Mobile Monday – Recording Textual Notes

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

I so dislike transcribing from a recording. It invariably plays too fast which means I have to listen to it ten times before finishing my typing. From almost day one, smart phones included a recorder app which I never used for anything beyond a brief message. But with voice recognition technology recently becoming a built-in feature for both the newer-model iPhone and Android phones, the situation has changed.

I use an iPhone 5 and its included Notes app allows me to verbally create textual notes. Upon creating a new note (page in the virtual tablet) I press the microphone icon on the presented keypad and start talking. Nothing happens at first, except for a microphone icon displaying the fluctuating volume of my voice.

At this point the app is simply making a record of my voice. Not until I stop talking and press the "Done" button does the phone send the encoded voice to the Apple's servers in North Carolina for translation. The resulting text sent back to the phone and displayed on the Note app's page. You've now deduced that an Internet connection is needed for all this to work. Accurate voice translation is far too complex for the phone to do on its own.

I've found the text translation to be extremely accurate, even with proper names. In the event it makes a mistake, you must fix it using those tiny little keys on the screen's displayed keypad. You cannot issue verbal editing commands. Getting the text back to your main computer can be done by email, messaging or Cloud-based syncing. I use that sync option.

Android-based smartphones have the same built-in capability. And they too need an Internet connection, to Google's servers.

See also Ron Setzer's Mobile Monday blog (Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society) dated October 24, 2011 that discusses a 3rd party app, Dragon Dictation. That app also turns your spoken words into text. While Dragon Dictation also requires an Internet connection, it has the advantage of being compatible with older smartphones.

Mobile Monday – Wireless Screen Mirroring using Reunion 2.0

[Editor's Note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.]

Whether visiting or researching, it is handy to have on-hand your complete genealogy database. Sometimes you need something more portable than a laptop. Thus I have the software app Reunion installed on my iPad (an Apple smart-tablet computer). But Reunion had a major limitation. It did not support the iPad's built-in screen mirroring capability. That means I could not display its screen image on a connected television or project it onto a screen.

In mid-March, that changed with the release of Reunion version 2. I tested that new release and it does indeed support screen mirroring. There are two ways to display the screen of an iPad (or iPhone) on suitable video device. The simple cheap way is a $40 audio/visual cable kit. But talking about that would make this Tethered Monday rather than Mobile Monday. The following diagram illustrates a more technologically impressive wireless method using an Apple-proprietary technology called AirPlay.

The television or digital projector must have either a HDMI or DVI port. To that you a little black box called and Apple TV (costs about $100). You cannot connect to a VGA port because VGA does not return a copy-protection signal to the Apple TV's HDMI port, thus causing that port to shut down. Then to get your iPad's screen image to the Apple TV, both must be connected to the same wi-fi server.

For you non-Apple users, there are other wireless screen mirroring technologies out there.
Android 4.2 users – Miracast. Display devices must support Miracast.
Samsung – AllShare (proprietary) on its Android devices. Display devices must support AllShare.

There also numerous video streaming apps and devices. Investigate well before buying since they all have limitations.

The Root Cellar Sacramento Genealogical Society hosts monthly special interest group meetings for the Reunion software product on all platforms.

Mobile Monday – FamilySearch goes mobile!

This information was taken from the FamilySearch.org website. I have downloaded this app for my iPad, but have yet to use it. I have been too busy indexing on my desktop computer. Would love to post a review of this app, so try it and send Root Cellar your thoughts.

FamilySearch indexing now has a mobile application available in English that works with Apple iOS (which includes iPod, iPad and iPhone) and on many Android devices. The app displays image snippets from handwritten historical documents such as birth, marriage, and death certificates; census forms; and naturalization records. Each snippet contains a name, date, place-name, or other relevant information from the document. Simply transcribe (index) what is on the image, and the FamilySearch indexing system eventually adds the information to the collection of free genealogy records available at www.familysearch.org.
Although the app is available, the program is still being tested. The images currently being used to test the program come partly from previously indexed projects and partly from projects that have not been previously indexed. All data is being used to improve the records available at www.familysearch.org.
Note: Due to the diversity of mobile devices available, not all have been tested by FamilySearch. Users can send feedback on their experiences by contacting FamilySearch support. 

Getting Started
1. What are the minimum requirements?

• The minimum requirements for iOS are: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1 or later. 
• The minimum requirements for Android are: Requires Android 2.1 and up. 
• The mobile indexing application is not compatible with BlackBerry or Windows Phone devices. 

2. How do I get started indexing?

The next simple steps help get new indexers started and ready to index: 

Installation/Registration 

• Install the application to the mobile device. 
• Register for a FamilySearch Account or LDS Account – On the indexing website, or the sign in screen for the app, click Register or Register Here, and then fill out the required information. Individuals who already have a FamilySearch Account or LDS Account but have never indexed can download the app and sign in.

Index Batches
1. Learn - Learn about indexing by reviewing the Guide tab.
2. Index - After the application opens, complete the next steps to index an image:

• Click the Indexing tab. An image downloads to the devise. 
• Type requested information - Type the requested information into the field provided. 
• Submit - When indexing is complete, the indexer clicks the Submit button. 

3. What time commitment does indexing require?

• Indexing does not require a specific time commitment. An individual can index any time or place and for as long as his or her schedule permits. If interrupted, when the indexer returns, the indexing program remembers where he or she left off. An image usually takes a few moments to complete. If the indexer does not want to finish an image, he or she can click Skip and continue to the next image. 

4. Can I choose what records I want to index?

• Yes. Indexers can choose to index records in English with varying levels of difficulty. 

5. Can I search the index I help create? 

• Yes! In future versions of the app after indexing is completed, the images and/or data are going to be made available to search at http://www.familysearch.org/.

Posted by Ron Setzer

Mobile Monday – Wolfram Genealogy & History App

If you have a smart phone (iPhone or Android), iPad, or Nook, you may want to purchase this app. It is Wolfram Genealogy & History. This company makes many many apps, but this one is handy for genealogists. If for no other reason than the "Family Relations" feature, this is worth the $4.99. While any genealogy software worth its salt will have a relationship calculator, but that may be at home and this is on your phone that you can tell someone they are your second cousin, twice removed immediately.
I am not so sure that the "Historical Weather" section is of much value. I enjoyed the "Demographics" feature when it informed me that in the year 2010, Ireland had not recovered the population it had prior to the Potato Famine. And the "Historical Life Expectancy" is a help in trying to estimate the possible death date of an ancestor.

This is just a small sample of the many questions you can investigate about your ancestors:

• Were their names common at that time?
• What happened on their birthdays?
• What was the weather like on your grandparents' wedding day?
• What were the towns they lived in like, including demographics, and how far are they from where you live?
• What was 20 dollars worth the year your great-grandmother was born?
• What is the technical relationship between you and your grandfather's sister?

Some of the key features are: Family Relations, Names History, Notable Historical People, Historical Events, Date Calculators, Astrology, Weather…, Geographic Information, Financial Data, and Research Extras. Even the family tree created by "Family Relations," is helpful.

This is a screenshot of the usage of first names over time and a map of the path of a hurricane.

It is a fun app for family history people, give it try.

Posted by Ron Setzer

Research on the fly—

Sometimes you find a resource or a file or a tidbit that will help you in your research but your computer is not open, you don't have pen and paper, only your iPad or iPhone. Open up Dragon dictation and speak your bit of information. Dragon will automatically turn it to text, which you can save,  you can e-mail yourself or someone else or even instant message it. And then you go on with your research.

Dragon Dictation 2.0 is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text content for everything from email messages to blog posts on your iPad™, iPhone™ or iPod touch™.

With Dragon Dictation 2.0, you can dictate status updates directly to your Social Networking applications (Facebook and Twitter), send text or email your friends, send notes and reminders to yourself … all using your voice. The new Dragon Dictation 2.0 also features multilingual capabilities, giving you the option to switch between a variety of languages.

Posted by Ron Setzer