looks very similar to https://particle.news how would you distinguish your approach (other than the tech focus)?

Cool - particle looks great - I really like how visual it is.

Distinguishing characteristics - personally I get value from the unambiguous timeline (no editorializing in /recent), and (as nice as the visual is) the non-visual, super simplistic presentation & the curated sources (...which I value b/c I curated them myself haha).

So bottom line is that DS will appeal to a certain kind of obsessive compulsive news consumer and synthesizer that wants the right balance of signal to noise ands a streamlined presentation that doesn't slow them down. I count myself among that group!