Mark: AI Bookmark for Physical Readers | Hacker News Reader

Mark: AI Bookmark for Physical Readers

mark.engineering

13 pointschaosprint22 comments

So just to recap, at the moment we have bookmarks which are free, paper thin (because they're made of whatever piece of paper, ticket stub, etc. I have around) barely stick out from book but can stay with it, and feather light. When I start reading and stop reading I simply move it to another page. I can and do own dozens with at least one stuck in many books. I can have multiple in one book. They physically bring me to my last-read page.

Instead this is something expensive, thick, with a battery that could ignite and a knob I must turn, protrudes a lot and/or I must carry separately, slow to resume and slow to save.

This doesn't read like an April Fool's joke. This reads like an Onion or SNL skit mocking the tech industry. What am I missing?

I can't overstate how important it is that a real bookmark stores itself by simply tucking it somewhere else in the book while I'm reading. A titanium dongle with a battery in it can't beat that for UX....

This is exactly like the Juicero

I am both skeptical and interested:

- Looks like you turn the knob to set your page

- This, and your book title, appear to be the only input data to the system (no other sensors)

- Does this mean they aim to have a database of the text of every edition of every book, indexed by page?

If they can pull it off I think it could be useful, but I think they will need to compromise on quality if they hit copyright issues.

They have a database of books but it's limited. This is the Achilles heel that they don't really mention.

Yeah, they're also going to get sued out of existence by publishers if they try this.

https://x.com/markhardware/status/1894829887304933626

Yeah I responded to that the other day about a recipe app that tried something similar. It allowed people to scan the barcode of recipe books they owned to add the contained recipes into the app. They were busted.

Wonder how Readwise is managing what they do -- really hope they don't get shut down.

No idea. But here's an article on the recipe book barcode scanner app (2016): https://www.superbcrew.com/scan-recipes-allows-you-to-turn-b...

I'm not familiar with Readwise but it appears they only store highlights? Publishers probably don't like that but don't care enough to do anything about it, whereas "uploading copies of books to the services to do AI stuff with them" is the subject of many ongoing lawsuits right now, so they'll be very interested if this takes off.

Right, I just don't know where the dividing line would be. What % of a book is acceptable?

If that's the case, what does this metal plate do that my phone can't? It is just a knob that sends a number to my phone? Why can't I just use my phone? This feels like the humane pin again.

Well, it's a bookmark ...I guess. One that can be used to select a book from a list and set a page number. But, yeah. I just don't see the need for it.

I have no idea what this is meant to do.

Is it some sort of device that scans the text in physical books and then create AI cliff notes?

Because if so, I imagine they will be sued out of existence by publishers pretty fast.

From the manifesto:

> Yet, while print remains king, it lacks what digital tools offer: engagement, accessibility, and efficiency.

Guys, that’s not a flaw, that’s the _sales pitch_.

I would agree, but I do think I get a lot out of Readwise which helps me review what I have read.

If this could help me with review or highlight collection then I'd be happy with it.

It's difficult for me to express in words how much I do NOT want to be the first to experience Mark.

"The first AI bookmark" - and the site doesn't seem to mention AI once, as far as I can tell. Seems like a very fancy and overbuilt input method for a gamify-reading app, and not a lot more.

This takes the cake for worst product page I've seen in awhile! Am I this out of touch that I can't see what it even does?

This looks like technology for people who only read books to talk about them on podcasts.

Wow, this is a wonderfully crafted, yet unbelievably useless product.

What if you have two books?

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