...as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others,
we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours;
and this we should do so Freely and Generously

Posted October 8th, 2008 at 3:01 am by Trent

Invention: Wikipedia Offline

Type: Consumer Good

Summary: In the woods?  Financial crisis collapses your society?  Need to know something, anytime, anywhere?  Add Wikipedia, a low power Kindle-type electronic paper screen, and a hand-crank power option and you have a knowledge source for anywhere in the world or for any age of the world.

Explanation: A handheld, ruggedized electronic paper based screen with a solid-state 16gig disk-drive, lithium ion or capacitor based power storage and multiple optional power inputs.  Loaded on the 16gig drive is a complete copy of Wikipedia in a chosen language, less the comments and other extraneous dialogue.   This copy of Wikipedia can be explored freely by the user via the electronic paper screen.  The user can furthermore power the device via: Hand crank, AA batteries, AC or DC power.  Finally, the device should be ruggedized such that it can handle drops, exposure to water, sunlight, sand and vibration.

Utility: A handheld compendium of human knowledge that can be used anywhere and that is durable so that it can last multiple lifetimes.  Anyone who wields the Wikipedia Offline can teach themselves the collective skills of humanity.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 at 3:01 am and is filed under Consumer Good. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.