App of the Week

WIKIPEDIA 3 cert, iPod Touch (also iPhone, iPad, Android) ****

The advent of Wikipedia’s mobile app couldn’t be timelier. It arrives not long after its one- day blackout, as its owners protested at the Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA). In truth, the mobile app is essentially a shortcut to the website with just a few trimmings. There’s a daily world news round-up and featured item of the day. It also includes the past three highlighted features – so (to use real examples) if you’re not interested in 19th-century American senator Henry Cornelius Burnett, you might want to read about folk singer Nick Drake or the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea. You can bookmark items for later reading, which is handy, and the familiar layout is user- friendly. Just about every story and mention has a citation, so the complaints about Wikipedia’s veracity and reliability feel as old as Hotmail. This app isn’t altogether different from its parent, but as the recent blackout showed us, you’d really miss Wikipedia if it was gone.