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Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

spritzinc.com

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Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#191

Post by just2n »

lukev wrote: post #40

This is very interesting (and as has been pointed out in other comments, not exactly a new idea). I think its proper application, though, is in a tool for practicing reading, not for actually reading tests. One major thing this approach looses is the inherent non-linearity of text. If I miss a fact and want to back up a bit, or want to pause for a moment and think about something, I can (when reading) without even th…

http://jsfiddle.net/vKZLn/1/

Fun to make. I'm also curious about the overall benefits. I find myself distracted by other thoughts if I don't have subvocalization happening.

If you want the ability to move backwards, I feel like that's possible with a good NLP library. If you skip back two sentences, or enough sentences to match some word or syllable threshold, it may be useful. In that case, you can play a few words, pause for a second or so to let the user decide if they've found the right spot (and context switch into reading) or if they should continue going back. I tried hacking in a quick back button that went back X words, but it was very disorienting. But in any case, it isn't as interaction free as doing so when reading a block of text is. But to counter your argument: you still have to keep your position even with text or seek for your position again, so there's a downside to those benefits.

I'm not sure how Spritz handles things like this, but I felt like making my own based on what I saw on the demo really quick to get a better understanding. It's a curious thing, maybe I'll check out the application sometime.

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#192

Post by hadem »

shirman wrote: post #147
Mizza wrote: post #89

Wow, I was instantly sold. Please create an eBook reader for Android which uses this immediately, I love it! I hacked together a crude JavaScript implementation in a few minutes just for kicks: https://github.com/Miserlou/OpenSpritz ..hopefully we'll see more of this stuff everywhere. Good work, please thrive!

Wow! It's looking great! Let's make it like bookmarklet, like here – http://qwerjk.com/force-feed and you forget about lines and pointer http://upload.amazingperformancestudio.com/image/1c05121h154...

I really like your bookmarklet. Few quick notes I have after using it for a few minutes. - It will sometimes begin to read source code.

- There doesn't seem to be an obvious way to close the reader?

- Customization for colors/fonts/positioning would be great!

Great work!

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#193

Post by shawn-furyan »

doorhammer wrote: post #185
shawn-furyan wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's something I don't have the mindset to do. I would sooner drop a book completely than just skip whole passages.

I can understand this; I think it depends on what your trying to get out of the book. There are some books I read (for example, I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land) where I like the book well enough, but I'm not particularly into the prose and/or writing style, so I'm okay missing some things here and there. I think that happens to me when I do "decompressing," where I'm reading a book to unwind my brain after hav…

Hah! I just finished Stranger in a Strange Land this weekend :)

It was my introduction to Heinlein. I'd avoided older scifi because I'd wondered whether I would relate to it, and felt confirmed in that suspicion with Stranger. It's not that I'm not glad that I read it, and if I consider the context that it was written in circa the 1950s, then I can definitely appreciate how radical it must have been. But to my sensibilities, it feels tawdry and cheap, and thus insincere. It's in no way a fair criticism since it seems to have been part of the zeitgeist that led to the free love of the 60s and subsequent over-indulgence and exploitation of the 70s (and thus the dominance of the idea that sex sells and so on). And from what I gather it was rather sincere in so far as Heinlein was supremely interested in challenging prevailing mores of the time. But outside of that context, to me, it feels, again, cheap and tawdry, and just kind of stale.

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#194

Post by ISeemToBeAVerb »

npsimons wrote: post #169
leephillips wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, where "comprehend" means to meaningfully understand and appreciate. I was trying to express the idea that if something can be comprehended, in this sense, as fast as it can be speed read, then perhaps it's not worth reading.

One of the things I picked up from "How to Read a Book" (where they put forward that speed reading is usually just bringing slow readers up to speed), is that not everything is worth reading. There is so much to read out there, that you can't possibly read it all (relevant: http://what-if.xkcd.com/76/ ), and you have to pick and choose. One way to weed out what is relevant is to apportion the correct amount of time a…

100% Agree.

Most informational books are packed with examples and context. Sometimes you need that stuff, but other times you can get 90% of the information you need just by reading the introduction, table of contents, and chapter conclusions.

I think it's important to understand your motivations for reading, and then choose a method that best fits your intended goals.

Reading is like eating — sometimes you want to savor a book and other times you want to grab and go.

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#195

Post by blymphony »

lewaldman wrote: post #176
lukev wrote: post #40

This is very interesting (and as has been pointed out in other comments, not exactly a new idea). I think its proper application, though, is in a tool for practicing reading, not for actually reading tests. One major thing this approach looses is the inherent non-linearity of text. If I miss a fact and want to back up a bit, or want to pause for a moment and think about something, I can (when reading) without even th…

Ok... but almost all that you said is a UX Issue... Imagine an UI with a circle and the spritz box above. You put your thumb in the middle, push right it starts to show the words forward, push farther from midle => faster. Push it left => slower. Left after middle, rewinding text. You could even use up, down to go back entiry frases or paragraphs. Regarding linearity, you could use color/color fading to wrap phrases,…

Why wouldn't they just implement a stop/start button and a zoom out/in button? If you want to return to a missed word or reread a section, zoom out to see a page and then touch a word.

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#196

Post by wordofchristian »

It seems to really break down when dealing with parenthesis and other kinds of punctuation that uses matching. Just from my personal testing on the linked page it got really confusing when they got to the founders section about "Frank Waldman (CEO and Co-founder), Maik Maurer (CTO and Co-founder)"

The parenthesis here, rather than showing a complete group, end up getting broken apart and stuck to whatever word they're adjacent words. "...Co Founder)"

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#197

Post by isawczuk »

Good job. What's more interesting many HN hackers (including me) thought about the concept or build similar products some time ago. But it take guts to stick with a product and find a way for monetization. The same applies to WhatsApp / Flappy Bird / Instagram / etc., anyone could replicate their idea or had better product before them (ex. ICQ, Jabber, etc). But it take guts to stick with product and monetize it. Sometimes I regret that I'm tech guru not a business guru..

Re: Spritz – read 500 words per minute without any training

#198

Post by levosmetalo »

gojomo wrote: post #120
levosmetalo wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you can have only one second language, and then possibly third, fourth, and so on.

Not true in idiomatic English. Any language other than your 'first' can be called a 'second language'. As a common example of this usage, courses to learn English for non-native speakers are called "English as a Second Language (ESL)" - no matter how many other languages the students already know.

Then I guess only native English speakers can have many "second" language. In many other countries there are 1st foreign language and 2nd foreign language classes in the school. And those books are called "English as a foreign language" (Englisch als Fremdsprache).
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