Obit Editors Fall for Fake Wikipedia Quote

(NEWSER) - Google won’t buy the New York Times, but the companies are discussing novel ways the search giant can help the newspaper stay afloat, the Business Insider reports. Sources say one idea is for Google to split advertising revenue it takes from sites hosting Times content with the paper. Another, more far-fetched scheme has Google helping the Times embed adverting content in text so it survives reproduction elsewhere. More»

Two experts will create one for you (if you're 'Wiki worthy')

(NEWSER) - If you're important enough to warrant your own Wikipedia page, it should, in theory, just kind of appear on its own. But sometimes, giving it a $300 nudge doesn't hurt. Two Brooklyn entrepreneurs charge that much to craft an in-depth entry for you or your business on the free online encyclopedia and stuff it with citations, which are essential for meeting the site's standards, reports the New York Daily News . Alas, "a lot of people aren’t Wiki worthy," says one of the co-founders of mywikipro.com . "There are not a lot of articles on them to cite. We turn down a lot of people.” More»

Protesting websites' message clicked with users

(NEWSER) - Yesterday, we witnessed the power of the Internet to influence policy, as countless websites went dark to protest SOPA and PIPA. It did the job: Congress faced an onslaught of complaints about the controversial online piracy measures—which were born of traditional lobbying and heavy corporate spending, writes James Temple in the San Francisco Chronicle . When even some of the bill's GOP backers backed away in the online maelstrom, we saw "a fundamental shift in the legislative landscape, a flexing of a newfound and untraditional source of political power in the Internet sector." More»

Thousands of sites join strike

(NEWSER) - Even the LOLcats are going on strike. The "Cheezburger Network" is among an estimated 7,000 websites shutting down today to protest two Internet-regulation bills making their way through Congress, the Washington Post reports. Wikipedia went dark at midnight Eastern time and was soon joined by Reddit, Raw Story, WordPress, and many others. Google has blacked out its logo and added a link to a petition urging Congress to reject SOPA and PIPA . More»

'Red Social' launches a year after Cuban Wikipedia clone

(NEWSER) - Cuba has introduced its very own Facebook-style social network called Red Social. The website appears to be sponsored by the communist nation's Ministry of Education, reports USA Today . Red Social imitates both the look and feel of Facebook, and its homepage features the slogan "A virtual meeting point for Cuban universities." The new social network arrives a year after Cuba launched its own Wikipedia, EcuRed, but it is only available from within the country. The domain name is facebook.ismm.edu.cu. More»