Check it out: Screencast-O-Matic.com

Camtasia Studio for Windows or Macs by TechSmith
(also be sure to check out Snagit for Windows by TechSmith)

I got Picnik photo editor while searching for Faststone screencapture software. Both these utilities are very useful for a blog publisher. Both Picnik and Faststone are free for use.

Faststone is a screen capture software with ease of use, short cut keys, output in desirable format ie BMP,JPEG,TIFF,GIF,PCX,PNG,TGA and PDF formats.

FEATURES as described by Publisher
# A small handy Capture Panel that provides quick access to its capture tools and output options
# Global hotkeys to activate screen capturing instantly
# Capture windows, objects, menus, full screen, rectangular/freehand regions and scrolling windows/web pages
# Capture multiple windows and objects including multi-level menus
# Options to specify output destination (internal editor, clipboard, file, printer …)
# Draw annotation objects such as texts, arrowed lines, highlights, watermarks, rectangles and circles
# Apply effects such as drop-shadow, frame, torn-edge and fade-edge
# Add image caption
# Resize, crop, rotate, sharpen, brighten, adjust colors …
# Undo/Redo
# Support external editors
# Save in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIFF and PDF formats
# Send captured images by email
# Send captured images to Word and PowerPoint documents
# Send captured images to a Web (FTP) server
# Record screen activities and sound into video files
# Screen Color Picker
# Screen Magnifier
# Screen Ruler
# Support multiple monitors
# Run when Windows starts (optional)
# Minimize to System Tray area
#Small footprint in memory

I have started using Faststone, I am satisfied with the results, but the trial period finishes in 1 month.Enjoy this free software.

FASTSTONE

Mac OS X has a built-in ability to capture screen shots using simple keyboard commands, with shots saved to the Desktop as “Picture 1, 2, 3, etc.” This feature can be exceptionally useful for generating documents, or sending system configurations to friends and colleagues. Although most users are aware of the basic functionality of the screen capture feature, there are some hidden features that can really enhance the usability of screen shots.

Using “Screen Capture”

Here is a list of the known features of “Screen Capture” (using key commands to take screen shots)

• “shift-command-3″ – The basic screenshot, will take an image of the full screen.
• “shift-command-4″ – The “selection” mode, will take a shot of the area outlined by dragging the cursor.
• “shift-command-4″ then tapping “Space” – The “Window” mode, will take a shot of the highlighted window.
• “shift-command-4″ dragging, then holding “space” — Drag mode, will allow the current sized box to be relocated.
• “shift-command-4″ then “options” – The “center” mode, will resize the box focusing on the center.
• “shift-command-4″ then “shift” – The “axis” lock, will resize while locking the movement to one axis, determined by initial mouse movement.

Thanks to http://www.macfixit.com/contact

Ken is also available on Filmnet.com
Ken is up on their main page which is really cool. : D
Check out their website. It’s really great website with great potential.
Think of it as Hulu with independent films.

Very nice review he did hands on.  He uses a variety of programs at price points up to $99.  Click here to read.

Are you using HTC Touch Diamond 2 (T5353)? Download the latest ROM upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 now.

Below are some screen shots to entice you to do so Most of the screen shots are specifically for Windows Mobile 6.5.

The icon is now with color

The stock screen

Weather looks the same

Honeycomb Program listing

The usual contact screen

Link with Facebook

Option for Chinese Input

Input option

Location Service

The built-in marketplace

Marketplace

Marketplace

Marketplace

Marketplace

Marketplace - Payment for Paid Apps

Marketplace - Setting up Credit Card

Settings

Settings

Settings

Subscribe to Fresh Gear Weblog by Email

This is a very handy screen capture program made by FastStone.

Here are (ironically) some screenshots of the program:

(Click to expand the screenshot.)

Download it from here.

P.S- Dedicated to people who study the online Cisco curriculum.

Fraps (derived from Frames per second) is a benchmarking, screen capture, and real-time video capture utility for DirectX and OpenGL applications. It is commonly used to determine a computer’s performance with a game, as well as record gaming footage. The program is very popular in the making of amateur machinima films. Fraps can take screenshots in various formats: BMP, TGA, JPEG, and PNG. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as :

• Benchmarking Software – Show how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points. Save the statistics out to disk and use them for your own reviews and applications.
• Screen Capture Software – Take a screenshot with the press of a key! There’s no need to paste into a paint program every time you want a new shot. Your screen captures are automatically named and timestamped.
• Realtime Video Capture Software – Have you ever wanted to record video while playing your favourite game? Come join the Machinima revolution! Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, game recording has never been this easy! Fraps can capture audio and video up to 2560×1600 with custom frame rates from 10 to 100 frames per second!

The lossless Fraps codec allows decoding of Fraps-encoded videos (using a media player capable of decoding the AVI container format) or transcoding to other video formats (with the use of the right software). The Fraps video codec manages to capture videos with minimal impact on game performance, as it has been optimized to achieve compression higher than uncompressed RGB, resulting in smaller filesizes, though the lossless format is considerably less space-efficient than more heavily compressed lossy video formats such as DivX. This is because encoding on-the-fly to a high-compression format such as DivX would have a large negative impact on game performance (as of 2007) and only a very fast hard drive could record the immense amount of data produced in using uncompressed video. The Fraps format is a compromise of the two.

• Requires DirectX 9.0c or DirectX 10
• Requires Administrator rights
• Supports all modern CPU’s (Pentium 3 and above)
• Captures fastest with an NVIDIA GeForce or ATI Radeon graphics card
• Works on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and x64 Editions

Download

Apa itu screen capture ata screenshoot ?? Screen Capture adalah bila kita mengambil gamar dai dekstop komputer kita. Mudahnya disebut printscreen (ada tombolnya pada keyboard). Bila kita menggunakannya maka kita harus membuka Paint lalu tekan Alt + Prt Sc baru di paste ke paint dan save. Rumit bukan ??
Dengan FastStone kita bisa melakkannya sengan cepat dan singkat alias efektif dan efisien . Yang jelas pake FastStone kita tinggal buka aplikasinya dan klik-klik ,jadi dehh . Soalnya picture sudah tersimpan dengan sendirinya
Tapi tergantung setting kita juga. Makanya setting harus diubah ke AutoSave, penggunaan tombol disetting dan destination’nya juga harus jelas. Gampang kog silakan dicoba

Buat aplikasinya bisa anda download di sini.

I teach computer applications in an adult ed independent learning classroom. I am using Camstudio to record both the screen and audio. Camstudio creates the files in avi format. I have had trouble getting the correct Codec installed on my classroom computers so I am looking at converting the files to wmv and mp4 formats.

Here is what I have learned about video formats – wmv is Windows Media Video and avi is Audio Visual Interleave.  Windows Media Player plays both avi files and wmv files.  mp4 is

Compression

I have used Any Video Converter to compress the avi files and it does a decent job. The color of the screen is gray and the video is not quite as sharp but considering the size of the file that is a decent tradeoff.  Also, the fast forward and rewind buttons are not enabled.

Conversion

If I use Any Video Converter to compress it to another avi file I still do not have the Fast Forward and Rewind buttons so I decided to convert it to another format.  I converted it to mp4 using AVC but there was more degradation and  a little more “gray” screen than I liked.  However, the compression was great – the original avi file was 73MB and the resulting mp4 file was 9.43 MB.
I used AVC to convert the original avi file to wmv format but the audio and video were not in sync – the video was too fast. I increased the sync by going to “Edit > Options > Video > Audio/Video Sync”, and then increased the sync to 4 but that was still not enough.  I’ll have to keep trying.

I used Windows Movie Maker to convert to wmv and I thought the video quality was not as good as when I used Any Video Converter.

Final thought: Record with Camstudio using Camstudio Lossless Codec v1.4 then compress with Any Video Converter using Original video codec.  I still did not get a Rewind or FF but the video was clear and the screen was not gray.  I will probably have to download the Camstudio codec on each student machine.  (When I used the xvid codec with Any Video Converter the video was very fuzzy and the screen was gray.  When I converted to mp4 format it was also very gray. When I used the camstudio codec and then used Movie Maker to convert it to wmv the screen was gray.)

I downloaded Windows Media Encoder and used it to convert the avi files to wmv.  The results were good – not great but good.  The nice thing about wmv files is that you get the fast forward and rewind buttons.

Video Hosting

My biggest frustration is in finding a place to host the videos.  I would really like to have the videos hosted on either teachertube or calaxy and then link to them on my moodle page.  For some reason I can never get them loaded to teachertube.  I either get an IO Error or it freezes at some point.  When I try to upload to my Calaxy account I get a message that the file was not accepted by the server.  I would really like to host them on either teachertube or calaxy and then link to them on my moodle page.

Youtube prefers videos in FLV, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 formats using H.264 or MPEG-2 codecs. I have embedded a youtube video on the moodle page and I will try to play it tomorrow from the classroom.

mc_freezeframe, originally uploaded by earthpages.

Chatting on the cams the other nite, suddenly everything froze!

I’m in the basement labs in Detroit’s Cabo (sp?) center, learning about WordPress… i’ve already got Blogger but have heard I can do a better site. Trick with blogs is keeping up with them…

I actually tweeted a few times over the last few days (is past tense of tweet twote?) and when i put in a # for moodle with “Anybody called BlackCT needs a little Angel” and got a few new twitter subscriptions out of it. Too funny.

A few highlights of the conference:

Jing has some decent coverage- but then again TechSmith saturated it, with Camtasia relay setups in every single event and 20 techs running around- so they probably stacked the presentations. S’okay  though- I love Jing.

I’ve come up with what I think is the optimal framework for a full lecture/delivery/capture system:

• a pen based screen laid flat on a desk/podium (with a chair)
• A webcam pointing at you (sitting on the chair)
• A whiteboard/screen/tablet interface installed so you can draw, notetake, make new pages, etc… on the PC, on, set to full screen
• a player for the camera – set to on, full screen
• a microphone
• some capture solution that gets the audio and whatever’s on your screen.

So you set this all up, sit down, center yourself, check your mic, etc… Then start your capturing, and when you want them to see you, alt-tab to the video player, which should show your head and shoulders (hns). If you want to show whiteboard work, you alt-tab to the drawing/pen/tablet app, and go forward/backward/new pages as needed. Then you can alt-tab to other apps, like browsers or notepad or whatever.

With this one solution, you have limited hardware (webcam and pen screen) and capture all 3 critical feeds (hns video, whiteboard, PC work) and feed it into one place with one feed- and since you’re looking at it, you’re deciding what’s there.

This lacks cool options like indexing, picture in a picture, different codecs for video/screen, etc… (i’ve just spent a few days with these things) but it’s relatively cheap (screen being the big thing), works off software primarily (whatever comes with your hardware).

Of what I’ve seen, I’d like the Smart screen (licensed by Waacom) and their software – but their 22″ is pricey (say 3k). You could buy their $400 tablet and get their $300 sw free with that. There must be some free/open stuff that does the same sort of thing – but haven’t gone that far yet.

I think any webcam will do- but you need a mount that’ll get it positioned right on you for your working position. A mic- dime a dozen. Capture software? That’s trickier. I’ll try with jing, limit the vids to 5 mins, and see what happens. There’s camtasia, products from matchware and others… but i’m going simple budget right now.

Let me know if you’ve got some better ideas. Gonna combine this with the newly discovered idea of 1-minute lectures.

Mezer Tools is one of the first tools to be installed on any machine that I use. At 400KB download size and 5MB of memory usage, it adds virtually no impact to the running of my system.

What it does add is quick access to screen capturing (Win-S) and screen measuring using caliper (Win-C). Color grabber (color picker) and hexer (convert between hex and decimal numbers) can be accessed from the tray icon too.

Try out Mezer Tools today.

In addition to a computer or a laptop, there are many other technologies that could/should be used in schools today. These include, but are not limited to: printers, scanners, copiers, faxes, handhelds, cell phones, video and still cameras, projectors, recorders, MP3 players, interactive whiteboards, etc. Select a technology that is presently NOT being used in your educational environment and discuss ways in which it could or should be used.

So far, I have opened a blog and I am starting to learn the blogging  “conventions”.  I have learned how to write a post with hypertext, and I was able, for the first time, to make a PPT movie that can be posted to a webiste without losing any of its sound, embedded content, or animation. This was no easy task! Converting the PPT to flash, as it turns out, does not work.  Hosting PPT presentations on Slideshare turns them into silent, static slideshows. This was not what I was going for.

My new skill for this post is the screencast video. I have often wondered how people make those training videos where you see the mouse moving about the screen, while someone is telling you how to use a particular application. I found out that screencasts require a great deal of rehearsal and timing even without narration! I have used a screencast to present an example of a math application I would use with my choice of technology for this post: the interactive whiteboard!

What is an Interactive Whiteboard?

Interactive whiteboards can be used to present anything that can be executed on a computer, including software, websites, and manipulatives. Interactive whiteboards also incorporate touch technlogy, so that students can use digital pens to write or fingers to explore manipulative environments. Interactive whiteboards also have digital recording and screen-capture capabilities, so that board notes, lectures, and demonstrations can be saved to computers for later use and/or modification.  Because there are literally thousands of ways interactive whiteboard technology can be used in the classroom (see links), I will continue my focus on the development of number sense to provide some examples that apply to my own research.

Last week, I described my interest in language and number sense. However, our “mental number line” also has kinesthetic and spatial components. 

Spatial and Kinesthetic Representation of Number:  Our “Mental Number Line” 

Our core number sense is approximate, with decreasing accuracy as numbers get larger.  Distinguishing arrays of two dots from arrays of four dots, then, is easier than distinguishing eight dots from ten (Huntley-Fenner & Cannon, 2000). Our accuracy also decreases as a function of the distance between  numbers. We are faster and more accurate at comparing arrays such as two versus nine dots than we are at distinguishing four versus five dots when arrays are presented too quickly to count (Dehaene, et al., 1999; Dehaene, et al., 2004; Nieder, 2005).  This phenomenon is known as the Distance Effect.  

 Neider (2005) identified numerosity-selective neurons in macaques and determined that smaller sets are mapped to many neurons and exhibit high precision, while larger sets are represented by a relatively small proportion of neurons, which may explain the decreased precision as set sizes increase further up the scale.  Neurons form a bank of “filters”, sequentially arranged (like a “mental number line”), and overlapping. This is the first physical evidence that numerosities are not isolated categories, but exist in relation to one another. In fact, it may account for the Distance Effect, because if proximal numerosity selective neurons overlap, it would indeed be more difficult to discriminate between them (Nieder, 2005).

 We seem to represent our mental number line in physical space as well.  On number comparisons and other judgment tasks (eg., odd vs. even), our left hand responds faster to small numbers and our right hand responds faster to larger numbers!   The effect appears to be purely spatial, as the phenomenon is reversed when hands are crossed during timed response trials, is not sensitive to handedness, and reverses in people with right-to-left writing systems (Dehaene, et al., 1993; Nieder, 2005; Sagiv, et al., 2006).  This phenomenon is called the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect  (Dehaene, et al., 1993).

Reaserch indicates that the IPS (intra-parietal sulcus) region may encode these proximity relations among numerical quantities. The number region of the IPS is next to visuo-spatial mapping areas, and common parietal regions are activated for number and size (Simon, et. al 2002; Nieder, 2005).  Cortices in the area of the IPS are also active during visually guided hand and eye movements, mental rotation tasks, attention orienting, and approximate calculation.  In contrast, exact calculation results in a left-lateralized (or language-related) activation (Dehaene, et al. 1999; Simon, et al 2002). 

Butterworth, et al. (2005) also noted that child subjects who did not use their fingers for count sequences were either very skilled at calculation, presumably having grown out of the finger representation stage, or they were students with significant math disability.  These result provide more evidence that there may be a functional connection between numbers and fingers that is spatially mapped ( Butterworth, 2005; Butterworth, 2006). These results are also consistent with historical observations of developmental Gerstmann’s Syndrome.

 While it is common practice to use manipulatives to teach math concepts, brain research underscores the importance of kinesthetic and spatial representation of number in the development of numeracy skills.  The mapping of spatial concepts linguistically is also necessary for us to calibrate our mental number line and give it precision.  Consider the following example:

 This exercise, and many others like it, is included in the first grade Everyday Math program.  Clearly, the spatial language is ambiguous, and the vertical orientation of the number line adds to the confusion.  Moreover, horizontal number lines, hundreds charts, and vertical thermometers are introduced in this particular program simultaneously. The orientation is inconsistent with our spatial representation of number, and is presented at a time when these concepts are just developing.  Children who are delayed in spatial and temporal concepts, as many of our students are, are doubly disadvantaged.

What Can We Do?

Intervention should focus on the ability to represent and manipulate numerical quantities non-verbally (via the Quantity or “core number sense” system) as well as the progressive precision that is developed through mapping quantity to symbolic numeral systems (via the Exact Arithmetic System) (Wilson, et al, 2006, 2006). 

But What Does This have to do With Technology?

Wilson and Dehaene (2006) have developed an adaptive computer aided instruction module to train children to map non-verbal quantity concepts onto numbers. The program is mastery based, beginning with non-symbolic quantity comparison tasks (dot arrays), moving to numeral comparisons, and then to magnitude comparison on simple number sentences.  There is a great deal of evidence to support skill remediation through adaptive CAI, particularly in the area of reading (Goldman & Hasselbring,1997; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2001; Wilson, et al, 2006). Adaptive fomats maintain task difficulty within a “zone” optimized to minimize failure while maintaining challenge and engagement (Butterworth, 2003; Caine & Caine, 2009).   Task difficulty is manipulated through gradual increases in response time for fluency and automaticity, as well as through manipulation of the ratio/distance between the arrays or numbers, consistent with the Distance Effect (Wilson, et al, 2006; Butterworth, 2003).

The Number Race also gradually and explicitly builds spatial representation of number through a game board-like manipulative platform such as the one pictured below.

Initial trial results for the Number Race are encouraging:  Speed of Subitizing and Numerical Comparison increased across subjects by several hundred msec in a five week trial, and Subtraction increased by an average of 23%.

The Number Race includes speed of information processing, spatial representation of number, quantity comparison, and number calibration.  However, it is missing a kinesthetic component, which brings us to this week’s featured technology tool: The interactive whiteboard!

Interactive Whiteboards:

The possible uses for interactive whiteboards are too numerous to review here. However, I think that two math examples will provide an overview of how the kinesthetic and manipulative functions of an interactive whiteboard can enhance learning for children with special needs.

If the Number Race were to be interfaced with interactive whiteboard technology, students could tap their choices and then map the quantities on the gameboard by pointing. Because finger pointing and number sense are proximal in the IPS, this type of activity may improve the efficacy of the program.

Another explicit approach to the building of number sense is the Numicon system, currently used in over 5,000 schools in the UK.  The Numicon system builds a visual, tactile, and spatial concept of number and number relationships before numerals are introduced.  The Numicon shapes, pictured below, can be fit together into tens plates or broken apart to represent inverse relationships.  This makes the visualization of relationships concrete. 

 Gradually, the Numicon shapes are used to construct a number line, whereby operations can be introduced. Patterns on the number line are repeated systematically (and recursively) as a model of the base ten system is constructed.

Each Numicon shape has a corresponding configuration of holes representing exact number kinesthetically. Children can “feel” the number as well as visualize the number, its relationships, and spatial position on the number line.  The holes can also be used as receptacles for pegs, used to stack one Numicon shape upon another, thereby representing multiplication.  When numerals are added to the system they have meaning, because children can already represent the number visually, kinesthetically, and spatially.  Interactive whiteboards are common in British classrooms, and numicon was designed for use with a smartboard system. Children can manipulate the numicon shapes to build representations of equations, explore the properties of number, and develop a deep understanding of place value and the number line. Note the use of interactive whiteboard technology in the video clip below:

Links to Interactive Whiteboard Resources:

Engaging Learners the Smartboard Way

Thinkfinity

Intel: Teach to the Future!

Smartboard Teacher Rubric-Check Your Skills!

Butterworth, B. (2003). Dyscalculia Screener. nferNelson Publishing Company, London, UK.

Butterworth, B. (2005).  The development of arithmetical abilities. Journal of Child  Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(1), 3-18.

Butterworth, B. (2006), in K A Ericsson Ed Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, Mathematical Expertise. 553-568.

Caine, R. & Caine, G. (2009). The 12 brain based learning principles.     www.cainelearning.com .

Dehaene, S., Bossini, S., Giraux, P. (1993). The mental representation of parity and number magnitude.  Journal of Experimental Psychology, 122(3), 371-396.

Dehaene, S., Spelke, E., Pinel, P., Stanscu, R., Tsivkin, S. (1999). Sources of mathematical thinking: Behavioral and brain imaging evidence. Science, 284(5416), 970, retrieved, Octover 2, 2009 from Education Research Complete Database.

Dehaene, S., Molko, N., Cohen, L., Wilson, A. (2004). Arithmetic and the brain. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14, 218-224.

Fuchs, L., & Fuchs, D. (2001). Principles for the prevention and intervention of mathematics difficulties. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 16(2), 85-95.

Goldman, S., & Hasselbring, T. (1997). Achieving meaningful mathematics literacy for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30(2), 198-208.

Huntley-Fenner, G., & Cannon, E. (2000). Preschoolers’ magnitude comparisons are mediated by a preverbal analog mechanism. Psychological Science, 11(2), 147-152.

Nieder, A. (2005). Counting on neurons: The neurobiology of numerical competence. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 1-14.

Sagiv, N., Simner, J., Collins, J., Butterworth, B., Ward, J. (2006). What is the relationship between synaesthesia and visuo-spatial number forms? Cognition, 101, 114-128.

Simon, O., Mangin, J., Cohen, L., Bihan, D., Dehaene, S. (2002). Topographical layout of hand, eye, calculation, and language-related areas in the human parietal lobe. Neuron, 33, 475-487.

Wilson, A., Revkin, S., Cohen, D., Cohen, L., Dehaene, S. (2006). An open trial assessment of “The Number Race”, an adaptive computer game for remediation of dyscalculia. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 2(20), 1-16.

Wilson, A., Dehaene, S., Pinel, P., Revkin, S., Cohen, L., Cohen, D. (2006). Principles underlying the design of “The Number Race”, an adaptive computer game for remediation of dyscalculia. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 2(19).