For a long time Wikipedia has only had an official app on iOS, but now it finally has one for Android as well. The app has actually been available for about a week, but was brought to the forefront after yesterday’s Wikipedia blackout. The official Wikipedia app for Android does everything the mobile version of more »

Hacking group Anonymous is planning a 12-hour communication shut down in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act. The group is following Reddit’s example on January 18th with a blackout lasting from 8am to 8pm. This seems counterintuitive as Anonymous is notorious for creating stirs on the web such that taking a day off might more »

As the dust settles after Wikipedia’s fundraising endeavor over the past year, the Wikimedia Foundation — the non-profit organization behind Wikipedia — was able to accumulate $20 million. Not too shabby… “We’ve taken down our fundraising banners, because we’ve hit our target. Thanks to you. Over the past few months, more than one million people more »

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has proposed a blackout of his beloved website in order to oppose the upcoming SOPA anti-piracy bill in the US. Wales believes that blacking-out every Wikipedia page will send a powerful message to lawmakers. Supporters of the bill claim that they want to protect the interests of rightsholders that claim their more »

If you happen to have been a student in the internet age, many teachers will pound into you that Wikipedia does not count as a viable source for any sort of research assignment. However a study at the University of Pittsburgh actually proves the paranoia wrong. Based on cancer information from an oncology textbook, the more »

Welcome back to InterrupTech. Catch up on the week’s most important tech stories in a hurry. We cover Amazon’s new delivery service, a brand new PS3, an offline version of Wikipedia, the great Sidekick meltdown, and Snow Leopard eats your data.

There’s a good chance this scenario has happened to you before: you just hear about something or are asked about something that you’re not sure about. You don’t have Internet access, but you know once you have it, Wikipedia will most likely be able to answer your question. Now you don’t have to wait until more »

Wikipedia, the first stop of research on the Internet for many, has long been both praised and jeered because of its open-source nature. Many love the fact that it allows for anyone to change articles fro the most up-to-date information. Meanwhile, others (notably those in the teaching profession), essentially hate it for the same reason. more »

It was hidden for seven months — almost unheard of in the news world. A kidnapping by the Taliban of a reporter to the NY Times was hidden and covered up by both the print and online press. The thing is, in this case, it was done for his safety.

David Rohde, along with his interpreter and their driver, was kidnapped in Afghanistan on November 10, 2008. In response to the action, executives at the Times decided to keep it quiet, believing that publicity about the event would increase Mr. Rohde’s value to his captors, and in turn, lower his chances of survival.

Usually, when a decision is made to keep something quiet, a call is simply placed editor to editor from one publication to another. The trouble in this day in age in keeping news quiet is the obvious. We have the Internet. News travels at the click of a button whether someone wants it to or not.

And that is just what happened in this case. Or, what kept trying to happen anyway. Just days after Mr. Rohde was kidnapped, it began showing up on his Wikipedia entry. Thus started the Wikipidia editing battle.

Wikipedia editors have found themselves overwhelmed as scores of users log on to make edits to Michael Jackson’s Wikipedia page. His death was quickly reported on the site, but users continuously tried to delete the references and made comments, such as “He’s Not Dead” and “Unverified.” The references came soon after TMZ reported the death more »