This week's news includes:
FamilySearch and
Ancestry.com team up
to publish new images and enhanced indexes to the U.S. federal
censuses;
Ancestry.com announces a number of new databases and
upgraded collections; GeneTree (
http://www.genetree.com) adds a Y-chromosome
testing option to its site; Geni.com (
http://www.geni.com) announces the addition of
a new and private video-sharing option for families at its site;
and
Modern
Genealogy president, Jeromy L. Walsh, thanks The Guys for
announcing their forthcoming beta test of their new genealogy
database software, and he restated the company's commitment to
having users involved in developing and testing their program.
Listener email this week includes: an inquiry concerning the
availability of genealogy software for the Blackberry; a reminder
of how to access, play, and download our previous podcasts (using
the POD icon to the left of each episode's title); several emails
from listeners telling George about the availability of Ohio Death
Certificates (1908-1953) at the FamilySearch Labs site (
http://search.labs.familysearch.org/); a discussion of
a genealogy filing system by source; using an iPod shuffle (~ $40)
vs. a more expensive player when mowing the lawn and listening to
the podcast; and a discussion of why some stores with photocopy
facilities will not copy (or allow copying) of photographs.
George announces that the third episode of
RootsTelevision.com's series,
Down Under:
Florida with The Genealogy Guys will be debuting in
mid-August. In tandem with its premiere, George has written a case
study, "The Milton Family Tragedy," for
Family Chronicle Magazine. The issue
containing this article will appear on newsstands at about the same
time in August. The story describes the behind-the-scenes research
involved in filming the story, and it includes a couple of
additional surprises.
George discusses the Asus Eee PC, a small PC loaded with Windows
XP, that is lightweight, fully functional, and has Wi-Fi. You can
take this little gem with you almost everywhere with your entire
genealogy database and all the multimedia resources. The price
makes this little PC a very attractive item. Visit AsusTEK at
http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164
for more details, and then use your favorite search engine to
search for "asus eee" to locate the best place and lowest price to
purchase.
Drew recommends that subscribers to genealogy mailing lists be sure
to use a "plain text" setting in their e-mail software in order to
prevent strange characters appearing in their messages. He
also describes his experiences in using microform equipment that
scans an image for use in e-mailing or saving to a USB flash drive
(instead of printing the image).
Drew discusses a book he is reading:
Brittania's Children: Emigration from
England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Since 1600, by Eric
Richards.