The best prototypes are ones that slipstream right into our design process. We want the ability to quickly take sketches from a whiteboard to something interactive.

An interesting approach, taking a photo of your sketch and using it in your wireframing/prototyping tool. I wonder what happens if you need a full-blown spec. I'm afraid it's not really scalable.

Regardless of the tools I’ve listed and missed, the point is that you should set a goal for yourself to understand your project and client well enough that you have a good feel for, at a baseline:

A) Context
B) Your skill set
C) Budget
D) Client Type

"After over 2 years of extensive research, Todd Zaki Warfel has released the book “Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide”. I talked to Zaki Warfel about his interest in the area, the surprising results of what prototyping methods practitioners actually use , and how he seeing prototyping being used in the future."

The list of rapid prototyping tools has been updated and can be found below. The list has grown to 42 items with 18 new or updated tools. Please comment with your own perspective on these tools and send me links for more! I’ll update the list (hopefully more frequently) with your suggestions.

http://adaptivepath.com/ideas/rapid-prototyping-tools-revisited

Shine new light on recording user research, interviews, lectures and more with Cohdoo Highlight. Let your fingertip be your highlighter. Simply start a recording, marking "aha" moments as you hear them. Break time? Pause and resume the same recording, adding more highlights. Later, easily review your highlights, add notes and share recordings with your team.

Create tasks based on triggers. Someone you follow on Posterous posts something interesting? Be notified on your phone. Send an SMS and have it delivered to your Facebook status. The possibilities are massive!