Google Reader has made me a news feed addict, but it's no-frills, small black text on white layout doesn't do much for readability, especially when you have 391 feeds to distract you. I've become mindful that often, I'm scanning posts more than actually reading them and not always absorbing all the information. Whether this speed scanning is an evolutionary advantage or a chronic case of Nerd ADD, I've found it increasingly harder to just focus and read one post in it's entirety.
Spreed, a start-up out of Toronto, is taking a new approach to news reading with their iPhone web app, Spreed News (try this link if you aren't on an iPhone). At first it looks like a typical news reader, until you tap to post page. Press the play button, and the post is displayed to you, 1 - 5 words at a time for a fraction of a second. No scrolling or tapping necessary. The text is displayed at a larger size, white on a black background, increasing readability. The word speed is adjustable from 300-1200 WPM.
Watch the demo video for a better idea:
My first impressions are that it's much less weird to use than you might think. I had no trouble reading at the default speed of 300 WPM, even though it felt like words were flashing by very quickly. The groupings of words seem to be purposely selected by algorithm, not just randomly selected. Perhaps this is why Spreed News is currently limited to only their selection of popular feeds; you cannot add your own yet. Spreed News still wears a "beta" badge, so hopefully that basic functionality will be available in the near future. I don't think I would use Spreed exclusively for online reading, as I think there is value in being able to skim and scan, but I think this company is on to a good idea. I like Spreed's focus on increasing speed and comprehension, and definitely try Spreed News further when I cave in to the gadget lust and get an iPhone... soon.
Spreed Inc. is a Toronto based technology company focused on finding the best ways of displaying text based content on personal computers and smart... [more]
Greg
Thanks for the post. We are absolutely thrilled by all the support the Canadian startup communiy has given us. Just so everyone knows, we will be releasing a desktop version of the application so that everyone (even non-iphone users) can give Spreeding a chance. We are also planning on releasing spreed on the Blackberry and WM platfoms.
Spreed:News is a departure from the way people are used to reading and I am very glad that you foud it useful. I am excited to begin rolling back the curtains on some of our new products in the coming months. Our core mandate though is to enhance peoples everyday reading experience.
Thanks agai
[...] more, check out Mathew Ingram and Tech Vibes, which suggests Spreed News “Brings 3G Speeds to Your [...]
[...] Spreed:News Tries to Redefine Reading [...]
I'm surprised by your review. I previously tried this and thought it was the dumbest idea yet. How do you give it a good review? Check out some of the other reviews. I think most people realized this is kinda stupid.
That was surprisingly unconstructive criticism. For more information on the years of research put into this tool and some of the science that has been used to develop our algorithm please follow this link:
http://www.spreeddocs.com/scienceofspreed.aspx
and this blog post by our CTO Suhail Mirza:
http://blog.spreedinc.com/?p=73
Spreed:News is certainly not for everyone. But for people who need to get through a lot of information and have very busy schedules it is a true gem.
Thanks again Techvibes or the post and for opening up this fantastic forum for user debate.
Best regard
Dave Colema
I'll second the generally positive comments in the original article. I've been using Spreed for a few weeks now. It's an alternative way to read, not a replacement. But I find it very helpful to snap me out of my usual ADD approach to skimming articles when I come across something of particular interest.
Thanks for the positive feedback Bruce. We find that it is a great focus tool! If you are from Canada, you should check out the Globe and Mail iPhone/iPod Touch Application. Spreed is included as an alternative way of reading the articles. Please let me know if you have any suggestions that would make the service more useful.
Dave
