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back to article WikiReader feeds you factiness on the go

OpenMoko's Project B: WikiReader, a hardware implementation of Wikipedia offering mobile users access to the font of all knowledge, goes on sale today. Openmoko promised the new hardware when the company admitted it couldn't afford to develop a new handset, the GTA03. We had no idea what the mysterious "Project B" would be, …

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  1. Matt K

    Hmm

    So... it's a monochrome battery-powered unreliable user-generated encyclopedia for $99? Phew, just what the market's been crying out for!

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mine's the one with the crossword solver in the pocket

    This is just the sort of thing that is bound to turn up in those Innovations-style catalogues that fill up your recycle bin in the run-up to Christmas. Someone must buy that stuff.

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  3. Nic 3
    FAIL

    do not want

    I have been trying pretty hard to find a reason to own one. Is it perhaps for those without any net access?

    I assume in such an environment you are less likely to see reference to such a gizmo and are therefore highly unlikely to know you have a need for it.

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  4. Marky W
    Pint

    Imagine the scene, if you will....

    So there was this meeting, right, and the guy from marketing, you know, the one with all the sell options on Openmoko stock, did this presentation. Well, you wouldn't believe what he persuaded the board to do....

    Beer, because the people who green-lit the WikiReader sure must have imbibed a few.

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  5. Cameron Colley
    FAIL

    Don't most people have this already?

    We are constantly being told that more and more people all over the world have internet access on their phones -- and a trip to the local pub on quiz night reveals that at least some are being used to access Wikipedia. Who the hell is this product aimed at?

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  6. Bilgepipe
    FAIL

    Shape?

    Couldn't they make a square one? Or for that matter, one that doesn't look like something from 1973?

    I'm pretty sure I'll pass on this...

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  7. Jolyon Ralph
    Flame

    Fantastic!

    I predict these will be seen for £39.99 in TK-Maxx before the end of next year.

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  8. D@v3
    Pint

    Nice......

    It only took a few months for someone to develop my idea for making The Guide a reality (not trying to claim any rights to the original masterpiece)

    Just a shame that many (many) phones these days have access to the full version of wikipedia as well as other sources of information (both more dubious and more reliable)

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  9. GettinSadda
    Alert

    Important Question!

    Does it have "Don't Panic" inscribed in large, friendly letters on the cover?

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  10. David Webb

    I don't get it

    Why pay $99 when most mobiles have a built in web browser which can search the internet for what you want? Looks more like a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    How the hell am I supposed to vandalise Wikipedia with no keyboard?

    Further, how am I supposed to correct vandalism of my vandalism? Although I must say that I tickled by the idea of all those pages upon full of inexactitude floating around the streets without any updates...

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why pay 99?

    That's 99 for the display unit - the information is free for the taking.

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  13. Alex Walsh

    Eh?

    WikiTaxi, a download of the current wikipedia database and an (micro)SD card, and bingo, you've got it on your smartphone for nowt. Or your PDA for that matter.

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  14. ratfox
    Unhappy

    I feel sad about the company

    It looks like they're desperate

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  15. Doctor
    Joke

    What a pointless pile of poo...

    Whoever thought this was a good idea was clearly a muppet... (who has never seen a web enabled phone).. Must be April already...

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  16. Pablo

    Huh

    Offline Wikipedia in a handheld. Well it's an interesting idea at least. I doubt it will be a big hit, but for those who do buy it, the main appeal must be the gee-wiz factor. I suspect it had never occurred most people that such a thing was possible. Still, if I was going to be spending a long time where internet was truly unavailable (though it's increasing hard to imagine where that might be) it might well be nice to have this.

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  17. Steve Taylor 3
    Go

    So pointless it's sublime

    I'd definitely pay for it.

    $5 from a remainder bin, that is. It's worth it for wackiness value.

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  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A bit late to their own party

    I had this setup about 5 years ago on a Sharp Zaurus PDA with a 2GB microdrive, squashfs filesystem, fbreader (I think) and a dump of wikipedia. True it was limited to the first 1000 words of each article and no pictures, but it did the job. At least the Zaurus had a keyboard.

    It's a shame that after all that time and with all the progress in the metadata from openzaurus through openembedded to openmoko and angstrom, the openmoko/openembedded/openzaurus people are still developing for developers and end up with the same old end user functionality.

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