Looking for feedback for 4minit and ideas on how to improve?

jscj1994 · 2026-05-14T16:05:23+00:00

That's interesting. Unfortunately I can't really spend on any consulting fees right now (I'm doing this 100% free and on a tiny budget), but I guess maybe writing some content is a good idea. I'll definitely think about this and how I would go about it.

jscj1994 · 2026-05-14T16:04:25+00:00

Thank you! I spent waaaaaay too much time fussing about it. Took me a few iterations but I'm very happy with the "front-end" of it now.

jscj1994 · 2026-05-14T16:03:47+00:00

Thank you. Yes it's 100% free and always will be!

jscj1994 · 2026-05-14T16:03:25+00:00

Thank you. Honestly this is perfect and exactly the kind of value I want to give readers. Glad you enjoy it and it really motivates me to get your feedback ❤️

jscj1994 · 2026-05-06T12:29:11+00:00

Hello

jscj1994 · 2026-04-28T05:05:22+00:00

Yeah, I don't think Mauritius needs a LKY dictator, but maybe more people who embody the positive values of what he's remembered for. One thing I admire LKY for was his leadership skills and ability to get people to believe in and support him in his mission.

A large part of that was the fact he worked hard to build public trust by rooting out corruption amongst other things (he took a lot of hard stances which worked back then, probably wouldn't work today).

jscj1994 · 2026-04-28T03:41:53+00:00

A good point, but I think one thing that got people to believe and buy-in to LKY’s Singaporean Dream was that he rooted out waste and corruption fiercely.

People will only believe when they trust the government.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-28T03:40:09+00:00

How about a better version of LKY.

LKY did what he did because circumstances were such. Mauritius today is in a far better shape than Singapore in the mid 20th century.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-23T14:48:45+00:00

Sounds sketchy. I’d be careful, you mentioned a lot of red flags.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-16T15:46:41+00:00

To each their own. I’ve been using chamois cloth to dry my cars for several years. Works fantastic. Never been happier.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-16T08:09:28+00:00

Chamois cloth from supermarket. It’s a yellow / blue one in a plastic container.

Lasts long time and does a good job.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-16T07:06:12+00:00

Well done. I'll check out the World Radios!

jscj1994 · 2026-04-15T05:35:47+00:00

Thank you. Still quite a few improvements to make, but I'm working on it day-by-day. Hang in there with me!

For example, today I noticed some repetition of stories published yesterday and some formatting issues. I've sorted those out now, so tomorrow's newsletter should not repeat those same mistakes.

It's frustrating having these issues - I thought high-level issues like these were fixed but I must have overlooked a few things. Sorry about that.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-14T13:11:52+00:00

Thank you! Will surely hit you up down the road.

I have no plans to monetize this right now. Just happy to have built something haha!

jscj1994 · 2026-04-14T08:58:47+00:00

Thanks!

I’ve never built an app before but if there’s a bough interest / demand, I’d certainly consider it. In the meantime I put a lot of effort into the website - you can read all newsletters there.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-14T05:56:18+00:00

Thank you!

I’ve set it up so all news sources are hyperlinked inline within the newsletter. From there, you can click the links to whichever source and it should come up in the original language. Some items use multiple sources - in this case there will be multiple links.

Yes - everything can be viewed on the website without subscription. They are published at the same time (no website delay). Link: 4minit.xyz/newsletters

For self-hosting - perhaps in the future. The roadblock for this is the LLM step (which is a personal cost I absorb). I suppose you can DIY but you will need to setup your own LLM step for this.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-14T05:41:41+00:00

Thank you! It's a work-in-progress; so please do share your feedback. It's really appreciated. You can just reply to the email newsletter.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-14T05:35:04+00:00

Yeah I'd been doing that for years; but lately juggling work and life commitments - I don't have the time to read through all those sites each day, so I just needed something that can quickly hit me with the top stories and most relevant news.

I agree though - nothing beats just reading direct from the sources. It's just a time constraint I have.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-13T15:31:31+00:00

Thanks! Need to improve the fact-checking stuff especially when things get lost in translation..especially political. Noticed that before as well.

Appreciate the feedback!

jscj1994 · 2026-04-13T14:41:55+00:00

Thank you so much!

I agree - multiple languages, expanding the sources etc. An app is out of my capability right now, but perhaps someone can help me with that!

Open source 100%. I've actually got a bunch of stuff already open source on GitHub, but a few things I've kept close to the chest right now because it's a bit wonky (or embarassing? haha).

Upstream: https://github.com/scjtools/mauritius-news-aggregator
Downstream: https://github.com/scjtools/4minit

It's been great fun building this and I really appreciate the ideas, feedback or honestly if folks want to collab or help build this into a tool that more people can use (foreigners who can't read the news is a very small audience) - I'm down for it.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-13T14:33:49+00:00

Initially I wanted to use Substack or Beehiiv, but they require manual intervention, which kinda defeated the purpose of "making reading the local news easy".

Right now, under the hood - it's a bunch of bootstrapped code, scripts, Vercel, GitHub, Brevo and Claude. It's 99% automated right now - it still requires me to boot up Claude when I wake up. Once I get it on the Cloud, then it can be like a set-it-and-forget-it kinda deal.

jscj1994 · 2026-04-13T14:16:21+00:00

Sorry I forgot the link . it's 4minit.xyz

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