Hark News

Listen to any article on the go

3 followers

Listen to any article on the go

3 followers

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Mobile editing apps

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News

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Text-to-Speech Software

Hark News is an iOS app that takes the links to articles you're reading and converts them into audio files you can play on the go. You can listen to the latest news or stories offline and while you're doing chores around the house instead of having to sit down and actually read them.

Launch tags:iOS•Productivity•News

Launch Team

Viktor.comAn AI coworker that actually does the work

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Alloy Unified API

Hunter

Hey PH Community! This is Sara, 17 y/o dev from California. I made Hark News after I realized how much easier it would be to listen to my articles instead of reading them on my tiny phone screen. Here's just a bit more info: Why should you use Hark News? - Car radio only provides you with basic news, but you want to hear more on a specific topic - You have a ton of open tabs because you haven’t been able to finish, or even start reading, certain articles - Your vision is deteriorating from spending too much time reading on your phone - You’re learning a new language. Being able to listen to articles will help improve listening skills. - Your 2018 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION was: Read more! What will you see in the next update? - Show the entire article so you can read along while listening (for those learning languages) - Language support (currently only English) - Nicer-sounding TTS voice - UX Improvements & more Hark News is $0.99 on the app store, but this cost will cover all future updates (you're paying less than a dollar to start reading more/keeping up with the news in 2018!). Currently the app is in its most basic state, but there will be a lot more features coming shortly :D Subscribe here (http://eepurl.com/dgvxGX) for updates on features.

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8yr ago

Hustle Crew Academy

@sierra This is neat, can't wait to try it - does it work for all types of articles browsed online?

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8yr ago

Presence Tracker

@sierra Nice one! What TTS does it use? Is it the default Siri voice?

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8yr ago

v0 by Vercel

@sierra Congrats on the launch! Any download codes for product hunters?

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8yr ago

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Hunter

@abadesi Yes! CNN, NYTimes, HuffPost, BBC, most of these are supported :)

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8yr ago

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Hunter

@garytokman Setting up right now, will get back to you!

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8yr ago

I was shocked to see how many upvotes this unoriginal product hunt submission received. I use pocket daily to listen to my articles, and it's the easiest tool ever to use, you can add any article or document to pocket seamlessly by using the share button on your iPhone, on top of instantly tagging the articles as well. This seems like a really crappy way to make money by stealing someone else's product. If the voice was an actual person

or potentially ANY OTHER voice but Siri integration why in the hell would ANYONE pay for this?!

Pros:

Nice interface

Cons:

Overpriced, and unoriginal

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8yr ago

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Hunter

Hi Henk, sorry you feel this way. It's understandable if you don't feel like Hark is any different from competitors, because at this point it's true that there's nothing mind-blowing about the app. As someone who's been looking for an alternative myself, I'm dedicated to the goal of making Hark News sound better than any other article reader out there. What's out right now works with minimum functionality, but it won't be like that forever. As to how this got so many votes, I'm not quite sure either

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8yr ago

Well, Sara is a 17yo dev that has already a product on the portfolio. I mean, it’s an MVP and we can all see that. I believe the upvotes are for the effort and the potential. And if she even manage to sell it on an MVP phase, well, more power to her, innit? :)

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8yr ago

Casa

Awesome! Been wanting something like this for a while. I've tried a few products like this that unfortunately sounded super robotic when reading articles, and I couldn't get over it. Any way you could provide a youtube snippet here of what the voice sounds like, so people can listen before paying on the App Store? I would totally pay the $0.99 for this if it does a good job.

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8yr ago

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Hunter

@nneuman Hey Nick! It's been difficult to find a TTS service that isn't super expensive or just completely outdated. Right now I'm using Apple's TTS (which unfortunately has the voice we all dislike), but I'm working hard to get an update that'll make the voice behind Hark News unlike any other! If you're unsure about purchasing now, feel free to subscribe for updates (http://eepurl.com/dgvxGX)

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8yr ago

I've been saying this needs to exist for a long time and have thought about it a bit. So glad to see someone implement it (and implement it well)! I downloaded it and tried it. Very nice :) Have a couple suggestions (that you've probably already thought of): - As a mobile app, having the user input a url is pretty awkward—I don't know what's possible, but of course it would be great to find a way to integrate with Safari (and eventually Apple News --> it didn't recognize an Apple News url); how does Pocket save stuff, for example? You could do similar. - Totally get that using the standard voice is the quickest way to get to an MVP—I see that you plan to have a unique voice eventually :) I also think a DuoLingo type approach could be interesting, where people could contribute by recording themselves reading the hottest stories of the day. Users could choose who they'd prefer to listen to and maybe even subscribe to certain voices. I'm not sure if copyright or anything starts to become an issue then... Keep going! This is a needed thing in the world, and I will keep it on my phone to watch for updates :)

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8yr ago

PS - Maybe you can sync it to the native Reading List? Or add Hark to the options when press/holding on a url. One bug report: I started playing an article, paused it, opened up Slack, then came back to Hark. It started playing the article again automatically and wouldn't pause even when tapping the pause button. I had to close the app to get it to stop talking :P

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8yr ago

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Hunter

@mspseudolus Wow, all of these suggestions are great! I especially like the DuoLingo idea (never thought about that). And got it, bug fixes will be done soon :)

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8yr ago

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Hunter

Haven't found a way to offer a discount to the PH Community unfortunately, but I have 5 free codes for trying Hark News! Please leave a Twitter handle and I'll DM :) And for those who've bought Hark already, thank you so much, I'll make your 0.99 one of the best you've spent

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8yr ago

@sierra Hi Sara! Really happy to see your product here, as I'm also part of the group that had thought just about such app themselves.. Would love to get a code to try the app (@similaro) Thanks, and best of luck in your way!

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8yr ago

v0 by Vercel

@sierra @garytokman 👍

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8yr ago

TikFlow RPA

Bought and Downloaded. recommend develop an browser extension in ios and macos to add websites faster and easier.

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8yr ago

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Hunter

@zihancheng For sure! I think that's been the most popular request, so I'll be prioritizing its development :)

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8yr ago

For an MVP this app is great, from a design and development standpoint, and you can tell that it has the foundations to become much more.

Pros:

Clean, simple interface, easy to use, well-made app

Cons:

None, looking forward to future updates

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8yr ago

Alloy Unified API

Hunter

Thank you Angela for trying out Hark News! I look forward to hearing your opinions later on down the line.

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8yr ago

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