Simple Family Tree - An Easy Way To Track Your Genealogy [Windows]

Over the years my interest in genealogy has waxed and waned. Sometimes I'll work on it for months at a time, and then my interest will lapse and I'll leave it alone for a while.

Recently I've gotten the "bug" again and have been working at it pretty consistently after a lapse of a couple of years. I've put my  site back online, I've updated all the online databases it references, and so on. I've been amazed at the number of resources that have become available online since the last time I spent any time tracking down family members. My go-to site for initial research is FamilySearch, and in addition to greatly improving the interface and search capabilities of the site, there's also many more US Census and birth & death records available, both as transcribed text and as scanned original documents.

Main pedigree tree view
Click to enlarge.

I happened to stumble across a program that had been sitting on my hard drive for some time called Simple Family Tree. I vaguely remember downloading this little program a couple of years ago, taking a quick look at it, and thinking that it looked interesting, but wasn't something I'd use much, since it seemed pretty rudimentary. Nowhere nearly as complete as my favorite genealogy program, Personal Ancestral File (PAF). But I found the way Simple Family Tree displays a genealogical tree interesting, so I started taking a more serious look at it.

Fix And Enhance Your Videos with vReveal [Windows]

The majority of us are not professional film makers. We don't have the equipment, the talent, or expertise to create really top-notch videos, even if they aren't "big budget" productions but something as simple as a kids birthday party or a family gathering. At the same time though, we'd like those kinds of videos to look as good as possible.

There's a whole litany of problems that amateur videos have (mine included!), ranging from a shaky camera to poor white balance and contrast, to interlacing, and being just-slightly out of focus. There are some expensive, high-end programs available to remedy these kinds of problems, but let's face it, most of us aren't going to want to shell out the money or take the time to learn a complex program just to clean up some quick videos we've shot.

vReveal is an easy way to address these common video problems quickly and easily.

Stop SOPA/PIPA

For our US readers:

"Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late."

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/