Sick of anonymous users screwing up your hard work on the Wikipedia? Virgil Griffith, a postgrad student at California Institute of Technology, created a tool that identifies anonymous Wikipedia editors based on the digital footprint left by their IP addresses. Griffith thus downloaded the entire encyclopedia, isolating the XML-based records of anonymous changes and IP addresses. He then correlated those IP addresses with public net-address lookup services such as ARIN, as well as private domain-name data provided by IP2Location.com. The result: A database of 34.4 million edits, performed by 2.6 million organizations or individuals ranging from the CIA to Microsoft, now linked to the edits they or someone at their organisation’s net address has made.
It’s not an exact science, but Wikipedia Scanner can be used to unmask the identities of anonymous editors. If you want to edit Wikipedia, learn the ropes before you start.
Wikipedia Scanner [via Wired]The UCSC Wiki Lab has come up with an ingenious way to evaluate the reliability of Wikipedia articles: colour coding based on specific editorial reputation. Text is coloured in various orange-y shades, and if it’s close to dark orange? Danger, Will Robinson!
So far, the project has only analysed a couple hundred pages or so, but I think that this is a great way to manage the somewhat tricky problem of Wikipedia credibility. Entries are judged basically by how long they stay up without any changes; this obviously isn’t foolproof, but it’s a good place to start.
UCSC Wiki Lab [via Download Squad]Web site PingMe operates under a simple concept: You tell it what you need to be doing and when, it pings you when that time comes, reminding you of your task. You can add events to PingMe through the web interface, email, or SMS, and your pings can be organized using tags. Your pings are sent out via email and/or SMS. PingMe makes an obvious allusion to Twitter with its tagline, “What should you be doing?” Of course, you can already set reminders with Twitter (and a whole lot more), but if you want a more robust yet decidedly Twitter-like solution, PingMe has promise. Then again, when it comes to SMS reminders and scheduling, it doesn’t get much better than Google Calendar’s SMS integration.
Editor’s Note: Okay, PingMe might be handy idea, but if you’re thinking about checking out the service, check out their terms of service before you sign up! You’re not signing over your firstborn, but there were a couple of terms which raised my eyebrows. Follow the click to see some excerpts.
PingMe [via Web Worker Daily]Stop using your dog’s name as your password for everything! Web app PassPub randomly generates a bunch of different passwords that can be used for WEP and WPA keys, and for basic passwords with lengths of 6 to 12 characters. Although similar to the previously mentioned Strong Password Generator, what makes PassPub particularly convenient is that it can create passwords that follow “easy” to remember keyboard combinations, chemical elements, and mnemonics. Don’t get me wrong, these passwords are tough to crack—you’re not going to find P@ssw0rd on this list. Don’t think having a tough password is important? See how easy it is for Adam to crack Windows passwords. Does anyone know how to generate random passwords from the command line? Please share in the comments. Thanks, Martin!
PasspubWindows only: Image processor FastStone Photo Resizer can edit, correct, crop, rename, and watermark your digital images in batch mode—that is, in big bunches all at once. This impressive little utility can:
Convert and Rename images in batch mode Resize, crop, change color depth, apply color effects, add text and watermark. Rename images with sequential number.Better than Picasa’s batch edit and cheaper/easier than Photoshop, Photo Resizer looks like a must-have for prolific home digital photographers who want to resize and watermark their photos before, say, uploading to Flickr or emailing to friends and family. Photo Resizer is a free download for home use, Windows (XP and Vista) only. Thanks, DanRP and Torley! Photo Resizer [FastStone]
Our favorite Mac instant messenger client Adium gets an update that improves its tabbed window support, adding polish like spring-loaded tabs and the number of unread messages displayed on background tabs. More »
In what looks like a direct jab at Microsoft, Google has added Sun Microsystems’ office productivity suite Star Office to their free bundle of PC software called Google Pack. TechWeb reports:
StarOffice includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, and database applications, along with a library of images and 3D effects. Normally available for $70, StarOffice is free with Google Pack.
Star Office is the basis for the free and open source OpenOffice.org application suite. Unlike OpenOffice.org, Star Office requires the Java runtime to use. So why would GOOG choose Star Office over Open Office for the Pack? More »
“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” — Lin Yutang (Thanks, Steve!) More »
