Smashing, the new app that curates the best of the web from Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler, is now generally available. Like Goodreads, this app is also about creating communities around content. But this time, the focus is less on books and more on web content such as news articles, blog posts, social media posts, and podcasts. Additionally, Smashing is introducing an AI questioning feature. This allows you to engage with the content being shared in a variety of ways, such as viewing a news article from different perspectives or asking AI to poke holes in the article.
By looking at the story from different angles, we can see how both the political left and right view the subject. Or, in the case of a company's stock, both bullish and bearish cases may be presented.
Chandler points out that only a handful of AI prompts will be available at launch, and not all of them will make sense to use in every news article or content. For example, by introducing silly prompts like “make it interesting” or simplifying the story, showing a timeline, or introducing “unconventional” takes that require you to think outside the box, you can still Some can help you consider ideas you haven't considered. You can also ask your own questions if you wish.
“For example, I had fun writing a script for a podcast that I could plug into my Notebook LM and listen to in my car,” Chandler says.
The app allows users to create multiple interest feeds for updates on topics that are important to them, such as politics, investing, parenting, health and wellness, or narrower interests such as specific companies, sports teams, or cryptocurrencies. You can get climate change and other subtopics.
The app also leverages AI to display content on the web, which articles you tend to read, what subtopics you like, and what's already popular in the community as determined by upvotes and downvotes. Match that content to individual readers based on what they have. Together, these signals tailor Smashing to your specific interests.
As part of the AI Questions feature, Smashing is also introducing an AI-powered story overview page. This page provides grouped articles, blog posts, and social media posts about the same story.
Since announcing its plans for Smash this summer, the startup has added more than 2,000 people to its waiting list, and thousands more are testing the beta version. Since then, the AI algorithm has improved “significantly” thanks to tweaks, an improved user experience that lets readers mark what's interesting or not, a larger community of curators, and overall improvements from the rapidly evolving LLM Chandler says. Models available.
Smashing is initially available on iOS, with a web version also in development. The startup is backed by $3.4 million in seed funding from True Ventures, Blockchange, Offline Ventures, Advancit Capital, Power of N Ventures, and a number of angel investors.