It’s called the WikiReader, and it’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. It has just three buttons (search, history, and random), but features a touchscreen with a virtual keyboard for searching through entries. Most impressively, the Openmoko claims that the WikiReader will run off just 2 AAA batteries for a full year.

The biggest question on my mind when I first saw this thing is how it gets its information, and given the fluid, always-growing-and-changing nature of Wikipedia, does it get updated? The answer is yes, but not utilizing the latest in wireless Internet or Bluetooth technology. Instead, there are two lower-tech solutions for upgrading. You can subscribe to a $29 service offered by Openmoko where you’ll receive 2 new microSD cards a year with updated information encoded on them. Or you can download the super-large files on your PC for free, but you have to have a microSD card burner in order to copy the info from your computer to the WikiReader device.

The WikiReader is available now for $99 plus shipping.

Post from: EveryJoe

Put Wikipedia in your pocket

The idea of software as a service (SAAS) isn’t really new these days as more and more applications and services are delivered via the web and via a subscription model. Wikipedia defines SAAS as the following:

Software as a Service (SaaS, typically pronounced ’sass’) is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. SaaS software vendors may host the application on their own web servers or download the application to the consumer device, disabling it after use or after the on-demand contract expires.

The examples I illustrate above in the graphic (Dropbox, Vimeo, Skype, Evernote, Pandora, flickr) are just some of the services that I’m currently a happy user of, but have not upgraded to the premium versions of each across the board.

If I upgraded to the non-free subscription for each of the services above, I’d be looking at enough of an expense that I’d need to really start paying attention to it on the monthly budget. However, with all of these services, the value could be very well worth the expense over the long-run.

How many SAAS options are you currently subscribed to with this type of service?

Post from: EveryJoe

Software Can Be An Expensive Service

And when I say “big” I mean $3 million dollars big so that they can settle a stock dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission over some dirty stock dealings.

Christopher Conte, an S.E.C. attorney in Washington overseeing the case said, “Take-Two’s seven-year backdating scheme was egregious and pervasive, and caused the company to materially misrepresent its financial condition to investors.”

This came from Wikipedia [the knower of all knows]:

Options backdating is the practice of granting an employee stock option that is dated prior to the date that the company actually granted the option. This practice raises a number of legal and accounting issues. The practice of backdating itself is not illegal, nor is granting of discounted stock options. What is illegal is the improper disclosures, both in financial records and in filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Shame, shame, Take-Two.

Maybe now that this is finally cleared up, they can again focus on making games.

Image|TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Post from: EveryJoe

Take-Two Interactive to Pay 3 Million Bucks

I use Wikipedia as much as I use Google, and often visit the site directly for certain kinds of information, before searching it elsewhere. Even though it is constantly criticized for articles especially about various historical events and personalities, it is resourceful in succinctly providing valuable information about a multitude of concepts.

Not just Wikipedia, but many other sites that came after it, all under the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Check out the Wikimedia Projects page to discover them.

Alexa, the website ranking site, ranks Wikipedia at 8. That is very encouraging for the only non-profit advertisement-free website among the top 10 websites of the world. However, it only gets around 8% of the Internet global traffic, compared to around 30% that sites like Google and Yahoo! get. It deserves more.

More people should benefit from this wonderful source. Start becoming a regular user yourself and tell about it to all your friends who are not about it.

Support Wikipedia.

Image Source: Wikipedia.

Post from: EveryJoe

Happy Birthday Wikipedia