TechSmith is having another free giveaway. This time they are giving away a free version of SnagIt, their screen capture software. Where Camtasia Studio creates videos of actions on your screen, SnagIt takes a picture of your screen and saves it as an image. SnagIt is the industry-leading tool for taking screenshots to use in documentation. This free version is one version behind their current version.

Download the software here: ftp://ftp.techsmith.com/pub/products/snagit/725/SnagIt.exe

Get your product license here: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit/ukdn.asp

TechSmith is offering free licenses to Camtasia Studio version 3.0 at http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp. (I found the link on Warrior Forum–an internet marketing forum).

Camtasia Studio is a software product that lets you capture what is happening on your computer screen and save it to a movie, sometimes called a “screencast”.

This free license offer is part of a promotion to get new customers on the upgrade path to Camtasia Studio version 5 for half-price; however, version 3 is an outstanding product. You can download the product here.

Camtasia is one of my favorite software tools. I’ve been working with it since version 2 and just recently upgraded to Version 5 for the automatic zooming feature.

Here’s a few ideas on how you could use Camtasia:

1. Record step-by-step instructions for clients, upload the movie to your website, and send the link.
2. Record multiple tutorials, use Camtasia’s menu builder to create a snazzy menu, record it all to CD, and snail mail your clients a CD.
3. Record how-to videos and upload them to youtube.com and other video social networking sites. Include a splash page at the front and end promoting your blog, website, or business.
4. Embed the video on your blog.
5. Create information products for sell. Record PowerPoints and/or screencast tutorials for sell as information products.
6. Transfer screencast tutorials to DVD, have them duplicated by Disk.com, and sell them as products.
7. Create tutorial movies for use in a class like: “How to blog using WordPress,” etc. Save them in Flash format so they play in the browser.
8. Use Camtasia to do product reviews for your blog and to promote affiliate products.
9. Use Camtasia to start a VideoCast
10. Grab a free copy for your clients, so that they can share information with YOU.

Here’s a good reason to take a class, even if it is a one-credit exercise class, from your local community college!

Microsoft Office 2007 Student Discount

All students actively enrolled in at least .5 credits are eligible to purchase Office Ultimate 2007 for $59.95.

Details: Microsoft Office Ultimate has a retail price of $679 and includes:
- Access™ 2007
- Accounting Express 2007*
- Excel® 2007
- Groove® 2007
- InfoPath® 2007
- OneNote® 2007
- Outlook® 2007 with Business Contact Manager*
- PowerPoint® 2007
- Publisher 2007
- Word 2007

*Accounting Express 2007 and Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 are separate downloads.

Offer ends April 30, 2008. Go to http://www.theultimatesteal.com/home.asp for more information on how to purchase Office Ultimate 2007 for $59.95

(They verify your educational status by requiring you to have an e-mail address ending with .edu).

Outlook addons

TaskLine

It works like this:

1. Enter your working hours.
2. Schedule daily activities, exercise, “me time”, etc. on the calendar.
3. Enter your tasks in Outlook, giving them priorities and estimates of how long they will take.
4. Taskline will “schedule” your tasks on the calendar, filling in your free time according to priority.
5. Mark a task done, and Taskline files it away and reschedules all your tasks.

TaskBlaze, freeware

This is the freeware version. He now only sells it, internet marketing style, as TaskBlaze Pro. TaskBlaze does one thing well:

1. Enter a Task and click start.
2. Start working.
3. When you’re done, click Stop and TaskBlaze fills in your Outlook calendar for the time worked.

Outlook Replacement:

!ntellect is a great Personal Information Manager (PIM) that is also an e-mail client. !ntellect is contact-centric and it’s portable software–It will run off a USB flash drive! I have been using their add-on product Legal Billing to record my time and generate invoices, but Freshbooks looks great, so I might give that a try.