
Show HN: A Speed Reading Bookmarklet - Mizza
https://gun.io/blog/openspritz-a-free-speed-reading-bookmarklet/
======
tzs
Change the name. I'm pretty creative and am usually able to come up with at
least a somewhat plausible argument for either side on any question, but here
I can not even come up with an idea for how to even begin to search for an
argument that the name you have chosen, "OpenSpritz", for your program that
clones the functionality and appearance of the "Spritz" app, from "Spritz
Technology, Inc." is not an infringement of their trademark, which they have
been using in commerce for several months (according to their filing with the
trademark office). Even if I had a holocaust cloak and a wheelbarrow, I would
have no idea how to make a plausible argument in your favor.

If "spritzing" were a common term for presenting words one at a time, then
maybe there would be the beginning of an argument, but as far as I can see
this has never been called spritzing before they came up with that name.

ps: nice bookmarklet

~~~
shittyanalogy
You definitely could have been less sensationalist in your advice.

Something like, "Looks like you might be infringing on the trademark of a
company that produces a similar product. You should consider changing your
name to avoid legal complications."

~~~
gojomo
Weasel words don't improve the advice.

~~~
mbesto
Just as body language dictates much of our communication, so does tone. I
would therefore argue that it does in fact improve communication and therefore
advice.

~~~
parksy
Also, why must we only use the bare minimum language to convey the point?
We're not allowed to have fun with words and add some personality? Ok then,
direct me to the grey overcoats and I'll join the single-file line of
subjugated masses shuffling their way towards death.

------
kayoone
> OpenSpritz is in no way affiliated with Spritz Incorporated, the developers
> of the Spritz reading system.

This is nicely done but i don't think you should use their product name as a
part of your own product name, even if its open source.

~~~
andyleclair
Perhaps 'OpenSpray' to keep with the theme?

~~~
randyrand
To keep the ideas coming, how about OpenSpreeder?

~~~
mmanfrin
OpenSodaProseccoCampari

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650REDHAIR
I've been using something similar called "Spreed". It's an extension for
Chrome and it's been super helpful for me to actually retain the things that
I've read.

[0] [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/spreed-speed-
read-...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/spreed-speed-read-the-
web/ipikiaejjblmdopojhpejjmbedhlibno)

------
levosmetalo
Why do people insist calling this "Spritz-like" like it's something new
invented by Spritz? Just google on RSVP technique for speed reading and you'll
find a million of references and implementations. Even wikipedia has an
article[1] citing >50 years old research.

Nothing new there, just walk on.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Serial_Visual_Presentati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Serial_Visual_Presentation)

------
Mizza
Happy to answer any questions if you have them!

Also, if you find sites which it doesn't work with, please report them here so
I can triage them:

[https://github.com/Miserlou/OpenSpritz/issues/8](https://github.com/Miserlou/OpenSpritz/issues/8)

Project source code:

[https://github.com/Miserlou/OpenSpritz/](https://github.com/Miserlou/OpenSpritz/)

~~~
pepijndevos
What are the words centered on?

~~~
nacs
According to the official Spitz app which this is based on, the red letter is
the letter that's left of the letter at the center of the word.

Not sure on the scientific reasons but that left-of-center-letter as the focal
point supposedly helps with the speed reading.

------
corysama
Here's a similar project that literally just popped up (two hours ago).
Spritz-like reading as a Chrome extension.

[https://github.com/ds300/jetzt](https://github.com/ds300/jetzt)

------
davidjhamp
Made the same thing yesterday: [http://www.davidhampgonsalves.com/spritz-like-
rsvp-reader-bo...](http://www.davidhampgonsalves.com/spritz-like-rsvp-reader-
bookmarklet/)

HN will probably see a lot of these in the next few days.

Edit: Some users requested keybindings and I found them useful(pause, skip,
rewind, etc).

~~~
navpatel
I was going to comment to say ability to pause/rewind would be awesome. Seems
like you've already done that! I also like the interaction of selecting the
text you want to speed-read.

One thing that might be interesting, is a shortcut to jump to the article
where the current word is. This happens when I want to glance at a paragraph
above, and don't want to rewind all the way back.

------
tectonic
You should definitely also checkout
[http://www.beelinereader.com](http://www.beelinereader.com) to hack your
reading speed.

~~~
zbeewhs
This is actually pretty amazing. When I speed read, I usually use my finger to
set the pace ahead of my eyes which is REALLY hard to do on the computer.
Since I'm used to using a finger as a guide, I often find myself skipping over
lines/words @ 400-600 WPM on the computer. This appears to solve that problem.
Thanks for the link!

------
chrisfarms
Hehe, you've got to fix it working on that page! ... everyone is going to
press that button.

~~~
Mizza
I knowwww! It's Readability's fault. I've opened a ticket and they've actually
been very responsive about fixing it. Something to do with SSL.

For now, you can just select the text you want to Spritz.

~~~
johndavi
Rich, if you'd like help with clean text extraction, ping me at john at
diffbot.com. I like the Spritz concept and we'd be happy to support your
bookmarklet through free API calls.

------
kranner
Here's a nice book on the biological apparatus of reading:
[http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Brain-Science-Evolution-
Invent...](http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Brain-Science-Evolution-
Invention/dp/B003H4RAOU)

One idea that I've yet to see anyone try is to increase letter size as
distance increases from the highlighted letter on either side. Presumably as
the fovea is centered on the highlighted letter, resolution for letters
farther away decreases gradually, so increasing letter size may compensate for
it. I'll be trying this soon for my iOS speed-reading app
([http://velocireaderapp.com](http://velocireaderapp.com)).

~~~
eaurouge
I bought two speed reading apps earlier this week - didn't realize yours did
epubs. More important than increased letter sizes, I think, is the redicle. I
hope you add it to your app.

~~~
kranner
That is the patent-pending bit, unfortunately.

Here's the Spritz patent application:
[http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20140016867](http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20140016867)

------
pattisapu
Instead of choosing WPM from the outset from a drop-down, how about having a
default start WPM and being able to change the WPM with keyboard shortcuts
while you're reading?

With this as in most reading I find myself slowing down in some parts and
speeding up in others. With keyboard shortcuts one could keep one's eyes on
the text while tweaking the speed.

The keyboard shortcuts for the speed could be =/\- or 0-9, like for the
Autoscroll bookmarklet:

[http://tim.theenchanter.com/2008/08/autoscroll-in-safari-
fir...](http://tim.theenchanter.com/2008/08/autoscroll-in-safari-firefox.html)

------
jamestomasino
Since there seems to be a nice collection of speed reading bookmarklets and
extensions being shared on this thread, I want to toss in mine as well: "Read"

The chrome extension can be found here:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/read/aiijjeoekhpdp...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/read/aiijjeoekhpdpfcnejiganpaaacdodko)

Github home is:
[http://github.com/jamestomasino/read_plugin](http://github.com/jamestomasino/read_plugin)

Comments and feedback for improvement would be appreciated.

------
palakchokshi
Most of the speed reading extensions listed in the comments use one word at a
time. Maybe its just me but I find it very disconcerting since word lengths
change causing a flashing experience. When I read I like the continuity of the
sentence or phrase. Maybe in addition to selecting wpm there should also be an
option of phrase length. I did an informal test and found that I could read
faster than 400 wpm when reading the original text but found it tough to
maintain context when using 300wpm using the bookmarklet

~~~
abentspoon
Mine has phrase-length, plus some highlighting to help keep your place in the
text.

[http://qwerjk.com/force-feed](http://qwerjk.com/force-feed)

~~~
pattisapu
Really well done. This is precisely the tool I've been looking for for a long
time. Thank you!

------
benrhughes
Nice! As I mentioned in the original Spritz thread, I've just released an
android app[0] that does something similar. Think I'll use the positioning
concept from (open)spritz to improve things.

I do wonder what the Spritz team were doing for 3 years. Like the OP, it took
me a couple of hours late one night to get to basics working.

[0][https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hughesoft....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hughesoft.speedy)

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Baadier_Sydow
It doesn't seem to play well with Pocket but the text selection feature helps
when it doesn't. Well Done!

I would love a pause button for when you're disrupted while reading.

------
tibbon
While I don't have a Google Glass, I could see this being the ultimate reading
interface for a device like that.

~~~
kozhevnikov
Google Glass is not centred as far as I recall, I imagine it'll put quite a
bit of strain on your eyes to read any significant volume of text from top-
right corner.

------
jv22222
Hate to say it but this is awesome. Exactly what I was hoping to find as soon
as they announced. Change the name, or perhaps give them the code and they can
release it if they see fit.

------
pkhamre
This felt really revolutionary! I love it.

Started testing it on 200 WPM, but quickly went to 500. Tested out 750 WPM and
was amazed that I got the entire text at this speed.

------
Robadob
I think I'll certainly give this a try in places where I remember.

Such a shame I can't see it working for pdfs, I could save hours reading
research papers.

~~~
Mizza
This is a big use case I'm interested in. Unfortunately, browsers can't read
selected text of PDFs at the moment.

I'd suggest "printing" to HTML and then Spritzing that, but it's suboptimal.

------
norswap
I'm not easily impressed, but this blew me away. You can have very good
understanding of the text and still read blazingly fast.

