wikipedia

Powerset's iPhone app solves bar bets, makes you smarter

Semantic search tool Powerset has put out a new iPhone app this week. Those looking to search on the go can now use the service's plain English searching capabilities to scour the entirety of Wikipedia and Freebase (coverage). The app comes after months of Powerset staff fumbling while trying to use their own product on the popular mobile device.

The new tool will pull up everything the desktop version does, although I found performance to be a tad slower--even over Wi-Fi. Outline, one of my favorite Powerset features that gives you quick links to each section in a Wikipedia article, has also made its way into the pocket version. While not as convenient as the desktop version which sits beside the actual Wikipedia article, it's a great way to skip down to a lower section of an article, which is normally an activity that makes you look like a complete idiot while you continuously drag your finger up and down the screen of your phone. There's also a much needed search function, something the iPhone's version of Safari is lacking from its desktop sibling.

I expect the company to come out with its own native app that will save past searches and let you store local content depending on how popular this version becomes. I've embedded some screens below. Also embedded after the break is a demo video of it in action.

… Read more

Video-collaboration firm Kaltura gets more funding, positive press

Kaltura, the video company that's considered a blend of YouTube and Wikipedia, has closed a second round of funding.

The New York-based company, which has become something of a media darling, declined to disclose the amount but did say the round, led by .406 Ventures, was "significantly larger" than the $2.1 million the start-up secured from Avalon Ventures and angel investors.

Kaltura appears on its way to becoming a high-flying service. Flip through the upcoming issue of Esquire and you'll see Ron Yekutiel, the company's co-founder and CEO, modeling a suit as part of … Read more

First Look video: WordWeb

This excellent freeware program will stop you from ever fretting over a definition or antonym again. WordWeb offers hot-key lookup and offline resources in a smart package.

In addition to displaying definitions, synonyms, and antonyms, WordWeb can find sets of related words. The database has more than 150,000 root words and 120,000 synonym sets, and plenty of proper nouns, pronunciations, and usage tags. It can't tell you when you've split your infinitives or garbled your gerunds, but it gives great word accuracy on the fly.

Deconstructing Wikipedia at the Berkman Center

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Harvard Law and Berkman Center scholar Yochai Benkler and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales deconstructed Wikipedia and discussed peer production models at an event here Thursday.

Benkler, who is the Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Harvard Law School and co-director of the Berkman Center, were participating in a program marking the Berkman Center's 10th anniversary at the Harvard Law School (see my earlier coverage of the conference). Wales is a Berkman Fellow and hopes to find ways for groups to come to better decisions in his research.

During his remarks, … Read more

'Wuthering Heights,' Wikipedia in 5-minute chunks

DailyLit, which offers entire books over e-mail and RSS in daily serialized chunks every day, is now offering information from Wikipedia on various topics.

The free service would be perfect for people who are short on time and don't mind digesting literature and information in 5 minutes at a time on their handheld.

The Wikipedia-based topics DailyLit is creating "tours" of major world religions (22 installments--compared with the 260 installments for Moby Dick), "Wine 101," presidents of the United States, "Best Picture" Oscar winners, famous poets, famous women in history, Greek mythology, famous … Read more

Google opens geographic search interface

BURLINGAME, Calif.--Google added a new element to its search interface that will let others' Web sites use geographically linked information.

The company has opened up outside access to its Geo Search API (application programming interface), said John Hanke, head of Google Earth and Google Maps, at the Where 2.0 conference here Tuesday. That means other Web sites incorporating Google Maps will be able to find geographic features that are in Google's database but that previously were visible only through Google's own map site.

Google previously shared only some geographic data through its search API: businesses within … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 722: Print your own drugs

In today's show, we learn that the future lets us print our own drugs, and robots will drive our sailboats for us. Sailboats? Sailboats. Also, Gmail has a new spam problem, the BlackBerry Bold could be the new iPhone of Summer 2008, and the Rolling Stones have rolled their way right off of eMusic. Bummer. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 722

Note: We are making a change to our podcast feed system on Friday, May 16. However, you do not need to subscribe to a new feed. One important thing to know: If you have your podcast … Read more

Powerset brings the Semantic Web to Wikipedia

Amid speculation that Microsoft is looking to make an acquisition, Powerset launched a public beta of its Wikipedia search engine. It brings a new, rich semantic dimension via natural language query processing to Wikipedia that greatly improves the search and reading experience.

The company calls it a first step in changing the way users search and consume Web content. "It's a complete shift. You see this and you want to experience all content in this way," Barney Pell, co-founder and CTO of Powerset, told me. "And, as an introduction, it will drive huge investment in semantic … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 714: Dr. M for mayor

Somehow, Dr. M has proven himself so diabolically clever that we kind of love him. In other news, will the next iPhone be unlocked, sell for $199 with AT&T contract, cure malaria, wash your dishes, and defeat Kasparov? It will if you believe the rumors. We like to believe them. It's a happy fantasy world. Also, Wikipedia is broken. Where have you heard that before? Oh, yeah. Here. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 714

AT&T to sell iPhone at a discount? http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/04/29/ att-to-cut-the-price-of-apples-new-iphone/ http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9931806-37.html … Read more