Text 2.0

[trekkiedane]

Imagine a book that automatically shows you the very word that was the last one you read when you left it earlier, a book that will translate or explain any word you want it to:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QocWsWd7fc[/yt]​

Text 2.0

I definitely want my first e-book reader to have this kind of (hard- and) software -how about you?

 

[CorporalClegg]

So in other words it just forces people to use skills they should have learned in the fourth grade?

And I already want to shove a pencil through that stupid red dot.

 

[trekkiedane]

It takes time to look things up in dictionaries and as we all know: 'time is money' -not to mention that you'll have to bring your dictionaries along with you...

The dot is -I seriously hope- only for the demonstration

 

[Jadzia]

It looks like it's intended for children to help them learn to read. It would save them having a reading partner, which would be of questionable value.

If my page starts zooming in and shifting focus to a dictionary definition just because I've paused to look and think about at an interesting word or passage, I'm not sure I would like that.

 

[trekkiedane]

^Don't you think there'll be a load of user-settings on products with this level of interactivity?

The video probably is just a demo of the possibilities of the software.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

I'm never going to buy an e-reader until they take physical books out into the streets and burn them. And even then I'm not going to buy this stupid little eye-tracker-thingimajigger. But then, some people call me "stubborn bastard" in addition to "itisnotlogical" and "Alex"

 

[T'Girl]

The speed of the little red dot in the demonstration ...

Does anyone over the age of five really read that slowly?

.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Sadly yes.

 

[Kestra]

That's really interesting technology but I don't think I'd use it much personally. I think it would make too many assumptions about what I wanted information on (especially in things like skimming).

As far as the speed of the dot, adults read at many different speeds. Some people have more difficulty or take a little more time than others. It's not sad and there's no reason to insult them.

 

[trekkiedane]

The speed of the little red dot in the demonstration ...

Does anyone over the age of five really read that slowly.

As the translation demonstration shows this is a German person reading an English translation (of Saint-Exupéry's French story ) I used to read English at this speed

 

[CorporalClegg]

That's really interesting technology but I don't think I'd use it much personally. I think it would make too many assumptions about what I wanted information on (especially in things like skimming).

As far as the speed of the dot, adults read at many different speeds. Some people have more difficulty or take a little more time than others. It's not sad and there's no reason to insult them.

People with reading handicaps only account for a very small percentage of the overall reading deficiency.

Even as recently as the 70s the "average educated adult" read about 500-800 wpm. Now their counterparts can barley muster 250. This has more to do with the fact people are no longer taught how to properly read and an overall lack of practice.

While hyper reading speeds are a bit of a fluke, anyone can maintain a reading speed of 350-400 wpm with the proper training and practice.

It's the "system" that's sad and insulting, not the readers.

 

[Spot's Meow]

As far as the speed of the dot, adults read at many different speeds. Some people have more difficulty or take a little more time than others. It's not sad and there's no reason to insult them.

Yes, I agree. I myself read very slowly but I score extremely high in reading comprehension. I can read faster but I prefer to soak in all the details, which has got me in the habit of slow reading, especially when it comes to fiction. I'll take accuracy over speed though.

I don't think I would find the product in the OP all that helpful, but it is an interesting idea.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Books for the win

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Interesting, but nothing I would use.

 

[trekkiedane]

Well, I tend to read n bed until I fall asleep... I would definitely get good use of the 'find your spot' part. I also read more books in English and German than I do in Danish so I'd probably also get good use of the dictionary-looker-upper part.

 

[scotpens]

It looks like it's intended for children to help them learn to read. It would save them having a reading partner, which would be of questionable value.

Please clue me in. What’s a “reading partner”? A teacher? An older child? Someone you share a book with?

 

[sojourner]

Well, I tend to read n bed until I fall asleep... I would definitely get good use of the 'find your spot' part. I also read more books in English and German than I do in Danish so I'd probably also get good use of the dictionary-looker-upper part.

Ereader's already open to the current page you're reading. Which is much for useful to me since if I fell asleep reading I tend to not remember the last half page or so and definitely not the exact last word.

 

[Jadzia]

It looks like it's intended for children to help them learn to read. It would save them having a reading partner, which would be of questionable value.

Please clue me in. What’s a “reading partner”? A teacher? An older child? Someone you share a book with?

When I was at infant school, reading was rarely done on one's own. It was something we did with another person ~ a reading partner. We'd speak what we were reading, helping each other to pronounce difficult words and understand the text. It was typically two people in the same class, although teachers and people from other classes could step in to be reading partners.

It was not unusual for two people to remain reading partners throughout their years at infant school, although I preferred variety.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Imagine book makers and dictionaries.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I love how these threads always bring out the Luddites who shun e-readers as if Amazon's gonna break into your house in the dead of night, slip a Kindle under your pillow, then steal all your paper books and pulp them.

If people don't want to use a certain bit of a technology you're more than welcome not to. I don't see why it's necessary to come into a thread about e-readers and be all "cold, dead hands!" about paper books. I don't care for the PlayStation 3 but I deal with that by not buying one. I don't go into every PS3 thread and declare how much I hate PS3s.

This technology looks pretty neat and I hope it keeps evolving. I agree with those who said it should be highly customizable. We should always strive to put more power in the hands of users rather than less.