Tracing your family tree with Ancestry.ca

Like many people, I wondered if  Ancestry.ca could help reveal more than what I already know about my family history. Having said that, I don't think I'd come up with any skeletons in the closet and I don't think anything would surprise me given that both my parents and the generations before that seem to have a pretty straight forward lineage. I don't believe any other ethnicities blended into our family tree until my generation. But I was still curious.

The company came top of mind when videos started popping up on television and online. You know, the people who were surprised to discover their ethnic backgrounds and their results from doing the AncestryDNA test sometimes led to unexpected connections. Like this one...

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Apple promotes ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ exclusive enhanced e-book release on iBooks

Apple released three new promotional videos for the exclusive enhanced e-book edition of A Song of Ice and Fire books, which, if you didn’t know, is where the HBO hit show Game of Thrones is based. Its author George R. R. Martin speaks on the videos and talks about the beginnings of A Song of Ice and Fire in the videos and what you can expect from these enhanced editions. There are special illustrations, background material, and glossaries. The first of the books A Game of Thrones hit the iBooks Store arrived in September for US$8.99, A Clash of Kings became available in November, and A Storm of Swords came earlier this month. The latter editions are priced at US$11.99. A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons in February and March of next year, respectively.

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‘Passengers’ movie has an official mobile mystery game on Android and iOS

In this age, the movie experience doesn’t end when the credits roll. And so it isn’t surprising that science fiction film Passengers has its own mobile game. Hero Digital Entertainment developed the game for the Columbia Pictures movie. It has you trying to discover the truth about the Starship Avalon that malfunctioned while on its 120-year voyage to a distant colony planet. There are 5,258 passengers at risk and a couple of them (Jim and Aurora) woke up from cryo sleep early. It’s your job as an Anomalies Investigator to find out what happened. The game brings a side narrative complete with mystery as well as technical details about the ship.

In the film, Jim and Aurora are played by Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. The movie was directed by Morten Tyldum. The game is available for download on iOS and Android.

Source: VentureBeat

Google plans to release two Android Wear 2.0 flagship smartwatches in early 2017

As industry critics and tech media speculate whether the whole smartwatch market will last, Google isn’t ready to throw in the towel for its initiative. According to The Verge’s interview with Android Wear Product Manager Jeff Chang, there will be two flagship smartwatches coming out early next year and both will be the first to carry the Android Wear 2.0. These won’t be branded as Google smartwatches but will carry the names of the manufacturer who made them. Chang won’t give the name of the company they collaborated with for the new smartwatches but he says this manufacturer has produced Android Wear devices before. Chang also adds that the collaboration with this brand is much like the Google Nexus smartphone program of recent past. You can expect more announcements in 2017 of new Android Wear 2.0 devices starting from CES in a few weeks and Baselworld later in the year.

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