.

It's a great intermediary step and I will be putting it to full use. Thanks Troy!

Posted by at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I received an email today from Troy Stein about TechSmith's progress in developing Camtasia Studio for the mac platform. Troy asked that we watch a brief video and then fill out a survey asking which version of Camtasia would best suit our needs and why.

You can take the survey here:
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=U25E9ZPWQLDB

I'd really need the full version of Camtasia Studio with full editing and production capabilities, though I could probably live with the 'light' version for a while.

Also, I'm looking into using Camtasia Studio ON THE PC for podcast production. We're using Garageband on the mac, but the pc lacks an equivalent, easy to use/edit/produce, product. I think Camtasia Studio 4 could be the solution if it has easy integration with iTunes. I'll let you know for sure once I can do some kicking on the tires, sorta speak.

Posted by at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is more of a note to myself in case I lose my bookmarks.

The VT Dendrology Leaf Key website will come in handy when we start working on 'The Leaf Identification' science project that rolls around every year at this time.

Does anyone else still 'iron' the leaves between sheets of wax paper?

Posted by at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been a big fan of Camtasia Studio since I saw it demo'd at the Conference on Instructional Technology four years ago. Camtasia Studio captures screen activity to which you can then add titles, callouts, quizzes, and export the final product to Windows Media, Flash and Quicktime. You can use the same software to create menus for distribution via CD or Web. I've used Camtasia to produce technology tutorials, online lectures and podcasts. Very simple and intuitive (but powerful) software. I presented a workshop on it at the SUNY Training Center last Spring and it was probably the easiest application I've ever had to teach someone else to use.

My only gripe. It's Windows only. Which always amazed me because the interface reminded me so much of iMovie. I've tried SnapzPro for the mac, but it's just not the same. SnapzPro doesn't have any of Camtasia's editting and production features.

Fortunately, Tech Smith has taken note of this and is asking mac users to fill out this survey http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225KKUB3JMP and let them know how they should go about the development of a mac version. I'd be happy to have access to a bare bones mac version while they're working on a developing the full blown one. I bet it's something Apple would take notice of. If we're lucky it would become part of the iWork suite (Ok, now I'm just daydreaming).

Thanks to Kevin Dangoor on Technology, Business and Everything for getting Tech Smith's attention and getting the ball rolling.

Posted by at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I was asked yesterday how one would go about increasing traffic to your blog. After doing a little research (Google search - whenever you have a tech question, chances are someone has run into the same problem before you and there's a great solution to go along with it), I found this article, 11 Techniques to Increase Page Views on Your Blog . While linking to previous related posts, writing posts as a series, and linking to other blogs with related materials may help drive more traffic, having a blog that contains consistent (don't let your blog stagnate!), well thought out, intelligent content (#11) is really the key to developing an audience.

Posted by at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's MINE... ALL MINE!!!

(ok fine, it's not really mine... but it all sits on my desk in my office)

Posted by at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I spent the better part of the last hour trying to A) Get Photoshop Elements to stop CRASHING (quitting for you macfolks) and B) figure out how to make a screengrab on the mac (G5 - dual 2GHz processors, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD...AR! AR! ARRRRR!)

After several panicked emails to Mike H and IMs to Derek, I went to the Adobe forums and then trashed the PSE prefs. If it starts crashing again, you'll hear much screaming and gnashing off teeth emanating from my office.

Then there's the screen grab issue. On the pc, there's a nice little key on the keyboard that says 'PRNT SCRN'...PRINT SCREEN!! This saves a copy of your entire screen to the PC's clipboard. I then open a new file in Photoshop and click 'Edit < Paste'. Ta Da! And in just 4 steps!

On the mac, it's a different story. Apparently, there is no keystroke/shortcut to do a screengrab in OSX. You have to open the 'Grab' utility. Then I couldn't figure out how to keep PSE on top while I opened Grab. Finally, I got it to take a screen grab using the 'Timed Screen'. After 10 seconds, it makes the screen grab, then you have to save the file, and THEN you can open it in Photoshop. Seems a bit involved, doesn't it?

UPDATE: Derek sent me a link from apple.com that explained how to do a screengrab to the clipboard using SHIFT+CTRL+COMMAND+4 , and it worked! Though I feel like I'm putting some sort of left-handed vulcan nerve pinch on the keyboard...

Thanks to Derek and Mike for the help!

Posted by at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)