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Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

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Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#51

Post by noeltock »

renato_casutt wrote: post #47
red0point wrote: post #39

The rules implemented are very simple (taken from the patent application [1], the exact numbers are configurable). If there are 4 letters, 40% of all letters are bold. There is this claim as the first text on the website: We are happy if as many people as possible can use the advantage of Bionic Reading. For this reason, Bionic Reading should be able to be integrated into existing apps and services. The benefit for t…

I decided to take out a patent a long time ago. Unfortunately I had to make bad experiences, which is why I now want to offer BR as API. With the rules it depends on whether it is short, medium or long words. But in principle it is simple. As simple as we humans read. Eye - brain - representation products (words)

Great product that might get lost because of overthinking the business model (say that even as a fellow Swiss). Think the giga-opportunity here is for a chrome extension, releasing it for free or freemium won't interfere with your patent (and if you don't, someone else will, regardless of the legal aspects). Either way, congratulations on this innovation, it's elegant.

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#52

Post by renato_casutt »

rapnie wrote: post #34
pxeger1 wrote: post #22

This does indeed seem to work for me, but the repeated emphasis on the patents and trademarks makes me suspicious. It looks like a company who cares much more about patent royalties than about their invention - whom I would never be willing to give my money to. Having seen the principle, I could write a browser extension in an hour. I suppose I'll have to wait 25 years (or whatever the French patent expiry length is)…

Yes, I agree. I guess this technology isn't for everyone. This is a real bummer. They did not have to patent and trademark this method, which in principle is such a basic mechanism. Just had to productize their service really well so they'd take the lead in monetizing.

I am alone and I put all my money, time and work into BR. Visible is only a small part. But I think everyone decides for themselves what is best. But thank you for the critical feedback.

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#54

Post by quaintdev »

monkeydust wrote: post #46

I have started to watch more videos at > real-time speeds. Depends on the quality of the video but can get at least x1.25 and upto x1.75 without my brain frying. Instead of reading what if this was text->speech at a multiple?

I follow this for Udemy/YouTube videos

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#55

Post by hackernewds »

renato_casutt wrote: post #44
Crazyontap wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Btw spritz is an evil company who bullies software developers with their ridiculous and vague patents. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9046034

To my knowledge they do not have a patent ;)

Are you the creator of BR?

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#56

Post by thanatos519 »

renato_casutt wrote: post #11
camhart wrote: post #8

Just reading the example paragraph, I did feel at times speed was increased, but there were times the highlighted letters caused my brain to assume the wrong word, and when that happened it took extra effort (& time) to focus on the actual word.

Yes I understand that. Optimal is then if you have set your individual reading setting with Bionic Reading. And what you have to remember is that your brain has already absorbed the words. So your eye jumps back instead of gliding over the text. However, this will turn off and you will find that you understand the text without having read every letter.

Have you considered tweaking the highlight length when the bold part is itself a complete word?

For example with 'theists', 'the' would be bold by default, but maybe bolding 'th' or 'thei' would result in less confusion.

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#57

Post by sdoering »

Are there any actual studies on the gained speed being done by Independent scientists? I could not finde anything on their (quite beautifully done) marketing/landing page.

I see patent registrations, but no mention of any studies underpinning the claims being made.

To me this smells like all the other pseudo-scientific BS marketing and product people are trying to spoon-feed me every day.

Also as said in a sibling comment, for me it killed my reading speed. From their examples I would estimate by about half.

So thanks, but no thanks - this is not an offering for me. But it will probably find its audience. I could imagine it will be a big hit in the self optimization scene.

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#58

Post by matsemann »

red0point wrote: post #39

The rules implemented are very simple (taken from the patent application [1], the exact numbers are configurable). If there are 4 letters, 40% of all letters are bold. There is this claim as the first text on the website: We are happy if as many people as possible can use the advantage of Bionic Reading. For this reason, Bionic Reading should be able to be integrated into existing apps and services. The benefit for t…

I wonder how bolding more on uniqueness would work? Instead of just first characters.

For instance now THeir and THere will be bolded the same, on a quick glance that can be confusing. (Using caps as HN can't do bold)

Would it increase pattern recognition in the brain if it instead was THeIr and THeRe, or some other variant where the bolding highlights the unique parts of a word compared to other common words?

Well I wrote the idea here, so don't try patent it, hehe.

Re: Show HN: Bionic Reading – Formats text to make it faster to read

#60

Post by renato_casutt »

noeltock wrote: post #51
renato_casutt wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I decided to take out a patent a long time ago. Unfortunately I had to make bad experiences, which is why I now want to offer BR as API. With the rules it depends on whether it is short, medium or long words. But in principle it is simple. As simple as we humans read. Eye - brain - representation products (words)

Great product that might get lost because of overthinking the business model (say that even as a fellow Swiss). Think the giga-opportunity here is for a chrome extension, releasing it for free or freemium won't interfere with your patent (and if you don't, someone else will, regardless of the legal aspects). Either way, congratulations on this innovation, it's elegant.

Ich danke Dir vielmals noeltock.

Ja ich hatte bereits zwei Browser Extensions (Chrome, Firefox) als Beta-Versionen. Aber die Erkenntnis war, dass sehr viele Websites — da diese ja individuell erstellt werden — keine gute Experience ergab.

Deswegen habe ich mit Silvio Rizzi (Reeder5) getestet, wie es am besten nutzbar gemacht werden kann. Hab aus Fehlern gelernt, aber wir denken dass es viele Entwickler gibt, die BR in ihren Leseprodukten anbieten möchten...

Aber vielleicht liegen wir da ja auch falsch. Man muss es versuchen und dann weitere Erkenntnis daraus ziehen.

A liaba Gruass us Chur Renato

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