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Filed under: Internet, Video

Wikipedia to get better video support

Fortunately, Wikipedia's video options won't end up like this

When I first read the headline that Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia, is preparing to offer editors lots of new video tools and support, I was immediately filled with dread. I instantly started imagining the types of videos that overly pedantic Wikipedia editors would create, on such scintillating topics like the "Mary Sue" archetype in fan fiction (and 3200 words on that, really?) or that really awesome episode of Battlestar Galactica (don't flame me BSG fans, Cylons rule and whatnot). Fortunately, the new video features that are going to be coming to Wikipedia aren't about content creation, at least not yet.

According to MIT's Technology Review, in the next two or three months, Wikipedia editors will have access to an "add media" button that allows them to find, annotate, choose the relevant portions of a video and then embed the resulting clip into any article. The whole thing will be web-based and will rely on open video standards. Three sources will be available in the beginning, the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons and Metavid, but eventually Wikipedia hopes to allow users to scour the web for content.

Despite my early skepticism, the idea is actually pretty interesting. When I think about the first-wave of "book encyclopedia" killers, the CD and then DVD-ROM based multimedia offerings (like the late Encarta), the video content always sticks out as one of the biggest high points. Having quality video or audio content add context or augmentation to a text article can really make a subject more clear.

Of course, having to rely on copyright-free video or public domain works might make it difficult for Wikipedia to achieve those same goals.

[via Mashable]

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Microsoft, Web, Education

Microsoft exits the encyclopedia biz, kills Encarta

Encarta closing
Microsoft Encarta is a digital encyclopedia that used to come on a CD-ROM, and eventually graduated to a web-based service. But in the age of Wikipedia, where even the Encyclopedia Brittanica allows users to suggest edits, it looks like Microsoft either can't or choose not to compete. The company is pulling the plug on Encarta later this year.

On October 31st, the company will turn off all of its Encarta web sites except for Encarta Japan for some reason, which will shut down a few months later. Microsoft will stop selling Encarta software by June. Microsoft will continue releasing updates for the software versions of Encarta until it shuts down the internet service.

Users who have paid for Encarta subscriptions will be refunded for the unused portion of their subscription.

[via Ars Technica]

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Search

Need Wikipedia when you can't get online? Get Wikitaxi


Wikipedia is a great source of information, and it's getting bigger every day. If you're like me, you'd be hard pressed to go a day without looking something up on Wikipedia. But sometimes you might not have Internet access -- devastating, I know! -- and you still need to know whether there's a grammatically correct sentence made up entirely of the word "buffalo." Well, it's a good thing there's Wikitaxi, an offline Wikipedia app.

With Wikitaxi, you can snag the entire database of Wikipedia -- or, if you're pressed for bandwidth, the Simple English version is a lot smaller -- and read it offline on your Windows machine. It comes with a separate importer app that you can point at a database, and then you can use the main Wikitaxi app to run searches on it. Those clever people at Lifehacker suggest that you carry it around on a USB drive: then you can prove that buffalo thing to your friends at a moment's notice!

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Web services, Google, Search

Google puts Wikipedia in the crosshairs with Knol


If we were Jimmy Wales, we'd have bought a bullet proof vest long ago. Google has just set Jimmy up the bomb; Announcing 'Knol', a human powered index of knowledge which seeks to rival Wikipedia in accountability, and thus accuracy.

Knol will focus on credit for authors who "own" pages within the system. Write a bad page, lose your reputation. Write a better page than one which currently exists, and knock it out of the top spot. It's free market dynamics and modern credit reporting all rolled into one and applied to encyclopedia style information. Google, for it's part, seemingly intends to be hands off in the management of Knol, foregoing any oversight structure similar to that in place at Wikipedia or Mahalo.

While we find this all super interesting, we're going to stop short of prognosticating about the death of Wikipedia. Other industry pundits are calling it "a game changer" and "huge"; We've decided to wait until Monday to predict Wikipedia's imminent death. It's called journalism, look it up.

Oddly enough, there is no current Wikipedia entry for "Knol". Maybe we should pitch in and create one?

[via Paris Lemon]

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Kids, Utilities, Web services, Search

Visualizing Wikipedia with WikiMindMap

visualizing wikipedia with wikimindmapWikiMindMap takes a pleasant visual approach to the text heavy Wikipedia, showcasing additional relevant content that you may have never searched for.

If you've been getting tired of entering a search term in for Wikipedia and feel like there might be additional information that you are missing out on, WikiMindMap will change that. This tool can help users browse Wiki content quickly and efficiently, giving a clean structured understandable overview of the search topic.

Start by specifying the version of Wiki, and then enter your topic. You will be presented with a 'mind map' of the topic that branches out each realm of the instance, clickable through to the Wikipedia entry. For instance, a search on 'California' returned some higher marked pages, along with breakdowns for additional sections such as history, economy, cities, towns, newspaper, and geography. This is extremely relevant when searching for such a broad term.

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Text, Web services, Social Software

Navigate Wikipedia faster with keyboard shortcuts

wikipedia keyboard shortcutsGetting around Wikipedia could take shorter than you have been previously use to. For instance, do you know about the keyboard shortcuts?

Keyboard shortcuts aren't a well known feature for users of the popular online encyclopedia, but they do exist. I recently came across a post by Steve Rubel reminding me of this fact.

These keyboard shortcuts work with any browser, and on both PC and Mac platforms, and don't need to install any special Greasemonkey script, and will surely speed up your time when searching for useful content.

Depending on which browser you are in you will have to use hold down this combination of keys, then hit your access key:
  • Mozilla Firefox 1.5: hold Alt, press access key
  • Mozilla Firefox 2: hold Alt-Shift, press access key
  • Internet Explorer: hold Alt, press access key, and then press Enter
  • Opera: press Shift-Esc, then press access key
  • Mac OS: Control and a key
Check out a cheat sheet for the key shortcuts after the jump:

Read more →

Filed under: Business, Internet, Text, Web services, Social Software

Wikipedia to go Offline

wikipedia on cdAfter years of successful topics and entries that everyone has had the ability to contribe to, the online free encyclopedia is finally going offline.

Ok, so it's not going offline in the traditional sense of shutting down, Wikipedia has created a DVD version of Wikipedia, with close to 2,000 hand picked articles from a group of academics and Wikipedia staff.

The CD is selling for $13.99, which seems like a rather high price for something that can be accessed for free online. But hey, if you don't have internet access this is the next best option. The Wikipedia Foundation DVD is first available in English format, with a French format as well as other launguages in development.

Filed under: Hardware, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Apple, Freeware

Put Wikipedia on your iPod

EncyclopodiaEncyclopodia is software that will load Wikipedia in its entirety onto your iPod. Really. It works with a special version of iPodLinux but has a clever dual-booting system so that you don't have to get rid of your shiny Apple interface for listening to music. You can enter text for searches using the clickwheel—not the most efficient, for sure, but what did you expect?—and navigate wiki links the same way. Amazingly, the entire English Wikipedia (German and Italian are available as well) fits in under 800MB, which seems like more than a fair trade to have that much information at your fingertips. Cool.

[Via Digg]

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