capture

The S Pen is the stylus that comes with the Samsung Galaxy Note. It can be used for things like taking notes, drawing doodles, and otherwise acting as a more precise version of your fingertip when using your phone.

These shortcuts are ones you'll definitely want to commit to memory as a Note user, especially since the S Pen does not interact with the capacitive navigation buttons near the bottom of the device.

Press and hold the S Pen button (on the side of the stylus), and tap once anywhere on the screen of the device. … Read more

Your Mac comes with some handy options for taking a quick screen grab, but sometimes you need a bit more. Most Mac users will recognize the Command-Shift-3 keystroke to take a screenshot of the whole screen or Command-Shift-4 to capture a selected area of your screen. But often you'll want to tell a story with that screenshot, and that's where popular image capture app Snagit comes in.

Snagit for Mac just had a major upgrade to version 2.0, and while it still hasn't reached feature parity with the Windows version, it's clear the folks at … Read more

Capture -- The Quick Video Camera is an iOS app that is so easy to use that it hardly requires a post outlining how to use it.

Briefly, when you launch the app, it starts recording video. Press your iPhone's Home button to stop recording. The app loads more quickly than the iPhone's native camera app, and it saves you from fumbling with the slider between taking photos or videos.… Read more

ScreenFlow is a popular screen-recording and editing tool for creating screencasts, such as presentations, tutorials, and product demos, on your Mac. This app can handle every aspect of pulling together a screencast, from high-quality screen capture (including the ability to grab iSight and DV camera data, and mic and computer audio) to editing and exporting, with built-in YouTube publishing.

Thanks to ScreenFlow's fairly intuitive interface (now with even more time-saving shortcuts and contextual menus), even novice users can assemble a basic screencast. Experienced users, on the other hand, will appreciate the app's more sophisticated touches, such as the … Read more

Scientists at Tel Aviv University say they have a novel idea for combating the negative effects rainforest deforestation is having on the planet.

The group, led by Amram Eshel and Aviah Zilberstein, professors at TAU's Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants, have successfully grown a forest of salt cedars in the Aravah Desert using only a small amount of recycled sewage water and salt water left over from desalination plants.

The scientists used different varieties of the botanical genus of salt cedar trees called Tamarix, which is indigenous to old-world deserts. They're known for thriving in … Read more

Have you ever felt the need to capture what's on your computer screen? There are plenty of free apps out there for a simple task like this, but what if you wanted to do more? What if you wanted to show your parents how to download and install iTunes, so they can start using their brand-new iPhones? Instead of trying to explain this over the phone, you can use FileStream Take-1 Recorder to record your voice and your computer screen and send them a how-to video directly. That way, your parents can open up the video and follow along … Read more

CyberLink PowerDirector 10 is a feature-packed video editor that boasts some serious improvements over its previous iteration. With its revamped TrueVelocity engine and OpenCL support, it makes editing and rendering a bit speedier than before. Plus, it's got built-in 3D support.

As for the basics, PowerDirector can import and handle most of the video file types you would normally come across. You can also use it to easily add text, effects, and transitions; edit audio; capture video; burn discs; and share content online. Plus, it has intuitive, icon-based navigation and ample thumbnails, making it quite easy to zip around … Read more

Screen-capture utilities are ubiquitous, with an ever-growing number of alternatives to the built-in Windows capabilities. ScreenShot is yet another entry in this wide field of competitors. Although there's nothing about this program that particularly impressed us, it's not a bad choice if you need a basic screen-capture tool. Its unique interface may appeal to those who like their programs to be extremely straightforward.

ScreenShot consists of a resizable window with seven buttons across the top. The window itself is transparent, and you simply move and resize it to select the desired area of your screen. Once it's … Read more

Ticket to Ride is another solid iPad adaptation of a classic board game, which has the same name, in which you race other players to build railroad routes across a map of the U.S. and southern Canada.

Fans of the board game (and its online version) will find this a satisfying reproduction of the original--but, of course, with the added bonus of not having to fumble with all the little pieces, cards, and bookkeeping. You can play a solo game in about 15 minutes, with no cleanup. If you don't know the game already, it's pretty easy … Read more