I got my shiny new WikiReader. For the uninitiated, it’s the entire Wikipedia (well, atleast the textual content of entire Wikipedia in English language) stored on a memory card (MicroSD), and visible from inside a touch screen device.
I have always been fond of encyclopedias – when I was a kid, I loved the World Books, then when I grew up and got familiar with computers, had heard of Microsoft Encarta – but I think since childhood I wasn’t a big fan of MS, so went ahead and bought IBM Worldbook CDs. It was amazing, and helped much in the school projects.
Now, at this date, I’ll admit I am getting a lot paranoid. That is more related paranoia associated with 2012, End of the World and what not. I have always believed in stuff which is WITH YOU and in your reach WHEN YOU WANT. Internet is something which scares me – a lot of stuff I “need”, which is there, but as soon as you get offline, all’s gone (well, this scare has prompted me to setup 3 different ISP connections at my home, apart from the mobile wireless internet). I don’t want that. I had been attempting to understand and planning that I”ll download the entire Wikipedia some day, and set up on my machine so that I can access it offline. Well, it would have been cumbersome and real painful. I couldn’t believe when I read about WikiReader, and I realized that’s the device I need (originally I’d been reading about Openmoko and FreeRunner). So, I found out the dealers in India (IDA Systems), and immediately placed the order.
I have been so happy with the purchase that now I can concentrate on the other survival tactics for EoW 😉 I don’t think anyone wouldn’t want knowledge at their fingertips, in such a convenient and cheap manner. If you don’t have WikiReader, then I think you’re missing out on a lot of stuff that you could’ve learnt.
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