Ausum — 1-minute news briefs

@maria_brm Yes! You can tune in to certain channels, for example Crypto, Startups or World News to get stories on those. There's also a For You channel where you'll find stories relevant specifically to you (obviously this will get better the more you use Ausum.)

Hi @maria_brm , thanks for your question! I'm design lead for the product and always looking for user feedback. If you have any, please feel free to use this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw . You're also welcome to join our slack group (open to users): https://bit.ly/3wquSR8 . You can message me directly there 🤗 . I hope you give the app a try!

@prodissues That's amazing! Thanks for creating such a product! ^_^ Can't wait to become a part of the users' crew! ^_^

@savitha_pal Hello Savitha! Thanks a lot for the form and the group's link! I will be happy to provide some insights and to contribute the further improvement! ^_^

@britt_joiner would love for your feedback once you try it out. Indeed, Morning Brew is an inspiration to turning complex information into digestible and accessible format.

@prodissues just gave it a try and im loving it so far! Signed up for the three month free trial offer. looking forward to incorporating this into my morning and afternoon routines!

Hi @britt_joiner! Thanks for the support! I think Ausum can do wonders for that morning/afternoon routine! We're very excited you're trying us out! If you happen to have any feedback you're welcome to send it via this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw. Or if you would like to join our slack group (open to users) for ongoing feedback as you have it, you can use this link: https://bit.ly/3wquSR8 . You can message me (design lead) there 🤗 ! Hope to hear from you! 🙏

@britt_joiner 💪🙏

@britt_joiner Sorry about that! I just updated permissions. Please try again, and let me know if it doesn't work.

Thank @qudsia_ali! This is exactly why we started Ausum - we recognize that people spend more time with audio, while having less attention to consume long texts. Ausum aims to bridge that gap - get key insights from top journalism in a format users prefer.

Hi @qudsia_ali , Yuval here, I'm the tech lead for Ausum (and an Android user...) We're working on an Android version with the same features as the iOS version but it'll take us a bit longer. Meanwhile you can download the current version from https://play.google.com/store/ap.... Thanks!

Hi @samdebrule! I'm the design lead on the product. Thanks for your question!. I can answer for all of us at Ausum. Our original inspiration came from our understanding that we live in a world with an overabundance of information, and it's often difficult to sift through it all to find the most relevant, interesting and credible content..And in the process, it's time taken out of the day.. We wanted to build something that not only surfaces that great content, but also provides people the access to consume it, now with the busy lives we lead. We were told before from our users that they loved our content, but we were creating more work for them by giving them content they loved, wanting to read it all. So now we've provided those users a way to actually consume it, saving them hours. We feel we've really honed in on the idea of saving time while staying informed. The biggest difference between the early version and this one is that we simplified a lot and we focused on "Refinement", not only in the content , but also in the experience, in the features, in our processs, and even in our closeness to the main need. We hope you'll find that in the app!

@yassersultan Great question! It depends on the type and length of the article. We utilize both technology and editorial oversight to summarize and record every story. So while news reporting, which tend to be shorter and more fact based might take just a few minutes, longer and more condensed analysis or opinion piece might take a couple of hours to refine.

@prodissues @yassersultan Thanks for the question - I manage the content, and when it comes to breaking news, we could summarize, record, and publish a story within the first 5 minutes. We are super cognizant of the timelines specifically relating to "breaking news." But, we also make sure we're taking a story with the most "meat" so even if a story breaks, it may take a little longer to find the best article covering that story. Let me know if you have any other questions relating to the content process!

Hi @yassersultan, Thanks for the question and your interest! I'm the design lead and always looking for feedback to help us improve Ausum. If you give the app a try, please feel free to send feedback via this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw ... You're also welcome to join our slack group (open to users) and send feedback directly to me or any member of the team: https://bit.ly/3wquSR8 . Thank you again, and great question!

Thank you @martina_hackbartt!

@galaxyx7 we got inspiration from apps such as Inshorts (text shorts in India), Blinkist (summaries for books), Portal (sounds app with great UX/UI), Curio and Noa (recordings of full articles.)

Hi @galaxyx7 ! I'm design lead on the product. Thanks for your question! If you give the app a try, we would love to hear your feedback. You can send it via this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw or you can join our slack group open to users: https://bit.ly/3wquSR8. You can message me or Yaniv directly there with any questions or comments. 🙂 Hope you give the app a try!

@matthew_ritchie We too find that just transcribing an article isn't enough. First it doesn't save time (in fact usually narrated article takes longer to listen to than reading the story...), and second long-form audio article isn't as engaging as, say, a podcast. With Ausum we try to bring the information from the top stories in a format that respects your time, attention and the information from the original story. As a journalist, your feedback on the quality of stories would be very helpful 🙏

@prodissues Will do! I'll give them a listen and let you know what I think. Also, if you're looking for people to do the transcribing/shortening of news stories, if you haven't already done so, you should definitely consider contacting some journalism schools to get some interns. I could see it being beneficial both to your company and young writers who need some real-world experience, as creating briefs like this is very similar to something they'd do in a traditional newsroom w/ stories of the wire, etc.

@matthew_ritchie We haven't but that's a great tip. Thank you!

Hey @matthew_ritchie! Great to hear from someone in the industry, and thanks for the tip ! Yes, we truly believe our 1-minute briefs are a game changer. Like Yaniv said the transcription isn't the solution for what we're solving for. If you give the app a try and have feedback, you're welcome to send it via this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw. We also have a community of users for ongoing feedback in this slack group, if you would like to join it: https://bit.ly/3wquSR8. You can message me (design lead) or any member of the team directly there. Hope you give Ausum a try!

@matthew_ritchie Ausum! 😉 Thanks!

@carlo_thissen Yay!! Let us know your feedback once you use it for awhile.

Hi @carlo_thissen ! Thanks so much for the support and downloading the app! I'm design lead on the product and always happy to hear feedback from our users. If you have any, you're welcome to send it via this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw. Another (prob better) option, if you would like to send ongoing feedback as you have it, would be our slack group. It's open to our users who have product feedback. Here's the link: https://bit.ly/3wquSR8. You can message me or Yaniv there too. Look forward to hearing from you! Thanks again for your interest!

Hi @vicky_buddie, Yuval here from Ausum. We're still working on the Android version and we'll catch up to all the features we have on iOS soon. Thanks for the idea for blocking certain sources, we'll add it to our ideas list!

@nilsej Any chance you try the promo link again (https://apple.co/3MYXGGb) - weird, but it seems to be a glitch in the AppStore... As for content - we constantly updating content across all categories, but some with higher frequency than others. These days for example our content team focused more on World News than other categories. You can get the latest from top publishers by selecting their channels (CNN for example.) This is a premium feature, but you'll have it once redeeming the promo.

Thanks @venlakarkimaa! we would love to hear your feedback once you give it a try.

@venlakarkimaa Head of content here - Let me know what you think and if you have any feedback on the stories we choose to summarize!

Hi @venlakarkimaa! Thanks for the comment! We totally understand the pains of not having time. Please give the app a whirl. We think you'll find it very useful! If you have any feedback, you're welcome to send it via this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw, and/or you can join our slack group, open to users: https://bit.ly/3wquSR8 . You can message me, (design lead), Yaniv or Raquel directly there anytime. We appreciate your interest!

Hi @edodaddo, Yuval here. I'm the tech lead for Ausum (and an Android user...) We're working on an improved Android version and it'll be out soon, with all the features in the iOS version including login and personalization.

@edodaddo you can follow us on twitter (@ausumapp) and signal (https://signal.group/#CjQKIL63rF...)

(@ausumapp @prodissues Thanks again, I downloaded Signal just to follow you guys, keep up the good work! :) PS. can I suggest adding the possibility to "invite a friend" to receive some benefits (eg stickers or a free-week)? PPS. another cool feature would be to enable us to snip an interesting section of an article by tapping on your airpods (like "Snipd" does for podcasts)

@edodaddo - cool! re:invite a friend - yup, we're going to add that soon. Snip idea - very cool indeed. Thanks!

Thanks @riddhi_dagli!

Thanks @riddhi_dagli! We do hope you find it useful! If you give the app a try, please feel free to send us feedback. You can use this form: https://bit.ly/3ueKjJw. You're also welcome to join our slack group (open to users): https://bit.ly/3wquSR8 . You can send feedback directly to me or any member of the team there. 😊

Thanks @alexander_borsuk !

Thanks @risnadewi ! Yes, please do and would love your feedback!

Hi @stefani_kovachevska, Yuval here, I'm the tech lead for Ausum (and an Android user...) We're working on an Android version that will have the same functionality as the iOS version, but we want to get it right so it takes a little longer, but we'll have it out soon. Meanwhile you can download our current version at https://play.google.com/store/ap.... Thanks!

@rrhoover - thanks for bringing up Umano. We rarely truly innovate 😀, which reminders me of Bret Victor The Future of Programming video (https://youtu.be/8pTEmbeENF4)... Your comment on Umano is still relevant - the quality of audio is crucial, and even as ai voices get (much) better, we find that the human voice is way more engaging. @ianmendiola - would love to connect to share notes and learn from your experience!

@rrhoover @prodissues nice work! app looks awesome.

Hi @davidckim320, thanks for the question! We have thought about it, and might be something for the near future.