Hacker News Reader

Comment by rosser | Hacker News Reader

I wonder whether this uses the front-facing camera for blink detection, particularly at higher WPM settings. A blink typically lasts 100-400ms (per Wikipedia), and 500 WPM is .8333... words per 100ms. A blink thus seems very likely to miss a word or two once you're using this the way its creators intend. I don't see any mention of blinking or mitigating its impact on the site, though.

View on HN

I guess a software could insert a "blink break" every couple of minutes. They could even display an a video commercial during that time, to monetize your blinks. Since everyone seems to try to patent everything: in this comment I claim the invention of a killer business model for speed reading apps. 25 Feb 2014, 4:30pm Sydney time :)

I'll keep this disclosure in mind when it comes across my desk. But now you've got no chance of patenting it yourself, so touch luck =).

All I wanted is take this patent out of the equation forever.

My thinking is that I've created prior art that would make the idea much much harder to patent. Not a patent lawyer, so may be wrong.

As for how harmful it was for my anonymity to mention Sydney - well, NSA knows way more than that. Besides, I could be sending you all down the wrong trail. or better - confusing a ML algorithm.

Ha! You're not anonymous any more, paulftw. Now we know you're from Sydney.

couldn't care less. it is first to file now, biatch.

Congratulations on being one of the millions of internet users who have no idea how the patent system works. First to file is purely for determining priority of an application; the date at which the patent office (or another patent office under the Paris convention) comes to know about the invention. It's used to resolve a) which prior art is relevant (anything published publicly before this date) and b) if two people try to patent the same thing, which one gets it (gross simplification here). America was the only country which had the "First to invent" priority, which the rest of the world has deemed for decades as completely daft and a huge administrative nightmare.

I've read your comment twice, and it seems to me that it actually validates the "first to file, biatch" comment..?

According to (a) if someone files a patent first then if there is any prior art that and any subsequent patent applications will fail.

According to (b) if someone files a patent first then out of that and any later patent applications the first one will win.

Seems to fit with "first to file" to me.

The "invention" has been made public (in paulftw's dated comment) before anyone has filed for a patent. It's no longer patentable material in a first-to-file system as there's now evidence that it's obvious to practitioners of the field, and this evidence predates any filing gcb0 can make. In first-to-invent, he could've claimed an invention date prior to the comment. Sound right?

giving an idea is not like presenting an invention/prior-art.

If it's enough for a person skilled in the art to produce the invention without needing any inventive thought, then yes, it is.

Thank you for helping me figure out why my eyes started burning when I was spritzing. I think you subconsciously try to avoid blinking becuase you know you'll miss a word.

Perhaps it's called Spritz because the user is meant to keep a spray bottle full of water on hand, spritzing occasionally, so as to obviate the need for blinking :)

Blinking might explain why I strongly prefer 2-3 word chunks, instead of 1 word chunks, when I read with RSVP. Interesting. I can read some texts at 800 wpm with 2 word chunks but find it a lot more problematic with 1 word chunks so it's flashing twice as fast.

Thanks for this idea. Consider it purloined for my speed-reading app.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com