Ask HN: How do you discover new stuff? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you discover new stuff?

13 pointswatermelom10 comments

I usually surf the internet in search of new everything. Nowadays nothing really grabs my attention for too long, so I am always on a lookout for new blogs, new bands, new artists. I am also hooked on to online window shopping and it is very difficult to find new products to buy.

Is there an aggregator of some sorts where I can discover new stuff? I dont really know what I want so it is quite difficult to follow specific sub reddits and producthunt usually shows me software startups which are great but not what I am looking for while "hunting".

I know it sounds a bit of a rant but I'm really tired of aimlessly doomscrolling on the internet and would love to get some direction.

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Hmmm ... I dunno if this is helpful, but if you're looking for new content that might be interesting to you, I put together an email newsletter that curates HN stories which didn't reach the front page.

Most of it just flies past and doesn't get seen, so if you look in there, you might find links to articles and topics that would otherwise be overlooked. Maybe that might satiate your boredom?

It's a list of 40-50+ articles every Friday, and the interest profile is very similar to HN. (I wrote some more info at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27343897)

If you're interested, please have a look at https://bengtan.com/interesting-things.

Your blog is amazing, thanks for sharing! My point was not just to satiate my boredom but was a general query about how people usually find new stuff. The ways I can think of are either luck based or take a lot of effort.

Hi,

Thank you. Glad it helps. Have a good day.

I just subscribed to your newsletter it looks very informative

I also run a similar newsletter

https://devconsole.substack.com/

What kind of domain is your question aimed at…? Tech in general? Programming, culture, movies, music, etc…?

The answers will heavily depend on the domain, IMHO.

So feel free to elaborate on that (^_^)

With that said: One way for me to focus better is to read stuff on paper. E.g. books. One can’t doomscroll a book. And a really good book is just too enjoyable to skim, IMHO. Reading newspapers can also be great for inspiration.

Suggestion: Go to a newsstand and grab a copy of The Economist. In my experience, every single issue of The Economist will contain something interesting. Not only regarding politics and business but arts, culture and technology. Reading The Economist is a great way to becoming a well-round person.

Best of luck!

Sure! When I mentioned everything, I really meant it :p .It may be the small things in life, like an obscure bookstore near your home, a contraption that you didn't even know existed but then changed your life once you discovered it or a beautiful hike so close to your house that you were surprised to know you didn't discover it before. You get my point.

We are always looking for something, I just wanted to know if there is a better way to discover the things already known to other people. Search engines are good at showing us what we ask for, but how do I search for something I don't know? Is there some place like Beng's blog where I can find exciting new stuff?

This made me realize that my "everything" doesn't overlap at all with yours! Which may help you narrow down... I'm into e.g. discovering new subjects to learn about, new writers, new music, meeting new people, getting better at art/music/programming.. And all your things seem to be.. in the real world! Physical things, mostly in a particular location. And I realized mine aren't. I do like the sound of yours though. Good luck!

Lots of curator blogs: Kottke.org 3 Quarks Daily All That’s Interesting Longform.org Mental Floss Now I Know TYKIWDBI Waxy.org

Hey I run a newsletter when I manually pick articles and things happening in technology

If you like you can subscribe https://devconsole.substack.com/

Manually, Twitter, Reddit Hackernews and my RSS. Got the same problem.

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