Crutches for short term memory
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I spend a lot of my time in front of computer screens, reading. I read weblogs, click some links in them, read online newspapers, participate in online discussions and write and read lots of email.

Sometimes, a question comes up to my mind : "Where Did I Read This?" and I have to start figuring "how did I get there" or "what did it look like" or abandon hope of finding it again.

What I need is a software tool that will record everything I read, and when I need to find it again, enable me to enter a word or two in a search box and get a list of places I have been to that contain those words.

I think that in the "not so far future", a "Where Did I Read This" utility will be a part of every OS because I am not the only one this this world having this problem.

Current solutions don't work. Here's why:

  • Google doesn't know what sites I have been to.
  • Google hasn't necessarily indexed pages that were updated five minutes ago.
  • Search utilities based on my bookmarks don't know where have I gone to, after visiting a bookmarked link.
How should it work?

From the easiest to the hardest
1. Index all the text in the browsers' cache and let me search it. Show me page titles, the address and the search text in context.

2. Index all the text that passes through the network connection, including web pages, email and documents.

3. Apply OCR to all the text that was displayed on my screen, regardless of application.
What's wrong with this solution?

First and foremost, the utility will be able to tell me "Where Did I Read This At This Computer".

I cannot think of any other problems.

Can you make me one?

If you know of current solutions to the "Where Did I Read This" problem I have outlined here, please contact me.

I you can, or want to think about it together, contact me.
Thanks.

People are more important than computers.