Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

(+) Hands On with the New Microsoft Surface Tablet Computer

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

I purchased a new Microsoft Surface tablet computer on October 26, the first day they became available. I would like to describe my experiences with it so far.

I will also compare the new Windows Surface to the current Apple iPad for two reasons. First, the iPad commands 70% of the tablet computer market; so, every new tablet that appears in the marketplace obviously will be compared with its biggest competitor. Second, I already own an iPad; so, I automatically compare the two systems in my mind.

(+) Finding Unmarked Graves with High Tech Solutions

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

One of the vexing problems with old cemeteries and historical sites is the difficulty of finding the locations of unmarked graves. In many cases, the desire is to locate the graves so that they may be identified and left undisturbed by new construction. To be sure, the locations may have been marked at one time with wooden or even stone markers. However, the ravages of time, weather, animals, vandals, and acid rain over the years may have removed all traces of those markers. Locating unmarked graves is also vitally important in solving murder cases.

Historically, the only method of finding unmarked graves has been to start digging – not a very practical solution. However, modern technology now allows cemetery associations, historical societies, family societies, genealogists, archaeologists, police departments, and others to identify the locations of buried bodies and other objects with no digging required.

(+) How to Access Television Programs and Other Web Content from Other Countries and Simultaneously Foil Hackers

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Comments posted to this newsletters' website recently have highlighted a common problem: not all the information on the World Wide Web is available worldwide. For example, many television programs are converted to computer videos and made available online. However, the audiences often are restricted. Web users in the United States are blocked from watching the BBC version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" This is because the BBC wishes to restrict access to episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?" to U.K. residents, and the web server in the U.K. knows whether you are in the U.K. or not by looking at your IP address, the Internet Protocol address your computer is using while you are online.

Actually, many other web sites do the same, even if they are not providing television programs. For instance, web users in Australia are frequently blocked from accessing some of the books on Google Books in the USA. In this case, the reason for the blockage is that Google Books has to deal with copyright laws in all countries, and those laws vary from one country to the next. Google doesn't always know all the laws in all the countries; so, the company takes a conservative approach. Google typically complies with U.S. laws and therefore allows U.S. residents to access all content. Users in other countries often are blocked from some books because Google cannot guarantee compliance with all copyright laws in each country.

(+) Turn Vacations into Genealogy Fact-Finding Trips

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

"If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium."

Where will you go on your next vacation trip? A trip to New England? Washington, D.C.? Salt Lake City? How about to the beach? Or how about a European vacation? How about taking a trip to the town where your grandparents grew up or visiting the country of your ancestors? What if you could actually walk the same streets as your great-great grandfather or see the home where your grandmother was born? This is something you want to put on your bucket list.

A trip back to the old home town or to "the old country" can be an immensely satisfying experience. Those who prepare for the trip usually report they have great memories and photographs of the experience.

(+) Better Than Soundex

 The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Genealogists have used Soundex almost since it was invented in 1918. Soundex was patented by Robert C. Russell of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is sometimes called the “Russell Code.” The U.S. Census Bureau immediately adopted Soundex for indexing census records. Since then, others have used Soundex code to sort similar-sounding names for telephone books, work records, drivers' licenses, and many other purposes. Genealogists use Soundex to find variant spellings of ancestors' names. Almost all modern genealogy databases have a "search by Soundex" capability.

Soundex is a form of "phonetic encoding" or "sound-alike" codes. A Soundex code consists of one letter followed by three digits. Smith and Smythe both are coded as S530. Eastman is E235 and Williams is W452. You can read more about Soundex in my Soundex Explained article at http://goo.gl/zBXxF.

(+) How to Preserve Newspaper Clippings

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Many family members collect newspaper clippings of marriages, death notices, birth announcements, school graduation announcements, and similar items. If kept under proper conditions, these newspapers clippings may last for generations. The key phrase in that statement is "if kept under proper conditions."

In fact, there are several things you will want to do to preserve the information:

(+) How to Find Anything on Your Hard Drive Within Seconds

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Modern hard drives are wonderful inventions. Capable of storing gigabytes, even terabytes, of information, today's hard drives allow you store the equivalent of multiple four-drawer filing cabinets in only a few cubic inches, all for a cost undreamed of only a few years ago. In fact, today's hard drives are much cheaper than filing cabinets. There is but one problem: how do you find information buried in the tens of thousands of documents you filed on these gargantuan hard drives over the years?

Luckily, there are several solutions that will allow you to find anything on your computer within seconds. I use a combination of file names plus some text files plus some free or low-cost software to find whatever I want within seconds. I thought I would describe what I use. My method may or may not work for you; but, even if you do not copy my methods exactly, this article may provide “food for thought” so that you can invent your own solution that meets your needs.

(+) Boolean Basics - Part #2

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. If you have a Plus Edition user ID and password, you can read Part #1 of this article right now at no additional charge in this web site's Plus Edition at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=22388 while Part #2 is available at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=22420.

Both articles will remain online for several weeks.

Last week's article introduced the concept of Boolean search terms for use on Google. That article is still available to Plus Edition subscribers at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=22388. You might want to read that article again now to refresh it in your mind before proceeding with new topics. This week I will describe several advanced topics.

(+) Boolean Basics - Part #1

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

NOTE #1: This is part #1 of a 2-part article.

Probably all genealogists have used Google for genealogy searches. For many of us, we go to http://www.google.com, enter the name of an ancestor, click on GOOGLE SEARCH and hope that a reference appears that points to the person we wish to find. Sometimes the name search works well, and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't work, many genealogists give up and move on to something else. This is especially true with common names when a standard Google search may find hundreds of people with the same name. However, with just a little bit of effort, you may be able to quickly narrow the search to a single person or at least to a manageably small group of people. The trick here is to use some search terms defined more than 150 years ago.

(+) Use a Virtual Credit Card to Control Online Charges

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.

I became frustrated today. Luckily, I was able to solve the issue quickly and easily.

A certain web site–which I won’t name as I don't want to get sued for defamation or something–has a policy that makes it very difficult to stop their recurring billing for subscriptions. No, this is not a genealogy-related web site. Rather, it is a company that widely advertises "free credit reports." I was gullible enough to sign up. I should have known better.

(+) Crowdsourcing: the Most Valuable Genealogy Tool of the 21st Century? (So Far)

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.

Wikipedia (which is itself a crowd-sourced collection of information) defines crowdsourcing as "a process that involves outsourcing tasks to a distributed group of people. This process can occur both online and offline. The difference between crowdsourcing and ordinary outsourcing is that a task or problem is outsourced to an undefined public rather than a specific body, such as paid employees."

Wikipedia then adds a bit more detail: "Crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production model. In the classic use of the term, problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions. Users—also known as the crowd—submit solutions. Solutions are then owned by the entity that broadcast the problem in the first place—the crowdsourcer. The contributor of the solution is, in some cases, compensated either monetarily, with prizes, or with recognition. In other cases, the only rewards may be kudos or intellectual satisfaction. Crowdsourcing may produce solutions from amateurs or volunteers working in their spare time, or from experts or small businesses which were unknown to the initiating organization."

(+) Build a Wiki the Easy Way

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.

You or your local genealogy society might find great satisfaction - not to mention accomplishing a lot with minimal resources - by creating a wiki. This is a great way to let people collaborate on a project. That project might be the creation of listings of old tax records, transcriptions from census records, or perhaps a written history of a town or county. Perhaps you want to create “the Old Mill Wiki” giving the history of a historical landmark in your town. 

Another great use of wikis is when you and a few cousins create a wiki to help facilitate group research on a particular family or surname. This could be “the Kawasaki Family Wiki” providing all the known information about that family's ancestors.

(+) How to Run Mac OS X Inside Windows

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman.

I earlier described how a Macintosh can run Windows and Linux programs. Are you aware that the same technology works in the opposite direction? Windows users can run Macintosh OS X operating system on a normal PC.

Running OS X on your Windows desktop will take a bit of work, but it's rather easy to do and the final product is awesome. It allows you to also use Mac programs that are not available on Windows.

(+) Running Windows Programs on a Macintosh

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman. 

Macintosh users have their choice of all sorts of programs. Their systems obviously will run any Macintosh program but, with appropriate software installed, it will also run almost any Windows program as well as Linux programs and even other operating systems. A single Macintosh can even run Windows, Linux, and Macintosh programs simultaneously, if the appropriate software is installed.

The "appropriate software" includes:

(+) How to Recover Data from a Dead PC

The following article was written by and is copyright by Dick Eastman. 

NOTE: This article does not contain any genealogy information although it can retrieve such information. For instance, a friend of mine recently suffered a PC failure. She was left with a PC that would not even boot Windows. She told me that she had lost her genealogy information as a result. I replied, "Not so. You can probably recover that data with just a little bit of work." She gave me her PC and within a couple of hours, I retrieved all of her genealogy information, along with her checkbook data, income tax records, email correspondence, and much more. I thought I would share the recovery techniques with you.

Many people believe that, when a computer dies and will not boot any more, all data is lost forever. They assume that all the files on the hard drive have disappeared and that nothing can be done about it. In some situations, that may be true. However, after repairing many computers over the past 40+ years (starting long before the invention of the PC), I can assure you that data can be recovered in a high percentage of computer failures.

The problem may be a hardware failure or a software failure. First, let's look at hardware failures.

(+) Create an Online Family News Service

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Technology is a great gift, and perhaps one of the best uses of all is keeping families in touch with one another. Unlike the "days of old," we are no longer restricted to writing letters and occasionally enclosing pictures of new babies, weddings, and such. A great use of the World Wide Web is to create a family web site, usually visible only to the members of that family, and then post news, information, and digital pictures of all the new happenings to the site. If you or someone else in your family creates such a family news service, all your family members can post information for all to see. You can also (optionally) restrict access to only family members.

I would suggest this family web site is much better than the annual "newsletter" enclosed in a Christmas card. Not only is it much more frequent (daily if you wish), it also provides an opportunity for two-way dialogs with your siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and everyone else who is granted access to the web site.

(+) Packing for a Research Trip or a Conference – Part #2

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

This is the second and final part of a Plus Edition article written by Dick Eastman.

To repeat a bit from Part #1:

"I have become a fanatic on lightweight packing. Most of the time, I can squeeze all of the needed items into one carry-on suitcase that easily fits into an airliner’s overhead baggage compartment and an “over the shoulder” bag that fits under the seat in front of me. With the recent price-gouging by airlines for checked luggage, use of carry-on luggage saves a lot of money. Besides, I don’t like dragging all that heavy luggage with me. In past years, I have wasted far too much energy wrestling heavy luggage into shuttle buses, taxis, and rental cars. Never again."

Here is another excerpt from Part #1:

"I thought I would share my suggestions and the packing list and also ask if you have further suggestions. I will list the things I might take on a genealogy research trip as well as to genealogy conferences."

(+) Packing for a Research Trip or a Conference – Part #1

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

This is an update to an article I published in the June 22, 2011, newsletter. In that article I wrote, "What’s on your packing list? Please offer your suggestions in the comments section in the Plus Edition web site. If enough suggestions are received, I’ll publish an updated list in a future newsletter."

This is the result. A number of newsletter readers offered their suggestions, most of which I have incorporated into today's article. I have also updated some other items, based on my own experiences. For instance, in the previous article, I described my favorite carry-on suitcase. However, I have since discovered a newer model from a different manufacturer that I like even better. I have switched and now will describe both models and the reasons why one might be better than the other under certain conditions.

(+) Hands on with the Kingston Wi-Drive

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Have you ever found yourself wishing you could extend the storage of your smartphone or tablet? If so, the Kingston Wi-Drive may be your solution.

This has to be one of the niftiest gadgets I ever purchased. I bought it because I thought it was a neat toy. However, I now find that I am using it almost day in and day out for a variety of reasons.

The Kingston Wi-Drive is a portable, battery-powered, wireless disk drive for your mobile devices. You can use it for all sorts of reasons with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android devices, Kindle Fire, and more. How else will you attach a disk drive to your iPhone or iPad? The Apple and Android devices do not come with extra memory slots, so there is no method of adding extra storage space. You also cannot connect a flash drive. The Kingston Wi-Drive solves that problem by becoming an external disk drive for those and other devices.

(+) How to Automatically Synch Databases Between Two or More Computers

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

NOTE: I have written about a similar topic before. However, this time I will describe the process from the viewpoint of a genealogist who wants to use two computers – perhaps a desktop and a laptop – and wants to have his or her latest genealogy databases stored on each with each being updated automatically whenever either one is changed. This process should work with any Windows genealogy program (Legacy Family Tree, RootsMagic, The Master Genealogist, AncestralQuest, Family Tree Maker, Family Historian, etc.) or any Macintosh genealogy program (Reunion, Heredis, iFamily for Tiger, MacFamily Tree, Personal Ancestry Writer, etc.).

One exception: the process used for The Master Genealogist will be slightly different than for the other programs listed. I will describe the differences for that one program at the end of this article.

I have used at least two computers for years. At any given time, I always have a desktop computer and a laptop system. The manufacturers, model numbers, and operating systems have changed over the years, but I like the convenience of having both a large-screen desktop system on my desk with a nice, comfortable easy chair and also a lightweight laptop that I can throw into a briefcase and take with me anywhere. I find that I can use the same genealogy program on both computers as long as I copy the latest version of my database to both computers before adding any new information.