We’ve been slaving away building new ways for video contributors (like you) to enhance, promote, and track the fun, imaginative how-to videos you share with the Howcast Community. Today, we’re excited to introduce you to some easy ways to enhance your video with printable step-by-step instructions and easy-to-apply polished on-screen graphics and thumbnail images.

Just In: The Wall Street Journal beat us to the punch in introducing our new video enhancement tools in this morning’s The Mossberg Solution:

In order to make it easier for average users to upload better-looking videos, Howcast provides an Upload and Enhance tool that simply and quickly adds professional-looking graphics and printable steps to go along with how-to videos. This formula makes videos more enjoyable to watch.
- Katherine Boehret, “How to Teach Yourself How to Do Almost Anything” May 7, 2008

Be A Better Teacher - Go Step-by-Step

Create step-by-step instructions, tips, warnings, and facts for your video that users can follow along and print out for future reference. Don’t worry, control freaks: it’s easy to “click and drop” instructions, tips, warnings and facts to the perfect spot in your video:

Polish Your Video With a Single Click

With a single click (and without a lick of editing software), you can now add professional, polished on-screen graphics to your video (just like the graphics on videos from Howcast Studios). You can add:

1. A Title Card showing off the title you’ve already crafted.
2. Sleek Step Animations subtly indicating the arrival of the your next step.
3. Handy Tip, Warning & Fact Animations displayed along with Howcast’s signature Tip Ding! sound. (Think Pop-up Video but remixed for your how-to viewing pleasure.)

Don’t Just Take Our Word For It.

Howcast members are already polishing up their videos with these graphics. We particularly love how The Natural Princess has already started spicing up her great recipe videos with our steps and notes. (My favorite’s definitely How To Make Chipotle Homefries. Yum.)

Get Judged by Your Cover

Thumbnails really are the book cover of the modern age. Catch a viewer’s eye with the thumbnail image that best expresses what your video is all about.

Pick the best image from the three thumbnails Howcast auto-magically pulls from your video on upload.

Or, upload your own thumbnail image by visiting My Videos and clicking Edit Video after your upload is complete.

Give It a Whirl…

Upload a new video or spiff up your existing library, today. Some of these goodies are still in beta, so don’t be shy. Let us know what you think.

Sanjay & Henry

DKMS + Howcast

We’re very proud to introduce two very fun, very informative how-to videos we produced with DKMS (the world’s largest marrow donor center) to show folks How To Register To Donate Bone Marrow and How To Donate Bone Marrow.

Become a Superhero

Released in time for DKMS’ Linked Against Leukemia Gala, these videos help raise awareness of just what’s involved in registering (and eventually) donating bone marrow to save the lives of those suffering from Leukemia.

Watch, Learn and Spread The Word

Email these videos to your friends and family. Its easy to do, just click the envelope button on the player below, enter in a few email addresses, add a quick note and hit Send. Of course, if you haven’t already done so, register to become a bone marrow donor, today.

How To Register To Donate Bone Marrow

How To Donate Bone Marrow

Darlene

Many online video makers already rely on the super services of TubeMogul to distribute content to the web’s best video sites with a single upload.

Starting today, Howcast will be on the list of sites video makers can “launch” (for the unitiated, that’s TubeMogul’s term for a sending a video to a website) videos to, right there alongside YouTube and MySpace.

Simply check the box and pick us too!

If you’re a already a TubeMogul user, you can share your how-to library on Howcast without having to upload anything else. It’s also a no-brainer to keep your profile fresh, by launching your latest uploads to Howcast.

If you don’t use TubeMogul yet and you distribute your content to more than one site, you should check it out. It’s an excellent way to manage, promote, and track your online distribution.

No worries though, you’ll always be able to upload directly to Howcast.

Howcast’s partnership with TubeMogul is just one of the many ways Howcast is working on to make it easier for how-to video makers to reach an engaged audience.

So next time you’re at TubeMogul, don’t forget to blast your content off to Howcast!

–Heather Menicucci

It was love at first site! Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder really enjoyed our How to Create a Baby-headed Dancing Frog video, and so did some of his readers–”Best DIY mod EVAR!”

Thankfully anyone can have a tattooed animatronic creature of their very own to love, because we’ve got the how-to right here in our Weird Science playlist.

Thanks Mark! Thanks Boing Boing! We’re honored that our creature feature caught your eye.

Tax time is here again, which always makes me wonder: What did that Boston Tea Party really accomplish? I mean, honestly: Did our Founding Fathers really mean for us to work four months out of the year just to pay our annual taxes?

Well, never mind. It is what it is. So at least we’re going to try to make it as painless as possible for you.

Our Tax Man Cometh Playlist offers practical help on how to file your taxes last minute , get an extension, and so on, as well as ingenious ways to evade your taxes altogether. (If you play that last one right, you’ll never need our advice on how to bluff and brazen your way through a tax audit.)

For those of you out there who still haven’t embraced e-filing and will be far, far away from your computer this week, here’s a link to all of our Tax Return Wiki Guides. Why not print them out in advance?

Oh, and for all of you who are looking forward to a tax refund? Don’t be so smug: It just means you overpaid last year.

Rosemarie

April 1 is a great day for angry office workers: It’s the one day of the year when you can make a fool out of your foes in the name of a national holiday — and they can’t get mad without looking like a bad sport!

To that end, Howcast has provided a Fool Proof April Fool’s Day Playlist showing you a dozen ways to get under your co-workers’ skin, from booby-trapping their office to rigging the office toilets. Check it out…

Oh, and remember that April Fool’s Day begins at home — and there’s no reason not to celebrate April Fool’s Day year round. Is there ever a bad day to short-sheet a roommate’s bed or tinker with the shower to bathe them in chicken soup?

I’ve got so much blog love to squeeze into this post; but that’s okay because that love has got to make it all the way to Ireland and back again. Without further ado, my latest report on Howcast’s adventures in the blogosphere:

• Real live Irishman (and ice cream man), Kieran Murphy of IceCreamIreland.com, gave our How To Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Like an Irishman his stamp of approval! Back here in the states, Blissful Travel said our Big Apple advice, How To Pretend You’re a Real New Yorker and How To Take a Cab in New York City, was both hysterical and helpful.
• Two of Howcast’s favorite bloggers, Em & Lo of the DailyBedpost.com, said our tips on eating your way to a better sex life were better than the Today Show’s. (Watch out Matt Lauer!) Turns out, they like our body and our mind: TheElasticWaist.com recommended How To Practice Buddhist Loving-Kindness Meditation for taking a little Zen break; and It’s All About Yoga, liked our (duh) Yoga videos, but also added: “seriously, check it out — you won’t believe the range of topics.”
• ChickSpeak.com called our How To Dress For a Job Interview “fool-proof.” Thanks ladies…coming from those stylish gals, that means a lot!
• Parents magazine’s GoodyBlog (although first distracted by How To Get Into a Nightclub and Pretend You’re a Real New Yorker) fell in love with our Kids’ projects and cute graphics. Lots of bloggers dig our DIY projects–Tending the Electric Kindergarten and Modern Girl Style were inspired to get to work by our Crafts & Hobbies videos.
• Jetson Green applauded our efforts to go green, citing Howcast’s customized video player with print-outs as extra helpful.
• Decor8 really liked how Howcast advice comes straight from pros like the Home Refiner, Ford Models, and The Flower God. She even called our set “so Blueprint.” That makes me so happy!
• Last but not least, MajorGeeks.com honored fellow gadget guru, Kipkay, with a popular link to his How To Make a Homemade Lie Detector. Thanks guys…we love Kip too!

Don’t forget, if you’re a blogger and you’d like to be included in my blogosphere meet and greets, drop me a line. I may even share some sneak peeks with you…

-Heather
heathermenicucci [at] howcast.com

Does “going green” make you think of tedious things like recycling stinky tuna cans and carpooling? Us too. That’s why we’re deliriously happy that, every March 17, being green means the opposite of self-denial – par-tay!

Eat, drink and be merry, Irish-style

And since no one appreciates an excuse to whoop it up like Howcast, we’ve provided tips on how to eat, drink and be merry, Irish-style.

For the lads, there are guides on how to pour a perfect Black & Tan and how to make green beer.

For the lasses, there’s advice on how to get a leg up on the competition when it comes to picking up a handsome fireman (and, yes, there’s more to it than walking into a pub, thank you very much).

Best of all, there’s a recipe for green pizza that one of our chefs whipped up for those of you who love the Irish but are less charmed by their cuisine (in other words, everyone). Even our resident Irishman, Michael, approves!

Playlist: Get Your Irish Up!

And remember, please drink responsibly – bring enough cash to pay for your round.

Rosemarie

Update:

Our San Francisco office really took this post to heart, ending a long day at Schroeder’s to raise a toast to old Paddy: Pics on Flickr.  Looks like a good time was had by all.

Meanwhile, back in NYC, we celebrated old Paddy by treating ourselves to a buttery slice of Irish Soda Bread made by yours truly, using one of our very own Howcast Wiki Guides: How to Make Irish Soda Bread.

While we launched less that a month ago, we’ve been hard at work building new ways for you to get more out of Howcast.

Today, we’re launching the Howcast Google Gadget – a great way to start your day with Howcast on your iGoogle page (or anywhere on the web you’d like to see a little bit of Howcast, like your blog or website).

Simple, easy and free.

The Howcast Google Gadget shows you popular Howcast videos right on your iGoogle Page (or anywhere you embed our gadget, we’ve even added it to this post to give you a sneak peak:)

You can watch our newest, featured, most popular and top rated videos or search for something specific you want to learn how to do — all without leaving the gadget or your iGoogle page.

(Of course, you’re always welcome to drop by Howcast.com to do some serious browsing.)

Add the Howcast Google Gadget to your iGoogle page, today.

Jesse

(TIP: If you don’t have an iGoogle page yet, set one up first. Browse to http://www.google.com/ig and click “Get Started”. Once you’ve got your page all set up, add the Howcast Gadget to your iGoogle page and enjoy.)

What’s that word when you give a eulogy for someone who’s not dead? A condominium? An aquarium? An encomium?

Well let me just say this: Tom Bender is not dead.

“Who is this Tom Bender?” you might be asking yourself, and, “Why the condominium?” Well, the answers are many-fold. Tom Bender is…

• a gifted editor
• a brilliant director
• an expert documentarian
• a non-practicing physicist
• a super-fast talker
• a stand-up guy
• a valued contributor to the world of Howcast who is (sniff) leaving us today

Tom came aboard as an assistant editor back in… I don’t know, June? July? One weekend Tom roved around with a camera and made How Not to Get Mugged — which immediately became one of our favorites — its classically Howcast: fun, entertaining and actually useful.

Every video Tom has made since, has been funnier and more lovingly crafted than the last — from How to Have Safe Sex to How to Get an Internship. Check out his Howcast Profile to see for yourself: http://www.howcast.com/users/bender

Today is Tom’s last day at Howcast, though we know he’ll be back someday. Tom is continuing on the path he created for himself at Howcast — directing new projects from a unique, fresh angle. Check out Tom’s web site to keep track of what he does next: http://www.cashfortimesharesnow.com and continue to watch his classic Howcast videos.

Tom Bender is going places. And he is not dead.

Paul