I haven't seen the informercial (I don't watch infomercials), but I did some web research to try and find what your friend may have been talking about. My intuition was originally Howard Berg, because the PhotoReading FAQ mentions that he does some amazing things on his infomercials. However, it also states that Howard Berg teaches normal SpeedReading, perhaps better.
I did uncover something called "Mental Photography / Subliminal Photography" by subliminal dynamics. They seem to have a bone of contention against PhotoReading.
