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Show HN: NewsAPI – A free API for live news headlines and images

3 points by highace 10y ago

highace 10y ago
Hi HN! This is my side project. I needed to integrate the latest headlines and images from a range of popular news sources and blogs into my app, and found that there wasn't a single API available that brought all the metadata together in a simple and consistent way. So I made one. It sources data from individual APIs, RSS feeds, and plain old scraping, and outputs in JSON. Here's some example responses: TechCrunch: https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=techcrunch&sortBy=latest&apikey=3e22f2fcc1344975ae2b2e69379e2a6e https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=techcrunch&sortBy=lat... Reuters: https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=reuters&sortBy=latest&apikey=3e22f2fcc1344975ae2b2e69379e2a6e https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=reuters&sortBy=latest... BBC News: https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=bbcnews&sortBy=top&apikey=3e22f2fcc1344975ae2b2e69379e2a6e https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=bbcnews&sortBy=top&ap...
- erlehmann_ 10y ago
  Why is the output format not RSS or Atom feeds? It could be trivially collected and re-used then without coding to your API.
  - highace 10y ago
    Great suggestion. I'll put this on the road map.
    - erlehmann_ 10y ago
      Nice. I would suggest to always use Atom instead of RSS, as it can do everything RSS can and more (e.g. multiple enclosures).
- LaurenceW1 10y ago
  is this open source?
lioeters 10y ago
Excellent! Well-executed design, and the service looks very useful, with a variety of potential applications. I love how this API provides simple access to a uniform data format for these news sources. "It sources data from individual APIs, RSS feeds, and plain old scraping.." This is what many developers have had to do, solving it each in their own way, and I think it's valuable to have that layer abstracted. Although, I imagine it's not trivial to maintain these algorithms, to keep up with changes in each news source. Since the chosen data format is so straight-forward, it'd probably require just a thin transformation step to produce RSS or Atom feeds from the API. Would love to see an open-source, self-hosted option.
- lioeters 10y ago
  To add a minor point which might be improved: upon visiting the home page, there is a FOUC - flash of unstyled content; the whole list of news sources can be seen, before the "type writer" JavaScript effect kicks in. Probably can be solved by hiding the text until the effect is loaded.
  - highace 10y ago
    Good spot, I'll fix this shortly :)
- highace 10y ago
  Thanks! I'm sure you're right - in the past developers will have simply consumed each source's API within their app, which is exactly what I did to begin with. The algorithms will need maintaining, especially in the case of the scraped sites. I'll be relying on this service for my main project so it's something I'd need to keep track of anyway.
  - LaurenceW1 10y ago
    so thats a solid no to open sourcing it?
    - highace 10y ago

3 points by highace 10y ago

Hi HN! This is my side project. I needed to integrate the latest headlines and images from a range of popular news sources and blogs into my app, and found that there wasn't a single API available that brought all the metadata together in a simple and consistent way. So I made one. It sources data from individual APIs, RSS feeds, and plain old scraping, and outputs in JSON. Here's some example responses: TechCrunch: https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=techcrunch&sortBy=latest&apikey=3e22f2fcc1344975ae2b2e69379e2a6e https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=techcrunch&sortBy=lat... Reuters: https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=reuters&sortBy=latest&apikey=3e22f2fcc1344975ae2b2e69379e2a6e https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=reuters&sortBy=latest... BBC News: https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=bbcnews&sortBy=top&apikey=3e22f2fcc1344975ae2b2e69379e2a6e https://newsapi.org/v1/articles?source=bbcnews&sortBy=top&ap...

erlehmann_ 10y ago
Why is the output format not RSS or Atom feeds? It could be trivially collected and re-used then without coding to your API.
- highace 10y ago
  Great suggestion. I'll put this on the road map.
  - erlehmann_ 10y ago
    Nice. I would suggest to always use Atom instead of RSS, as it can do everything RSS can and more (e.g. multiple enclosures).
LaurenceW1 10y ago
is this open source?

lioeters 10y ago

Excellent! Well-executed design, and the service looks very useful, with a variety of potential applications. I love how this API provides simple access to a uniform data format for these news sources. "It sources data from individual APIs, RSS feeds, and plain old scraping.." This is what many developers have had to do, solving it each in their own way, and I think it's valuable to have that layer abstracted. Although, I imagine it's not trivial to maintain these algorithms, to keep up with changes in each news source. Since the chosen data format is so straight-forward, it'd probably require just a thin transformation step to produce RSS or Atom feeds from the API. Would love to see an open-source, self-hosted option.

lioeters 10y ago
To add a minor point which might be improved: upon visiting the home page, there is a FOUC - flash of unstyled content; the whole list of news sources can be seen, before the "type writer" JavaScript effect kicks in. Probably can be solved by hiding the text until the effect is loaded.
- highace 10y ago
  Good spot, I'll fix this shortly :)
highace 10y ago
Thanks! I'm sure you're right - in the past developers will have simply consumed each source's API within their app, which is exactly what I did to begin with. The algorithms will need maintaining, especially in the case of the scraped sites. I'll be relying on this service for my main project so it's something I'd need to keep track of anyway.
- LaurenceW1 10y ago
  so thats a solid no to open sourcing it?
  - highace 10y ago