Introducing LightUp: AI-Powered Annotations for the Web

In today’s digital world, we’re constantly bombarded with information. Whether it’s reading an article, analyzing a report, or researching a new topic, jumping between tabs to gather context or insights can disrupt our flow and productivity. That’s where LightUp comes in: an AI-powered browser extension designed to help you stay focused, gain instant depth, and expand your understanding directly on the page you’re viewing.

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The Problem

Have you ever highlighted a piece of text and wished you could instantly:

• Understand it better?
• Summarize it?
• Translate it?
• Dive deeper into its context?

Currently, achieving these tasks often requires switching tabs, copying text into different tools, or relying on services that interrupt your workflow. This breaks your focus and adds unnecessary friction to the process of understanding.

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The Solution: What is LightUp?

LightUp is an experimental browser extension that brings AI-powered annotations directly to your fingertips. Highlight any text on a webpage, and LightUp will provide:

1. Explain — Detailed explanations of complex text or concepts.
2. Summarize — Quick summaries of longer content.
3. Analyze — Deep insights and context about the selected text.
4. Translate — Instant translations between languages.

At its core, LightUp’s mission is to help you stay in your flow by providing instant, actionable insights without ever leaving the page.

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The Inspiration

The idea for LightUp was sparked by the Genius website for music annotations. On Genius, highlighting lyrics provides a pop-up with further explanations or interpretations. This inspired me to create a similar tool for general web browsing, where any text could trigger a helpful AI-powered tooltip.

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The Technical Journey

Building LightUp was an exciting challenge. Here’s a glimpse into the tech stack and implementation:

Tech Stack

• Frontend: ReactJS, TypeScript, and TailwindCSS for a modern, responsive interface.
• Framework: Plasmo, a browser extension framework that ensures seamless integration with web browsers.
• AI Models: Support for both local and cloud-based LLMs (e.g., OpenAI’s GPT models, llama-based local servers, xAI's Grok-beta, and Google's Gemini models such as Gemini 1.0 Pro, Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Gemini 1.5 Flash).

Key Features

• Interactive UI Components:

  • Action buttons to switch between Explain, Summarize, Analyze, and Translate modes.
  • Language selector for translation tasks.

• Customizable Settings: Options page for configuring model type, server URL, and API keys.

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User-Centric Design

The extension’s design prioritizes:

• Engagement: Animated text displays and feedback mechanisms make the experience interactive.
• Customization: Users can tailor settings to their preferences, such as choosing a specific AI model or adjusting tooltip behavior.

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Open Source and Collaboration

LightUp will soon be available as an open-source project under the Apache 2.0 license. This decision stems from my belief in fostering community-driven innovation. I invite developers to:

• Explore the codebase.
• Contribute improvements.
• Share feedback to help refine LightUp further.

The GitHub repository and documentation will provide all the resources you need to get started.

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Try LightUp Today (in beta)

Ready to experience AI-powered annotations? Check out LightUp on:

• Website
• GitHub
• Chrome Store (coming soon)

I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Let’s build something amazing together!

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