• They require you to buy software or monkey around with a shitty trial version
• They require Windows
• They produce low quality video and/or audio
• They don’t let you capture the sound of you talking and everybody else

So, here’s a method that solves all of those issues, as long as you’re running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later.

You need:

• QuickTime Player X (included with OS X)
• Soundflower
• MTCoreAudio

Step One

Start the Hangout, and go to Settings. Set Speakers to Soundflower (16ch). The Hangout’s audio will no longer play through your speakers, but be patched into Soundflower.

Step Two

From the MTCoreAudio package, move AudioMonitor.app into your Applications folder. Right-click AudioMonitor.app, and select Duplicate twice. You’ll now have AudioMonitor.app, AudioMonitor copy.app, and AudioMonitor copy 2.app. Open all three of them. Open AudioMonitor.app and press Command-N (or go to File>New) twice. (Thanks, Guy Heckman!)

Step Three

You now have three AudioMonitor windows. In the first one, set Input to Soundflower (16ch) and Output to Built-in Output. Click Play Through. You can now hear the Hangout again through your speakers.

Step Four

In another AudioMonitor window, set Input to Built-in Microphone and Output to Soundflower (2ch). Click Play Through. Now your microphone will be patched into Soundflower, but you won’t hear it through your speakers.

Step Five

In the third AudioMonitor window, set Input to Soundflower (16ch), and Output to Soundflower (2ch). Click Play Through. Now you have both the Hangout audio (what other people are saying) and your microphone (what you’re saying) on one patch, but it won’t be the one coming through your speakers and creating feedback.

At this point, you may want to set your first window to have Soundflower (2ch) play through Built-in Output momentarily, just to make sure it’s working. If you hear a loud screech of feedback, then it is. Switch it back to (16ch).

Step Six

Now, finally, open QuickTime Player. Go to File>New Screen Recording. Click the drop-down arrow next to the big red button, and select Soundflower (2ch) as your Microphone. Now, both your speakers and your microphone will end up in the resulting video, but you won’t hear your microphone during the process.

(You see, QuickTime Player only records mic input along with the screen image, not the sound of your speakers. That limitation is the entire reason for this whole song and dance with Soundflower and AudioMonitor.)

Step Seven

Click the big red button and start recording.

All those paid screen-recorders? You’re basically paying for the convenience and lack of cluster-fuck. But if you’re willing to get your hands dirty to save a few pennies, this method should serve you well.

It was hot out. Our Macs weren’t quite able to cope. So we put ice packs on them.

You people are crazy. There is no way Apple would announce a new Mac Mini with that few USB ports.

I happen to have gotten from an anonymous source today a leaked ad for the next Mac Mini. It appears to have a much more logical amount: 70 USB ports.

It’s a bit larger than the past generations, but at least you can finally connect a freaking keyboard and 69-pack of mice. Come on, that’s essential.