Introducing Record Detective™: A breakthrough technology for family history
MyHeritage is excited to announce the launch of Record Detective™. It is the first technology of its kind to automatically extend the paper trail from a single historical record to other related records and family tree connections. 
Record Detective™ generates new leads and discoveries by turning a single record into a door to more. For example, a record discovered in MyHeritage’s digital archive, SuperSearch, will now automatically include a summary of additional records and individuals in family trees relating to it, providing new information and clues to take your research to new directions.
Here's a short video which explains how it works:
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New Feature: Extract Info from Records
We're excited to announce the launch of a significant new feature to extract information from historical records and save it directly into the family tree.
MyHeritage Record Matches were released last year and won acclaim for their power and accuracy. However, until now users were on their own when it came to extracting valuable information from each Record Match, into their family trees. This had to be done manually for each Record Match. Many users simply confirmed correct Record Matches without improving their family trees based on new information learned from each match. Some have taken the information, but without adding a citation to allow other genealogists to trace the source of its piece of information taken -- because of the manual efforts involved.
The new feature, Extract Info from Records is a much-needed solution to the above problems. It lets you easily extract details found in any confirmed Record Match, and copy them - in just one click - into the relevant profile in your family tree. This new feature conveniently displays the information found in the historical record and compares it to the information in your tree, side-by-side. It highlights for you information in the record that is new or better than the corresponding information in your tree. Now you can easily enjoy the full power of Record Matches and add new and useful sourced information straight to your tree, helping you learn more about your ancestors and enrich your family history.

Got a Record Match in our Canadian Headstones collection? The new Extract Info page lets you take the new and improved information directly to your family tree (click to zoom)
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New Release: Family Tree Builder 7.0
We're pleased to announce the release of MyHeritage Family Tree Builder 7.0 - the latest version of the world’s most popular free genealogy software - which combines innovative technologies with easy-to-use features.
Used by millions of people worldwide, Family Tree Builder lets you build your family tree and enhance it with photos, historical records and more. The latest version, 7.0, is packed with exciting new features and improvements.
Download Family Tree Builder 7.0 for free now
We've been working hard for more than a year to enhance Family Tree Builder to make documenting and sharing your family history even easier. We're taken the time to ensure this release is as robust as possible and have just completed a successful two-month beta program with some of our power users. Enthusiastic feedback from the first users to use version 7.0 indicates that this is the best version we've ever released.
The new version now syncs your entire family history in both directions between your computer and your family site on MyHeritage, as well as smart phones and tablets, and opens new channels for discovering relatives and billions of historical records with our advanced matching technologies. This means you can now access your family tree securely not just from your computer but also from your online family site, smart phone or tablet device, and even grow the tree and add more information and photos to it, any time and anywhere. All additions and changes will sync back to your Family Tree Builder software on your computer. Continue reading "New Release: Family Tree Builder 7.0" »

RootsTech 2013: Wrap-up
This year's RootsTech was only the third edition, and it has grown exponentially every year. Some 7,000 attendees - plus nearly 2,000 young people (ages 12-18) on Saturday - flocked to the Salt Palace Convention Center. It is now the largest such event in the US.
While the weather ranged from near-blizzard conditions to rain to sunshine, the halls - with some 100 exhibitors - and classrooms housing some 250 programs, drew excited crowds. According to organizer FamilySearch, attendees came from 49 states and 17 countries.
Additionally, FamilySearch announced that some 10,000 people viewed programs and keynotes via live streaming video online, while remote satellite broadcasts took place at 17 Family History centers in seven countries, attended by another 4,000 participated by remote satellite broadcast at Family History centers in 17 locations in seven countries.
Mark your calenders for RootsTech 2014 (February 6-8, 2014). FamilySearch said that they plan to export the event to some 600 locations worldwide (16 US locations and several other countries).
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Family History: What do we do with our ’stuff’?
One of my favorite blogs is The Signal, the digital preservation blog of the Library of Congress. A hot topic there centers on personal digital archiving, and much of that relates to family history and genealogy.
The LOC’s Mike Ashenfelder, who writes online articles about personal digital archiving, digital preservation leaders and developments in digital preservation, writes on preserving personal genealogical collections in a digital age.
The popularity of genealogy websites and TV shows is rapidly growing, mainly because the Internet has made it so convenient to access family history information. Almost everything can be done through the computer now. Before the digital age, genealogical research was not only laborious and time consuming, it also resulted in boxes of documents: photos, charts, letters, copies of records and more. Online genealogy has replaced all that paper with digital files. But the trade-off for the ease of finding and gathering the stuff is the challenge of preserving it.
About genealogical databases, Ashenfelder writes:
that relational databases are the engines that drive digital genealogy. Databases make it possible to quickly search through enormous quantities of records, find the person you’re looking for and discover related people and events. And when institutions collaborate and share databases, statistical information becomes enriched.
And, considering some demographics of family history aficionados, digital estate planning now a popular topic. What happens to our digital possessions after we die? And what can we do to preserve them? Getting your digital affairs in order offers much practical information.
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Innovation: What’s next?
When was the last time you used a typewriter?
Technology crept into my life when I switched from my beloved black portable manual Remington typewriter to an IBM electric.
Just a few years ago - relatively speaking - personal computers were just appearing on the scene. We researched the old-fashioned way - handwriting letters, loading rolls of film in our cameras, visiting dusty archives and winding through endless rolls of microfilm in resource centers. It took hours of effort to search for family information.
Today we connect in ways we couldn't imagine only a short time ago. We communicate almost instantaneously with email and messaging, and we access ever-expanding Internet resources for family history. Everyone is connected by computer, by smartphone, by technology.
Once upon a time, my tech arsenal consisted of an electric typewriter. Period.



