• Missed news and announcements from FGS 2013? Here's a quick recap of them. One of which is to book your room now for FGS 2014 in San Antonio! I'd love to see y'all there! {I've already booked.}

• For Labor Day weekend, Family Roots Publishing Co. Website, is offering a 20% discount on anything in their online store. They have some great stuff so check it out. Sale ends 2 Sep 2013.
• In his continuing newspaper video series, Kenneth R. Marks of TheAncestorHunt.com presents a quick how-to-use video on the online Northern New York State Historical Newspapers collection.
• If you have Irish ancestors, you'll be interested to know that all 52 issues of the weekly 1913 Church of Ireland Gazette are now searchable online, according to Chris Paton of the British Genes blog.
• Speaking of Irish ancestors, Findmypast Ireland announced this week on their Facebook page and website that they just added another 2.5 million court registers to findmypast.ie.
• Thomas MacEntee announced on his Facebook Page late last night his latest ebook, Family History Trippin' - A Guide to Planning a Genealogy Research Trip is now available for Kindle purchase on Amazon. {Also available to those who have the Amazon Kindle app on their mobile devices.}
• Judy G. Russell does her usual fabulous job of breaking down the legal mumbo jumbo for us in her timely blog post, More Changes to Facebook's ToS.
• The extra $20 discount for Rootstech 2014 registration expires 9 Sep 2013.
• Special pricing for NGS members for a MyHeritage subscription ends 8 Sep 2013. 
• Early-bird registration for Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy {SLIG} ends 31 Oct 2013. Are you going? Are you registered?
• Got Swedish ancestors? Discounted annual subscription to Arkivdigital ends 1 Sep 2013 {tomorrow}. 
• The new PBS series Genealogy Roadshow premiers Monday, 23 Sep 2013.

If you're unable to watch the Genealogy Roadshow promo video above, here's a direct link.

~Caroline

~Caroline

Does your genealogical society have a newsletter or journal that is always looking for content? Do you always seem to be scrambling around at deadline for something new, useful, and free for your subscribers and members? 

Then you're in luck.

Blog posts on 4YourFamilyStory.com as well as on my sister site, BloggingGenealogy.com, are available for free republication in society newsletters or journals with my written permission and prior arrangement. In some cases, the blog posts will need to be cut down due to space concerns in your publication, but that can be arranged.

For more information, contact me today for details and permission for this free service and never be scrambling for new content at deadline time. If you'd rather have an original and made-for-you article, that can be arranged as well, but not at the last minute. Contact me with at least a 30-day lead from when you need it submitted.

~Caroline

KustomNote.com is a handy third party app for those who use Evernote, especially those who use it to organize their genealogy research notes. It allows you to create some nice note templates for information you seem to record again and again, fill-out the note in Kustomnote.com, and then save the note in your Evernote.

This quick visual how-to shows you how to use {fill-in} a template that has already been created in Kustomnote.com and save to your Evernote in an appropriate notebook of your choosing. In the near future, I will do a quick video tutorial to show you how to make your own templates in Kustomnote.com for your private use or for you to share with the public.

The Kustomnote.com template for this example that I created for you to use is one for those who attend conferences and workshops both in person and virtually who like to take notes in Evernote. The template is designed to ask you the following for each note:

• The Evernote notebook you'd like to save the Kustomnote in.
  
• The name of the conference {And my biggest hint here would be to use the official hashtag. For example, enter in FGS2013 or FGS 2013 because this will become a tag in Evernote once you save the note in Evernote. Like magic.}
  
• Date & Time {I included a calendar function so you can choose the date quickly from a calendar.}
  
• Lecturer {This also becomes a tag in Evernote. More magic.}
  
• Topic {This also becomes a tag in Evernote so make it tag-worthy. And a little more magic.}
  
• Notes {The space is meant to accept multiple lines of notes. So type to your heart's content.}
  
• You can also opt to send an email reminder about the note. {Handy dandy.}

Some things to remember about using Kustomnote.com:

• You need to register for a free account to use Kustomnote.
  
• It is ad-supported which is how they can bring this version free to you. You may upgrade at any time for a reasonable {IMO} fee to make the ads go away.
  
• Note-taking {which is what this how-to covers} is only available ONLINE in the free version. You may upgrade for a reasonable fee {IMO} at any time to be able to take notes {fill-in the note} offline.
  
• There are other features for the different price ranges including the free version.
  
• Kustomnote is available as a web-based application, as an iOS application, and as an Android application.
  

Here are some annotated screenshots to show you how to use a Kustomnote Template that has already been created for you in the web application. As mentioned above, this note template is for those attending a genealogy conference or workshop in person or virtually. {Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the image.} Also, here is a link to the Public Kustomnote Template that I created for you to use.

The next 3 screenshots are what the note template looks like on the iPad. {Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.}

The last 3 screenshots show what the note template looks like using a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 {Android}. {Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.}

All 3 notes were then found in my Conferences Notebook in Evernote with the proper tags, as one would expect {from magic}. 

Again, here is a link to the Public Kustomnote Template that I created for you to use. And, yes, I will be making more so stay tuned. =)

Any questions? Let me know in comments below and I'll do my best to answer them.
~Caroline

Don't judge. Yes, I have 20 photo-related apps on my iPad. While I use my smartphone more to take photos than I do my iPad, I still have managed to accumulate {Read: Hoard.} 20 photo-related apps on my iPad. 

Genealogists and family historians tend to accumulate family photos and family documents, or at the very least, they come into contact with them and then they scan them in order to save them for posterity in some form or fashion. And that can explain a few of my photo-related apps. I also love the photo editing apps where I can take my brand new images that I take on my device and add a filter or two {Or 3. Stop the judging.} and evoke a specific feeling or mood. I can also do that with an old photo I've happened to scan on my mobile device. It's cool. It's easy. And it lets me express myself and then share it with everyone. {What can I say? I have an Inner Artist Muse in me who likes to come out and play. When she wants to, that is.}

I also use these apps to create original images for my blog posts. Because why not? Plus, this way I have something that's professional-looking {hopefully}; that I didn't have to buy {Have you seen those stock photos? The people in those stock images are so fake and happy, it's nauseating.}; and is able to be watermarked and shared {especially} on image-driven social networks {Pinterest, anyone? Are you following my boards there?}.

And then I have a few apps I'm experimenting with that I just might use to make Christmas presents with for family members. {Who says the iPad is just an over-priced consumption device? Puh-leez. An hour with me, and I'll get you actually doing stuff with your iPad.}

So, here are the 20 Photo-Related Apps on my iPad and what I use them for {or in some cases what I plan to use them for}. You ready?

Some Heavier Duty Photo Editing Apps

• PS Touch ~ If you've ever used Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you'll already know how to use this app. Working in layers, you can do quite a bit of editing on-the-go or on your couch with a finger {Or stylus or maybe a toe. I'm not judging.} and your artistic imagination. {Not anywhere near what you can do with Photoshop desktop software, but still.} I tend to use this app to add a quick watermark to my blog post images I create on my iPad. Here are some tutorials from Adobe on how to use PS Touch.
• Photogene ~ Like PS Touch, there are quite a bit of editing features packed into this app and it's certainly not for the person who just wants to slap a pre-made filter on an image and share quickly. But if you like the idea of more editing features on-the-go or on your couch, you'll like Photogene. A lot of people do including me.

Some Light and Fluffy Photo Editing iPad Apps
I like all of these for different reasons. Most of them do basically the same thing. It's just that they all have slightly different filters. And I happen to like some of those different image filters. No particular reasons. My Inner Artistic Muse just knows what she likes when she sees it. {She's tempermental like that.}

• Repix ~ Just love the different filters I can add to images. I especially like the Flares and Van Gogh filters.
• Picfx ~ This one is not a native iPad app. Unfortunately. I originally had its awesome little self on my iPhone before I traded my iPhone 4 in for my Samsung Note 2. I absolutely LOVE the filters it has, but, alas! It's not available for Android. *Heartbroken* But I can still use it on my iPad, just not in full-screen.
• Photo Toaster ~ Again, love the filters in this one. Now, this app also has Single Tap Effects {super easy to use} and then it has what they call Full Control where you have some more flexibility in your filter editing. {But I'd say this app is still in the "light and fluffy" category and not in the "heavier duty" iPad Photo Editing App category.}
• Snapseed ~ I like the filters okay in this app, but to be honest, I mostly use it for the Tilt Shift effect to increase depth in an image. Basically, Tilt Shift creates drama and evokes a particular feeling. At least, that's what my Inner Artistic Muse says. It also has some great photo editing features on it like cropping, straightening, and such making it a really good all-around must-have photo editing app.
• Fuzel Pro ~ This one is not a native iPad app, but it can be used on the iPad in its smaller iPhone form {or you can select to zoom it in 2x and use it in its pixelated form, but my Inner Artist Muse doesn't like that workaround. She doesn't like anything pixelated.} I originally had this app on my iPhone and used it to make collages of all sorts including the one I made for my Facebook Cover Image. So while this app looks "puny" on my iPad, its ability to make Facebook Cover Image collages keeps it in my life and on my iPad.

Text on Images iPad Apps
Like the photo filter apps, most of these "text on images" apps do basically the same thing. But? They have different fonts and such. So I keep and use them all. {'Cause why not? When you're hoarding, more is better. Stop the judging.}

• Swipe ~ Okay, this iPad app doesn't, um, "do" landscape orientation, which is annoying to me. But? I like the Architects Daughter, the Nothing You Could Do, and the Shadows Into Light fonts. And the Homemade Apple font too. {Don't judge.}
• TitleFx ~ I like the Daniel and Radiohead fonts the best on this one. It also has a lot of different editing options to get just the right feel to your text for your image. {Again, that Inner Artist Muse of mine knows what she likes when she sees it.}
• Phonto ~ Like the previous two, this one helps you to add text to an image and share it wherever you want to. And it tends to be my go-to one because it was my first text-on-a-image photo-editing app. But I also use its Plain Image effects to create images with solid color backgrounds or block color backgrounds with text. {I bought all the in-app templates that were for sale.} Comes in handy when I really don't have anything relevant to take a pic of but I need an image for a blog post. My favorite 2 fonts on this app are CicleFina {for 4YourFamilyStory.com} and RemingtonNoiseless {for BloggingGenealogy.com}.
• Text Mask ~ This app kinda does the reverse. It allows you to put photos on text. Very cool looking especially if you're looking for a different kind of image for your blog posts. Unfortunately it's not a native iPad app and it's got that I'm-small-like-an-iPhone thing going on, but? It's unique and leftover from my iPhone days. I can also get this effect by using PS Touch as well, but it can also just be easier to use this app if that's all I'm doing. So there's that. {And I used it for the image in this blog post. Clever, eh?}

Photo Scanning iPad Apps
If you find yourself doing a lot of scanning on-the-go {And as genealogists and family historians, duh.}, then you'll want a good photo scanning app on your iPad. I have 4. Try a few, compare the features, and use the one you prefer for your situation. You really only need one.

• Scanner Pro ~ When I first got my iPhone over 3 years ago, this is the photo-editing app I started with. And so it's now on my iPad. However, it's not my go-to photo scanning iPad app. 
• CamScanner Pro HD ~ This is my go-to photo scanning iPad app. Just my personal preference.
• Pic Scanner ~ This one was brought to my attention by the developer in the Google+ Tech for Genealogy Community so I downloaded it and tried it. Works nicely and could be the one for you. So try it out.
• Genius Scan+ ~ Love this app. And I did a full review and tutorial on how to use it in conjunction with the GoodReader App.

Miscellaneous Photo-Related iPad Apps

• Flickr & FlickStackr ~ I use these to access the old family photos I've uploaded to Flickr, and I wrote a blog post about green beer and using flickr, The Best Family Photo Sharing Option. 
• Presstomatic ~ This iPad app allows you to create social and collaborative scrapbooks. I've just begun to play with this one.
• Shutterfly ~ This one has been out for a while. I like the idea of being able to take my photos that I've taken or scanned and make stuff to give to loved ones all from the comfort of my couch or my bed. {'Cause nothing quite says, "You mean a lot to me," like something made while l was lounging on the couch or in bed. *snort*} I'm trying to decide on what images to use for their canvas prints. I think those are rather awesome.
• Shutterfly Photo Story ~ This is a brand new app just launched today for the iPad where you can make photo scrapbooks and then order them from Shutterfly for yourself or for loved ones. This is fabulous, in my opinion, because a lot of family members want to see old family photos and just a few facts or short stories about their ancestors. And? You can lovingly make it from the comfort of your couch. Or your bed. Or anywhere. {Hey, my Inner Artist Muse likes to lounge too. Go figure.} Anywho, I can't wait to try this out. Between their regular app and this one, I think I'm done Christmas shopping. In August. :P

So, that's it for the 20 photo-related apps on my iPad. At least the ones I have up until today. Tomorrow I might find another I just can't live without. {Hoarders are like that.} So what photo-related apps do you have on your iPad and why? Share with everyone in comments below. And? Stay tuned for even more iPad apps that I have and use for genealogy-related activities.

~Caroline

Related Articles You Might Be Interested In:

• 15 iPad Apps I Use for Genealogy and Family History
  
• GoodReader and GeniusScan+ Makes Researchers Smile
  
• The Best Family Photo Sharing Option
  

Note: If you are interested in republishing this blog post in a genealogical society newsletter or journal, please contact me to make arrangements.