Wikipedia (51 articles)

Google donates $2m to Wikipedia

Google has reached deep into its wallet and handed over a massive grant to the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia and a number of other sites. The $2,000,000 donation will be used to make Wikipedia easier to use, says the charity.

"Wikipedia is one of...

VIDEO: GiffGaff phone network goes live

An interesting mobile phone network has just launched in the UK. Although owned by O2 and run by its execs, GiffGaff claims to be a completely separate "people-powered" operator, offering very cheap calls, texts and web browsing in exchange for customer involvement in...

The Nokia Foundation award goes to Jimmy Wales

The Nokia Foundation has announced that it has granted its 10,000 euro 2009 award to Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

Nokia says Wales was awarded "for his contributions to the evolution of the World Wide Web as a participatory and truly democratic platform"....

Who'll be the casualties of Google Music?

Not content with crashing down hard on the satnav industry yesterday, today Google put the willies up the music industry too with the launch of a Google music search feature. Just before you go diving off to try it, it's only available in the US at the moment, but so...

WikiReader gadget puts Wikipedia in your hand for $99

A new gadget that is hoping to let people access the 3 million odd articles on Wikipedia away from the computer has been launched in the US. 

If you find yourself always reading Wikipedia this might just be the gadget for you. Called the WikiReader the handheld...

Official Wikipedia iPhone app launched

There's a multitude of applications on the iPhone for accessing Wikipedia, and they've just been joined by an official one from the site's creators - the Wikimedia Foundation.

It allows users to access articles formatted specifically for the iPhone, which is...

Wikipedia in trouble with National Portrait Gallery

The latest mini-scandal to hit Wikipedia is that the National Portrait Gallery is beginning legal proceedings against the online encyclopaedia.

The gallery says 3000 images from its website have been uploaded unofficially to Wikipedia by a member of the public...

Wikipedia censors reporter kidnapping

7 months ago, New York Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Rohde was kidnapped by the Taliban, along with his interpreter and his driver.

The paper was worried - it knew that the first thing his captors would do was Google him to work out if he was...

Wikipedia bans Church of Scientology

Wikipedia, the smash hit crowd-sourced encyclopaedia, has announced that its Arbitration Committee has voted 10-0 (with one abstention) to ban the Church of Scientology from editing the site, with immediate effect.

The arbitration against the church has been...

Student's Wiki hoax quote reprinted worldwide

A Wikipedia hoax, carried out by an Irish sociology student as part of a "globalisation experiment", fooled newspaper and publications around the globe, it's been revealed.

22-year-old Shane Fitzgerald added a fake quote to French composer Maurice Jarre's Wikipedia...

Orange phones to get Wikipedia content

Like Wikipedia? The world's online encyclopaedia is soon to be integrated onto Orange handsets.

Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation have announced a "wide-ranging strategic partnership" for customers in France, the UK, Spain and Poland with "quick and simple"...

Wikia Search to be shut down

Wikia Search, the search engine from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' Wikia.com online properties is to close down, Wales has revealed in a blog post.

"If there is one thing that I've learnt in my career, it is to do more of what's working, and less of what's...

Primary school kids to be taught to Twitter

Primary school children will soon be studying Twitter if draft plans drawn up by the government to overhaul the primary school curriculum get the go ahead.

Rather than learning about the Victorians or WW2, kids will be taught about blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia...

Wikipedia books now available in English

Last year, Wikipedia announced a partnership with PediaPress in Germany that would allow people to put together their own printed version of a Wikipedia encyclopaedia, including articles of their choice.

Now, the wiki-to-print version has been activated for...

Encyclopedia Britannica opens to edits from the public

In order to better compete with Wikipedia, one of the top ten most visited sites in the world, the Encyclopedia Britannica is to open its online version up to edits from the public.

The new user-generated content, rolling out now on the encyclopedia's website,...

Google announces 100,000th knol

Google has announced that it has published its 100,000th knol through its Wikipedia-rivalling Knol project.

Launched in July last year, Knol sees "knols", authoritative articles about specific topics, written by those in the know with edit suggestions from...

Wikipedia hits 2009 funding target

Good news for fans and users of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, as it's been revealed that the site has raised enough cash to keep going next year.

There were doubts that Wikipedia was going to to reach the $6 million required to run the online resource, and...

IWF backs down over flagged Wikipedia image

The IWF has formally withdrawn its objection to the Wikipedia page that it had described as "potential illegal child sexual abuse".

The contentious page contained a image of German rock band The Scorpion's album cover for "Virgin Killer" that depicted a young,...

Wiki boss speaks out over IWF child porn ban

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is considering a court challenge against decision to block access to part of the site in the UK.

As we previously reported, British ISP providers had blocked access to the page covering the The Scorpion's "Virgin Killer" album...

ISPs block Wikipedia for indecent pic

British ISPs are blocking access to parts of Wikipedia said to be showing an image of child pornography.

The page that has caused the censorship is Wiki's entry on an album from rock band The Scorpions, called "Virgin Killer", that has an image of a young, naked...

Wikipedia to make editing easier

Wikipedia is to make changes to the site's editing process, in order to try and entice more users to get involved.

The online encyclopedia is apparently concerned that many would-be contributors are being scared away by the HTML coding that is presented to...

60% of Pocket-lint readers trust Wikipedia

In our latest Pocket-lint reader poll we asked if you trusted Wikipedia. It seems 60% of you do trust the the free online encyclopedia, while 40% are wary of info the site that anyone can edit.

Wikipedia was founded in 2001 and is made up of online wikis, which...

VIDEO: Megawhat News - ISPs join to fight online piracy

Want to know the latest news but don't have time to read the stories we've written?

Well why not take a peek at the top stories on video.

In the headlines: ISPs join for historic deal to fight online piracy; The MSI appears in yet another guise;...

eMusic adds content from YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia

eMusic has rehauled its website adding support for social networking websites including Facebook, as well as access to content from Flickr, Wikipedia and YouTube.

"A host of new Web 2.0 features will offer eMusic customers more musical context than any other...

Google's Wiki-rival Knol launches

Google has now launched its Wikipedia rival, Knol, making the beta site available to everyone.

Similar to the infamous online encyclopedia, "knols" are authoritative articles about specific topics, written by people who know about those subjects.