How can a virtual conference possibly be this tiring? I’ve been trying to watch a few sessions, but I’ve spent most of my time in various chat rooms answering questions.
Of course, I discovered that 23andMe changed their product AFTER I recorded and submitted the Triangulation video. Guess what you’ll be reading next week!
Yep, a clarification article. I’m using the word “clarification” loosely here, because it’s still confusing.
So, what’s going on in the genealogy community and at RootsTech today?
Well, for starters, MyHeritage has been acquired. This was out of left field. Wow.
MyHeritage Acquisition
MyHeritage has been acquired by private equity firm, Francisco Partners.
I have no idea if the MyHeritage acquisition was timed to correspond to RootsTech, but regardless, it did.
We’re used to big announcements at RootsTech, but not this big, and not announcements of this nature, either.
In the past several months, all of the other 3 major genetic genealogy companies have been acquired. MyHeritage is number four.
Here’s the Business Wire link, and here’s a very nice article from a personal perspective of a long-standing MyHeritage board member.
I have to tell you, this made me draw a sharp breath, so I reached out to three people at MyHeritage in positions to know. After hearing from all three within hours, I’m greatly relieved.
Founder Gilad Japhet is remaining in position as CEO, as is the rest of the staff. This acquisition means more investment dollars which means that MyHeritage can digitize more records and produce more tools for genealogists.
2021, in the genetic genealogy world, is a new ballgame. All 4 vendors now have new owners, and a year ago, GEDmatch was sold as well.
Gilad is, at heart, first and foremost a genealogist, as is Bennett Greenspan from FamilyTreeDNA who retained a board seat after the GenebyGene/myDNA merger.
I was relieved to read in the MyHeritage PR release the following:
MyHeritage takes a best-in-class approach to user privacy and does not sell or license personal data. Under MyHeritage’s partnership with Francisco Partners, this commitment will be further strengthened and users will benefit from enhancements to the company’s privacy framework. As a first step in this strategy, MyHeritage will shortly update its privacy policy to include the unequivocal prohibition for the company to license or sell genetic data to any 3rd party. These updates will be highly unique amongst the larger genealogy and genetic DNA industry and are a testament to the commitment both MyHeritage and Francisco Partners share to privacy and consumers.
That’s not all MyHeritage has been up to.
MyHeritage Introduces Deep Nostalgia
MyHeritage introduced yet another photo enhancement tool. You’ll want to try this for yourself.
Deep Nostalgia is different than photo enhancement. It animates faces. Some people love this, and others think it’s kind of creepy. I’ve animated several photos, and I think it has to do with the photo to begin with, and if you knew the person in real life.
For one of my friends who only has photos of their parents and grandparents, and never knew them, this technology has been a gift of the highest magnitude.
I immediately went and animated my grandmother who died the year I was born.
I would suggest starting with a photo of yourself maybe to see if you want to go further. Or, maybe, just jump right in.
So far, my favorite is the picture of my mother as a child that you can see right here. I love this little girl so very much. This technology is the only way I’ll ever “see” my mother move as a child. I want to hug her. She looks so much like my daughter about the same age.
The enhancement technology itself is amazing, even without animation.
I clicked to animate this photo, above, and look at my Mom’s face, below, after the animation. Where you see the animation button, below, you’ll discover that you can select animations 1-10 and they are quite different. If you don’t like one, try a different one. I liked this one of my Mom.
MyHeritage enhances the photos before animating. Their technology has improved dramatically from the first versions, just a few months ago. This picture of my mother during her show business years is stunning. Upload any photo or click on a photo in your photo gallery at MyHeritage, then just click on the animate button.
Additionally, MyHeritage rolled out a few new features in the past couple of weeks and I’ve been so busy I almost missed them.
You can now see if a shared match has a tree and access it directly from the Shared DNA match page. You can also see any notes and how many people are in this person’s tree by flying your mouse over the respective icons. Adding those notes in this location is a godsend for me, because I always note as much as I can discover about each match and now I don’t have to click to open each match just to “see who they are.”
You can read more in the MyHeritage blog, here.
Ancestry
I watched the “What’s New at Ancestry” video to see if they have any announcements since RootsTech is typically a platform for those types of splashes. The information in the video is from 2020. I didn’t find anything new involving DNA, although Crista was discussing new green leaf genealogy hint algorithms and such.
She did say that while ethnicity percentages will be updated once a year or so, Genetic Communities is updated on an ongoing basis. She mentioned Ancestry’s Genetic Communities patented technology combines the consumer genetic network and their family trees.
Crista clarified that ethnicity estimates are looking at where your DNA was 500-1000 years ago. Genetic Communities is looking at where your family members lived in the last 100-200 years. The last update, just a couple weeks ago, applied to 8 million users, of 18 million total. I received one new subset community.
Nothing mentioned about 2021.
DNA Kit Sales
I was surprised to discover that Ancestry is not offering any promotions in their booth. Not for DNA and not for subscriptions. Even at Amazon, the Ancestry DNA kit is $99.
If you’re wondering about 23andMe, they weren’t at RootsTech last year and they are absent this year too. If you’ve tested at 23andMe, you can transfer to both MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA.
If you need upload, download or transfer instructions for any vendor, click here.
That’s OK, amble on over to the MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA booths who are both having great sales.
Family Tree DNA – Best DNA Price of RootsTech 2021
At FamilyTreeDNA, their autosomal Family Finder test is now only $49. This is the best price of the conference. Click here to purchase using coupon code RTCTFF.
I noticed that FamilyTreeDNA added a sale code for the Autosomal Transfer advanced tool unlock too, good through March 7th. If you’ve been waiting, now’s a great time. You can click here to sign on, upload your DNA file if you’ve tested elsewhere and then unlock using code RTCAU10.
You can see all of the FamilyTreeDNA show prices, here.
MyHeritage – Free Advanced Tools Unlock Expires in Two Days
The MyHeritage DNA kit is on sale for $59, here.
You can transfer your DNA to MyHeritage for free, here, and for 2 more days (until the 28th), you will automatically receive the advanced tools unlock free, a $29 value.
Ok, let’s do something fun now.
RootsTech “Souvenir” Photos
You can get a “souvenir” photo of yourself, or someone else, at RootsTech. Yep, time travel, of sorts. Click here.
I didn’t want a photo of myself taken in my office when I haven’t had a haircut in over a year, so I selected a photo I like much better.
RootsTech is building a real-time mosaic. Of course, your eyes have to be better than mine to find yourself
Surname Search
Another fun activity is the FamilySearch surname search tool that shows where in the world a particular surname is found.
Of course, in many cases, the top location is the US, land of immigrants, but hey, the genesis of the surname is quite interesting.
Have fun.
DNA Garb
Today’s DNA outfit is my chromosome sweater, and no, I didn’t make it.
Unlike the vests and dresses, this isn’t a dress-up item, but just something that’s soft and comfortable and I wear it in my office. I stuff it in my carry-on travel bag and you would be more likely to see me wearing this than any of my “good” DNA outfits
It’s still snowy where I live, which reminds me of Salt Lake City – so I just took a walk and pretended.
It’s hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of the conference already. What fun things are you doing at RootsTech?
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Disclosure
I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.
Thank you so much.
DNA Purchases and Free Transfers
FamilyTreeDNA – Y, mitochondrial and autosomal DNA testing
MyHeritage DNA –Autosomal DNA test
MyHeritage FREE DNA file upload – Transfer your results from other vendors free
AncestryDNA – Autosomal DNA test
23andMe Ancestry – Autosomal DNA only, no Health
23andMe Ancestry Plus Health
Genealogy Products and Services
MyHeritage FREE Tree Builder – Genealogy software for your computer
MyHeritage Subscription with Free Trial
Legacy Family Tree Webinars – Genealogy and DNA classes, subscription-based, some free
Legacy Family Tree Software – Genealogy software for your computer
Charting Companion – Charts and Reports to use with your genealogy software or FamilySearch
Newspapers.com
Genealogy Research
Legacy Tree Genealogists – Professional genealogy research
Books
Genealogical.com – Lots of wonderful genealogy research books
Read more: dna-explained.com
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