The Idea
A web application that recreates the "dual-screen e-reader" concept in software: a split-pane interface where the left side renders a book/article and the right side is a rich note-taking surface. An integrated AI tutor answers questions about the content in context, and a personal knowledge base connects every highlight, note, and quote across everything you've ever read — making it searchable and retrievable. This is the software prototype that proves the concept before (or independently of) hardware.
Who It's For
Knowledge workers, graduate students, non-fiction readers, and lifelong learners (25-45) who read 10+ books/year and are frustrated by how little they retain. Secondary: book club organizers, researchers, and content creators who synthesize ideas from multiple sources.
What's Built
Build a web-based dual-pane reading application with these ruthlessly scoped features:
- User accounts with email/password auth
- Library: Upload EPUB files or paste article URLs/text to create a personal reading library
- Dual-pane reader: Left pane renders book/article content; right pane is a synchronized note-taking editor (rich text + markdown)
- Highlights & annotations: Select text on the left pane to highlight it and attach a note on the right pane, auto-linked to the source passage
- AI Tutor chat: A slide-out chat panel where users ask questions about the current book/article and get contextual answers grounded in the text
- Knowledge search: A global search page ("What did Naval say about wealth?") that queries across all highlights, notes, and source texts from the user's library
Explicitly out of scope for MVP: Hardware, offline mode, voice input, publisher marketplace, stylus input, EPUB DRM handling, mobile-native apps.