Wikipedia In Your Pocket, $99

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Wikipedia In Your Pocket, $99

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 13, 2009 @07:45AM from the or-are-you-just-glad-to-see-me dept.

An anonymous reader notes the announcement by Sean Moss-Pultz (Openmoko, Inc.) of a new geek device: The $99 WikiReader. All of Wikipedia in your pocket with no Internet connection required. Works in bright sunlight. 3-button interface. You can update the information in the WikiReader either by mail (they ship a microSD card) or by downloading a 4+ GB file.

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Hitch Hiker's Guide by Anonymous Coward · 2009-10-13 07:47 · Score: 5, Funny

Finally we have a hitch hiker's guide to Earth!
1. Re:Hitch Hiker's Guide by gEvil+(beta) · 2009-10-13 07:54 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Finally we have a hitch hiker's guide to Earth!
  
  WTF are you talking about? Everything important to say about Earth can be summed up in two words.
  
  --
  This guy's the limit!
Solution looking for a problem by pv2b · 2009-10-13 07:49 · Score: 3, Insightful

With ubiquitous cellular broadband practically everywhere (that matters) and phones with good web browsers in them, this is a solution looking for a problem.
1. Re:Solution looking for a problem by Anonymous Coward · 2009-10-13 07:54 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Three points to consider:
  - It's openmoko based, so it's extremely hackable.
  - It uses standard AAA batteries. I can't overstate how important this is to me.
  - No contract, hard copy of reference information, safe to give to a kid.
  This seems like a good gift solution for
  a. hackers
  b. travelers
  c. parents
2. Re:Solution looking for a problem by Doctor+Faustus · 2009-10-13 08:05 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  We don't all want to pay for data plans.
3. Re:Solution looking for a problem by FlyingBishop · 2009-10-13 08:18 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  yeah, there's no use for an encyclopedia with detailed information on all edible plants out in the middle of nowhere where there's no cell access.
  and you couldn't possibly find yourself in a situation where you need information but can't access your wireless, despite being in a 'covered' area, cell phone coverage is, practically, perfect.
  Oh, also, power outages. Infrastructure is all well and good, but having all the knowledge you need about the world around you at your fingertips regardless of the state of the outside world is great.
  I'd say the places that matter the most are precisely the places that don't have cell access.
4. Re:Solution looking for a problem by graphicsguy · 2009-10-13 08:35 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  yeah, there's no use for an encyclopedia with detailed information on all edible plants out in the middle of nowhere where there's no cell access.
  Might not be as useful without pictures, though.
5. Re:Solution looking for a problem by xaxa · 2009-10-13 09:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  No contract, hard copy of reference information, safe to give to a kid.
  I'm actually wondering about this part. Their website seems to be clearly positioning it at children, and yet Wikipedia is quite deliberately not censored for children. I smell a lawsuit there once some 7yro Johnny, driven by curiosity, starts with anime, and ends up diving into the depth of interlinked mesh of articles on yuri and lolicon...
  Read the site, rather than just looking at the pictures ;-)
  
  For Parents: WikiReader offers an easy way to protect your child from adult-oriented content.
  
  <flamebait>I wonder if there's "American mode" (hiding all the articles about sex) and "European mode" (hiding all the articles about guns).</flamebait>
6. Re:Solution looking for a problem by mmontour · 2009-10-13 09:01 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Three points to consider:
  - It's openmoko based, so it's extremely hackable.
  [citation needed]
  It's produced by some of the Openmoko people but it's a very different software stack that shares little (if any) code with their phones. It doesn't run Linux.
  Source code is available (seems to be at http://code.google.com/p/wikipediardware/) so there is some potential for hacking and community development, but so far I haven't thought of any interesting applications except for an e-book reader. It doesn't have any of the interesting peripherals that come with the Freerunner (WiFi, GPS, accelerometer, USB, etc).
  I do appreciate the AAA batteries and the sunlight-readable screen. Those are the reason that I'm still using my Palm III to read science-fiction magazines.
7. Re:Solution looking for a problem by Rockoon · 2009-10-13 10:58 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Wikipedia vs Choosing Randomly.
  
  hmmmmm
  
  --
  "His name was James Damore."
Sophists Dream by ObsessiveMathsFreak · 2009-10-13 07:49 · Score: 5, Funny

Great! Now I can regale and browbeat others with authoritative sounding misinformation wherever I go. Cafe discourses and dinner discussions will never be the same again!

--
May the Maths Be with you!
I've got wikipedia reader in my pocket by tylersoze · 2009-10-13 07:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

It's called an iPhone. :)
1. Re:I've got wikipedia reader in my pocket by sowth · 2009-10-13 08:18 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  How much did your iphone cost? Does it run on batteries you can buy anywhere for cheap? According to the website this device runs on AAAs.
  This sounds like a great little cheap device. If I can make and load my own articles (the site said something about updating with a flash card), then it could be useful for me. If this is programmable (open source mentioned) and has a touch screen like it appeared (video had someone typing search in a touch-screen keyboard), then it could have all sorts of uses. If you are rich enough to buy an iPhone, then obviously this device is not for you.
citation please by jDeepbeep · 2009-10-13 07:51 · Score: 4, Funny

[citation required]

--
Reply to That ||
1. Re:citation please by Tacvek · 2009-10-13 11:15 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  This is just as good a place as any to ask about the support of templates in this device. Important components of some articles are generate by templates. One example is the infamous [citation needed] text, which is generated by the "{{cn}}" template. Other times, important words in a sentence are used as a argument for a template, to produce some from of link automatically.
  Some other mobile Wikipedia solutions, such as one I saw for the iPhone, just ignore templates. That means that important words in a sentence could potentially be omitted. In some cases, entire sections of an article may be omitted. I consider that extremely problematic.
  Assuming they are properly supported, are references supported? In few articles I've seen the feature used for general footnotes in addition to references, and having those disappear could be problematic.
  What about the LaTeX math equations? A lot of mathematical and Computer Science articles become completely worthless if those are omitted, but including them means included quite a few generated images for some of the more complex ones that cannot be rendered as html.
  And what about the ez-timeline extention. Are the images that it generates included?
  What about the hieroglyphics that articles may include by way of the wikihiro extention?
  I would not be willing to use a static mobile Wikipedia that did not support templates, references, tables, external links, LaTeX equations.
  Other people might insist that the categories pages be included, and that time lines and hieroglyphics be supported.
  
  --
  Stylish sheet to fix many problems in Slashdot's D3: https://gist.github.com/801524
So this is ... by CannonballHead · 2009-10-13 07:52 · Score: 3, Interesting

An encyclopedia in the form of an e-book for $99. Sorry if I'm not too excited...
1. Re:So this is ... by oh2 · 2009-10-13 08:14 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  There is a lot of research about wikipedia and its veracity going on. You can look at Episteme for instance that did a themed issue about the social web where Wikipedia figures prominently. I have also read research papers where they establish that the information in Wikipedia generally is as good as or better than encyclopedica brittannica. Dont knock the wikis.
  
  --
  Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.
Which Search Software Does This Employ? by eldavojohn · 2009-10-13 07:53 · Score: 4, Interesting

Love the idea but I'm a little cautious of Wikipedia's search engine. Not sure if they're rendering the php the same way and using MediaWiki's built in search engine but I have problems with that if they are. For instance if I search for hottest pepper the answer is the seventh result. On Google, it's the second result but also found in the first (being on the page for Scoville scale on Wikipedia).

The time this would be really useful to me is when I get into arguments at bars or restaurants with friends. I'm a bit concerned about how well the search part of this device will work for that, I'd probably need to rethink a lot of my searches to start at an obvious Wikipedia page and then lead me to my answer.

Probably wonderful for just reading through Wikipedia on a bus or plane though, too bad it doesn't seem to have the images, videos or audio.

--
My work here is dung.
a 4G+ file? by loftwyr · 2009-10-13 07:53 · Score: 5, Interesting

Have these people never heard of a diff? How about just letting me download the changes! The Wiki can tell them what they are.

That's worse than useless if I have to redownload all of wikipedia to keep it up to date.

Luckily I have a smart phone with internet access.
1. Re:a 4G+ file? by Abstrackt · 2009-10-13 08:34 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  A compressed image of Wikipedia is about 4 gigs (last time I downloaded one anyway). That's just the text of the articles though. From what I hear, the pictures add about 600-700 gigs. Now, if you include revision history, discussion, etc. then you'll get into the terabytes, but if you're just building a local mirror you can fit the whole thing on one drive.
  
  --
  They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
2. Re:a 4G+ file? by Abstrackt · 2009-10-13 08:55 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Any instructions on how to build a local mirror?
  Here's enough to get you started. They also link to a program (Wikix) that builds scripts to download images should you desire them.
  I've found that in most cases just the text is good enough, but if I had the hard drive space and bandwidth I'd download the images too.
  
  --
  They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
Don't Panic by lothos · 2009-10-13 07:53 · Score: 3, Funny

Finally, the HHGG in your pocket.
Does it come with a towel, or do I need to provide my own?

--
Hosting and Domain name coupons
Re:trick you into thinking I'm educated by Yvan256 · 2009-10-13 07:55 · Score: 4, Insightful

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. - Einstein
Obligatory xkcd by lobiusmoop · 2009-10-13 08:00 · Score: 3, Funny

Obligatory xkcd

--
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
The Website by oahazmatt · 2009-10-13 08:06 · Score: 3, Funny

The website looks like it was put together in a matter of minutes. I'm having "Netscape Composer" flashbacks.

I clicked "Media". I stopped looking for information when I saw the picture of the old man "researching" Megan Fox.

--
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
Got a Kindle already by Profane+MuthaFucka · 2009-10-13 08:07 · Score: 3, Informative

Wikipedia online plus Google, the interwebs, and books too.

--
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Re:Is this a derivative work? by mpoulton · 2009-10-13 08:08 · Score: 4, Informative

According to the rules of open source... all derivative works must also be open source.
This is hardware. Does that mean that the design, specifications and technology used are also open source?
That's an easy question! Answer: No.
First, the hardware is not derived from Wikipedia. That's just silly. Second, even if it were "derivative" in some sense of the word, hardware itself is not copyrightable, and thus not subject to the GPL in any meaningful sense.

--
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
Re:Mostly Harmless by Aphoxema · 2009-10-13 08:09 · Score: 3, Informative

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/
Not exactly what you asked for but it's good stuff and it predates Wikipedia.

--
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
lame joke by Daimanta · 2009-10-13 08:14 · Score: 3, Funny

Is that the largest encyclopedia in the world for just $99 in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

--
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Re:So... by lordandmaker · 2009-10-13 08:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

And many of those same people probably enjoy Wikipedia because they can modify articles as they choose (for good, bad and/or ugly), something this does not sound like it would allow them to do as it only transfers data internet-to-device. So I guess their market is toward that segment who believes that The Great Wiki is made up entirely of articles free from all forms of bias and subjectivity thus making it unconditionally gospel, and who have never heard of a "wireless connection" before.

Most people I can think of who'd like this, or have some other form of access to The Great Wiki in their pocket don't see it as unconditionally gospel. It's like the rest of the internet - about right, most of the time. I don't recall ever having been wrongly informed through getting information from wikipedia - it can be (and more often than not is) ambiguous, over-complicated or over-simplified, lacking in detail, but it's very rarely wrong - there's too many anally retentive pedants on it.
Project Gutenberg by vlm · 2009-10-13 08:39 · Score: 3, Informative

Somebody please hack it to contain the complete works of Project Gutenberg, or at least a worthwhile subset.

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Translation: by fiannaFailMan · 2009-10-13 09:00 · Score: 3, Funny

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

--
Drill baby drill - on Mars
It's a postapocalyptic civilization rebuilder! by 7Ghent · 2009-10-13 09:42 · Score: 4, Interesting

1) Huge compendium of human knowledge.
2) Runs off of commonly available, easily stockpiled batteries
3) Runs for a whole year off of one set of batteries (swap Lithium for alkaline, it should run for a decade)
4) Sunlight-readable
5) Compact, sturdy and durable
Hell, at those kind of power usage levels, you could hack a small solar cell into it and it should work anywhere you've got sunlight. Imagine a complete breakdown of civilization as we know it. Books are heavy and inconvenient and make good kindling. Without electricity, compact digital forms of information retrieval become impossible. What do we use to rebuild civilization after a couple generations of this send us back to the dark ages? This thing! It's PERFECT.