When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me about these books that help you read faster, some mumbo jumbo about 'speed reading'. So I tried it once, it didn't work out.
Ever since then I used to wonder about people who could actually speed read, who swift through passage after passage with 90-95% comprehension and actually eat and bathe like the rest of us. Turns it out they actually exist.
I was reading a Wired.com How-To on Speed Reading the other day, which is a very under publicized issue compared to typing fast, maybe because speed reading is older and has been written about so much in traditional media, but when it comes to digital content/applications on Speed Reading, its surprisingly unchartered waters. So at the end of the Wired.com article, they included a couple of links, one of which was an old Speed Reading website that has the feel and look of something from the early 90', and a younger web application, was titled Spreed:News.
This ingenious web application was built with one thing in mind, to speed up your reading. The Speed Reading (Spreeding if you may) interface is designed for what the creators call The Zen of Spreed which when backed with Scientific Research states that reading the way we know it could actually be improved and well, even revolutionized, I know I know, talk is cheap, but once you try it out you'll know what I mean.
The actual core application is built using ASP.NET, presented using JavaScript and although I'm not sure about it, I suspect sIFR is in the mix.
Aesthetically the layout is organized, moderately simplistic with elegant white spaces to complement the shades of blue that coincidently look as though designed with Chrome in mind as the default browser they do list supported browsers here. Personal experience proved it doesn't play quite well with Mozilla Firefox 3+, Chrome and IE 6.
Noticing places where improvements would come in handy, I sent some feedback, and the response was promising and timely, not one of those automated emails you get expressing indifference and appreciation. I believe the only way this application is going is up (alexa wise). And to add to the experience, they have a beta version of a service called Spreed:Docs, thats where you get to upload any .txt, .rtf or .pdf and read using the Spreed engine, yet it must be said its still under testing and mandates you send a request after registering for the Spreed:News service to be put on a waiting list. I personally think its worth the wait.
As most computer power users, I care about typing as efficiently and fast as humanly possible. And it took some hard work and practice to make a significant impact on my typing skills, which as a result comes in handy during those long chatting sessions, and naturally at work. But I have constantly overlooked my reading skills, assuming that with time and practice (and some serious reading) I would perfect the craft, I recently found out it didn't. I think Speed Reading has been overlooked while in fact, it's a necessity to those who spend long hours reading. To me the true appeal to Spreed:News lies in the fact you can do the tedious daily news feed reading and improve your reading skills at the same time, so really its a win-win situation.
I hope you enjoy this Cool Web App of the Week as much as I am, don't forget to share your experience with us after your done.
Salam
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I have been meaning to make a section for the social networking applications scene, but it being so diverse, this category will hold everything new and cool I try out and let you know so you can check it out too, or not, if you do, please feel free to share your experience and opinions afterwards in the comments.
The latest application I came across is called Wakoopa, the three Dutchmen behind the app apparently wanted to make a bang on the software scene, so they came up with this brilliant idea to help people share whatever software they use and in effect discover new software online, how did they do that you may ask? well quite simply, by giving the user a small tracker application with a similar name, that apparently listens to the OS's task list, and reports it back to the mother ship. From there on, you can click on a software application name or the category its under to see who else uses it, and what others who use your app of choice use also, meaning, you get suggestions by user preference on related software.
The site UI alone is attractive enough to get you interested in the network, although it has a couple of minor glitches that require work, but I think its a great way to stay up to date software wise. On an entirely unrelated matter, software development is almost as crazy as the web these days, and frankly OS based software and distributed applications are so intertwined lately its hard to figure out where the client ends, and the server begins. This application however gives you a good edge on where you stand from the latest good software packages out there.
The web application is built on the ASP.NET 2.0 platform driven by a MySql database developed using Ruby on Rails.
Wakoopa provides a simple interface to access some of your data via
XML and JSON.
You can use this data to make your own widgets or integrate our service with other services.
So for all of you .NET developers out there, this site is a good example of using diverse technologies to build a powerful and hopefully scalable web application, time will tell regarding the latter.
As proof of how cool it is, I found out about a software Package called Synergy that actually helps you run multiple connected desktops using only one keyboard and mouse pad, now tell me thats not cool?
This is this week's Cool Web App, drop by next week for more.
Salam
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