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Rumors of a "G-Drive" from Google have been around for years. These rumors have been on-again off-again. The company reportedly will release a product that allows users to store a limited amount of data in the cloud free of charge with larger amounts of disk storage available for modest fees. Such a solution is great for making backups. It is also good for copying data from desktop to laptop computers or from the office to home computers. If proper permissions are put in place, it is also possible to share selected files with friends, relatives, or co-workers.
While rumored for several years, Google has not yet released such a product. Other companies, including Dropbox, Mozy, CrashPlan, Backblaze, Carbonite, Amazon, and even Microsoft have online storage products, but not Google. That seems strange for the company with the most web-connected servers on the planet. Now the rumors are growing again: Google reportedly will release such a service within the next few weeks. Only the name will be "Drive," not G-Drive.
David S. Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, has written in his blog about a petition submitted by Carl Malamud’s PublicResource.org on the White House’s We The People petition platform. “Yes We Scan” calls for a national strategy, and even a Federal Scanning Commission, to figure out what it would take to digitize the holdings of many federal entities, from the Library of Congress to the Government Printing Office to the Smithsonian Institution.
Ferriero writes about some of the actions taken since the petion was received. One of the statistics caught my eye: the National Archives and Records Administration alone has over 10 billion pages in the agency's holdings – and that’s just the paper! Of course, other agencies have even billions more pages.
Say it isn't so! Will there never be another "Kodak moment?"
Eastman Kodak Co, the inventor of the digital camera, plans to get out of the camera business in the first half of this year as the bankrupt company looks to cut costs.
Kodak will stop selling digital cameras along with pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. It also will stop making film. However, that won't make much of a difference as the sale of film has become almost non-existent in recent years. The cost of keeping the film factories open probably exceeds the revenue produced by dwindling sales.
Want to buy some microfilm so that your society can create microfilms of old records? Sorry, Kodak won't be selling any. In fact, almost all of Kodak's competitors have also stopped making microfilm. Kodak pioneered microfilm to image checks in the 1920s and continued to develop the technology for decades. Although once a leader in the field of microimaging, Kodak suffered financially as sales of microfilm and associated hardware slowed to a trickle, only to be replaced by cheaper digital technologies. Now all manufacture of microfilm has ceased.
The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:
Italy, Sweden, and U.S. Collections Enjoy the Largest Additions
FamilySearch added another 30 million new, free records online (16 million indexed names and 14 million browsable images). Totally new collections from Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Micronesia, Slovenia, and the United States can now be searched for free. Millions of new U.S. birth, marriage and death records, and over 9 million church records from Sweden were also added. Find your ancestors now at FamilySearch.org.
The following announcement was written by the 2012 Minnesota Genealogical Society:
2012 Minnesota Genealogical Society North Star Conference Call for Papers Deadline for Submissions is March 1, 2012
February 9, 2012—South St. Paul, MN. The Minnesota Genealogical Society (MGS) announces a Call for Papers for breakout sessions of the 5th annual MGS North Star Conference, New Approaches and Old Sources, to be held October 5–6, 2012 in Edina, Minnesota. The deadline for submission of proposals is Thursday, March 1, 2012.
Lisa Kudrow says family histories of fellow actresses Marissa Tomei and Helen Hunt are included in season 3 of the series 'Who Do You Think You Are' she produces for NBC and shares how learning her background in season 1 affected her. You can watch the two minute nineteen second advertisement for the program at http://youtu.be/XEAkKPi07ds or click on the video below:
After most major genealogy conferences, I host a dinner for newsletter readers. This is a tradition started years ago with an informal "pick up" dinner at a local restaurant. The dinners have since grown into far bigger events, now held in hotel banquet rooms. Last Saturday evening, a few hours after RootsTech 2012 ended, the largest ever such dinner was held at the Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown in Salt Lake City. 112 genealogists gathered for dinner.
These events are always completely informal with no presentations or speeches, except for a few welcoming remarks by myself. I also awarded doorprizes to several attendees.
I have written several times about the threats to genealogists from mis-guided politicians who seem to believe that restricting access to the Social Security Death Index somehow stop identity theft. As ludicrous as that thought may be, the idea is gaining traction in Washington, D.C.
One recent article at http://goo.gl/PoK7S mentions "the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Ways & Means Committee in Washington, D.C., [that] will hold hearings that have the capacity to drastically affect the access of genealogists to the Social Security Death Index (“SSDI”) and related underlying information." The hearings were held abd the Ways and Means Committee Social Security Subcommittee finally posted the video to the Feb 2nd hearing at: http://waysandmeans.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=133
The following announcement was written by Deceased Online:
First region in Northwest England on UK’s only burial records database
Cheshire West and Chester Council has become the first local authority in England’s Northwest to make all its burial and cremation records available through Deceased Online, the UK’s only database website dedicated to statutory burial and cremation records.
From 9th February local residents, family historians and genealogy researchers worldwide will be able to trace their ancestors via the website www.deceasedonline.com
Saturday was the third and final day of RootsTech 2012. The third day was a continuation of the first and second days. Great presentations were made and the Exhibitors Hall was as busy as ever.
The first session of the morning featured a focus on the RootsTech Contest Winners. The third place winner turned out to be two winners in a tie: the "20 Minute Genealogist" created by a team at the BYU Computer Science Department and "Facetree" by Ellie Rasmus. Second place was awarded to Brooke Schreier Ganz for "LeafSeek."
The grand prize winner was Jimmy Zimmerman with "NoteFuser."
The following announcement was written by The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) of the National Genealogical Society (NGS), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS):
Genealogy Community Responds To Efforts To Remove Access to Social Security Death Index and Other Records
February 7, 2012– Austin, TX: The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) – a joint coalition of international genealogical societies representing millions of genealogists and family historians – announces the launch of its Stop ID Theft NOW! campaign with its We The People petition posted at WhiteHouse.gov.
These courses should be very popular. I suspect the courses will fill up quickly, so I suggest you register as soon as the registrations open.
The following announcement was written by the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh:
Registration for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) will begin on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, at 12:00 noon (Eastern Standard Time).
The four course coordinators have proven popular at institutes and conferences:
The following announcement was written by Wholly Genes, Inc.:
The largest family history conference on the seas.
COLUMBIA, MARYLAND -- 5 February 2012 -- Wholly Genes, Inc. announces the 2012 Genealogy Conference and Cruise, September 16-23, 2012, to Alaska’s Inside Passage. This annual conference has a reputation for offering lectures by some of the most respected genealogists in the country on topics that are relevant to all researchers, including methodology, standards, repositories, record types, research aids, and technology. With expert presentations aboard a cruise ship plus exciting ports of call, this event offers a major educational opportunity and a unique vacation experience – all at a price that rivals a typical national conference or vacation alone.
This year’s conference offers some of the most sought-after speakers on genealogy and technology topics, including:
The following announcement was written by the Family History Information Standards Organisation:
New standards-setting organisation formed to support Family History and Genealogy
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA--Wednesday, February 1, 2012--FHISO (http://fhiso.org) is a newly-formed international organisation created to develop standards for the digital representation and sharing of family history and genealogical information. The standards will solve today’s interoperability issues independently of technology platforms, genealogy products or services. They will provide opportunities for innovation and will address robust user requirements such as search, capture and research administration.
Do you have abnormally high cholesterol levels, even at a young age? Blame your ancestors!
Familial hypercholesterolemia, known as FH, is a genetic disorder that causes extremely high cholesterol levels at an extremely young age. FH is found most often in people of Native American or French Canadian descent. In America, experts say, about 1 in every 300 to 500 people has the disorder. However, in Lewiston, Maine, with a high percentage of French-Canadian descendants, the ratio is about 10 times the rate of FH as the rest of the country. Anyone with French-Canadian ancestry may have FH, even in other locations.
Early awareness of familial hypercholesterolemia could extend your life for many years.
RootsTech continued today with events and presentations similar to the first day. The day started with an informal keynote speech by Josh Coates, CEO of Instructure, an education-focused software company. Mr Coates also is the founder of Mozy. He also has a long list of impressive technological and entrepreneurial accomplishments, including Utah Entrepreneur of the Year, vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneur, and one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 100 Young Innovators. He spoke on "Exabyte Social Clouds and other Monstrosities."
Indeed, Josh Coates' presentation was very informal. And just how informal was it? I have attended dozens of conferences and have listened to many keynote speeches. However, this is the first keynote I have listened to where the speaker was barefoot! Take a look at this "blow-up" of part of the above picture:
The following announcement was written by the RootsTech organizers:
Congratulations to the winners of the of the RootsTech Developer Challenge.
First Place: Jimmy Zimmerman, NoteFuser NoteFuser connects your Evernote® notes to Geni.com or new.FamilySearch.org person records. It also allows you to easily create Evernote® powered research logs and other notes with one click. Make sure you watch the NoteFuser Demo video on the homepage http://notefuser.herokuapp.com.
The following announcement was written by The MagiKey, LLC:
Salt Lake City, February 3, 2012- The MagiKey, LLC proudly announces that the 1940 U.S. Census extraction forms are available in its new release of MagiCensus Deluxe (version 3.1). In the last year MagiCensus has more than doubled the number of census extraction forms available, and now includes over 110 census forms across 10 countries. This makes it the largest collection of census extraction forms available for genealogy researchers. In honor of this milestone The MagiKey, LLC is offering conference specials for their first non-beta product, MagiCensus Deluxe, and their online webinars about Census Tracking. www.themagikey.com.
The following announcement was written by Funium LLC:
February 3, 2012
Funium LLC, of Lehi, Utah announces the launch of Family Village Premier on Facebook. The social media game is oriented toward helping people have fun building their family tree and help them discover interesting documents and information concerning their ancestors and family members using Facebook.
The RootsTech conference kicked off this morning in Salt Lake City with more than 4,100 attendees. No, that number is not a misprint. More than four thousand one hundred genealogists pre-registered. However, when I walked past the registration desk in mid-morning, I saw a long line of people waiting to purchase tickets at the door. Unofficially, I was told that the number of attendees had risen to more than 4,400 by late afternoon. That number certainly will rise further during the next two days of the conference.
RootsTech is now by far the most popular genealogy conference in North America.
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