I have great news — we’ve released 10 additional “special” animations for Deep Nostalgia™ today, doubling the number of animations available and allowing you to see your ancestors express a wider spectrum of gestures and emotions, for example, dance, blow a kiss, smile wholeheartedly, nod approval, and more. The special animations are available to subscribers on the Complete plan.
Deep Nostalgia™ has taken social media by storm, and since its launch 5 weeks ago, 72 million animations have been created!
Please share this wonderful news with your audience and on all your social channels. You can find a complete overview of the special animations in the blog post.
Here are some examples of the special animations:
Dance 2:
Kiss:
When you animate a photo, the initial animation is selected by default so as to match the pose and angle of the person in your photo perfectly. That initial animation is always one of the first 10 general animations and is never one of the special animations. The special animations need to be selected manually.
Selecting a special animation is not available from the landing page, which is only meant for quick animation and sharing, and is only available from the “My Photos” section of the website and the “Photos” section of the MyHeritage mobile app, where in both locations more advanced functionality is at your disposal.
I hope you enjoy seeing your ancestors move with these new animations!
Enjoy!
Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert
MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda, Israel 6037606, Israel, +972-3-6280000
As part of our continued improvement of Genetic Groups on MyHeritage, you can now compare your Genetic Groups to those of your DNA Matches! Previously, you were able to view the Ethnicity Estimate of your DNA Matches and see which ethnicities you share. Now, you can drill down even further and see which Genetic Groups they belong to, and which ones you have in common. This addition has important genealogical value, and may enable you to narrow down which side of your family a DNA Match comes from. Read more about this exciting new addition in the blog post.
Significant Update to Swedish Historical Records on MyHeritage
We recently added 19.35 million records to our collection of Sweden Household Examination Books. The new records cover the years 1820–1839, and bring the total number of records in this collection to 144.5 million. The records in this collection are the #1 source of information about families and individuals who lived in Sweden in the 19th and 20th centuries. This is great news for all genealogists with Swedish roots, who may now be able to date their family tree back even further and make new discoveries.
You may recall that last year, MyHeritage teamed up with Legacy Family Tree Webinars for a historic event: we hosted the first-ever 24-hour genealogy webinar marathon. It was so successful that we’re doing it again from April 8–9, 2021!
Just like last year, the entire event is free and open to all. The event will include live Q&As and door prizes, and will feature 26 lectures from the world’s top experts on a wide variety of topics relating to family history research and DNA. Visit our blog to learn more, peruse the full lineup of lectures, and register.
Feel free to use the above visuals when sharing these updates with your readers, and let me know if you have any questions!
Enjoy,
Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert
MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda, Israel 6037606, Israel, +972-3-6280000
I am happy to share that we’ve just released a new collection: United States, Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956, which consists of 12.5 million historical records.
During the late 19th century many immigrants to the U.S. arrived via passage from Canada to avoid harsh inspections at U.S. ports like Ellis Island. The collection, which includes images, is significant as it offers important details of travelers as they made their way to the United States. The MyHeritage index offers additional details not found in other versions of this collection, such as information on family members.
The records include the individual’s name, age, gender, date of arrival, arrival port, marital status, birth date, birth place, last residence, destination, port of departure, and nationality, as well as the names and addresses of family members both in the United States and the home country. In addition to immigrants seeking citizenship in the United States, many of the records in the collection pertain to U.S. or Canadian citizens passing through the border for work or travel.
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most prominent figures in the history of the United States, and one of the most influential presidents of all time. Ahead of his birthday on February 12, and President’s Day on February 15, MyHeritage has released a new ad that lets you see Lincoln like never before, as he explores his family history on MyHeritage 🙂
Please watch the video and embed it on your blogs, and share it on your channels.
I hope that you and your audience enjoy the video!
You can also read more about the making of this incredible project on our blog.
Enjoy,
Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert
MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda, Israel 6037606, Israel, +972-3-6280000
I’m happy to announce that MyHeritage is offering free access to all marriage records for Valentine’s Day, from February 10–16!
MyHeritage offers 158 collections marriage collections with 462,808,849. During this limited-time offer, you’ll be able to access these records for free even if you don’t have a MyHeritage plan. Please note that free registration to MyHeritage will be required for non-MyHeritage users.
In addition, we invite your readers to enter our Valentine’s Day competition by sharing their colorized, enhanced, or color-restored wedding photos on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #LoveInFullColor and tagging @MyHeritage for a chance to win! Three lucky winners will be awarded their choice of a Complete plan or a MyHeritage DNA kit! Alternatively, they can share their photos and stories by sending them to stories@myheritage.com with #LoveInFullColor in the subject line.
Please share this news with your audience and encourage them to search the marriage records and submit their entries. The competition closes on February 14, 2021, so hurry up and share those photos!
Enjoy,
Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert
MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda, Israel 6037606, Israel, +972-3-6280000
This is great news fresh out of the MyHeritage oven!
As you know, in the past year, MyHeritage has transformed genealogy with our game-changing photo colorization and enhancement features. These features have delighted users all over the world and have been applied to 30 million photos.
Today, we’re thrilled to announce the release of yet another revolutionary photo feature: color restoration, which beautifully restores the colors in faded color photos. Unlike colorization, which simulates colors of black and white photos, the new color restoration feature is ideal for restoring scanned photos from the 1950s to the 1990s that were originally taken in color, but have faded over the years. This gives you the chance to revive your favorite moments from the days before digital photography. With color restoration, you get the authentic colors revived in seconds, and no colors are guessed in the process. As a bonus, color restoration also sharpens photos and improves their level of detail. When color restoration is applied, the original photo is left intact and a separate copy is created with the restored colors.
Over time, old color photos tend to fade. Bright and vibrant hues from decades past turn different shades. UV light can affect the chemical makeup of printed photos, causing them to turn sickly yellow and lose their colors. With color restoration on MyHeritage, even the most worn out color photos can come back to life, with exceptional results.
Color restoration is a powerful new addition to MyHeritage In Color™, our photo feature for colorizing black and white photos. The color restoration technology was licensed exclusively by MyHeritage from DeOldify deep learning experts Jason Antic and Dana Kelley, who also developed the world’s #1 colorization algorithms, that were licensed and integrated into MyHeritage. Colorization and color restoration technologies work differently but both make clever use of artificial intelligence.
When you upload your photo, MyHeritage first applies technology to quickly determine automatically if the photo is black and white (or sepia) or was originally taken in color. If the photo was originally taken in black and white, then you will have the option to colorize it, and if it was originally taken in color, you can choose to restore its colors.
Please see some incredible examples in our blog post hereand read more information in the press release below.
MyHeritage Releases Color Restoration Feature to Bring New Life to Faded Color Photos
MyHeritage In Color™ expanded, now beautifully restores faded color photos using AI technology licensed from DeOldify
Tel Aviv, Israel & Lehi, Utah, January 25, 2021 — MyHeritage, the leading global service for discovering your past and empowering your future, announced today the release of color restoration for faded color photos. A major enhancement to MyHeritage’s advanced suite of photo tools, color restoration revives the authentic colors in faded photos, with exceptional results.
Color restoration is ideal for old color photos from the 1950’s through the 1990’s, where the chemistry of printed photos stored in albums did not withstand the test of time and caused the colors to fade or turn yellow. The technology for color restoration was licensed exclusively from DeOldify, created by deep learning experts Jason Antic and Dana Kelley, and was integrated into MyHeritage. It accurately restores a photo’s original colors and sharpens the image in the process. Color restoration is a powerful new addition to MyHeritage In Color™, the company’s flagship photo feature for colorizing black and white photos, which was also developed by DeOldify and licensed exclusively by MyHeritage.
MyHeritage In Color™ and another AI-based feature, the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer, were released last year and have been used by consumers over 20 million times. Both have gone viral, received high acclaim, and have inspired a renewed appreciation for historical photos among consumers.
“In 2020, MyHeritage became the top online destination for colorizing, enhancing, and sharing historical photos,” said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “The addition of color restoration to our robust suite of photo features offers the incredible opportunity to bring cherished childhood memories back to life, and to share the beautifully revived photos with our family and friends. Nostalgia doesn’t get any sweeter than this!”
“We’re thrilled that our cutting-edge color restoration model will be enjoyed by the community as part of MyHeritage In Color™”, said Jason Antic and Dana Kelley, founders of DeOldify. “So much effort has gone into creating this software, and we can think of no better partner for bringing it to the market than MyHeritage, a company that is defined by innovation and whose mission is to make family history more accessible to people all over the world.”
Integration into the MyHeritage platform
Millions of people around the world use the MyHeritage platform to discover their family history and digitally preserve their family photos. With world-class technologies for colorizing and enhancing photos, and now with the addition of color restoration, MyHeritage offers cutting-edge tools that provide new perspectives on family history.
Color restoration is available on the MyHeritage platform on the web and on MyHeritage’s free mobile app for iOS and Android. The mobile app includes a built-in scanner so users can digitize family photos stored in physical albums. When a photo is uploaded to MyHeritage, the system automatically determines if the photo is black and white (or sepia), or was originally taken in color. Photos that were originally black and white can be colorized, and those that were taken in color can have their original colors restored. Color-restored photos can easily be shared with family and friends on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media. Restoring colors does not modify the photo, but creates a separate copy on MyHeritage alongside the original.
MyHeritage In Color™ is a freemium feature on MyHeritage. Users can restore the colors in 10 photos for free, after which continued use requires a subscription.
About MyHeritage
MyHeritage is the leading global discovery platform for exploring family history. With billions of historical records and family tree profiles, and with sophisticated matching technologies that work across all its assets, MyHeritage allows users to discover their past and empower their future. Launched in 2016, MyHeritage DNA has become one of the world’s largest consumer DNA databases, with 4.7 million customers. Since 2020, MyHeritage is home to the world’s best technologies for enhancing and colorizing historical photos. MyHeritage is the most popular DNA test and family history service in Europe. www.myheritage.com
With the release of Genetic Groups this month, the MyHeritage DNA test now offers the richest and highest resolution ethnicity reports in the industry. You can now pinpoint your origins across 2,114 geographic regions, right down to specific cities or districts. This feature is the result of 3 years of hard work and meticulous research by MyHeritage’s Science, Product, and R&D teams.
The Knowledge Base resources below offer deeper insight into DNA analysis and how MyHeritage is able to produce such comprehensive results.
The World Wide DNA Web: In this webinar, Alon Diament Carmel, Ph.D., from the MyHeritage Science team explains how MyHeritage uses its vast database of DNA Matches to identify genetic groups.
The new year is the perfect time to approach your family history research with fresh eyes and make new discoveries. We hope that you find your new and improved results inspiring — and that the above resources help deepen your understanding and appreciation of the wealth of information you can gain from DNA testing.
Did you know that you can now buy a MyHeritage membership as a gift for a family member or loved one? It makes a perfect gift for a special occasion, and is one they are sure to treasure. Click here to learn more about the MyHeritage gift membership.
Throughout an exceedingly difficult year, family history became an increasingly important outlet for people and helped them remain connected to their loved ones. At MyHeritage we worked hard to fill that need by developing new features, adding historical records, and giving back to the community. Read more about what we did in 2020 in our year in review blog post: https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/12/2020-myheritage-year-in-review/ Please feel free to share the link to the blog post, and the following info graphic, with your followers.
I wish you and your family the best for this coming 2021!
Happy New Year!
Daniel Horowitz Genealogy Expert
MyHeritage Ltd., P.O.Box 50, 3 Ariel Sharon Blvd., Or Yehuda 60250, Israel 60250, Israel, +972-3-6280000
I am delighted to announce the addition of two new collections of Norway Census records — the 1875 Norway Census and the 1870 Norway Census. Digitized in collaboration with National Archives of Norway (Arkivverket), the 2 million records in these collections include high-quality scans of the original documents.
The collections hold particular interest as they cover a unique time in Norwegian history. The largest single wave of emigration from Norway occurred between 1879 and 1893. Spurred on by the promise of new opportunities, 250,000 Norwegians left Norway for other countries like the U.S. The 1875 census offers the opportunity to catch a snapshot about these Norwegian ancestors while they were still in Norway. For those in the U.S. and abroad with Norwegian heritage, this census collection may unlock important details about their Norwegian roots.
Beyond their historical significance, the collections are important as they contain details that are not often found within a typical census collection. In addition to listing the person’s name, residence, position within the family, gender, marital status, and occupation, the census also includes information on languages spoken, birthplace of the residents, and their birth years. In specific cases, even medical conditions are listed. Also included are individuals who were temporary residents of the household or those registered to a household who may have been absent at the time of the census count. This means that a single individual may have been listed in more than one entry, if they were visiting another home at the time the census was taken.
Please find the official blog post here with some nice example records from this collection. We would be grateful if you share this news.
With the release of these collections, and the recent release of 42 million Norway Church records, MyHeritage now offers 246 million records from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, making MyHeritage the market leader for Scandinavian family history.
Searching the Norway Census Records on MyHeritage is completely free. If you have a family tree on MyHeritage, our Record Matching technology will notify you automatically if records from these collections match your relatives. To view these records or to save records to your family tree, you’ll need a Data or Complete subscription.
Enjoy,
Daniel Horowitz
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