Search behemoth Google has announced a new tool to rival Wikipedia. Currently known as “knol” (it stand for a unit of knowledge, apparently), its object is “to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it.” This sounds very much like Wikipedia, although some would argue that you need no nothing about a subject to be a Wikipedia contributor (despite credible evidence that suggest otherwise).

Google has yet to announce when the general public will get to experience “knol”, but you can find out more and see a screenshot of the prototype here.

Independent traffic reports indicate that The New York Times has gained almost 3 million users since dropping its subscription model. This follows news that Friends Reunited is considering similar measures, in an effort to stave off competition from the infinitely superior Facebook.

It’s good to see that more and more sites are realising that users do not want to pay for content they can get elsewhere for free. Granted, the NYT’s editorial is undoubtedly of the highest quality, but with the abundance of free alternatives, it was inevitable this would happen sooner or later.

On the internet, there really is such a thing as a free lunch (albeit a free lunch funded by relentless, in-your-face online advertising).

Rolling Stone magazine has launched its first digital edition, available free online. Declining sales have forced the magazine to explore alternative revenue streams; launching an online version is a great way to reach both new a lapsed readers.

At present, the magazine can only be read using a hideous Flash-based reader called ActiveMagazine. Hopefully they’ll offer a PDF download soon, as ActiveMagazine is shitter than a shit sandwich.

Ask.com has launched a UK map service similar to offerings from Google and Microsoft. The postcode for our office brings up the following result:

Cheers Ask.com! So, Albemarle Way (London EC1V 4JB) is in the middle of the Gobi Desert? On a pair of Holly Johnson’s chinos? Oh, I despair! Ask.com, drop and give me twenty!

Yahoo! has launched KickStart, a “professional” social network aimed at college students and alumni. From first impressions, it appears to be a LinkedIn for students. The quote on the front page sums it up nicely:

Uncle Ron may work for IBM, but it doesn’t mean you want him writing on your wall or poking your friends.

Curse you uncle Ron with your incessant friend-poking!

Sexy pop midget Kylie has jumped on the social networking bandwagon too with the launch of kyliekonnect. I’ve forwarded the link to uncle Ron, who has assured me she’s in for a vigorous poking as soon as his account has been authorised.

The Financial Times reports that Facebook is to launch in languages other than English as part of an ambitious international expansion programme. Facebook currently lags far behind MySpace in this respect, which features content and languages aimed at several non-English territories.

VentureBeat reports than CafeMom , the social network for mothers, has raised an additional $5 million in funding. This follows news that Playboy has launched a social network designed to “penetrate” student campuses in USA, Playboy U. If you like your social networking a little saucier, there’s always Zivity, the adult network that’s just secured an additional $1 million from investors.

The ever-increasing investment in social networking websites is staggering, but do they really appeal to users? Just how many sites can a person contribute to without experiencing “social networking fatigue“?

Lou Ferrigno after a hard day’s social networking.

I’ve been playing around the Tafiti beta, which uses Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. The system is little more than a proof of concept at the moment, but I must confess, I’m impressed. It offers easy navigation between web, rss, image, news and book seaches, and boasts an interactive tree view (which is pretty much useless but looks fantastic).

Tahiti is my first Silverlight experience, and from first impressions, it seems identical from Flash from a user experience perspective. It remains to be seen whether it’ll prove to be a serious alternative in the long run.

Twittervision is a fun Twitter / Google Maps mashup that shows a never-ending stream of banal Twitter messages in realtime from across the globe.

The Telegraph has an article on the phenomenon of “faceblocking” (an excellent, made up term). It seems an increasing number of companies are banning Facebook, as their staff are spending countless hours poking their friends and generally being non-productive.

British Gas, Lloyds TSB and the Metropolitan Police are amongst the latest companies to deny their employees access. In the case of the police, it’s too little too late.