Genealogy

Individuals and companies publish blogs for a variety of reasons. Some blogs are launched for marketing purposes; others are posted just for fun. Here are a few things you can do with a personal or professional blog:

Personal Blogs:

• Journal – Most sites support private blogs that can be used as a journal or public blogs for sharing. Some bloggers use weblogs to publish their travelogue, personal thoughts, or daily events.
• Special Interest – Write on your favorite hobby or subject. Share tips on genealogy, historical topics, cooking, photography, gaming, or other hobby. You can write on any subject from Victorian Literature to Zhu Zhu Pets. There are no boundaries.
• Family or Society Blog – Most blog services let you set up multiple users with passwords. With this arrangement you can start a family or society blog. Family or society members can login and add posts and images to share with the rest of the members.

Professional Blogs:

• Product Promotion – Many individuals and companies use blogs for free marketing. Posts can be created as product reviews, articles, news, or whatever. You can also link your blog to your corporate or sales sites.
• Customer Education – Blogs can be used to inform customers. A corporate blog can contain product news, tips, company news, articles, and more to educate customers or shareholders about products, services, or corporate happenings.
• News and Information – Numerous blogs are used to relate current events. Some bloggers publish national news and commentary; others use blogs to cover local events.

The blogging process is surprisingly easy. You could be writing your first blog post ten minutes from now.

First, let's examine a few statistics:

• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs.
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
• More than 120 thousand blogs are created every day.
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs.
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006.
• 51% of blog readers shop online.
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

Creating your own blog is now easy. In fact, you don't have to install any software or perform other "techie tasks." If you know how to surf the web and how to use a word processor, you can create your own blog.

The question is, "What will you write about?" I will leave that to you. This article will describe the process of making the blog. The information to be added is left to your imagination.

The easiest method of creating a blog is to use an online blog service, such as Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, or LiveJournal. In fact, there are probably one or two dozen other online blogging services available. You can create basic blogs for free, and most of these toolsets have additional features available for a price.

The free blogging services generally pay their bills by selling advertising that appears on your blog pages, although there are a few exceptions. As of this writing, these sites work quite well and usually do not run obnoxiously intrusive advertisements. In some cases, no advertisements at all will appear on your free pages. You also can either pay for an ad-free service or possibly install blogging software on your own web server.

One disadvantage of using someone else's blogging service is that the web address, or URL, typically shows that service's address, not yours. For instance, if you decide to use the popular Blogger.com service with its default settings, your blog will be at http://myblog.blogger.com or some similar address. Some services do allow for customized URLs that reflect your own domain name, such as http://blog.my-domain-name.com or something similar. Customized domain names typically involve an extra fee. Again, you might find an exception.

Installing blogging software (such as Movable Type or WordPress) on your own server can be satisfying and will allow you to control the appearance of the blog pages. In addition, hosting the blog software on your own server eliminates the issues with domain names. Since everything is on your server, the domain name will be that of the server. However, web server installations can be complex and may require expertise that will not be presented in this article.

Creating a simple blog on a hosting service can be free or very low-priced and only takes about five minutes. You select the blogging service you wish to use (see the list at the end of this article), and then enter your name, e-mail address, and a few other pieces of information. You select "the look" (template) for your blog from a set of standard templates. Click a few buttons and you're done.

Now you can add new entries to your blog. Basically, all you do is type in the entry and push the "publish" button to post it. You can edit the entry as much as you like by clicking the "edit" button. When you are happy with the new entry, you push the "publish" button to make your new entry visible on your public blog.

For instance, you might add a one-line post:

     I really like this site: http://www.eogn.com

That's it. A blog entry can be that simple. Or it can be an entire story. It's all up to you. If text isn't enough for you, many blogging tools also allow you to post photos, video, and audio files. You can even post via your cell phone. I have been known to snap a picture with my camera's cell phone, add a few words of explanatory text, and then upload the picture and text to my blog. All this is done from anyplace within cell phone coverage, no computer needed.

Using a Word Processor

You can write your articles by typing directly into the blogging service's web pages. However, I prefer to write my articles offline by using a word processor, then copying-and-pasting into the hosting service's editing window. Using a full word processor has numerous advantages, such as spell checking, grammar checking, and more. However, you typically want to ignore special formatting when first writing the article. Formatting can be inserted later.

Once you have written your article, spell checked it, grammar checked it, and performed whatever editing you wish, you can copy-and-paste it to the blog site. However, many word processors add "hidden characters" and formatting commands that will not transfer easily to the blog. In many cases, the blog software will interpret these hidden characters in a manner you do not want, resulting in a blog entry with strange-looking formatting that resembles a ransom note. There is a simple solution: first copy-and-paste from the word processor to a simple text editor (such as Notepad) to remove all formatting, then copy-and-paste from the text editor to your blog. Finally, use the blog's editor to add the desired formatting such as font variations, bullets, and the like.

All modern operating systems include a simple text editor, such as Windows Notepad or Macintosh TextEdit. Both are rather simplistic but will suffice for this purpose. As you gain experience, you might want to upgrade to a more powerful text editor in the future. I'd recommend the free version of NoteTab at http://www.notetab.com for Windows users and the free TextWrangler for Macs at http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler.

The process is simple:

1. Write your article in your favorite word processor. When complete, press Control-A to select all the text in the word processor and then press Control-C to copy the text to the clipboard. (Macintosh users will use Command-A and Command-C.)
2. Open the text editor (Notepad for Windows users or TextEdit for Macintosh users or whatever text editor you prefer). Press Control-V (or Command-V) to paste the text into the text editor.
3. You have now removed all formatting. Now you repeat the previous steps, only this time you are copying FROM the text editor and pasting to the blog. To do so, make sure you click inside the text window of the text editor, press Control-A to select all the text in the text editor and then press Control-C to copy the text (without formatting) to the clipboard. (Macintosh users will use Command-A and Command-C.)
4. Go to the blog's writing window (called the editor), click inside the window as if you are going to write the text, then press Control-V (Mac users use Command-V.). All the text, without formatting, will be placed into the blog's text editor.
5. Finally, use the blogging text editor to add bold, italics, indented paragraphs, or whatever formatting you wish. When complete, click on PUBLISH.

With a bit of practice, the above process becomes simple and can be performed within two or three seconds. I used this process when publishing this article: I wrote the article in NeoOffice (a Macintosh word processor), sent it to Pam, the newsletter editor, who then edited it on her PC using Microsoft Word for Windows. She then returned the edited article to me; I copied-and-pasted it into TextWrangler to remove any unwanted formatting, then copied and pasted it from TextWrangler to the TypePad blog.

Online Blogging Services

The largest free service describing itself as a free blog host is Blogger, a subsidiary of Google. Blogger is available free of charge, supports text and pictures, and is very popular. It is not as powerful or flexible as most of the other blogging services, however. You can sign up for a free Blogger account and then start posting your words within minutes. Blogger Mobile lets you send photos and text straight to your blog while you're on-the-go. All you need to do is send a message to go@blogger.com from your phone. You don't even need a Blogger account. The message itself is enough to create a brand new blog and post whatever photo and text you've sent. http://www.blogger.com

Another solid option is LiveJournal, which employs a different, more user-friendly vocabulary but offers essentially similar capabilities. LiveJournal is more popular with those who don't wish to learn about web publishing, those who expect their journal to be read by a relatively small audience, and young people, especially teenagers. LiveJournal provides good tools for "locking" journal entries so that only particular people can read them, while those who self-identify as "bloggers" are usually seeking to reach the largest audience possible. http://www.LiveJournal.com

WordPress is a very popular blogging service. WordPress is both good news and bad news. The good news is that it is highly configurable, and third-party developers have developed hundreds of "plug-ins" that add extra functionality. You can customize your blog in many different ways. The bad news is that there are many configuration choices to make and hundreds of plug-ins to peruse and choose from in order to get what you want. WordPress is very popular with experienced bloggers who already know what they want; however, it can be overwhelming to the newcomer who is not yet familiar with all the terminology and technology available. http://wordpress.com

NOTE: WordPress is available both as a hosted service that runs on the company's servers or as software you can install on your own server. The two versions are nearly identical in operation and, in both cases, are free but with extra features available for a fee. The "install-it-yourself" version is available at http://wordpress.org, not at http://wordpress.com.

My favorite blogging service is TypePad. TypePad is designed for the professional or advanced amateur who does not want to spend hours designing the blog and installing plug-ins. TypePad does have plug-ins, but they install in seconds, usually with no configuration needed. TypePad has recently introduced a free blogging service, called TypePad Micro. However, my preferred TypePad services are available only for a fee, either $8.95 a month for the Plus version or $14.95 for the Unlimited version. The EOGN newsletter runs on the Unlimited version. Even higher priced options are available but will appeal primarily to corporations, not to private individuals.

The fee-based services of TypePad allow for domain mapping (use http://myblog.my-domain-name.com instead of http://myblog.typepad.com); thousands of designs (templates) to choose from or create your own templates; multiple authors with each having a unique user name and password; an excellent spam filter that filters out undesirable comments to posts; post from your cell phone; post from an email message; audio and video podcasts; photo albums that can be separate or else integrated into your blog posts; the ability to publish posts at a future date and time; integration with Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Feedburner and more; as well as eCommerce integration with Amazon, eBay, Google and PayPal. TypePad never displays ads on your blog unless you select ads that you want to publish. You can even receive payment for the ads you select, or you can also insert your own advertisements. The Unlimited version of TypePad allows for multiple blogs on one account at no extra charge – a bargain, in my opinion.

If you prefer to host the software on your own server, look at Moveable Type. It is essentially the same software as TypePad but the name TypePad is used when that software is hosted on the company's own servers.

You can find TypePad at http://www.typepad.com.

Other blogging services include:

Xanga
Squarespace
AOL Journals
Windows Live Spaces
VOX
MySpace

Creating and maintaining a blog is one of the most satisfying experiences imaginable. If you have something to say to the world, blog it!

According to an announcement from the Victoria College Foundation, the Victoria County (Texas) Genealogical Society recently donated $10,000 to The Victoria College Foundation. The donation will be used to purchase digital collection management software that will enable the VC/UHV Library to provide digital access to many of the collections in the Victoria Regional History Center.

This is the fourth time the society has donated that amount to the VC Foundation. The first two volumes of "The History and Heritage of Victoria County" were published in 2000, with the third volume published in 2003. Profits from the sale of these books have enabled VCGS to give these donations to the VC Foundation.

The software purchased with these funds will allow for easy management and efficient search capability of digitized collections. It also allows for the sharing of items such as photographs and scanned archival materials without risk to fragile originals. Along with many of the collections in the Victoria Regional History Center, the library will also use the software to digitize and catalog the Victoria Advocate Photograph Morgue containing photographs of local events occurring between 1950 and 1986.

The VC/UHV Library's digitization project is jointly funded by both VC and UHV. Prior gifts from VCGS to the VC Foundation have been used to significantly upgrade the library's scanning equipment.

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com and Family History Expos:

Ancestry.com and Family History Expos have teamed up to help people digitize their precious family documents – for free at the second annual Mesa, Arizona Family History Expo, Jan. 22-23. Family photos and documents will be scanned at the conference, for free, on Ancestry.com’s professional scanning equipment.

Register today for an appointment to have your documents scanned free. Expo attendees can sign up for 15-minute scanning sessions on Friday, January 22, and Saturday, January 23, to be held during the exhibit hall hours. Scanning-session signs-ups will open each morning—sign up Friday morning for a Friday time slot, Saturday morning for a Saturday time slot. Details on the scanning room location to come soon.

Will you be bringing items to scan? Please help us plan accordingly by letting us know how much and what you’ll be bringing. (http://mesa2010scanning.eventbrite.com)

Scanning Details You’ll Want to Know

Document types accepted

• We can scan any document type, but the maximum size supported is 22" by 15". Any type of photograph, including tintypes, is accepted. Unfortunately we can not scan slides.
• More recent photographs or stable documents can be scanned at a much quicker rate on our high-speed scanner – meaning that you can have more documents scanned during your scanning session. Fragile or historical documents, photographs, bound books or albums and similar will be photographed.
• Copyright and re-publishing rights for the material are strictly the responsibility of patrons, but we reserve the right to reject any document for any reason.
• There is always a possibility that damage to older, more fragile documents may occur during the scanning process. Ancestry.com urges patrons to use their best judgment when choosing documents to be scanned.

Document preparation

• Before your scanning session, please remove all staples, pins, and fasteners as well as any tape or sticky material from your photos and documents. These items can harm the scanning equipment.
• Please sort all of your documents and pictures by size, largest to smallest, before entering your session. This will enable our scanners to more effectively finish your documents in the time allotted.
• Photos mounted in an album will be digitized as a single image. Bound books do not need to be unassembled, but can be quite slow to digitize. Material stored in sleeves should be removed prior to the scanning session; materials remaining in sleeves will be digitized with the sleeves in place.

Scheduling

• You will be able to sign up for a 15-minute time slot, on a first come, first served basis. This time slot will include any document preparation not completed prior to the scanning session, so proper document preparation is crucial (see above).
• Generally we can scan about 50 documents per person in a 15-minute slot, more if documents and photos are newer and/or not fragile.
• Due to demand, we can accommodate only one scanning session per person during the conference.
• The scanned files will be saved to a thumb drive (provided by Ancestry.com) and given to attendees for their own use.

Register today for the 2010 Mesa, Arizona Family History Expo! Simply click on the link below.

Seating is limited, so hurry! Register today at http://www.fhexpos.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=53#loc.

The maker of hit television shows Who Do You Think You Are?, Supernanny and New Tricks has confirmed it is evaluating an initial approach from a buy-out consortium. Shed Media said Bowmark Capital and Darwin Private Equity were working with members of its management team over a possible deal.

Four directors including chief executive Nick Southgate own almost a third of the business, which is currently valued at £73 million.

Both members of the potential buy-out team have previous experience in the media sector. Bowmark owned a 20% stake in Wife Swap maker RDF Media until 2005, while Darwin was a previous investor in production and distribution firm All3Media.

The firm was founded in 1998 and floated on the junior AIM market in 2005. Revenues have more than trebled since then to £82 million in 2008 as the company advanced through acquisitions and organic growth.

Ex-Detroit City Councilwoman Erma Henderson dies
The Detroit News
Scott said he talked to the longtime city councilwoman recently for an oral project for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. ...

and more »

MLive.com
Erma Henderson, Detroit's first black city councilwoman, dies at 92
MLive.com
Her family had moved from Pensacola, Fla., to Detroit the year after she was born, according to Wayne State University's Detroit African-American History ...

Former Detroit city council member Erma Henderson dies
The Detroit News
Scott said he talked to the longtime city councilwoman recently for an oral project for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. ...

and more »

Detroit's first black city councilwoman dies at 92
Lansing State Journal
Her family had moved from Pensacola, Fla., to Detroit the year after she was born, according to Wayne State University's Detroit African-American History ...

and more »

Former Detroit city council member Erma Henderson dies
The Detroit News
Scott said he talked to the longtime city councilwoman recently for an oral project for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. ...

and more »

Former Detroit city council member Erma Henderson dies
The Detroit News
Scott said he talked to the longtime city councilwoman recently for an oral project for the Museum of African American History. "It was almost like talking ...

and more »

Detroit's first black city councilwoman dies at 92
Chicago Tribune
Wayne State University's Detroit African-American History Project lists Henderson as completing a master's degree in social work at the school. ...

and more »

It was a daunting task. One hundred boxes of unnamed materials and documents found in the attic, crawl spaces and closets of the Washington County, Maine Courthouse needed to be preserved.

Five years later, a team of volunteers, using grants and small county appropriations, have inventoried, flattened, placed in numbered acid-free file folders, photographed and compiled on CD some 150,000 documents, including transactions and data from as far back as 1791.

The first completed CD inventory was presented to the county commissioners last week. Copies of the inventory CD are available for $10.

One of the documents found was a deposition given in 1839 by then-80-year-old Hannah Watts Weston. In the deposition, Weston tells of her run carrying gunpowder with her sister-in-law Rebecca Weston through the woods between Jonesboro and Machias on June 12, 1775. Hannah Weston was 17 years old and had been married for almost a year.

The gunpowder was intended to help Machias residents capture the British vessel Margaretta, in what was the first naval battle of the American Revolution.

“We carr [sic] between 30 to 40 pounds of powder and ball. Get halfway there and Rebecca gave up and I took her load,” the document states.

You can read more in an article by Sharon Kiley Mack in the Bangor Daily News at http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/132400.html.

My thanks to Ken MacCallum for telling me about this story.

Important pieces of a family's history are found only in the memories of the living relatives. Help them tell their story and record their precious memories by creating a personalized memory book or journal for them to complete for posterity. Of course, not all of us have the time or inclination to create our own memory book. That doesn't mean you should miss this great gift opportunity, however! Buy your favorite relative one of these special memory books and legacy journals - they already have all the questions you need with ample space for answers and other memories.

Make a Special Memory Book originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 15:18:29.

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Walking to New Orleans: New Yorker visits historic sites on pitstop in Capital ...
Montgomery Advertiser
Although he has a journalism degree, Poorman's minor was in African-American history. Turberville said he admires Poorman's courage and point of view. ...

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Crown in Glory Lutheran Church holds African-American History Month program
Salisbury Post
This year's program is entitled "From King to Obama." The program looks at accomplishments by African-Americans from 1969 to the present. ...

and more »

Visit Redcliffe to learn about holidays for slaves
Aiken Standard (subscription)
I believe it was one of the first programs to entirely feature African-American history at the site, and it's certainly been one of the most popular ...

Black history video premieres in Charles Town
The Herald-Mail
Taylor, the last of the video's presenters, ended the production saying: “We believe there is more African- American history in Jefferson County, W.Va., ...

The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.

Here is a genealogy software challenge to ponder: can your present genealogy program properly chart all families? Can it properly display the relationships of all the people within its database? Can it do so without wasting a lot of paper?

Let's try a test based upon history. Fifteen men and twelve women went to an isolated island in 1789 and lived without outside contact for many years. In fact, even today, the island has few visitors and almost no new immigrants. Every one of today's 50 island residents is related to the other 49 in many, many ways. Everyone is everyone else's second cousin as well as third cousin and probably also a sixth cousin eight times removed. If you were to enter that island's entire population since 1789 into your genealogy program, will it display the relationships properly?

The remainder of this article is for Plus Edition subscribers only.

If you have a Plus Edition user ID and password, you can read the full article right now at no additional charge in this web site's Plus Edition at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=7509. This article will remain online for several weeks. 

If you do not remember your Plus Edition user ID or password, you can retrieve them at http://www.eogn.com/wp/ and click on "Forgot password?"

If you decide to subscribe to the Plus Edition right now, you will be able to immediately read this article online.

For more information about subscribing to the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, visit http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/plusedition.html.

The following announcement was written by the Genealogical Society of Queensland, Australia:

Minister for Infrastructure and Planning and State Member of Stafford Stirling Hinchliffe has launched the Genealogical Society of Queensland's historical book Queenslanders: - Pioneer Families 1859-1901.

Mr Hinchliffe said the Queensland Government granted the Genealogical Society of Queensland $10,000 in Q150 Community Funding, as part of Queensland's 150th Celebrations 2009.

"If there's one organisation that can track down Queensland pioneering families, it has to be the Genealogical Society of Queensland," Mr Hinchliffe said.

"The society recognised its existing muster roll of Queenslanders was an asset and decided to update it as part of this year's 150th birthday celebrations for the State.

"As part of this exercise the society decided to expand the project into two parts - one on the stories and one on the updating of the muster roll.

"Today it was my pleasure to launch the book on pioneering stories of Queenslanders.

"These family stories paint a picture of Queenslanders as courageous, determined and resilient.

"The book shows us where this Queensland spirit emanated from.

"We have much to be thankful for as we enjoy the Queensland of today in a year when we have the opportunity to celebrate our people, our places and our stories.

"I congratulate the Genealogical Society of Queensland and everyone who contributed so generously of their past in the making of this book."

The book is available from the Society in person or online from the Society's website www.gsq.org.au. It retails for $19.95 plus $7.50 postage in Queensland.

Genealogical Society of Queensland spokesman Russell Fraser said the book was the first to be completed in the two-part Q150 project.

"It includes outstanding pioneers, every-day pioneers, first ladies, education of the people, trials and tribulations as well as a record of the early ships that travelled to the colony," Mr Fraser said.

"As for the muster roll, the response from the community has been overwhelming and this means we have more work to do than we originally thought on this second part of the project.

"However, the book on pioneering stories is a great social history read and we are happy to keep on updating the muster roll until we feel it's reached a point where we can say it's as complete as possible for its next edition.''

This year marks Queensland's 150th anniversary year of separation from New South Wales.

The Queensland Government's $4 million Q150 Community Funding program offered grants between $2000 and $10,000 to communities to help them mark Queensland's anniversary in ways that were meaningful to them. Find out what's on in Queensland at www.q150.qld.gov.au.

This must be the ultimate gadget for that photography buff on your Christmas list. “i-gotU” is a tiny device that tracks where you have been. That's it! All it does is track your location. With a built-in GPS satellite tracking receiver and 16 megabytes of built-in flash memory, the i-gotU device records your exact location (plus or minus ten feet or so) every few seconds and stores it in memory. It will store up to 65,000 locations, each recorded with the exact time you were at that location. What makes this device so useful is the included software that allows the stored locations to be used in so many ways.

Perhaps the most obvious use is in digital photography. You can automatically add geotags to every photo. That is, if you carry the i-gotU device in your pocket or in your camera bag, and if you make sure the date/time information in your camera is accurate within a very few seconds, you can always record the exact location of every picture you take. The latitude and longitude can automatically be added to each picture. That can be really useful for recording vacation trips or for hiking in the mountains or even when taking pictures at the family reunion.

As soon as you plug in i-gotU GPS Logger to your computer, your trips and current position are displayed effortlessly on Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, or Bing Maps.

The software included with the i-gotU device is loaded into your Windows desktop or laptop computer. It looks at the date/time stamp on each photograph and then looks in the i-gotU device to determine your exact location when the picture was snapped. The software then adds the latitude and longitude information to each photograph's meta data. The information remains hidden to the human eye when viewing the picture, but is available to many different programs that support geotagging, including the online picture sharing sites, such as flickr, Picasa, and @trip. In fact, with @trip, you can upload your vacation photos, and the online site will even draw a map showing the route of your travels.

i-gotU is compatible with all digital cameras and camera phones as it never makes a connection to the camera. All data connections are made inside your Windows computer: import the pictures, save them on your computer's hard drive, then let the i-gotU software automatically add the geotag information to each photo.

The i-gotU logger provides the most convenient and lowest cost method of adding geographic information to your photographs. You do not need to press any buttons on the i-gotU device; it automatically records its location every few seconds with no human interaction. The only better method is to purchase a very expensive camera that has a built-in GPS to perform the same functions.

The i-gotU logger also functions as a normal GPS device and can be used with other applications, including Google Map, Google Earth, and many of the GPS navigation programs available. Want to know where that teen-age driver went with the family auto last night? Put the i-gotU device into the car before he or she leaves, then check the data in the morning. You can see a map of the entire trip on Google Earth. I am sure you can think of other “stealth mode” uses as well.

This tiny data logger is battery powered, and a fully charged battery will last for days. When it is time to recharge, simply plug the i-gotU device's USB cable into your computer. It recharges through the USB cable.

The i-gotU device works with Windows 7, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Vista. The included software does not work with a Macintosh.

The i-gotU model GT-120 includes 16 megabytes of memory, sufficient for recording 65,000 locations. The GT-120 sells for $70 or so, depending upon the individual retailer.

The i-gotU model GT-200e includes 64 megabytes of memory, sufficient for recording 262,000 locations. It also contains a Bluetooth interface to make wireless connections to computers and some cell phones without any dangling wires. The GT-200e sells for $99.99 or so, depending upon the individual retailer.

The i-gotU model GT-600 includes 64 megabytes of memory, sufficient for recording 262,000 locations. It also contains a motion detector and will shut off automatically after some period of not being moved. It will "wake up" again and start recording locations as soon as the device is moved. I was unable to find any pricing information for the GT-600, however.

The i-gotU data logger is produced by Mobile Action Technology Inc. Further information may be found at http://global.mobileaction.com.

Here's a hint: if you want to skip the whole separate module thing and you already own a Symbian, Windows Mobile, or a phone that supports Java, you can download the free @Trip software for your phone. It will upload your images to the @Trip website.

The Apple iPhone 3G and 3Gs also optionally records geotag information although you cannot see the information on the iPhone. However, you can see the information in iPhoto, Aperture, and other photo applications that support geotagging. First, go to SETTINGS on the iPhone, select GENERAL, and make sure that LOCATION SERVICES is turned on.

Take a few pictures, and then transfer them to iPhoto on your desktop or laptop Macintosh. Open one of the photos, move the mouse cursor to be on top of the photo, and click on the small “i” (meaning “information”) displayed in the lower right of the photo. That will display the location on Google Maps. You can select a map view, a satellite view, or a hybrid view of both.