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Show HN: Hibou – Use spaced repetition to remember what you read

69 points by willlma 11y ago

willlma 11y ago
Founder here. Hibou is a Chrome extension that allows you to highlight whatever you find interesting, then sends you a notification when it's time to review those highlights. Spaced repetition is a proven technique that waits until you're about to forget something before reminding you to review it, thus helping you remember as much as possible as effortlessly as possible. I'd love to hear the thoughts of the HN community Will
- viraptor 11y ago
  So are you a techzing listener, or was it a coincidence?
  - willlma 11y ago
    Pure coincidence. Is there a particular episode I should listen to?
    - viraptor 11y ago
      Not sure, your exact idea has been mentioned many times as "I really want it to exist, but don't have time to do it". The first mention in the episode notes goes back to 2012 (http://techzinglive.com/page/1077/189-tz-discussion-synthesizing-the-future http://techzinglive.com/page/1077/189-tz-discussion-synthesi...) I think, it mentions spaced repetition and those two were close together.
      - willlma 11y ago
        Nice! There are plenty of spaced-repetition tools out there, but I wanted to make it really easy to add info into a database, and I thought that text selection would be the easiest. That episode mentions Gary Wolf's 2008 Wired article [Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm](http://www.wired.com/2008/04/ff-wozniak/ http://www.wired.com/2008/04/ff-wozniak/), which I think is what inspired me to create Hibou.
  - phrasemix 11y ago
    This was the first thing that I thought of. Jason calls the idea "Memory Hole", which is both a much better and much worse name than "Hibou".
    - willlma 11y ago
      Hahaha, I totally agree. I've just reached out to them for some feedback. Seems like they've spent a lot of time thinking about this.
      - jayro 11y ago
        Nice work! I think we need to bring you on the show.
    - jayro 11y ago
      Jason here! I totally agree - the name "Memory Hole" doesn't really make any sense at all given what it means -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole But something about it always made me laugh, so that's what I called it. Anyway, I'm so glad that someone FINALLY got around to building the damn thing! I guess the lesson here is that if you want something done, either do it yourself, or ... be prepared to wait a really long time. ;)
Nadya 11y ago
My first thoughts was "Slander / Abuse". I'm going to go with the naming wasn't meant to be in Japanese (or Chinese), but thought you might want to be aware of that. :) This is great. A reminder to go through what I'd normally slap in a bookmark with an intention of "reread later". I'll give it a test-drive.
- willlma 11y ago
  Wow, thanks for the heads-up. It means owl in French and is pronounced ēbu. Owls being wise and all. Thanks for trying it out. Hope you like it.
  - Nadya 11y ago
    When I get home you'll be getting another 5 star review. I saw the algorithm you use on the About page which was my only question. Being familiar with SRS, I'm already trusting of how SRS works, so I'm not judging the app based on "what is it supposed to do" but rather "how does it look and function". It's well designed and easy to use which is all I could ask for for an app like this. Thanks for sharing! Two things I've found that are both minor so I'm not "docking points" ;) >Click the Hibou highlight button. It will be saved here until you make a highlight. I think you mean "Highlights you make will be saved here."? And if I activate Hibou on a page, I can't seem to disable the highlighter without refreshing the page. Pressing Alt+H doesn't get rid of it and neither does clicking the button to deactivate the highlighting cursor. This is an annoyance, but it's unlikely that I'll ever press Alt+H without the intent of highlighting something - so isn't an issue I'd run into day to day. Clicking onto the page to close the app dialogue and then re-clicking the icon to bring open the options shows that the highlighter reactivates itself. Upon reactivation or clicking the bubble I expect it to remain disabled until I activate it again. http://i.imgur.com/SQGXKbI.png http://i.imgur.com/SQGXKbI.png Lastly - it should be clarified what benefits "Logging in" gives. How does it make Hibou "even better"?
    - willlma 11y ago
      Awesome. Thanks for the review and thoughts on design. >Click the Hibou highlight button. It will be saved here until you make a highlight. Here refers to the Reading list. If you click the highlight button, but don't make any highlights, Hibou will save that page in the reading list (the left-most icon in app.hibou.com). That way, you can go back and highlight it later. You won't get any reminders or notifications until you create your first highlight on that page, at which point it goes from your reading list to your queue (middle clock icon), and of course the highlights are saved. I'll make that clearer. Thanks for pointing out the disabling bug. If you only use the keyboard shortcut, enabling and disabling should work fine. If you use the popup, disabling seems broken. I'll fix that today. Logging in allows you to * see your highlights on another device (which means another computer right now, but will soon mean your phone) by going to app.gethibou.com and logging in with the same gmail account. * Store an unlimited number of highlights. Everything is saved locally if you don't log in, and you're limited to 5mb of local storage in an extension, so eventually you'll run out of space (you'll get a warning if you're running out of space). * Sort all highlights by tags. As I roll out features, sometimes things need to be coded on the server and within the extension. In those cases, I'll write the code on the server first, so by logging in you'll get access to newer features. Sorting by tag is the first of those features. I'll add this to the guide.
petra 11y ago
Very interesting. Are you planning to do a firefox extension too ?
- willlma 11y ago
  This was originally a Firefox extension, and it is still available if you visit the above page on Firefox, but as pointed out in another comment, it's a bit buggy and I'm not sure when I'll have time to bring it up to speed with the Chrome version. Frankly, I had high hopes when Mozilla announced that they were making it easy to port Chrome extensions to Firefox, and my plan was to contribute to [that project](https://github.com/jetpack-labs/chrome-tailor https://github.com/jetpack-labs/chrome-tailor), but it doesn't seem to be very active. It really depends on how successful the Chrome version becomes and how many people request this. If you write me an email (will@gethibou.com), I can keep you up to date with my plans to update the Firefox extension.
diggan 11y ago
Hm, very interesting idea. The extension seems to be a buggy. Or, maybe I'm not supposed to use the Firefox addon they have since the founder writes here that this is a Chrome extension. Anyways, I'm logged into two Google accounts, one work and one personal. I want to use Hibou with my personal account, so in the extension I selected my personal one. But when I use the webapp, it tries to log me into my work one, since it's the first one I logged in with on Google in general. So I switch the account in the top right but then the application dies, reloads and doesn't allow me to login again. And, I can't really figure out how to save the text I've selected, it just stays yellow forever
- willlma 11y ago
  I'm sorry to hear this. It should work okay if you only have one Google account. Unfortunately, maintaining the Firefox version isn't a priority right now. I love Firefox and it was a tough decision to switch to Chrome, but it's the more popular browser these days. As I wrote below, updating the Firefox version really depends on how successful the Chrome version becomes and how many people request this. If you write me an email (will@gethibou.com), I can keep you up to date with my plans to update the Firefox extension.
rcy 11y ago
Nice work. Any plans for creating notes with cloze deletions? I have been looking for a lightweight implementation of an incremental reading system as described at http://www.supermemo.com/help/read.htm http://www.supermemo.com/help/read.htm. Part of the system includes converting what you have read into question/answer material.
- willlma 11y ago
  Thank you, and I'm so glad this is the top-rated comment. Rereading isn't the same as retrieving information, and I want to work on this. I'd love to implement cloze deletions. My thought is that if there is a note associated with a highlight, the user could click an eye icon to toggle the highlight's visibility. Cloze deletions would then be achieved by copy-pasting the highlight and removing the portion that you want hidden. If you're familiar with the Hibou UI and have other ideas on how I could smoothly integrate cloze deletion, let me know.
  - Nadya 11y ago
    Below the pencil for note taking have a ? or lightbulb that allows the user to enter a question? Since I think users creating their own cloze tests or prompts would be beneficial. This also lets it be optional. e.g http://i.imgur.com/YKrI6Ad.png http://i.imgur.com/YKrI6Ad.png
- capisce 11y ago
  What do you mean by lightweight? I also think incremental reading seems useful.
DennisP 11y ago
Do you have a way to quiz the user? If it's just review instead of attempted recall, it's not near as effective.
- willlma 11y ago
  Not yet, but I agree. See my reply to @rcy's comment.
th0br0 11y ago
The newest update had me remove the extension straightaway. I don't need a 'get started with hibou now' layer on all my pages if I haven't used it yet on which I can't even press 'not now' because Hibou injects some google analytics which µblock blocks of course causing the JS to break...
- willlma 11y ago
  Sorry, you're only supposed to see that once. That should be fixed as of 0.4.6.
alisson 11y ago
This is awesome! Loved it. I'd love it even more if there was an android app with offline access.
- willlma 11y ago
  I glad you enjoy it. Given that I'm working on this alone, I won't have the resources to make a native app soon. That said, I'm working on the mobile webapp right now and will try to implement service workers so you can get notifications and have offline access. Install to home screen removes the browser UI, so it won't be native, but it'll be close. http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/20/8454613/push-notifications-android-chrome-42-mobile-web http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/20/8454613/push-notifications... Hopefully iOS will support service workers in the future.
Nadya 11y ago
Upon updating Chrome this morning I got this page: http://i.imgur.com/iCU0100.png http://i.imgur.com/iCU0100.png The button didn't work and I'm leaning towards this being a bug. If this is intended, I'll be uninstalling. I do not approve of this behavior in apps.
- willlma 11y ago
  Definitely a bug. Are/were you on 0.4.6? Someone else mentioned this being a result of µblock, but even with that installed, it should now be working correctly.
  - Nadya 11y ago
    No idea to be honest, just glad to hear it was a bug. Given it was more or less non-functional I was erring towards "bug" over intentional to begin with. :)

69 points by willlma 11y ago

Founder here. Hibou is a Chrome extension that allows you to highlight whatever you find interesting, then sends you a notification when it's time to review those highlights. Spaced repetition is a proven technique that waits until you're about to forget something before reminding you to review it, thus helping you remember as much as possible as effortlessly as possible. I'd love to hear the thoughts of the HN community Will

viraptor 11y ago
So are you a techzing listener, or was it a coincidence?
- willlma 11y ago
  Pure coincidence. Is there a particular episode I should listen to?
  - viraptor 11y ago
    Not sure, your exact idea has been mentioned many times as "I really want it to exist, but don't have time to do it". The first mention in the episode notes goes back to 2012 (http://techzinglive.com/page/1077/189-tz-discussion-synthesizing-the-future http://techzinglive.com/page/1077/189-tz-discussion-synthesi...) I think, it mentions spaced repetition and those two were close together.
    - willlma 11y ago
      Nice! There are plenty of spaced-repetition tools out there, but I wanted to make it really easy to add info into a database, and I thought that text selection would be the easiest. That episode mentions Gary Wolf's 2008 Wired article [Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm](http://www.wired.com/2008/04/ff-wozniak/ http://www.wired.com/2008/04/ff-wozniak/), which I think is what inspired me to create Hibou.
- phrasemix 11y ago
  This was the first thing that I thought of. Jason calls the idea "Memory Hole", which is both a much better and much worse name than "Hibou".
  - willlma 11y ago
    Hahaha, I totally agree. I've just reached out to them for some feedback. Seems like they've spent a lot of time thinking about this.
    - jayro 11y ago
      Nice work! I think we need to bring you on the show.
  - jayro 11y ago
    Jason here! I totally agree - the name "Memory Hole" doesn't really make any sense at all given what it means -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole But something about it always made me laugh, so that's what I called it. Anyway, I'm so glad that someone FINALLY got around to building the damn thing! I guess the lesson here is that if you want something done, either do it yourself, or ... be prepared to wait a really long time. ;)

Nadya 11y ago

My first thoughts was "Slander / Abuse". I'm going to go with the naming wasn't meant to be in Japanese (or Chinese), but thought you might want to be aware of that. :) This is great. A reminder to go through what I'd normally slap in a bookmark with an intention of "reread later". I'll give it a test-drive.

willlma 11y ago
Wow, thanks for the heads-up. It means owl in French and is pronounced ēbu. Owls being wise and all. Thanks for trying it out. Hope you like it.
- Nadya 11y ago
  When I get home you'll be getting another 5 star review. I saw the algorithm you use on the About page which was my only question. Being familiar with SRS, I'm already trusting of how SRS works, so I'm not judging the app based on "what is it supposed to do" but rather "how does it look and function". It's well designed and easy to use which is all I could ask for for an app like this. Thanks for sharing! Two things I've found that are both minor so I'm not "docking points" ;) >Click the Hibou highlight button. It will be saved here until you make a highlight. I think you mean "Highlights you make will be saved here."? And if I activate Hibou on a page, I can't seem to disable the highlighter without refreshing the page. Pressing Alt+H doesn't get rid of it and neither does clicking the button to deactivate the highlighting cursor. This is an annoyance, but it's unlikely that I'll ever press Alt+H without the intent of highlighting something - so isn't an issue I'd run into day to day. Clicking onto the page to close the app dialogue and then re-clicking the icon to bring open the options shows that the highlighter reactivates itself. Upon reactivation or clicking the bubble I expect it to remain disabled until I activate it again. http://i.imgur.com/SQGXKbI.png http://i.imgur.com/SQGXKbI.png Lastly - it should be clarified what benefits "Logging in" gives. How does it make Hibou "even better"?
  - willlma 11y ago
    Awesome. Thanks for the review and thoughts on design. >Click the Hibou highlight button. It will be saved here until you make a highlight. Here refers to the Reading list. If you click the highlight button, but don't make any highlights, Hibou will save that page in the reading list (the left-most icon in app.hibou.com). That way, you can go back and highlight it later. You won't get any reminders or notifications until you create your first highlight on that page, at which point it goes from your reading list to your queue (middle clock icon), and of course the highlights are saved. I'll make that clearer. Thanks for pointing out the disabling bug. If you only use the keyboard shortcut, enabling and disabling should work fine. If you use the popup, disabling seems broken. I'll fix that today. Logging in allows you to * see your highlights on another device (which means another computer right now, but will soon mean your phone) by going to app.gethibou.com and logging in with the same gmail account. * Store an unlimited number of highlights. Everything is saved locally if you don't log in, and you're limited to 5mb of local storage in an extension, so eventually you'll run out of space (you'll get a warning if you're running out of space). * Sort all highlights by tags. As I roll out features, sometimes things need to be coded on the server and within the extension. In those cases, I'll write the code on the server first, so by logging in you'll get access to newer features. Sorting by tag is the first of those features. I'll add this to the guide.

petra 11y ago

Very interesting. Are you planning to do a firefox extension too ?

willlma 11y ago
This was originally a Firefox extension, and it is still available if you visit the above page on Firefox, but as pointed out in another comment, it's a bit buggy and I'm not sure when I'll have time to bring it up to speed with the Chrome version. Frankly, I had high hopes when Mozilla announced that they were making it easy to port Chrome extensions to Firefox, and my plan was to contribute to [that project](https://github.com/jetpack-labs/chrome-tailor https://github.com/jetpack-labs/chrome-tailor), but it doesn't seem to be very active. It really depends on how successful the Chrome version becomes and how many people request this. If you write me an email (will@gethibou.com), I can keep you up to date with my plans to update the Firefox extension.

diggan 11y ago

Hm, very interesting idea. The extension seems to be a buggy. Or, maybe I'm not supposed to use the Firefox addon they have since the founder writes here that this is a Chrome extension. Anyways, I'm logged into two Google accounts, one work and one personal. I want to use Hibou with my personal account, so in the extension I selected my personal one. But when I use the webapp, it tries to log me into my work one, since it's the first one I logged in with on Google in general. So I switch the account in the top right but then the application dies, reloads and doesn't allow me to login again. And, I can't really figure out how to save the text I've selected, it just stays yellow forever

willlma 11y ago
I'm sorry to hear this. It should work okay if you only have one Google account. Unfortunately, maintaining the Firefox version isn't a priority right now. I love Firefox and it was a tough decision to switch to Chrome, but it's the more popular browser these days. As I wrote below, updating the Firefox version really depends on how successful the Chrome version becomes and how many people request this. If you write me an email (will@gethibou.com), I can keep you up to date with my plans to update the Firefox extension.

rcy 11y ago

Nice work. Any plans for creating notes with cloze deletions? I have been looking for a lightweight implementation of an incremental reading system as described at http://www.supermemo.com/help/read.htm http://www.supermemo.com/help/read.htm. Part of the system includes converting what you have read into question/answer material.

willlma 11y ago
Thank you, and I'm so glad this is the top-rated comment. Rereading isn't the same as retrieving information, and I want to work on this. I'd love to implement cloze deletions. My thought is that if there is a note associated with a highlight, the user could click an eye icon to toggle the highlight's visibility. Cloze deletions would then be achieved by copy-pasting the highlight and removing the portion that you want hidden. If you're familiar with the Hibou UI and have other ideas on how I could smoothly integrate cloze deletion, let me know.
- Nadya 11y ago
  Below the pencil for note taking have a ? or lightbulb that allows the user to enter a question? Since I think users creating their own cloze tests or prompts would be beneficial. This also lets it be optional. e.g http://i.imgur.com/YKrI6Ad.png http://i.imgur.com/YKrI6Ad.png
capisce 11y ago
What do you mean by lightweight? I also think incremental reading seems useful.

DennisP 11y ago

Do you have a way to quiz the user? If it's just review instead of attempted recall, it's not near as effective.

willlma 11y ago
Not yet, but I agree. See my reply to @rcy's comment.

th0br0 11y ago

The newest update had me remove the extension straightaway. I don't need a 'get started with hibou now' layer on all my pages if I haven't used it yet on which I can't even press 'not now' because Hibou injects some google analytics which µblock blocks of course causing the JS to break...

willlma 11y ago
Sorry, you're only supposed to see that once. That should be fixed as of 0.4.6.

alisson 11y ago

This is awesome! Loved it. I'd love it even more if there was an android app with offline access.

willlma 11y ago
I glad you enjoy it. Given that I'm working on this alone, I won't have the resources to make a native app soon. That said, I'm working on the mobile webapp right now and will try to implement service workers so you can get notifications and have offline access. Install to home screen removes the browser UI, so it won't be native, but it'll be close. http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/20/8454613/push-notifications-android-chrome-42-mobile-web http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/20/8454613/push-notifications... Hopefully iOS will support service workers in the future.

Nadya 11y ago

Upon updating Chrome this morning I got this page: http://i.imgur.com/iCU0100.png http://i.imgur.com/iCU0100.png The button didn't work and I'm leaning towards this being a bug. If this is intended, I'll be uninstalling. I do not approve of this behavior in apps.

willlma 11y ago
Definitely a bug. Are/were you on 0.4.6? Someone else mentioned this being a result of µblock, but even with that installed, it should now be working correctly.
- Nadya 11y ago
  No idea to be honest, just glad to hear it was a bug. Given it was more or less non-functional I was erring towards "bug" over intentional to begin with. :)