FileMaker Mobile 8

FileMaker Mobile 8 is now shipping. If you use FileMaker 8 to store your genealogy information and research notes, this maybe of interest to you. Among the new features – expanded workgroup support. The Starter Solutions has been expanded as well.

GedWise Updates (Windows 6.2, Mac 6.3.3, Linux 6.3.3)

Battery Park Software has updated their Mac OS X and Linux installer for GedWise, their PalmOS-based genealogy application. This brings GedWise for Mac OS X and Linux up to version 6.3.3.

They have also updated their Windows installer to version 6.2

The update can be downloaded here – batteryparksoftware.com.

scanR – scanning/copying/OCR with your cell phone

Engadget has short article up about scanR. scanR is an interesting product service – here’s their description:

Scan documents or whiteboards, anywhere, anytime, using only your camera phone.

scanR is simple to use:
• Take a picture of a document or whiteboard with your 1 megapixel or better camera phone.
• Send the picture to scanR
• Receive the scanned image in email or fax.

I have used OCR (optical character recognition) software in the past with scans I made using my scanner, but had never thought to try it with my camera phone (which I will do this weekend). With camera phones getting cheaper and better, this could a fairly big deal for genealogists who need to copy some information but don’t have the time or means to do it on the spot properly.

Notes on Your iPod Part I

In addition to using your iPod for showing family home movies or recording interviews using one of the microphone attachments, there are several applications that allow you to store lots of useful information in text format (including genealogy records and information). The only drawback is formatting your genealogy information, but many genealogy applications allow you to export to various text formats/layouts, so it shouldn’t be a problem finding a useful layout.

Here’s a few:

iWriter from M Cubed Software
Both Windows and Mac versions available. Official Description: iWriter is an extremely open-ended utility that has a wide array of uses ranging all the way from entertainment to education. By allowing users to create iPod projects with linked pages, iWriter helps you design and construct elaborate interactive text documents that effortlessly allow people to access endless varieties of information. iWriter lets you create multi page notes that link to each other so you can get past the 4k size limit on iPods. You can also link to audio files which can play while you read the text.
$12 with a 15-day demo period.

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