Very scary webpage. Kind of like those "DON'T BID IF YOU AREN'T GOING TO PAY" crazies on eBay. Sorry, not worth figuring out which link to click on...

foolish-rain

That would be annoying. It tells you when to study things in a pop up on your computer?

hammerimissu

Wow, that's a great idea! Of course, if it doesn't work for me, I know I'll always remember things with a combination of Google Calendar, GMail, and Memo To Me.

tnoetz01

If it helps me leave the industrial size pack of post-it notes at home, then I'll give it a shot.

minijonb

Yes SuperMemo is interesting. Quite a quirky program, but if you stick with it it works. Insanely opaque manual(s), if you can call them that. If only someone could take this basic concept and code something solid with clear instructions.

philosopher_dog

Kinda skimmed through the description and thought the co-founder of Apple was back in the game. hahah

misterlee

SuperMemo 98 has been available for download for a while as freeware. You can get it here. That's the version that, in my opinion, added an essential feature: the ability to create cards with HTML, and therefore images. Being able to learn geography, anatomy or other visually oriented material can be important.

I still use the Palm version occasionally, though it's text-only. On the desktop, I prefer OpenCards, an OpenOffice Impress extension that lets you create text or image based flash cards using the same Leitner method (spaced repetition) that SuperMemo's algorithms are derived from.

SuperMemo has evolved significantly, but is too tied to IE for my tastes. The biggest innovation in the lastest versions of SM is supposed to be "incremental reading," which is a way of clipping, triaging and scheduling chunks of texts from online content, so that you can reinforce individual sections in the same way you would with flashcards. My experience was that it was more trouble than it was worth, so even though I have a license for SM2004, I went back to using SM98 before switching to OpenCards.

Andre Kibbe

Also consider Anki (Win/OSX/Linux) and Mnemosyne Project (Win). They are both open-source and free. Additionally, Anki supports Asian characters and Unicode encodings.

calpchen

@calpchen: The Mnemosyne Project suggestion is perfect for my needs. "Thank you!"

jeromy

@Andre Kibbe: What you said, pretty much verbatim.

Cheers...

Galexi

@AndreKibbe: What you said, pretty much verbatim.

Cheers...

Galexi

I should've added that OpenCards also allows you to make flashcards out of sound files, so you can take your Pimsleur CDs and transfer each data pair (native language | foreign language) to a spaced repetition database. It's more labor-intensive on the front end, but you're not stuck repeating well-learned material just because is was recorded that way on the CDs.

Andre Kibbe

@calpchen: Thanks for the tip. BTW, Mnemosyne also supports Unicode. I like some of its features, eg integration with LaTeX, display of image and the portable support. It will be great if Mnemosyne can support other OS systems.

Anki has its own special feature, "Online Synchronization and Mobile Access (via Web access)".

wildeny

Did anyone else read "Super Mario Helps You Remember Everything Before You Forget"?

for some reason I thought you copy paste the text of what you want to remember and Mario reads it back in that super authentic Italian accent. Oh well I thought it was a good idea.

Whoopsi

The Mnemosyne Project looks very interesting. I like the open source nature of the program AND the research (which is very cool). I am going to give it a try for some MCAT related topics.

hummer13

I read this article and it is absolutely fascinating.

the_Sleepwalker

I've used SuperMemo for years and it's helped me a lot. True, the program is quirky and the instructions are a confusing nightmare. But the concept works.

You open the program each day and are presented with the flashcards it has selected for you with its inscrutable formula. Add new material by typing questions and answers to new flashcards, or by extracting data from your "incremental reading". I usually use that second option.

I've found that this is a program people either hate, or become addicted to.

ShirleyChs

GASP! Mnemosyne also has a suite of downloadable card packs that other people already wrote so you don't have to! It includes the language I wanted! I don't even have to set it up :D

(pic:[www.gdanmitchell.com])

aikoto

Whoah. I never knew about these before, but I'm very interested in trying! Mnemosyne looks like a total winner! It should help with my foreign language studies.

aikoto

The basic idea behind SM is good, and the whole spaced repetition system (SRS) thing is great. Essentially, it really is a "do more in less time" deal, since you save time not reviewing stuff you already know.

Anki is good, especially if you happen to be studying Japanese, but honestly, I think the interface is... well, more complicated than it ought to be. It should be noted that it is based on SM's algorithm, and the interface IS better than SM's (which isn't saying much).

If you're on a Mac, then try Mental Case. Viaverbi is also pretty good, although apparently abandonware. These two programs helped me pass the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) even though I started studying way too late.

kilbourne

I read this Wired article this morning and was immediately captivated. Then I went to their stuck-in-1995 website and was leery of buying software from people with no concept of user interface... So thanks to everyone posting these other versions!

Anyone know if there is a web-hosted tool that uses this sort of algorithm?

anniekate76

@Andre Kibbe
I went to look at OpenCards because of your Pimsleur mention. I don't find French done though. Too bad.

bdesilva

Wonderful to see SuperMemo get some good press. I wrote a Macintosh flashcard app called Flashcard Wizard in 1999 as I was struggling with Chinese and called this Leitner technique "interval study," thinking I had invented it myself when Wozniak had already put it into software years earlier.

Today a lot of flashcard applications and webpages try with wildly differing results to implement something similar. While I gave up on Flashcard Wizard interval study survives in a number of other excellent Mac OS X applications, including Studycard studio and the one which I feel is better than anything out there for Mac currently that includes the interval study feature: iFlash

kmlawson

It would be great if there was an email interface for this software.

dedalus

@ShirleyChs:
How useful do you find the incremental reading technique? I read about it on the SuperMemo site and was interested, but can't find much discussion on it and whether it's worthwhile.

mddg2030

@Andre Kibbe: Don't mingle Leitner-learning and SuperMemo-learning: Leitner-learning uses simple box-system where flashcards are shifted up and down according to your recall-results. SuperMemo attempts to implement a real model of forgetting to schedule future reviews of items. The main difference between both is that SuperMemo explicitly encodes time whereas Leitner does not.

However, OpenCards implements Leitner and a scheduling algorithm which I suppose to be very similar to the one used in SuperMemo.

holgerchen

Another excellent open-source program, using the same flash card technique with increased intervals of repetitions (in case your answer is right...) is jMemorize, to be found at www.jmemorize.org. The latest version also supports the use of images. I use this program with success to help me study Italian vocabulary during an evening course.

bgeenen

I use Mnemosyne Project for my Japanese and Korean studies. It also supports Asian fonts and Unicode and it is free! ^^

pakmashuu

@anniekate76

For a web-based tool, try [www.supermemo.net] - it also works with Supermemo algorithm although it's generally simpler than desktop SuperMemo 2006 and not compatible.

@mddg2030

I've been using Incremental Reading since its introduction (about 2000) and I can say this is powerful technique if you process certain kinds of texts. For instance technology articles - where you can easily extract the most valuable piece of content. They are texts however that cannot be understood without reading them all, for instance I tried works of John Paul II and well, the outcome wasn't amazing. :) But if you use concrete and focused material, you will achieve amazing results. Not only in terms of remembering all (it depends on how deep you slice the text and whether you convert topics to items) but also in terms of creativity. If your learning session lasts 20 minutes you may see a multitude of completely different topics, one after another. Then you can see new connections between these topics which brings (apart from knowledge) a mental refreshment.

Vroobelek

@holgerchen: You're right, but I was comparing the two systems on the general principle of delayed reinforcement based on recall results. Still, you're right.

A Leitner session is what SuperMemo would call a "drill": it ends once you're able to recall all the cards. SuperMemo stages each session to "cards" scored against previous trails to plot a forgetting curve. You don't go though all cards in a session. Only certain cards are scheduled for the current session, while others are deferred for later sessions, based on the curve.

But sometimes, a straightforward Leitner routine is what I want. It allows you to learn things faster at the expense of poorer long term recall -- which isn't always needed. When I do need longer retention, OpenCards (or Mnemosyne) fits the bill.

On the Palm, Learn?! is a good Leitner method app (and free), and SuperMemo for Palm OS is great for algorithmic spaced repetition.

Andre Kibbe

@bdesilva: You can find the Pimsleur French page here: [www.pimsleur-language.com] Of couse, no one can legally transfer the lessons to a public OpenCards database.

Andre Kibbe

I'll add my voice to those who use the Mnemosyne Project. I've used it extensively to study for (and pass) CAP and CISSP certification examinations.

In addition to using it to study I've developed study material for it to help people learn the FISMA through the FISMA Arts project. The current release covers NIST SP 800-37. I have some more stacks in development covering additional FISMA material and general IT security/CISSP knowledge which should be ready for release over the course of the next two months.

And it is really easy to develop study stacks for the Mnemosyne Project. Much easier than developing a web page.

DanRP

I have used Supermemo for years and highly recommend it. Each day you open it and it presents cards that it thinks you need to review or be tested on. If you come across an internet article that you want to learn, then you simple paste it into the system. The article initially comes up frequently and then less frequently. Each time it comes up you can select parts to break into smaller cards and subsequently into convential question and answer flash cards. These can be base on masked words, simple questions, sound files or picture masking. As you do this the bits you work on are coloured in so you know where you have got to within an article. If you decided you have taken enough from the article you can remove it, also if you do not use it it gradually fades into obscurety. Your flash cards become more or less frequent dependent on your ability to learn them. Once you know them as well as you know the alphabet they also fade into obscurety. It really does work with amazingly little effort. But the documentation is quite poor.

JavaBob

I've been trying a bunch of them lately. Here are my (extremely brief) reviews:

SuperMemo 98 (Free)
Quickly overwhelming & not all simple tasks are simply accomplished.

Mnemosyne (Free)
Straightforward, efficient and (too?) simple. Some expected customization options are absent. My current choice.

Anki (free)
Strong features and beautiful interface, but confusing terminology. I had trouble making much progress with it after getting comfortable with Mnemosyne. I expect to give it a 2nd look.

FullRecall ($35)
Nicely and efficiently featured, but the controls are too close together.

irv