World in Your Pocket
For many students, Wikipedia ended the need to visit a university research library. Why bother trolling through the stacks, when you can find out at least a little something (that you hope is accurate) on just about everything through one Web site?
That works–if you have access to the Web. But for those who can’t get to the Internet, a new device that’s a throwback to the old days of encyclopedias updated once a year might provide answers.
WikiReader does only one thing: it displays the text of all 3 million-plus English-language Wikipedia articles, as well as their Wikipedia links, on an approximately 2.5-inch square LCD screen.
The $99 battery-operated product, housed in white plastic, easily fits into a pocket. You don’t need an Internet connection, because all the articles are stored in the device’s memory. For $29, you can receive two updates per year sent on an SD card, or you can download them for free.
WikiReader comes in an attractive enclosure, with a very basic, reflective LCD screen, the type that looks better in brighter light. The black text scrolls as you move your finger up the screen, but it is not readable until you stop. You search for articles by typing in letters on the touch screen’s keyboard, but because there’s no visual feedback as there is with Apple’s iPhone, it’s easy to type the wrong letter on the small keypad without realizing it.
You won’t be buying this device for its looks, but for what it offers. If you already own a portable Internet-connected device–like a BlackBerry or iPhone–then you don’t need the WikiReader. Which is fine, the product’s developers said, because this product was not created for you. It was designed for your curious older parents and, according to Sean Moss-Pultz, chief executive of parent company Openmoko, as something you’d consider giving to your children. (There’s no need to worry about children reading inappropriate articles because the device can restrict access to objectionable content.)
But there’s a bigger potential audience as well: the hundreds of millions of people around the world who don’t have computers, don’t have public Internet access and may not even have electricity. The company is thinking about how the world could open up for third-world villagers with a device like this.
Yet, at $99, that’s not going to happen. If the developers can get the price down, they’ll not only have a more compelling product in the United States, but in other less-developed markets too.
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