I've been working for a while on an intelligent RSS news reader. At its core, it works just like any other RSS news reader: you subscribe to the sites that you want to follow and you get delivered everything published there. The difference is that the news aren't sorted chronologically, they're sorted by how close they are to your interests. Zuperlist also remembers when you open the web app and separates the news by these moments. When you open it, you see what's new and noteworthy since your last visit. Another nice feature: related news are grouped together.
There are some ways to bypass the recommendations engine:
- you can mark specific sites as highlighted and see everything published by them, before anything else
- you can mark specific topics as highlighted and see everything that matches them. For example, mark Bitcoin as highlighted and see everything about Bitcoin in a separate block, regardless of recommendations
- everything that doesn't match your interests is still available at the bottom of the news feed, where it's categorized by topic and by site
There are also some measures taken against creating a perfect filter bubble:
- you get a quick glimpse at the most shared news, even if they don't match your interests
- you get a few recommendations from sites you didn't subscribe to
- from time to time you're shown a few items from a topic that's outside your interests
Sure, it's not perfect yet, but it works ok.
I've been using it during the development and I love it, although I may be a bit biased :)
If you're intrigued by the idea, give it a try and let me know what you think.
The zuperlist.com site works on both desktop and mobile, so there's no need to install an app.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 10.0 ms ] threadI've been working for a while on an intelligent RSS news reader. At its core, it works just like any other RSS news reader: you subscribe to the sites that you want to follow and you get delivered everything published there. The difference is that the news aren't sorted chronologically, they're sorted by how close they are to your interests. Zuperlist also remembers when you open the web app and separates the news by these moments. When you open it, you see what's new and noteworthy since your last visit. Another nice feature: related news are grouped together.
There are some ways to bypass the recommendations engine:
- you can mark specific sites as highlighted and see everything published by them, before anything else
- you can mark specific topics as highlighted and see everything that matches them. For example, mark Bitcoin as highlighted and see everything about Bitcoin in a separate block, regardless of recommendations
- everything that doesn't match your interests is still available at the bottom of the news feed, where it's categorized by topic and by site
There are also some measures taken against creating a perfect filter bubble:
- you get a quick glimpse at the most shared news, even if they don't match your interests
- you get a few recommendations from sites you didn't subscribe to
- from time to time you're shown a few items from a topic that's outside your interests
Sure, it's not perfect yet, but it works ok. I've been using it during the development and I love it, although I may be a bit biased :)
If you're intrigued by the idea, give it a try and let me know what you think. The zuperlist.com site works on both desktop and mobile, so there's no need to install an app.