Have you ever come across an unusual object and wanted to know its history? Soon you might simply be able to retrieve the details on your smartphone.

That’s the idea behind a new scheme for creating web pages about physical objects. Its creators say it could change the way we store memories about objects and even places.

The project is based on the concept of the “internet of things” – the idea that physical objects can have an online presence. A simple example of this is a database that keeps track of the stock in a warehouse by listening for signals from the ID chip on each item.