How to Build an AI-Powered News Aggregator with Apple Shortcuts

If you want to take control of your daily information diet, Apple Shortcuts is the perfect tool for the job. We have built a massive collection of new automated workflows to help you skip the algorithm and get exactly what you need. From an AI-powered tech news aggregator to automated wallpaper generators, here is a look at the best new shortcuts you can add to your iPhone and Mac today.

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Build an AI-powered news aggregator

Keeping up with the news often means scrolling through endless feeds. The Tech News Aggregator shortcut automates that entire process. It pulls up to 50 items per day from your selected tech RSS feeds. It then sends those articles to ChatGPT through the Apple Intelligence action. The AI looks for duplicate topics and prioritizes the top 5 stories based on how frequently they were covered across your different sources.

How it works

1. Open the shortcut and add your preferred RSS feeds to the top Text block.
2. Set the publish date filter to in the last 1 day so you only get fresh news.
3. Run the shortcut. It will generate a clean Apple Note containing the titles, summaries, and source links for the day's top stories.

Get your favorite YouTube videos in one place

The Today's YouTube Videos shortcut skips the YouTube algorithm completely. It pulls the latest long-form videos from your favorite creators and builds an Apple Note with thumbnails, titles, and direct watch links. You can skip the endless homepage scrolling and jump straight to the content you actually want to see.

Here's how to try it

1. Visit newskeeper.io and enter a YouTube channel handle to get its specific RSS feed.
2. Open the shortcut and scroll down to the bottom of the Text block.
3. Paste the URL on a new line.

Pro tip: Set up an iOS automation to run this shortcut every day at 6 or 7 PM. You will have a fresh list of videos waiting for you right when you are ready to unwind.

Generate AI wallpapers with Nano Banana

Google's Nano Banana model is fantastic for image generation. You can now harness that power directly inside Shortcuts to generate high-quality, customized iPhone wallpapers. You can choose different themes and let the shortcut apply the result to your device automatically.

Give it a spin

1. Grab an API key from Google AI Studio.
2. Paste your key into the Text block just above the Set API Key variable.
3. Run the shortcut and select a theme like Mountains or Ocean.
4. The shortcut uses the Set Wallpaper Photo action to apply the new image directly to your Lock Screen and Home Screen.

Transcribe and summarize voice memos instantly

Sometimes you just need to talk out an idea. The Quick Voice Memo to Note shortcut captures your audio and runs it through Apple Intelligence. It gives you a complete text transcript alongside a short summary of any action items. It drops everything directly into an Apple Note so you never lose track of a brainstorm.

How it works

1. Run the shortcut from your Mac menu bar or iPhone Control Center.
2. Speak your thoughts and tap the stop button.
3. The shortcut will process the audio in the background and generate an Apple Note with a smart title and your full transcript.

Log your thoughts with Stream of Consciousness

This acts like an intelligent visual bookmarking tool. It takes a screenshot of whatever is currently on your screen. It extracts any visible text, grabs the web URL if you are currently using Safari, and uses ChatGPT to log everything into an ongoing Apple Note. It even parses out context from text messages and formatting details.

A few more things

There are several other utility shortcuts in this release designed to save you time throughout the day:

• Rename All Files in Folder: Select a folder and this tool renames every file based on its actual contents. It transcribes audio files and reads PDFs to generate accurate file names automatically.
• Stock Calculator: Type in an investment amount and a ticker symbol. It uses Yahoo Finance data to tell you exactly how many shares you can purchase.
• Current App Storage: Run this straight from your Control Center. It instantly opens the exact Settings page for the app you are currently using so you can manage its storage limits.
• Take Screenshot Save To Album: This bypasses the usual preview screen. It takes a screenshot and saves it directly to a specific photo album on your device.
• Expense Tracking to Numbers: This prompts you for a purchase amount, category, and subcategory. It then seamlessly adds a new row to your Business Expenses spreadsheet in Apple Numbers.

Go explore

These shortcuts take a lot of the friction out of daily digital tasks. Whether you want to build your own news aggregator or just track your expenses a bit faster, there is something here for your workflow. You can find and download all of these tools in the shortcut.bot community. Grab the ones that fit your routine and start automating.

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