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Startup Webaroo to put the 'Web on a Hard Drive'?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the starting-the-data-storage-arms-race dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new startup called Webaroo is launching Monday with an audacious proposition: You can search the Web without a net connection of any kind. Initial release consists of 'Web packs' on specific topics such as news, city guides or Wikipedia. Later this year they're promising a full-Web version that you can carry on a laptop -- provided you're willing to devote something in the neighborhood of 80 gig."

20 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. sounds great by sentientbeing · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sold. Does anyone have the .torrent for it?

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    1. Re:sounds great by Red+Alastor · · Score: 5, Funny
      I'm sold. Does anyone have the .torrent for it?
      Me too ! Do you think we can subscribe to a service to get updates when the content change ?
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    2. Re:sounds great by cgenman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't have a lot of hard drive space. It would be really convienient for me if they just put the packs online.

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  2. ah yes remember the day by minus_273 · · Score: 5, Funny

    when someone asked if the internet will fit on a floppy?

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    1. Re:ah yes remember the day by jeroenb · · Score: 3, Funny

      I remember somewhere halfway through the 90s that a co-worker who did research into search technologies got the "idea" to just crawl the web looking for references to stuff you were interested in. It was pretty obvious, but he wanted to back everything up in case he wanted to recrawl it searching for something else.

      One day our internet connection was down and we went up to him asking: "the net connection is down, could we use your internet backup instead?" He was not amused, we were :)

      Come to think of it, I'm not sure what he's up to nowadays...

    2. Re:ah yes remember the day by fracex · · Score: 4, Funny

      I remember when I was convinced that the entire interent came on one of those AOL floppies.

      Mind you I think I was 7 years old at the time.

    3. Re:ah yes remember the day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I think the corrent answer is that it does fit, if you leave out all porn and warez.

      The real question is, who would be interested in it then?

  3. What about important updates? by KenDodd · · Score: 5, Funny

    For example, where do we get the porn diffs?

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  4. Downloading Wikipedia Is Nothing New by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 2, Funny

    Been around since the early 90's. Back then it was called "fan fiction."

  5. Screw the web searching business by mtrisk · · Score: 2, Funny

    They should be selling their compression technology!

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  6. Re:Is this really the right time? by know1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    it would always be the right time, if only for the possibility that the bomb drops and we have to live a mad max style existance scavenging and fighting over laptop batteries and petrol in old stores throughout the land. If that happens, i wanna be able to read uncyclopedia at the end of the day.
    If it didn't happen i would be like the guy who loses his glasses in that old story and can't read even though he has eternity "but there was time now..." or whatever.

  7. Already got it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm posting this message from my Webaroo offline internet connection.

  8. this is nothing new by santaliqueur · · Score: 1, Funny

    it's just the president nixon stereotype version of the normal web.

    i'm going to surf the webarooooo

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  9. Pr0n? by Dante+Shamest · · Score: 4, Funny

    Would the downloadable content include porn?

    Er, I'm asking this in order to, er, protect my girlfriend's sensibilities. Can't have her unwittingly downloading such naughty stuff you know. =)

  10. Oh my good god (plus bonus Dr Who joke)... by tyroneking · · Score: 2, Funny

    From the website "Webaroo is a stealth-mode technology startup" which obviously means something very clever ... personally I use WinHTTrack on a small number of sites, now if someone offered pre-downloaded WinHTTrack sites ...maybe to order ...
    Anyway, more importantly - Dr Who is due back on UK TV soon I think (slightly disappointing end to last series - shame to to see Chris E leave) so here's a joke that Webaroo might like to to 'cache' ... "What do Daleks have for a snack? ...
    Dalek bread..." geddit? (thanks to a kids radio show for that one).

  11. Re:I won't be doing that one... by Jetekus · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've heard that a technology for seeing news offline already exists. It's very cheap, disposable (so don't worry if you leave it on the train) and can even keep you dry for a short period of time if it starts to rain. What's more - it's made from trees! How clever is that!!!

  12. Re:Hm.. by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think goatse would be under "hole internet".

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  13. Or you could just... by buckyboy314 · · Score: 1, Funny

    grab the cache and run.

  14. I've got this already by mag46 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just drag the little blue "e" on your desktop to a floppy drive. Then you have the Internet wherever you go, and it only takes a few K!

  15. Re:Dotcom v3.0 by flyingsquid · · Score: 3, Funny
    I was JUST thinking that. This seems like the beginning of a whole slew of semi-ridiculous ideas that get funded because their proponents seem 'ahead of their time'

    In related news, NewsCorp bought Myspace.com for 580 million.