My 18 year old son Matthew is visiting my 93 year old grandmother this week in Mississippi.  Last night I called him to see how things were going.  He interrupted me mid-sentence and said “I have to call you back.  Banma is telling me old stories.”  (Yes, we call our grandmother Banma – it’s got to be a Southern thing to call your grandmother by some silly name, which clearly we do.) Later he called me back and said “That was so awesome.  I just heard all kinds of stories about this house.  Did you know that my great, great, great grandfather died in here?” The house was built in the mid 1800’s and generation after generation was born there, all the way down to my mother.  (The tradition stopped when I was born due to the invention of epidurals.)   There were weddings and even deaths in that house. Banma told Matthew stories of how the house was framed on top of huge tree trunks that were brought up from the back woods.  He heard about my great, great grandfather who literally died of a broken heart upon hearing that his wife had just passed away.  He learned that my grandmother gave birth to my mother in the front bedroom on a cold Christmas morning. These stories, like many other generations of stories could one day be lost.  This is one of the main reasons why StoryMark was created…to capture those memories and stories before they are gone. Sit down with your grandmother or grandfather and have them StoryMark their old photos.  Use the camera on your iPhone to capture the images, and let the story telling begin. You may also find out interesting tidbits like we did. For example, following the birth of my mother, my grandmother got up and cooked Christmas dinner.  Boy times have changed. View the StoryMark   About the author: I am a busy mother of three kids (one of my own plus two step-kids), & wife to a hard working software programmer. I’m a triathlete, a cook who burns water, rookie blogger, obnoxious hockey mom, & CFO of my husbands paycheck. With one kid going off to college, one step-kid moving in permanently, camping, & training for the occasional triathlon, life around the McIntyre household always feels like a roller coaster ride. I am a co-Founder of StoryMark Life, a free iPhone and Android app released in May 2012.  Dana McIntyre dana.mcintyre@storymarklife.com http://danamcintyre1.wordpress.com @DanaMcIntyre1  

Father’s Day is coming up and this year is more special to me than ever.  Six months ago we were not sure my Dad would even be around for Father’s Day.   He was diagnosed with a blood cancer and started chemo treatments immediately.   (He recently underwent a stem cell transplant, and I am blessed to say that it was successful!) This year for Father’s Day I plan on doing something different for him.  I am going back through my old photos and finding the ones that make me laugh, the ones that make me remember and the ones that make me happy.  I want him to know how much those memories mean to me and how lucky I am to have the best dad in the world. I want him to know that I remember seeing the thousands of jellyfish in the water on our beach trip to Panama City.  I remember camping in our 1970’s VolksWagon van and catching my first trout in the river up in the north Georgia mountains.  I remember going to the pool and being mesmerized by the tsunami that he created by doing a cannonball off the diving board.  I want him to know that I cherish every one of those memories! And I plan on giving those memories back to him through StoryMark. And as much as I love my dad, I will have to make fun of his short sleeved turtleneck shirt and plaid pants combo from 1974.  It’s classic.   About the author: I am a busy mother of three kids (one of my own plus two step-kids), & wife to a hard working software programmer. I’m a triathlete, a cook who burns water, rookie blogger, obnoxious hockey mom, & CFO of my husbands paycheck. With one kid going off to college, one step-kid moving in permanently, camping, & training for the occasional triathlon, life around the McIntyre household always feels like a roller coaster ride. I am a co-Founder of StoryMark Life, a free iPhone and Android app released in May 2012.  Dana McIntyre dana.mcintyre@storymarklife.com http://danamcintyre1.wordpress.com @DanaMcIntyre1  

My Uncle Fred had spent his life working on B-52 bombers and various other airplanes during WWII and then worked at Delta Airlines in Atlanta until his retirement in 1970.  Many years later, I decided to surprise him with a video showing him how much the airport had changed since he left.  I went around Hartsfield International Airport taping tidbits of places that he might recognize. Days later, I was eager to see his reaction as we watched the video of planes taking off overhead, the enormity of the Delta hanger, the Plane Train from concourse to concourse, and various other places around the airport that had clearly changed in the many years since he had left.  However, when I turned around to see his face I realized he was sound asleep!   I asked him what he thought about the video and he said it made him so dizzy that he had to close his eyes, at which point the Sandman entered. It was then that I realized a lot of people have a hard time watching videos filmed by hand.  Unless you have a tripod it is hard to get really good shots without the shaking.  Even then it can be difficult when the action is moving fast – take a hockey game for instance. With StoryMark, you can take a clean, crisp still photo and add your own audio.  Imagine a clear shot of a hockey player right in front of the net, ready to score.  A regular – a “silent” photo is fine, but where is the excitement? The yelling?  The obnoxious hockey moms? And what about the sound of the buzzer when someone scores? Take that fantastic photo and add the audio of the fans screaming, the buzzer buzzing, and the familiar beat of the drums as the “Hey” song by Gary Glitter starts blaring through the speakers.  Now that’s a picture with emotion – all without the dizzying side effects of motion! I’ll bet Uncle Fred would love it.  Now, if only we can bottle up the smell of engine fuel for him…

When you receive a StoryMark on your iPhone by email, there are many times when after viewing it, you want to save it to your phone to watch again and even share with others. To save a StoryMark to your iPhone library is easy. Press and hold the StoryMark attachment icon in the email and an action selector will pop up with a choice to save. Now you can go back to your favorite images-with-audio again and again!  

  The city that never sleeps sure did live up to its reputation in May for the StoryMark team.  Our team traveled to New York City for Internet Week, specifically to participate at AppNation.  AppNation, a conference held twice a year, features mobile and web applications of all kinds, but mainly focuses on the latest applications to hit the iOS and Android markets.  Being a part of Internet Week gave our team access to some of the largest technology players in the mobile space and we were thrilled to be a part of it and showcase StoryMark to conference attendees. In addition to our time at AppNation, the StoryMark team visited key New York media to introduce the application and to share its uses for their readership.  On our first stop, we visited with Good Housekeeping Magazine, specifically the Good Housekeeping Research Institute.  We met with engineer Rachel Rothman and were blown away by the process it takes to get into the magazine, specifically the research that goes in for brands to earn the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.  Rachel and the Good Housekeeping team were amazing to meet with and her engineering background led to an instant connection with StoryMark president Dale McIntyre, who has worked in software development for more than 20 years. Our next stop was the New York Observer, a popular New York publication with an emerging national presence.  Its witty commentary led naturally to a discussion about how StoryMark is a natural application to use wit and humor for everyday photos. The New York Observer is growing rapidly and we were excited to meet with Steven Shoenfarber, who was interested in utilizing StoryMark for social media contests and other ideas for their readership. Self Magazine was the next stop on the list where we met with social media editor Stephanie Miller.  Stephanie shared with us how many publications are expanding their online and social presence, and although the role of social media editor is new at Self, it is a focus at every publication.  Stephanie provided great insight to how they would utilize StoryMark at the magazine and her hope to work with us on future social media partnerships. Our final media stops took place at Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.  We had a great meeting with Liz Heron, social media editor of the Wall Street Journal, who gave us insight into her job and potential uses of StoryMark for gathering breaking news.  Dow Jones writer Shara Tibken was our last stop.  We found Shara to be intelligent, insightful and are excited to provide her additional updates regarding StoryMark Life’s suite of applications and business growth. In summary, we have had an energizing launch month at StoryMark and are elated to see what happens next.  Stay tuned for more updates and exciting announcements.