Beta versions of New FamilySearch utilities starting to appear
David May 13th, 2008
John Finlay, founder of the popular PhpGedview open source web genealogy application, has launched GedLynk, an open source Java based desktop utility to synchronize and merge genealogy data with New FamilySearch (NFS) as well as PhpGedview web sites. It is still in early beta, but it already looks promising. I saw a demonstration of this utility at the NFS API Conference in March 2007, while the GedLynk site has launched this past week (May 8).
Without using a NFS utility, a person has limited options for adding data to New FamilySearch. These include manually adding each individual record using the forms on the web site itself, searching for existing or duplicate data which represent the same individual, or uploading a GEDCOM file with this data included. By synchronizing data using an NFS utility, the selected record in your personal data file will be compared with the data available at NFS. New online information available can be downloaded and while missing online data can be uploaded to NFS. Utilities which can synchronize entire files of data will not be available for some time.
The following individuals and organizations are currently listed as Web Service Affiliates with New FamilySearch, suggesting that they are actively working on products or services which will interface with NFS: FamilyPursuit, Generation Maps, Incline Software (Ancestral Quest), Bungee Labs, Bruce Rogers (Kin2Me), Millennia (Legacy Family Tree), Progeny Software, RootsMagic, US FamilyTree, Ohana Software, World Vital Records / Family Link, One Great Family, nGenisis, LLC, RedBugz Software, Living Genealogy, R.C. Martin, Peter Ivie, US Family Tree, Universital, and Walter Sorenson.
I haven’t heard if any of these companies or individuals are also releasing beta versions of their software, so please post a reply to this post if you happen to know about any beta software that is available which supports the New FamilySearch.

I was approached by Cassie Telford, site administrator for http://tech.lds.org, to be a guest blog contributor for the site. I agreed to make a few contributions and as a start have submitted my post from last week,
I was inspired by a presentation of a small alcohol stove built using two paint cans and fueled with denatured alcohol at a recent preparedness fair at church. A few days later I decided to try to build it from memory with my own "custom air vents" to make sure that the fire would get enough oxygen. I placed this on top of my kitchen stove and lit it to see how long it would take to boil a small pot of water. It was working even better than I had supposed, but then it really started going! I ended up with two foot high flames licking the bottom of our stove vent hood! My wife rushed to get the fire extinguisher to save her kitchen cabinets, but I held her back for a moment because I thought that I could still get the flames under control. I used kitchen tongs to put the lid of the paint can back on the smaller can to limit how much air the fire could get. Luckily the flames died down quickly enough for me to carry the whole ensemble out the back door to the patio. I should probably not mention that last year I was a boy scout leader, teaching 11 year old boys about scouting basics including fire safety. Probably not the best example, right? Rather it was more like the bad example of young scouts playing with fire when the scout leaders aren’t looking!
I found several other small stoves that I’m anxious to try out, built from two aluminum cans. The first, 
Those LDS Church members who have been following the counsel of their
Use an internet based backup service such as