Spritz your way through books –Speed reading reinvented.

Spritz has already made news with its new speed-reading technology. Spritz Technology Inc is a Boston based startup that has been working on speed read technology since 2011. They formally launched their reading technology at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona and is expected to be embedded with the Samsung S5 and Gear2 smart watch.

The company claims that it enables readers to complete books at a faster pace, without straining their eyes. It asserts that you could finish reading the first of the Harry Potter series in just an hour!

Though Spritz is yet to get a patent for their technology, they have already racked up a number of investors of the likes of Digicel’s Denis O’Brien and is in the process of closing in on a seed fund of $3.54M.

The technology, which is based on the concept of Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) techniques, dates back to the 1970’s. Spritz believes that it has reinvented speed reading through this novel technology. The app basically streams text on the screen one word after the other at a fast pace, enabling users to read faster than they usually would. It cuts down the time; the eyes would take to move from one word to another while reading in the conventional manner.

To make it even more easy Spritz aligns words in a pattern that enhances “optimal recognition point method.” That is it enables the eyes to focus on those parts of the word that apparently allows the reader to quickly comprehend it.

Spritz identifies these focal points and those letters appear in red, triggering the eyes to catch the words faster.

The application enables readers to choose the speed at which they want to read and all they have to do is stare at the same spot on the screen. Currently, the app features a series of speeds ranging from 250wpm (words per minute) to 600wpm. However, the technology can support speeds 100-1000 wpm and languages English, Spanish, German, French, Russian and Korean.

Nevertheless, a lot of skepticism surrounds this reader and the likes, as researchers argue that with increasing speeds the brain would lose its ability to comprehend what it is reading. But co-founder and CEO Frank Waldman has a counter statement to explain how Spritz is different – “Other than single word display, we are very different from anything else that’s been tried in the past and we think people can see that immediately,” he further explained that it would take readers a mere 5 mins to get accustomed to reading at that speed.

Spritz is not planning to launch the technology as an app, it prefers embedding the technology on devices, putting it to greater use. The SDKs would be out on the 21st of March, where the company expects the technology to aid wearable devices and handhelds alike in reading out mails, maps, directions while on the go.

Much remains to be understood on how this technology will be put to use. If you know anything that we haven’t already mentioned here, add them in the comments.