Apture Highlights

I don't know if this is of interest to anyone, but if you use Chrome, Firefox or Safari as your browser you can download this little extension: http://apture.com/extension/

You can then highlight a word or phrase in any web page (including this blog!) and easily and unobtrusively find more information about the word or phrase in question.

Is this useful? Will it catch on? Here's what the website ReadWriteWeb has to say on the subject:

Will users learn to use the service though? It's definitely new behavior to highlight words and phrases in order to learn more about them. It's outside the usual flow of scroll, point and click.

If I told you the world was your oyster, that layers of multimedia explanation and context lay behind every word on the web and are now accessible with a simple flick of the wrist - could you develop a new habit of lifting the covers to look at it?

If we users of the web cannot learn such a small new habit (and I'm honestly not sure we can) even in exchange for access to such an incredible wealth of knowledge, then I'm not sure what that says about the future of software design, interfaces and our networked brains.

If I told you the world was your oyster, that layers of multimedia explanation and context lay behind every word on the web and are now accessible with a simple flick of the wrist - could you develop a new habit of lifting the covers to look at it?