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Wikipedia has just received a $3 million donation from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. If you haven’t heard of the Sloan Foundation, you can check it out on Wikipedia!

Wikipedia will receive the donation in three $1 million payments (one per year for 3 years). The money will mainly be used to increase the credibility of the content on Wikipedia via Flagged Revisions.  But itt will also be used for some offline promotion including a DVDs and/or books. And something called the “Wikipedia Academy” is also in the pipeline - it’s an initiative to teach targeted groups such as academics and senior citizens how to get involved with Wikipedia.

This is where Google Gears starts making real sense. It has been handy to be able to launch your web application when you don’t have internet connectivity, but how often does this really happen? Your mobile however is probably offline most of the time, so now that Google Gears work on mobile devices, you can start up your favourite web app even when you’re offline (Windows Mobile 5 or 6 devices only - not Android).

The partners for the launch are Zoho and Buxfer. Zoho Writer, which now works with Windows Mobile 6.0 devices, offers offline viewing of documents, while editing will come at a later stage. Buxfer, whose mobile version is available at m.buxfer.com, now enables you to access your bank account balances, transactions, and analysis charts in read only mode without internet access.

To hear Andrei Popescu and Dave Burke talk about working on the Google Gears mobile project, click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8P0PbgS52c

Or to read about the technical details, DOM, and limitations of Windows Mobile 5 and 6 go to the official Google Gears mobile page.

Adobe have lauched new software ‘Adobe Air’ which aims to make the transition between the on and offline worlds seamless. Users will be able to use online applications offline on their desktops, and developers will be able to build tools that still have some functionality even when a computer is no longer connected to the net.

The first programs that use the technology have been developed by a host of companies and web sites, and some have already been released. Ebay for example, have built a program that allows users to do much of the legwork required in setting up auctions offline. The next time that the user connects to the Internet, the listing is posted to the website. The BBC is also building prototypes with Air.

You can run any Air application on PCs, Macs and later this year Linux, after a free download. I’m sure they will come in pretty useful when travelling and on the move. Let us know how you get on with them.