Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

14 of 340 comments (clear)

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

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

    --

    ------
    beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    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 ?
      --
      Slashdot anagrams to "Sad Sloth"
    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.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  2. Dotcom v3.0 by Saven+Marek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A new startup called Webaroo is launching Monday with an audacious proposition: You can search the Web without a net connection of any kind.

    If anyone doubted the next dotcom boom is upon us, this should put that doubt to rest.

    1. Re:Dotcom v3.0 by caffeinemessiah · · Score: 5, Insightful
      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'. Did someone at a funding company not think of the following two points:

      1) the web is growing at a phenomenal rate. in a few years, the only thing that you'll be able to fit on even high-density media is very narrow, specific content. is there really such a huge market for that?

      2) wifi is nearly ubiquitous. why pay for a static snapshot of the web that will be obsolete in a few days when you can walk into a starbucks with you laptop and get the fresh stuff almost for free??

      I'm sure the guys who want to put the web on a disk have thought these points through, but me...I just really want to sigh. and buy some short-term stocks.

      --
      An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
    2. Re:Dotcom v3.0 by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Insightful

      wifi is nearly ubiquitous.

      I think you're way off on this one. On the other hand, I have a suitable substitute:

      2. What the hell are they going to do about the copyright issues?

      --
      Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  3. Sounds like a cache to me by liliafan · · Score: 5, Informative

    After reading the article, it sounds like they are just selling their web cache, nice idea but really unless they are selling really cheap I just can't see it picking up, especially considering the difficulties of getting the data to your drive, I mean an 80G download!

    Additionally what if I decide to follow site links that leave the cache?

    Yeah I can't really see this picking up.

    --
    GeekServ Unix Consulting Services (http://www.geekserv.com)
  4. ah yes remember the day by minus_273 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --
    The war with islam is a war on the beast
    The war on terror is a war for peace
  5. What about important updates? by KenDodd · · Score: 5, Funny

    For example, where do we get the porn diffs?

    --
    Did you know my dad's dog died?
  6. All of the Web on a laptop? by omeg · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The Internet Archive Wayback Machine contains approximately 1 petabyte of data and is currently growing at a rate of 20 terabytes per month. This eclipses the amount of text contained in the world's largest libraries, including the Library of Congress. If you tried to place the entire contents of the archive onto floppy disks (we don't recommend this!) and laid them end to end, it would stretch from New York, past Los Angeles, and halfway to Hawaii."

    Internet Archive Frequently Asked Questions

  7. Hm.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Only if one of the webpacks is porn. Or better yet, if several are porn, cross referenced by type and participants.

    Though, my vaguely disturbing ramblings do raise an interesting point, maybe - what's their stance on the indecent materials that make up a good deal of teh webernet? When they say the "whole internet," do they MEAN goatse too?

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

      I think goatse would be under "hole internet".

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    2. Re:Hm.. by edbulldog · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The only way one can store the "whole internet" in a 80GB drive is to drop off the pr0n. I mean... besides the pr0n, everything else should fit in a 80GB drive, right?

  8. Re:Copyright infringment. by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    How soon till the first lawsuit is filed.

    US copyright law, 17 USC 512, excuses operators of automated caches that conform to established cache control protocols (meta elements, /robots.txt, etc.) from copyright infringement liability.