I is for International

NCH Software ABCs Series

There's no doubt about it, NCH Software is an international company. Over a span of nearly 20 years, NCH Software has set up base out of Canberra, Australia, established a second office in Denver, Colorado, and has remote employees clocking in from several other countries spanning the globe. Our customers are international too: not only are people downloading and using our software in multiple English speaking countries, but our most popular applications are also being translated into Spanish, French, German and Japanese to make our software even more accessible worldwide.

Our localization specialists translate the user interface, test for country-specific appropriateness and suggest changes to better adapt applications to non-English speaking markets. They also translate web content so that French, German, Japanese and Spanish-speaking Internet users can find, download and purchase our software securely in their own language from start to finish.

We are also international in retail with software available in stores across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom�a list we hope to expand as we continue grow. We also plan to continue translating our software products and programs to continue bringing you easy-to-use, affordable software solutions no matter where you happen to be�from Australia to Deutschland, or even a deserted island.

Take a look at what NCH Software has to offer in the language of your choice:

• English
  
• Espa�ol
  
• Fran�ais
  
• Deutsch
  
• ???
  

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Recording Screencast Tutorials with Debut

Guest post by Dalvin Aboagye

I'm sort of what you call a tech-oriented person and usually know my way around tech products. I maintain a YouTube channel dubbed Tech Time HD where I review and critique products sent by a myriad of companies, and cover tech rumors and news sometimes as well. I first started out on YouTube doing tutorials, so I needed a screen recording software solution to make these screen casting tutorials. I tried other software such as Cam Studio and Fraps but they didn't cut it for me. I stumbled upon Debut Video Recording Software whilst browsing Google. My first impression when I installed it was that it was a bit gimmicky and I wasn't impressed with the user interface, but after a couple weeks of using Debut I took back everything I said. The UI is very easy-to-use and intuitive, it doesn't gobble up on system resources as much as other programs I had tried, it supports a wide variety of video formats and has a great set of features�even the free version. I found myself hooked and would recommend it to anyone and everyone who needs to record a screencast, capture card or webcam. You won't regret downloading the trial, and you surely won't regret buying the software. My only wish is that the watermark feature was included in the free version, but it's a small price to pay for such great recording software.

Having Fun While Learning to Type

One of the pivotal points in my career came when I attended the 2006 Game Developers Conference and happened to attend a presentation given by Ian Bogost. I had long been interested in developing games, but I also struggled with the idea that video games might be harmful to society. Mr. Bogost's ideas pointed me in a different direction though. Games can teach.

I attended the Serious Games Summit in Washington, D.C. the following fall and became enamored with the thought of using game technology to benefit society. Games, as it turns out, are the perfect training and teaching tools. However, games must be fun if they are to teach.

Every element of gameplay in the KeyBlaze typing game, Word Blizzard, is focused on improving an aspect of typing�while you�re having fun. In Word Blizzard, the emphasis was placed on speed, but things like eye tracking and rhythm were also considered. And fun. We chose real-life words because they matter, but we also included obscure words to challenge the mind and improve finger-key recognition. Then we added more fun.

There will be more games coming to KeyBlaze typing tutor in the future, so I hope you give us your feedback on how our games are helping your typing improve.

Choosing the Best FTP Software: Classic FTP and Fling

File Transfer Protocol, also known as FTP, can be a very useful tool when we know how to utilize it. It is used for transferring files from computer to computer on a network. Most commonly, it is used by web developers to upload web pages to a web hosting server. You can also use FTP to back up files on your computer by setting up an FTP account on any FTP service provider.

NCH not only offers a straightforward FTP solution with Classic FTP, but also offers Fling, which streamlines the uploading and synchronization process. Classic FTP is a traditional ftp client offering the latest FTP features, allowing you to upload or download files manually, or synchronize your local directory with the remote directory. Fling was originally designed specifically for maintaining our website, so if you manage a website or need to synchronize local and remote data, Fling is absolutely the FTP software you need! Fling integrates directly with Windows Explorer and can be set to automatically upload file changes. FTP file management has never been easier.

Whether you want to manage one website or several, or simply back up or share files, FTP software will make the process both easy and efficient. Just like the rest of our software, Classic FTP and Fling are easy-to-use and have free 14-day trials, so you can download and start exploring just how easy file transfer can be and make sure you find the best FTP client for transferring your files.

H is for Hardware

NCH Software ABCs Series

Hardware and software can't help but go hand in hand. You need a computer to run your software, a microphone to record audio, a video camera to capture videos, a phone for your apps and the list goes on. Despite being two distinct things, you cannot accomplish much with one and not the other. What can you do with a computer and no software? Or software without a computer for it to be installed on? Which is why so many of our software products have a section on the webpage or in the help talking about hardware related to that program.

AltoEdge is our sister company and carries hardware that compliments and has been tested with our software programs. For example, you can find foot pedals to go with Express Scribe. Video capture devices to help you connect older camcorders or VCRs to your computer so you can digitize old home movies. Then you can use VideoPad to edit and remaster, Express Burn to burn to DVD, or share them online. For the audio enthusiast there are microphones, headsets, mixing consoles and more audio equipment to help you record, mix, listen and produce high quality audio with our audio programs.

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I is for International >>>

What About My HD Home Videos?

I like to think of myself as a fairly multimedia-friendly parent. After all, my wife and I are pretty good about sharing our digital photos via email, Facebook, and an assortment of other avenues for getting pics out to family and friends, you know?

...But then, what about all those digital videos we've recorded? We have one of those great "Flip"-style cameras that takes HD video, and even phones that take high-def video, so we have some great videos to share!

Unfortunately, the options sharing for HD video aren't as simple as for pictures. Video files can be huge, especially in HD, precluding email for all but the shortest clips. Social media sites like Facebook or YouTube have length and size restrictions, and the time it takes to upload/download can be daunting, even on higher-speed internet connections.

So, what can I do with my HD videos? Internet, email, and social-media sites are limited, so I've started looking into physical media, and burning videos to disc. DVD is fairly ubiquitous nowadays, but because it's an older standard-definition format, I would end up losing quite a bit of the high-definition detail in my videos. I've also thought about sending data-discs with my video files, but that won't work for people who don't have computers, and I won't know if they even have the right software installed to play the files. What's the next option? Well, most of my family and friends who have high-def TVs have Blu-ray players, but is there something out there that will let me put my HD videos on a *playable* Blu-ray to share with friends and family?

...Fortunately, the answer is yes! Earlier this year NCH Software released a new version of their Express Burn disc-authoring/burning software, and it now supports Blu-ray video playable in any Blu-ray player. It works fine with my Blu-ray burner drive, and it's very simple to use; I just pick my HD videos (Blu-ray dics hold hours of them), re-order them as desired, and hit "Burn Blu-ray Video". Express Burn does the rest - it handles all the conversion to Blu-ray format, and burns it all to the disc. Re-encoding those HD videos can take a little time, but I can go make dinner while it's running, and the result is a Blu-ray that even my Dad can just pop in the Blu-ray player and watch.

How Many People Can You Stream Media To?

If you have music, audio files or videos that you want to share with your friends or put on a business website, you have a lot of options including posting on Facebook, YouTube, web servers and more. BroadWave streaming audio software and BroadCam streaming video software are a wonderful choice for hosting and sharing files with people directly from your computer, making it easy to put content up, take content down, invite specific people to listen or view, or even stream live content in addition to pre-recorded content.

But then the question becomes how many people can listen or view your content at once? To figure out how large an audience you can handle, you need to know two things. What the outgoing bandwidth is on your internet connection, and the bitrate of the file or stream that you are broadcasting. For example, if you have a podcast streaming at 128 kbps and you have 1536 kbps of upload bandwidth, you can support 1536/128 = 12 simultaneous listeners.

To help you make the calculations for your computer, here is a Streaming Bandwidth Calculator and an Internet Speed Test that can tell you what your download and upload speeds are.