It didn't used to. When Apple gave us their first preview of OS X 10.7, code named Lion, Jing rolled over and played dead. In fact, all of TechSmith's screen recording software tools choked on the new OS. This wasn't good.

Our development teams went into hyperdrive and came up with a new way to capture screen video on Macs and the updated versions of our products released today are testaments to the agility of our development organization as a whole.

For Jing specifically, this release also marks the last update for PowerPC Macs. PPC Mac users won't be prompted to upgrade to a newer version of Jing until they migrate to a newer Mac platform. We didn't want to cut the PPC users out and leave them high and dry as that would suck, and isn't our style.

Download the new version now! (It will work on your current operating system AND on Lion when it's released.)

To be clear:

• Today's Jing for Mac update supports Lion (in addition to previously supported OS versions).
• All Mac Jing users should install the update (even PPC Mac users).
• From today forward, Mac PPC users will no longer receive Jing updates. However, today's version can still be used indefinitely.

As always, if you notice anything unusual after updating to this new version of Jing, or want to send us feedback please let us know. Thank you for using Jing...Rrrraaaarrrr!

-Dirk Frazier, Jing and Screencast.com Product Manager

PS - If you use Snagit or Camtasia on Mac, those apps have been updated to be ready for the Lion release, too.

The Jing team has been hard at work adding three more improvements to Jing--proxy support, SFTP, and audio device selection. The first two are targeted at our corporate and education users. If you've ever tried to use Jing behind a proxy...well, notsomuch huh? We now try to autodetect the proxy settings and allow for manual settings with authenticated proxy support.

We hope everyone appreciates the new way you can select your audio device from within Jing. No more messing around with the default audio input device. When you install this update, Jing will prompt you to pick which microphone you want to use when you make your next video. Jing will keep using the same device unless you change it or your available audio devices change.

Click the links below to view the help topic for each feature.

Proxy Server Support

Secure FTP

Audio Device Detection

We're not done yet. There's still room for improvement. We think there's lots of ways to make the process of creating short videos and annotated images way quicker and easier...because that's what Jing does.

Here are the latest Jing improvements!

• Facebook integration. You can post to your Wall using either the free version of Jing or Jing Pro.



• Branding is removed from Screencast.com viewing pages if you are a Jing Pro user.



• An interactive tutorial/simulation is presented to users when they install Jing. You can also use it online, here.



• We've also made easier to manage your subscription from within Jing.

Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of people that use Jing. There are those that try it, love it and often send us requests for additional features. We listen hard to these requests.

Then there are those that try Jing, then quit using it for some reason. We wanna hear from these people too. We work hard to learn where Jing is letting them down.

One thing that clearly needed improvement was the Jing update process. Jing used to require updating as soon as a new version was detected. And it was possible this might happen right as you're trying to capture and share. You literally couldn't use Jing until you updated. Sorry about that. It's better now though. The update process is much friendlier and forgiving.

To explain it, here's Bill and his Jing Art flower:

"We've changed the update process in this release so the NEXT time Jing wants to update, there'll be a 14-day grace period before requiring the update. Jing'll also allow you to know what's in the update before you install it. Hopefully, that'll allow shares to be completed, while still getting the latest and greatest features and fixes.

And if you ever ended up in the loop where Jing says there's an update, you update and it says there's an update, you update and..., this release should stop that nonsense. We haven't yet solved the problem. We think a proxy server or browser might be caching the old version, but we aren't sure. But now Jing should only let you know about the update when it's SURE it's got it. Let us know if you see it happen again...on the NEXT release."

You may have heard? Both free and Pro versions of Jing now have the ability to go straight to Twitter. Now you can easily add images and screencasts from your computer...to your tweets!

So in the spirit of Jing's latest headline feature, we've created some feature bullet points in under 140 characters. If you have a feeling your followers might be especially interested in one of these Jing improvements, send a Retweet. Or better yet, get the latest Jing and include a Jing in your tweet.

• After THIS update, Jing's updates will be more flexible & know what's in the update beforehand. What else is new? http://bit.ly/5EPJVO
• Jing's IMPROVED signup process--When you tell your friends to get Jing it'll be smoother for them. What else is new? http://bit.ly/4Nll4g
• Have a life outside of work? Use your SC.com account for work, and create another for play! New Jing stuff: http://bit.ly/5F5wXb
• Add images and screencasts to your tweets in an instant with Jing! What else is new? http://bit.ly/57aTMA

So, that's about it for now. We're off to plan for the next release so keep your suggestions coming.

Hey, Jingers! I'm Jim, a Mac Developer here at TechSmith. I'm the guy who wrote most of the Twitter functionality for the Mac version of Jing. This is a feature we've talked about for a while, and I'm stoked to see it shipping for both Mac and Windows (and for both Free and Pro versions of Jing).

Working with the Jing team to design and implement this feature was a blast. We evaluated a ton of other Twitter clients along the way, drawing as much inspiration as possible. We tried to take the best parts of what we've seen, add in a little TechSmith magic, and still make it feel natural. We hope you like it.

The coolest part, in my opinion, is the in-line progress bar that shows up while your media gets sent off to Screencast.com. It was a bit harder to write than I expected, but I'm completely geeked about it now. We weren't 100% sold on the design at first, but it turned out to be a great way to let you write your tweet and upload at the same time where many clients only let you do one. I'll show you what I mean in this short video clip.

We're always looking for feedback on everything we do. Did we hit the nail on the head? Did we miss something crucial? Let us know. Every blog comment and piece of feedback gets read.

The addition of a Twitter output in Jing is clearly a noticeable update. However, two more changes coming on December 8th might go unnoticed by most people.

On Mac, Don made improvements to the History that will be especially appreciated by anyone who has their History filled with hundreds or thousands of captures. It has to do with speed and memory improvement and Don will talk more specifically about those later.

On Windows, our uber-intern, Dennis, refactored the code for the capture selection window and it's dramatically improved.

I sat down with Dennis to learn more details. Check out his Jing Art glasses.

Mike: Dennis, I'd love to tell our readers about your improvements to the selection window...but I don't really understand it. Can you explain what you did?
Dennis: I significantly reduced the lines of code, but more importantly the code is much easier to follow now.
Mike: What does your work mean for our users?
Dennis: Essentially, the idea of improving the code in the selection window was to improve the user experience of both selecting an area to capture on the screen and make it easier and safer for any future modification or improvement we may wish to make as developers. Key points are:

• The best thing is that future modifications of this process for us will be easier and less risky
• You might see minor speed improvements
• The selection process should feel somewhat more natural and stable

About two months ago, we asked for your feedback about how the new snap to region/aspect ratio should work.

The core internal debate was whether we should show all available dimensions at once or just the next closest dimension. 97 people told us something, but by the time we had to lock down the decision, it was slightly in favor of Prototype A--show one region at a time.

However a number of people asked for both.

Ok, fair enough. :) So here's how it panned out. On the Mac, we got it in. You can display one dimension (default) or ALSO hold the alt/option key if you want to see all available dimensions. Windows doesn't have this ability yet, but we'll get it in there. (Tempting to blame the intern, but that wouldn't be fair or true.) For now, think of this little option on the Mac as something of an Easter egg.

Now, on to working on the next Jing release! If we start another food fight in the lunch room debating the "right way" to do something we'll be sure to ask for your feedback again!