
Show HN: MemStash - Commit things to memory - sinak
http://memstash.co
======
ehsanu1
In a similar vein, try out the space repetition software, Mnenmosyne:
<http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/>

I'll add to that a good article spaced repetition:
<http://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20repetition>

~~~
dbaupp
Also, Anki: <http://ankisrs.net/>

~~~
zenocon
I just skimmed Anki & mnemosyne as well as MemStash. Early constructive
criticism: I think all of these tools would benefit from a web-based demo that
doesn't require a download & install or a signup / login.

As an example, I watched the Anki intro video <http://youtu.be/c0dI2VyLDWw>
and I found myself wanting to try my hand at state capitals immediately, but
not enough to download and install the software.

Building a quick web playground that lets the user try quick quizzes may
capture people and hook them in -- at least it would for me.

~~~
pixelcort
I'm trying to start a startup to make spaced repetition easier to use, without
logins or downloads. My prototype is <http://mrflashcard.com/> . Would
something like this be more useful to you?

~~~
ebiester
As a long time SRS user, I couldn't understand the flow of the US capitals
example at all. Using Chrome/Linux, I only had one answer to begin with, and
that was really confusing. The gradual multiple choice didn't make much sense
for me, and it won't make much sense for language. With language, I just want
to click on it and see if I was correct with my verbal guess.

I don't like the waiting for ten seconds for a new flashcard at all. Why am I
staring at your screen for ten seconds? or a minute! I'm just going to leave
and not return.

I personally have no interest in SMS, but others may. What I care about is
push notifications and mobile software. (I paid the $$$ for anki, but it
doesn't have a way to remind me to go through my cards daily.

Honestly, I think for this kind of startup, you'd be well served to read more
of the research of learning, because what I see doesn't match up with what
I've personally learned on my journey.

~~~
pixelcort
Thank you for your feedback.

You're right, the one card at the beginning is confusing; I plan on showing
more at the onset to counter that.

I was hoping users would click the "show more cards" button when they got to
the waiting screen, not actually wait 10 seconds. I should probably add some
help text to encourage clicking this button.

The reason I'm experimenting with multiple choice over just asking "Did you
get it right or wrong" is to make for a more casual learning experience. After
a few days a card turns into typed answer so the user can prove to themselves
that they still know it. I am considering adding a traditional flip and self
score mode to accommodate users who want that.

My plan is to make a native app with Notifications; the SMS thing is just a
temporary way to get the deck onto the phone since there's no login system
yet.

If you have time, I'd love to pick your brain as to how you learn. If you do,
shoot me an email: c@mrflashcard.com . Thanks again!

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ISeemToBeAVerb
As someone who is intensely interested in memory and mnemonics, I always
welcome new tools. The site looks great for being build in 24 hrs and I like
the idea of a web-based tool for memorization. However, I do think the offer
could use some work. As some other people have pointed out, SMS, email and
Push notifications might get out of hand very quickly.

I think you have to consider that most people are using tools like Anki to
memorize larger sets of data rather than the names of a few people or a nice
quote. Tools like push notifications and text messages are just not an
efficient way to digest that much information. I wouldn't mind getting a quote
pushed out to me a few times in a day, but compound that by 100 or more items
to memorize and suddenly your phone is blowing up every 3 seconds. No bueno.

If I were in your shoes, I would do away with the push, email and SMS
notifications altogether. I like the idea of clipping items from around the
web, because that actually solves one of the biggest pains of using Anki,
which is organizing and typing all your items into the program (assuming there
isn't already a stack available). You could even allow users to "clip" to a
specific notebook to better organize their items.

Instead of sending notifications, I'd create a spaced-repetition mobile app
and/or web app that allowed users to access their clipped items. That way,
users can access your tool at their own discretion, but still get the benefit
of having a tool to gather their information.

Anyhow, that's my 2 cents. Great job and good luck!

~~~
sinak
Yeah, really our main constraint was the 24 hours, and getting this to MVP
stage. Really interested in getting more feedback though. If you take a look
at the comments under
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/e26/who_wants_to_start_an_important_...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/e26/who_wants_to_start_an_important_startup/)
with my username and you can read a little about how this kinda developed.
We're still trying to figure out whether there's a compelling and sticky
feature set that we can build a meaningful, mainstream service around.

~~~
ISeemToBeAVerb
I think there is potential here. As I mentioned above, Anki has a few quirks
that make it cumbersome to use on occasion. My top three complaints,
accompanied by potential solutions, would be as follows:

01\. Getting information into Anki. You've already got this covered pretty
well. The ability to clip notes from around the web or add them via other
methods is wonderful. Think of a tool like Evernote or Clip.to

02\. Poor Quality Decks. Let's face it, finding a good pre-made deck in Anki
can be a challenge. You can easily solve this, simply offer your users a
variety of high quality decks. The better the quality of the decks, the more
value. It can take a REALLY long time to make a good deck, I'd gladly pay a
modest fee for a well made deck that saves me hours of prep time.

03\. Bad Design & UI. I love Anki, but she isn't the prettiest girl in the
room and she isn't always easy to get along with. A little bit of elegant
design and thoughtful UI would go a looong way in boosting the perceived value
of your product.

~~~
ferrouswheel
01\. Totally agree with this. I hate the inertia to adding new info.

02\. The best decks are always the ones you create, since they have personal
value.

03\. Ankidroid is the OSS android version and it's awesome. I bought the paid
iOS app to support the author/service, but IMO it's really ugly and unusable
(but then I think most iOS apps are unintuitive and crippled so take it with a
grain of salt)

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Swizec
This is marvelous idea! I forget _everything_.

But, I have to ask, how do you stop yourselves from becoming annoying? Also,
the fact that 90% of the time these aren't reminders, but distractions.

Also, I don't have a phone plan. Just an iphone that's used as a wifi device.
Now what?

~~~
vishvananda
> Also, I don't have a phone plan. Just an iphone that's used as a wifi
> device. Now what?

<https://voice.google.com>

~~~
BCM43
I think that this relies on specific timing for receiving the messages though,
so if the phone is not constantly on wifi you miss a part of it.

~~~
nialo
the timing isn't precise to more than perhaps +-1 day, missing that particular
couple minutes when the text would arrive doesn't matter

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unreal37
I love seeing things built in 24 hours. Great job on that.

The idea is so-so. There is probably a low upper-limit to the number of things
you want to remember this way. More than 5 text messages like this a day will
get a bit annoying I think.

Take a look at memrise.com. They see to have the learning things through
repetition thing down.

Great job though, and keep working on it.

~~~
sinak
Yep, Memrise is awesome. We think that spaced repetition has the potential to
be more mainstream ... it's quite an empowering use of technology, and there
are lots of similar cognitive enhancing tricks that are in the same vein.
You're right - more than 5 text messages isn't great, but down the line we're
hoping to create mobile apps to make the reminder process much more
streamlined.

------
fecklessyouth
If you want to commit something to memory, read it, try reciting it in your
head, try writing out, and as long as you can't, refer back to the original
thing.

If you want to record a passing thing to later commit to memory, write it in a
notebook.

~~~
raheemm
Following tactics can also aid the learning process:

1\. Associate new ideas to existing ideas (metaphors, problem solve, story)

2\. Make it less abstract (story, diagrams, touch, smell, etc)

3\. Express it (restate, teach, share, tweet, blog, etc)

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lywald
_Whether your learning a foreign language_

In the front page, it's "you're"

~~~
bc1323
I'm going to blame that on 24 hours of no sleep too. We'll get it fixed write
away ;)

~~~
shazam
I see what you did there

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bithive123
Feedback in the form of questions: Why not build this as a local app? Isn't
this effectively the same thing as setting a few calendar reminders? Once I've
identified something I'd like to remember, how is this faster, cheaper, or
more effective than using, say, Evernote?

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toonse
I want to just have it email and I'd like to remove my phone #, can't seem to
figure out how.

Also a similar type thing but without the push that I've been using to learn
languages (and is very slick) is <http://www.memrise.com>

------
vmind
So, is this based around a Spaced Repetition system, or just some standardly
spaced reminders? Would this be an alternative to Anki? Or is it just meant to
solidify some small set of facts using reminders?

~~~
sinak
You know, our plan is to eventually make this Anki-as-a-service. It's dumbed-
down spaced repetition as it stands, but the long-term vision is to try and
make a more mass-market friendly Anki. It's all pretty basic since we built
this thing in 24 hours ... but hopefully more to come soon.

~~~
vmind
Sounds like a good plan, SRS is definitely under-used for how powerful it can
be as a memory tool, so it's good to see some more development in the space.

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sohailk
Hey everybody, we just built this webapp at the techcrunch disrupt hackathon.
It's a little rough around the edges but we're just looking to get some
feedback from the HN community. Thanks!

~~~
maximveksler
Wonderful idea. Thank you.

------
mpobrien
I love it. Instead of MMS though, reminders via instant message
(gchat/aim/whatever) would be nice.

~~~
bc1323
Great idea! on the list now

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TomaszZielinski
This is a great example of the concept that ideas are worthless and it's
execution that is everything. I've been thinking of doing _exactly_ the same
service for some.. 2 years now, mostly for myself by potentially also for the
benefit of others. And voila :)

Congrats!

------
Bootvis
Sounds very useful and I want to try this but the sign up requires the use of
a cell phone. I'm afraid this will not work here in the Netherlands, is this
correct?

If this is so, could you make an app or use WhatsApp or e-mail or whatever so
I can try?

~~~
sinak
Try entering 999-999-9999. At the moment SMS is disabled while we're waiting
for Twilio API approval, but email should work!

Edit: We'll also try and make phone optional in the next hour or so ...

~~~
jf
Happy to help here! Please email me.

Edit: Found an account for you and for BC, approved both. Let us know if we
can do anything else to help.

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TenJack
Save for SMS and email reminders, this looks remarkably similar to a site I
built a while ago called FlashcardStash (<http://flashcardstash.com>) (used to
be WordStash).

------
jasondenizac
Very cool job getting this to number 1 in real-time for your demo
presentation.

~~~
sinak
Yeah, that was ridiculously awesome! Just in time :).

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whalesalad
This website doesn't do well on high resolutions.

Good: <http://wsld.me/JK0p>

Bad: <http://wsld.me/JJsc>

~~~
sohailk
yeah, sorry. we've only had my 13' macbook air and we made this over the last
24 hours. I'll be fixing the responsive design once I get some sleep, heh.

~~~
whalesalad
No worries! Sorry if my comment sounded super negative, I wrote it real fast
while running off to make dinner so it was short and blunt.

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sheepzstudy
Hi,

I live in canada and can't seem to get sms. I tried my area code with 438 with
both 438 and 1438 and they both don't seem to work. I don't receive sms
notifications

------
mistercow
A neat idea, but three times is definitely not going to be enough reminders in
many cases, especially if you are using the service often.

------
bc1323
Thank you to everyone pointing out the spelling mistakes - and i mean that
seriously - HN is the best QA team we could ask for!

------
dude3
Sounds like Git hehe. Stash, Commit etc.

------
gllen
The service is not for me, but just wanted to say it's a beautifully executed
responsive homepage.

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rotskoff
What is the timing scheme for the notifications? Do you have any information
about its efficacy?

~~~
bc1323
Right now its 10 min after book marking it, then 24 hours after that. We had
some different schemes in mind that we'll be optimizing in the next day or so.
It's a hackathon, build what you need now.

------
brador
Love the concept and that page shrinks beautifully.

Small typo: Every forgotten somebody's name? should be Ever.

~~~
sohailk
Thanks! Still a few issues with the site responsiveness that I'll need to sort
out - at least once I get some sleep!

And I'll get that typo sorted out, heh.

~~~
adeubank
I feel I should point out that the header in the mast container has white text
and on my browser, with a window size width greater than 1600 px, it overlaps
with the white in the image making part of it hard to read. Other than that,
job well done :)

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wamatt
Well done guys, great achievement for a 24hr project! Even has Evernote
integration, neat.

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gianpaj
Any tips on making a bookmarklet work this well? I mean code-wise and ease of
testing

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instakill
Am I the only one that thought this was another Redis from reading the title?

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timkeller
Looks like the bookmarklet code was copied from Instapaper.

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KelsayGrammar
Every forgotten? Embarrassing is misspelled, too.

~~~
bc1323
fixed, thanks

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manmal
Stash this: "Remember to sign up to Memstash" :)

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choxi
not a criticism, just noticed this looks like rdio's landing page. glad to see
someone else liked theirs as much as i do

~~~
sinak
Yep we totally "drew inspiration" from Rdio. Good catch.

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SammyGuergachi
Really? Are we still using bookmarks for app executions? I personally find
terrible UX to mix real bookmarks with your extensions/apps

~~~
sohailk
any suggestions for better implementation? we're for sure looking for ways to
improve.

