New iPod nano – 1GB

By now, you may have heard about the new iPod nano that came out to day – it has a capacity of 1GB and retails for $149. Yes, it holds 240 songs, but that’s not the selling point for a genealogist – the selling point is that this one holds up to 15,000 photos (and it can display them on the built-in color display – not a big deal, or on a TV screen, which is a big deal). It pulls the photos through iTunes/iPhoto (and it can provide a musical soundtrack to any photo slideshows you may put on).

At the Apple Store, the 1GB iPod nano is $149. As of this afternoon, all were showing as shipping within 24 hours. They are offering free engraving and free shipping. The optional connector – is called the Apple iPod AV Cable (M9765G) and is available at the Apple Store as well.

This beats using a slide projector.

iLife ’06, .Mac Updates

Last, but not least, iLife ’06 has been released – with some updates that maybe of interests to some Mac genealogists. Along with it, an update to .Mac to allow for improved integration between the two.

iLife ’06 updates:

iPhoto – Requires Mac OS X 10.3.9
* Improved performance
* Support for up to 250,000 photos
* Photocasting allows you to share albums with other iPhoto users through .Mac
* Full-screen mode (editing/comparing of images)
* iWeb compatability (see iWeb below)
* In addition to ordering photo books and prints through iPhoto, you can now order greeting cards and calendars.

iWeb
* New web/blog application for iLife ’06 – besides functioning as a blog/homepage software, it allows you to easily share photos through the web using iPhoto.
* You can set photo albums to be public or private through iPhoto, and you can automatically update your website through iPhoto.

iMovie
* New themes, effects, upgraded audio support, and multipe-projects open at the same time.
* Exporting video to an iPod.

iDVD
* Wide-screen menus
* Support for 3rd party/OEM DVD Burners
* New DVD creation mode (“Magic iDVD)
* Better photo slideshows

Update: MapMemo 2.02

Mapmemo 2.02 has been released. Mapmemo Allows you to drag a file or folder onto maps, charts, photos, and other graphic files, and then associates that file/folder with that place/location on the graphic file by creating an alias. When executed, that alias will launch the proper application associated with that file.

Useful if you were tracking family migrations/locations or wanted a look at everybody that lived in a certain geographic location. You can use your own maps, maps off the internet, or export from other programs (the authors mention Route 66 as one possible application).

Requires: OS X 10.3+ or 10.4+ only

Changes:

Text-Memo: – If you double-click on a Text-Memo and your Info-Window is closed, it will now open so you can see and read the according text. This was important for users which came new to the application: they often didn’t understand what a Text Memo was, because they couldn’t see anything happening.

Update: Inkscape 0.42

Inkscape 0.42 has been released.

Inkscape is an open source drawing tool with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, and CorelDraw that uses the W3C standard scalable vector graphics format (SVG). Some supported SVG features include basic shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, and grouping. In addition, Inkscape supports Creative Commons meta-data, node-editing, layers, complex path operations, text-on-path, and SVG XML editing. It also imports several formats like EPS, Postscript, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and TIFF and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

Basically, if you need a free drawing program (not photo editing, but drawing), this might just be for you. It does use the X11 featureset.

Update: GraphicConverter X 5.6.2

Lemke Software’s GraphicConverter has undergone some major changes and improvements since it was last mentioned here (5.5.x, and now it’s at 5.6.2).

Mac-based genealogists should note that the mrSID image/raster files’ support has been greatly improved. What this means, is you can now have an easier time handling census data using the mrSID format, from certain genealogy sites, as well as maps from locations such as the U.S. Library of Congress’ Civil War Map Collection.

Admin Note: You will need to download the free mrSID plugin from Lemke Software’s plugin section.

The 5.6.x upgrade of GCX works very well with mrSID files. No more dropping into Classic/OS 9 to work with older plugins/utilities.

If you click on the thumbnail below, I’ve posted a cropped image of a map of Gettysburg (cropped only, no resizing).
mrsid

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