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Spreeder - another online speed-reading application

SpreederJust like ZAP Reader, Spreeder is an online speed-reading application that will help train your brain to read faster. Although they function very much the same, Spreeder's main goal in life isn't simply to allow you to read articles online more quickly; Spreeder wants to make you into a faster reader in general.

Basically, using a speed-reading application like Spreeder forces you to drop the habit of backreading, which is exactly what you think it is - you know, when you read a sentence over and over again. Instead, you learn that you better catch it the first time, because there's no going back. Secondly, it forces your reading to outpace the little voice in your head that subvocalizes everything you read as you read it. Although very common, subvocalizing actually slows your reading down, since we're capable of taking in information faster that it can actually be spoken.

Lastly, Spreeder can be configured to show full chunks of text, rather than one word at a time. Since we can recognize words and groups of words by their shapes alone, learning to read this way can vastly improve our reading speed.

Here's the coolest part. Hidden under a Plugins link at the top of the screen is a bookmarklet that will allow you to simply select text on a page, click the bookmarklet, and have a new Spreeder window or tab spawned with your text already loaded into it.

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Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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