Holy crap: "Spritzing" - unique speed-reading technology

[Kaido]

Ran across this:

http://imgur.com/gallery/UlZ6W

Read more here:

http://www.spritzinc.com/the-science/

AMAZING! On the first link, work yourself up to the last gif (500 WPM). Just relax like you're having a conversation with someone, instead of focusing on reading. I love neat learning technology that is actually effective as well, like this memorization trick that I've used (with a great deal of success) throughout college:

http://www.johnplaceonline.com/study-smarter/how-to-memorize-anything/

VERY anxious to see this technology get out into app form!

 

[xanis]

This is pretty neat. 500wpm wasn't really that hard to follow; I'd be interested in trying ~1000wpm.

 

[Kaido]

This is pretty neat. 500wpm wasn't really that hard to follow; I'd be interested in trying ~1000wpm.

Yeah, can you imagine this on Google Glasses? They're apparently going to be on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 & Smartwatch platform:

http://www.spritzinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/IMG_20140224_220923.png

That would be incredible for reading work emails when I'm not at my desk! Just glance down at my watch & zooooooom :thumbsup:

 

[_Rick_]

The thing is - I don't understand at 500 wpm.
Most of the stuff I read, I take half a day for 8 pages, just to make sure I understand what they're on about.

If you can speed-read something at 500 wpm, I'd say you don't really have to read it in the first place.

I suppose the method is nifty though, but it doesn't work when you need to go back-and-forth.
It would be great on a mobile device, if you could control speed with a spring slider control, so that it auto-centres. That way you can burst through a few pages, then rest your eyes and mind whenever you feel like it.
Integrating this presentation method into a more context-rich representation is probably one of the key challenges...

 

[Drako]

Thanks OP, I now have a splitting headache.

 

[akahoovy]

Thanks OP, I now have a spritting headache.

ftfy

 

[Drako]

ftfy

You forgot the z.

 

[Herr Kutz]

I read the whole George Zimmerman thread in 5 minutes.

 

[slayer202]

The thing is - I don't understand at 500 wpm.
Most of the stuff I read, I take half a day for 8 pages, just to make sure I understand what they're on about.

If you can speed-read something at 500 wpm, I'd say you don't really have to read it in the first place.

I suppose the method is nifty though, but it doesn't work when you need to go back-and-forth.
It would be great on a mobile device, if you could control speed with a spring slider control, so that it auto-centres. That way you can burst through a few pages, then rest your eyes and mind whenever you feel like it.
Integrating this presentation method into a more context-rich representation is probably one of the key challenges...

I can see it being useful for certain things, but I agree. Reading fast isn't difficult, understanding etc is something different.

 

[JEDI]

nice!

how effective is this on factual texts instead of fiction?

ie:
digital school text book on American history.

 

[Rakehellion]

I've seen this before, but I didn't know it had a ridiculous name.

 

[akahoovy]

You forgot the z.

Didn't seem appropriate.

 

[gorcorps]

Amazon's really going to have to step up their tech on e-ink refresh rate

Seems pretty cool though. It seems to work pretty well. Would like to try out a chapter of a book using this method on my phone and then re-read it the traditional way to see if I got everything.

 

[yottabit]

This is really pretty neat in my opinion. With digital displays it doesn't really make sense to require moving your eyes to read the data. Being able to focus in on on a certain point does seem to help and it also sets the pace for you.

I'm picturing a web browser with a "spritz" widget up near the top, and kind of highlighting through the actual text of the webpage as it streams through and that could be pretty useful.

I think part of the reason I'm a fast reader is due to playing lots of console RPGs (that had a similar line by line or 2 lines at a time display style) growing up. I'd always set the text speed to max and tab through the dialogues as fast as I could.

I could see this reducing eye strain a lot too.. all I would need is a way to quickly jump to different sections of web pages/documents, etc... start "spritzing" from there. If they could incorporate something like mousewheel back and forth to skip back or forward a paragraph or sentence that would be cool to. I know they are targeting mobile devices but I could see this being most useful for work and desktops/laptops

 

[Ichinisan]

Neat.

 

[Triumph]

VERY anxious to see this technology get out into app form!

"Technology"?

 

[videogames101]

idk, i could read the 500 wpm gif no problem, was i supposed to read about technology to help me do this?

apparently not needed

 

[disappoint]

You could read quantum mechanics as slow as you want, even 1 word per day and still not understand it.

 

[CZroe]

"Technology"?

Yes. The tech is what takes text and presents it to you that way. Instead of "reading mode" in a browser to make it easier to read on a small screen, I only need to see one word at a time in this mode.

 

[Markbnj]

This is really pretty neat in my opinion. With digital displays it doesn't really make sense to require moving your eyes to read the data. Being able to focus in on on a certain point does seem to help and it also sets the pace for you.

I'm picturing a web browser with a "spritz" widget up near the top, and kind of highlighting through the actual text of the webpage as it streams through and that could be pretty useful.

I think part of the reason I'm a fast reader is due to playing lots of console RPGs (that had a similar line by line or 2 lines at a time display style) growing up. I'd always set the text speed to max and tab through the dialogues as fast as I could.

I could see this reducing eye strain a lot too.. all I would need is a way to quickly jump to different sections of web pages/documents, etc... start "spritzing" from there. If they could incorporate something like mousewheel back and forth to skip back or forward a paragraph or sentence that would be cool to. I know they are targeting mobile devices but I could see this being most useful for work and desktops/laptops

I agree. The one thing I would like to see, and I am sure it's part of the overall scheme, is an intuitive way to pause, go back, and reread a passage. Finding a place a paragraph back is very easy on a printed or displayed page. I'm not so sure about this.

 

[BladeVenom]

idk, i could read the 500 wpm gif no problem, was i supposed to read about technology to help me do this?

apparently not needed

I think you missed the point. You were suppose to be able to read it at 500 wpm, because of the way they presented it.

Of course if you already read at 500 wpm, I don't know what good the example is.

 

[Train]

I agree. The one thing I would like to see, and I am sure it's part of the overall scheme, is an intuitive way to pause, go back, and reread a passage. Finding a place a paragraph back is very easy on a printed or displayed page. I'm not so sure about this.

I could see the spritz box thingy centered on a page, with the all printed out text in the back ground, perhaps even blurred, with a sort of shadow/highlight effect that moves as you read.

That way you can get a sense of "where you are on a page" as you go through peripheral vision.

 

[Train]

where can I crank it up to 1000?

Would also want a control to adjust the speed as I go. How fast I can read is really dependent on the subject matter.

 

[dighn]

Neat, but I'm a pretty quick reader and don't find this to be particularly beneficial. Could be interesting on devices with very small displays.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

I am naturally a fast reader, and I am very impressed with this new method. Makes total sense for digital screens.