This week’s news items include: James LeVoy Sorenson, renowned medical device inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist died on 20 January 2008 at 86 – his companies list includes the  non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation which provides DNA testing; Genealogical.com has launched a new blog at http://GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com; a wiki is available for users of FamilySearch and the LDS Family History Centers, at http://www.familysearchwiki.org.

The Guys respond to listener e-mail, including: genealogy software questions about DNA information and the GEDCOM 5.5 format standard; a site for sharing serialized family history information, with a sample at http://wwar1.blogspot.com; a suggestion to visit the extensive Genealogy and Family History Links Library at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genealogylinks/; Bryan Mawer’s Sugar Refiners and Sugarbakers website at http://home.clara.net/mawer/intro.html about the sugar industry, primarily in the UK (16th-20th centuries); and a question about when ships’ crew were included on manifests (and other forms), including information about INS requirements – at http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/maritime/great-lakes-crew-lists.html.

Drew and George discuss the explosion of social networking sites for genealogists and some of the issues regarding choosing one or more to use. The list includes: Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/), Famillion (http://www.famillion.com), Ancestry.com (http://www.geni.com/), OneGreatFamily.com (http://www.onegreatfamily.com), FamilyTreeDNA.com (http://www.familytreedna.com/), MyHeritage.com (http://www.myheritage.com/), 23AndMe (https://www.23andme.com/), MyHeritage.com (http://www.myheritage.com/), ItsOurTree.com (http://www.itsourtree.com/ and available in multiple languages), Amiglia.com (http://www.amiglia.com), Kindo.com (http://kindo.com/), and TreeX.com (http://treex.com/tree/). Others include KinCafe (http://www.kincafe.com/), FamilyLink (http://www.familylink.com/ - formerly WorldVitalRecords.com), OurStory.com (http://www.ourstory.com/), WeRelate (http://www.werelate.org), and Famiva (http://www.famiva.com/).

Drew has revived his personal blog with a new name, Internet domain, and a new look. The blog, called Rootsmithing, can be found at http://rootsmithing.com.

This week's news includes many announcements. Memeria (http://www.memeria.com) launches the first house-call photo-scanning service; another genealogy podcast is available -- Genealogy Gems at http://www.genealogygemspodcast.com; WorldVitalRecords.com has changed its name to FamilyLink.com (http://www.familylink.com) and has formed partnerships with other companies in recent months; RootsMagic announces its 2008 Genealogy Cruise to the Mexican Riviera on Sept. 28 to Oct. 5, and details can be found at http://www.RootsMagicCruise.com. There are also many seminars coming up this year: San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society (Feb. 2) (http://www.kcbx.net/~slogen/); St. George family History Expo 2008 (Feb. 8-9) (http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=1); Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Symposium (April 11-12) (http://www.cgsi.org/news.asp?intNewsID=129); North Carolina Genealogical Society’s 3rd Annual Speakers Forum (April 11) (http://www.ncgenealogy.org); Federation of East European Family History Societies Conference (August 1-3) (http://feefhs.org/).

The Guys respond to a load of listener e-mail this week! Danny, as a Mac user, can’t use Clooz and so has made use of a free version of software program called Mac Journal; Drew discussed software options for Scott’s family which just celebrated its 101st consecutive family reunion; Michael loves U.S. Federal Agricultural Census records, but hates the microfilm – and he and George urge Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest to bite the bullet and digitize these and the remaining U.S. census records; several users commented on the need for the GEDCOM facility to be updated to also include graphics, while The Guys agree that software packages and online sites should be able to synchronize the data between both!

Welcome to The Genealogy Guys^TM Podcast for 2008!

George begins the 2008 news with a press release from Wholly Genes, Inc., of Columbia, MD, about the new Version 7.0 of The Master Genealogist (TMG) genealogy database software; George will be appearing at the all-day Mississippi Genealogical Society Confernece in Pearl. MS, just outside Jackson, on Saturday, 19 January – more information is available at (601) 924-9346; the Whitier Area Genealogical Society will feature expert genealogist, writer, and librarian Lloyd DeWitt Bockstuck at its 25^th Annual Genealogical Conference on 23 February 2008 – Contact Miriam Benell at dandmbenell@earthlink.net for more information; the Southern California Genealogical Society has announced its conference details at jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com, and both Drew and George will be there this year!

The Guys discuss some user e-mail as always, and then focus on what is happening and coming for genealogy in 2008.