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Google invests in the future of knowledge panels with Wikimedia Enterprise partnership
The Internet Archive has also signed on with the non-profit foundation
Google's success largely stems from its ability to connect users with the data they're looking for, and sometimes that means working with a few partners. The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit entity behind Wikipedia itself, established a new offering called Wikimedia Enterprise in 2021 as a paid service for big tech companies that access a lot of Wikipedia data, helping them to work with it more efficiently. It's only now starting to announce partners who have signed up to take advantage, and Google is among the first.
Russians rush to download Wikipedia before Putin bans it
Everyone needs lists of lakes on islands within lakes
As Russia exerts more and more control over information sources during its invasion of Ukraine, Russian internet users are realizing some online resources might soon vanish, or at least become harder to access; Putin's government has already declared Meta properties Facebook and Instagram extremist organizations. Of course, people use the internet for a whole lot more than just social sites, and apparently there's currently a wave of Russian internet users scurrying to download backups of Wikipedia, fearing that it too may soon be forced offline.
Spotify and Discord are back online following widespread outages
Just in time for your afternoon jam session
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It's never good when an outage hits a service you rely on regularly, but it's even worse when a widespread outage takes down multiple websites and apps. If you're trying to use Spotify, Discord, or Wikipedia, only to run into some major hiccups, it's not just you.
Google Search is making it easier to vet websites with ‘About this result’ cards
The feature is rolling out in the US
When searching for something on Google, you often come across websites you've never visited before. To find out if the source is trustworthy, you can do some additional research via yet another Google search, but the company is looking to make things more comfortable for you. Starting today, you'll see an overflow menu next to most search results that provides additional details on the source you found.
Wikipedia's desktop site is getting its first redesign in a decade
A new emphasis on letting content take centerstage
Wikipedia is one of the cornerstones of the internet, a place that we've probably all visited to learn about new topics or find statistics to win a forum debate. While the mobile app has seen design improvements over the years, the desktop site has remained virtually unchanged since 2010 — that's the same year the Nexus One debuted. After almost a decade, Wikipedia is finally ready for a refresh.
All major social networks are financed by advertising and thus free to users who trade access to their data for cat videos and sometimes questionable news content. Wikipedia co-founder and internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales wants to change that. He is currently rolling out his donation-based "news focused social network" WT.Social to people interested in high-quality journalism and productive discussions.
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Dark theme and night mode are a boon for those who like to stare at their smartphone screens in a pitch-dark room while regretting staying up late. What further adds to this convenience is an in-app option to automatically match the default system theme settings. Wikipedia is bringing exactly that to its beta app for Android.
The Wikipedia mobile app is a great way to access the site's massive wealth of information. The beta program for the Android app, as well as the separate Wikipedia Beta app, has just received a new update that drastically changes the reading list functionality.
Today brings a new step for Wikipedia. Its Android app is finally getting a proper beta program after years of juggling dual apps, which is fantastic. Even better, two-factor authentication for our accounts is on the horizon.
Android visual standards are a hot topic - just check the comment section every time a point of contention in Material Design springs up. One of the most contentious is top tabs and slide-out menus, as featured in Android since Ice Cream Sandwich, versus bottom navigation links, as tends to be popular with lazy iPhone ports (though they're actually part of the documentation). The latest update to the official Wikipedia app indulges in a little bottom-nav action, and it's... okay.
How many pointless arguments have been decided by looking something up on Wikipedia? I bet a lot. The Wikipedia app makes it even faster to look up factoids and end arguments, and it's getting an update today with a few feature tweaks and some bug fixes.
Android 6.0 Marshmallow's text selection behavior changed, pushing the toolbar from the top of the screen to a floating one that pops up right above your finger. It also made this popup expandable and accessible to developers, some of which have since updated their apps to take advantage of this new option. First, Google Translate added a system-wide Translate button, making it possible for users to convert any word or sentence they come across into another language. Then Medium built a highlight and respond option inside the toolbar that only got triggered while using its app. Now Wikipedia's beta app has received an update to start searches from anywhere on your device.
Have you tried out Wikipedia's official Android app? It's come a long way since its humble introduction way back in 2012. The latest major feature edition lets you use the app the way you (probably) do on the desktop: reading one main article, then peeking at the contextual links for anything you're unfamiliar with. In the latest version of the app, tapping on a link in a Wikipedia article will make the linked article appear in a quick pop-up window. This allows you to read the introductory paragraph, then either go back to your original article or continue on your tangent. Neat!
The Wikipedia app has existed for a long time, but it hasn't seen a UI update in quite a while. That changes today with the new version. It has some material design elements and cool new usability features.
It seems like one out of every four searches I make sends me to Wikipedia for one thing or another - for example, the metric prefix atto- means 10 to the negative eighteenth power, or one quintillionth, or really quite amazingly bloody small. Google itself defaults to a lot of Wikipedia pages for its Knowledge Graph info, and you'll get small cards full of Wikipedia content for many searches from Android Wear. But developer Dheera Venkatraman (whose previous Wear apps Wear Camera Remote and Matrix face we've already written about) has an even better solution.
According to your grandmother, over 96% of kids these days don't know their history and will be doomed to repeat it. Also, no one learns cursive anymore. There's not a whole lot that Google can do about the latter, but with a new search tool, they may be working on the former. Chrome and Search enthusiast Florian Kiersch posted screenshots of a new Knowledge Graph tool that automatically generates timelines of broad historical topics based on content from Wikipedia. The tool appears to be in the early stages of testing, and isn't publicly available.
Good things come to those who wait. Android users didn't get an official Wikipedia app until January 2012, and it was a relatively bare bones release at that. Over two years later, it's really starting to show its age, as those Gingerbread screenshots sitting on its Play Store page aren't impressing anyone. But now we see a new version of the Wikipedia Beta app that finally seems poised to give us the native experience we've been waiting for.
Google Improves Mobile Search With Easier Access To Rotten Tomatoes Ratings, Quick View Badges For Wikipedia
If you use Google Search on a mobile device, but prefer the web interface, then your experience just got a bit better today. For starters, if you search
If you use Google Search on a mobile device, but prefer the web interface, then your experience just got a bit better today. For starters, if you search for Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see expandable sub sections with links to areas like movies that are in theaters. According to Google, "many sites" will have similar functionality.
Wikipedia is the go-to site when you need to find accurate information quickly. Well, mostly accurate information, right? Right.
Not sure how we missed this one as it has been available for four days, but here we are. On Blackout Day. Telling you about the Wikipedia app. Ironic, no?