Digital shoebox

As social media becomes more and more about documenting our lives a new app, Shoebox, claims to provide a way to record and share that chunk of time that's been missing so far; our stories and experiences pre 2004. Facebook recently announced a new timeline feature which sees profiles as scrapbooks, but the new app developed by 1000memories aims to give people a 'scanner in their pockets' where they can start 'taking that content out of the closet and put it in a sharable space.'

Running on 'genuis scan' implemented by Grizzly Labs, Shoebox one-ups your smartphone's camera by auto-detecting the edges and frame of a photo and auto-flattening the image to adjust for the camera's tilt. When you've scanned it in, you can then tag people in the photo, share it with family members, and add the data to your family tree on 1000memories' site.

Rudy Adler (1000memories' co-founder) hopes that the app will allow for a 'a new level of discovery' among family members who might have divided old photos among different households. Alder himself already came acorss 'photos of me as a kid with my brothers that I had never seen before', digitalised by his cousin. 'Usually your shoebox is full of tons of stories and lots of different people's lives', says Adler. Now those stories can find a home online.

This app could be a great feature for sharing you photo's with future generations, and as Adler points out, it is a great way of sharing across families. However, I probably wouldn't stomp on my shoe box so quickly. There's definitely something that can be said for bringing out that special box when all the family are together, even the smell seems to conjure memories! Also, some of the fun and wonder of it is seeing them together and discussing them one one of those once-a-year days. Perhaps you could keep a few aside for special days!