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Wikipedia users will now have the option to download content from the user-edited encyclopedia to an ePub format for later reading. The new feature was announced today in a post on Wikipedia's blog. Wikipedia calls the new feature "book creator," and it is available on the site.
Google+ topped other popular sites in the American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Business Report. As Bloomberg details, Google+ tied socially-editable encyclopedia Wikipedia with a score of 78 out of a possible 100. Google's "social layer" attained higher customer satisfaction scores than Facebook, even though Facebook maintains an overwhelming lead in terms of user base.
Wikipedia may create its own travel guide that would compete with books such as Lonely Planet. According to Skift, the
An alternative to the iOS version of Safari, Dolphin Browser, has received a major update, v4.0. Core to the upgrade is Dolphin Sonar, which enables voice commands for functions like search, navigation, bookmarking, and sharing to social networks. Sonar is activated by shaking an iPhone or just tapping the appropriate button.
Encyclopaedia Britannica ended one of the longest print runs in history by revealing in an interview that the last print edition of its collection was going off the presses. The 2010 edition currently being sold for $1,395 will be the last print copy, the New York Times was told, with the remaining 4,000 copies out of 12,000 being cleared out. Attention would shift more towards the online version and educational programs.
Google has filed a new patent with the USPTO that relates to touchscreen-based web searches on mobile devices. Rather than copying and pasting some text into a search engine, the tech will initiate Google web searches when users draw a lower-case 'g' on the screen and then continue on to circle the text or image they want to learn more about. The patent also makes mention of searching other sources such as Yahoo or Wikipedia by tracing the shape of the letter 's' on the screen.
Wireless provider Orange will give free access to Wikipedia from mobile devices in the Middle East and Africa. This will give millions of users access to the digital, user-generated encyclopedia without incurring data charges. Orange said this deal is the first of its kind.
Both Congress and the Senate have delayed votes on their joint controversial Senate majority leader Harry Reid has stated that he decided to at least delay the vote on the controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA). He explained it as a reaction to "recent events," a euphemism for the widescale protests that turned numerous Senators against the bill.
It appears the work of many sites is working, as the US Senate contact site is facing technical difficulties, likely due to the large incoming amount of e-mails regarding the controversial SOPA bill. Many sites, including Google and Wikipedia, posted some form of protest against SOPA on Wednesday in order to raise public awareness regarding the issue and urge them to do something about it.
In its effort to protest the controversial SOPA bill, Google will host a link to an explanation of its opposition on its popular home page. The link will go live on Wednesday, according to CNET, and thus join Wikipedia, Reddit and other tech firms in showing their disagreement for SOPA and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), both of which were spurred on by movie studios and music labels.
Amazon has just cleared up some confusion over the capabilities of its recently introduced, $150 Kindle Touch 3G. Users will not have free reign to browse the web over its AT&T-supplied 3G connection, other than Wikipedia and the Kindle Store for downloading books and periodicals. When a Wi-Fi connection is established, however, users can freely browse the web.
Sony's plans for a new Reader were prematurely confirmed Saturday after Dutch retailer bol posted a listing for the PRS-T1. The look shows a device with a six-inch E Ink Pearl screen and a look deliberately patterned after Sony Ericsson smartphones like the Xperia Play. The touchscreen is being upgraded to support multi-touch and would support pinch-to-zoom.
Opera today claimed a handful of records by launching Opera 10.6. It now tries to regain the title of the fastest browser as its JavaScript engine should be about 50 percent faster than the already quick 10.5. The app is equally the first polished browser to support the controversial WebM video standard in HTML5 and recognizes other new HTML5 features, such as geolocation and web app caching.
Wikimedia Foundation has released a major update to its Wikipedia Mobile app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Version 2 features a complete redesign, including an updated layout. Users can now access maps content directly from the app interface. The latest version also provides options for placing bookmark references.
Relative newcomer Endless Ideas today brought out one of its first connected e-book players. The 6-inch BeBook Neo opts for a device-independent approach to downloadable books. It depends only on Wi-Fi to get online and points users to multiple third-party stores rather than to an internal shop. Endless further vows that users will have limited access to Google and Wikipedia, but it's not mentioned if this involves a full web browser.
VUDU has recently added Wikipedia to the interface of its on-demand video service, letting users access information on any movie or show they're considering watching. The application will also link to various actors, actresses, movies and directors related to the particular title they're watching. Users can browse Wikipedia like they would traditionally via a web browser on their PC.
Openmoko on Tuesday began shipping its WikiReader, a portable device that aims to bring Wikipedia offline. It contains over three million Wikipedia articles in English and doesn't connect to the Internet to get the information, instead storing the Wikipedia database on a microSD card and gets free, quarterly updates from the Wikipedia website. The device uses a monochrome touchscreen for navigation, which includes an on-screen keyboard and support for the site's well-known hotlinks.
VITO Technology says it has added meteor shower data and other updates to its iPhone stargazing app. Star Walk 1.2 now includes links to Wikipedia articles on planets, stars and other celestial bodies. The company says it has also improved the way stars are displayed, so that larger, brighter stars appear more distinct in comparison to smaller ones.
Shiny Development has released Speakapedia 1.0, a Mac utility that converts WIkipedia articles into spoken words, and "seamlessly manages them as tracks" in iTunes. The application uses an article's main photo for iTunes album art. The utility allows knowledge-hungry users to "listen" to articles on their Macs and iPods, and has obvious benefits for those who are sight-impiared.
eMusic will try to improve its standing against iTunes and fellow web-based store Amazon MP3 soon by adding a social component to the music, the music service's chief David Pakman tells Fortune. Taking advantage of the need to buy music through the web portal, eMusic hopes to draw in buyers by providing deeper and constantly changing artist info through Web 2.0 sites. Musicians will frequently have Wikipedia pages for their biographies as well as relevant Flickr photo albums and YouTube videos.
Magnetism Studios, the company behind Insanely Great Tees clothing, has unveiled Springlets, a collection of home-screen functions for the iPhone and iPod touch. The collection of six icons allows users to jump directly to a number of online search databases, rather than having to load Safari and perform a Google search. Users can jump directly to Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" search, IMDb, Chowhound, and Wikipedia. Springlets are downloadable through the iPhone and iPod touch only.
Efiko Software recently unveiled iClueless for iPhone and iPod touch users, a web-based software suite that enables users to find near anything on the internet. iClueless can find both the standard and mobile versions of a web page, enabling it to customize the browsing experience for either WiFi or the 2G network. The application can search Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, ESPN, Amazon, and many other service listings. iClueless is available free of charge, and works through the embedded Safari browser on either device.
