The Unsalted Truth

Inspiration

News today is not designed for understanding — it’s designed for speed and clicks. Articles are long, text-heavy, full of assumptions, and often biased. Many people don’t struggle because they lack interest, but because they lack context, clarity, and accessible formats.

This gap hits hardest for:

People with dyslexia
Non-native English speakers
Elderly users
Students learning current affairs
Audio-first learners
Anyone overwhelmed by dense articles

We realized accessibility isn’t just about seeing content — it’s about cognitive access. That’s where The Unsalted Truth was born.

What it does

The Unsalted Truth is an AI-powered, accessibility-first news platform that transforms complex headlines into structured, neutral, easy-to-understand explanations.

Every article is broken into:

What happened
Past context
Why it matters now
Who is affected
Future implications
Helpful links for deeper exploration

Accessibility features include:

🔊 Text-to-Voice Mode for audio-first and visually impaired users
🌍 Real-time Language Translation for global accessibility
📖 Dyslexia-Friendly Mode (optimized font, spacing, layout)
🔍 Large Text Mode for low-vision users
🖼 AI-Generated Visuals to make news more engaging

We don’t just simplify news — we structure understanding.

How we built it

This is a live, functioning system, not a mockup.

Frontend

React + Tailwind CSS
Dynamic accessibility modes (Dyslexia Mode, Large Text Mode)

News Engine

Real-time headlines via public RSS feeds
Multi-proxy resilience system:
- allorigins.win
- rss2json.com
- codetabs.com
Local fallback dataset to ensure UI stability
Client-side XML parsing using DOMParser

AI Intelligence Layer (Gemini 3 Pro)
Used for:

Contextual reasoning
ELI5 simplification
Structured JSON breakdown of news
Real-time translation
Text-to-speech generation

Custom Audio Pipeline

Raw PCM audio
Decoded using Web Audio API
AudioBuffers cached for low latency and cost

Architecture

Zero-backend, client-side execution
Fast, scalable, and demo-proof

Challenges we ran into

⚖️ Keeping summaries neutral while simplifying complex topics
🧠 Structuring AI output into consistent JSON formats
🌍 Handling real-time translation without breaking layout
🔊 Building a smooth low-latency audio playback pipeline
🌐 RSS reliability → solved with multi-proxy resilience
♿ Designing accessibility features without cluttering UI

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a fully working AI news engine, not a static demo
Created a platform focused on cognitive accessibility, not just visual accessibility
Designed a structured explanation model instead of generic summaries
Implemented real-time AI translation + TTS
Achieved a zero-backend architecture that’s fast and scalable