On the Mac, SimpleShare sits in the menubar, and the app uses the same keyboard shortcuts for taking screenshots as OS X’s built-in tools. It’s similar to the GrabBox app I’ve written about previously for uploading screenshots to Dropbox, but the addition of a screencasting tool and the ability to upload other files makes SimpleShare even more useful. On Windows, the app’s icon lives in the task bar and uses different keyboard shortcuts, but otherwise works in the same way to the Mac version.

SimpleShare’s screencasting feature is pretty bare-bones, with none of the controls or editing features you get in a dedicated tool like Camtasia. You can select a region of the screen to record and that’s about it. However, it’s good enough to make a quick recording of something happening on your screen, and could be very useful for sharing rough and ready demo videos to document a process for colleagues, or to record a problem with a website to share with technical staff, for example. Screencasts are recorded as Flash files (.flv format) so can be instantly replayed by anyone you share them with, with no need for them to download any additional software.

SimpleShare is free and available to download for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 7 64-bit,  and Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6. It requires a Box.net account; a personal account including 5GB of storage is free.

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I think adding this option is a good thing, even though sharing Jing captures wasn’t hard to do previously, as it provides a handy shortened URL for the capture for you to paste into Twitter or IM. My only complaint is that this Twitter button doesn’t automatically appear after installing Jing. You have to actually edit the toolbar and add the Twitter button but only after authorizing Jing to access your Twitter account by entering your Twitter PIN. What was that? You didn’t know you had a Twitter PIN? I didn’t either, so don’t feel bad. Fortunately, Jing does provide quick access to a page that reveals your Twitter PIN, which you can then copy and paste.

The first thing you’ll need to do is edit your Sharing button preferences. Right-click the Jing icon in the system tray and select “More,” then click “Preferences” and select “Customize Sharing Buttons.” You will see the following screen:

Click the “New” button and you’ll see a bevy of new choices to add to your toolbar including the Twitter service, Flickr and YouTube (available to Pro accounts only). To add Twitter click the Get twitter PIN button which will let you authorize Jing to access your Twitter account. Just copy and paste the pin number and click authorize to complete the process.

Here’s what you’ll see after you’ve captured an image or movie sequence and saved it to your local computer or online with the new Jing.

When you click the Twitter button you’ll see the following screen, where you can enter your message and send it to Twitter, along with a shortened URL for your new screen capture or screencast movie.

What’s your favorite screencasting tool?

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Here’s a look at how easy it is to get started using it.

CamStudio is a very lightweight (under 2 megabytes) application that records all screen and audio activity on your computer and creates AVI video files out of them. Using its built-in SWF Producer module, you can turn the AVIs into Streaming Flash videos (SWFs). The application is easy to use, and light enough to carry around on any USB thumb drive; you can then save your creations right to the thumb drive at file sizes that you control.

In CamStudio, you can record the actions you’re performing using the red circle control at the left of the toolbar, as seen below. The Pause Recording button is just to the right of that, and the blue square is the Stop Recording button. CamStudio records audio in real-time, so you can voice-annotate what you’re doing. If you click on the second tool from the right on the toolbar, a dialog box pops up through which you can type annotations that you want to show up as your video plays (useful if you’d prefer no audio in your screencast).

CamStudio also has a Movie Player module, where you can playback your recordings, and the Zoom menu option will let you look at what you’ve recorded in either larger or smaller formats. The Movie Player is seen below, and its as easy to use as a DVD player.

One of the best applications for CamStudio is recording a tutorial on any software application, or showing another user how a particular web site works. You also have a lot of control over how you want to customize the look of your videos. You can use custom cursors, specify portions of larger screens that you want to record on their own, and you can also ratchet the quality of your videos up or down, according to the file sizes you prefer.

CamStudio is completely free, and it’s a lot easier to learn how to use than higher-end applications such as Camtasia. Try it out for tasks such as showing on-screen tasks and applications to others.

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Have you tried Multiple Inboxes? What do you think?

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