This is a neat idea (the reader) but I really feel it needs a native mobile app (not just a web wrapper) - any plans in the works for that?
I think it would be great to have a native app, especially to read my books offline when I need to..
I also think that mobile app would be great and I’m making one)
It will also allow you to translate words not only on websites, but any text you can see through your camera)
Does that service use readlang or is it just a ripoff? Also, why do I feel like it’s just a combination of Google translate’s camera mode and Readlang’s practice mode?
This is the first I’ve heard about Snapglot. Based on their website it sounds like a cool idea to get reading content and vocab from the real world into Readlang.
I was just thinking about OCR (optical character recognition) the other day as a way to support all the kinds of input that Readlang doesn’t currently support, e.g.:
- PDFs
- Movie subtitles
- The rest of the non-digital world (books, menus, etc..)
I don’t have any short term plans to do this though.
Regarding a mobile app. It makes a ton of sense, but I’ve been holding off on it due to the extra complexity it will add, slowing down development of the web app. If I did add a mobile app, the first version would very likely be a wrapper around the web app, with a couple of extra niceties that aren’t possible with the web app.
I think it’s better for you to focus on the website itself, I always see incredible new updates, who knows, maybe one day you can turn it into a mobile project too
I’ve been using readlang for a while to learn Estonian and really like it, thank you for this awesome web service.
I understood from your blog that app is not priority for you, so I decided to make one.
It uses readlang bookmarklet inside. Which significantly improves security for users.
At the moment to enable bookmarklet you have to turn-off “Cross site tracking prevention” in safari or allow “Allow third-party cookies” in Chrome.
When you do that you allow all sorts of websites track your behaviour online and spam you with online ads.
When you use bookmarklet inside Snapglot you are not tracked by marketing platforms.
First version of Snapglot is a Readlang wrapper with camera that help you translate any text you see.
@Raccoon Snapglot uses readlang, you need to login via Email.
It better then google translate because it helps you to read native text instead of spoiling you with instant translation that hides original.
You think this combination of OCR and Readlang is not useful?
Is your app already downloadable? I hope I can use it soon. I’m excited for it.
Sounds intriguing. The bookmarklet works well for me on the iphone. Would have to try it out to see if it’s worth adding a layer to Safari.
All very interesting but not sure about the utility of “wrapping readlang”? That sounds like just extending readlang functionality, in which case you might be better of collaborating with Steve (lol - assuming he would want that). FWIW I was looking for a pure native version of Readlang that does what it does, only slicker. I think the audio support could be improved in a mobile app, for example. You could have the text highlighting follow the words
@Milena_Vitoria That’s encouraging to hear that you’re excited for it, it will be soon available for download, you can subscribe to waiting list not to miss it!
@justin2 Explained a bit better the benefit of using a wrapper in original message. It’s about your privacy.
It’s true would be nice to have native app, but I see most benefit in encouraging users go out with camera and explore language in real life situations to have more real life associations, so I want to test this hypothesis, and then a better native app can be developed.
Also I think it’s good that I can do it without distracting @Steve from his focus at the moment.
But yes, I would be glad to collaborate at some point)