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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TROY! HAVE A GOOD ONE.

I created a several video this year which showed the activity of my PC's screen. Some of the videos included a video me in a small window. All of these videos included audio of me speaking while demonstrating various task on my desktop. In the past, I used TechSmith's Jing to create these videos. I still use Jing to annotate screenshots. This save me the effort copying the screenshot to the clipboard (alt-shift-prtscn) then using a graphics editor to annotate the image separately. Today I use Screencast-O-Matic It is free and very easy to use and is superior to the free version Jing software. But he real issue with these programs is that to get professional results you really need a good mic and good video editing software. The video you create without the use of a full featured video editing application may be OK, but it will almost certainly benefit from additional editing. There are plenty of free video editing tools available in fact Screencast-o-Matic and Jing come with some basic video editing functionality but you really would need something a bit more sophisticated for the best results. I used CyberLink PowerDirector, many other use Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro. The free video editing software that comes with your computer's operating system and the free video software available on the web is usually inadequate. The mic I use is the one that comes built into the very inexpensive little video camera that Microsoft sells in Staples. This mic is suitable for Skype chats but little more. As a result, my audio suffers. Sure the audio is adequate, but you can certainly hear the difference in videos where a better microphone is used. The other issue is background noise and the acoustics of the room you are recording in -- it all makes a difference. I guess the real issue is how much are you willing to trade off in terms of time, money, and effort in exchange for quality. Another issue to consider when making videos demonstrating software, at least for me is that I find it very hard to speak off the top of my head when making these videos. If I was in front of an audience it would be MUCH easier for me describe what I'm doing as that seems more natural. Speaking live while making the recording is just hard for me to do. I have to have a script. I published a 3 minute video today and it took about 3 hours create it from start to finish. Most of the time was wasted with multiple takes. I did not write a script, so I spent a lot of time starting, stopping, deleting, restaring. I thought I could have some time skipping the script, but I was wrong. The editing took the next biggest chunk of time. Again this is where good editing software helps I was able to edit out things and really improve the quality of the presentation. The finished product was much better than the original video, which was essentially unuseable. I did not strive for perfection because besides being impossible to achieve, I have to balance the effort required to make the video versus the benefit it would provide. ------------ All things being equal, better produced video simply outperform poorly produced videos. But, content high in demand can get away with lower production quality. One has to determine the production quality threshold for their audience and content. For example, this video which has a relatively high production quality will be viewed 12,000 times over an 8 year period (about 4 times a day), while this video,with much lower production quality, has been viewed 75 times a day over the same period--and has more than paid for itself through YouTube ads. What software do you use to create videos of your desktop? Do you have any tips for creating these types of videos? What videos have generated the most views and why?

Cynique Well, Pioneer, I am of the opinion that West and Smiley were suffering from serious cases of bruised egos. I think that because he supported Obama's presidential run, Cornel thought he was going to become one of the resident black academics in Obama's white house inner circle and Obama snubbed. him. And Tavis was quite miffed and obviously hurt that Obama declined to appear at the big black think tank convention he sponsored and which ran on C-Span. I really believe Ben Carson was jealous of Obama because Barak stole a lot of his "Super Negro" thunder and Ben always had a lot of snide things to say about him. 　 I think, too, that there was a certain element among black leaders who may not have wanted to be president, but who thought they could do a better job than Barack was doing and, again, this includes Carson. To be honest I wasn't COUNTING the silly negroes who aspouse right wing self-depricating beliefs like Herman "999" Cain, Alan "get your hands off me" Keyes, and Ben Carson whom I DO have a little more respect for than the other 2. It goes without saying they were "hating" on Obama. But what you said about the others makes more sense to me now that you've detailed it. But could Cornel seriously see himself as being a part of Obama's Cabinet or one of his top Advisors? I mean, could YOU see him sitting up at one of Obama's diplomatic meetings in Moscow or Beijing rocking back and forth with that big Afro, talking loud and getting all up in people's personal space....lol. CD Pioneer when has any president really focused on domestic policies that shape Black America? 1. Franklin D. Rooselvelt....by proxy giving Blacks tremendous economic benefit through the New Deal and WPA programs. Through housing projects, he also solved the housing crisis so many Black people in the cities found themselves in. 2. Lyndon B. Johnson....giving us political/legal assistance with the Civil Rights Act and numerous inner city jobs programs But all this was well over 40 years ago, no other president has really focused on helping the Black community in an effective manner since.....because we haven't demanded it. While I believe we as a people need to be more self reliant, I recognize that the concept of "rugged individualism" is just a myth usually used by conservative White men...who certainly don't practice it themselves. ALL groups who have achieved anything of value in the United States have benefited off of the government helping them in one way or another whether it's Blacks who depending on the Federal Government to rescue them from the oppression of State monarchies (Civil War, Jim Crow) or Whites who took advantage of the Homestead Act to get FREE land to build a a future for themselves or took advantage of the GI Bills to acquire homes in the suburbs....ruining the property value of America's inner cities. Or Asian/Arab immigrants who benefit off of Federal government tax breaks and immigration policies that invite them in for an education and economic opportunities. Not only do other groups IN AMERICA benefit off of the government, nearly the entire REST OF THE WORLD benefits off of our Federal government in the form of foreign aid. Think about the billions of dollars sent to help the economies of Japan, South Korea, Russia, China, and other nations we are supposedly in "competition" with. But when it comes to helping fellow Americans, especially the Black man and woman in the city....they say stop asking for a hand out and pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. It would be one thing if Blacks were LEFT ALONE to scrap up enough money and resources to build their own businesses like the old days, but today not only is there an economic challenge to come up with the money but too often a LEGAL challenge when it comes to trying to start up your own business with zealous lawyers and other legalists who sit around making up unnecessary laws and policies and hoops to jump through just to open up a hotdog stand. I'm not sure about Memphis but back in the 1970s when Black folks made up less than a third of Detroits population we managed to elect a bold Black mayor, and owned hundreds if not thousands of Black businesses in the city. 10 years later afer Ronald flip-Wilson Reagan came into office most of those businesses were destroyed and many of the Black politicians were indicted and persecuted and the Black neighborhoods began to deteriorate. Reagan and his conservative allies at the state and local levels did this through LAWS, CODES, and POLICIES that went around nit-picking and finding faulth with the paper work and legality of many Black businesses causing them to constantly be in and out of court, renewing liscences, and filling out tons of paper work....all in an effort to crush their morale. This is why we need a FRIEND in the White house. We not only need someone who looks out for us economically but POLITICALLY too, to change and challenge adverse laws that seem to target small and Black businesses in an effort to limit Black success. Everyone who sends a man to office EXPECTS something from him. Everyone has their hand out....that's politics. No man is an island that he can do everything FOR himself BY himself. You need allies and friends. What good is a guy in office who ain't doing anything for you?

Happy Birthday Trouble T-Roy ! Point that shoulder in this direction so I can pound out them years....lol. I saw the title and didn't know WHAT the hell this thread was about. I thought Cynique might have gotten some good news from TurboTax or something and decided to share it with us.

Happy Birthday, Troy.

I will not reveal myself by allowing my precious account here to go to the netherworld. Nor will I allow my published works to be removed by posting under my account. However I do like to see a phony old harridan get her comeuppance on an online forum where she thinks her feces isn't smelly. Sara soulja on!