Reading better on screens
Practical writing on comprehension, focus, and the formats that carry most of what we read. No speed-reading mythology.
Free download — The DRM-Free Starter Library
Twenty-eight genuinely good public-domain books you can own outright, where to find thousands more, and how to get them into any reader. A short EPUB and PDF.
Essay — You don't have to choose between speed and comprehension
Speed reading earned its bad reputation — but the research kills a technique, not the idea. Reading is three different activities wearing the same hat, speed is only a dial for one of them, and turned down it becomes a focus aid.
What is RSVP reading — and does it actually work?
One word at a time in a fixed spot. What fifty years of reading research actually says about comprehension — including the parts that don't flatter the technique.
How to actually read academic PDFs on an iPad
Two-column papers, scanned chapters and footnotes that land mid-sentence. Why PDFs fight back, and the structural work needed to make them readable.
Extract text from a video — Vidstrackt (open source)
A free CLI that OCRs every frame on-device and reconstructs the on-screen text in reading order. The tool we use to verify Velo's own RSVP demo reels.
Swift EPUB text extraction library — Scribe (open source)
On-device PDF/EPUB structure extraction using only Apple frameworks — the same pipeline that turns an imported book into what Velo's reader renders.
Python PDF chapter detection from OCR — Folio (open source)
Reconstructs chapters, titles and footnotes from Marker's OCR output on scanned books, extracted from Velo's own PDF pipeline.
The RSVP reading algorithm — Optimal Recognition Point (open source)
Parity-locked JS/Swift timing engine behind Velo's RSVP mode, with a 519-case golden fixture holding both implementations to identical behaviour.
Where to find DRM-free ebooks
The stores, publishers and archives that sell EPUBs you actually own — and how to check a book is DRM-free before you pay for it.
RSVP & focused reading
The one-word-at-a-time reading technique, explained
That reading style you saw — words flashing one at a time — is called RSVP. What it is, why it works, and where it fails.
The red focus letter, explained
What the highlighted letter in an RSVP display actually does, why its position matters, and where to get it right.
The RSVP reader built for iPhone
What a serious implementation looks like — ORP alignment, adaptive timing, and a page view that shares one position with the stream.
An honest speed reading app for iPhone
What the technique actually does on a phone, what's free, and when it genuinely helps — starting with what the research doesn't support.
A reading app that earns its place on iPad
Real typography for books and papers, RSVP when attention drifts, one position synced across iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Read the books you already own, faster
An app for actually finishing books — your own EPUBs and PDFs, a focus mode that holds attention, no catalogue subscription.
What's actually free in Velo
The free tier is bounded by library size, not locked features — both modes, import, stats, and on-device AI, with 3 imported books.
EPUB & your library
Choosing an EPUB reader for iPhone
What separates EPUB readers on iOS — typography, import friction, privacy, offline behavior — and where Velo fits, honestly.
An EPUB speed reader that's still a real reader
Most speed modes strip your book into a word hose and lose your place. The fix is one position shared between stream and page.
A reader for every book you actually own
Why no third-party app can open Kindle purchases, what DRM-free really means, and a reader built for the books that are genuinely yours.
An EPUB reader with text-to-speech done right
Listening is easy; keeping your place between listening and reading is the hard part. How Listen keeps text and audio in sync.
PDFs & research
How to get through academic papers faster
The bottleneck isn't reading speed — it's structure, triage, and attention. A workflow and a tool for all three.
A PDF reader for research, not just viewing
Research reading needs structure — chapters, clean text, linked footnotes — and a way to stay focused through forty pages.
RSVP reading for PDFs
Why most PDF speed readers stream page numbers at you one word at a time — and what it takes to RSVP a PDF properly.
Reading PDFs aloud without losing your place
Any app can speak a PDF. The differences: whether it reads the text or the page clutter, and whether you can follow along.
Focus & accessibility
Reading without the exits
A distraction-free reading app has two jobs: contain no distractions itself, and give wandering attention nowhere to go.
Reading with ADHD: what actually helps
Why long-form reading is hard when attention wanders, what a single-word display changes mechanically, and what no app should promise.
RSVP and ADHD: owning the pace
If you already know RSVP helps you focus, the implementation details matter — who controls the pace, and how recovery works.
A reading mode that removes line-tracking
For adult readers with dyslexia, one honest mechanical claim: a single-word display eliminates visual tracking, and everything is adjustable.
Privacy, offline & on-device AI
Reading apps that actually work offline
"Works offline" spans everything from cached copies to a fully local library. What to check before the flight.
What you read is nobody's business
Reading apps quietly became reading surveillance. What a private reader architecture looks like — on-device, opt-in sync, nothing sold.
Book summaries that never leave your device
AI book analysis usually means uploading the book. On-device Apple Intelligence changes the economics — and what a summary is for.
Ask the book
Put questions to the book you're reading — scoped to a chapter or the whole text, answered on your device, never uploaded.
Listening
Listen to the books you own
Most EPUBs will never get an audiobook. Text-to-speech with word tracking makes your own library listenable — with one bookmark across ears and eyes.
Text-to-speech for your documents, not just text
iOS can speak anything on screen. A document TTS tool earns its place with clean extraction, word tracking, and one shared position.
Read quickly. Comprehend deeply.
Velo reads the EPUBs, PDFs and web articles you already have, in two modes that share one position.
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