The worlds largest encyclopedia, with some 1.6 million articles, has a number of mobile versions. And that's just one of the excellent resources I'll mention this month. Plus, there are some recent freebies worthy of your attention.
Wikipedia for Pocket PC
Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), the free encyclopedia that's a collaborative effort by people around the world, has become immensely popular. Since anyone can contribute or edit an entry, the information may not always be as accurate or consistent as that found in other references. But the worldwide collaborative effort has produced good results, and Wikipedia has become quite a useful tool for many.
There are a number of Web sites tailored to smaller screens that let you access Wikipedia information from mobile devices.
Wapipedia.org offers plain-text searches of Wikipedia for mobile users.
Wapipedia (http://wapipedia.org), a slimmed-down, XHTML version of the Wikipedia, boasts a simple interface. This is a plain text version that works on the Pocket PC and, presumably, the Smartphone.
Wapedia lets mobile users access other Wikipedia features as well as displays images.
Wapedia (http://pda.en.wapedia.org) also gives you mobile access to the Wikipedia articles, but unlike Wapipedia, displays images. It also gives you access to other Wikipedia features, such as current events.
A complete and up-to-date version of Wikipedia is also available as a TomeRaider document.
Some people prefer to download the encyclopedia and put it on their device, so that they can access it offline. There are a number of ways to accomplish this.
A complete and up-to-date version of the Wikipedia in TomeRaider format is available on CD for $15$19 (http://members.chello.nl/epzachte/Wikipedia). You will also need to purchase a copy of the TomeRaider eBook reader for the Pocket PC in order to view the encyclopedia (http://www.tomeraider.com).
You will also need a large storage card to store the Wikipedia filesanywhere from 14 GB. As this is being written, a 2 GB card can be purchased for as little as $80 after rebates.
You can also download the Wikipedia for free for both the current version of TomeRaider and for the previous version:
TomeRaider3 files (http://download.wikimedia.org/tomeraider/current_tr3/).
TomeRaider2 files (http://download.wikimedia.org/tomeraider/current/).
These files are only occasionally updated, but if you're technically inclined, you can grab an up-to-the-minute version from the Wikipedia site itself by following the instructions on this Web page:
TomeRaider 3 (http://members.chello.nl/epzachte/Wikipedia/ProcedureTR3.html).
TomeRaider 2 (http://members.chello.nl/epzachte/Wikipedia/ProcedureTR2.html).
Mobile.Answers.com provides online access to reference works from a variety of publishers.
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