George and Drew, the Genealogy Guys, would like to wish all our friends, family, and every genealogist a wonderful new year filled with great research successes!
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Thursday, December 29, 2022
MyHeritage Announces New Global Name Translation™ for DNA Matches
Just Received from MyHeritage
MyHeritage has long made a name for itself as the go-to destination for international genealogy. This strength comes from the fact that MyHeritage is translated into 42 languages, and is the most popular genealogy platform in most non-English speaking countries, in addition to its widespread popularity in the English-speaking world. Users around the world have built millions of family trees on MyHeritage, and when combined with diverse historical record collections and unique technology for overcoming language barriers, it’s clear why MyHeritage is the leading family history service in Europe and many other countries.
Our commitment to innovation means that we’re constantly adding new technologies, while improving those that are already on MyHeritage even further. Today, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve taken our Global Name Translation Technology™ to the next level, and applied it to DNA Matches!
Language can often serve as an obstacle when exploring your origins in a different country. Back in 2015, MyHeritage pioneered Global Name Translation™, a unique technology to help users overcome language barriers as they conduct their family history research. Global Name Translation™ automatically translates names in family trees and historical records from one language to another, enabling users to connect with relatives and locate historical records in different and sometimes unexpected languages. We first applied this technology to search results in our historical record search engine and integrated it into our matching technologies for new information added to family trees. In 2020, we extended Global Name Translation™ to enable cross-language Record Matches.
This newest application of Global Name Translation™ is great news for users who receive DNA Matches in Greek, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Russian, or whose display language on MyHeritage is one of those languages. Both will now find the names of their DNA Matches transliterated, either from non-Latin characters to Latin letters (English), or from Latin letters to the selected language on their family site.
How it works
Global Name Translation™ uses advanced algorithms that were developed based on MyHeritage’s vast international database of 18.8 billion historical records. The technology automatically translates names found in family trees, historical records, and now, DNA Matches, with very high accuracy and generates all plausible versions of the name to facilitate matches in different languages. English serves as the common ground behind the scenes. Without modifying data that is entered into MyHeritage and stored in its original language, this technology matches similar names written in different languages with each other. It also utilizes extensive dictionaries built by MyHeritage to cover synonyms and nicknames.
Let’s say you’re a Greek MyHeritage user who isn’t aware of any family connections in Israel. Suddenly, a DNA Match tells you otherwise, but you can’t read the name of the match because it’s in Hebrew. Until now, not knowing a person’s name or how to address them may have even prevented some users from contacting their matches in the first place. Thanks to this new extension of Global Name Translation™, you’ll be able to read the name of your DNA Match from Israel and contact them using their given name.
Accessing DNA Matches
To view DNA Matches for any DNA kit that you manage, hover over the DNA tab on the navigation bar and select “DNA Matches”.
Accessing DNA Matches (click to zoom)
As you scroll through your DNA Matches, you’ll notice that for names of matches written in non-Latin letters, a set of square brackets with the transliterated name now appears directly after the original name. In the example below, the name of the match is originally written in Ukrainian, and an English transliteration appears in the brackets that follow. Further down the card, the link to contact this match also shows the transliterated name, making it easier for users to contact DNA Matches whose names they would not otherwise have known due the language barrier.
Example of a Ukrainian name transliterated to English (click to zoom)
For users whose MyHeritage site language is set to Hebrew or Greek, DNA Match names that are in English will likewise appear in brackets in the user’s language. In the example below, Jacob Glick’s name appears in English, with the Hebrew transliteration directly next to it.
Example of an English name transliterated to Hebrew (click to zoom)
The same is true for users who work with MyHeritage in Russian or Ukrainian and receive DNA Matches to individuals with names that use the Latin alphabet. In the example below, the MyHeritage site language is Ukrainian, and the name of the DNA Match, Larry Movchan, appears in English with the Ukrainian transliteration displayed in brackets.
Example of an English name transliterated to Ukrainian (click to zoom)
For users whose DNA kit is managed by someone other than themselves, the transliteration of the kit manager’s name will appear in brackets alongside the names in their language. If the match in question appears in a family tree that is managed by another MyHeritage user, the tree manager’s name is also transliterated.
Transliterations appear for names of DNA kit managers (click to zoom)
When clicking on the “Contact” drop down below the name of the DNA kit manager, the names of both the DNA Match and the kit manager also include transliterations.
Transliteration of DNA Match and kit manager’s names
Transliterated names are also displayed on the Review DNA Match page.
Name transliteration on the Review DNA Match page
This functionality is currently not available when reviewing Shared DNA Matches, and we plan to add it in the near future. It’s also important to note that DNA Matches who have set their names to private will not have their names transliterated.
Our DNA Matching algorithms automatically calculate new matches for you, and MyHeritage DNA users receive weekly emails notifying them when we’ve found new DNA Matches. Transliterated names are now displayed in those emails, making it easier to understand the match at a glance and see if perhaps you share a common surname, or if something about their name sparks your curiosity.
Conclusion
Global Name Translation™ is a powerful technology that has opened new frontiers for MyHeritage users researching their family history around the world. This technology is unique to MyHeritage, and we hope this new extension of it will facilitate more communication among DNA Matches. Anyone who has DNA results on MyHeritage can now view the transliterated names of their DNA Matches.
Language is one obstacle that shouldn’t hinder family history research. We are proud to continue our tradition of innovation as our technologies help overcome language barriers and foster a more seamless path to discovery.
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Gifts that Help Alzheimer's Families Capture Memories from Vivid-Vix
Gifts that Help Alzheimer's Families Capture Memories
Research-based Software and Education that Create Neurogenesis
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, USA, December 15, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Photo software company Vivid-Pix is helping millions of families use Photo Reminiscence Therapy and software solutions to connect with their loved ones with cognitive decline this holiday season.
Over 8.8 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Their families strive to spend time with them and include them in activities during the holidays. Vivid-Pix worked with experts to create education and solutions to capture their memories, creating multi-generational conversation, and have included gift ideas with this philosophy in mind in their first annual holiday gift guide.
Vivid-Pix participated in proprietary research with the National Institute for Dementia Education (NIDE) that concluded that Photo Reminiscence Therapy (pRT) can minimize social isolation, improve medication compliance, and general cognitive performance. The complete pRT study is available at: https://nid.education/nide-publications.html. Videos about the study are available at: https://www.vivid-pix.com/reminisce/.
About Vivid-Pix
Vivid-Pix helps people relive photos and documents by connecting individuals, families, and friends with their most treasured memories, restored through Vivid-Pix technology. The U.S. Patent Office has awarded two patents to Vivid-Pix for its image processing techniques used to automatically correct faded images. Vivid-Pix founders brought Kodak’s “You Press the Button, We Do the Rest” philosophy to the design of Vivid-Pix RESTORE software and other Vivid-Pix solutions.
Media contact:
Name: Rick Voight
Phone: 404-664-9897
Email: Rick.Voight@Vivid-Pix.com
Website: www.vivid-pix.com
https://www.vivid-pix.com/
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Happy Holidays!
The Genealogy Guys wish you, your family, and your loved ones a fabulous Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Save up to 37% with the RootsMagic Holiday Special
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Thursday, December 1, 2022
Genealogy Guys Learn: New Video AND Holiday Sale
In addition, we're having a HOLIDAY SALE!
The Genealogy Guys Learn education site subscription is on sale at 35% off through January 1st! Regularly $99 a year, you can now subscribe for $64 - our lowest price ever! This offer applies only to new subscriptions.
Join now at http://genealogyguys.com/ to get immediate access to almost 80 written and video courses, with new content added each month. See the current course list at https://ahaseminars.com/cpage.php?pt=29. Enter coupon code GGLearn2023 to get the sale price. This is our lowest price ever for great genealogy education!
Friday, November 25, 2022
Save up to 37% with the RootsMagic Holiday Special
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Genealogy Guys Learn Holiday Sale!
HOLIDAY SALE!
The Genealogy Guys Learn education site subscription is on sale at 35% off through January 1st! Regularly $99 a year, you can now subscribe for $64 - our lowest price ever! This offer applies only to new subscriptions.
Join now at http://genealogyguys.com/and to get immediate access to almost 80 written and video courses, with new content added each month. See the current course list at https://ahaseminars.com/cpage.php?pt=29. Enter coupon code GGLearn2023 to get the sale price. This is our lowest price ever for great genealogy education!
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Thursday, November 17, 2022
MyHeritage Introduces AI Time Machine™
Have you ever wished you could travel back in time? While we haven’t perfected time travel, we’ve done the next best thing: on MyHeritage, you can now see how you might’ve looked as a historical figure throughout the ages!
We’re excited to announce the release of AI Time Machine™, a groundbreaking and fun new feature that enables you to transform everyday personal photos into hyper-realistic images of yourself as a historical figure.
Imagine the most incredible costume you’ve ever seen. Every detail is perfect, and it looks and feels authentic. What you get with AI Time Machine™ is even better: stunning, seamless images of yourself or a loved one as an ancient Greek warrior, an Egyptian pharaoh, a Victorian lady, or an astronaut in space. There are dozens of iconic historical figures to choose from. You have to see it to believe it!
Take AI Time Machine™ for a spin
Over the past 3 years MyHeritage has launched a suite of robust features that leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) to bring historical photos to life. AI Time Machine™ is a new twist on this theme, inviting you to travel to the past and see yourself as you might have looked at the time of your ancestors. The results are mind-blowing and perfect for sharing on social media and using as your profile photo.
At MyHeritage, our commitment to developing new tools that help users further their family history research is stronger than ever. We also love creating fun features like AI Time Machine™ that increase public interest in history in general and family history in particular and introduce new audiences to the fascinating world of genealogy.
How it Works
AI Time Machine™ uses text-to-image Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to create photorealistic images of a person as he or she may have looked in different periods in history. It is based on a deep learning, text-to-image model released in 2022 called Stable Diffusion, and personalization technology licensed by MyHeritage from Astria, an innovative company specializing in tailor-made AI image generation. Using anywhere between 10 and 25 photos of one person, AI Time Machine™ constructs a model of that person in a variety of poses and settings that are different from the original input photos. Then, using any of the predefined themes set in different historical eras, it synthesizes the model with the theme to craft stunning images of a person cast as a historical figure. Ever wondered what you would’ve looked like if you’d lived in ancient Greece or during the French Renaissance? Find out with AI Time Machine™!
AI Time Machine™ currently offers dozens of themes representing different historical eras, from prehistoric times to 21st-century outer space. When using the feature for the first time, the first few themes will be selected for you automatically. Once the first batch of images is ready, you can select additional themes that you find interesting and create more images.
The output of AI Time Machine™ is a series of 8 images for each theme. You can download and share a collage with all 8 photos, or share each image individually.
Examples
As you can see below, the results are mind-blowing, and you and millions of other users on MyHeritage are going to have a lot of fun with AI Time Machine™!
Here’s MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet as an ancient Egyptian:
MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet as an Egyptian pharaoh
Fast forward a few millennia and here’s Gilad, recast as a Viking:
MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet as a Viking
Fast forward AI Time Machine™ again. This time, Gilad is in the 1960s and 1970’s as a hippie, or maybe a co-founder of Apple Computers?
Gilad, this time as a hippie
Here are some more examples, this time with our Senior VP of Product, Maya Lerner.
Maya Lerner, MyHeritage’s SVP Product, in different themes
Alternatively, if you’re already logged in to your MyHeritage account, hover over the “Photos” tab on the navigation bar and select “AI Time Machine™” to access the page.
Accessing AI Time Machine™
Click the “Try it now” button to get started.
On the next screen you’ll see guidelines for selecting photos to upload. Follow the guidelines to help the AI technology achieve optimal results. You’ll need between 10 to 25 photos of the same individual, taken on different days and in a variety of settings, poses, and angles. The more photos you upload, the better the results will be. You can upload up to 35. Note that uploading photos of the person at different ages are generally not a good idea, because it negatively affects the ability of the technology to build a consistent model of the person.
Upload the photos from your computer or mobile phone, or drag and drop them into the frame.
If you don’t have enough existing photos to use on your computer, simply snap a few more with the camera on your mobile device. Use different poses and backgrounds, then upload the photos.
If you appear in some of the photos with another person in the foreground, crop the photos first so that only you will appear.
When you’re done uploading the photos, click “Continue”. A pop-up will appear asking you to describe the person in the photos using a few basic details. Enter their first name or another title, select the gender, and click “Continue.”
Sharing AI Time Machine™ images
The images created with AI Time Machine™ are a lot of fun and perfect for sharing on social media. They’re sure to wow anyone who sees them and they make excellent profile photos.
Images can be downloaded or shared as a set of 8, or individually. Click the Share icon to share the images on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp, or to copy the link and share the images on another platform. Click the Download icon to download the images as a jpeg file. If you are viewing a set, Share / Download will apply to the full set of 8. If you are viewing a single image, Share / Download will apply to that image only.
Useful tips
The quality of the output you’ll receive depends very much on the quality of the photos you upload. The more photos you upload and the more varied they are, the better your results will be. For best results, use existing photos from your camera roll or computer that include:
- Singularity: Only one person (and always the same person)
- Variety: At least 3 full body shots, 5 upper body shots (from the chest up), and 10 close-ups
- Different poses and expressions, with the eyes looking in different directions
- Different backgrounds and lighting conditions
- Photos taken on different days
- Avoid makeup. It can affect the results negatively, so photos with minimal to no makeup are recommended
- Avoid sunglasses, hats, or other accessories and items that obscure the face
Authenticity
While highly realistic, images generated by AI Time Machine™ are created by artificial intelligence; they are not authentic photographs. As per MyHeritage’s commitment to responsible AI, watermarks are added to all images generated by AI to distinguish them from authentic photos.
You can view the images you create with AI Time Machine™ by clicking the link in the email notifying you that your results are ready. We’ll soon add a designated private album for AI Time Machine™ images to the My Photos section of your MyHeritage family site.
Privacy
When creating images with AI Time Machine™, your privacy is protected. The images are processed exclusively on MyHeritage servers and are not shared with any third party. MyHeritage doesn’t own the resulting images; they belong to you, just like all photos you upload to MyHeritage.
Cost
AI Time Machine™ is currently available on the MyHeritage website and via mobile web browser. The feature is free at launch for a limited introductory period (with a limit of one model and 50 themes per user, for a total of 400 images), following which it will become a paid feature. A one-time purchase will then allow you to upload photos to create a model of one person and generate 160 images with up to 20 themes. Users with a MyHeritage Complete plan will enjoy a higher usage quota at no additional cost; details about the quota will be announced soon.
Responsibility
With great power comes great responsibility. You are kindly requested, and firmly required, to use AI Time Machine™ responsibly. Do not upload photos of people other than you, unless you received their permission beforehand. Do not upload photos of children, photos with nudity, or photos that are offensive. No photos of Nazis. Do not use AI Time Machine™ to make fun of politicians – keep Putin, Biden, Trump, and other politicians out of this. Do not share results that may humiliate or offend anyone. Do not remove the AI symbol from the corner of the resulting photos. If any of the results end up having the potential to offend anyone, do not share them. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Conclusion
At MyHeritage, we’re constantly innovating new ways to make family history fun for all, from seasoned genealogists to newcomers seeking a sense of nostalgia. Until now our photo tools have brought the past into the present, and with AI Time Machine™ we’re taking the present on a playful journey back in time, delivering yet another exciting way to connect with the past. If you’re wondering “what will they think of next,” stay tuned. As always, there’s more to come, so watch this space!
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