I always think about this.
“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed.”
It is a dilemma. You can’t just stop reading the news to escape it. We live in a society and need to stay informed about politics, technology, and local events.
But most of the time, these news platforms push the clickbait news towards us constantly. It is no longer about news but only reach. Countless organizations publish propaganda and hate filled articles, and these often appear at the top of news aggregating platforms because of their reach. This can shape how we see things, which is the main issue. News today is not always about the truth, but just passing some information without the full context.
For a long time, I have been careful about how I consume news. I turned off notifications and updates. I only check at certain times. I do not want to consume everything. That is why I tried to build an RSS reader. There are many RSS readers out there, but I wanted something that worked for me. This was my first attempt at solving a problem.
But after a few weeks, I felt something was missing. Many feeds had no images, so I didn’t include a spot for a social image on the card. But later, I realized that thumbnails can give a hint about the content. They help in spotting clickbait.
That was when I started exploring the Bluesky API. I was already making simple tools with it. Then I realized I could create a different way to read news.
I built Bluesky lists for news and tech. The posts appear in order. The trending feed sorts posts using an HN style ranking, giving older posts more weight. It considers posts from the past 12 hours. Now, Bluesky has many journalists, institutions, organizations, and news accounts. I can rely on it for updates.
This tool is for anyone. You can deploy it with your own lists and feeds. You decide what you want to see. The design is not like Bluesky posts. It is more like a news feed, making it easier to skim through. Everything is linked properly. You can click to read the full post on the source website. There is an option to copy the Bluesky post link. You can see engagements such as likes, replies, and quotes. There is also a timestamp so you know when it was posted.
This tool does not track anything. It has no analytics and does not need an account. It does not learn from what you read, show similar news based on what you click, or push certain topics. That is important to me. Of course, browsers still track in some ways, but you can always use private browsers like DuckDuckGo.
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"New Horizons" refers to exploring or discovering new areas, possibilities, or experiences that were previously unknown or uncharted. The term often symbolizes growth, expansion, and the opportunity to move beyond current limitations, seeking fresh opportunities or insights. Inspired by the New Horizons satellite.
Note: Every JavaScript is created using AI, aka vibe coding. Keep in mind that I don’t have formal coding knowledge, so the code structure, syntax, and best practices may not be optimal or conventional.