Ancestor Search Blog

Collaborate on Picasa Web Albums

2009-09-11T06:11:00.001-04:00

Google has just introduced Collaborative Picasa Web Albums. Now, every album on Picasa Web Albums is potentially collaborative, meaning multiple people can add photos to the same album.This is a great way for cousins, siblings and other family members to share ancestor and old family photos.Plus, the more photos that are placed in one web album, the better job Picasa can do with its photo

How Google Picasa Face Recognition Software Can Help Genealogists

2009-08-09T13:36:00.025-04:00

Google Picasa Web Albums has face recognition software that can help name the unknown people who are in your old family photos.This free software even recognizes the same person at different ages. I discovered this by accident. I was scanning old family photos from one of those shoe boxes of unmarked and unnamed photos that every family seems to possess. After scanning, I uploaded the photos to a

Family Tree Maker 2010 Improvements (and Coupon Code)

2009-08-07T16:30:00.033-04:00

FTM 2010 is now for sale in the Ancestry store. ( Upgrade Version.)Use the following coupon code in your checkout cart for an additional 20% savings : 2C4TCHL .Here is a detailed list of what is new on this version of FTM 2010.Tree ManagementAncestry.com Family Tree DownloadYou can now download your online Ancestry.com trees directly into Family Tree Maker and either start a new tree or merge

1930 Census Free During August 2009

2009-08-04T01:49:00.002-04:00

Footnote.com is opening the entire Interactive 1930 US Census for free throughout the month of August.All the indexes in their entirety are always free on Footnote.com. However, for this month Footnote will allow free access to the images as well. You must go to Free 1930 Census Images and register (provide email address) to gain free access.There is a lot you can learn about your family history

On Sale at the Ancestry Store.

2009-06-24T17:46:00.005-04:00

If you are a bargain hunter as I am, you might be interested in checking out the products that are on sale at the Ancestry store.On Sale at Ancestry StoreThe sale items are updated frequently and usually include software as well as reference books.There are usually at least five pages of sale items so be sure to browse all the page to see if there are any items you have been waiting to go on sale

Footnote.com - Special Offer

2009-06-22T10:12:00.008-04:00

If you have thought about subscribing to Footnote.com, now is the time to do so.Those considering a Footnote membership or current monthly members can upgrade (until the end of July) to an annual plan for $59.25 - a discount of $10 from the today's subscription price. Even those who are already annual members can take advantage of the special offer and extend their memberships for an additional

Bing Your Family Tree?

2009-06-07T18:51:00.010-04:00

Microsoft's new Bing search engine went live June 3rd. Bing is a completely rebuilt search engine to replace Microsoft Live Search. It is visually pleasing, but what really counts are the search results. Here are some of the first things I noticed:Bing has a very attractive interface. Each day features a new photo background with information about the scene revealed by scrolling across the

Google's New Search Options

2009-05-15T15:09:00.021-04:00

This week Google announced a new set of features called Search Options - a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your Google search results to generate different views to find what you need faster and easier.Starting this week, a "Show Options" link now appears on the blue bar above the Google search results. See arrow above. Click on Show Options to see the new Google features.Search

Finding the Data from Geocities Sites

2009-05-13T08:06:00.001-04:00

Geocities, home of many genealogy websites, is closing. Unfortunately, some webmasters may not move their sites before it does.One reason is that webmasters may not be aware that Geocities is closing. It doesn't appear that Geocities is notifying their webmasters by email. Instead, the only notice Geocities is giving is a message about the closing when a webmaster logs into the Geocities file

My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now what do I do? Part III

2009-05-09T09:40:00.002-04:00

Geocities is soon closing its doors forever. If you have a genealogy site on Geocities, you may want to readMy Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part I My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part IIHow to fnd genealogy on Geocities sites.Those who want to save copies of their Geocities sites before it closes have a couple of choices:Copy each page manually using the

My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now what do I do? Part II

2009-05-02T05:57:00.007-04:00

Geocities will be closing down later this year (2009). If you have a genealogy site on Geocities, you can take steps now so that when Geocities does close down, your site will already be moved and links around the Internet will already be pointing to your new site.I've outlined the steps to move your Geocities site to a new web host inMy Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now What Do I Do? Part I

My Genealogy Site is on Geocities. Now what do I do? Part I

2009-04-29T08:01:00.027-04:00

You may have heard that Geocities will be closing down later this year (2009). There are many genealogy sites on Geocities, and sadly, many of these sites may be lost if the webmasters don't move the sites to a new location.Important AnnouncementAfter careful consideration, Yahoo! has decided to close GeoCities later this year. You can continue enjoying your GeoCities service until then — we just

Legacy Software Coupon Code

2009-04-09T15:58:00.005-04:00

Legacy FamilyTree Software v. 7 is a great genealogy program and has many faithful followers.Legacy 7.0 Standard edition is Free and is a full functioning program.Legacy 7.0 Deluxe is $29.95 and has everything that the Standard Edition has and much more. See comparison chart of Standard and Deluxe versions.If you have been wanting to update to the Deluxe program, you can now receive 10% off your

Footnote.com Advanced Search

2009-01-07T12:48:00.008-05:00

I've recently made a discovery that has made searching Footnote.com a lot easier for me. I discovered that Footnote.com has an Advanced Search that makes searching the website a lot easier. I can't believe I never noticed it. You can access the Footnote Advanced Search through the drop-down menu on the search button on any page of the Footnote website. (See black arrow above).The Footnote.com

Google Blog Search Improvement

2008-12-26T06:01:00.007-05:00

Google Blog Search has begun to search full blog posts. Previously Google Blog Search had only indexed the blog RSS feed. Since blog feeds can have either the full or partial blog text, often times only a small portion of the post would be found using Google Blog Search.Since many blog authors don’t publish full feeds for a variety of reasons, the Google Blog Search has been missing a lot of what

Footnote.com 3 months free with Annual Membership

2008-11-26T21:29:00.006-05:00

Footnote.com is running a Holiday Special now until the end of 2008. If you have been thinking of subscribing, now is an excellent time to do so. You can buy an annual membership and receive 3 additional months for free. Click here to receive Footnote.com 15 Months for the price of 12Footnote.com has almost 50 million Original Document Images and they are adding 2 million more images every

New Google Personalize Search Feature

2008-10-19T12:56:00.002-04:00

Take a look around the Google Search Results page, and you'll start to notice some new items Google has been adding to the page.One of these new features is a notation if Google is customizing your search results - giving you different search results than anyone else.A message will appear in the top-right corner of the search results page, with a link to a page with more details about how and why

Fun Friday and I've Been Tagged

2008-10-18T11:19:00.014-04:00

My friend, Lorine McGinnis Schulze, of the Olive Tree Genealogy Blog tagged me to participate in a Fun Friday post of getting to know all about me.I am supposed to list 25 things you may or may not know about me - arranging them in 5 topic groups of 5 each. 5 jobs I've held, 5 places I've lived, 5 snacks I enjoy, 5 things I doing 10 years ago, and 5 items on today's to-do list. And then send this

Free FTM 2009 now available to FTM 2008 Users

2008-09-10T11:16:00.018-04:00

Ancestry.com has sent the email so that Family Tree Maker 2008 users who registered a US or Canadian version of the software can get a free copy of FTM 2009. The email contains a unique link and coupon code to be used during checkout at the Ancestry.com store to get the free Family Tree Maker 2009. The free Family Tree Maker 2009 CD will come to your mailbox - it is not a download.If you

FTM 2009 Released

2008-08-29T07:51:00.011-04:00

The Ancestry blog announced the FTM 2009 release yesterday along with a list of features:The Family Tree Maker team is pleased to announce the release of Family Tree Maker 2009. We are excited about the new features and user requested tools included in this version. Over the past year, we have been making patches available that include additional functionality and features that our customers have

Google Now Does Synonym Searches Automatically

2008-08-27T13:47:00.024-04:00

Google has started including the automatic use of synonym searching in its search results as it continues to improve and change its understanding of search queries. Searching for synonyms means Google is now also finding words that are conceptually related to the keywords in the search query.Previously, we had to search for the exact words that would be found on a web page. Now we can search for

Customizing Google Preferences for Better Genealogy Searches

2008-08-23T09:41:00.007-04:00

You can get better Google search results if you first configure the options in your Google Preferences. To customize your Google Preferences, click on the Preferences link which is to the right of Google’s search box.To me, the most important Google Preference is:Number of Results.This preference determines how many search results are displayed on one page. Google will normally return just 10

Genea-Blogger Game Statistics

2008-08-22T09:55:00.002-04:00

This is my final post for the Gene-Blogger Games. All participants chose their own categories in which to participate. It wasn't really a competition but rather a fun way to accomplish some genealogy tasks. I didn't expect TS Fay to zig-zag across Florida for the last week, so I didn't get everything done I had planned. Here are the categories and what I have completed:2. Back Up Your Data!Backup

Family Search Indexing

2008-08-12T16:21:00.014-04:00

Family Search Indexing is a volunteer-based indexing project to index the digital images of the 2 million rolls of microfilm stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault near Salt Lake City, Utah. These indexed digital records are then available for free to everyone at the Family Search Pilot Site.To index, volunteers extract details from the digital images of historical documents.Family Search's

Genealogy at Facebook

2008-08-10T19:32:00.009-04:00

Facebook? Facebook is for college kids, right? My friends had to nudge and nudge me to join since it has more than a few years since my college days.But here are the facts: Facebook is growing 3% month with 100,000 new members every day. The fastest growing segment is OVER the age of 25.And those interested in genealogy and family history are joining Facebook and making it a place to network,