AI, Here I Come!

How many times have I started out a new year on this blog saying this is the year I'm going to write up the family history? Too many to count. And what have I got to show for it? Nothing. 

I'm not going to make that mistake this year! 

Instead, I'm going to venture down the road of... AI (artificial intelligence)! The techie part of me is so very curious about AI but I've struggled to figure out how and why I would use it in my everyday life. I've pretty much been sitting on the sidelines, reading about some people's "hits" using AI and some peoples "misses". My curiosity has been building. Earlier this month I took some online lessons via Roots Tech. That gave me some basic technical information to build on and some practical ideas to start with. 

I've been practicing, here and there. I've tried planning a vacation trip to Florida (miss), generating some images (hit), looking into some military history in Poland (hit), and looking up an old business in Detroit from the early 1900s (miss). I've had mixed results. I've tried a couple different platforms but not nearly all of the main ones. I have much yet to try and many platforms to test out. But I've gotten my feet wet. I'm not feeling intimidated anymore.

In regards to genealogy and family history, I have a few ideas about how I might use AI. 

• Perhaps I could use it to delve into Poland's history for a background on farming methods and crops from previous generations (I come from a long line of farmers). 
• Maybe I could use it to create an outline for a book. 
• It would be very helpful if I could get it to proofread and/or edit a draft of a book chapter. 
• Maybe it would generate an interesting way to weave together the family stories that I want to share. 
• I definitely think it would be helpful in analyzing old photographs. (I have a lot of those. ;-) 
• It would be fascinating if I could figure out a way to get it to look into some of the mysteries/questions that have plagued me from the beginning of my research. Maybe it would generate some theories I hadn't considered. 

AI could be just the catalyst I need to get myself writing again, if not about genealogy maybe about using AI. 

We'll see what develops...

The Plan's Beginnings

It's been roughly a month since my last blog post. I thought I'd update the status of my family history writing project over the last 30 days.

1. With loads of help from my genealogy friends on Facebook, I made the decision to write about my Mizera family line first. That was a big hurdle/decision and one I'm feeling good to have made. 
2. I've made a sincere effort to learn my way around Scrivener. I started with the "Quick Start" video tutorials first and once I felt comfortable with those basics I made my way through the rest of the video tutorials. I have not "memorized" everything about the program but have familiarized myself with much of it. I think that is satisfactory for now. 
3. I started assembling some online information about my grandmother's ancestral village in Scrivener. I'm still a little unsure about how to use (where to put) info that I'm collecting. But, I'm moving ahead and will adjust the way I'm doing things as necessary. 
4. I met with a friend who gave me the name of a researcher who lives in the area of my Mizera ancestral village (Wojnicz). I contacted that individual by email and he indicated that he would need to write a letter to the local parish to obtain the records I was interested in. We are waiting to hear back from that parish to see if they will allow him access to their records. The records I'm hoping to get are: the marriage records for 3 of my grandmother's siblings, their death records as well, and the birth records of any/all of their children. 
5. I was able to structure my genealogy time one week out of the last four. It was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be to plan the time and stick to the plan. 

My goals for the next month are:

1. Continue to collect information about Wojnicz and assemble it in Scrivener. I'll need to practice importing digital photos, text, and web pages. 
2. Start combing through my hard drives for the vital records and digital photos of my Mizera family. Finding them will be a chore since I haven't consolidated my data files over the years... some are here, some are there, etc. 
3. Start looking for printed photos, handwritten letters, and email regarding my Mizera family. I know that stuff is around here somewhere...
4. Continue to familiarize myself with Scrivener. Watching a few more videos wouldn't hurt.
5. Hopefully move forward with getting those vital records from the parish in Wojnicz. 
6. Structure my time and make genealogy a priority.

And now I'm off to find those Slownik Geograficzny entries I translated a while back... where the heck did I put those anyway??? Wish me luck!

Software Complicating My Life!

The last couple of weeks didn't go exactly as I'd planned. I did get to my local FHC to look at films. I didn't find what I was looking for but at least I know that the films I'd previously put on indefinite status are still there. :-) And I got to spend some time with my best genealogy pal in the process. Bonus! :-)

I didn't get to my scanning. I didn't get any more Słownik Geograficzny entries translated. However, I did continue my correspondence with one of my "cousins". Unfortunately, we aren't cousins by blood but I'm more convinced than ever that we are connected by marriages. Let's put it this way, I can attach her name to my family tree but Legacy says we aren't related. Anyway, we've been sharing information, stories and documents. Thus far, she's shared more with me than I with her but I'm hoping that will reverse soon. It's been fun!

I've been using Legacy Family Tree software as my primary database for some time now (10+ years). A while back, when they released their mobile apps, I purchased Roots Magic.  I really only used it to give myself access to my genealogy on my iPad and cell phone. Meanwhile, I've been waiting patiently for Legacy to create and share their own mobile apps. But I'm guessing at this point that's not going to happen. I've been considering switching over to Roots Magic as my primary database since they seem to be moving forward in a direction I can appreciate and find beneficial. Then the "working relationship" with Ancestry.com happened and that made me reconsider again. My concern was about Roots Magic's mobile apps. Would they continue to support them and improve them now that their software will sync with Ancestry.com trees? It could be a cost savings move to discontinue their apps and instead offer mobile access via Ancestry.com trees. Perish the thought! I expressed my concern in the Roots Magic forum and was reassured that the mobile apps are here to stay. Yay! :-) I was so pleased to hear that that I'm planning to purchase the newest version of Roots Magic just to support the company.

And just as I'd gotten that bit of genealogy-related software decision making dealt with, Google dropped a bomb on my world. They've chosen to discontinue improving and supporting Picasa. They haven't added any new features in quite a while now and you know how that goes... if you're not moving forward you're falling behind. And Google isn't one to fall behind on something they value. So in a way, I guess I suspected something like this would happen. I can't begin to put into words how bummed I am about this. Those who know me know that photography is an essential part of my being. And Picasa has been my go-to software for tagging and organizing my photos and scans for years and years and years. I'm must admit, I'm secretly hoping that Google will sell off Picasa to another company the way Ancestry.com did with Family Tree Maker. I know it's not likely to happen but I'm not ready to give up hope! (I'm still hurting from Google's decision to discontinue Reader a while back and I still haven't found a replacement feed reader I like!)

I spent much of the past weekend looking for a tagging and organizing software product. The Adobe products (Lightroom and Photoshop Element's Organizer) have to be eliminated from consideration because their tags are proprietary. They can only be seen within Adobe products. Unfortunately, the same is true for the Corel software products. :-((((( I downloaded and tried out a few others but each was either too complex or too simplistic. Yah, I know. Just call me Goldilocks. ;-) As this new week begins, I still haven't found a good substitute software. I'm open to suggestions/recommendations if you have any!

Well, so one thing led to another. In the course of my tagging software quest I came to the realization that I wouldn't have to be so dependent on tags if my digital file system was better organized. This isn't really a revelation to me. I've known it for some time. Like most people starting out, I had no idea my genealogy research would result in my needing multiple hard drives to store all the documents, scans, email, and photos I've accumulated. I've been telling myself for years that I need to organize all that "stuff" better but what fun is that when I can be moving my research forward, lol! And honestly, backups have become a nightmare with some stuff on this external hard drive and some stuff on that one. I really, really need to organize and consolidate. I just don't want to be bothered with it. :-P

I know that having all my digital genealogy files organized will help me gather the info I need to write my family histories. And I'm determined to move forward with that writing project later this year. So I'm going to bite the bullet and focus on organizing all my digital genealogy "stuff" now. I don't have a specific goal for this next week other than to get started with the organizing, keep looking for a photo/document tagging product, and get over to the Detroit Public Library to do some research this weekend.

Till next week!

Lost in Translation

Another week and more translations done. :-)

I finished up the translations of my Lisowski family and have started on my Mizera family. I identified 8 villages/towns to translate the Słownik entries for and attempted 3 of the smaller ones.

The Lisowski village entries were from the Russian partition and if I thought those were a challenge (they were!) they were nothing compared to the Mizera village entries from the Austrian partition. I've not been able to make a complete translation of any of the Mizera villages so far. There are many, many terms that aren't listed on any of the keys/guides I'm using and Google Translate can't deal with them either. Sometimes I can make a guess by the context and content of other words but too often I'm just coming up blank. :-(  I'm going to continue to do what I can but I may have to consider asking someone who knows the language to help me out. They're not much good to me if I can only translate every other word, lol!

I made an interesting discovery in the few Mizera village translations I worked on. These villages are each between 1-2 miles apart. The other villages in the area seem to be similar distances apart. That's much closer proximity than I thought. What does that mean in terms of my research? I probably should be looking at villages further out for the individual records I'm missing, because "further out" still isn't all that far away.

I did a quick "drive-by" of some of the villages using Google Street View. What a thrill that was! I love technology. Now if I could just figure out how the old house numbers relate to the current street addresses I could visit some of the old family farms. How cool would that be???!!!

I intend to check out the films available at my local Family History Center to see if there are any on indefinite loan that might include those "further out" villages. I've checked online but no luck there. I think once I finish the Mizera village translations I may take a break and move on to another tedious but necessary project... scanning.

My goal for the next week is to attempt to complete translating the Mizera village entries.

My Love/Hate Relationship With Legacy Software

This is probably going to sound like a rant but I don't really mean it to. I wouldn't have even thought to write this article but Susan Clark asked me to. ;-) Her question was, "Why do you use a genealogy database program?" It seems to be a popular topic these days as just yesterday someone else introduced the topic on their Google+ page. There must be something in the air. For what it's worth, here's my two cents.

I have both Legacy Family Tree and Roots Magic on my desktop computer. I'm currently using Legacy and I occasionally play around with Roots Magic. When I first got interested in genealogy (many, many moons ago) I used Family Tree Maker and I was quite happy with it. But then as my database grew I continually got frustrated with its limited search capabilities. That's when I switched over to Legacy. I think I was using FTM 5.0 at the time. I'm sure their search capabilities have improved since then but at the time they weren't adequate. I don't remember which version Legacy was on at the time but I know I've upgraded at least a couple of versions since then. I'm currently using Legacy 7.5, Deluxe Edition.

I have a love/hate relationship with Legacy. I love that it is such a rich program and offers many reports styles, copy and paste of events (a big favorite of mine), source templates, and vast search capabilities. At the same time I hate Legacy because it is such a rich program (in this instance that's a nice way of saying complicated) that in spite of my many years of genealogy research, being pretty darn techo savvy, and having a basic understanding of how databases work, I still find myself far too frequently unsuccessful at getting what I want out of the program.

I have never mastered tagging and yes, I bought the DVD and watched it. It seems like a cool and helpful tool but I can't seem to remember how to use it. By that I mean that it isn't intuitive even after having watched the video. Whenever I want to try tagging again I have to pull out and sit through the video again because the sequence of steps involved doesn't make sense to me. I also have never mastered searches and this is probably the most frustrating thing for me. Sometimes I get names that have nothing to do with my search parameters and sometimes I'll get results that don't contain a person who I know has info that should land them in the results but doesn't. And yes, I bought that DVD and watched it too.

Sadly, these aren't my biggest complaints with Legacy. My biggest complaint has to do with needing to under utilize the program because I lose stuff when I upgrade to a new version. For quite some time now, I have been only entering data and sources into Legacy. I'd love to link photos and documents to individuals in the database but I've done that a couple times before only to lose all that work somewhere along the way... probably during an upgrade. One day they're there the next day they are gone. True I can re-link them but I get tired of trying to remember which of my hard drives a given file folder is on. And no, Legacy can't seem to find it among my several drives either. I finally gave up and I just use the most basic functionality. I could buy yet another DVD that would probably tell me what I'm doing wrong but I'm tired of spending money on learning this program. I'm just not willing to do it anymore.

Just a few days ago I updated to the latest version of Legacy 7.5, the one that has the 1940 Census tools in it. Once the new version was installed my color settings had reverted to the default and Baptism had reverted to Christening. Big deal? No. But it makes me think that if I'd had links to photos and documents those settings might have reverted to default too. And then I'd be frustrated trying to find them again.

Am I content with Legacy? It may sound like I'm not but actually I am. Once I accepted that mastering it is more trouble than it's worth it and I lowered my expectations of what I can expect out of it I find that I am content. You won't hear me singing its praises but I don't steer people away from it when they ask me what software I'm using and if I'd recommend it. The way you enter data in it makes sense to me. I find it pretty easy to do. The choice of reports is nice. The company's webinars are well done and quite informative. I liked the charting better in Family Tree Maker but that's personal preference. There are some very nice charts available in Legacy.

If I could change one thing about Legacy, do you know what that would be? Not any of the things I've mentioned so far. What I'd really like to see in Legacy is the ability to use the Polish keyboard so I can enter my long and lovely, consonant-laden Polish surnames WITH the diacritical marks that are a part of the Polish language. Maybe some day. And on that day... you'll hear me singing its praises!!!

I know what you're thinking... what about Roots Magic? I play with it from time to time but it just doesn't feel intuitive to me. I have to look and look to find things. They never seem to be where I think they should be. And the GUI is visually confusing to me. Too many lines, not enough boxes.

So now back to Susan's question... "Why do you use a genealogy database program?" I use it for organization. First and foremost it's a way to organize and reference the names, events, and dates of the people on my family tree and the sources where I found that information. Legacy does that for me and the basic data entry required is easy for me to do.

Thanks for asking, Susan!

Jasia’s Technology Review for 2011

Let me begin by saying that this tech review is being done with genealogy-tinted glasses. Which means that when I speak of my most used or favorite devices/features/apps/software it is with genealogy in mind. And, right off the bat I’ll add that I own/subscribe to all the technology I’m reviewing, I’ve purchased it myself or it was a personal gift from a family member, and I’ve not been compensated by the companies that made/created/designed/hosted it with one exception noted below. (*)

This is some of the technology I’m using this year...

Cell Phone

I have had an HTC Evo, running Android (via Sprint), since last summer. It’s a great device with a phone, a large-for-a-phone screen, a fine 8mpx camera, and many great (mostly free!) apps.
What I like most: The large screen. This feature makes visiting genealogy websites on the fly very doable, viewing photos delightful, and the touch-gesture interface a pleasure to use.
The Downside: It’s a 4G phone but Sprint still doesn’t provide 4G service here in the Metro-Detroit area.
Grade: A- (because of the lack of 4G service)

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Cell Phone Apps
The apps I most often use for genealogy purposes on my Evo are Find A Grave (free) + ShootMe (free), and Compass (free) + Catch (free).

The Find A Grave app accesses the FindAGrave.com web site and allows me to search for graves. I’m surprised how often I use this little app to search for family gravesites... standing in line somewhere, waiting in the car, etc. To make it even better, I launch ShootMe (a screen capture app) first and then if I find a record of interest all I have to do is give my phone a shake and it grabs a screen shot. When I’m done searching FindAGrave.com I can go to my phone’s Gallery to view my screen shots and send them to Dropbox, Catch, Evernote, FB, Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, or email them to myself. Very cool.
What I like most: Both Find A Grave and ShootMe are easy to use and free!
The Downside: It would be nice if I could send a Find A Grave record to myself as text via email.
Find A Grave Grade: A- (because I can’t send a record as text via email)
ShootMe Grade: A

The Compass app is handy for taking pictures at cemeteries or historic sites and noting the GPS locations. I like to enter the GPS coordinates of graves I visit only occasionally (because I sometimes forget where they are in big cemeteries). I use the Compass app to note the location when I’m standing graveside and then I’ll take a picture and make a note which then will get uploaded via the Catch app. I can then retrieve my info by launching the Catch app on my phone or access it via Catch’s web site (catch.com) where it’s automatically uploaded to. Saweeet!
What I like most: Both Compass and Catch are easy to use and free!
The Downside: None that I can think of.
Compass Grade: A
Catch Grade: A

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iPad
I love my iPad 2. But it’s not my device of choice for much of anything related to genealogy. It’s great for email. When it comes to web browsing, it’s not so great. I find its lack of ability to deal with Flash to be a major inconvenience.

I have problems viewing PDFs too. Check out the way these pages from a newsletter are rendered. (Click to view larger)

There is a work around for this by reassembling the PDF in Adobe Acrobat software, but do I really want to go through that every time this issue arises? No.

I can save images to the iPad when I’m using it on site somewhere but when I get home and I want to transfer those images to my desktop computer I have 2 choices; use technology from the last decade... tethering, or send each image to myself via email, one by one. Having to go through iTunes to transfer files is such an inconvenience for me I don’t even bother doing it. And I don’t have time to sit around waiting for image after image to upload. The built in camera that comes with it, fuhgeddaboudit! It’s too low res to be useful. And if I want to print out a family group sheet? Fuhgeddabouddat too! Even though my new-last-Christmas printer/scanner allows you to print to it from anywhere via WiFi, guess what? Apple didn’t put the technology in the iPad to allow it to do so. But wait... aren’t there apps to do just about everything on the iPad? Maybe there are, but since there is no trial period before getting billed through the Apple app store I’m not inclined to go around trying out apps and wracking up my charge bill to see if they’ll work for what I want to do.

I know what you’re thinking right now, “Didn’t she start out saying she loved her iPad?”

I do love my iPad but it’s a poor substitute for a computer. It is however, a good substitute for an iPod Touch. It has a wonderful screen, the gesture based GUI is terrific, it’s very lightweight and well balanced, and the battery life is simply fantastic. It plays downloaded music and videos very well. It’s great for streaming movies from Netflix and songs from Pandora. I’ve done some ebook reading on it and it’s pretty good darn good at that too. It connects quickly and easily to every public WiFi connection I’ve come across. What else can I say? It’s a great entertainment device! Uber cool!
What I like most: Long battery life, beautiful screen, lightweight.
The Downside: Can’t view Flash websites, PDFs are a problem, tethering is a pain.
Grade: C- (I have to take off one full letter grade for the lack of Flash and another for the necessity to tether through my computer and iTunes. Those are two major faults. Problems viewing PDFs will cost the iPad another half point.)

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iPad Apps

I have one specific iPad genealogy app and that is Families, which I purchased though the Apple app store for $14.99. I bought it because it will preview a Legacy Family Tree file, which is one of the genealogy software programs I use. Families is OK. Just OK. I’m not fond of the cold look of the program interface (gray and white backgrounds with red, blue, and black text... no other options) but it does display the information I require. The biggest disappointment with this app though is having to use a website to convert my Legacy Family Tree file before it can then be uploaded (via tethering on iTunes) to my iPad. Every time I update a family file, I have to go through the convert and upload process again. :-( Consequently, the family files on my iPad are rarely current.
What I like most: It displays my genealogy information accurately.
The Downside: File conversion/tethering, austere/cold GUI. Can’t print or share from it.
Grade: B- (Took off one full letter grade for the need to convert and tether and another half grade for the cold look and lack of sharing.)

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Software
I have and use both Legacy Family Tree 7.5 and RootsMagic 4 genealogy database programs. I run both on my desktop but just Legacy on my laptop. I like both programs.

I’m more comfortable with Legacy since I’ve been using it longer but I’m getting more comfortable with RootsMagic the more I use it. I have 2 programs because they each offer different features that I value. However, either one would quickly take over as my program of choice, my ONLY program, if they offered companion apps for the iPad and the Android platforms.

What I’d like to see is apps that run the Legacy and/or RootsMagic files without having to convert them and transfer via tethering and iTunes. I have my Legacy datafiles saved in Dropbox and it’s ever so convenient for me to go from my desktop computer to my laptop computer and find current data files for my genealogy when I launch my Legacy software. And the best part is I never have to transfer files between the two computers. It’s that kind of convenience I’m looking for with my cell phone and iPad. I’d really like to see apps created and managed by the respective software companies that will run their native files without the need to convert, tether, and sync via iTunes.
What I like most: Both Legacy Family Tree and RootsMagic are good full-featured programs.
The Downside: I can’t access my Legacy or RootsMagic files via my iPad or my Android phone.
Grade (for both): B (I have to take a full letter grade off for the lack of apps.)

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Cameras
(*) My husband works for Canon but the company does not sponsor any of my blogs or compensate me in any way for reviewing their products.
I have 3 Canon cameras, a point and shoot, a DSLR, and one I refer to as “Tweener” because it’s between the other two in features, size, and price. When it comes to genealogy, I use all three cameras depending on the situation. If I’m capturing an image of a record on microfilm at my local FHC, I prefer to use Tweener. It’s lighter to hold and balance than the DSLR but has a better lens and more megapixels than the point and shoot. If I’m shooting a photo of an image or document (which I’m doing more and more these days as it’s much quicker than scanning), I prefer my DLSR. It has all the control I need to get a crisp, clear shot and it has lots of megapixels. My point and shoot is invaluable when I’m on the go. I don’t always think to grab one of my better cameras when I’m walking out the door and the point and shoot is always in my purse. “The best camera for any given shot is the one you have with you.” The advancements in point and shoot cameras has been phenomenal and I can get some darn impressive photos from that little one, video too!

I’m not going to do a review of all three cameras here because that’s a whole blog post series of its own. Cameras are a personal thing and features that one person values will be lost on another.
What I like most: Quality images from all three cameras.
The Downside: Price. It would be nice to be able to do everything conveniently and well from one camera.
Grade: A- (My Canon cameras are wonderful but there’s always room for improvement in features.)

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Online
My favorite and most used web site at the moment is FamilySearch.org. I really, really like the direction this project is going.

I only wish record collections would be uploaded more quickly. I don’t much care if the records from Poland I want to access are indexed or not. They weren’t indexed when I viewed them on microfilm and I managed just fine. I have put somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 films on indefinite status at my local FHC ($300-$400) and I’d like to have access to about that many more films. The problem is, the microfilm readers at my local FHC are the worst ever. They absolutely rank as the lowest, worst technology that I have to use to do my genealogy research. I’m not going to go on and on about the details but believe me, they are BAD. I will always be grateful to the LDS for all that they’ve done to obtain the images of records for my ancestral villages. But my research is at a standstill right now until additional record collections for my ancestral villages in Poland get uploaded to their website. My eyes and my back just can’t take the strain involved in sitting at those awful microfilm machines for hours on end anymore.
What I like most: Comfortable, convenient access to local (Michigan) records from the comfort of my home on the FamilySearch.org website.
The Downside: The records I need access to (from Poland) aren’t available at FamilySearch.org at the present time.
Grade: B (I have to take off a full letter grade for not having the records for Poland that I need.)

My next favorite website would have to be Google Translate.

I continue to use this technology to translate Polish language websites which allows me to learn more and more about the history of Poland and its people.
What I like most: I like that Google Translate will automatically translate any Polish language web site I visit.
The Downside: Translations aren’t perfect. In fact, sometimes they are downright comical.
Grade: B+ (I have to subtract for the erroneous translations that sometimes occur.)

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So there you have it, my technology review for 2011. I love my tech toys and all they can do to help me with my genealogy research. Which one is my favorite? Which ever one I'm using at any given moment in time, lol! I look forward to seeing more and better technology in the months to come!

Email, Vulnerable Family Information

I just read an interesting article on Lorine McGinnis Schulze's blog Olive Tree Genealogy. In the article, Can You Teach an Old Genealogist New Tricks?, Lorine writes about a problem she's having with identifying photos shared with her by family members because the email with the identifying information didn't get transfered to her new computer when she replaced the old one, and it's been lost.

This really struck a chord with me. If there is one segment of my genealogy information that I consider to be more vulnerable than the rest it would be that which exists only in email.

For many years, I used Microsoft Outlook as my primary email client for checking my POP3 email account. Consequently, I have literally hundreds of emails that I've received from cousins and family contacts over the years that are stuck in Outlook in its native .pst format. I have faithfully transferred those files to each new computer I've had and I've purchased new versions of Microsoft's Office Suite as needed. So that information is not lost nor is it inaccessible. However, I stopped using Outlook as my email client a couple years ago (in favor of Yahoo Mail and GMail) and I don't want to have to purchase the program ad infinitum to continue to access and store that information.

I would like to get all that email, 1) printed as batch files folder-by-folder so I don't have to print each email individually, 2) converted to a more standard format (preferably .pdf), again, as batch files so I don't have to do it email by email, and 3) exported from Outlook to my GMail account, again, preferably as batches by folder.

If any of my readers can recommend a software program, app, widget, gadget, etc. that could help me accomplish any of these tasks I'd really appreciate hearing from you! Or if you know of a way to accomplish this within Outlook please share the how-to link(s) because I've not been able to find a way to get it done. :-7

Twittering

I've been playing around with Twitter for a while now. (I'm also back on Facebook but that's another story.) I can sort of see why people like Twitter although I'm not a big fan of it the way some people are. For me it's a way to keep up with my GeneaBlogger buddies who now do as much or more posting on Twitter and Facebook as on their blogs. All the off-topic stuff that used to get posted on the Geneablogs now gets posted to Twitter and Facebook instead. I'm talking about reviews/referrals to other interesting sites, "what I've been up to" updates, photos, reminders, etc. I must say that I preferred when all that stuff could be found on the blogs themselves so that I could read about it all in one place... my feed reader. But I guess I'm a dinosaur in that way of thinking. I really hoped that Facebook and Twitter use among my Geneablogging friends were just fads that would run their course like memes and awards do. It's pretty evident now that that's not going to happen. So I've finally given in and am going with the flow, "if you can't be 'em, join 'em".

Twitter presents a couple challenges for me. 1.) I'm not a concise writer. Never have been, never will be. It's a struggle for me to confine myself to a 140 character post... sort of takes all the flavor out of a message and just leaves you with a skeleton. I've never been a fan of skeltons. 2.) Posts are so frequent they pose a distraction for me. If I read them on my phone (my preference) my phone is forever dinging with incoming messages. If I leave them to read once or twice a day like I read my feeds it becomes essentially just another feed reader but for short messages.

Challenge 1 will probably work itself out with time. If "practice makes perfect" I'll get better at concise writing as I do it more.

Challenge 2 I'm getting help from a nifty little Windows Mobile phone app I found called Twikini. It's a neat little program that shows me my friend's tweets and allows me to reply, post pics, shorten URLs, share my location, and more all from my phone. It was easy to download and install and it hasn't crashed Windows Mobile even once! :-) It's light-years better than Twitter's own mobile site. And in the couple of weeks I've been using it I've come to depend on it to let me view tweets numerous times a day when I'm on the go. That allows me to focus on my work when I'm at the computer and treat myself to tweet reading when I walk away for a break. :-D

So now I'm a Twitterer, username: imjasia. But be forewarned if you are looking to follow me, I don't tweet much about genealogy. Mostly I tweet about my life apart from genealogy. Same is pretty much true for my postings on Facebook.

Taking Things to Task

If you're like me, you can't get through the week without a task/to-do list. I've long been teased for making lists, even before I got old and forgetful ;-) I simply can't keep organized without them.

Over the years, I've tried a number of task/list software programs on my PC and on my PDA/cell phone. I liked most of them to begin with but didn't stick with any of them for long. Usually, that was because they were more inconvenient than traditional paper and pencil, or because they they were too simple or too complex. I've tried a couple project software programs too, but those were definitely more robust than I wanted to deal with. I really just need lists to remind me what to do and sometimes when I have to do them by. I don't put much detail into them.

The problem with stand-alone programs is you have to remember to launch them. I know, I know, that seems like a simple enough thing to remember. But when you use multiple computers like I do, it can be a challenge and inconvenience to remember to fire up the same one each day just to check a to-do list. I don't use all of my computers every day.

Just a few days ago, Google added a Task List to the many fine features available on their calendar. I love the Google Calendar and have been a faithful user of it for some time now. And from time to time, I've used the calendar to remind myself to send a birthday card, renew a domain name, or write a COG post. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered the new Task List feature. It rocks!

As you can see, it fits in nicely on the right side of the calendar page. It's easy to turn on by just clicking the "Tasks" link on the left side of the calendar page. This same task list is also available in Gmail Labs. The beauty of it is it's available from any computer that accesses the internet :-) And because I'm already accessing the Google Calendar every day I don't have to launch a separate software program :-) The Task feature has a number of options including indentation, move up, move down, notes, and more.

I think I've finally found the task list software that will take the place of good old pencil and paper! Check it out and see if you don't find it useful too :-)

Creative Gene Podcasts

I've had a few requests for audio podcasts of my Creative Gene blog over the last couple of years. I've avoided going down that road because I feared the learning curve for the necessary technology was more than I wanted to take on. Then I read Schelly's blog post. She announced that she was using OdioGo.com to offer podcasts of Tracing the Tribe to her readers. She was kind enough to send me an email explaining that she was using OdioGo.com which reads your blog posts so you don't have go through recording them. That sounded good to me :-)

So I'm giving OdioGo.com a try. At the beginning of each of my blog posts you will see a "listen here" button. All you have to do is click that button to hear the post read to you or see links to download a podcast. Using OdioGo.com requires me to use full feeds instead of short feeds. I don't like using full feeds for a couple of reasons but I'm willing to give this a try for a few weeks to see how it goes. Since my previous posts only had short feeds, you won't be able to go back to hear the full audio on them. But, you should be able to hear it on this post and all future posts for the next few weeks while I evaluate the situation.

You can subscribe to Creative Gene podcasts by clicking on the OdioGo button in the right side column of this page.

Thanks for the tip, Schelly!

Do you like this idea? Will you make use of it? Let me know what you think!

Technology Tuesday

This is the song that never ends...
Yes it goes on and on my friends...

Remember that tune? It was written by writer/composer Norman Martin. That's the one I'm singing today.

Last week I was complaining that my laptop had been at the repair center for over 3 weeks. The gods of technology must have heard me and had sympathy because 2 days later I got my laptop back. Yeah! They replaced the mother board and the CPU. Again.

As soon as I got home from Circuit City I fired up my laptop, reset the clock, and launched my browser to check my email. So far so good. Fifteen or so minutes later the fan starts up and sounds like a jet engine taking off. Oh, oh. I let it go for a few minutes until it was obvious that the poor thing was having a melt down. I didn't want to risk a fire after all.

Feeling like I'd been abandoned by the technology gods, I shut the laptop down, allowed a few tears to stream down my face, and fantasized about heaving the damn thing out my bedroom window.

That was Wednesday evening, the night before Thanksgiving. Circuit City wasn't open on Thursday and I wasn't stupid enough to try to take it in for service on Black Friday.

Saturday I marched back in to Circuit City and insisted on speaking to the store manager. When he met with me I explained what I'd already been through with this laptop and their service department. I told him that I needed this laptop fixed pronto. Not in 3 weeks. Not in 2 weeks. I wanted it back in 1 week tops. I told him I wanted him to throw his clout around and see that it got done. He said he understood and that he would do just that. He walked me back to the service center where he instructed the Firedog team to write up the work order and put a copy of it on his desk so he could follow up on it and get back to me with update reports. It would go out first thing the next day, he assured me.

That was Saturday morning. This is Tuesday evening. Have I heard from him? Nope. Nada. Did the laptop get sent out? Was it received at the service center? Has it been assigned to a technician yet? All good questions that I should have the answers to but don't.

What are the odds that I'll get it back by Saturday? I'm thinking slim to none but I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised. What are the odds that it won't have to go back for service in say the next month or so? I have no idea. I've lost all confidence in the laptop and the whole Circuit City repair team.

I'm not writing about this just to whine. I'm writing about it in hopes that the technology gods will have mercy on me and do a little better job of intervening this time around! LOL! If you pray to the technology gods, please keep me in your prayers!

Technology Tuesday

Let's see... it's been 5 weeks since I wrote my last Technology Tuesday post. I left off telling you that I'd gotten my scanner back from the service center but it was distorting images and would have to go back for repairs again. I got it back a couple of weeks ago and I'm happy to say that it's working just fine now although it makes this funny noise like something is rattling around inside... :-7

And woe is me! My laptop died, again. It had the same problem as last time, the screen crashed and wouldn't restart. I took it back to Circuit City 3 weeks ago today and I'm still waiting to get it back. I'm guessing they had to replace the mother board yet again. Thank goodness I bought the extended warranty. The laptop is just over a year old. It's a major pain in the dupa to be without it but at least the repairs aren't costing me anything. I think I understand why Circuit City has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy though. They must be losing customers left and right because their service is so lousy. I won't buy another computer from them after this experience with getting mine fixed. I know things break but taking over three weeks to repair a laptop is simply unacceptable. And who knows how much longer it will take... they haven't given me an estimate of when I can expect it back yet!

I'm obviously having a streak of bad luck with technology. I'm getting a little nervous about driving my car and using my phone. I don't even want to think about those things going kafluey!!!

Let's move on then. I haven't had a chance to tell you about the new Photoshop Elements 7.0 yet. I got my copy a few weeks ago from CostCo. Normally, I buy my software online from whoever has the lowest price. But this time I shopped specifically at CostCo online because I wanted the special edition CD packaged with Photoshop Elements, which is only available from CostCo. The CD is a collection of tutorials by Linda Sattgast, the guru of using Elements for scrapbooking. I've watched a number of her video tutorials in the past and found them very well done. So I was really looking forward to learning new tricks and tips from her.

The videos on the CD that comes with PSE 7.0 are as well done as any I've seen before. Unfortunately for me, most of them are intended for newbie PSE users. I was hoping they would be geared for scrapbooking, and a few of them are, but most are general use videos. If you're new to using PSE and the concept of working in layers, this CD is for you! If you already know PSE basics and are looking for scrapbooking tips and tutorials, you won't get much out of this CD. :-(

Technology Tuesday

Last week I bought the coolest little genea-gadget you can imagine. This little palmful of technology is the best thing since sliced bread. It's not inexpensive but I think it's well worth the money. I'm talking about the HTC Touch Diamond (cell phone) that I mentioned in my last Technology Tuesday post. Just look at what I can do with this little 2" x 4" x .5" gizmo.

I can check all of my email accounts (Google, Yahoo!, picture mail, and pop3) in one place :-) Since the device has a touch screen, all I have to do is swipe the screen to glide to the next email message. Of course I can send messages too. It has a touch screen keyboard and with the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system I can also use the stylus it comes with and the character recognition setting to simply write out my email. I can use the Sprint data network to connect or I can connect using WiFi. I was able to check email on my previous phone too but it wasn't as easy to read or as quick to download. And it was downright klugy to use too.





It has an MP3 player so I can listen to my audio recordings, music, or podcasts. It comes with headphones that plug in but you can use Bluetooth headphones or listen on the speaker too. I guess I don't have to carry my iPod around with me any more :-) -->





I can take pictures with it. And I'm talking good pictures! This baby has a 3.2 megapixel camera with an impressive number of settings. Next time I'm off to the cemetery I won't need to grab my point-and-shoot camera. My new phone will get the job done and I can upload or email the photos to myself or a relative if I want. The images are very nice. Do you recognize Auntie Josie's religious medal that I mentioned in my previous post? I took that photo with this phone. Check out how crisp and clear the image is, even close up!





Of course I can connect to the internet. Look, here's my Google feed reader with all my favorite bloggers' articles right in the palm of my hand. Text looks too small? No problem. All I have to do is rub my finger around the edge of the little round button at the bottom and the text magically gets bigger :-) (That comes in handy early in the morning when my eyes aren't open all the way yet.) This model comes with both the Opera and the Windows Explorer browsers in it. -->





Oh look! Here's facebook. Yep, you can access facebook in a mobile format if you so choose. I must admit, I haven't played around with this much yet. One of these days when I have some free time... LOL!




If I just want to surf the net I can do that too. Pages can be displayed in their entirety (portrait or landscape) or all in one column. I can zoom in to see images or read text better :-) -->






Here's a zoom in to the article text.






Remember that YouTube video I found about my maternal grandmother's ancestral village, Wojnicz? Well I can watch it any time I want now. There's a direct link to YouTube from the browser launch page. The video looks amazingly good! And with the speaker I don't even have to plug in headphones to listen while I watch. :-)






Everyone wants to check the weather before they go traipsing through the cemetery don't they? Here it is, complete with animated lightning bolts. I wonder if it shows a funnel cloud when there's a tornado warning? I guess I'll just have to wait until next spring to see that. We don't get many tornadoes in Michigan at this time of the year.



Here it is! This is the primary reason I wanted a phone with the Windows Mobile operating system. I'm replacing my Windows Mobile PDA which has seen better days and wants desperately to move on to PDA heaven. I use Pocket Genealogist 3 software to keep my entire genealogy database with me at all times. I can use a native Legacy file in it :-) Now I don't have to carry my PDA with me anymore. That makes three devices I can leave at home now. Oh, and here's the cool factor. I don't even have to tap an icon to launch the software. All I have to do is say, "open Pocket Genealogist 3", and voila! I'm in business!



And here's another great aspect of this phone. It comes with the Microsoft mobile suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). So I can write letters, keep track of my genealogy expenses (or my Christmas wish list ;-), or view the presentation from the last genealogy conference.







This just might be my favorite feature of all. I have turn-by-turn GPS navigation on this little wunderkind :-) Now is that cool or what? I used the GPS last Saturday to navigate to my newly found cousin's home, an hours drive away. That makes 4 devices I used to carry in my purse that I can now leave at home... my camera, my iPod, my PDA, and my GPS. You know what that means don't ya? Time to go shopping for a smaller purse!




I did mention that this device is a phone didn't I? With so much other technology packed in this little 2x4 package it's easy to forget that you can make national or international calls on it. So I could call my cousin in Poland to ask about the family history if I wanted to. Or I could send him an email, photograph or video, check his web site or facebook page, write down his story in Word then post it to my blog, watch a YouTube video about his hometown, and enter all of the relevant family history information he shares with me in Pocket Genealogist which will then transfer it all to Legacy on my desktop computer when I next sync it. Whew!

The only drawback I've experienced so far with this mighty genea-gadget is the battery life. It could be better. But a replacement battery is only about $20 and a separate battery charger can be had for <$15. I don't mind carrying a spare battery around with me. I do that already for my digital camera. It's worth it to have all this technology in my purse and palm!

I give it ***** stars!

Oh, and I got my scanner back from the service center yesterday :-) Unfortunately it came back with a problem it didn't have when I sent it in (distorted images). It goes back to the shop tomorrow :-(

Technology Tuesday

Technology. Can't live without it but it sure can make you crazy.

The good news is, I have my laptop back! One week after I dropped it off at Circuit City I got a call that it was ready to be picked up. They had to replace the mother board, which is what we suspected the problem to be. It's amazing how doing without one machine can totally interrupt your work flow. It's not like I didn't have other computers to work on. But it was still a hardship to do without it. I'm sooo glad to have it back :-D

The bad news is my Epson scanner died. Yeesh! Here again I have a backup but it's not as well suited or situated for scanning photos (it excels at scanning multiple documents). Fortunately, I'm still within my 1-yr warranty period so off it goes to the local service center for repairs. I have no estimate yet on how long it will take.

One last technology item. I'm thinking about getting the new HTC Touch Diamond phone. I just love the cool touch screen (easy on my aging eyes ;-) and all the whistles and bells on it. My PDA is dying so I'm thinking of getting this phone which runs Windows Mobile 6.1 to replace it. Does anyone have any feedback on this phone? It's new so there aren't many reviews on it yet. I just thought I'd mention it here in case someone reading this has one and would like to comment on it. I'd appreciate hearing about it!

A Quick Look At The New Picasa 3

Picasa 3 (beta) has been out for a couple weeks now. Who's been playing with it?

I have! I have!

Picasa has long been my photo viewer of choice. I own both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, but for locating photos on my hard drive, down sampling photos to put on my blog, and quick and light editing, Picasa is my program of choice. I use it every day without exception. So when version 3 was released in beta I was quick to download it and start putting it through its paces.

There are a slew of new features but I'm just going to touch on a couple of my favorites.

The absolute best new feature, as far as I'm concerned, is the ability to add watermarks to photos. Once upon a time I used to put my signature on all the photos I used on my blog. But then I got lazy. It seemed like too much of a hassle to launch Photoshop just to add my signature to a photo, especially in posts that included several photos. Eventually I stopped adding my signature at all when I posted photos. But I never got comfortable with the idea. Now with Picasa 3 it's simple. You set it up once, and a watermark is automatically included on each photo that you designate. :-) If you've noticed my name and date on the lower right corner of the photos in my recent posts then you've seen the result. This feature is winner in my book!

Another new feature I like is the ability to add text to photos. Here's an example of what I mean.
The text tool is easy to use and allows you to preview the font style on the fly. You can also rotate text, add an outline, and change the transparency. Sometimes it's helpful to be able to label the names of people in group photos. Trying to list the names of people left to right, back row to front, in a caption can be a bit of challenge. This new tool will make it easy to add a name right on a photo for easy identification. :-)

Here's an example. I took this photo...

To this...

... in less than 5 minutes! It's just that easy with Picasa.

1. Open the picture in Picasa and under the "Basic Fixes" tab click "I'm Feeling Lucky" (It does auto color and contrast).
2. Under the "Effects" tab click "Sharpen" (old photos are often "soft" and can benefit from sharpening).
3. Back to the "Basic Fixes" tab, click on "Text". Type your text on the photo and choose a font that you like. You can adjust the size and choose a color. In this case, I sampled colors from the photo itself for all but the muted pink in the title at the bottom.
4. Click on "File" then "Export Picture to Folder", choose your watermark, and save your file in the size of your choice. Done!

So there's no excuse for using flat, faded, old photos on your blog when you can create a crisp clear picture (the way the photographer intended it to be!) with the people labeled and your watermark on it in less than 5 minutes!

Picasa is a free download! Picasa is a free download! Picasa is a free download!

(No, I don't get any money for promoting it... I'm just trying to give you a tip for great looking old photos in minutes!) Windows only.

Cuil New Search Engine?

Did you hear about the new kid on the search engine block? Cuil.com (pronounced like "cool") debuted today as a Google challenger. It's brought to you by some ex-Google engineers and it claims to be bigger and better than Google. From Yahoo!:

For starters, Cuil's search index spans 120 billion Web pages.

Patterson believes that's at least three times the size of Google's index, although there is no way to know for certain. Google stopped publicly quantifying its index's breadth nearly three years ago when the catalog spanned 8.2 billion Web pages.

I gave it a try and entered "Creative Gene" in the search box. My first impression was good. I like the clean look and column layout. The results on page one were all relavent to my blog so that made me very happy :-) . But then I took a closer look and burst out laughing. There, right next to one of my blog links, was a fetish poster! LOL! Now I know that I don't have any fetish posters on my blog so I clicked on the image to see where it would take me. Turns out it took me right to my blog. I can't explain why the image is there or why another image further down the page appears next to another entry of my blog but it's not one of my images either.

I'm not making this up, look! (Click to view larger)

I'm thinking cuil.com isn't quite ready for prime time ;-) Check it out and let me know what you think of cuil.com!

Making the Case for Digital Over Print in Genealogical Publications

Like several other genea-bloggers, I was contacted by Leland Meitzler last week regarding the press release for Everton’s Genealogical Helper as a digital Online Edition. My first reaction was joy because I have been saying this is the direction that genealogical societies need to go with their publications for going on two years now. I haven't specifically addressed national genealogical publications in regards to the print vs digital debate but as far as I'm concerned the same reasoning applies to those publications too.

After I read the Everton's press release I got to wondering just what you'd be getting for your subscription fee. Would you be able to download the online edition or just view it on the web site? Would the articles be word searchable not just on the web site but on my hard drive as well if I downloaded them? I assumed these would be givens, but I've made bad assumptions about such things in the past. I checked the Everton's web site and couldn't find any more information. So I sent an email to Leland and asked him these questions. He was kind enough to write back and honest enough to say he didn't have all the answers. (But he assures me that articles will be word searchable! :-)

Here's my position on the digital vs print publications debate. Like most other people, I prefer to read printed material to print on screen. I find the type easier on my eyes, I don't get a repetitive stress injury from holding a magazine, and magazines are lighter weight to carry around making them more comfortably portable than say a laptop computer. These are all wonderful things that a print publication has over a digital publication in the short term. However, the story plays a little differently in the long term. And the long term is particularly relevant to genealogy researchers.

Let's say I read the latest copy of my favorite genealogy magazine, cover to cover, and then put it on my bookshelf with my other 24 copies of said publication that I've subscribed to for the past few years. Then next week I hit the genealogy pot of gold... I break through that proverbial brick wall! After doing the happy dance and sharing the good news with everyone on my blog I find that I have new surnames and a new location to research. Yeah! But wait a minute, I remember that new location from an article I read in my favorite publication. The location was mentioned in an article about how somebody found their Auntie Josie after many years of looking.

As I stand before my bookcase, looking at 24 issues of my favorite publication, I ask myself, "Now when did I read that article? It must have been a couple months ago." And so I start to pull the magazines off the bookshelf one by one looking through the table of contents and hoping something there will jog my memory. Hmmm. I'm noticing I haven't dusted my bookcase lately as I thumb through one after another of my magazines. After about 45 minutes of this I begin to wonder why I liked printed publications so much. It was short term thinking. In the long run, I'd be better off if all this information was on my hard drive and searchable.

The ease and convenience of reading a single print edition of a magazine pales in comparison to the potential hours of frustration I will encounter when I want to reference something from that publisher in the future.

Personally, I made a decision this year to not renew or newly subscribe to genealogical publications that aren't available to download in digital format, genealogical society memberships included. It's not enough to have the publications available online for subscribers. If I pay for a subscription I expect to have possession of journal/magazine articles just like I would have with a print publication, not simply access to them online. So they must be downloadable. And they must be searchable.

Notice, if you will, that I specified "genealogical publications". I'm not looking for the demise of all printed publications. In fact, just the opposite is true. I want to see the printing/publication industry thrive! (My husband is in the print/publishing industry and if it doesn't thrive I could be the next bag lady you see on the street corner ;-) I enjoy reading the Wall Street Journal in print, as well as Writer's Digest and my local hometown newspaper. But once I've read these publications they're "old news". I don't keep them for future reference. And therein lies the difference. Just about every genealogical publication I've ever owned I've wanted to keep for future reference. You just never know when you'll find a long lost cousin who'll turn up somewhere you haven't researched before or fought in a war you've previously not had reason to collect resources for. Am I not right here?

One of these days, I hope to scan the articles in the journals and magazines on my bookshelf so that I will be able to reference them more easily. But that will be a big undertaking. And the very last thing I want to do is add to that undertaking by subscribing to even more printed publications! No thank you. And I won't even get into all the issues of organizing and storing publications. Does anyone have excess space on their bookshelves? Would you rather buy, build, and find a place for another new set of bookshelves or buy a new external hard drive and plug it in? You see what I'm saying?

I'm pleased that Everton Publishers is offering their publication in a digital format. I applaud them, in fact. I hope that when it all comes together next month it is both downloadable and searchable. And I hope a lot of people will subscribe to their offering. (It does sound like a great deal!) I wish them much success with this latest endeavor. And I hope that other genealogical magazine publishers and genealogical societies will follow suit. It will benefit us all in the long run and make our genealogical research that much easier and less time consuming... leaving us more time to blog about our successes! {grin}

There have been several other articles on the print vs digital debate recently. You might like to read what some others have had to say on the subject.

Digital Genealogy Magazines vs. Print Publications
Would You Read a Digital Magazine?
Online Editions for Everton's Genealogical Helper
Everton’s Genealogical Helper adds online edition

Does Legacy 7 Have This Capability?

Maybe someone with Legacy 7 can help me out with a little information. I'm wondering if the folks at Legacy have yet added the capability of using Polish alphabet characters to their software. I know there isn't a "Polish version" of Legacy yet. I'm not interested in that anyway. I just want to know if you can save Polish letters (with diacritical marks) in the new version.

Here are the Polish letters that are different from English.

ą ę ł ć ń ó ś ż ź

I'd like to know if you can type a name or location using these characters.

Anyone willing to try creating a record for the name Wacław Pałka who lived in Łódź, Poland? (should be able to copy and paste)

I was going to try downloading the free version but it will overwrite my version 6 deluxe. If 7 doesn't allow these characters I'd have to reinstall version 6 deluxe again to get back to where I am that that's just a pain in the butt. I sure would appreciate it if someone could save me the time and trouble by just checking this out for me.

Thanks!

Genealogy Research Made "One Click" Easier

Google comes through for genealogists once again. This time they've made genealogy research easier for us with their latest addition of 10 more languages to their translation service (bringing the total to 23). And God bless them, this time they've added Polish :-)

On May 15, 2008 Google announced the addition of the following 10 languages to their translation service: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian and Swedish. Is that cool, or what?

Like any online translator, Google's isn't perfect. From my limited but enthusiastic investigation in the last couple of days I'd say on average a couple words per paragraph don't get translated (translating Polish to English). So you'll still need to pull out your foreign language dictionary from time to time but most of the translation is done for you. Yipee!!!

And here's the really cool part... go here and scroll down to the list of languages with hypertext links. Now click on "English" and drag it up to your browser's tool bar. The next time you get to a site written in a foreign language just click on that new link in your tool bar and voila! Google's translator will automatically detect what language the page is written in and instantly translate it to English for you (if it's one of their 23 languages ;-). For genealogists who don't read the native language of their ancestors this really is the next best thing since sliced bread. You don't have to copy and paste text in a box or type in a hyperlink and choose which language to translate to and from. Just one click to translate a web page, it's that easy. Sigh. I think I'm in love.

While you're on the Google Translation Tool page, notice the translation gadget in the upper left corner. You can add this gadget to your blog like I've done in my right side column. Then, anyone who visits your blog can do a one-click translation of your blog post into their language. Check it out! I just viewed my latest blog post in Russian. Very cool!

And here's another great thing. Let's say you are lucky enough and talented enough to be bilingual. If you use their translator and don't agree with the way a word or sentence is translated they invite you to suggest a better translation. Ya gotta love Google. This translation service will only get better with time as people write in with new and refined interpretations.

I can't think of a single new technology tool that can do as much for my personal family history research as this latest offering from the folks at Google. And it's just in time too. I'll be starting my summer writing project, one of my family histories, in the next week or two.

Hat tip to Lisa for posting about Google's new language offerings earlier this week!

Review: Photoshop Express

The folks over at Adobe, creators of the Photoshop suite of products, have a new offering. It's the new Photoshop Express, an online photo editing and storage program. It's just been launched and is still in beta but you can set up an account and check it out now now. I took it for a spin this morning myself.

When you register, you get to choose your screen name which is included in the URL of any online albums you might choose to make public. My URL is http://Jasia.photoshop.com. That's pretty cool isn't it?

Once you register and go through the email verification process, you can login and begin uploading photos. I uploaded just one, a photo of the front grill of Big Blue (Stephanie Plum fans will recognize this as Grandma Mazur's car). One photo is enough to play with for testing purposes but you're not limited to that. Each account gets 2GB of file storage space.

The GUI resembles the current version of PSE6 having a charcoal background. But the program is not an online version it. Think more along the lines of the Photoshop Elements look with the Picasa feature set. As one who has and uses both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements regularly believe me when I say this is not "Photoshop Lite", it's more like "Picasa Dark".

The Photoshop Express feature set offers basic photo editing tools including, cropping, red eye removal, sharpening, tinting, lighting, saturation and such. Nothing remarkable about the tool set offered but the way it works is pretty interesting. In the screen shot below you can see what I mean.

In this instance, I've clicked on the "saturation" tool. Above the photo there appears a series of 7 thumbnails showing various levels of saturation. The center image is the original and you get to see 3 less saturated images and 3 more saturated images. That's kind cool. If you find one you prefer, all you have to do is click on it to accept it.

I think the GUI is very user friendly and pretty intuitive. I'm not sure I discovered every feature but I was able to get around the program without having to look for a Help menu. When in doubt, mouse-over the image or one of the tools or buttons and you'll usually get a pop-up suggestion. Oh, and you definitely want to "allow pop-ups" in your browser window for this site.

You can assign your photos to an "album" and you can choose to make your album public, private, or by invitation only. You can also view your photos in a slide show or send them by email.

Adobe comes in pretty late the to online photo editing/storage game and Photoshop Express doesn't have any new compelling features from what I've seen. They are asking for feedback though and they make it sound like they intend to offer more features in the future. I let them know what I think the program's missing... the ability to watermark photos with a copyright notice. I don't think any of the online photo editing/storage programs offer this feature and that surprises me. I think it would dramatically cut down on image copyright violation on the web if they came up with a one-step watermark. The other feature this program needs is the ability to add keywords (IPTC). Gotta have it.

I hope that the introduction of Photoshop Express gets the people at Picasa to sit up and take notice. They haven't added much of anything to their product in ages and that's been a real disappointment for me. I use Picasa every day but I also almost always have to use additional programs for minor features that Picasa should have.

The fact that the program is online is both an advantage and a disadvantage. For those who want to access photo editing tools "on the go" it's great to have. For those who have huge collections of photos on their hard drives that they can't possibly upload, it won't be such a great thing since you have to upload a photo to edit it. (I fall into the later category.)

I didn't see anything in Photoshop Express to make me leave Picasa forever but if anyone could win me over with an advanced feature set for online photo editing/storage it would be the folks at Adobe. I hope they're listening.