If it's just reading HN I could see this, but I don't think it's a good solution. The very problem we have is too many notifications. Whether they are mail or test suites, they interrupt you and take your focus, even briefly, away from what you're currently doing.

I turn off notifications on mail, Skype chat, IRC, etc. If it's not more important than the other things I might be doing, it doesn't get to interrupt me.