Pony.fm/app/models/Entities/News.php

<?php

	namespace Entities;

	use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
	use SimplePie;

	class News extends \Eloquent {
		public static function getNews($start = 0, $end = 4) {
			$feed = new SimplePie();
			$feed->cache = false;
			$feed->set_feed_url('http://mlpforums.com/blog/rss/404-ponyfm-development-blog/');
			$feed->init();
			$feed->handle_content_type();

			$posts = $feed->get_items($start, $end);
			$postHashes = [];

			foreach ($posts as $post) {
				$postHashes[] = self::calculateHash($post->get_permalink());
			}

			$seenRecords = Auth::check() ? self::where('user_id', '=', Auth::user()->id)->whereIn('post_hash', $postHashes)->get() : [];
			$seenHashes = [];

			foreach ($seenRecords as $record) {
				$seenHashes[$record->post_hash] = 1;
			}

			$postsReturn = [];

			// This date is around when the last blog post was posted as of now.
			// I put in a cutoff so that blog posts made before this update is pushed are always marked as 'read'
			$readCutoffDate = mktime(null, null, null, 4, 28, 2013);

			foreach ($posts as $post) {
				$autoRead = $post->get_date('U') < $readCutoffDate;
				$postsReturn[] = [
					'title' => $post->get_title(),
					'date' => $post->get_date('j F Y g:i a'),
					'url' => $post->get_permalink(),
					'read' => $autoRead || isset($seenHashes[self::calculateHash($post->get_permalink())])];
			}

			return $postsReturn;
		}

		public static function markPostAsRead($postUrl) {
			$postHash = self::calculateHash($postUrl);
			$news = new News();
			$news->user_id = Auth::user()->id;
			$news->post_hash = $postHash;
			$news->save();
		}

		private static function calculateHash($postPermalink) {
			return md5($postPermalink);
		}
	}