How to Listen to Hacker News on Your Commute

If you're a developer, founder, or tech enthusiast, you probably check Hacker News daily. But finding time to actually read those articles? That's another story.

The average Hacker News front page has 30 stories. Reading just the top 5 thoroughly takes 30-45 minutes. Time most of us don't have between meetings, coding sessions, and life.

Here's the solution: listen to Hacker News instead of reading it.

Why Audio Works for News Consumption

Your eyes are busy. You're driving, cooking, exercising, or walking the dog. But your ears? They're free.

Audio transforms "dead time" into learning time:

• Commuting: 30 minutes each way = 5 hours/week of potential learning
• Exercise: Turn gym time into tech briefing time
• Chores: Dishes and laundry become productive
• Walking: Dog walks, coffee runs, lunch breaks

The average American spends 52 minutes commuting daily. That's over 200 hours per year. Imagine using even half of that to stay updated on tech news.

Options for Listening to Hacker News

Option 1: Text-to-Speech Browser Extensions

Extensions like "Read Aloud" or "Natural Reader" can read any webpage aloud. The problem? They read everything — navigation, ads, comments, the full article.

For a 10-minute article, you might spend 2 minutes listening to UI elements. And you have to manually select each article.

Verdict: Works, but clunky. Requires active management.

Option 2: Hacker News Daily Podcast

There are a few podcasts that summarize Hacker News, like "Hacker News Recap." They're human-hosted and come out once daily.

Verdict: Good quality, but limited to once per day and someone else's curation.

Option 3: AI-Powered Audio News (Tera.fm)

This is where tools like Tera.fm come in. Instead of reading raw articles or waiting for a podcast, AI summarizes the top stories and converts them to natural-sounding audio.

How it works:

1. AI fetches the top Hacker News stories
2. Each article is summarized to key points (30-60 seconds per story)
3. Text-to-speech converts summaries to audio
4. You press play and listen to 5 stories in under 10 minutes

Verdict: Fast, on-demand, and curated. Best for busy people who want the highlights without the time investment.

How to Set Up Your Hacker News Audio Routine

Here's a simple routine that takes 10 minutes and keeps you informed:

Morning Commute (or Coffee)

1. Open Tera.fm Hacker News Top
2. Press play
3. Listen to the top 5 stories while you commute or drink coffee

Lunch Break

If something from the morning caught your attention, bookmark the original article link (shown in the player) to read in full later.

Evening (Optional)

Check "Hacker News New" for fresh stories that rose during the day. Different content from the morning batch.

What You'll Actually Hear

Let's say today's top Hacker News stories include:

• A new open-source database outperforming Postgres
• Show HN: Someone built a compiler in Rust
• Why Big Tech is mass-layoffing despite record profits
• A guide to system design interviews
• Discussion on whether AI will replace developers

Instead of spending 45 minutes reading each article, you'll hear a 60-second summary of each. The AI extracts:

• What it is
• Why it matters
• Key technical details or arguments
• The community's reaction (if relevant)

Total time: 8-10 minutes. You're now informed enough to discuss these topics with colleagues or dive deeper into the ones that interest you.

Pro Tips for Hacker News Audio

• Use different feeds for variety: "HN Top" for popular stories, "HN New" for fresh content, "HN Ask" for community questions, "HN Show" for projects people built.
• Combine with other sources: Listen to HN in the morning, BBC or Bloomberg in the evening for a balanced info diet.
• Save links for deep dives: Audio gives you the overview. If something's interesting, read the full article later.
• 1.25x speed: Once you're used to the voices, speed up playback to fit more in less time.

The Bottom Line

You don't have to choose between staying informed and having time for actual work. Audio news lets you do both.

Your commute, workout, and chores are already happening. You might as well learn something while you're at it.

Ready to try it? Listen to Hacker News on Tera.fm — it's free, no app required, works in your browser.