NuBrief

Photo example of a newsletter sent to your inbox
Unsubscribe feature landing page
Main landing page to get people to sign up

Inspiration

In today’s fast-paced world, staying informed without getting overwhelmed is a challenge. Traditional newsletters often clutter inboxes with lengthy articles that most readers don’t have time for. We wanted to build something smarter—an AI-driven news concierge that curates, summarizes, and delivers personalized news effortlessly. Inspired by the power of AI to simplify information and a need for digestible news, NuBrief was born to save time while keeping readers in the loop.

What it does

NuBrief is an AI-driven news digest that curates personalized news based on user preferences and delivers it straight to their inbox. - ✅ Personalization: Users can subscribe to specific categories like Tech, Business, Sports, and more. - ✅ AI-Powered Summaries: Leverages Google Gemini AI to summarize top stories. - ✅ Wisdom of the Day: Includes daily quotes and trivia powered by Smalltalk for an extra dose of wisdom. - ✅ Manage Preferences: Allows users to subscribe, unsubscribe, and modify preferences easily.

How we built it

-   Frontend: Built using Next.js and React for a smooth and interactive user experience.
-   Backend: Developed with Node.js and Express.js and connected to MongoDB Atlas for storing user data and preferences.
-   AI Integration: Used Google Gemini AI for summarizing articles dynamically.
-   Smalltalk Integration: Implemented a Smalltalk-powered Wisdom Generator for daily quotes and trivia challenges. (path to smalltalk file: /newsletter-backend/services/wisdomGenerator.st)
-   Email Service: Utilized SendGrid API to send personalized newsletters directly to users’ inboxes.
-   Hosting: Both frontend and backend are hosted on Render.

Challenges we ran into

-   API & Hosting Issues – Backend worked in Postman but failed on the frontend.
-   File Structure: Adjusted directory structures for efficient deployment on Render.
-   Smalltalk Was a Nightmare – Amber setup failed, missing commands & JSON parsing issues.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

-   Successfully integrating Google Gemini AI for real-time summarization.
-   Building a fully-functional newsletter service with dynamic content and personalized recommendations.
-   Implementing a Smalltalk-based wisdom generator that adds a unique touch to each email.
-   Achieving a seamless user experience with efficient API calls and minimal latency.

What we learned

-   Deepened our understanding of managing API keys securely.
-   Improved skills in handling CORS and managing cross-origin requests effectively.
-   Learned to optimize Next.js for better performance and faster build times.
-   Gained experience in integrating Smalltalk into a modern tech stack smoothly.
    -   Enhanced our ability to deploy full-stack applications efficiently on Render.

What's next for Nubrief

-   Enhanced AI Summaries: Integrate sentiment analysis to provide more context to summaries.
-   User Analytics: Build a dashboard for users to view their reading patterns and preferences.
-   Voice Assistant Integration: Plan to develop smart speaker skills for hands-free news briefings.
-   Multilingual Support: Expand to include news summaries in multiple languages.
-   Ad-Free Premium Tier: Introduce a subscription model with additional features like ad-free reading.

Link to Github