GroupSmarts Announces MemoryMiner 2.1

GroupSmarts has announced the release of MemoryMiner 2.1, a major update to their award-winning Digital Storytelling application for Mac OS X. A fantastic complement to the iLife suite, MemoryMiner is all about capturing and exploring individual life and collective social memories. It allows anyone to zero in on the stories depicted in their photos by linking them to each other based on people, places and time. While photos are used as the starting point, the goal is always uncovering the backstory.

Developed from the ground up utilizing the latest Cocoa and technologies, MemoryMiner features a natural, easy-to-use interface. Directly record audio or video to capture the backstory of a photo. Attach documents, web URL's, or other media to add depth and context. Each photo becomes a frame in an endless storyboard which can be browsed by periods in a person's life, where people overlap, by place, by time, or any combination.

MemoryMiner is targeted to consumers, but it has been used by leading museums such as the Magnes to create public installations for capturing, sequencing and publishing collected social memories. Earlier this year, students at Duke University used it to create a series of virtual museum exhibits.


Users may create self-contained library documents to share with other MemoryMiner users, or export beautiful interactive HTML5-based web sites which can be automatically uploaded to a Mobile Me (.Mac) account or other web server. MemoryMiner also works seamlessly with PulpMotion in order to create stunning video presentations suitable for web, DVD or iPod/iPhone.

Most people have huge photo and media collections: MemoryMiner allows anyone to take the very best and brightest of this media and connect them into coherent narratives.


Major New features in 2.1 include:

* Brand new HTML5-based web viewer sets a new standard with gorgeous Ken Burns style pan & zoom. Details found in specific regions on photos or documents are now brought to life.


* All new "Soft Landing" window appears on first launch to assist first-time users. Sample library and tutorial video demonstrate best practices in an engaging manner.

* Numerous user experience refinements integrate learnings from the last six months of intensive use in museum and classroom settings.

* Vastly improved FTP upload support, including secure transfer.

"Over a 12 month period from 2003-2004, my father died, I got married and had a child," said John C. Fox, founder of California based GroupSmarts, LLC. " I found myself spending a lot of time thinking about the threads of my life, particularly how the choices my parents and grandparents faced were shaped by the larger historical events of the time. I also thought about the places I'd travelled, where I went to school, the people I knew but had lost touch with.

During a vacation at the beach with the entire extended family, my brother suggested that we scan as many of the photos in the family album as possible. If for no other reason, we should all have a CD copy of these precious memories. As he busied himself with the disassembly and scanning of the the albums, I noticed something interesting. As people came in from the beach, they started picking up photos and telling stories," continues Fox.

"It was so much easier to make these connections when all the photos were liberated from the physical albums and could be rearranged quickly and easily," said Fox. "Essentially, I wanted to capture and extend this shared experience where both the memory artifacts and the people who knew about them were all working together. MemoryMiner was first released at Macworld at the beginning of 2006, where it won a Best of Show award. Along the way, I've been joined by a small group of super talented folks, and we're cranking along."

Pricing and Availability:
MemoryMiner 2.1 is available as a single-user license for $40.00 (USD) and available as a full-featured, 21 day trial. It is a free upgrade for existing 2.0 users, and a $20.00 upgrade for 1.x users. Higher education discounts are available. Version 2.1 is a major update delivering requested features and is a recommended download for all customers.

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