Thursday, September 29, 2011

Personal Historian 2 Software Release

Personal Historian 2 Software Released
Latest Version of Personal and Family History Writing Software Now Available to the Public
SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — September 28, 2011 — RootsMagic, Inc. today announced the official release of Personal Historian 2, the latest version of the ground-breaking computer software which helps you write the story of your life and of other individuals. Personal Historian breaks this seemingly monumental task into small, manageable pieces and then reconstructs it into a complete, publishable document. With the release comes a free “Essentials” version of the software as well as a discount offer for new users and previous owners of the software.

Bring Life to Your Life Stories

“Many people want to write a personal history about themselves or family members but get lost or overwhelmed,” said Michael Booth, vice-president and lead developer of the software. “It’s very gratifying to hear people tell us that they are finally able to write their life stories thanks to Personal Historian.”

Personal Historian creates an interactive timeline of a person’s life to keep the stories organized, give context to life events, and to allow users to write stories in any order they wish. When ready, Personal Historian will compile the stories into a finished book complete with table of contents, chapters, pictures, indexes, and more. The book may then be printed at home, edited in a word processor, published professionally, or shared with friends and family.

New Features

“The new features in Personal Historian 2 have been worth the wait,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “While we’ve added many new and powerful features, we’ve worked hard to make the software even easier to use than before.”

Personal Historian 2 boasts an impressive list of over 40 features including streamlined step-by-step wizards; expanded timelines and memory trigger questions; easy filtering and searching of stories; management of categories, people, and places; improved outlining and writing analysis; wrapping of text around pictures; fonts and text styles; and more-powerful publishing and output options.

Free “Personal Historian Essentials”

RootsMagic is also releasing a new, free edition of Personal Historian named, “Personal Historian Essentials”. Personal Historian Essentials contains many core features from the Personal Historian software and the two products are fully-compatible with one another. “We wanted to give everyone a risk-free option,” said Booth. “Personal Historian Essentials is perfect for someone who wants to start writing a personal history but doesn’t know where to begin.” Personal Historian Essentials is available for download at http://www.personalhistorian.com.

Discount Offer

To celebrate it’s release, RootsMagic, Inc. is pleased to offer a special introductory offer for Personal Historian 2. Through October 31, 2011, Personal Historian 2 is available for a special introductory price of only $19.95, saving $10 off of the regular price. The discount is available only on the Personal Historian website at http://www.personalhistorian.com or by calling 1-800-766-8762.
About RootsMagic, Inc.
For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose- to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular “Family Origins” software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

That tradition continues today with “RootsMagic”, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. “Personal Historian” will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. “Family Reunion Organizer” takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And “Family Atlas” creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.

For more information, visit www.rootsmagic.com.
Source: RootsMagic, Inc.

Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation by midgefrazel
Dragon Dictation, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

If you have actually met me in person you know that I talk a lot. It has even been suggested that I talk to the computer instead of the people so yesterday when finding the software Dragon NaturallySpeaking at BJ's while out shopping I thought, "Why not?" :-)

As a professional genealogist one of my specialties is technology as it applies to genealogy. I can never decide if I like gravestone photography more than I like using technology! It is raining today so I guess I will have to play work with technology!

This photo is box that Dragon NaturallySpeaking (version 11) (Basics) comes in. Much to my surprise a headset came in the box. I took the headset out and looked it over and decided that the one I already owned was more sophisticated.

It was important to decide that ahead of time because I knew when I installed the software it was going to recognize the headset during the process of installation. I was right.

I took my time with the installation and even put the headset on while doing so. For $59.95, I think it is a good bargain.
It is going to take some time to train it to recognize some of the special genealogical terms. By the way, and had no trouble with genealogical. 

I decided to train it to recognize Granite-in-My-Blood so that it would put the hyphens and the capitalize in the right places. That worked flawlessly.

To train Dragon NaturallySpeaking for special words and terms all you have to do is pulldown the Vocabulary Menu and choose " Add new word or phrase…" Then, you type the phrase or word and then speak it aloud. I did not have to say, "hyphen" or capitalize the words!

I am impressed! So, I guess I'll be talking to you later!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Rice Family Reunion Weekend

Deacon Edmund Rice by midgefrazel
Deacon Edmund Rice, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.
We are going on a bus tour this afternoon with the other Rice descendants. One stop will be at North Cemetery in Wayland, MA. We have already been there to find this memorial gravestone.

My husband is the Rice, not me so this should be a new experience for me!

Deacon Edmund RICE (c1594-1663) and wife Thomasine FROST (1600-1654) [9th great-grandparents]
Deacon Edward RICE (c1622-1712) and wife Agnes BENT (1631-1713) [8th great-grandparents]
Daniel RICE (1655-1737) and wife Bethia WARD (1658-1721) [7th great-grandparents]
Bethia RICE (1682-1754) and husband Jonathan NEWTON (1679-1753) [6th great-grandparents]
Thankful NEWTON (1719-1755) and husband Aaron FAY (1719-1798) [5th great-grandparents]
Nathan FAY (1747-1831) and wife Lucy BEMIS (1751-1834) [4th great-grandparents]
Rebeckah FAY (1791-1870) and husband Ebenezer HYDE (1785-1882) [3rd great-grandparents]
Abraham HYDE (1811-1897) and wife Eleanor Adalaide PARMENTER (1818-1856) [ 2nd great-grandparents]
Vergene Ovando HYDE (1844-1909) and wife Frederica Bremer MERROW (1855-1886) [great-grandparents]
Linda Edwards HYDE (1881-1949) and husband Phares David FRAZEL (1876-1949) [grandparents]
Wilbur Hyde FRAZEL (1913-2011) and wife Ruth Hannah CRAIG (1915-2010) [parents]

Sunday, September 04, 2011

iHome Charger

Front of Box by midgefrazel
Front of Box, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.
My friend Kathy Schrock always has to show me something new when she comes to visit! She showed me this charging unit that would be perfect for me since I own all these devices.

Yes, I own an iPad, nook, iPod touch, regular iPod and of course an iPhone. So many things to be charged!


I bought this today (4 Sept 2011) at Kohls  ON SALE for $39.99. 

I can't decide...do I put this cool charger away for my birthday or for Christmas or do I just use it now?


This is the front of the box. It is made by iHome and is Model # iB969.


Back of box
Front of Device
Back of Device
Cords
Manual Cover