Capture This!

In today's climate of share-it-all, a good screen capture program is a must-have. I just checked out this newest one, Screenshotcaptor, from DonationCoder. While not as easy or intuitive as some others, it is very powerful, allowing you to capture full screens, regions, windows, you name it, and to save them in a variety of file formats. After a 30-day trial, the program requires you to make a donation to get a license key, my favorite kind of pricing structure.

Burn Baby Burn

CD Burner XP is a free program that burns CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray, etc.

Analyze This

<-- Freud's couch Here's a very detailed report comparing web analytics packages, including Google Analytics. I've used Google Analytics but became rather lost in its extensive business schema. If you can afford it, Google Search has a terrific program that lets you see what users are typing in your search box and where they are taken within your site. Using that method, you can begin to see where people want to go on your site and how to map the proper pages to their requests, resulting in a happier search experience for everyone! (Are you listening, Slippery Rock University?)

For those desiring a simple count and amount, I would like to recommend StatCounter -- free and actually very informative, even providing a little map of your last 100 users, visitor paths, search engines, etc.

Wellcome to Free Images

Wellcome Images provides a wide variety of historical and contemporary images under a Creative Commons license, including images for wellness, war, witchcraft (?) and other high quality images from "2000 years of human culture."

Does This Look Like Your Desk?

It doesn't take long for your desk to look like this, I know. A few short weeks of classes or a paper due inevitably disrupt the cleaning routines of the most dedicated. Yet there is hope in the form of the many free online tools to organize your intellectual life. Check out this list of the "top 10 back-to-school tools" from Lifehacker to help save you time and keep your "stuff" organized on your computer and off your desk!

"I Want to Give Bill Gates a Big Hug"

There's something you don't hear everyday, but that's what one of our students said yesterday after a Microsoft Office 2007 workshop with Brian Danielson. Here's what inspired that expression of affection:









In the new Word 2007, you can insert citations into your documents smoothly and painlessly under the References tab. And then.... you click on Bibliography and Word creates it for you in the style of your choice! Microsoft must be paying attention to all of those little applications and hacks and competitors and has made life easier for students everywhere. Office 2007 has been installed on student workstations all over the library. Feel the love!