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Alex Li

Alex Li

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Time Travels. Memories Stay.

by Alex Li March 26, 2025

The Last Voice I Almost Forgot

The last time I heard my grandmother’s voice, it came from a cassette tape buried in my father’s desk drawer. We found it by accident—my son had been rummaging for batteries and outtumbled a plastic case labeled in shaky handwriting: Mama, 1987.

It took us three hours to find a player that still worked. The audio cracked and hissed, but then: her voice. Soft, direct, the kind that always made you sit up straighter. I hadn’t heard it in over thirty years.

She told us about her childhood in rural Arkansas, about crossing a frozen creek barefoot to get to school. I’d forgotten it. But as she spoke through the static—“We didn’t have shoes some days, but we had books…”—my stomach tightened. I remembered everything.

The way she curled her fingers when she spoke, the scent of Ivory soap and cornbread, the stories that stitched our family together—all of these things were almost lost for good.

When the Past Doesn’t Wait

We often think memories live forever, that once something happens—once we capture it—it’s safe. But memory is slippery.

Dr. Liana Corbett, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Michigan, once told me that memories are “reconstructions, not recordings.” Every time we recall something, we reshape it. Like a photograph left too long in the sun, details warp. Color fades. And eventually, even the outlines start to blur.

For families, this erosion can happen slowly. A forgotten name in a photo album, a story no one remembers well enough to retell, a child asking, “Who’s that?” and no one has the answer.

But sometimes, the loss is instant—a flooded basement, a hard drive crash, a loved one gone before their stories were shared. And in those moments, the ache isn’t just for the person—it’s for the connections, the context, and the continuity that vanished with them.

The Memory Gaps I Inherited

When my father passed, I inherited three shoeboxes. Each was packed with photos—some in color, most in black and white, nearly all unlabeled. I recognized my dad in a few and my mother in some, but many faces were a mystery. Were they lovers? Cousins? Friends lost in war?

It felt absurd, almost cruel, to hold so much history in my hands and understand so little of it. And worse, I was the last person alive who might be able to make sense of it.

The Quiet Technology Behind the Transformation

This isn’t where I tell you that a piece of software changed my life. It didn’t. I did. But I will say this: I needed a way to wrestle all of this—the shoeboxes, the images on my phone, the scan, and documents I couldn’t bring myself to delete—into something coherent. Something alive.

I started using Mylio, which has changed how I remember things now. Not because it’s revolutionary (though maybe it is), but because it felt human. It let me pull everything together—old and new—into a sensible timeline. I could tag faces, create albums, and even add memories next to photos—not just names and dates but the stories behind them.

Why It Matters More Than Ever

In 2021, the Pew Research Center reported that fewer than 20% of families maintain a written or digital family archive. In a world of unlimited data, we’re letting stories disappear.

We photograph birthdays, not quiet Tuesday mornings. We save screenshots, not conversations. We assume the cloud remembers what we forget. But the cloud has no heart. And meaning—the kind that makes a child feel rooted or a parent feel remembered—isn’t in the pixels. It’s in the story.

Rescuing the Past Isn’t Nostalgia. It’s a Responsibility.

There’s a term in Japanese: tsunagari. It means “connection” but also continuity—threads between generations. That’s what memory preservation really is. Not storage. Not organization. Continuity.

I don’t care how you do it, whether you use an app, a notebook, or a wall of Post-it notes. What matters is that you begin, listen, and capture what happened and what it meant.

Because the next time someone asks, “Who’s that in the photo?” You won’t have to guess. You’ll know. And you’ll have the memory, the face, and the story ready. Because time travels, memories can stay if we’re careful.

About the author: Amelia Grant is a journalist and archivist-in-training who believes memory is humanity’s most endangered language. She has two daughters, three shoeboxes, and a growing digital legacy.

March 26, 2025 0 comment
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David Vaskevitch, CEO of Mylio, LLC
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New Mylio Plans – a note from the Mylio CEO

by Alex Li March 4, 2025

Hello, this is David, CEO and Founder of Mylio.

Last week, we introduced new Mylio Plans for Families and Businesses, designed for those who need secure, flexible media management across multiple users. Many of you have requested these options, and we’re excited to make them available.

In addition to these new Family and Team plans, we’ve also launched updated Individual Plans for personal and business use. These plans include Mylio Photos software and access to our team’s expertise in creating custom, private media libraries tailored to your needs.

What does this mean for current subscribers?

Because of our relationship with existing subscribers, we have ensured that they can maintain their existing pricing now and when they renew for the foreseeable future. Having said that, I want to explain that what we announced is more than and different from a price change.

Mylio’s peer-to-peer architecture is unique these days.  That P2P platform is the key to privacy, security, performance, and operating smoothly in situations with limited or non-existent connectivity.  Mylio takes full advantage of your local computers, tablets, and phones. You’re not forced to lock your media in a cloud or use a single operating system to sync and enjoy your photos, videos, and documents. Those are all the plusses.  

The other side of that coin is that Mylio requires configuration both at the beginning and on an ongoing basis. Over the years, we have worked hard to simplify and even automate parts of that configuration process. Still, there is no getting away from the fact—and it is a fact—that many users get tripped up sooner or later, either when trying to get the configuration right or as a consequence of not doing so.

Our announcement has three parts: configuration support, family plans, and business plans. Because of the program’s offerings, the prices have changed.

Before saying anything else, I’d like to share one fact from the past. When we first announced Mylio in 2014—yes, eleven years ago—there was no free version, and we offered two price points: $100 and $250. At that time, over 40% of our subscribers were at the $250 level. This is a data point, but it doesn’t change the commitment I made above about your continuing ability to renew at the existing price.

Going forward, the base plan for new individual “consumer” users will be $20/month or $240/year. For most of those users, their first exposure to Mylio will be a Zoom-based session in which we help them get configured correctly and help them with their initial experience. Moreover, we will set expectations that when these new users need to extend or modify their configuration, we will do it with them. That is built into and part of the new price’s motivation.

For many years, subscribers have asked us for a family plan. We are now rolling that out. There will be two family plans, one for up to five people and one for up to ten. The five-person plan costs $50/month or $480/year, and the ten-person plan comes in at $75/month or $750/year. Again, more complex configuration support is built in, which is why we can now make this key feature available.

Finally, we are starting to focus specifically on small business Mylio users. Even today, many doctors, designers, professionals, and others use Mylio. As many companies do, we will be shifting our terms of service and pricing to charge more to business users. As with the consumer plans, person-to-person support will be built in. We expect businesses to need more support and are working to be ready for that need.

That is the whole story.

Existing subscribers, including you, are safe and can continue to count on Mylio and us.  

Beyond that, I have been surprised and excited by the response to the multi-user plan. The idea that a husband, wife, brother, and mother can all be on one Mylio Plan, with shared vaults, and each can have their own pictures while sharing others between them resonates with people.

Most of all, I hope this makes sense, and we can continue to have you as valued subscribers and supporters. 

Respectfully,

Appreciatively,

Gratefully,

David Vaskevitch, CEO and Founder of Mylio.

March 4, 2025 0 comment
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FeaturedStories

The Two New Mylio Plans for Seamless Family and Team Collaboration

by Alex Li February 27, 2025

Most People Don’t Mean to Lose Their Photos—It Just Happens. At first, everything is organized. You know exactly where your photos are. But as time goes on, things get messy. A new phone, a different laptop, an external drive you haven’t touched in months. Some pictures end up in the cloud; others are stored on a device almost out of space. And somehow, the best photos of you? They’re on someone else’s phone.

Then, one day, you realize—you have no idea where everything is.

Businesses Face the Same Struggle. Teams deal with terabytes of digital clutter. A company that started with a neat, well-organized media library now has files scattered across Google Drive, Dropbox, office servers, and personal hard drives.

  • Employees waste time searching for the correct files.
  • Critical media disappears when you need it most.
  • And when you’re in a hurry to showcase a photo of your work—it’s nowhere to be found.

This isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s a slow-moving disaster. Families lose irreplaceable memories, and businesses waste thousands of dollars on lost productivity.

At Mylio, we’ve spent over a decade solving this problem. We’ve helped families stay connected through their memories and businesses streamline their media workflows.

Now, we’re introducing two new plans designed to make media management effortless:

Mylio Family – A private, seamless way to organize your personal and family media so your memories are always accessible and easy to enjoy.

Mylio Business – A reliable platform for individual entrepreneurs and teams that need fast, secure media access without the hassle of cloud storage or scattered files.


For Families: Keeping Generations Connected.

Families don’t just want to store their photos—they want to relive the moments, share memories, and preserve their history. But that’s nearly impossible when pictures and videos are scattered across different devices and accounts.

  • Parents take photos daily, but grandparents rarely see them.
  • Siblings try to organize family history, but managing it alone feels overwhelming.
  • Meanwhile, old photo albums sit in boxes—at risk of being forgotten forever.

Mylio Family brings every memory into one secure, shared library.

  • Grandparents stay connected. No complicated logins and no social media are required—just instant access to the latest family photos and videos.
  • Siblings collaborate on family history. Everyone can contribute scanned photos, documents, and stories—without worrying about duplicates or lost files.
  • Parents keep everything safe. Baby photos, school events, and cherished moments are always backed up and available.

Your photos stay personal. Unlike other services that lump everything together, Mylio lets you decide what to share and what stays private.

We Make It Easy for You

Most families avoid organizing their photos because it can be overwhelming. That’s why Mylio doesn’t just provide software—it provides a solution.

  • We help you gather and organize photos from every device, account, and drive.
  • We design a system that fits your family’s needs.
  • We guide every family member so everyone knows how to access and enjoy their memories.
  • And provide ongoing support to every family member, not just the account holder.

Get started with Mylio Family, book a free demo, or sign up and finally build the family photo library you’ve always wanted.


For Business Teams: A Smarter, Faster Way to Manage & Showcase Your Best Work

Businesses don’t just use media—they depend on it. From marketing teams and creative professionals to real estate agents and medical offices, instant access to the correct files is crucial. But most teams don’t have an organized system:

  • Files are scattered across Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and local servers.
  • Team members waste time searching for assets.
  • Everyone struggles when important files suddenly disappear.

Mylio Business Plans solve this.

  • Fast. Every file is instantly accessible.
  • Organized. Your media stays precisely where you want it.
  • Efficient. Finding what you need takes seconds.
  • Private. No cloud lock-ins. No data mining. No ad targeting.

Who is Mylio Business for?

  • Medical offices – Securely store and manage HIPAA-compliant media without cloud-based risks.
  • Real estate professionals – Instantly access marketing materials, listing photos, and client presentations.
  • Architects & designers – Maintain a structured library of past projects, blueprints, and inspiration images.
  • Event managers – Organize thousands of media files, tag and search effortlessly, and deliver content faster.
  • Family-owned businesses – Preserve decades of company history without outdated, scattered storage.

When most solutions try to force you into their ecosystem, Mylio gives YOU control.


More Than Software. A Complete Solution.

For over 12 years, we’ve helped families and businesses take control of their media. We’ve seen the frustration of managing photos and videos across multiple devices and platforms.

Unlike other services, we don’t just give you software—we help you build a working system.

  • Custom setup & organization. We help you gather, structure, and optimize your media library.
  • Storage & backup recommendations. Need advice on how to protect your media? We’re here to help.
  • Support for your whole team or family. You, your family, and your team—everyone gets expert guidance.

The Outcome?

✅ A shared yet secure media library—built on your terms.
✅ Privacy first. No forced cloud storage. No data mining. You control where your files live.
✅ Works on any platform. Mylio runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
✅ Designed for real-world workflows. We help you organize media in a way that makes sense.
✅ Uninterrupted access—on any device, anytime, even offline.

Learn more about Mylio for Families.

Learn more about Mylio for Teams.


Already a Mylio Photos+ subscriber?
Want to bring your family or team on board? We’ve got something special for you! Schedule a demo today to explore the Personal or Business Plans and unlock an exclusive upgrade discount.

February 27, 2025 0 comment
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Bridging the Distance: How Military Families Stay Connected Through Photos

by Alex Li February 1, 2025

During a rare moment of connectivity at her deployment base in South Korea, a service member opens her family’s shared photo library. There it is – her 6-year-old daughter proudly displaying the gap in his smile, tooth fairy money clutched in his tiny hand. Though 7,000 miles away, she can still witness this milestone, alongside soccer games, homework drawings, and everyday moments that keep her connected to home. These visual connections aren’t luxuries for military families—they’re lifelines.

The Reality of Military Family Separation

Military life creates a unique challenge: families who sacrifice to protect connections between nations often struggle to maintain connections within their homes.

  • Military families move every 2-3 years on average.
  • Deployments separate families for 6-18 months, often with limited communication.
  • Over half of active-duty personnel have children.

What statistics don’t capture is how these separations affect daily family life. When deployment or relocation creates physical distance, shared visual memories become the bridges that keep families emotionally close.

Military spouses often describe a familiar heartache: “When my spouse deployed, our daughter was only eight months old. By the time they returned, she was walking and talking. I took hundreds of photos, but they were scattered everywhere, and there was no easy way to share these moments.”

This separation creates two problems: disconnection from ongoing family moments and the potential loss of these precious visual records.

The Paradox: Creating More Photos, Preserving Fewer Memories

Military families take more photos than ever before, yet struggle to use these images to stay connected. Why?

Scattered photos can’t create a connection. Images scattered across multiple phones, social accounts, and computers become inaccessible during critical moments, like when a child asks, “Remember when we went fishing?” during a deployment video call.

Internet-dependent solutions fail when needed most. Military life often means unpredictable internet access. Cloud-only solutions become useless during deployments with limited connectivity or PCS moves when home internet is disconnected for weeks.

Privacy concerns limit authentic sharing. Many families avoid sharing real moments on social media due to security concerns. Without alternative sharing methods, these moments stay isolated on individual devices.

Digital fragmentation mirrors physical separation. When each family member has their separate photo collection, it creates additional psychological distance.

Creating a Shared Visual Space: How Military Families Bridge the Gap

Forward-thinking military families create a private, shared family photo library to solve connection and preservation challenges. They establish meaningful rituals around photo sharing during deployments. Family members at home select photos from their day to add to the family’s shared library. When connectivity allows, the deployed service member can sync these new additions.

Because Mylio does not require cloud storage or constant internet access, service members can carry their entire family photo collection on a laptop—accessible anytime, even during internet blackouts. These visual touchpoints to family life provide crucial emotional support during challenging deployments.

Preserving Multi-Generational Military History

After multiple deployments and PCS moves, many military families discover they’ve lost irreplaceable photos. Each move creates vulnerability—hard drives fail, cloud accounts get forgotten, phones break. First steps, birthdays, and graduations can disappear forever.

With Mylio, families maintain a library containing current photos and digitized images from previous generations’ military service. This creates a continuous visual history that connects current service to family military legacy. When properly organized and protected, these memories become portable, allowing service members to take their entire family history with them, accessible with or without internet.

Bridging Generation Gaps During Deployment

Young children struggle with understanding a parent’s deployment. They may not grasp time and distance, but they understand photos. A shared photo library creates continuity during a parent’s absence. Families establish routines of looking through photos together each night, helping children maintain their connection to the deployed parent.

Because Mylio works across devices without internet access, children can browse family photos on a tablet even during power outages or while traveling without Wi-Fi. Many families report that this visual continuity helps reintegrate when the service member returns. Children who regularly engage with family photos during separation often reconnect more easily with the returning parent.

Beyond Storage: Creating Connection Through Visual Memory

What these families have discovered goes beyond simply storing photos. They’re creating a shared visual space that exists independent of physical location—a family memory hub that:

  1. Works anywhere: Whether deployed in remote locations or during a PCS move, photos remain accessible
  2. Ensures privacy: Unlike social media, personal family moments remain completely private
  3. Preserves automatically: Protection against device failure means memories survive without constant effort
  4. Connects generations: From grandparents to children, everyone shares the same visual space
  5. Bridges transitions: Through deployments and relocations, visual continuity helps maintain connections

Starting Your Family’s Visual Connection Space

For military families looking to create this type of connection through photos, consider these steps:

  1. Choose a solution that works offline: Military life demands flexibility—your memories should be accessible without internet connectivity
  2. Prioritize privacy: Select tools that don’t require uploading to public servers
  3. Ensure cross-device compatibility: Military families use diverse devices—ensure everyone can participate
  4. Create sharing rituals: Establish simple practices like daily photo updates that maintain connection
  5. Focus on connecting, not just storing: The goal isn’t just archiving photos—it’s creating meaningful interaction

Military families understand that a powerful connection doesn’t require physical presence. When managed thoughtfully, your photos can bridge any distance, creating continuity despite the challenges of military life. The moments that matter most—first steps, lost teeth, graduations, or just ordinary Tuesday afternoons—need not be casualties of military separation. With the right approach, they become the bridges that keep your family connected across any distance.


Mylio provides military families a secure, private photo library that works across all devices with or without an internet connection. Learn more about how Mylio can help your family stay connected at mylio.com.

February 1, 2025 0 comment
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Stories

The Cross-Platform Family Photo Crisis.

by Alex Li December 10, 2024

Smartphones have revolutionized how we take photos, but they’ve also created a silent crisis. Today, an average family photo library is a labyrinth: thousands of moments scattered across iOS and Android devices, Windows PCs, Macs, external storage, social media, and Cloud platforms with no simple way to bring them together.

Big tech has pushed cloud storage as the answer. But while clouds are convenient, they come with trade-offs—pricey subscriptions, privacy concerns, and a dependency on infrastructure that feels precarious in a world of data breaches and outages.

What if there was another way? A more clever way to sync, search, and share family photos across platforms without facing the limits of operating systems or uploading your life to the cloud?

That’s the promise of Mylio, software designed to solve the fragmented media problem. It hopes to connect generations and preserve the family legacy.

The Real Problem Isn’t Storage—It’s Connection

If you’ve ever tried to track down an old vacation photo, you’ve likely confronted the chaos of modern photo management. Your iPhone library might sync to iCloud, but what about the pictures on your partner’s Android phone? Or those family scans hidden on the old Windows desktop that everyone’s too afraid to move?

The problem isn’t that we lack storage; our storage solutions don’t talk to each other. Apple wants you to use iCloud, and Google wants you to use the Google Cloud. Every tech giant has its agenda, and your memories get caught in the middle.

This fragmentation isn’t just inconvenient; it erodes something fundamental. Photos are personal—they’re our family history, our legacy. When scattered across platforms, they lose their context and connection to the people who created them.

Mylio’s Radical Simplicity

Unlike cloud-reliant platforms, Mylio takes a decentralized approach. It syncs your photos directly between devices, using your local network whenever possible. That means no uploading to servers, no internet dependency, and no need to fit your life into someone else’s model.

It sounds almost old-fashioned in today’s cloud-dominated world, but the result is refreshingly modern. Syncing is fast, private, and platform-agnostic. Your Android phone, MacBook, Windows desktop, and iPad all become part of a seamless network, sharing photos in a way that feels invisible.

Even more impressive is Mylio’s search function. It doesn’t just index photos on your current device; it searches across every device in your library. Imagine needing a picture from your spouse’s laptop while sitting with your phone—it’s instantly accessible as if the whole system were one.

The Family Library, Reimagined

But Mylio isn’t just a solution for the technical mess of photo management. It also offers something far more human: the ability to create a shared family library.

This isn’t the kind of “sharing” you see on cloud platforms, where you grant access to an album or send links. Mylio’s shared library is collaborative. Family members can contribute photos, organize albums, and even add scanned images from decades ago. It’s an evolving archive where everyone’s memories can live side by side.

Consider this: a grandparent scanning old photo albums into Mylio while the next generation adds pictures from last weekend’s soccer game. Instead of separate silos, you end up with a unified timeline that tells a more affluent, multi-generational story.

This feels particularly timely as families become more dispersed—geographically and digitally—Mylio offers a way to stay connected, not just through technology but through the memories that define us.

What Happens When Devices Fail?

Device failure is a matter of when not if. Phones get lost, laptops crash, and hard drives fail, often destroying irreplaceable memories. Mylio’s vaults provide a simple but powerful safeguard. Acting as local or external backups, they protect your library from disaster.

You decide where the backups live: on an external drive, a trusted computer, in the cloud, or on all platforms simultaneously. The system is decentralized and entirely under your control. This focus on redundancy feels almost old-school in its practicality, but it’s a welcome relief in an era where “backup” often means handing over your life to a corporation.

Holiday Photo Sharing

A Quiet Fix for a Noisy Problem

Mylio solves a problem most people didn’t realize could be solved: preserving and organizing life’s moments without sacrificing privacy, speed, or usability.

What’s remarkable isn’t just that Mylio works—it feels designed for people, not platforms. It doesn’t care if you’re using a Mac, PC, iPhone, or an Android mobile device. You get the same experience across all the platforms. What it cares about is the story you’re trying to tell and the memories you’re trying to keep.

In a world of tech companies trying to lock you inside their ecosystems, Mylio is a rare tool. It doesn’t demand much attention; it just works.

And for anyone trying to make sense of their digital photo chaos, that might be the most revolutionary thing.

December 10, 2024 0 comment
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FeaturedStories

The Stories That Connect Us: How to Share and Preserve Your Family’s Memories

by Alex Li November 27, 2024

Sharing Family Stories Matters More Than You Think.

When I was little, my uncle would tell me stories about his teenage years in Ukraine (part of the Soviet Union back then). He was obsessed with rock music—Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Deep Purple. His friends from Germany would bring vinyl records, and he’d trade them like treasures. 

He talked about saving up for weeks to buy a rare album from someone in a back-alley deal or the thrill of sneaking into a friend’s flat to listen to music they weren’t supposed to have.

At the time, I didn’t fully understand why these stories mattered to him so much. But now, I see how they shaped who he was—his resourcefulness, passion, and belief that music could connect people, even across borders.

Family stories like his aren’t just fun anecdotes. They’re glimpses into what shaped the people we love—and a way to understand the world they lived in.

Why Family Stories Matter

Have you ever listened to a story that made you feel like stepping into someone else’s shoes? Maybe it was a tale that made you laugh or something bittersweet that stayed with you long after.

Family stories like these aren’t just about nostalgia. They’re a kind of invisible glue connecting us and the generations before us.

These stories are especially powerful for kids. Research shows that children who know their family’s history—like their parents’ struggles and triumphs or their grandparents’ quirks—tend to feel more grounded and confident. Knowing that their family faces challenges and overcomes them helps them see life’s difficulties as something they can handle.

For the rest of us, stories remind us of our roots. They help us understand our families—and ourselves—a little better.

How to Start the Conversation

If you’re lucky, your kids or grandkids have probably asked you to share stories from your childhood. Maybe it happened while flipping through old photos or during a quiet moment at the dinner table. Never say no to these moments. They’re a chance to pass down memories and a sense of identity.

If you’re unsure where to start—or if it’s been a while since you revisited those memories—look through your old albums and keepsakes. Better yet, if you’ve organized them in a Mylio library, you can easily find those snapshots of your youth to spark your memory. 

A photo of your first bike, a family trip, or graduation day can lead to a story your family will treasure forever. If your memories are scattered across boxes and devices, the Mylio Family can help you bring them together so nothing gets lost.

For instance, I’ve often told my kids about how my uncle made me sandwiches when I visited him as a college student or went on a school trip. His sandwiches were always the best—the bread was perfectly sliced, and he had things in his fridge that we didn’t usually have at home. Even the most ordinary ingredients tasted extraordinary when he made them. It’s a small memory that always brings a smile to my face and helps my kids see a different side of my life.

Here are some other ways to keep the stories flowing:

Pull Out a Photo and Ask, “Do You Remember?”
Even if the photo’s story isn’t clear at first, it might jog a memory or spark a new perspective. A black-and-white shot of a family celebration might remind you of the music, the jokes, or even the struggles of that time.

Revisit Old Passions and Hobbies
What was something you loved as a teenager or young adult? Whether collecting vinyl records, playing sports, or building model planes, your passion likely came with stories—how you got started, the friends you made, and the lessons you learned. Don’t hesitate to bring those stories to life by connecting them to tangible keepsakes like a well-worn record sleeve or an old trophy you still have tucked away.

Preserve Memories as You Go
As you start rediscovering these stories, don’t let them fade. Use Mylio Family to keep your photos, notes, and recorded audio clips in one place. It’s an easy way to ensure that these memories aren’t just enjoyed today and saved for future generations to revisit and cherish.

Recreate a Family Recipe and the Story Behind It
Cooking together is a natural way to share stories. As you prepare a dish, talk about where it came from—who taught you how to make it, the first time you cooked it, or the special occasions it reminds you of. Recipes often come with their histories; sharing them with younger generations is like handing down a piece of your family’s culture.

You can even print a collection of family recipes as a book with Printique. What a great way to preserve memories!

    Stories for Every Stage of Life.

    The beauty of family stories is that they can be tailored to different ages and moments:

    For Kids: Share funny, lighthearted stories—like when your uncle tried to teach himself guitar and accidentally snapped a string during a school performance.

    For Teens: Open up about passion and rebellion. My uncle’s love for rock music wasn’t just about the songs but about finding freedom in a system that didn’t always allow it. Teens love hearing about what made older generations “cool” in their way.

    For Adults: Dive deeper into the connections between the past and present. How did your family’s experiences shape the values they hold today? What sacrifices did they make to follow their dreams?

    For Yourself: Find time to review the moments that matter. Instead of scrolling endlessly through social media, take a step back and reconnect with the photos that truly shaped your life—the ones that bring joy, meaning, and perspective. With Mylio, you can carry a lifetime of memories in your pocket, ready to revisit whenever you need them. Just ask Matthew Jordan Smith, the world-renowned photographer who keeps over two million personal and professional images organized and accessible with Mylio.

    Why It’s Worth the Effort?

    Family stories aren’t just about the past—they’re about building bridges. They help us see our loved ones in a new light, reminding us that the things they cared about, fought for, and cherished are also part of us.

    At Mylio, we believe those moments deserve to be preserved. Whether it’s a story about trading vinyl records in a time of scarcity or an old photo that sparks a hundred memories, every piece matters. These threads connect us across generations, helping us remember who we are and where we come from.

    So, pull out a record, ask a question, or take a moment to share something about yourself. You never know what stories you might discover—or what they’ll mean to the people you love.

    November 27, 2024 0 comment
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    StoriesTrending

    Will Your Grandchildren Remember You?

    by Alex Li November 22, 2024

    In four generations, you might be forgotten.

    That isn’t a pessimistic guess; it’s a reality many families experience. Stories, traditions, and even names fade away as time moves forward.

    While we live in an era where documenting moments has never been easier, we’ve unintentionally created a paradox: the more content we make, the harder it becomes to preserve what matters.

    This isn’t just a matter of nostalgia. Family history grounds us. Research indicates that children familiar with their family’s history tend to exhibit higher self-esteem and greater resilience.

    Families that shared coherent narratives also saw their children develop better self-esteem and social competence and experience less anxiety and stress. But how do we pass that knowledge on in a way that survives the tidal wave of digital clutter we’ve created?

    The Hidden Cost of Too Much Content

    On an old hard drive, there’s a folder you last opened years ago. Inside, you might find the photos from your child’s first birthday, a blurry snapshot of your grandparents dancing at a wedding, or the scanned letters your mother kept in a shoebox.

    If those memories were lost tomorrow, would anyone even know they existed?

    Families today aren’t failing to document their lives. We have thousands of photos, videos, and audio recordings spread across phones, laptops, and clouds. Yet this abundance has created a profound problem: the more we save, the more we bury.

    When content is scattered and disorganized, it becomes inaccessible. Worse, the context—the stories and emotions that turn a photograph into a cherished memory—is rarely preserved. For example, a photo of a wedding dress loses its meaning if no one remembers the bride’s name.

    The Challenge of Connection

    The problem is more than just storage; it’s disconnection. Family members contribute their photos, videos, and memories but rarely collaborate to preserve a shared history. As a result, our archives are fragmented across devices and generations, each piece isolated from the larger story.

    This disconnection grows with every passing year. If your family doesn’t actively document and organize its history, future generations may have nothing meaningful to inherit. The stories your grandparents told you, the faces in the photo albums, even the everyday moments that capture your life today—all of it could be lost.

    Building a Family Archive That Lasts

    There’s a growing recognition that families need more than just tools to store files; they need a shared system that makes memories accessible, organized, and collaborative.

    Mylio Family is one approach to solving this. 

    The idea is simple: a shared library where all family members can contribute to and access the family’s history. Mylio allows you to combine photos, videos, documents, and scanned memorabilia in one place. But what makes it unique is its focus on connection.

    Families can view and curate their shared library together, ensuring that the essential stories and faces don’t fade into obscurity. For example, imagine you’re scanning old family photo albums from your parents’ attic.

    With Mylio, you can bring those photos in a beautiful LifeCalendar, add context—names, dates, and stories—and share them in real-time with your siblings, children, and cousins. Your brother might add his wedding photos, your niece could upload her graduation pictures, and your parents might include scanned letters or documents.

    The result is a living, breathing family archive that spans generations. It’s not just about preservation—it’s about present-day connections.

    How Families Use Mylio

    Families use Mylio in different ways that are tailored to their needs. Some use it to create a chronological timeline of family events, while others use it to preserve the legacy of a family member who has passed away.

    One family used Mylio to digitize decades of home videos and photos, bringing together a scattered archive that had previously lived on VHS tapes, DVDs, and dusty hard drives. Another used it to document their genealogy research, linking old photographs with newly uncovered family records. In both cases, the shared library became more than just a collection of files—it became a tool for connection.

    Mylio Family Plan allows up to 10 people to collaborate. Everyone has access to the same library and can contribute their photos or memories, ensuring that family history isn’t just preserved but enriched by multiple perspectives.

    A Call to Action for Families

    We’re at a unique moment in history. We have the tools to preserve our family legacies in ways previous generations could only dream of. But with those tools comes responsibility.

    If you do not take steps now to organize your family’s stories, they may remain in the growing void of digital noise. 

    Your great-grandchildren may know nothing of the lives you led, the struggles you faced, or the love you shared. The opportunity is here, but it’s fleeting. Family connections and histories aren’t eternal—they require care, attention, and action.

    November 22, 2024 0 comment
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    FeaturedPhotographyStories

    VIEWBUG and Mylio Team Up. Finding Your Best Shots Just Got Easier!

    by Alex Li October 3, 2024
    4 minutes read

    If you’ve ever scrolled frantically through your devices the night before a photo contest deadline, searching for that perfect shot you know you took but can’t quite locate, you’re not alone. Many photographers struggle with having their photos scattered across phones, laptops, external drives, and various cloud services. This modern problem can dampen the creative process.

    Recognizing this common struggle, VIEWBUG and Mylio have partnered to offer a solution that keeps you focused on what you love—capturing and sharing stunning images.

    The Challenge of the Elusive Photo

    Consider this: You remember capturing an incredible portrait during your travels last year. It’s the ideal image for VIEWBUG’s upcoming “Fun Portraits” contest. You also remember your friend enjoying her ice cream in that photo. But where is it saved? On your other phone? An SD card tucked away in a drawer? It could be in several cloud accounts you’ve used over the years.

    This fragmentation not only eats up your time but also adds unnecessary stress. Instead of editing and perfecting your submission, you’re on a digital scavenger hunt.

    A Seamless Way to Access Your Photos

    With VIEWBUG integrated into your Mylio Photos experience, you can showcase any photo to millions of photo enthusiasts in just a few clicks.

    Mylio syncs images securely across all your devices without forcing you to keep everything in the cloud. Hence, the sunset shot from a hard drive that is miles away is accessible instantly on your smartphone, as if you took it yesterday.

    Imagine opening Mylio Photos, typing “Ice Cream” into the search bar, and instantly seeing all your photos with Ice Cream appear—even those you hadn’t tagged.

    From there, selecting and uploading your image to VIEWBUG takes just a few clicks.

    Where This Helps

    Last-Minute Entries: Say you’re traveling and only have your tablet. A contest catches your eye, and you recall a photo that’s perfect for it. With Mylio Photos, you can find and submit that image directly from your tablet, even if the original file is on your home computer an ocean away.

    Curating Portfolios: You may work on a series of black-and-white portraits for your VIEWBUG profile. Instead of combing through each device, you can filter your entire collection in Mylio by “people,” streamlining the curation process.

    Organizing Themes: Photographers often work on thematic projects over long periods. With Mylio Photos, you can create albums or folders for themes like “Urban Exploration” or “Wildlife,” making finding and submitting relevant work easier when contests arise.

    Join a Family Frames Photo Contests on VIEWBUG. Showcase your best family photos for a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card. Learn more!

    Maintaining Control Over Your Work

    One of the standout benefits is that you retain complete control over where your photos are stored. Suppose you prefer keeping your files on local devices for privacy reasons. In that case, Mylio respects that choice while providing seamless platform access.

    You don’t need to upload your entire library to a new cloud service or worry about internet connectivity when accessing high-resolution files.

    Enhancing Your Mylio Experience

    This partnership doesn’t just solve a problem—it enhances how you showcase your photos.

    Effortless Sharing: Upload photos directly from Mylio Photos to your VIEWBUG contests and portfolio without the hassle of manual transfers.

    Time Savings: Spend less time searching and more time editing, perfecting, and engaging with the VIEWBUG community.

    Focus on Creativity: With technical obstacles minimized, you can concentrate on developing your skills and capturing that next great shot.

    Getting Started Is Simple

    Connecting to your VIEWBUG account is easy for those already using Mylio Photos. Find a photo you want to share, click the VIEWBUG icon in the export menu, and follow a few simple steps.

    To celebrate the Mylio & VIEWBUG partnership, we are launching a series of photo contests on VIEWBUG. Join the first one for a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card. Even if you don’t win, you can showcase your photos to one of the world’s most vibrant creative communities—already a victory.


    Join a Family Frames Photo Contests on VIEWBUG. Showcase your best family photos for a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card. Learn more!
    October 3, 2024 0 comment
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    How-toTrending

    How to Determine the Date of Old Photographs?

    by Alex Li July 25, 2024

    There’s something genuinely magical about old photographs. If you’ve got boxes of these cherished memories gathering dust, it’s time to bring them back to life. Here’s a friendly guide to help you date and preserve your precious photographs, ensuring they’re enjoyed for generations.

    Step 1: A Journey Through Touch and Sight.

    Photo Paper and Format: Feel the edges of the photos. Those scalloped edges are a charming signature of the 1940s and 1950s. Sepia tones? These date back to the late 19th or early 20th centuries. And those glossy color prints? They’re likely from the vibrant 1960s and beyond.

    Take a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship of these photos. Can you feel the history in your hands?

    Step 2: Fashion, Cars, and Backgrounds – Decoding the Era.

    Next, let’s see what the photos themselves can tell us.

    Fashion and Hairstyles: Styles change with the times. Men in zoot suits and women with victory rolls point to the spirited 1940s. Bell bottoms and tie-dye shirts? We’re definitely in the groovy 1970s.

    Vehicles and Technology: Spot a classic Volkswagen Beetle? That’s a clue for the 1960s or 1970s. Recognizable landmarks under construction, like the Eiffel Tower, can also help establish a timeframe.

    Handlebar Mustache: The man’s handlebar mustache was particularly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This style was commonly seen in the 1900s to the 1930s.

    Did you know? Handlebar mustaches require meticulous grooming with wax to maintain their distinctive curled ends.

    Step 3: The Family Detective Agency.

    Sometimes, the best clues come from the people who lived the history.

    Ask Relatives: Dust off those photos and gather the family. Someone might exclaim, “That’s Aunt Sarah’s wedding in 1965!” These shared stories are gold mines for dating photos.

    Family Histories and Documents: Compare your photos with old diaries or letters. A note about a “Trip to Yellowstone in July 1952” can match perfectly with the snapshots in your hands.

    Step 4: Details Tell the Story.

    Events and Celebrations: Holiday decorations or a specific toy, like a Cabbage Patch Kid, can date a photo to the early 1980s.

    Written Notes: Flip those photos over. Handwritten notes or developer stamps can be your time machine.

    Step 5: Consider Expert Help.

    If you’re overwhelmed, a professional photo manager can be invaluable. These experts have worked with countless photos and can offer insights and assistance that make the process smoother.

    Expertise in Identification: Professionals have extensive experience in dating and preserving photos. Their knowledge can help you accurately date your collection.

    Efficiency and Quality: A professional can complete the project more quickly and efficiently, ensuring high-quality results. They know how to avoid common pitfalls like scanning at a resolution that is too low or failing to back up files correctly.

    Guidance and Support: A photo manager can guide you through the process, offering support and solutions tailored to your needs.

    Sometimes, a little expert help can go a long way.

    July 25, 2024 0 comment
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    EducationHow-toPhotographyStories

    How to Scan Old Family Photos

    by Alex Li July 18, 2024
    5 minutes read

    Digitizing old family photos can be a fulfilling but challenging task. This article offers practical tips to help you achieve the best results while preserving your precious memories.

    Photo Scanning Preparation

    Before you start scanning, organize your photos. Gather all your photos and get an extra empty box. Group similar photos together. If your family kept photos in original envelopes with notes like “Florida vacation 1982,” keep these together for context. A DIG YOUR PHOTOS! kit from Sunflower Photo Solutions will give you all the tools and guidelines to organize analog photos faster.  

    A DYI photo-scanning project may be time-consuming, but it is fun!

    Negatives and old photos require careful handling. Even clean fingers can leave smudges and oils. Wash your hands thoroughly and consider using white gloves at photo supply stores. These gloves protect your photos and negatives from damage.

    Setting Up for Scanning

    Before scanning, you can sort your photos using their original packaging. Film companies often changed envelope designs, making identifying pictures from different decades easier. Group envelopes with similar designs together to ensure chronological order.

    Be selective about what you scan. Scanning every photo can be overwhelming and unnecessary. Start with a few envelopes from the same period. If you have both prints and negatives, prioritize scanning the negatives for better quality. Use prints as references, especially if they have contextual notes on the back.

    The Scanning Process

    You have several options for scanning your photos. You can use apps like Photomyne or a scanner like the Epson FastFoto. Another option is to work with a full-service scanning company like ScanMyPhotos. If you choose ScanMyPhotos, enter the code “Mylio” at checkout for an additional discount.

    Hundreds of Family History Centers managed by FamilySearch.org across the USA offer free photo scanning services. You can also hire a professional photo manager to guide you through the project from start to finish.

    Each approach has its pros and cons. While it might be tempting to scan everything yourself, working with a professional photo organizer can help you avoid common mistakes. Even a few hours with a pro can save you days or months of work.

    Many professional photo organizers will help you prepare photos for scanning and scan them for you.

    If you plan on scanning photos yourself, choose the proper settings. The resolution of your scans, measured in dots per inch (DPI), affects clarity and detail. While 72 DPI is standard for digital displays, it’s inadequate for printing. Aim for at least 200 DPI for prints, with 300 DPI ideal. For enlargements or small prints, scan at 800-900 DPI. Negatives may require up to 3200 DPI for the best results.

    Save your scans as TIFF files for archival purposes. TIFF files preserve more detail and color information than JPEGs. You can convert TIFF files to JPEGs later for sharing.

    Not every photo needs to be scanned. Skip blurry or less memorable shots. Focus on significant events, family members, and interesting everyday scenes. Remember to scan the backs of photos or envelope covers if they contain essential information.

    Post-Scanning Organization

    After scanning, rename the files with meaningful names and dates. This makes them easily searchable. Use Mylio Photos to tag your photos with metadata, such as location, dates, face tags, and keywords. Metadata makes your media library easily searchable and more enjoyable.

    Tag people, locations, events, and dates to make your photos more searchable. Use consistent naming conventions for easier searching. In the caption field, enter detailed descriptions, including any information from the backs of the photos.

    There’s no “one size fits all” approach to naming your folders and albums. Think of something that seems logical and reasonable specifically to you. You can organize photos into folders by family name, event, or decade. For example, create a folder named “Family Johnson” with subfolders like “1940s,” “1950s,” and so on. This setup helps you locate photos and narrow down dates when unsure.

    Technical Tips

    Understanding DPI and PPI (pixels per inch) helps you achieve the best scan quality. Aim for at least 200 DPI for printing, with 300 DPI ideal. Higher DPI settings ensure better print quality and allow for enlargements without losing detail.

    When scanning on your own, consider how you’ll use the images. While high DPI settings produce large files, they’re necessary for quality prints. Use the grayscale setting to reduce file size for black-and-white photos without losing quality.

    Always back up your scanned photos on different storage devices or cloud services. This ensures your digital archives remain safe from accidental loss or damage. You can easily automate your backup process with Mylio Photos vaults.

    By following these guidelines, you can digitize and preserve your family’s photographic history effectively. Enjoy the process of bringing old memories to life through digital preservation!

    July 18, 2024 0 comment
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