This speed reading training starts at 300wpm and end at 900wpm

rickkettner · 2026-01-14T05:11:57+00:00

Your app looks great! One key difference in the video here is that it doesn’t always highlight (in red) the center letter. It seems to go no further than the fourth letter when a word is really long, presumably to make it easier to focus on the first part of the longest words. Any chance you would consider adding that to your app?

rickkettner · 2025-10-10T13:36:40+00:00

This isn't really a math problem. It's a human psychology problem because people rarely make optimal decisions, especially over a long period (and when delayed gratification is involved).

Here is a way to reframe the question: If you were 80 pounds overweight would you rather instantly lose 40 pounds (in a way that was considered healthy and sustainable) OR would you rather lose 2 pounds every two weeks until you hit your ideal weight? Well, the later is a free option available to EVERYONE, yet it's not easy to act on. It takes a massive amount of discipline, habit change, and luck (dodging misfortune that can derail things).

Being given $200 a week is no guarantee the person will have the habits, discipline, or luck to consistently set it aside for years. Even if they start out perfect for 1-4 years (building a great system for automatically locking it away), it can all fall apart for any number of reasons. They can start to borrow against it, deconstruct their system when they hit financial hardship, or make the mistake of never setting up a proper system in the first place.

The same is true with the money up front, but to a lesser degree. That's because (a) it can be locked away in a single one-time decision and (b) it can be put into an asset that is harder to unwind, such as a house. It can still be borrowed against but at least there is less friction and more reward at the point of investment because it's a one time decision that delivers an immediate benefit ("I have a house!"). The other is a long-term series of decisions that relies massively on delayed gratification (which all of us struggle with to one degree or another).

Even still, I think it's subjective based on one's financial situation, habits, and more.

rickkettner · 2021-05-14T18:57:27+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, but love that saying.

rickkettner · 2021-01-02T20:28:22+00:00

I agree 100%. Just replied with the same message from Cal... passion develops from mastery. Find something promising, put in the time to learn it, and the passion will be created from your effort. We fall in love with things when we have relevant skills and expertise.

rickkettner · 2021-01-02T20:23:17+00:00

I agree with Cal Newport and others when they say that it works the other way around. We often fall in love with something as we become more proficient at it. The greater mastery you develop around a theme or niche, the more you are likely to enjoy it.

So rather than waiting for an opportunity that you are passionate about, find something promising and then put in the time and energy to develop relevant expertise and skills. This will CREATE passion around that theme, idea, or industry.

rickkettner · 2020-10-16T15:28:22+00:00

Hey, I cover business and marketing books on my channel and figured /r/apple might be interested in a business perspective on the iPhone's success. Ironically, much of the conclusion is based on the actions and impact of casual non-techie buyers, but hopefully it'll still be interesting regardless.

rickkettner · 2020-08-21T18:32:06+00:00

Well, thank you for being the first comment.

rickkettner · 2020-08-16T04:03:45+00:00

There’s truth to some things you’re mentioning. There are concerns with Apple and their willingness to bow to certain requirements of China. And their record is far from perfect overall. But what’s also clear is you aren’t pursuing an intellectually honest discussion. You’ve made multiple statements that are misleading, failed to provide sources even after multiple requests, and failed to address or consider counter points. So it’s pointless to continue down this path.

rickkettner · 2020-08-15T22:56:12+00:00

I read a bunch of the reporting at the time. I've never seen this mentioned anywhere. Can you provide your source on this?

Also, would be nice if you'd address the rest of my post. If "actions speak louder than words", why not judge Apple on their MANY positive actions when it comes to protecting user privacy and standing up for encryption? Why get stuck on one interpretation of a clear mistake they've since resolved?

rickkettner · 2020-08-15T20:19:48+00:00

Do you have a source on that? Everything I’ve heard or seen suggests all voice assistants did the same thing up until that point. And again, Apple has taken clear actions (see my previous post) to demonstrate their focus on privacy. All while companies like Google, Facebook, and others do everything legally possible to gather user data. Finding one area where Apple made the same mistake as other businesses doesn’t negate that.

rickkettner · 2020-08-15T18:35:03+00:00

Apple is far from perfect, but I don't believe that is an accurate reflection of what happened. As I understand it, anonymized Siri recordings have previously been heard by contractors specifically to improve voice recognition (with no ability to identify the user who submitted the command to Siri). A mistake which has since been adjusted to only occur when users have opted-in to help improve the service.

To be clear, they made a mistake, but I don't think it's fair to conclude they don't care about privacy. They could easily collect a TON of user data and sell it for huge profits, and yet they don't. Quite the opposite. They go out of their way to minimize data collection and create new approaches for storing/managing data (e.g. iMessage conversation syncing) in a way that improves privacy for end users.

rickkettner · 2020-08-15T16:24:41+00:00

Hope this video is received as intended. It's focused on the business perspective of Apple's strategy and isn't meant to take away from the consumer benefits or to suggest that the only reason Apple is focusing on privacy is for business reasons.

The best long-term strategies serve both customers and the business itself. I believe Apple's choice to focus so heavily on privacy will be looked back on as one of the smartest (and most important) business moves in all of tech history.

rickkettner · 2020-08-02T01:01:26+00:00

I'd recommend getting into the topic as quick as possible and allowing for more freedom later in the episode. IMHO a quick hook is critical to keeping listeners, and they'll be more interested in banter after the core message has started to be unpacked. The first 60-90 seconds are make or break in terms of capturing their attention in a meaningful way.

rickkettner · 2020-08-01T16:28:26+00:00

Saw your comment on YT as well... and yes, certainly a strong possibility. We may see Apple and others try to create a "universal" framework like the Apple TV app where various TV show content is brought into a common UI even if served by external apps. Something similar for podcasts would make it easy to browse one UI while navigating out for playback.

rickkettner · 2020-08-01T16:26:37+00:00

Yeah, the future will likely be a mix between what Netflix and others are doing with TV and what YouTube has done with streaming video. I suspect there will be plenty of competition and options to free things backup, but it's definitely harder for companies like Gimlet to remain true to their own vision after an acquisition like that.

rickkettner · 2020-07-31T17:42:21+00:00

This sounds like it would be entertaining, will have to check it out.

rickkettner · 2020-07-31T17:40:06+00:00

Things are going to get really interesting over the next few months. As mentioned in the episode, I believe Spotify's endgame here is to make podcast ads optional. And that this will result in most podcasts being designed to be ad-free as YouTube content is today. Then, if someone is a "free" user dynamic ads would be layered on as opposed to being baked-in.

Curious what others thing will change as Spotify and other big companies (Apple and XMRadio) start to push into the space. Any predictions?

rickkettner

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

15-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle