Wow, it seems like search results for “Knol Project” is multiplying at the rate of every hour! It’s amazing how no one has really even tried this new Knol Project yet, there’s so much buzz going around the internet. We think Knol Project will be basically Google’s new knowledge database that will add nicely to their portfolio of search knowledge database.

Although we predict that Knol Project will never be close to Wikipeidia’s mass collaboration of information, Google’s new Knul Project could prove to be pivotal in providing useful information from authoratative sources such as real doctors and real professionals who practice their content, instead of having random people contributing to articles like Wikipedia.

We predict that their search results will still honor Wikipedia’s authority as long as Knol’s content isn’t any better. But if Knol proves otherwise, Wikipedia could be on its way to slow and tortourous death. (We doubt that though…)

In our efforts to keep up with Google’s latest Wiki project, we’ve got all the great news about the Knol Project in one post here:

CNet - Google develops Wikipedia rival

Zedomax - Knols Project Followup - Google’s Knol Project reminds me of a Paid Wiki

Wired News - Google’s ‘Knols’ aren’t a Threat to Wikipedia

QuarterWiki - Knols Project - Google’s new Wikipedia

BBC News - Google Debuts knowledge Project

OneBuckWiki - Knols Project - Google is building their own Wikipedia

EntreWiki - Google proves Wiki monetization is the future with its new Knols Project!

FiveDollarWiki - Google trying to make a paid wiki with its new project Knols Project!

The Huffington Post - Google Knol: Finder Becomes Producer

Gizmodo - Google Puts Wikipedia in its Sights, to Launch Knol Open Encyclopedia

EarthTimes - Google unveils anti-Wikipedia project ‘Knol’ - Featureseachviews - Google Launches Encyclopedia Project Knols

iTWire - Here comes Google’s Knol ‘edge’

BloggingStocks - Google’s Knol project: A Wikipedia killer?

Joe Duck - Google’s knol project

ReadWriteWeb - Knols Project: Google Experimenting With User Generated Encyclopedic Pages

Now you think that this is crazy, well in fact I do too! But it is the season of goodwill to all, so why not plug this into your USB port and pour everyone a nice seasonal drink?

Mind you I am not sure where the wine comes from as there seems to be a bit missing, where does the barrel go? Maybe it’s the French way of having a joke on us all, whatever the mechanics of it, the tap looks a bit retro in style and comes in three colours, oh where’s the wine?

Priced at $15

Source [New Launches]

Lately, I’ve been keeping a keen eye on my friend Graham Langdon, creator of Million Dollar Wiki. He has created a new site called EntreCard that allows bloggers to advertise for free on other blogger’s blogs. Basically, bloggers can trade 125×125 pixel ad spots.

Today, I got up and looked up on Alexa and found that EntreCard has finally beaten BlogRush in the numbers of Reach, Rankings, AND TRAFFIC!

As an evangelist user of EntreCard, I was really happy like I just snorted a line of cok* of something. (not that i do drugs….)

Here’s the wrap up:

As you can see, what EntreCard is doing is taking over BlogRush and its customers. It’s going to be a horrible slow death for BlogRush but who knows? Maybe they will get enough bad publicity out it and come back alive by copying EntreCard’s ideas.

Here we look at the Daily traffic Rank Trend for BlogRush vs. EntreCard. EntreCard clearly beats BlogRush and they are STILL on their way up whereas BlogRush is again, dying slowly.

The last graph shows Page Views for EntreCard vs. BlogRush. As you can see here, the problem with BlogRush is that once you put their widget, there is no other community groups or actions you can do whereas EntreCard is a vibrant blogger community where bloggers are actively trading invisible business cards.

Our prediction from last time is becoming more true and true.

This is the letter from John Reese that really pissed me off and I stopped using BlogRush:

We’ll be applying some quality guidelines and criteria to our
decision-making process. (We’ll be publishing these guidelines very
soon.) If a blog does not meet our guidelines and criteria, THEY
WILL BE REJECTED from the network and not allowed to join — i.e.
they won’t be able to serve our widget, refer other users, or have
their blog posts distributed across our network. They will have no
access to any BlogRush services.

Our members, like YOU, made it LOUD AND CLEAR to us… BlogRush needs
to only have members that have quality blog content — not blogs
filled primarily with ads and other spammy looking JUNK.

The only accurate way we’re going to keep these junk blogs out of our
network is to REVIEW EVERY SINGLE ONE BY HAND. And we’re willing to
do it to protect the integrity of our network. I don’t care what it
costs us to hire more people (if we need them) to review 100% of any
blog trying to join our network. We will be reviewing ALL OF THEM
from here on out.

Here’s what I say, “Take your stupid hype and your hype traffic and put it up your as*!”.

I don’t need the founder of a website telling me their technology sucks so much that they have to review every blog by hand (Is that like Web 0.5?). With a stupid founder like that, BlogRush will never succeed.

What BlogRush should have done:

BlogRush should have hired 3 PHP developers and tell them to develop a spider hack that checks for the language of the site and validity by checking values like Alexa rankings, Technorati rankings, etc…etc… Heck, I can even do this but I don’t have to send out a freaking 10 page email wasting everyone’s time.

Why are we so bitter? Don’t take it too seriously. (Remember our motto? Satiric opinions on Gadgets and Tech…Lol…)

These mugs will make anyone feel the joy of the season, from the side view they look like any other mug, but if you are drinking from it the view is entirely different.

These tree and star shaped mugs looked pretty cool, and would make a nice seasonal gift.

They measure 3.3 inches x 3.9 inches and are made from porcelain.

Priced at $40.00 for a set of two.

Source [7 Gadgets]

Great thing that Google has come up with the Knols Project. (I think it’s pronounced “nol’s project” right?) It’s totally like the Million Dollar Wiki concept except they have more money and power to get “authoratative” writers on their content.

How is it like a paid wiki?

Well, Google offer revenue sharing as stated in their blog:

At the discretion of the author, a knol may include ads. If an author chooses to include ads, Google will provide the author with substantial revenue share from the proceeds of those ads.

Wow, that IS a paid wiki, just like the QuarterWiki and the One Buck Wiki. The only difference is that you don’t have to pay for pages in the beginning. I believe this is due to Google’s enourmous status as an Internet Giant with billions of dollars to spend on moderators, developers, and what not. We wish we could too but no we have to charge a small fee for each page.

Plus, there’s “one author” per page, just like the paid wikis.  Google might have ripped off those ideas…

Regardless, this is a definite sign that Wikis are going to start taking over the world. (and Google will try to take over the world, literally…)

We encourage you to try out the new Knols Project if you do get an invitation and when they launch, we strongly suggest you take advantage of Google’s offer of revenue sharing.
(In case you can’t get an invitation and while you wait, you can take advantage of 100% revenue stream on the QuarterWiki, One Buck Wiki, or the Five Dollar Wiki.)

Is Google going too far? Go vote at TechCrunch!

Google is trying to compete with Wikipedia with its new Knols Project. We don’t know how successful it will be as we have seen Google Video and Youtube before.

But one thing is for sure, Google is trying to get into the Wiki business. (Knol Project is very similar to our QuarterWiki, OneBuckWiki, EntreWiki, FiveDollarWiki, and other wikis that we are developing right now.)

The interface does look pretty neat from the screenshot here:

What amazes us is that we are trying to build the largest commercialized Wiki with our new QuarterWiki but Google is also making similar site. We don’t intend to compete with Google of course, but we think we are going in the right direction if the Big Guy thinks so too.

You can get to the new Knols Project login by going here:

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=knol

But unless you got an invite, you can’t access it. Does anyone want to give us an invite? We’d like to incorporate Knols’ features on our paid wiki sites before Knols’ launch date. Lol…we are being too honest here huh?

Here’s what the Google Knol Project is briefly about:

Knols will include strong community tools. People will be able to submit comments, questions, edits, additional content, and so on. Anyone will be able to rate a knol or write a review of it. Knols will also include references and links to additional information. At the discretion of the author, a knol may include ads. If an author chooses to include ads, Google will provide the author with substantial revenue share from the proceeds of those ads.

Once testing is completed, participation in knols will be completely open, and we cannot expect that all of them will be of high quality. Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results. We are quite experienced with ranking web pages, and we feel confident that we will be up to the challenge. We are very excited by the potential to substantially increase the dissemination of knowledge.

We do not want to build a walled garden of content; we want to disseminate it as widely as possible. Google will not ask for any exclusivity on any of this content and will make that content available to any other search engine.

As always, a picture is worth a thousands words, so an example of a knol is below (click on the image twice to see the page in full). The main content is real, and we encourage you to read it (you may sleep better afterwards!), but most of the meta-data — like reviews, ratings, and comments — are not real, because, of course, this has not been in the public eye as yet. Again, this is a preliminary version.

[via] OneBuckWiki

Check out this site where you can tell this Yorkie doggie to roll over, jump, or anything he understands. Kinda fun if you don’t have a dog but want to play with one.

This stand is a sort of thing that you might see in an art gallery as an exhibit, it’s so cool that it has a sponge at the bottom for the umbrella to rest into when not in use, while the hoop holds the umbrellas in place.

This is quite a nice stylish item which would look really nice the hallway of any home.

Priced at $155

Source [Nerd Approved]

This looks like a famous type of battery that is not for putting in a radio why? Because it is a radio.

The power is provided by two AAA, which will give you an idea of the size of the thing. It’s a pretty cool little device which will give you a bit of music while you work.

Product Introduction:

Features:

Digital auto scan FM radio
12 hour format
Alarm clock
Power Source:2 × AAA battery (not included)

Packing information:

1. Unit Size: & Oslash; 26×93mm
2. Unit Weight (w/ packaging): G
3. Packaging Size(color box size): CM
4. Packing Info: 100PCS/CTN,38*35*23.5CM,6.8KGS

No prices yet!

Source [Coolest Gadgets]