This is an app I built to help me combat the (previously!) firmly-established habit of pulling out my phone to read the news / reddit whenever I had 5 minutes of downtime. The idea is to channel that energy in a more productive direction: instead of opening XYZNews for the nth time I'll try reading wikipedia - but in a different language. That way I'll learn something new about the world, practice that language, and not blindly stare at the news feed hoping something interesting came up since the last time I looked at it 1 hour ago.
The app offers sources of content in a foreign language (by default wikipedia but any website can be added) and a built-in dictionary, which is activated by double-tapping a word [1]. It's actually worked quite well, and though I do still read HN I've drastically reduced the number of times I compulsively open news websites.
Fun fact, some wikipedia versions (e.g. Italian) have a "quote of the day". Those have become my favorites. Otherwise all pages have an "article of the day" which is often interesting.
As mentioned the websites are configurable. The languages/dictionaries are hardcoded (mostly wordreference), but trivial to add by modifying the source. The built-in browser is sometimes buggy and gets dizzy if it follows too many redirects, but it builds in Android Studio and otherwise works fine most of the time[2]. Any feedback welcome!
(note: no ads, no sign-in, no data is collected by the app)
(disclosure: I've allowed myself to resubmit this because the last title did not show the relevance to the subject of battling social media addiction, which I think is of interest. I believe this is allowed within the site's guidelines)
[1] Although e.g. Chrome has a built in integration with wordreference, it still requires too many clicks.
[2] might crash if you cross the international dateline in a canoe. I mean it might. If you try please let me know.
This is an app I built to help me combat the (previously!) firmly-established habit of pulling out my phone to read the news / reddit whenever I had 5 minutes of downtime. The idea is to channel that energy in a more productive direction: instead of opening XYZNews for the nth time I'll try reading wikipedia - but in a different language. That way I'll learn something new about the world, practice that language, and not blindly stare at the news feed hoping something interesting came up since the last time I looked at it 1 hour ago.
The app offers sources of content in a foreign language (by default wikipedia but any website can be added) and a built-in dictionary, which is activated by double-tapping a word [1]. It's actually worked quite well, and though I do still read HN I've drastically reduced the number of times I compulsively open news websites.
Fun fact, some wikipedia versions (e.g. Italian) have a "quote of the day". Those have become my favorites. Otherwise all pages have an "article of the day" which is often interesting.
As mentioned the websites are configurable. The languages/dictionaries are hardcoded (mostly wordreference), but trivial to add by modifying the source. The built-in browser is sometimes buggy and gets dizzy if it follows too many redirects, but it builds in Android Studio and otherwise works fine most of the time[2]. Any feedback welcome!
(note: no ads, no sign-in, no data is collected by the app)
(disclosure: I've allowed myself to resubmit this because the last title did not show the relevance to the subject of battling social media addiction, which I think is of interest. I believe this is allowed within the site's guidelines)
[1] Although e.g. Chrome has a built in integration with wordreference, it still requires too many clicks.
[2] might crash if you cross the international dateline in a canoe. I mean it might. If you try please let me know.