Does it bug you to see errors in Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia? It bugs me. But for the site’s 20th anniversary, they’ve just launched a new mentorship program to help you make corrections.

According to a group of German researchers quoted by ZME Science, Wikipedia is 99.5 percent accurate. It’s that other .5 percent that’s so annoying. I’ve tried editing various articles by clicking their pencil icon. But my fixes did not last.

Wikipedia articles rely on references from newspapers, magazines and other popular media. Your next door neighbor could be the world’s greatest hero, but if there’s never been an article about him, you can’t add him to Wikipedia. For corrections you make to existing articles, you need references.

Recently, I tried editing an article on Joel Furhman, M.D., leader of a plant-based movement. My corrections were gone the next day because I didn’t have articles to quote from. Still, I question their use of “Men’s Journal” as a reliable source for nutrition info.

So I did a Google search on “Wikipedia Online Ambassadors/Mentors” and it turned it right up. I wrote to a mentor who calls herself “Gobonobo,” and she wrote back within seconds. Just like I thought, she said I needed references from books, journals and magazines. Sometimes, she added, direct quotes from podcasts are also used.

Total fakes do get in. Between 2010 and 2020, a user named “Zhemao” wrote 200 articles about medieval Russia. The author claimed to be a Russian-speaking PhD living in Russia with her Russian husband. Actually, she was a lonely high school graduate in China. Her sham unraveled when a Chinese novelist saw her article about a non-existing silver mine. He then exposed all her other fakes.

Regardless, some say the Wikipedia app is superior to Google searches. You can customize it to feed your interests, roll the dice with a random search, or create lists of stuff to read later. When you open the app, you’ll see the “Top Read,” “Picture of the Day,” “In the News,” and “On this Day.”

However I still find Google to be smarter. I just asked: “What pirate was Charles Darwin a disciple of,” and the third link had the correct answer. William Dampier. When I asked the Wikipedia app and the website, the best they could come up with was Alexander von Humboldt, who was not a pirate.

Getting Better Sound on Phone Calls

A friend said he hears an echo of his own voice when we talk on the phone. Complaints of this are all over the web.

My friend guessed that the echoes had something to do with my slow internet connection, so I called AT&T. They immediately sent a new router. That helped. But the echo didn’t completely disappear until I switched to wireless earbuds.

I’ve been trying out the $30 “Okeefe Wireless Earbuds with Ear Hooks.” Eureka! No more echo! But I’m returning them. Even with the hook, the right earbud falls out. What’s more, the call quality is much better when I’m using my wired headset.

The echo seems to have something to do with the position of the microphone. For a while, I thought my $30 Wantek wired headset was better than my $31 Arama. The first uses an inflexible stick as a mike. But if I position the bendable stick on the Arama just so, no more echo!

App Happy Insurance

Insurance companies like State Farm used to offer a dongle you could insert in your car to get up to 30 percent off for good driving. Now most of them use an app. But you still have to stick a Bluetooth-enabled, postage-stamp-sized device on your windshield or elsewhere. It communicates with the app to monitor your GPS, accelerometer and other sensors. Besides your speed, steering, and braking, it looks at the amount of time you spend on the phone.

If you don’t want to monitor your own driving, you might find the app useful to track a teen or elderly relative. Besides monitoring for safety, it can provide info if the car is in an accident or stolen.

James-Bond Style Flash Drives

The “Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3.0” is a flash drive for your files that will self-destruct on command. Set a self-destruct PIN to erase its contents quickly.

The Apricorn uses secure encryption and doesn’t have any software that could be hacked. It has its own keypad, so there’s no worry that a keylogger could track your keystrokes on a computer or phone. It’s rugged, and can withstand water and drops. But even the 30 gigabyte version costs $129. Not cheap.

Beware Fake Emails

American Airlines is suing to stop a band of criminals who send fake AA emails. The hackers are likely to ask you to check into your account, then steal your info.

To avoid this trickery, check for misspellings in the email address they use. If in doubt, use the American Airlines app for check-in. The app is a much faster way to see your upcoming flights.

Internut

“Tired of Laundry Folding? Robot Folding Speed Record.” Search on that phrase to see a robot fold a tee shirt and a square cloth.

Ending Screen Addiction

Eighty-two percent of children aged 8 to 12 have profiles on social media and messaging apps, according to research by CyberSafeKids. But the happiest children I know aren’t on Facebook or other social media at all.

 

Filed under: apps, email, gadgets, Internuts, security, trends