by | Jul 16, 2013 | 01 What's New, Technology
I recently got a question about the Genealogy Gems Podcast Community Toolbar from podcast listener Cookie:
Q: Hi Lisa, I just loaded your toolbar. I now have Bing on my system and can’t get rid of it….. was it downloaded with your toolbar? Hope not, I hate Bing and now it’s causing me problems.
A: The toolbar causes Bing to appear (as the default URL address) when you open a new browser tab with no website address specified. Bing is a website, not a download, so the good news is that nothing has been added to your system.
Unfortunately, the company that offers us the free toolbar dictates which search engine is the default on new tabs. I have requested it to be Google but they have a contract with Bing.
Since the toolbar is a free offering from the company (Conduit) they have control over that, much to my disappointment. However, we have kept the toolbar because so many of our podcast listeners use it and have requested it remain available.
If you wish to uninstall the toolbar, here’s how to do it:
- Click the down arrow just to the right of the first button on the left side of the tool bar (the button with the picture of my logo family)
- Select Uninstall
- The next page provides instructions for uninstalling based on which browser you use.
We fully understand that Bing is not everyone’s search engine of choice, and thank you for giving the free toolbar a try. And thank you for being a Genealogy Gems Podcast listener!
by Lisa Cooke | Oct 14, 2013 | 01 What's New, Evernote
Evernote is certainly the fastest-growing (and FREE) note-taking technology out there, so it’s no wonder that it is incredibly popular with genealogists. But there’s a lot packed into it and I’ve noticed that many genealogists aren’t taking full advantage. Here’s are two of my favorite tips that I use all the time from my brand new Evernote for Windows for Genealogists cheat sheet:
1) Create a New Note: When you’re working on your computer and you want to make a quick note of something in Evernote, you can get there with lightening speed by pressing these quick keys simultaneously: Ctrl+Alt+n.
2) Instant Note Search: What if you are knee deep in your research and you have a note that you need to quickly reference? Simply press Win+Shift+f from anywhere on your computer and Evernote will instantly open with your cursor in the search box ready to type a keyword and search!
Try these Evernote tips now! And then get LOADs more helpful tips in this 4 page laminated Quick Reference Guide, like:
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 29, 2013 | 01 What's New, Holidays
90 years ago, on page 1 of the Ford News 12/15/1923, Henry Ford shared the following Christmas Greeting: “Christmas stands for the human factor which makes life tolerable midst the hurry of commerce and production. All of us need the annealing effect of Christ’s example to relieve the hardening we get in the daily struggle for material success.”
In the following short film from the vaults of the National Archives the Ford Motor Company wishes “A Merry Christmas to All” in 1926:
National Archives Collection FC: Ford Motor Company Collection, ca. 1903 – ca. 1954
Production Date: ca. 1926
Earlier that year Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for their employees in its automotive factories. The policy started in May with the factory workers and extended to office workers in August.
The decision to reduce the workweek from six to five days had been made in the year before. According to an article published in The New York Times that March, Edsel Ford, Henry’s son and the company’s president, explained that “Every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation….The Ford Company always has sought to promote [an] ideal home life for its employees. We believe that in order to live properly every man should have more time to spend with his family.”
by Lisa Cooke | Oct 1, 2015 | 01 What's New, Heirloom, images, Military
Remembering the stories of our veterans–both the living and the dead–is an important way we can all honor their service and sacrifices. Here we offer four ways to do that.
In our countdown to Veterans Day, we are honoring veterans and recognizing efforts of those who help document their lives and legacies. How might YOU put yourself in the right place at the right time to preserve a veteran’s story?
- Collect and preserve the stories of living veterans. Use a tool like the free StoryCorp app to record a veteran’s story. Invite a story-preservation organization like Witness to War to a veterans’ reunion near you, or upload combat-related photos to their site.
- Collect “orphaned heirlooms” you may come across and return them to their families or to a museum or archive where others can appreciate them. For example, a garbage collector rescued more than 5000 WWI artifacts from the trash bins he collected. Another rescuer spent years tracking down the heir of heirlooms found in an attic. A third buy medicine online pakistan found a lost dog tag and returned to it the family.
- Take images of veterans’ grave markers and upload them to sites like Find a Grave or Billion Graves. Be sure to include in your photo(s) clear images of military markers. This makes it easier for descendants to find and honor their own. For example, last summer, FGS and BillionGraves invited the public to post War of 1812 grave markers on BillionGraves. Why not keep up that effort?
- Document and display the stories of veterans in your family or community. Lisa created a beautiful display
Here at Genealogy Gems, we {heart} veterans and honor their service. Veterans Day in the U.S. is coming up. How can you honor the veterans in your family or community? We’d love to hear about your heroic experiences doing that! Tell us about it on our Facebook page with the hashtag #CountdownToVeteransDay or contact us with your story. How many days until Veterans Day?
