Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and to let you know that a brand new episode of the GTP is on the way.
I know it has been a very long time since the last edition of the show, and I apologize for the delay. As you may know I work full time and go to college so free time is very limited. However, I am on a break between semesters and will get at least one episode together before the Spring semester starts.
Hope this finds you all doing well and successful in your research. Talk to you soon!
You may recall on one of the episodes of the GTP I mentioned Google’s Picasa photo album software. For those of you who take a lot of digital photos, Picasa is a free application that helps you organize all those pictures that are currently sitting in odd folders all over your hard drive. While Picasa has some basic photo editing capabilities, it’s primary strength is organization; if you’re looking for a photo editor you need to look at other options.
Picasa is only available for Windows and Linux (although there is a Mac Web Album plugin available - not a full version), but most Mac users probably already have iPhoto which is very similar.
Just wanted to let everyone know that the fine folks at Internet Genealogy magazine have included an article I wrote on Google Alerts in the latest issue.
There is a new software update available from Apple, but it affects both Windows and Mac users since the update is for iTunes and QuickTime.
The update addresses a couple of security issues in QuickTime, but also updates iTunes to version 7.2 (QuickTime version is 7.1.6 after the update). You can find out the specifics of this update at:
Mac users can get the update by running the Software Update feature from the Apple menu; Windows users can open iTunes and select Help –> Check for Updates from the menu bar.
The iTunes update seems to be a precursor to Apple’s sale of music that is not protected with Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, however, DRM-free music is not yet available on the iTunes store. DRM encryption is used to limit consumers’ ability to copy and/or sharing music purchased online.
Update: Some DRM-free titles are now available on iTunes.
Apple has released a security update for the Mac OS X operating system. Update #2007-005 addresses a bunch of security issues in he operating system, iChat and VPN; it can be downloaded from:
In episode 10 of the GTP I mentioned how Google Web History can be extended to save all of your Web browsing activity, which in turn could help you in your research.
But what if you don’t want your Web history saved?
If for any reason you don’t want Google to save your Web History (Google searches or complete browsing activity) you can opt out without affecting your other Google services.
To prevent Google from tracking your Web activity, go to My Account from your Google Personalized Start Page (now called iGoogle), or click the my services link in GMail.
At the top of the page click the Edit link located to the right of the My services heading. Here you can opt out of the Web History service by clicking the Delete Web History link listed under the Remove a Service section.
I know it’s been ages since I got an edition of the podcast out, but finals for this semester are tomorrow (5/10/2007) and I will be able to get Episode 10 out on Monday. I also hope to get a few additional episodes out before the Summer semester begins.
For the Windows users among you Microsoft has released another round of security updates for May. This group includes 7 critical updates that address issues in Windows, Internet Explorer and Office among others. You can get all the latest updates from http://update.microsoft.com.
If you’re a Mac user the fine folks at Redmond may have and update for you as well. Microsoft have released an update for Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac; version 11.3.5 is now available. You can get this update by opening one of the Office applications and selecting Help –> Check for Updates from the menu bar. This update includes some security and stability updates you’ll want to have on your system.