FRAPS game capture video recorder.
Being a laser show producer, a small bit of my job entails capturing videos of laser shows for client previews. Until quite recently I was going about it the olde-fashioned way by exporting the animations directly from the laser show software--a time-consuming, arduous bear of a task involving rendering times, file size limitations, and file converting. Now I simply expand the preview window within the laser software and record away!
Seriously, this little piece of software tech has saved me a lot of time and frustration, both in the past, and in the future.