Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud
inkandswitch.com
ApplePay vs. Alternative Payment Services
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Europe's first geostationary sounder satellite is launched
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Cops in [Spain] think everyone using a Google Pixel must be a drug dealer
androidauthority.com
'Positive review only': Researchers hide AI prompts in papers
asia.nikkei.com
Heart attacks aren't as fatal as they used to be
vox.com
Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage
maalvika.substack.com
The Moat of Low Status
usefulfictions.substack.com
Happy Birthday, GamingOnLinux – 16 years today
gamingonlinux.com
Build Systems à la Carte (2018) [pdf]
microsoft.com
Just Ask for Generalization
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Mini NASes marry NVMe to Intel's efficient chip
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Gecode is an open source C++ toolkit for developing constraint-based systems
gecode.org
Problems the AI industry is not addressing adequately
thealgorithmicbridge.com
Goodbye to All That – My Resignation from the FBI
lawfaremedia.org
The History of Electronic Music in 476 Tracks (1937–2001)
openculture.com
N-Back – A Minimal, Adaptive Dual N-Back Game for Brain Training
n-back.net
Telli (YC F24) Is Hiring Engineers [On-Site Berlin]
hi.telli.com
A 37-year-old wanting to learn computer science
initcoder.com
Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain
sailhealth.substack.com
Numerical Electromagnics Code (NEM)
nec2.org
Incapacitating Google Tag Manager (2022)
backlit.neocities.org
Hi HN,
I love newsletters. I first started signing up for Market Briefs right after COVID—trying to figure out why everyone was so scared of another market crash. It was exciting at first, but juggling a startup meant I couldn’t keep up, and soon my inbox was a mess of unread emails. I’d often ask myself: do I read them all, or delete and start fresh?
That’s why I built LoomLetter—a simple iOS app that pulls in all your newsletter emails into one place, lets you organize them into custom lists, and even reads them aloud using AI. I built it as a one-man project to solve my own problem of newsletter overload.
What it does:
- When you sign up, you get a unique LoomLetter email address for your subscriptions.
- All issues land in the app, where you can sort them (like “Must Read” or “Tech News”).
- The standout feature for me is AI-powered narration—turning newsletters into a hands-free. I parse each email’s content and use a speech synthesis API to generate the audio. It’s not perfect yet, but I’m iterating to improve clarity for long reads.
I’m also experimenting with features ai summary (recently released) and bulk actions (wip). Currently, it’s iOS-only (built with React Native, Swift, AWS, and Supabase). I’m considering Android or even a PWA next—if there’s enough interest.
I’m facing some churn and trying to figure out what makes users stick. For instance, I’m testing a requirement for subscribing to at least two newsletters before joining. I’d love to hear your thoughts on:
- Does this solve a real problem for you?
- What might make you keep using an app like this?
- Any ideas on improving retention?
If you’re curious, you can check out the app on the App Store called "LoomLetter". Thanks for reading and for any feedback!