Make Your Own Negative Scanner

This is pretty cool. With a simply shoebox, paper and glue you can make your own negative scanner. You can digitize them without expensive equipment. It even shows how to edit the images afterwards.

Post by www.1NEWS.az.

SugarSync Free Plan Expiring

I received the following notice from SugarSync in December 2013.

Thanks for using SugarSync. We wanted to let you know that beginning on February 8, 2014 we will transition to a paid service. In order to continue using SugarSync you will need to upgrade your account.

SugarSync was a service similar to Dropbox. I found I like Dropbox better, but I will miss having some extra free storage on the SugarSync cloud servers.

Kim Komando Talks Genealogy

Kim Komando is the Digital Goddess and one of my favorite radio shows. Her latest newsletter talks about Genealogy.  There is an article on "Creating a digital scrapbook" that has tons of great resources out there.

A video feature discusses how the internet has been a handy tool for genealogists and how genealogy has become a social activity. Watch the video below.

Merge & Split PDF Files

There are numerous free programs out there that will let you create a PDF.  I use the PrimoPDF creator and have been very happy with it.  The one thing I have wished for the free PDF creators to offer is the ability to combine two separate PDF documents together.  I was in need of this service tonight and stumbled upon a free website that will combine your PDF documents together.  The site is Merge PDF.

The website description is:

This service enables you to combine PDF documents into a single one, free of charge. All you need to do is select the PDF documents that you want to merge together on your computer and click a button, as instructed step-by-step below. If you like our free service, please consider a donation.

I was pleasantly surprised how easy it is to upload your PDFs and then have it combined into one PDF file.  Just two steps - Upload, then Merge. The merge just took seconds to complete.  You simply download the PDF to your computer and you're all done. The PDF looks great.

While looking at the website I noticed another service - Split PDF.

The website description is:

This service enables you to split PDF documents free of charge. All you need to do is select the PDF document that you want to split up on your computer, specify the desired page range, and click a button, as instructed step-by-step below. If you like our free services, please consider a donation.

I haven't tried splitting a PDF yet, but when I need to I will test out this service. 

Information about the merge and split process and notable limitations:

• The maximum total size of all uploaded files for merge is 50MB.
• All files are removed after a merge is completed, or within an hour of inactivity.
• Optionally a user can keep files in store for further merging, by checking Retain files (in the Merge Dialog). The one hour limit still applies, where all uploaded files are removed within an hour of inactivity.

Merge PDF and Split PDF are services provided by FoxyUtils.  You can get to both services by going to: http://foxyutils.com/home/services/

Between these two sites all my PDF needs have been met.  I think a donation is now in order.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

New Book about Google Demonstrates Worldwide Interest in Genealogy & Family History

Book Reveals Deep Connections between Google and Genealogy Research

PROVO, Utah, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Google Your Family Tree, a popular new book designed to provide individuals with specialized tips for finding family history information on the Internet has generated worldwide interest since it began shipping just two months ago. Within the first 30 days following commercial availability, orders for the book were shipped to customers in all 50 United States, every Canadian province, and more than 20 other international locations. Visitors to the GoogleYourFamilyTree.com website have come from 81 different countries spread across every continent - a testament to the worldwide popularity of both genealogy and Google.

"I've always felt that Google was an exceptional tool for many different aspects of genealogy," said Dan Lynch, author, Google Your Family Tree. "I couldn't be more pleased with the feedback from customers around the world - beginners and professionals alike - who are just now discovering the hidden power of Google to uncover clues relevant for their family history research."

With nearly 5,000 copies shipped to date, Google Your Family Tree is believed to be among the fastest selling genealogy titles of all time and is quickly becoming a standard reference for individuals and libraries alike.

"I thought I was a Google expert, fully familiar with the search engine's operation. However, I learned a number of new tricks by reading Dan Lynch's book. I bet you will also," said Dick Eastman, editor, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. "If you want to conduct more effective searches on Google, be it about genealogy or nearly any other topic, reading Google Your Family Tree will increase your expertise."

While Google Your Family Tree was designed specifically for genealogists and family history enthusiasts, the content in this book can be readily applied to anyone who uses the Internet. "Whoever uses Google must get this book, whether you are a genealogist, a student with a homework assignment, or a cooking buff looking for a recipe," said Gary Mokotoff, author, lecturer and leading expert in the field of Jewish genealogy. "Google Your Family Tree is a must for every household, not merely for family history research, but for every family member that uses the Internet to glean information."

Google Your Family Tree is packed with useful content such as search engine basics, effective query structure, advanced search techniques, blog searches, language tools, how to get started in genealogy, and much more. "And, that is the magic of this book. It takes one of the most common Internet experiences--a Google search--and puts it in a new light, making it seem brand new," said Paul Allen, CEO, FamilyLink.com, Inc. "I vouch for its usefulness for both the serious web searcher as well as someone that is new to the world of Google."

The book is 340 pages, carries ISBN 978-0-9820737-1-1, and sells for $34.95 (USD). To learn more about the book, read reviews or to purchase a copy, visit: http://GoogleYourFamilyTree.com/.

Renee's Note: I've read the book and it is fantastic and lives up to the hype.

Volunteers needed to test new Pioneer Project

Marilyn Markham from the UGA is asking for people to volunteer 2 hours to test a new program.

She needs this done before Sept 9 and a response sent to her -- can you help?

It is to test the new Pioneer Project

Please E mail her at Marilyn Markham at markhammj@familysearch.org

Online LDSTech Talk Invitation

Renee's Note: I was excited to find the following information posted on the LDSTech Website. Please note that the Tech Talk focuses on all technology in the Church and not just how it relates to genealogy. I have been wanting to participate in an LDSTech Talk and finally I have a chance to, and so do you!

Register for Online Tech Talk Now

Written by Cassie Telford
Thursday, 21 August 2008

You are invited to participate in the inaugural streamed broadcast and interactive tech talk hosted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on August 28th at 7:00 p.m. mountain daylight time (MDT).

During the stream, you have the opportunity to interact in a webinar.
In order to participate while watching the online tech talk, you must also register.

Here are a few aspects of the tech talk you can look forward to:

Ask a Question

Have a question about Church technology you’ve been wanting to ask? Now is the time. At the first global tech talk, Joel Dehlin, Chief Information Officer for the Church, will speak in more detail about the purpose of tech talks and his vision for them. He will answer your questions on technology at the Church in real time. You may also submit your questions and comments before the event by e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or posting in the forum.

The 2008 LDS Tech Awards

The nomination period for the LDS Tech Awards is over. To find out who won, join us in this exciting first online tech talk. The winner will be announced and honored at that time. This information will also be posted on the site shortly after the event. Thank you for all of the great nominations!

Shape and Discuss the Future of Online Tech Talks

We are open to everything from branding and marketing concepts (including names and logos), to format and frequency options, to future discussion topics and ideas. Please visit the forum to provide input and feedback.

*Note: the stream will be in windows media format. You may need to install a plugin to view the event.

Keeping Track of My History

I just haven't been good about writing in my journal. Tonight I decided that I would take the time to record my feelings about working for WorldVitalRecords.com. I still can't get over how I'm going to be paid to talk to people about genealogy all day. Tomorrow I get on the phones, which is kind of scary and exciting at the same time.

So, how are you doing recording the events and feelings that make up you and who you are? Are your descendants years from now going to know what made you tick or are they just going to have a list of facts? I encourage you to record the moments of your life.

Here is my course of action in recording my history. I am using LDSJournal to write at random times, on either my laptop or desktop PC. Since LDSJournal is online I don't have to worry about which computer has my up-to-date journal on it. After several entries I will copy my entries off LDSJournal and put them into Personal Historian.

I am using Personal Historian to add all my past journal entries into so I can write my personal history some day. I haven't entered my journal entries from when I was about 12 years old in there yet. All I seemed to write about day after day was how much in love with Donny Osmond I was. At least they weren't long entries but still some phases of life you would love to not be reminded about. Haha.

Here are some links on the two programs I am using.

LDS Journal - www.ldsjournal.com
Video - A Journal for Everyone

Personal Historian - www.personalhistorian.com
Video Tutorial - http://www.personalhistorian.com/Support/PHTutorial.html

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

FamilySearch Certified

Since Gordan Clarke first mentioned it, I have been watching for more word on the FamilySearch Certified process. These are programs that are approved to sync with New FamilySearch. I just saw that the Generations Maps has received word of their certification. You can read more about it on Janet Hovorka's blog "The Chart Chick" on her recent article "Official Certification from New FamilySearch".

Products and programs that are FamilySearch Certified will have the FamilySearch Certified logos on them. My understanding is that there will be various levels of certification. Janet quotes Gordon Clarke as saying that www.familysearch.org will link to certified products in the next 30-60 days. And then New FamilySearch will be integrated into www.familysearch.org towards the end of the year.

That makes me happy in two ways. First, we will see which products are certified to work with new FamilySearch. Second, did you catch that - NFS will be integrated into www.familysearch.org towards the end of the year!

They must be on schedule to roll-out NFS to the world by the end of the year! YIPEE!! Maybe the rumors that NFS will roll-out to the Wasatch Front in September are true.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Monster Obituaries

I was just reading this article "Monster founder sets sights on online obits" and thought you might be interested in it. Monster founder, Jeff Taylor, has just created http://Tributes.com. I think it's a fantastic idea to spread technology into our access to free obituaries. The site will be funded by ads and I don't mind seeing ads if I have free access to content.

Taylor saw the need out of people living further from home and their desire to be notified when someone from their hometown dies. The obituaries will be gathered from funeral homes, organizations, even the Social Security Administration. You can sign into the site and set email alerts for locations, family, schools, military or professions. Tributes will send you a notification when someone you know from these groups passes away.

I visited http://Tributes.com and set a few alerts that I am interested in. Then I played around and found older content on the site. Meaning even though this is a new website they do have older content that is worth looking at. You can even edit the obituary and ad your own story to it. If you view your account you can even see a list of all the obituaries that you left condolences on.

I like the site and I'm sure it will bring all of us useful information in the future.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Syncing with NFS on a Mac

Yes, it's true all you Mac users. You to will be able to sync with NFS with your Mac. No need to install Windows just so you can still use your favorite genealogy software package. Who will allow this capability you ask? The cat was let out of the bag on the LDS-Ward-Consultant mailing list today.

Although not yet released, FamilyInsight (the successor to PAF Insight) will work on Mac OSX.

Aloha,
John

Interested user asked question on how this will all work. One obvious FamilyInsight beta tester gave us more insight.

Once you use Reunion on the Mac you will not want anything to do with Windows, Vista or any of the PC systems or programs. The Mac will have its own FamilyInsight - soon to come out. You will just Gedcom your PC records over and open them in Reunion and you will be away. I have had no problems with NFS at all, even though the Mac Safari browser has not been formally tested by NFS for compatibility as of yet. Direct your money to get the big screen and latest chip you can afford. You will want open both NFS and Reunion side by side for the 40% increase in productivity larger screens enable. No need to concern yourself about hanging on to old windows programs - just make the switch and you will soon become comfortable and be glad you had.

Richard

At the BYU Computerized Genealogy Conference Gordon Clarke had mentioned that we would see a Mac program that would sync with NFS. He never mentioned how many there would be, but at least now we know of one.

I give you permission to buy a Mac now.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

SearchMe.com

I just read Dick Eastman's article A Graphical Search Engine: SearchMe.com. I couldn't wait to try it out. I just love search engines. It is very visually appealing. The results come back as little images of the websites. I put in my name and could see all the website designs I have done. Kind of like walking back in time. It's cool, it's different but I'm not sure how functional it is for me. It's a different mindset that I have to absorb.

I was pleased to see that on the site there is a little Firefox add-on that you can download. It will add SearchMe to your search engine box. Sorry not sure how to describe it but it's on the upper right hand corner of my browser. I just click on an arrow and say which search engine I want to use and it will let me put the terms in and search away. I use it all the time and now I will play with SearchMe and see if I can change my mindset.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Life Is Worth Recording

I have been using Personal Historian for my personal journal and that has been working out great for me. I just found a new service that gives me thought to possibly change the way I do things. Personal Historian works great for developing your life story to put in book format. The new service I speak of is an online journaling service called "LDSJournal". The beauty of it is it's 100% online so I can access it from any internet-connected browser and record my thoughts at anytime. I'm thinking I could use LDSJournal to record my daily thoughts and then transfer it over to Personal Historian to then write my personal history.

Since LDSJournal is in Beta right now I thought I would share with you some of its current features.

The most important features to me is Privacy Protection, Safety, and Security. A journal is private and I don't want everyone reading it - like you do a public blog. I was pleased to see that LDSJournal uses high grade encryption to deliver a safe and secure journaling environment. This ensures that your journal entries are private and only accessible to you, plus they are stored on secure servers.

Price is important to me and I was happy to see that the service is free right now. They do plan on adding Gold Member services later. I heard the price was going to be about $19.95 a year. If that's true then it's cheaper than buying a nice bound journal. But for now you don't have to pay to add entries, photos, video or scripture references. The free service only gives you 100MB of storage space. If you approach your storage limit, the storage quota indicator will change from white to red.

If you exceed your limit, LDSJournal will interrupt your ability to create a new entry until you clear out some space. That works for me because then I will move the entries over to Personal Historian. It is possible to update your free account from 100MB to 2GB. The text-based entries created inside LDSJournal can be compressed and stored to maximize the space associated with each member account and deliver greater value with each free account.

If you haven't been good about recording in a journal then the 'All About Me' Questions will help you record your legacy! You can relive the moments in your life that you want to share with your posterity. The 'All About Me' questions help you get back on track with journaling. They have questions in the following categories: Personal, Growing Up, Family, Marriage, Spiritual, Education, The World Around Me, Challenges, Accomplishments, Parenthood. They are really thought provoking questions and really worth answering. A wonderful asset for anyone using this service. I want everyone in my family to use just this feature, if nothing else, so I can get a better glimpse on who they are. You kinda have their life story right in front of you.

Reminder Notifications help make journaling a habit! Every day is worth recording in your journal, but sometimes we get busy and forget to record the day's events. With LDSJournal you can set up customized Reminder Notifications to help you stay on task with your journal writing. Friendly notifications are sent to the email address designated by you and/or your mobile phone. Pretty cool, huh? If you don't log into your account for six months it can become dormant so you need to log in to keep your account active. If you do not log in to LDSJournal within three months of it being labeled dormant or nine consecutive months - LDSJournal reserves the right to delete the account. I sure hope you write in your journal more often then every 9 months.

When you create an entry you have all the features available in a word processing program, bold, italics, spell check, bullets, etc. There is a subject header so you can see at a glance your overall thought or theme for that days events. When creating an entry you can apply a mood to best represents how you are feeling that day. The moods can be accessed via a drop-down menu when creating or editing an entry - and boy are there plenty to pick from to.

Auto-Saved Entries - safe from interruptions! LDSJournal will periodically auto-save your journal entries as you write to protect you from constant interruptions, power outages, or computer failure.

LDSJournal has a search feature built in and also uses 'Tags' to help file your entries. Tags are words or names that you would like associated with a specific journal entry. You can 'Add Tags' at the bottom of any journal entry. This feature comes in handy when you want to search for the entries relating to a specific topic. For example, if you write entries about your children, you could include the name of the child you wrote about. When searching, the 'Tags' will increase the relevancy of the search results and help ensure the search results display the entries you want.

Footnotes - you can include photos, scripture links and audio/video to help illustrate and augment your daily journal entries. You can also add reference links that can be hyperlinks to any site on the web.

Afterthoughts - add comments about past entries while preserving your journal integrity! Looking back, life is always 20/20. Sometimes there are lessons to be learned just for living. With LDSJournal, you can go back in time and comment about past events or include additional insights that were previously not recorded, while maintaining the integrity of your journal entries. You can't change the past, but you can grow from it.

In the future, LDSJournal will allow members to print their journal to bound book or archive to DVD. It looks like they are adding a PDF feature too. Recording your journal online is fun and easy, but you will want something tangible to hold onto at the end of each year. All members will have the option to create a personal archive of their LDSJournal to use offline while still maintaining all entries online.

Mobile Entries - You can synchronize your LDSJournal account with your mobile phone and begin sending text and photos directly to LDSJournal. There is no excuse to not capture the moment when it happens in a flash.

These are cool features but the website is so well layed out and inviting that it's a pleasure to work in it. It is a very well-designed site. It is still in beta so you might find some glitches here and there. They have some really nice tutorials to help you understand the program and how it works. It's to bad the Getting Started video isn't available to see before you join because that would really sell you on the service.

Now I am assuming any genealogist would understand how important a journal would be to their posterity someday. Wouldn't we give our eye teeth to have an ancestors journal or their life history? Maybe someone you know doesn't understand how precious that would be. Here are a couple of quotes from the site, that I remember from LDS Conferences, that might motive you or someone else.

"Begin today and write in it your goings and your comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements, any your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies. We hope you will do this, our brothers and sisters, for this is what the Lord has commanded, and those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives." (Spencer W. Kimball, 12th President of the Church)

"I heard in my mind - not in my own voice - these words: "I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down." I went inside. I didn't go to bed. Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family...I knew that was true. And so I wrote it down, so that my children could have the memory someday when they would need it. I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day." (Henry B. Eyring)

Now you don't really need to get fancy just to write a journal. You could use a notebook and have the paper copies for your descendants - it's worked for generations. The reason I tell you of these commercial products is for the ease of use. I can type way faster than I can write. I seem to think better when I am typing verses handwriting. I can imagine some of you have seen journals or letters that you wish the author would of typed instead of writing too. My Dad is a great example for that! I am just all for any technology that will increase my ability to accomplish the important things in my life and for my family. If you haven't started a journal yet then you have no more excuse because there are plenty of tools to help you accomplish that goal. Go forth and write.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Genealogy and Technology Simplified

I had a fun time this evening re-watching episode 204, from the popular PBS Ancestors series, on Genealogy and Technology. I found it really refreshing and simple. Sometimes you get so rapped up in technology that it's almost impossible to put it in layman terms. I think this episode would make a great introduction to computers and the internet for any one new to the subject.



See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

A Digital Pioneer

There is a new genealogy blog worth watching on the LDS scene. It is called "Digital Pioneering". The blogger is Regina Brindle who lives in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area. A day before the FGS Conference she was called a to work on the digitization project. Which is a collaborative work between BYU, FamilySearch and the Allen County Public Library (ACPL).

After the FGS Conference Regina sent me her very detailed and well written notes reporting on the what happened there. She had all the signs of a blogger in the making. Today she started her adventure into the blogging world and has just created her first blog entry "Beginnings". Which is literally her first day on the scene working on this massive collaborative digitization project. Through her blog we get to be a little fly on the wall and actual "see" what is happening there.

The blog is where she will keep her missionary journal and the nice thing is we get to read it. It promises to be an adventure worth watching. Point your blog readers to http://digitalpioneering.blogspot.com/ and come along for the ride.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Totally Charged

I was just reading this article on The Boston Globe - MIT Discovery could unplug your iPod forever. Seems they have figured out a way to wirelessly light a 60-watt, unplugged light bulb from seven feet away. There was no physical connection between the power source and the light bulb. They used a carefully designed magnetic field to deliver power.

The future could someday allow us to wirelessly recharge our electronic devices, from iPods to laptops this way. This would be major coolness. No more chargers or batteries. My digital camera would always be able to take pictures. I could upload them to my laptop that never dies and do genealogy all day long. I could listen to genealogy podcasts everywhere I go. My cell phone would always ring... well, maybe that's not a good one.

Technology is just amazing. Now could someone just make a land-line phone that would give me all the cool features of a cell phone. Come on we have cordless phones already. I would just love to text message my kids this way. I haven't looked to see if there is such a phone out there like that, but if there isn't I want credit for the invention!

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day.

Web 2.0

I consider this video on YouTube major coolness. It gives a very good explanation of what Web 2.0 means and is entertaining at the same time.