Genealogy - Technology Links for 13 Aug 2012

© Copyright 2012 Caroline M. Pointer

We had a blast on vacation, but it's good to be home where our Pug, Millie, {pictured on the left} and our cat, Peanut, {pictured on Instagram today if you follow me there: @FamilyStories} waited patiently for us to come home.

While I'm playing "catch up" I did manage to find some genealogy-technology links to share with you. So let's get started!

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• 5 Excellent Productivity Tools for Remote Workers by Stephanie Buck on mashable.com ~ Do you work remotely from home? Here is a list of apps that you might find helpful to increase your productivity. {'Cause we all know it's hard to stay on track and be productive while working from home as opposed to working in an office.}
• The Stupid Things You Do in the Name of Productivity (and How to Fix Them) by Adam Dachis on lifehacker.com ~ Okay. I'm willing to admit to doing this. Now, can you admit it? I always start researching in my tree on a person then I can be persuaded rather quickly to jump to another instead of systematically working my program on the original person I was focusing on to begin with. Temptation. That's what those leaves are. Temptation. It's hard to make changes, but I'm willing to try. And that's half the battle. 
• Mobi-Lens: A Handy But Ugly iPhone Photography Accessory by Dom Esposito at appadvice.com ~ I agree. The Mobi-Lens prototype isn't pretty, but goodness, it's beautifully brilliant! Mobi-Lens is an ingenious invention, and I just love the video the brother-sister duo, the co-inventors, made about it. The Mobi-Lens is in Kickstarter mode where they are quickly getting the funds needed to bring their invention to, well, everyone. Can you see the uses for the genealogy and family history researcher who is on-the-go? In a cemetery? Or at an ancestral homesite? And in need of a wide-lens? Yeah. Check out their video and the blog post by Dom and see what I mean! 
• Browser Wars: Chrome vs. IE9 vs. Firefox by Michael Muchmore on PCmag.com ~ Everyone has their favorite for whatever reason, but I have made an observation of sorts of folks and their browsers. They get very adamant about the use of one over another, and I think that can be a big mistake since the developers are *always* upgrading and making improvements. Therefore, it's always a good idea, in my opinion, to remain open-minded about browsers. I think each browser brings something to the researching table, so to speak. So. With that piece of advice, read what Michael has to say in his blog post comparing the browsers. =)
• It’s A Dark Time To Be A Consumer In The Cloud by Klint Finley on techcrunch.com ~ I don't mean to add to your paranoia about cloud storage and usage, but here's a blog post that will make you think twice before storing stuff in the cloud. I mean, I like the cloud idea and all, but what are you really doing? And what are the long term ramifications of what you are in doing in the cloud? You should ~at the very least~ be informed. You know, just your usual stuff for a Monday. ;)
• Expand Your Budget to Afford Nice Things, Like the Nexus 7 by Janet Cloninger on the-gadgeteer.com ~ There was an online discussion yesterday started by a friend of mine about needing to buy an affordable tablet. So, when I saw this blog post today, I thought it'd be helpful to her and to everyone. 'Cause who here isn't on some kind of budget? {That's what I thought.} We like the new and shiny stuff. We just lack the green stuff to obtain the new and shiny stuff. Am I right, or am I right? So, read Janet's post where she gives us some ideas on how to afford the new and shiny stuff.
• Wrap Headphones Inside an Old Tape Dispenser for Tangle-Free Storage by Thorin Klosowski on lifehacker.com ~ Speaking of budgets and new and shiny things, maybe we don't new new and shiny. And maybe having a tight budgets just makes us more clever. I dunno. What I *do* know is this tip is pretty darn clever. Sometimes clever is just that. Clever. Wrap your head around that. *snort*
  
• iPhone 5: Why I Won’t Be Buying You by Ardjuna Seghers on trustedreviews.com ~ Oh, look! It's new! It's shiny! It's made by Apple! It's *so* iCool!!!! Yeah. If this is how you buy tech, please don't tell me. Okay? Ardjuna {who, BTW is NOT an Apple hater} makes some good points on why buying the iPhone 5 is just not a good idea. I happen to concur. Do you? {And? do you think our ancestors would have ever guessed we'd be thinking so much about our budgets to allow us to purchase things and services to be able to hunt them and their stories and secrets down? O-o }
  
• Dictation Is a Free, Easy-to-Use Speech-to-Text App for Chrome by Thorin Klosowski on lifehacker.com ~ Dictation apps have been talked about recently online in relation to genealogy and family history research so this blog post caught my eye. It's a web-based app for the Chrome browser. Check it out and see if you could or would use it in your research workflow. I think it has some good possibilities. What say you? And? It's *free*. So you're just investing your time in a product that may just actually make you more productive while researching. Don't you think your research is worth that kind of an investment?

That's it for today, folks! Millie is barking at me for some attention. And I'm working on getting caught up and getting the newsletters out. Good thing I had so much rest the previous week, eh? So look for the Genea-Tech newsletter in your inbox tomorrow morning and look for another Gen-Tech Links post here tomorrow afternoon!

~Caroline