The Genealogy Guys Podcast #145 - 2008 July 25

This week's news includes: FamilySearch and Ancestry.com team up to publish new images and enhanced indexes to the U.S. federal censuses; Ancestry.com announces a number of new databases and upgraded collections; GeneTree (http://www.genetree.com) adds a Y-chromosome testing option to its site; Geni.com (http://www.geni.com) announces the addition of a new and private video-sharing option for families at its site; and Modern Genealogy president, Jeromy L. Walsh, thanks The Guys for announcing their forthcoming beta test of their new genealogy database software, and he restated the company's commitment to having users involved in developing and testing their program.

Listener email this week includes: an inquiry concerning the availability of genealogy software for the Blackberry; a reminder of how to access, play, and download our previous podcasts (using the POD icon to the left of each episode's title); several emails from listeners telling George about the availability of Ohio Death Certificates (1908-1953) at the FamilySearch Labs site (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/); a discussion of a genealogy filing system by source; using an iPod shuffle (~ $40) vs. a more expensive player when mowing the lawn and listening to the podcast; and a discussion of why some stores with photocopy facilities will not copy (or allow copying) of photographs.

George announces that the third episode of RootsTelevision.com's series, Down Under: Florida with The Genealogy Guys will be debuting in mid-August. In tandem with its premiere, George has written a case study, "The Milton Family Tragedy," for Family Chronicle Magazine. The issue containing this article will appear on newsstands at about the same time in August. The story describes the behind-the-scenes research involved in filming the story, and it includes a couple of additional surprises.

George discusses the Asus Eee PC, a small PC loaded with Windows XP, that is lightweight, fully functional, and has Wi-Fi. You can take this little gem with you almost everywhere with your entire genealogy database and all the multimedia resources. The price makes this little PC a very attractive item. Visit AsusTEK at http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164 for more details, and then use your favorite search engine to search for "asus eee" to locate the best place and lowest price to purchase.

Drew recommends that subscribers to genealogy mailing lists be sure to use a "plain text" setting in their e-mail software in order to prevent strange characters appearing in their messages.  He also describes his experiences in using microform equipment that scans an image for use in e-mailing or saving to a USB flash drive (instead of printing the image).

Drew discusses a book he is reading: Brittania's Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Since 1600, by Eric Richards.