Deletionpedia: where entries too trivial for Wikipedia live on

Where do Wikipedia pages go to die? To the Deletionpedia, of course, a 60,000+ article archive of material that did not live up to Wikipedia's high standards. Even the Wikipedia entry for Deletionpedia was in danger of deletion.

Actually, forget what I said a moment ago about high standards; Wikipedia is the sort of site where even Jimbo Wales can't stand his own entry. "It pains me very much when I go to a conference and someone introduces me by reading from it," he told the Wall Street Journal this summer.

The Journal piece, by noted science writer James Gleick, gives a nice overview of the factionalism and ideological differences that have turned Wikipedia editing into a full-contact sport. One of the many debates raging in the wikisphere concerns the limits of triviality: a list of minor Star Wars bounty hunters was axed, for instance, while a complete list of Jetsons episodes persists as a service to the world.

As the battle between deletionists and inclusionists leaves the corpses of battered articles scattered about the site, a bot grabs deleted articles and archives them for all to see on Deletionpedia. If you're the sort of person who cries "censorship!" when a "list of films with monkeys in them" gets deleted for being "unmanageable listcruft," worry no more.

The site is a fascinating reference work to the kind of material that even Wikipedia, a site that hosts 200 lists of animated TV show episodes, deems too obscure to be worthy. The shockingly long "Weapons of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)" was finally deleted on July 9, 2008, for instance, after being up on Wikipedia for 893 days.

3D chainsword model, you
are not wanted at Wikipedia

After coverage of Deletionpedia this week from The Industry Standard and Slashdot, the "Deletionpedia" entry on Wikipedia was actually considered for deletion, though it was eventually saved. Phew!

Plenty of user-generated content simply isn't very good, or doesn't fall within established parameters, or violates copyright, or does something else that gets it yanked from the sites that host such material, but sites like Deletionpedia and Delutube (now down) have sprung up to archive the deletions.

This is the web's archival impulse at work—"Who knows what might be lost to the world if we lose anything? And besides, storage is cheap!" But human history has been a record of such losses, most information slipping through the cracks of time and into the void; the human body is the same, at any given moment filtering out the majority of external stimuli in order to provide us that great gift of concentration, focus, attention itself.

By archiving everything they can, from building codes to law opinions to web sites to deleted Wikipedia entries, such sites are part of a new, "never lose it" approach to information collection. Certainly this has tremendous benefits, but in terms of sheer information overload, does it also have costs?

NeuroSky Demos Brain-controlled Mobile Phone Applications

NeuroSky Inc, a venture company based in San Jose, Calif, prototyped a system that reads brain waves with a sensor and uses them for mobile phone applications.

The company exhibited the system at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2008, an exhibition running from Sept 10 to 12, 2008, in San Francisco, Calif. The headset-shaped system consists of a sensor to read brain waves, digital signal processing part and so forth. The sensor contacts with a point on user's forehead.

By reading brain waves such as α and β waves, the system can roughly measure the degrees of brain's relaxation and concentration, NeuroSky said. The data of brain waves can be displayed on the screen of a mobile phone by using a visualizer or can be used to control the movement of a video game character.

Brainwave sensor for consumer use

The strength of NeuroSky lies in its sensor technologies for measuring brain waves and software algorithms that deduce the psychological states of users from the data collected. The company developed the new sensor technologies for commercial use based on those for medical use.

The digital signal processing part that measures brain waves is currently composed mainly of discrete parts. But, the company plans to integrate them into a chip (IC) in the near future, it said.

NeuroSky has already sold development kits to home game console makers and game software developers, and they can now develop systems that use brain waves for operations. The company already has more than nine customers, it said.

The company exhibited the new system at CTIA to show the usefulness of mobile phone application software developed by the kit.

"We prototyped and demonstrated the system to make it possible for our customers to imagine headset-like products," the company said.

For the future, the company is considering developing not only the systems that control home game consoles and mobile phones by brain waves but also those that control home-use audio-visual equipment.

At the exhibition site, NeuroSky demonstrated its headset to operate a mobile phone. The company exhibited the same type of headset in the past. But, this time, it actually operated the headset for the first time. The headset was connected to Nokia Corp's handset via Bluetooth, and the data of the changes in user's brain waves was wirelessly transmitted.

The demonstrated applications include:
(1) an application to show the degree of brain's relaxation on the screen of a mobile phone by using a visualizer
(2) an application to show the degree of brain's tension in chronological order after a user solves about 10 arithmetical problems (addition, multiplication, etc) shown on the screen of a mobile phone
(3) a game application to move a video game character to an intended place as quickly as possible on the screen of a mobile phone. The more the degree of brain's concentration, the more quickly the character moves.

As for (1), when a user calms his or her mind on purpose, the curving lines drawn by the visualizer change to various colors. With regard to (2), if an appropriate application is developed, it will be possible to realize a brain training game in which the challenge level changes in real time in accordance with the degree of brain's tension.

NeuroSky's exhibition booth was crowded with people who wished to try those applications. The company plans to make presentations at other exhibitions including one in Japan.

Apple Cuts Off Unofficial Avenue For Rebuffed iPhone Apps

After an iPhone app developer successfully discovered a workaround for being turned down at the App Store in iTunes, Apple has cracked down and barred an unofficial method as well, potentially raising an anti-competition dispute.
Almerica, the creator of a podcast download and playback tool known as Podcaster, faced a second hurdle in as many weeks when Apple shut down access to creating ad hoc licenses for the utility.

Until this point, the developer had been using the method, originally intended for education and software testing, as an impromptu distribution tactic: new licenses would be created in exchange for a $10 contribution. The approach left out the App Store entirely and consequently left Apple out of its 30 percent revenue from each sale.

While Apple itself didn't attempt to explain its move, the clampdown came after the company rejected Podcaster for reasons still disputed today. The iTunes operator had left Podcaster in limbo for several weeks between July and the end of August, only to turn it down over its alleged duplication of iTunes functionality. Neither the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store nor the music player in the iPhone and iPod touch firmware offer the ability to download podcasts.

The attempt to shutter Podcaster outside of the App Store has already been labeled a risky precedent by critics, who note that Apple is now attempting to regulate both its official source for its devices' apps but also unofficial routes as well. It echoes similarly controversial moves by Verizon and other carriers who in the past have barred unofficial apps from their phones in an attempt to control all app revenue.

"This puts Apple in a dangerous legal position," says Phone News' Christopher Price. "Before today, Apple had rights to assert that the App Store was only one sales channel, which they had every right to control. Now Apple is asserting rights to control any and all sales channels of software to iPhone and iPod touch owners."

A completely closed development environment such as this is likened to a "walled garden" where the iPhone maker has a virtual monopoly and can shut out viable competitors to its own software.

Apple also shows no plans for a turnaround. Although Almerica has since found that Podcaster's installer still works and that those who already elected to receive the app will obtain a working copy, Cupertino-based Apple has begun attempts to minimize the controversies that trigger such unusual methods in the first place. A recent rejection notice reported at Mac Rumors came with a non-disclosure agreement that prevents discussion of the reasons behind the rejection and so doesn't let this developer or others voice public opposition to their exclusion from the App Store.

11 ways Android will kick the iPhone's ass

So Android has arrived with the announcement of the T-Mobile G1. The HTC-manufactured phone certainly has a few nice touches, despite its lack of multi-touch (and with T-Mobile's particular variant, no accelerometer).

But while this particular handset might not be the technology king to beat the iPhone, the potential's there. And the OS looks super-hot. Here's why Android can make its presence felt and could really threaten the iPhone.

1. It's more open
Android is a fully open OS, which means that developing for it is a free-for-all. Handily, that'll mean more free apps and games than the iPhone's App Store can throw at us currently as they'll be offered by networks, content providers and Google alike.

2. It's got integration with online apps
Google is heavily involved here. We'll get better versions of handy stuff like Google Docs, Talk and Calendar plus Street View mapping on Android-based handsets. And it all comes with a single sign-on.

3. It's faster, faster, faster
One thing we've seen with Android all year is that it's incredibly fast. In the tech demo at last week's Google Developer Day and now we've got hands on with the G1, the interface doesn't suffer from the recent glitches the iPhone 2.0 firmware has.

4. Better hardware
The iPhone is high tech hardware, but it remains that phones with features such as HSDPA and better digital cameras appeal to the masses. Add in Android, and the iPhone will be playing catchup.

5. There'll be more variants
Apple has always been a bit one-size-fits-all. And the iPhone is no different in terms of the hardware (the capacity aside, of course). Android will be available in cheap mobiles as well as expensive ones, and that can only be a good thing.

6. It'll have Flash
So Steve Jobs reckons Flash is too intensive for mobile use? We don't think it'll be too long before somebody develops a version for Android. In the meantime, websites use Flash, Steve. Get over it.

7. It won't be restricted by Apple's nuances
Following on from number 6, many Android phones won't be locked down in the same way that the iPhone is (although how this plays out with networks remains to be seen). More flexibility could mean more fans.

8. You can have proper keyboards
We're pretty used to typing with the iPhone's keyboard now, but for many it's a step too far – and too small. The QWERTY slider keyboard on the T-Mobile G1 is the real deal.

9. It'll have better format support
Wider support for different formats will appeal to those frustrated by Apple's restricted model. And bring a whole load of new fans to Android.

10. You won't need to jailbreak
Hacking? It'll be expected with Android (though, once again, we don't know how this will play out with the networks). Customisation will be the norm, rather than the exception. Jailbreaking? What's the point?

11. Unrestricted apps
Apple has banned several apps from the App Store, including the Murderdome adult comic. You won't get so many restrictions with Android.