Here’s another contribution to Wikipedia that may be of interest to both scientists and the general public.  According to the Seattle P-I, authors of the “gene wiki” have created 7,500 Wikipedia entries on different genes and are editing another 650 already existing entries.

The group’s plans appear in the Public Library of Science’s online journal, PLoS Biology, a free access online journal which I have mentioned before on brain research.

The authors of the gene wiki are from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego, San Diego State University and Washington University in St. Louis.

The researchers could have chosen to publish in more authoritative sources, but note that the data model used by gene portals and model organism databases focuses on large contributions from a relatively small number of contributors.  They chose Wikipedia instead, because it uses a different model for collaboratively synthesizing knowledge and is very popular.  The site’s volunteer editors tend to quickly correct inaccuracies.

“We believe that this effort will encourage further contributions from scientists around the world and become a robust, cross-referenced tool for students, educators, and researchers everywhere.  With the entire community’s input, we envision this gene wiki evolving into a collection of collaboratively created, continually updated, community-reviewed review articles for every gene in the human genome,” the authors wrote.

California fires map
Google Lat Long Blog has a map of the many fires currently plaguing California.  More thunderstorms (with potential lightning strikes) are in the forecast.  Find the danger zones here.

Web2book for offline viewing of web pages, RSS feeds
Free Windows-only Web2book helps you read web pages, Wikipedia articles and RSS feeds offline.  You can download and convert RSS feeds, Web sites, Project Gutenberg books, Wikipedia entries, Crossword Compiler crossword, Microsoft Reader .Lit files, and other sources into other formats such as  HTML, RTF, LRF or PDF files.  [via Digital Inspiration]

30+ updated Firefox 3 extensions
Mashable lists the most useful updated Firefox 3 extensions for you.  Covers social bookmarking and many more.

Amazon has reduced the price of its ebook reader to $359. When first introduced, the Kindle sold out immediately and was not available for months — now the deal includes a price reduction and free two-day shipping.

The Amazon Kindle allows you to purchase instantly and wirelessly over 120,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs. Wireless connectivity enables you to access the Kindle Store anywhere a cell connection can be established, but there are no wireless charges, service plans or commitments involved.

Kindle’s high-resolution screen looks and reads like paper, but unlike it, the size of the text can be adjusted to meet your preferences. You can download and read free book samples before you buy, and purchases are delivered wirelessly in a minute. Many New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases cost $9.99 — significantly less than paper versions. American and international newspapers and magazines can be purchased, as well. Free wireless access to Wikipedia is included.

The Kindle stores over 200 titles, while being lighter and thinner than a typical paperback book. Click on the Kindle image to access the site for a video demonstration and more details.

Listaculous to-do list
Listaculous is a free, tabbed to-do list manager that you can add to your web page or iGoogle start page.

Keep track of all your tasks and lists in one place — accessible from anywhere on the Web. 

I was happy to add this to my iGoogle page since it seems to be simple and intuitive, as advertised, and I particularly like the tabbed presentation. 

It’s quick and easy to register, log-in, and use from any computer at any location via the web.

Logon to Zoho with your Yahoo or Google ID
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with login account so I was glad to see that popular office productivity suite, Zoho, has removed the need to create a separate account to use their services.  Now you can now log in to any of their products using a Google or Yahoo account. 

Zoho plans to adopt OpenID eventually, but in the meantime they wanted to integrate directly with the most requested third parties.  Their goal is to get users to try Zoho with as little hassle as possible.  They may integrate with others such as Microsoft and Facebook in the future.

Powerset search engine with Wikipedia
Is Powerset  a “natural language” search engine?  Maybe not exactly, but Search Engine Land says it is at least an “understanding engine.”  “Because it actually understands what pages are about, it can extract facts from those pages plus comprehend how those facts — as well as those pages — relate to each other.”

You can use Powerset to search Wikipedia now.  It claims to give you better results than Wikipedia’s or Google’s search because Powerset’s technology has read and understood what every word within Wikipedia actually means. 

I don’t know what your experience will be like, but I read about Powerset a couple of days ago when I was also trying to dig some information out of Wikipedia. 

I had limited knowledge of what terminology the subject might use so was finding it difficult to come up with relevant search terms.  I had already explored using both Google and Wikipedia search engines, and then tried Powerset.  Better results!  Once I found a relevant article, I was able to identify good key words that improved my search results outside of Wikipedia, too.

Wikipedia is celebrating the addition of the ten millionth article, a short biography of 16th century English goldsmith and painter Nicholas Hilliard, which was created in the Hungarian Wikipedia by user Pataki Marta, according to Emily Chang.

Wikipedia now includes articles in more than 250 languages, with the English Wikipedia having the largest number, followed by the German, French, Polish, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish Wikipedias.  Tagalog, and Cantonese entries are also growing.

Some of the most discussed news on the Web today is about Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’ new Internet search engine, Wikia Search, an alpha version of which is being made available to the public today.
 
Like Wikipedia, Mr. Wales plans to rely on a “wiki” model, a voluntary collaboration of people, to fine-tune the Wikia search engine, reports the New York Times online.  The service will rank pages based on a relatively simple algorithm.  Users will be allowed and encouraged to rate search results for quality and relevance.  Gradually Wikia will incorporate feedback to deliver increasingly useful answers to people’s questions. 
 
At the Wikia site, Wales says, “Search is part of the fundamental infrastructure of the Internet.  And we are making it open source.  Wikia Search will start to change search from being proprietary, top-down, and closed.” 

He also says, “We want to make it really clear that when people arrive and do searches, they should not expect to find a Google killer.  Instead, people who use the Wikia search engine should understand that they are part of the early stages of a project to build a Google-quality search engine.”

Despite his statement, some well-known tech bloggers have been quick to criticize Wikia Search.  For instance, Michael Arrington at TechCrunch posts, Wikia Search Is A Complete Letdown.  “Many of us have waited a year as the Jimmy Wales hype machine promised a human powered search engine that could take on Google. Tonight that search engine launched and it may be one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had the displeasure of reviewing.

“First of all, it’s barely a search engine at all.  It’s based on the open source Nutch software and contains an index of web pages created by Grub (a company Wikia acquired last year).  The search results are poor and thin, as would be expected if not for the huge expectations that have been set.  Absolutely no one is going to use this to search the web, until (and if) it is greatly improved.”

Stan Schroeder at Mashable opines, ”Every time I review a new search engine I am instantly reminded of how well Google works.  Firing a couple of random keywords into the (admittedly early alpha) version of Wikia Search, Jimmy Wales’ search project, and it takes less than a second to notice that Google is, simply put, better.  And we’re not talking ‘a little better’ - we’re talking about a different league here.”

A comment at another Mashable post reminds that “[Wikia] is meant to be an open source platform that will allow developers and editors together to build an alternative to proprietary search.  It is not, as yet, a mainstream product and should not be evaluated as such …”

Nate Anderson at Ars Technica takes the long view, ”With search engines attaining such importance as gateways to information of all kinds, Wales could well be on to something, but he knows that Wikia Search won’t be ready for regular use for a couple of years.  The goal isn’t necessarily to supplant established players like Yahoo and Google, but that doesn’t mean Wales is aiming low.  He sees “some hope that we can generate better quality search results” in time. Until then, Wikia Search’s progress will be open for all to see.”

And Gary Price, head of online information at Ask.com, the No. 4 search engine behind Google, Yahoo and Microsoft says, “We are only going to know after a certain period of time the power that Wikia can or cannot deliver.  Wikia faces many tests, among them manipulation, a real concern for Wikia.”

Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia) on Google competition
By now you have probably heard about Google’s plan to start its own answer to Wikipedia, founded by Jimmy Wales in 2001.  Currently dubbed “knol” (short for knowledge), Google announced its move into the online encyclopedia business a few days ago.  

They say, “Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it.  The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing.  For now, using it is by invitation only.  But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.”

So what does Wales think about the development?  “Sounds more like Yahoo Answers than Wikipedia to me. It is not a collaborative tool, it is a competitive tool.”  Among other statements found on John Batttelle’s Searchblog.  

Interview with Vint Cerf
Google Blogoscoped reports on an interview with “chief internet evangelist” Vint Cerf.  Here’s just one quote from this interesting talk:  “99% of all applications are yet to be invented.  The internet is mainly software, and software is only limited by our imagination, and our ability to turn ideas into programs.”

More imagery from around the globe on Google Earth
Many new images from all over the world are now viewable from Google Earth.  The Google Lat Long Blog suggests some spots we might all want to visit.

20 online reference sources beyond Wikipedia
The list includes some sources that may only be available to (lucky) college students, but there are other ones, both general and for specific disciplines.  [via LISNews]

100 Web resources for lifelong learners
Lifelong learning means that individuals can have access to and are willing to participate in ongoing education.

The Online Education Database (OEDB) has selected the “best resources for adult learners in ten categories to develop a self-directed toolbox that can lead you, the lifelong learner, to other resources that you may need to meet personal goals.”

Includes adult education guides, audio and video resources, blogs about learning, career sites, distance learning and more.  [via iLibrarian]

Millions more for books / librarians in school libraries  
Last week Premier Dalton McGuinty (Ontario, Canada) announced ”the most significant” investment in school libraries in a generation with a promise to spend $120 million on more books and librarians in elementary schools.

Calling it a quantum leap forward in literacy for children, he said, “We’ll be providing 1.7 million more books on an annual basis.  For every elementary school, that means 430 more books every year.”  [via LISNews]
 

 Powerset is a “natural-language” technology that is supposed to make it easier for us to communicate with search engines rather than relying on keyword searches as we do now with Google, et al. 

The Associated Press report appearing in the Seattle P-I notes that after nearly two years of hushed development, Powerset is finally providing a peek into its “plain English” searching capability.

The difference between keyword and natural language searching means that theoretically you will be able to get more meaningful results by typing more precise search requests whose language comes “naturally” to us.

Barney Pell, Powerset’s co-founder and chief executive, likens the hit-and-miss-process of searching with keywords to talking to a 2-year-old.

“In one sense, you are happy you can talk to it at all, but you still really want it to grow up so you can hold a real conversation,” he said.

Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), known for makng technological breakthroughs, is licensing Powerset which is gradually opening its testing ground, dubbed Powerlabs, to 16,000 people.  During the test phase, it is only indexing material from Wikipedia.

The AP says, “Much larger companies — all relying on keyword search — haven’t been able to knock Google from its pedestal.  Despite huge investments in search by Yahoo and Microsoft, Google has expanded its market share steadily during the past three years and now processes more than half of all search requests on the Internet.”  We’ll have to wait and see whether Powerset’s natural language approach really works.

First, on the issue of net neutrality, it may be useful to visit Wikipedia for some background.  The online encyclopedia  says the term net or network neutrality refers to a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks.  Net neutrality essentially guarantees equal online access so that every Web site on the Internet, whether it is a major company’s portal or a homemade storefront, has the same right to speed and access.

As co-inventor of the Internet Protocol Vint Cerf has stated, “The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services.  A lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive.”  See the article for more details and/or an explanatory post on this blog.

In the most recent contention over the issue, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division filed comments last week with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling upon the FCC to carefully consider the possible effects of regulating the Internet. They argue that any regulation could, among other things, “skew investment” and “delay innovation” of the Internet.

American Library Association (ALA) president Loriene Roy has issued a statement answering the DOJ filing.  ALA believes the enforcement of net neutrality does not hinder investment in the Internet.  Instead, the open and accessible nature of net neutrality has prevented Internet Service Provider (ISP) gatekeepers from blocking or discriminating against smaller, less popular or less lucrative service or content providers.  ALA asks for this neutrality to be maintained. 

ALA does not oppose ISPs offering traditional tiered pricing, when the pricing for bandwidth is determined by speeds available to a given consumer and/or the amount of bandwidth consumed.  What ALA opposes is any blocking or relegation of Internet traffic.
 
The statement says, “Libraries are vital access points to information. As we stated in our own comments to the FCC (PDF), ALA believes that an open network, free from discrimination, is essential to giving the public access to any lawful content within the library.  Access to this information creates an informed public that is better equipped to participate in the digital age.  The FCC should work to ensure that the principles adopted in the September 2005 Policy Statement (PDF) are adhered to by broadband providers while providing service to all consumers… Laws that maintain net neutrality are the best way to preserve a vibrant diversity of viewpoints into the foreseeable future.  The vitality of voices on the Internet is critical to the intellectual freedom that libraries around the world are trying to protect and promote.”

Others have chimed in on the issue.  A Senate subcommittee chairman tangled with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, calling into question the agency’s hands-off approach to Internet regulation.

“We’re headed toward a circumstance where big providers that have a lot of muscle … will set up different lanes and freeways” over the Internet and provide quicker download times or site access for those willing to pay for it, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-S.D., chairman of the Senate interstate commerce, trade and tourism subcommittee.

Chairman Dorgan introduced a bill in January intended to preserve net neutrality, but it is currently stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee. The PC Magazine article has more details.

Image by M3Li55@ Creative Commons license.