wikipedia

Googlepedia for Firefox brings Wikipedia to you

If you're one whose search results lead you to a Wikipedia page nine times out of ten, you would do well to install the Googlepedia extension for Firefox.

This free, terrifically easy add-on pulls the Wikipedia article most closely associated with your search term into the right half of a Google search results page. Modest controls let you expand, shrink, or hide the article.

Here's the best part: clicking a link within the article feeds the term back into Google's search engine, and therefore back into Googlepedia's cycle of serving up Wikipedia articles.

Googlepedia will undoubtedly … Read more

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If you're one whose search results lead you to a Wikipedia page nine times out of ten, you would do well to install the Googlepedia extension for Firefox.

This free, terrifically easy add-on pulls the Wikipedia article most closely associated with your search term into the right half of the search results page. Modest controls let you expand, shrink, or hide the article. Clicking a link within the article feeds the term back into Google's search engine, and therefore back into Googlepedia's cycle of serving articles.

Googlepedia will undoubtedly save you time if a quick search is … Read more

Wikimedia Foundation: Jimmy Wales 'absolutely' not out

Updated January4 at 3:04 p.m.: This story has been changed to correct the number of members of the Wikimedia Foundation's board.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is "absolutely" not out of a job at the Wikimedia Foundation, according to the foundation's director of communications.

On Saturday, Valleywag editor Owen Thomas reported that Wales was "out of a job," writing, "Imagine an online encylopedia anyone can edit -- and no one can run. Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's...cofounder, is no longer a board member of the site's nonprofit foundation. Who's in … Read more

Wikimedia Foundation raises $6.2 million for Wikipedia

The Wikimedia Foundation announced Friday that it has reached its goal of raising over $6 million to sustain Wikipedia.

With the help of over 125,000 donors from around the world, the Wikimedia Foundation raised a total of $6.2 million, sustaining Wikipedia for the foreseeable future. The money will be used to maintain and grow the foundation's technical infrastructure.

"This campaign has proven that Wikipedia matters to its users, and that our users strongly support our mission: to bring free knowledge to the planet, free of charge and free of advertising," Jimmy Wales, the founder of … Read more

Plain, but effective

When you want answers, Wikipedia is the place to go. This simple app for BlackBerry leaves the bells and whistles to other developers and dives straight in to creating a bare bones, but effective doorway to Wikipedia.com. The replicated search interface will help you feel right at home as it quickly grabs and displays your search results in your phone's default browser.

Click "Go" to pull up the closest-matching article or "Search" to see all possible Wikipedia matches. Until Wikipedia or another developer creates a richer, fully native Wikipedia reader, this app is just … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 869: Linux, the new pot

A high school teacher finds it inconceivable that any software could be free. I wonder if she uses Internet Explorer? We also talk about the failure of not one but two big Internet filters, and get the scoop from Caroline McCarthy on why YouTube isn't in decline.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 869

Google to take Chrome out of beta http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/10/google-takes-chrome-out-of-beta/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10120049-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Australian plan to censor Internet in shreds http://www.theage.com.au/news/home/technology/labor-plan-to-censor-internet-in-shreds/2008/12/09/1228584820006.html… Read more

U.K. Internet watchdog backtracks on Wikipedia ban

Wikipedia functionality has returned for Brits after the country's Internet watchdog reversed its decision to prevent users in that country from visiting a Wikipedia page containing an image of a naked child.

The Internet Watch Foundation had taken exception with a page dedicated to a 1976 album by rock band The Scorpions. The cover of that album--called Virgin Killer--includes the image of a prepubescent girl, which the group deemed a "potentially illegal indecent image," landing Wikipedia on the group's blacklist.

As a result, Internet service providers in the U.K. began filtering access to all pages … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 867: Of peanut butter and shotguns

It is a tale told down throughout the ages. Google's Internet access is a large jar of peanut butter, and As Natali reminds us, you don't kill bugs with a shotgun. Even if it is fun. If you take nothing else away from this show, at least remember that. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 867

UK ISPs switch on mass Wikipedia censorship http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10009938o-2000331777b,00.htm http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10116543-93.html http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/07/how-the-great-firewa.html

Technology start-ups to be given £1B fund … Read more

Wikia Search having problems

It looks like there's a bit of trouble over at Wikia Search this morning.

The search portal, run by Wikia, the for-profit wiki service co-founded by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, was returning "Service Unavailable" error messages about 10 percent of the time, during a test I ran on both Firefox and Safari.

The rest of the time, the service seemed to be working mainly as it should, though from time to time, the search page would only partially load.

The error message would return when loading the Wikia Search home page, and read, "Error 503 Service … Read more