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In the short history of the web, if any resource on the web has come close to challenging Google’s position as the number one information repository it has to be Wikipedia. The powerful web resource that Jimmy Wells has built and runs purely through donations is one of the success stories of the Internet.And it is set to get bigger and better.

On my 12th birthday I received my first Microsoft Encarta CD. The year was 2000 and it was my most prized possession. Things surely have changed for there was no Wikipedia back then, for if there was I don’t know if I’d have owned a copy for the encyclopedia.

Nearly a decade later Microsoft decides to [...]

Encyclopedia Britannica announced yesterday a new version to its online presence which follows a Wiki like model. In a move that marks the end of the rigidity of the pre-web 2.0 era for the encyclopedia maker it is asking the masses to edit, enhance and contribute to its online version. New features enabling the inclusion of this user-generated content will be rolled out on the encyclopedia’s website over the next 24 hours, said Britannica’s president, Jorge Cauz.

The mobile web seems to be taking everybody by storm. There was a time when the ability of accessing wap sites on the phones was just a novelty. The real serious candidates would always end up with a BlackBerry. However, with more bandwidth and technologies like 3.5G making a headway in mainstream market, no one can hush away the importance of mobile web any more.

It’s the turn of Wikia Search to try and take on the giant. Wikia is the brainchild of Jimmy Wales, the founder of, unarguably the largest collection of information in one place, Wikipedia. Wikia Search is a human powered search engine that was launched in Alpha back in January.

As Windows XP deadline approaches Vista sales is expected to go up. But people all over the world seem to be more interested in the upcoming version of Windows 7 rather than Vista. In an exclusive interview with CNET, Steven Sinofsky the senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group at Microsoft [...]

Harman Baweja’s Love Story 2050 Wikipedia Page has just been spammed by someone. The spammer has changed the name of the actor to Hrithik Roshan (an obvious reference to some of the media stories). Read on to find more and also figure out how this is changing social media and what social networks are doing to counter this.

On Saturday morning I read WATBlog in Hindi. Funny part is all of us forgot to Blog it! Well, better late than never.
 
Previously Google enabled search and scraps in Hindi. They also have a tool on blogger, which enables bloggers to write in Hindi. That service is pretty solid and can be compared to counterparts such as Hindi Kalam and Quillpad.
 
Google [...]

 
According to a Wikipedia entry following RSS Awareness Day, It is the 30th birthday of annoying SPAM. As spam turns 30 on May 2nd I would like to share with you how it all started. Way back in May 1978, Kurt Kleiner of NewScientistTech reminds us that it was Gary Thuerk, a marketer at [...]

Wikipedia encyclopedia’s first volume to be published in Germany in September 2008. The book will consist nearly 1,000 pages with approximate 50,000 most widely searched words on German version.

Browsing through the Internet today, I came across the news of the NGO Nanhi Kali launching its new website http://www.girlsmiles.org . And using Social Media over the regular media. On opening up the website, I was greeted by the same design that I was a few weeks back, when me, Rupesh and Rajiv were admiring that website. The website uses the same concept of design.

As more and more content is added to web every second it becomes almost impossible for us to keep track of our favorite sites every now and then. Thanks to RSS our life has become much easier. As May 1st, the RSS Awareness Day is approaching I thought of dedicating a post to it.

Wikimedia Foundation has said it has received a $ 3 Million the New York based The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The funds will be utilized to enhance the quality of the content and support the expansion of outreach events.A part of the funds will also be used to expand Wikipedia Academy, designed enhance Wikipedia’s quality by teaching how to contribute and to support efforts to disseminate collected knowledge through traditional media like DVDs and books.

WATShow is back! Though we took a little time this time around but we are back with an Exclusive show and with none other than Jimmy Wales the Founder of the “Not for Profit” Wikipedia.org and also the founder and CEO of the “For Profit” firm Wikia.
We caught up with Mr.Jimmy Wales and asked him [...]

The Internet is changing culture - we are moving from a culture of competition to a culture of collaboration. 
 
 
WATBlog visited IIT’s Techfest this weekend – we attended Jimmy Wales’ lecture where he spoke about Wikipedia and a lot more. We also caught up with him after the session – Watch out for that on WATShow soon!
 
 
“The ideal encyclopedia should be radical, it should [...]