TechSmith corporation has released an update to Jing, the free screen capture/video capture tool. I ranted in January about a code change in that release that really bugged me. TechSmith responded here on my blog, and via e-mail, and today’s update addresses that issue (thank you TechSmith!) b...

Frustration The other day I came home to find Jane rather frustrated at the computer. She’d just ordered $40 worth of books from Half.com, but realized — two weeks after completing the order — that they were sent to an old email address with an unknown shipping address. The half.co...

As 2008 ended, I neglected to write a year-end wrap-up post because it seemed so trendy and cliché at the time, but now that 2009 has started, my muse has been prodding me to write it. A lot of good things happened in 2008. We bought a house in Eagle Mountain, moving from an apartment to a two-stor...

When you are writing content in Flare, you may decide that you want to re-use some content that you previously added to another topic. We’ve discussed before how the best way to do this is to use a snippet, which essentially is a really long, formatted variable. To do this in Flare, you create...

I've been a member of the STC Carolina chapter for over 10 years. During that time, I've volunteered in several positions and met a lot of people. Many of them also volunteered for the chapter. One problem we had was finding new volunteers. Many non-profits, in fact, face this problem. Organizations...

Who is to blame? In one of Alistair Christie’s recent podcasts, he interviews his 70-year-old mother about how she uses computers. Although they cover many topics in the interview, her tech guilt is the most salient part of the discussion. She blames herself for not understanding how to work c...

cross-posted from bub.blicio.us  I'm a social media consultant but really, in Cincinnati, that doesn't get me a lot of traction at the moment. So my bread and butter is instructional design and technical writing. It's not always the most exciting work, but it helps pay the bills. I...

In tech comm, you often have three layers of clients: (1) the project manager, (2) the business department sponsoring the project, and (3) the actual end users who will be using the system you’re developing. In most places I’ve worked, the project manager (PM) has been wary of me interac...

Today I bring you a random compilation of helpful little tips — for work, for home, or for dealing with kids, etc. — that I’ve learned in life. If you’re tired at work, rotate tasks on the half hour to stay productive. If you want to save money on toys, take your kids to a th...

One of the great things about blogging is that, for the most part, there is little lead time. You write something and then you publish it. If you’re lucky, you get feedback and if it is particularly good you get repeat visitors. You might write ahead, gathering several days or even weeks worth...