I've recently had to write some documentation for my new job. As with any documentation, screenshots are essential. In the past I have taken the whole Print Screen, Paste into an image program (like GIMP or Paint), and save to disk approach.
A while back I had stumbled upon a program named Cropper, but hadn't taken the time to give it a test run. Since I didn't already have any screen capturing software on my new system, I figured now would be a good time!
After installing and starting cropper, all you are presented with is a small icon in your system tray. At this point, you could simply follow your normal Print Screen (or Alt-Print Screen) routine and Cropper will automatically start saving BMP files into it's default Save folder. You could also double-click the system tray icon (or press F8) and be presented with a transparent window that can be moved and resized to selectively capture certain portions of the screen.
You can also have Cropper automatically create Thumbnails of each screenshot you take, if so desired. In addition to outputting BMP files, you can also output to PNG or variable-quality JPG files as well as send directly to the Clipboard or the default printer.
With it's small install size, easy to use and unobtrusiveness features, and cost (free!) , I would highly recommend Cropper to anyone who needs to take screenshots.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000
I recently switched jobs and have come to realize how much I liked having the low-profile style keys that laptop keyboards. Most developers I know also share a similar view when they have to use a desktop computer for long periods of time.
For my new job I have a desktop, which is great since it's an Intel Core2 Duo with 3GB of RAM and 250GB HD of hard drive space along with a rather large LCD monitor (Dell 2007FP). The only draw back was the use of a regular (and somewhat cheap feeling) keyboard that came with it. If you've purchased a Dell system recently, you probably know the keyboard I'm talking about... the one that barely has any extra space between the keys and the edge of the keyboard itself.
After having used a laptop 90% of the time (my desktop at home uses a Sun Type-6 USB keyboard due to it's low profile keys) for the past 7 years, I quickly began to dislike it. So I went to a local office supply store looking for an inexpensive keyboard that had a wired connection with low-profile keys. Call me old-school, but I prefer wired keyboards since there is less of a chance that something will go wrong with them (driver issues, dead batteries, etc.)
There were several nice keyboards from Logitech and and others that had the low-profile keys, but most of them cost between $50 and $300 and were wireless. Then I found the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000.
It's a low-profile, low-cost (~$20) keyboard that has minimal 'extra' buttons, requires no drivers in order to use all of the buttons, and was wired. I had used this keyboard in the past briefly when setting up a server when our KVM died and liked it a lot. The 'curve' in the title refers to the fact that the keyboard curves about 6-degrees from the center of the keyboard, resulting in a more natural (ergonomic) design for your wrists. I have tried the broken keyboard designs in the past, but I found them really frustrating to use since I am not a touch-typer (but getting there).
After having used this keyboard extensively for the past week, I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially since it is so inexpensive.
For my new job I have a desktop, which is great since it's an Intel Core2 Duo with 3GB of RAM and 250GB HD of hard drive space along with a rather large LCD monitor (Dell 2007FP). The only draw back was the use of a regular (and somewhat cheap feeling) keyboard that came with it. If you've purchased a Dell system recently, you probably know the keyboard I'm talking about... the one that barely has any extra space between the keys and the edge of the keyboard itself.
After having used a laptop 90% of the time (my desktop at home uses a Sun Type-6 USB keyboard due to it's low profile keys) for the past 7 years, I quickly began to dislike it. So I went to a local office supply store looking for an inexpensive keyboard that had a wired connection with low-profile keys. Call me old-school, but I prefer wired keyboards since there is less of a chance that something will go wrong with them (driver issues, dead batteries, etc.)
There were several nice keyboards from Logitech and and others that had the low-profile keys, but most of them cost between $50 and $300 and were wireless. Then I found the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000.
It's a low-profile, low-cost (~$20) keyboard that has minimal 'extra' buttons, requires no drivers in order to use all of the buttons, and was wired. I had used this keyboard in the past briefly when setting up a server when our KVM died and liked it a lot. The 'curve' in the title refers to the fact that the keyboard curves about 6-degrees from the center of the keyboard, resulting in a more natural (ergonomic) design for your wrists. I have tried the broken keyboard designs in the past, but I found them really frustrating to use since I am not a touch-typer (but getting there).
After having used this keyboard extensively for the past week, I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially since it is so inexpensive.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Amazon's MP3 service
I recently made my first jump into digital media purchases. Up until this point I refused to purchase music from any of the online services that use Digital Rights Management technologies.
The iTunes store has a clean interface and an impressive catalog, but the DRM-laden AAC files do not play on my current digital music player of choice, a 2nd generation Dell DJ 20. All of the services that were compatible with my device used DRM-laden Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. I've heard countless stories from people who have purchased music only to have a computer/software glitch that renders their purchased music unplayable, so I never wanted to take the risk.
A few weeks ago, I heard that Amazon had recently opened up their MP3 store as a public beta, offering DRM-free 256Kbps MP3 files that are compatible with pretty much any digital music player available (past or present). After looking through the initial catalog offerings, I decided to take the plunge and make my first digital music purchase.
After installing the Amazon MP3 Downloader application (only required for albums, but useful for purchasing many singles at once), I decided to download Pablo Honey by Radiohead. I have owned this album since it was first released in 1993, but sadly only in Cassette format (without a cassette player for the past 5 years). After following the quick checkout procedure, the Amazon MP3 Downloader opened and my music files began downloading. After each file finished downloading, the application would add it to my Windows Media Player (or iTunes) library automatically.
When everything was all said and done, I opened up WMP and found (surprisingly) that everything had worked and transferred the files onto my DJ without hassle. I even made a physical copy of the CD to put into my home stereo just as easily (and using whatever application I wanted to do it with!).
I applaud Amazon for offering DRM-free MP3 tracks and the seamless downloading experience has left me a happy consumer, willing to purchase digital versions of albums that I only own in cassette format as well as new albums. I only wish that they would also provide cover & disc art to go along with album purchases so you could make your own physical CD's look nicer.
The iTunes store has a clean interface and an impressive catalog, but the DRM-laden AAC files do not play on my current digital music player of choice, a 2nd generation Dell DJ 20. All of the services that were compatible with my device used DRM-laden Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. I've heard countless stories from people who have purchased music only to have a computer/software glitch that renders their purchased music unplayable, so I never wanted to take the risk.
A few weeks ago, I heard that Amazon had recently opened up their MP3 store as a public beta, offering DRM-free 256Kbps MP3 files that are compatible with pretty much any digital music player available (past or present). After looking through the initial catalog offerings, I decided to take the plunge and make my first digital music purchase.
After installing the Amazon MP3 Downloader application (only required for albums, but useful for purchasing many singles at once), I decided to download Pablo Honey by Radiohead. I have owned this album since it was first released in 1993, but sadly only in Cassette format (without a cassette player for the past 5 years). After following the quick checkout procedure, the Amazon MP3 Downloader opened and my music files began downloading. After each file finished downloading, the application would add it to my Windows Media Player (or iTunes) library automatically.
When everything was all said and done, I opened up WMP and found (surprisingly) that everything had worked and transferred the files onto my DJ without hassle. I even made a physical copy of the CD to put into my home stereo just as easily (and using whatever application I wanted to do it with!).
I applaud Amazon for offering DRM-free MP3 tracks and the seamless downloading experience has left me a happy consumer, willing to purchase digital versions of albums that I only own in cassette format as well as new albums. I only wish that they would also provide cover & disc art to go along with album purchases so you could make your own physical CD's look nicer.
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