Heirlooms - iPhone App for Recording Family Treasures

Heirlooms is a terrific little app for keeping track of family treasures and mementos. It's fast, easy to use and pretty.

You choose an heirloom - I chose my great grandmother's toast rack and my grandfather's gold pocket watch - then you follow the instructions and icons to enter information about that item.

The empty fields include a spot to put the owner's name, the name of who owned the item originally, and a story about how the item came into your hands. Then you either take a photo, direct from the app, or choose one from your camera roll, and add that to your item entry.

Update Allows Sharing

Heirlooms also has an update available from the App Store that's pretty cool. File sharing! Now you can share your heirloom collection entries with family members via email. It's also possible to email your entries to your computer or laptop so you can access your notes on family treasures from there too.

If your relative doesn't have the Heirloom App they can get the free Reader in the App Store. This allows for viewing of the exported entry on any IOS device.

I tried emailing an entry to myself about my grandpa's gold pocket watch. It worked great! The email arrived, I opened and read it on my iPhone, then clicked on the attachment which opened in Heirlooms.

I'm impressed! All we genealogists need to do now is get our family members using this terrific little app. It's a great way to preserve family heirlooms digitally, and to share them with long-distance family.

I enjoyed using this new app and am hoping to convince my brother and my children to download it so I can share my entries with them.

Heirlooms App
Heirlooms Free Reader

Technical Details: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of Heirlooms for review purposes

MyHeritage App Available so I Check it Out

Yesterday Olive Tree Genealogy received an email from MyHeritage announcing their new app:

The new MyHeritage app for iPhone, iPad & Android was finally released today, after months of hard work by our really wonderful team, to help get MyHeritage users the best family tree app in the industry. 

Version 1.0 includes an HTML5 version of the family tree with profile pages designed especially for mobile, photo-sharing feature that syncs with your family site and a cool celebrity look-alike feature (aka MyCeleb). You can read more about the current version on www.myheritage.com/mobile. Next versions will add more and more great features, starting with editing of the tree straight from your mobile device and followed by everything you love about MyHeritage.

I'm not a member of MyHeritage but I downloaded the app to my iPhone to have a look. I can't use the first two features (Family Tree and Share Photos) without signing up on MyHeritage.

But I did have a lot of fun with the third choice -MyCeleb.

When you choose MyCeleb you have a choice to choose an existing photo or take a new one. I chose to take one. After I took it, a popup explained that the photo would be uploaded to MyHeritage for processing but then deleted.

I okayed the upload and waited. It took only a few seconds and my matches showed. I had a good chuckle as my best match was with Elton John! But I can kind of see why - my photo looks like your typical driver's licence mug shot and I have no makeup on!

 My other matches were Toni Morrison, Anna Sophia Robb and Gary Oldman - go figure...

I did have fun though, trying different photos and angles to see who I'd be matched with. I liked it when MyCeleb matched me with Jessica Lange - I must remember to always pose that way.

Then I tried hubs and he got some very flattering matches - Patrick Stewart and Mel Gibson were his top two.

Anyway it really was fun and I think the more serious part of this app will almost certainly be helpful to genealogists.

GoGoNavigator & Live Traffic App for iPhone

Gogo Navigator USA & CAN is a real-time 3D navigation app for the iPhone. It features real-3D, Live Traffic (an in-app purchase add-on), Text-To-Speech voice guidance, Lane Guidance, Signpost Display, and  more.

There are so many options in Gogo Navigator that when I first downloaded the app I was overwhelmed. There are many cool features such as the voice commands and the 3-D display.  I had a little trouble understanding the voice commands but hubs had no problem at all. I think some minor tweaking at my end to adjust volume level will likely solve the bit of trouble I had.

Hubs and I have always had problems on our road trips. And we make a lot of genealogy road trips! So Gogo Navigator seemed like a good fit for us.

I did notice that my iPhone battery drained quickly when I was in Gogo Navigator but that's common to any GPS system on your phone. A quick side trip to the Gogo Navigator website gave me the solution. I had a few choices to minimize battery drain but the one I used (and it works well) was to be sure to use the QUIT button in Gogo Navigator instead of just using my Home button on my iPhone to go to another app. Using the QUIT button ensures that the GPS is not running in the background. Easy to do and a perfect solution. Also when in the car, and using Gogo Navigator on your iPhone as your GPS of choice, you can plug your iPhone in and the battery won't drain.

I've been using Gogo Navigator for a week now and what I love best about it is the Live Traffic Report. Live Traffic, with information provided by Clear Channel Total Traffic Network. gives you an up-to-date report on road conditions on your route Are roads closed? How long are they expected to be closed? Is traffic slow but the roads are open? These questions and more are answered on LiveTraffic.

To access LiveTraffic you choose your destination, then Gogo Menu and then Traffic (the bottom middle button). The next screen takes you to Traffic List screen and a choice of All Messages or On My Route.

This is an example of what you see in Live Traffic. I had chosen a location in Pennsylvania as my destination and Live Traffic brought up several screens of traffic information (in order from my house to my destination) 

The icons tell  me what the problem is - construction, road closure, etc. I can click on the right arrow (beak) for details including what the problem is and how long it is expected to last. The exact time the problem arose is also given.

The next road trip hubs and I take for genealogy research should be much less stressful. We use a GPS system already and it saves us lots of headaches as we head out to unknown cemeteries, libraries or museums in cities and towns unfamiliar to us. But I'm going to use Gogo Navigator on our next trip. With the Live Traffic add-on in Gogo Navigator it should all be smooth sailing!


Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this review but I was  provided with the app at no cost so I could review it. I tested it on my iPhone 3GS using IOS 4.2.1 and the version of Gogo Navigator  I used is 1.2.0

WorldCard Mobile App - My New Best Friend

WorldCard Mobile App created by Penpower Technology Ltd. is my new best friend. I love this app! When I was first approached by the developers to try this app and then review it, I wasn't sure how useful it would be. But I'm a huge fan after trying it out.

Basically WorldCard Mobile scans business cards and then using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, reformats the card information and adds it to your Contact List in your iPhone or iPad. What a time-saver and how I wish I'd had this app when I was at RootsTech in February 2011.

I tested WorldCard Mobile on dozens of business cards. Some were crowded with information or used abbreviations but WorldCard Mobile was able to convert them all and enter them in the correct fields in my iPhone contact list. The only one it had trouble with was a card with the person's name and a fancy character beside the name. WorldCard Mobile thought the fancy stylized character was part of the name but that was a very understandable "mistake" and easily corrected.

After WorldCard Mobile exports the business card information to your contact list you can edit as usual. So a quick Edit then delete of the erroneous character solved the problem.

Olive Tree Genealogy Card

All it takes to use WorldCard Mobile is a simple click of the app's built-in camera - you align your phone with the card using the on-screen image, then click. If the photo is clear and you're happy with it, you choose "recognize" otherwise you redo it. I never had a problem getting a nice clear shot the first time and I don't have the steadiest hands in the world.

After happily scanning all my business cards into my contact list, I checked out their option called "Signatures" Wow. Using this option you can transfer email signature lines (names, URLs, phone and fax numbers, job titles, etc) into your iPhone contact list too.

All you do is copy the signature line(s) you want imported, then follow the simple instructions in WorldCard Mobile and all the information is quickly and easily imported into your contact list. It truly is that fast and easy.

There is also a CardHolder which keeps copies of all the business card images which you can then organize into groups. I didn't play with this option but it looks interesting.

Almost ready to export to contacts

You can also import existing images of business cards from your photo library on your iPad or iPod Touch and they'll be converted and added to your contact list. Your iPhone needs to have auto-focus so this app isn't recommended for 3G but it works great on 4 or 3GS. I used it on my 3GS and had zero problems. It's fast. It's easy. And that makes me very happy.

WorldCard Mobile app recognizes 7 languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish so it would be very handy on a genealogical research trip.

I can hardly wait for my next Genealogy Conference - you know, the ones where we gather business cards like mad! Last conference I was at, I lost some of the business cards I was given. If I'd had this app I would have immediately scanned the cards so no danger of losing that important contact info.

Disclaimer: WorldCard Mobile did not pay me to write this review but they did provide me the app at no cost so I could review it. I tested it on my iPhone 3GS using IOS 4.2.1 and the version of WorldCard Mobile I used is 3.2.0

Worldictionary - an Interesting iPhone App

I'm translating Dutch to English on Worldictionary

I've been playing with a cool app called Worldictionary.  It translates words from other languages instantly with one quick motion of your iPhone.  

I can think of many uses for the genealogist.  If you are in the Library or Salt Lake City or anywhere doing research and you find a set of church record books in another language, choose the language it is in from the list of language choices, point your phone at the word and a translation appears.

Worldictionary recognizes and translates between 21 languages, ranging from Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Germany, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, Czech, Slovak, and Romanian.

I tried Worldictionary on some French text and then on Dutch text. It did a good job of translating the words. You can also translate two words side by side but it won't translate long phrases. However you can take a photo right in the Worldictionary App and then point it to each word in turn for a translation. One caveat: be sure you hold your iPhone steady! Even with its built-in anti-shake function, you need a steady hand.

Genealogists could also find this useful for translating original text in records. Worldictionary won't work on handwritten text but I tried printing out the written text of a Dutch church record and then using Worldictionary to translate my printed words. It worked! I wish I'd had it when I was in Salt Lake City trying to translate some German church record words.

You can also tap the translated word or words listed on the right hand side of the app to go through to a more thorough translation detailing example usage, structure, synonyms, and definitions from the web.

You can also translate from English to other languages using Worldictionary. I'm not sure how helpful that would be to a genealogist but it's a cool feature!

I tried using the app to translate words in books, on my computer screen and hand-printed by me. Everything worked perfectly. I'd like to try it on a street or highway sign or a restaurant menu but I'd have to drive to the next town to give it a try on the bilingual signage on the highway. I'm quite sure a menu would work fine since it worked on the examples I used (Book, computer screen and hand-written)

Imagine travelling to Germany, France or Spain or anywhere you don't read the language and you could instantly translate words in your hotel or restaurant or at the train station! The more I played around with Worldictionary the more I liked it.

It won't translate any text in Italics so if you encounter something in a book that is in Italics you'll have to print it out by hand and then point and translate with the app. 

Worldictionary remembers your previous word searches and allows you to build your own database for increased translation efficiency.

I did  encounter one small problem that I'm sure won't affect very many people. I was using the App so it was open and at the Translation screen. My doorbell rang so I set my iPhone down on my couch (face down with the app still open). I forgot all about it for a couple of hours.

When I picked my iPhone up it was red hot and the battery almost completely drained. Oops.

The poor app had been working and working, frantically attempting to translate my couch pattern into an English word. So take heed and don't leave the app open or face down on a surface or you'll drain your battery completely.

You must have an Internet connection for the app to work and it will cost you $4.99 in the App Store but I think it's well worth it. If you're a genealogist on the go or even working at home, you may just find this app makes it to your favorite app list. 

Disclaimer: Worldictionary did not pay me to write this review but they did provide me the app at no cost so I could review it. I tested it on my iPhone 3G using IOS 4.2.1 and the version of Worldictionary I used is 2.1.0

EasyBib: An iPhone App Review

I'm using an iPhone App called EasyBib and I'm really liking it. This app allows you to scan a bar code on a book using your iPhone. The bar code is then converted to a bibliographic citation!

You can choose from MLA, Chicago/Turabian or APA styles. After your citation is ready you simply email it to yourself.

I'm using EasyBib to quickly and easily format citations for the history and genealogy books I review here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog. Not only does it save me typing everything out, it ensures that I've cited the book correctly and in a consistent format.

A friend mentioned that she plans to use EasyBib to scan the books she writes and publishes. I am planning on spending a day scanning the genealogy and history books in my own personal library. Then I can email those citations to myself, and click on the Save To EasyBib link that is automatically inserted into the email. That link takes me to the EasyBib website where I can save all my citations in a list, then choose from several options for the list:

I can export my citations to WORD or Google Docs
I can copy and paste them
I can email them

I can also sort my list of  citations alphabetically, by date, by tag (keywords which I  add manually) or by  source.

I am also able to print my list of citations, or save to GoogleDocs or Save for later on the website.

One caveat - many of the genealogy books that I've purchased for my personal reference library do not have bar codes.  However I can manually enter the ISBN number and EasyBib searches for the book. If it is not found, I can enter the title, author and publisher plus date of publication  on the EasyBib website and it is formatted for me correctly.

EasyBib is free from the App Store.