How I Keep Up with Blogs I Never Read

I follow maybe 15 tech blogs. AI research groups, a couple of startup founders, some climate tech newsletters, Hacker News. I'd guess I actually read about 10% of what they publish. The rest piles up in bookmarks and open tabs until I close them out of guilt.

What I wanted was simple: something that watches those sites for me and turns new posts into podcast episodes. Not a tool where I paste a URL every time. Something I set up once and forget about.

That's what Podidex's automated podcasts do. You give it a list of websites, pick a schedule, and it generates new episodes from whatever those sites publish. Every morning, every Monday, the first of each month. You don't touch it again unless you want to change something.

No other tool does this. NotebookLM, Speechify, Wondercraft, Jellypod all require you to manually trigger each episode. Paste a document, hit generate, get one episode. Want another one tomorrow? Go back and do it again. (Podidex has that too, by the way. We call them Quick Episodes. But automated podcasts are the thing nobody else offers.)

What you end up with

A podcast in your feed that updates itself. You open the app on Monday morning and there's a new 15-minute episode covering everything your sources published last week. You listen on your commute. Next Monday, there's another one. You didn't do anything.

Podidex remembers what it already covered, so each episode focuses on what's new rather than repeating past content.

Setting it up

Go to Create Podcast in the app. You'll see a text field labeled “Pitch.” Write one sentence describing the podcast you want.

Some examples that work well:

• “Daily AI research updates from arxiv and major labs”
• “Weekly startup news from Hacker News and TechCrunch”
• “Monthly climate tech developments”

Hit Next. While you pick your color and voice, Podidex reads your pitch and suggests a name, source URLs, a schedule, voice, and style tags. Change whatever you want.

Adding your sources

Sources are the websites Podidex watches. Add the URLs for blogs, news sites, or research pages you want to follow.

One tip: use the blog index page (like example.com/blog) rather than individual articles. Podidex checks the page each cycle and finds new posts as they appear. You can also turn on Visit Child Links, which tells Podidex to follow links from those pages to get the full articles.

Turn on Deep Research and Podidex goes beyond your sources. A research agent reads what you gave it, figures out what's missing, and searches the web to fill the gaps. Paid feature.

Choosing a schedule

• Daily: pick any time. Good for fast-moving topics like AI research or market news.
• Weekly: pick a day and time. The sweet spot for most people.
• Monthly: pick a date or a pattern like “first Monday of the month.” Good for academic journals and slower-moving fields.
• None: generate episodes manually whenever you want.

Podidex detects your timezone automatically. You can change the schedule anytime. Start with weekly. If you're missing things, switch to daily. If episodes feel thin, drop to monthly.

Dialing in the style

Eight voices, each with a preview. Bella is the default. Clear, neutral, works for everything. Heart is warmer. Onyx is deeper. Pick the one you won't get tired of hearing every day.

Style tags control the tone. Ten options, and you can combine them:

• Summarize: highlights only, skip the details
• Detailed: keep everything from the source
• Conversational: casual, like someone explaining it to you
• Sciency: precise language, no hand-waving
• Skeptical: question the claims, poke at the evidence
• Storytelling: narrative arcs instead of bullet points
• Sarcastic: dry commentary
• Fun: light and playful
• Positive / Negative: lean optimistic or critical

“Summarize + Skeptical” gives you a quick, critical take. “Detailed + Conversational” is like someone who read everything and is telling you what actually matters.

Episode length is a slider from 5 to 60 minutes. There's also a free-text style prompt if you want to get specific: “focus on business implications,” “skip regulatory news,” “explain technical concepts like I'm a product manager.”

Hit Save & Finish. Podidex creates the podcast and generates the first episode right away so you can hear how it sounds. If something's off, go to settings and adjust.

What happens behind the scenes

When your podcast is due for an episode, Podidex:

1. Visits your source URLs and pulls in the latest content
2. Compares what it finds against previous episodes to avoid repetition
3. Generates a script from the new content, styled according to your tags
4. Converts the script to audio using your chosen voice
5. Drops the finished episode into your feed

This all happens in the background. You get a notification when the episode drops.

What it can't do

Podidex scrapes public web pages. If a site requires a login, sits behind a paywall, or blocks scrapers, it won't work. Most public blogs and news sites are fine. Paid newsletters usually aren't.

The audio is AI-generated. It sounds good, and it's a long way from robotic TTS, but you can tell it's not a human host. Personally, I prefer my AI voice to not try too hard to sound human. That just feels fake.

Each podcast uses one voice. No multi-host conversations yet.

Ideas for automated podcasts

• Your industry: Add the 5-10 blogs that matter in your field. Weekly, 15 minutes, Summarize + Conversational. Stay current without opening a browser.
• Hacker News: Add news.ycombinator.com. Daily, 10 minutes, Skeptical. Top stories with critical commentary.
• Research papers: Add arxiv category pages or lab blogs. Weekly, 30 minutes, Sciency + Detailed. Triage which papers are worth a close read.
• Competitor monitoring: Add your competitors' blogs. Weekly, 5 minutes, Summarize. Know what they shipped before your team does.
• Personal learning: Pick a topic you want to learn. Battery tech, genomics, whatever. Add 3-4 blogs. Monthly, 45 minutes, Conversational. Build knowledge gradually.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Podidex cost?

Free accounts get 60 minutes to start and 15 minutes/month, with all features including episodes up to 1 hour, deep research, and deep dive. Paid plans get 2000 minutes/month.

Does Podidex support RSS feeds?

Not yet. Right now you add web page URLs directly. RSS support is on the roadmap.

Does Podidex repeat content between episodes?

No. Podidex tracks what previous episodes covered and focuses on new content, so you won't get repetitive episodes.

Can I change my podcast schedule after creating it?

Yes. Go to your podcast's settings and change the frequency, day, or time whenever you want.

What languages does Podidex support?

Right now, Podidex only supports English.