Smashing is a new app that transforms curious users into smarter readers. It helps you stay on top of all your interests and easily discover articles personalized to you. Follow your industry, companies you track, your favorite sports teams or celebs.
I decided to build Smashing because I believe the ways we discover things to read online are broken and do not serve readers well. I’ve been waiting a dozen years, ever since Google Reader died, for someone to step up and build a truly great content discovery app for the web. I spent a lot of time after I stepped down from Goodreads in 2019 playing with every article and news product I could find and was ultimately dissatisfied—I knew that with today’s technology something better could be built for avid readers.
I was deeply influenced by Tristan Harris’ notion that Time Well Spent, not popularity, is the right metric for content. However, despite the huge advancements in LLMs and AI, the only way to know if an article is in fact worth your time is to ask knowledgeable readers who have already read it. Thus was born the Worthwhile Vote, the core way of curating on Smashing. And not all votes are equal—reputation matters in curation. This was something I learned at Goodreads and have started to build into the design of Smashing.
That brings us to Smashing—a way to discover worthwhile articles, curated into your interests. A place where the community decides what is Worthwhile, and an AI helps match the right content to the right reader. A product that if successful will help, I hope, everyone be more informed about their interests. I think it is a recipe for something special, and this is only the beginning.
Knowledge is power, and power is best shared among readers.
I've been in the beta and the app if now one of my first go to apps every single day. I've discovered so many great articles that I would have otherwise missed adding value for me professionally and personally!
Huge congrats to the Smashing team on today's launch! I'm loving the idea of reading smarter, not harder. Quick question: How do you handle article freshness - do users get notified of new content immediately as it's published in their followed interests, or is there a slight delay?
Congrats to the team on launching! I love the idea of blending curation + AI, feels like a fresh approach. Any fun challenges the team ran into on getting AI and human curation to work smoothly together?
This looks really intresting. I’m intrigued by the user interface. I wonder how easy it is for beginners to get started.
Made an account just to leave a comment. I downloaded the app and went through the guided set up. I think the algorithm leans heavily toward trying to get me to read articles about AI. I was trying to make an Interest about sports sponsorships / athlete endorsements, but the algorithm for some reason shifted me toward Hispanic consumer buying trends and how AI is impacting sports. Not sure if I just need to like more articles, but not sure how the app is contextually understanding "why" I'm upvoting an article.
I've been curating the beta version of Smashing, and it's a great way to gather only the good stuff on the web without wasting time on all the junk that fills your feeds.
It has been great using Smashing as a beta user. The team is smashing is very thoughtful about the curations, and the type of environment they are trying to create. We are in the golden age of information, but with that comes pitfalls. Inaccurate information, misleading information, and even bad actors. Smashing is a place where you can trust the human/AI partnership to curate your news, and other content to make you an more informed consumer and citizen.
Love this app. Have been testing it out the past 6 months and it’s quickly become my #1 source for news and entertainment. The new Smashing AI prompts are genius!
Smashing is a fresh take on curation - and the value of human curators. I’ve been testing, reading, curating, inviting fellow curators and enthusiasts and I’m thrilled to see it going further!
This is a refreshing take on content discovery! I've been feeling the void since Google Reader's demise, and it's exciting to see someone tackling this problem with a fresh perspective. The "Worthwhile Vote" concept is intriguing - it's like combining the best of human curation with AI matching. I'm curious to see how the reputation system plays out in practice.
Congrats team! Seems like it could make reading more relevant and enjoyable. Nice work on putting this together! 😊👍
