BINGCADY  (To those noticing the BARQSX review below, the developer replied and set the record straight; all is well.)

Now, as to the product - it's awesome! I've used a similar tachistoscope program called Ace Reader for years. However, that program is both fairly expensive and much more involved than I've wanted. iReadFast is much more Maclike; simple, easy to use, very attractive, and works just as advertised. And since it's free, everyone can try out this great tool and improve their reading speed!

The only think I can think to add to this program in the future might be the ability to display multiple words at a time, since some speed reading techniques involve taking in whole phrases at a time instead of single words. But I am not certain whether this chunking technique can be used with tachistoscope presentation or whether the reader must choose his/her own chunk of words on which to focus.

Mille grazie per questo buonisimo regalo, signore Del Maschio!  
(Version 1.2)

FOXYORB  Thank you for this. It helps going through those interesting but long blogs.  
(Version 1.1)

TICONUCK  A beautiful piece of software. I only just discovered it, but it now has a home on my Hard Drive and even in my Dock. It is perfectly configurable and comes with a help file that is helpful and concise. It does its job very well, without being heavy on system resources. It really shouldn't be freeware.

Highly recommended. It's going to help me out tremendously!  
(Version 1.5)

PIZZACAKE  I love this app. Looks terrific and really helps me with reading speed and comprehension by avoiding re-reading.

Here's an applescript which works as follows:

You copy the text (Command C) you want to be read

Run the applescript which does:

Asks if you want to open iReadFast if it's not open

Pastes the text into iReadFast

Presses the play button for you!

--Start of applescript

(* Please note only run this script after you have run iReadFast at least once. This is because in Leopard the first time you run a new application you have to give permission for the application to run.*)

tell application "System Events"

set isiReadFastOpen to (name of processes) contains "iReadFast"

end tell

if isiReadFastOpen then

runiReadFast() of me

else

activate

set Btn to button returned of (display dialog "iReadFast is not currently running. Run iReadFast?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button "Yes" with icon 1)

if Btn is "Yes" then

runiReadFast() of me

end if

end if

on runiReadFast()

tell application "iReadFast"

activate

tell application "System Events"

keystroke "v" using command down

tell process "iReadFast"

click checkbox 1 of group 1 of window 1

end tell

end tell

end tell

end runiReadFast

--End of applescript

Paste this into Script Editor and either save as script in folder iReadfast (create if necessary) in scripts folder or save as application bundle and run from dock.

Developer: Consider a service menu item that can do this. In Leopard keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to service menu items. I have a keyboard shortcut for speaking text, works very well. Nice work btw.  
(Version 1.2)

GENGIS  Please send me any comment/suggestion about the new timing features in version 1.2. There are many ways to implement them, the one I used is just one of the simplest while enough flexible. I really would like to hear your thoughts about the effectiveness of the new features and how to improve them.  
(Version 1.2)

HTGROFF  This is a great application. I have found that I can read a newspaper article so much faster than I could without it.  
(Version 1.12)

ANG  This little tool is beautiful.

The first hour, reading as fast as possible is not easy... But with a little more adaptation... Now i can tell I READ FAST !  
(Version 1.12)

ZANGIEF  It's been a while since the last update, and I'm still looking forward to that font selection option. Any news?  
(Version 1.6)

ZANGIEF  The new 1.5 is great, just one more thing I'd like to see to make it perfect: I want to be able to change the font, with a standard font selection panel. Excellent work, as were 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4, Signor Del Maschio. ^_^  
(Version 1.5)

MUSUBANA  Thanks for the new advanced timing options. Just what I was looking for! :-)  
(Version 1.2)