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Veveo launches WikiTap for iPhone, Android

Online video service's application for iPhones and Android-based devices lets users read Wikipedia entries and upload videos and photos while on the go.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger

Veveo, a company that aims to provide "video anywhere" solutions through its Vtap online video service, announced Thursday that it has launched a free app called WikiTap for the iPhone and for Android-based devices that's intended to help users quickly find the most relevant Wikipedia search results.

At first glance, having another Wikipedia app doesn't sound too thrilling, but WikiTap goes beyond accessing the popular online encyclopedia. According to the company, WikiTap will allow users to use improve the experience already offered by other Wikipedia iPhone apps by uploading photos and videos to the article. That ability makes WikiTap the first app of its kind on the iPhone and Android that allows users to not only read articles, but contribute multimedia while on-the-go. All the uploaded media will also be searchable by others using WikiTap.

"Built on vtap technology, which delivers over 250 million media search queries per month, the iPhone and Android community now have the ability to easily search through millions of Wikipedia documents, and micro-contribute by uploading videos on any topic, from anywhere, making it an even more powerful knowledgebase for other users," Murali Aravamudan, CEO of Veveo, said in a statement.

In order to upload relevant videos to Wikipedia, WikiTap will automatically "mash in" relevant videos from Vtap's video search index and allow users to rate its relevance to the article through a "Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down" voting mechanism.

Veveo's WikiTap application is available now in the Android Store and on the iTunes App Store.