Kite News • Hacker News Board

Re: Kite News

#41

Post by elashri » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:35 PM UTC

That's great. As a long time kagi subscription (with free t-shirt because I forgot to order) I think this needs some polishing

Here are my suggestions

1- Add ability to have different languages. The feed should allow having one language or more and move between them or mix them

2- It is better if feeds with different languages keeps their our json file for contributing to be easier but build curated one automatically for them

3- This currently does not support RTL languages (or content languages in any of them)

4- It is good if the user can ban certain keywords because of the news fatigue about them. I might want the tech category but don't want to hear about LLM news

5- While the diversity of feeds is good in general. Sometimes you would want to block a certain website feed. Kite should support this in some sense.

I understand that this might be beyond the envisioned view if it as generic news app but I think it should be more personal.

Re: Kite News

#42

Post by vdupras » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:35 PM UTC

smoothbenny wrote: post #23

UX is nice enough but suffers from same curation (center-right leaning, tech industry-directed) that makes anything like this fundamentally pointless in the long term. Designed to keep readers within the acceptable window of mainstream media that manufactures consent for war, genocide, income inequality, and other suffering at home and abroad. For example: this site taught me that there is only one (unnamed) sticking…

That is indeed a problem and an unsolvable one. All major news sources are in the business of manufacturing consent. They're not trying to manufacture the exact same consent, but mash them together... you get a general direction, not unlike the ones we see at cattle ranches.

But those news are still useful. There is still real information coming from it, and of better quality than all those alternative channels (which are in the business of, I guess we could call, "disrupting consent", but often with shadowy interests).

What I think one must do is to get good at separating the wheat (facts) from the chaff (analysis). The "chaff" part can be rejected completely, but I find it interesting to analyze it. This sometimes allows one to derive an intent behind the consent manufacturing process.

That being said, even though the information that it mashes together is flawed, I find that there's good value in this new Kite thing. Removing the attention stealing part of news, however flawed these are, is still a great service.

Re: Kite News

#43

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:36 PM UTC

freediver wrote: post #2

Kagi founder here. This is prematurely shared and not ready for prime time yet. Official launch with mobile apps will happen soon. Thanks!

[deleted]

Re: Kite News

#44

Post by pyman » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:36 PM UTC

baggachipz wrote: post #39

pyman wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and it is all for free, I'm guessing it's free for now so people can test it and give feedback, since it's still an MVP. But based on the website, once the app is fully released, you'll have to pay for it. So don't get your hopes up, especially with apps that rely on expensive LLMs. Showing ads or sponsored links is one business model. Charging a subscription to remove them is a different one (like what Twitter rec…

The Kagi I know would never have ads, much less charge to remove them. I'm pretty confident that this service will be another perk of the main Kagi subscription.

Kagi doesn't have ads because people pay for it. Google Search has ads because it's a free service.

https://kagi.com/pricing

Re: Kite News

#45

Post by mossTechnician » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:36 PM UTC

wkat4242 wrote: post #4

> World doesn't live in echo chambers. The reality emerges from the collision of different viewpoints and perspectives - that's how we separate signal from noise To be honest, when people start talking about "echo chambers" it's usually because they are upset that I won't listen to bigoted alt-right hate. For me this term has gained a really negative connotation. I understand the problem but hearing the same tired ra…

For additional context, it's difficult to separate press releases by Kagi from the views of its founder, who has been criticized[0] for partnering with Yandex after Russia invaded Ukraine, and for other statements involving politics and tech[1].

[0]: https://ioc.exchange/@troed/113311981054448887

[1]: https://chaos.social/@scy/111704636274463611

Re: Kite News

#46

Post by saubeidl » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:42 PM UTC

The announcement talks a big talk of trying to avoid echo-chambers, but the sources it quotes seem to be exclusively on the center-right (i.e. liberal) to far-right spectrum.

Not a single left wing source as far as I can see. Everything contained within the pro-capitalist echochamber.

No Jacobin, No Novara Media, No WSWS.

Just another way of rearranging the same pro-market propaganda.

As a paying Kagi subscriber, it's deeply disappointing to see this.

Re: Kite News

#47

Post by c16 » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:42 PM UTC

"World doesn't live in echo chambers.", yet 1/2 of the articles are about Trump.

I appreciate this is likely coincidence, but my my news sources are far more varied.

Re: Kite News

#48

Post by pyman » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:45 PM UTC

pyman wrote: post #35

imiric wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Echo chambers exist in all communities, and you may be in one whether or not you're aware of it. The only way to step outside of them, if you're at all interested in doing so, is to experience what's happening in other communities. Sometimes those external viewpoints are extreme, and your instinct might be to ignore them. But I would rather know that they exist and what they are, than to completely isolate myself fro…

The best way to avoid echo chambers is to actively seek out a mix of perspectives, even the ones you don’t agree with. But only very intelligent people do this. A tool like this can help by providing multiple sources and showing different sides. However, this tool doesn't let you ask questions or dig deeper into the context, it's mostly summaries and headlines. Asking questions is actually one of the best ways to avo…

Having said that, I honestly believe the world needs more founders like Vladimir Prelovac. Once this product is out, I'll be more than happy to pay for it and support it.

Re: Kite News

#49

Post by fantyoon » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:47 PM UTC

pyman wrote: post #44

baggachipz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kagi I know would never have ads, much less charge to remove them. I'm pretty confident that this service will be another perk of the main Kagi subscription.

Kagi doesn't have ads because people pay for it. Google Search has ads because it's a free service. https://kagi.com/pricing

> Kagi has no ads and is fully funded by its users.

None of the 4 plans say anything to the contrary either.

Re: Kite News

#50

Post by presbyterian » Thu, Jul 10, 2025, 12:47 PM UTC

I can't find where it specifies how the news is "distilled". I assume it's an LLM summarization, given Kagi is in the AI business in other ways, but it would be nice if they could clearly state that. Knowing who or what I'm listening to is a fundamental part of being able to trust it or not.