AI-Powered Annotations for every page on the web. Dec 2024
Today, I'm thrilled to introduce LightUp—a browser extension designed to make understanding and interacting with web content effortless.
LightUp helps you understand text quickly with explanations, summaries, translations, and analyses. Just highlight any text, and LightUp gives you clear, useful insights without leaving the page.
Knowledge is not a flat surface but a dynamic structure—boxes inside boxes, each containing layers of meaning waiting to be unpacked. Every concept holds the potential to expand, revealing deeper connections and insights.
LightUp embodies this vision. Highlight a sentence, and a small window opens—a box that unveils hidden depths. From there, new dimensions of understanding unfold, allowing you to explore ideas without losing your place.
By keeping this exploration within the bounds of the same page, LightUp creates a dynamic representation of how knowledge grows: contained yet infinite, simple yet profound.
The idea for LightUp grew from a small, recurring frustration: I would read a line that sparked curiosity — a phrase, a reference, a word — and instinctively want to dive deeper. But every time I jumped away from the page to search, open Genius, or follow a link, I lost the rhythm of my reading and the momentum of the thought. I wanted a gentle way to explore meaning without tearing myself out of the flow. Using Genius.com to unpack song lyrics taught me how transformative a single inline note can be. A short annotation can reveal history, slang, or intent and change how a line lands. I imagined bringing that same kind of quiet discovery to every web page: a small window that opens where my eyes already are, giving context and depth without taking me elsewhere. LightUp is the result of combining that habit — the pleasure of instant annotation — with modern AI that can scale explanations across any text. It’s not about replacing slow, careful reading; it’s about preserving it. Curiosity should be allowed to bloom in place: quick, focused, and uninterrupted. The annotations become margin-notes that live with the text, searchable and revisit-able, so insights accumulate rather than fragment.
(LightUp in action) 
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LightUp is open-source and available on GitHub. Developers, enthusiasts, and users are encouraged to contribute ideas, suggest features, and provide feedback to enhance the experience.