HOW FAST CAN YOU READ THIS?: It may be at the fringe of the edtech landscape now, but don't underestimate Boston-based startup Spritz. The company's been developing a speed-reading technology since 2011, and is currently in the process of closing a $3.54 million seed funding round, as was reported in TechCrunch. According to the company's site, Spritz is “reinventing the way people read” with a rapid stream of text (shown below), showing readers one word at a time at a fast rate (i.e. up to 1000 words a minute, according to Spritz). As opposed to "skimming" practices of the days of old, Spritz attempts to cut down on the time a reader's eye takes to move from one word to another. CEO and founder Frank Waldman explains more in an interview here.
But does Spritz actually make you a "better" reader? Not necessarily. Blogger Annie Murphy Paul argues that "an app like Spritz allows us only to read simply, foolishly fast," as opposed to training us to "read swiftly and with depth and understanding." Read more from her here.
