5 Popular Free Video Capturing Applications

Whether you are working on a company tutorial, trying to capture your family video online or simply need a visual aid to better illustrate your point, screen capturing software is key in completing these tasks. I've tracked down a few popular services that you may want to try out for your next visual task!

Five Free Video Capturing Softwares:

• FreeScreenCast - Free web based service that not only enables users to record anything on your computer screen but also takes the hassle out of uploading your recorded clips and takes it a step further by providing users with an embed code to post their screencast immediately after capturing the footage. Great when trying to rush and get your stuff up and shared! Check out their Video Tutorial here!
• Jing Project - Free Image and Video capturing project which is available for both Mac and PC. Users have 200MB of space for storing screenshots and screencasts and 1 GB of bandwidth that renews monthly. Here you can also instantly upload your footage and therefore share what you see easily via chat, email, flickr, your server or their default hosting on Screencast.com. Video Tutorial is here!
• Debut - Free software which enables you to record from a webcam, other devices or simply screen capture. Video saving options include .avi, .wmv, .asf .mpg, .3gp, .mp4, .mov and more! Allows users to set recording durations, set-up a time for recording to start and also automatically send the recorded video via email once the recording is done.
• Demoawy - Free basic windows based screen capturing program which will record screen to .avi or .wmv files. Hot Keys enable users to easily start/stop recording or hide the program window. Not the most popular of free services but it gets the job done.
• ICQ Webcam Recorder 3 - Popular for those seeking to share screen captures via ICQ, AIM, MSN, YAHOO messenger and Screen. Program loads video compressors making it as simple and easy as possible for fast and easy sharing possibilities.

The five services above are suitable to complete all basic video capturing tasks. If you are seeking a video capturing application with more bells and whistles then check out Camtasia Studio. Camtasia has better editing tools, multiple audio tracks, editable time line and various output formats. There is a slight learning curve but overall its still extremely user friendly. Best of all you can try it out free for 30 days and see if its worth the $299 to purchase. Check out the "Getting Started Tutorial" to see what they have to offer!

Technorati Tags: Free Video Capturing Software, Video Capture, Free Screen Capture, Video Editing Software Free

To Twine or Not to Twine

Semantic Web, Web 3.0, Smart Web; all are catch phrases associated with Twine. Might I add this was also one of the toughest beta invites to get a hold of. But I've had the pleasure to attain a beta invite and have been tinkering around with the service. At first glance, I was not digging the interface or lack of pizazz. After giving it a little time to get the gist of things....I'm hopeful.

What is Twine suppose to do?

• Automatically organize information, learn what your interests are and make recommendations based on your interests
• Allows for one central location for newsgroups, forums, social networking, databases and wikis
• RSS feeds to track multiple topics, events, comments etc
• Auto tagging: people, places, organizations and concepts related to items! You can add your own tags or simply use Twines discovered tags! (visible in orange)
• Bookmarking: using their bookmarklet which allows users to add content to twine right from the browser
• Email your items: Many of us email ourselves sites, attachments or messages with important points or great quotes! Now email them to twine and post it- the body of your email will appear in your twine.
• Connecting with others: Dual purpose for reaching out and connecting 1. Share information between users and 2. allows Twine to read what the shared interests of users are so theoretically it will provide better recommendations for information delivered.

Now in theory this service seems pretty cool! The issue is...it simply doesn't work. Well, not the way it's been hyped-up at least. Since it's still in Beta I won't rip the service apart on all its short comings, I will simply continue to use it (so that I give Twine a fair shot at better understanding my interests) and review it at a later time. Perhaps the tweaks and improvements are right around the corner.

Having other information, videos, sites & notes of interests delivered to me without the hassle of research should be dynamite!

P.S. One strong suggestion for Twine: Video Tutorial!

P.S.S. UPDATE: According to Nova Spivack (co-founder and CEO of Radar Networks / company created Twine) on a recent interview with CNET: 'Twine has about 7,000 users in private beta, as well as 40,000 standing in line for access'; so lucky for us to have snagged an invite and give it a test run! Also stay tuned for major enhancements due out for the summer and fall.

Thank you Mr. Spivack for the update!

Technorati Tags: Twine, Semantic Web, Smart Web Apps, Web 3.0, Twine Review, Social Networking, Smart Web

Video Search Optimization: SES NY 2008

The session on Video Search Optimization at SES New York this week reviewed the importance making your video available to your target audience.

Over all Eric Papczun, Director of Natural Search of Performics, Gregory Markel Founder/President of Infuse Creative and Arnaud Mauvais, Vice President, Truveo & Vice President, AOL hit key points regarding enhacing text content with videos.

Tips to follow to improve your online video presence:

• Enhance existing text content with Video Thumbnails! This makes a huge difference when the user selects which video to click.
• Encode for the right keywords (Title, description and keywords)
  *Remove metadata noise
• Use keywords in the file name separated by hyphen
• Video File Metadata and Page Optimization (Video File Metadata and page optimization)
• One video per URL (and avoid Flash and pop-ups)
• Surround video with on-page relevant text
• Upload Optimization (YouTube, Yahoo, AOL, etc)
• Allow video files to be embeddable and include logo watermark
• Brand yourself in video: easier to rank for video than text
• Link Global Footer

Also recommended was Everyzing.com, which is a SEO video tool!

As with traditional SEO, video SEO is extremely labor intensive therefore having proper title & description tags are important. Once you have optimized your videos share them! Link, embed, forward and mention your videos where ever your key audience would be!

Do not underestimate the power of videos online!

In February 2008 alone 116 million of internet users watched an average of 124 minutes of online videos! They viewed more than 5.9 billion video streams; 72% watched news video online 31 at least once a week. So the audience is there, its your job to make sure you make it as simple as possible for them to find you.

This post is based on notes sent by Dante Monteverde who is live at SES NY.

Technorati Tags: SES NY 2008, Video Search, Video Search Optimization, SEO Videos