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Published July 8, 2012 Everyone is concerned about Google pulling the plug on iGoogle, but in today's episode I have a fantastic solution for you. And you will find the companion video at my and as the video bonus content in the .\xa0 And the new has been launched! It\u2019s here! I promised you it was coming and it has. The brand new website is up and running at genealogygems.com and at lisalouisecooke.com. You\u2019ll find Lisa Louise Cooke\u2019s Genealogy Gems in both places. The old site was 5 years which is ancient in techie years, so it was time. Back in the Fall of 2011 I began laying the framework for the new site, well aware that the old one had become cluttered, and it wasn\u2019t keeping up with all the new versions of web browsers out there. Things were starting to not display properly. A few months later in March 2012 listener and Premium Member Simona wrote me to tell me she had noticed it too.\xa0 And she had some opinions about the magazine delivery nature of the podcast episodes.\xa0 The original model for the premium podcast was like a magazine. When you subscribe you get the last few episodes, and then each new episode as it was published.\xa0 After about 3 months the oldest episode would drop off and the new one would come on. There were a few reasons for this which included the capabilities of the old site. Here\u2019s what Simona had to say: \u201cI downright LOVE your productions Lisa and think you are the sweetest and smartest. But I get frustrated and even -dare I say- annoyed with the shelf life limit of your premium podcasts. You see I very rarely hard-wire sync my idevices to my notebook pcs. So I end up missing more premium podcasts than I download and listen to.\u201d OK, well I obviously completely agree with Simona on her comments on the website, and the email just helped support the decision I had made to invest in a new site. And I hope Simona and all of you are happy with all the changes and upgrades. \xa0 NEW SITE UPGRADES: Everything is on one site: The blog, the free episodes, Premium Membership, and our brand new store. The free iTunes podcast feed and the Premium feeds are both functioning now. Premium Membership includes ALL past episodes, and continued access to those episodes while you are a member. But the big news for Premium members is that premium membership is no longer a magazine subscription model. I\u2019ve built a site that is set up to hold all the gems I\u2019ve created for you over the last 5 years, and the many more years to come.\xa0 Yep, right now we are on Premium episode #88 and ALL 88 episodes are available to you as part of your premium membership.\xa0 What we are creating for you is a growing catalogue of gems and tutorials and genealogy entertainment that you can tap into when you want it.\xa0 And Genealogy Gems Premium Membership gives you access to all of it!\xa0 And of course each month we are adding new premium episodes and videos so that catalogue will just keep growing and growing. You know sometimes a gem or topic isn\u2019t what you need this week, but it\u2019s exactly right for what you want to do 2 months from now.\xa0 Now you can sign in to your membership and grab the gems you need when you need them. And I hope you are as excited about the amount and accessibility of content as I am! Now Simona brought up a question about accessing the premium episodes and downloading them to her devices.\xa0 Here\u2019s the thing \u2013 as I\u2019ve said many times before iTunes doesn\u2019t support premium membership sites, so we have had to custom build a feed for you so that at least you can add your premium content through iTunes. But for now that still means plugging in your iPod. Technology is moving quickly though and we are constantly searching for ways to make that process easier, and unfortunately we have to rely on Apple to help make that possible. I\u2019m really proud that we have managed to build a way to deliver premium content to you through iTunes and I\u2019ll let you know if and when we develop a method for wireless download, as is available for the free podcast through our Genealogy Gems App (available in the iTunes app store and at Amazon for Android.) And I\u2019m very happy to say that the response to the new website has been 100% positive. I had braced myself for some folks who didn\u2019t want change, but so far not a one. You were ready for an upgrade as much as I was. Here\u2019s what just some of you had to say: Robin in Ohio says: \u201cYour new web page is AWESOME!\xa0 Love the colors, layout and info. All your Gems are sooooo helpful, upbeat and truly some great genealogy fun!!!\xa0 I look forward to listening to your podcast while riding my bike and gardening. You are such a genealogy-go-getter and amazing example to me.\xa0\xa0\xa0 Thanks for sharing so many GenGems and some of your life events along the way.\xa0 It makes the person behind the cyber voice so pleasantly real.\xa0 Thanks for sharing your talents with me\u201d Sue in Nevada says \u201cWhat a drastic difference!\xa0 It is so neat, concise, and user-friendly.\xa0 Can't wait till it is fully up and running.\xa0 It was worth the wait....\u201d Sue in Nevada Teri says: \u201cWow. Really nice look. Makes you a destination site!\u201d Christine commented on The Genealogy Gems Podcast Facebook Fan Page: "I just "peeked"--1000% improvement!\xa0 Not only is it more user-friendly, the design & colors are more "you" I\u2019m ecstatic that you love the site and I hope that those of you listening who have been listening on your mobile device and maybe haven\u2019t stopped by the website in a while drop in and see what Robin, Sue, Teri and Christine are raving about.\xa0 \xa0 Facebook Fan Page Attention all Facebook users! There's been an upsetting development in the way that site is run, and the unfortunate result is that many of you are no longer receiving Venice's posts. What they've done affects all fan pages. \xa0It used to be that whenever I posted a status update it would send it out to every single person who is subscribed to the Genealogy Gems page. Well, no longer. Now it tells us, underneath every post what percentage of subscribers it has actually sent that post out to. And usually that number is right around the 25% mark. Which means that the site deliberately and arbitrarily chose 75% of you to not receive it. But here's the rub: On every single individual post, it now offers us a "Promote" option, where we can pay them money to increase the number of fans who will receive that specific post. To get the note/video/picture/song to show up on the walls of 100% of our Facebook fans, it could cost us around $50. Not as a one-time payment, but rather PER POST. But there is something you can do. \xa0Follow these instructions to guarantee that you'll receive all of our subsequent updates: 1) Sign into Facebook. 2) Go to: 3) Hover your cursor over the "Liked" box. 4) Put a checkmark next to the words "Show in News Feed." I\u2019m sorry for the inconvenience and really appreciate your support! \xa0 RIP iGoogle From Barbara: \u201cHi Lisa, Greetings from a Canadian Premium Podcast listener. I got a notification on my iGoogle home page today and was gobsmacked (my ancestors were British) to see that they are discontinuing iGoogle on the 1st of November next year.\xa0 This seems really strange, given that they just released the new update a short time ago, however that\u2019s Google for you.\xa0 If you don\u2019t like what they\u2019re doing today, wait awhile \u2013 they\u2019ll be doing something new by tomorrow.\xa0 This is one change that\u2019s going to be rather sad for me.\xa0 I\u2019ve enjoyed my iGoogle home page.\xa0 I sure hope they have something exciting and new coming to make up for this.\u201d From Linda: \u201cI just looked on my iGoogle home page, and it says iGoogle will not be available after November 1, 2013? (--happens to also be my birthday, so an easy date to remember, for me at least) What?!?!? I have got it all set up, thanks in part to you, and now it is going away...it just ain't fair. You are going to need a new webinar telling us what to do now, cause I don't have any idea how to make it work in Chrome! There is life after iGoogle, and I have a solution for you! \xa0 GEM: Life After iGoogle In this gem we are going to look at Life After iGoogle. It\u2019s pretty challenging to stay organized online isn\u2019t it? It seems like every day something new is happening, and it can take some superhero powers to stay up to date while you\u2019re still working on today\u2019s to do list. That\u2019s why iGoogle was such a gem!\xa0 In webinars, presentations, my book The Genealogist\u2019s Google Toolbox and as part of Premium Membership I have taught thousands of you\xa0\xa0 how to convert iGoogle into your personal genealogy homepage. We added gadgets that could accomplish the tasks you needed to get done, then expanded with tabs, and even dressed it all up with custom themes. And I\u2019ve heard from so many of you have it revolutionized your online computing and research experience. However, in 2012 as we here in the U.S. were celebrating Independence Day and the freedom we enjoy, Google very quietly announced that it was doing away with iGoogle. The online freedom we were so happily enjoying came to a screeching halt. Ouch! Now even though I\u2019m known as the Google Guru, first and foremost, I see my role as genealogy gems goddess. And that means that I am primarily focused on bringing you the best gems, not just Google gems.\xa0 So after a good 5 minute mourning session by the iGoogle gravesite, I got to work on a new gem that would meet all of our homepage needs, and dare I say even surpass iGoogle in some areas. And don\u2019t worry, what I\u2019ve come up with isn\u2019t going to force you to start from scratch. We\u2019re going to move much of your iGoogle content to a brand spanking new genealogy homepage and then add lots of gems to it. Today I\u2019m very happy to introduce you to Yep, there is life after iGoogle.\xa0 And once you get into the Netvibes vibe you\u2019re going be doing the genealogy happy dance.\xa0 So let\u2019s get started. Guess what: Netvibes has been around as long as iGoogle! Both were launched in 2005. But here\u2019s the thing, Google never figured out how to make money with iGoogle, and that plays a huge role in why it\u2019s going away. However, the Netvibes team discovered early on that a personal dashboard just wasn\u2019t all that conducive to a bunch of advertising to the pay the bills, and so they expanded their business model to provide expanded premium products to businesses at a price, that allows them to continue to provide the free service to their individual users. The fact that they have figured out how to make their business profitable means that there\u2019s a much better chance that the Netvibes dashboard will be around for a while. And believe me, with the demise of iGoogle Netvibes has already seen a bump in users, and I predict that\u2019s about to increase dramatically. The first thing we need to do is import your existing iGoogle content into Net Vibes. And if you don\u2019t have an iGoogle page, cool \u2013 it just saves you from having to do this step, but hang in there because you are definitely going to want to set up a Netvibes genealogy dashboard with the rest of us which we will do in just a minute. PLEASE NOTE: Follow these instructions EXACTLY. Any deviation will cause it not to work. And be sure to use Internet Explorer NOT Firefox for this procedure. 1.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Log in to a Google account. 2.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Go to this page: 3.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 In your IE browser menu click on PAGE (in the COMMAND bar, which if it is not showing you will need to activate) \xa0\xa0\xa0select SAVE AS and name the file iGoogle_code.xml (save it as an XML file to your computer\u2019s hard drive) 4.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Open the XML file that you just saved 5.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Right click on the page and select SELECT ALL and then copy right-clicking and selecting COPY 6.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Go to this page: Scroll down until you see a box 7.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Paste the code in the first box 8.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Click the CONVERT TO OPML button 9.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Copy the converted code 10.\xa0 Open a new document in Notepad 11.\xa0 Paste the code on the page 12.\xa0 Save the file: From the menu select File \u2013 SAVE AS and name the file to_netvibes.txt (You are just going to save it as a text file) 13.\xa0 Go to 14.\xa0 Sign up for a free BASIC account and select the Default layout. 15.\xa0 On the starting dashboard click ADD CONTENT in the upper left had corner of the page. 16.\xa0 Click ADD A FEED (the orange RSS button) 17.\xa0 Under the feedback next to OPML: click IMPORT 18.\xa0 Browse your computer and select to the to_netvibes.txt file 19.\xa0 Click the IMPORT button 20.\xa0 This will import any tabs and RSS feeds that you had in iGoogle This looks a LOT like iGoogle don\u2019t you think? Making this move is going to be a breeze because the two services are SO much a like! Now of course, not all of the iGoogle gadgets converted. That\u2019s because they are iGoogle gadgets. You\u2019re going to have to locate new gadgets from Netvibes. I\u2019m going to set you up with some of the most important gadgets you\u2019ll need.\xa0 And you can bet I\u2019ll be covering more customized gems in upcoming Genealogy Gems Premium episodes.\xa0 Under Add Content there are a couple of different areas where you can get gadgets, which are called Widgets in Netvibes.\xa0 In addition to using the search box, you can browse Categories, select from \xa0Essential Widgets, and you can add more RSS feeds which you\u2019ll use to follow podcasts, blogs, and other types of syndicated content. Let\u2019s start by deleting the iGoogle gadgets that didn\u2019t convert properly. Just click the little X button in the upper right corner of the widget just like you would have in iGoogle. Essential Widgets are your desktop tools. Lisa suggests: To do Webnotes MailWizard Bookmarks Facebook Twitter Before we go any further, let\u2019s clean up and organize a bit.\xa0 Moving widgets around is super easy. Click the title bar of the widget, drag, and drop. And there you have it, in just a few minutes time you\u2019ve made the dreaded move! Stay tuned because I have a LOT more great stuff for you to do to get your genealogy vibe on.\xa0 \xa0 GEM: Genealogy Gems Song by Mike Steward ArtistSignal is a music contest: Click to Vote for Michael\u2019s music.