Online knowledge from A to Z

Written by: Jasna Sýkorová

The world is full of foreign words – “foreign” as in unknown or untranslatable. Web dictionaries and encyclopedias bridge this familiarity gap, thus facilitating prompt and convenient understanding.

http://www.coto.je

This site allows you to access three complete encyclopedias. Unregistered users can access all links, but complete definitions are available only following registration, which is free of charge for the first 25 entries. But if you choose this option, you must agree to receive e-mail advertisements. Subscriptions start at CZK 200 for 50 complete entries. The fee is deducted only in the event that you explicitly request the complete entry. The dictionaries are extensive and modern, and even contain the names of larger Czech firms over the last decade. Internet links are displayed, but they are less relevant than those from the browser.
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http://slovnik.seznam.cz

This popular and easy-to-use translation dictionary operates with applications developed by Rewin, which also offers Polish and Romanian versions on its web site (www.winged2000.cz). For Russian words there is also a Cyrillic alphabet keyboard. The dictionary contains hundreds of thousands of words and phrasings, including those of a specialized nature. The competition – slovnik.atlas.cz – which uses the basic applications provided by the same firm, has supplemented its offer with other dictionaries from other providers. It thus makes it possible to compare resulting translations.
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http://www.vseved.cz

A free electronic encyclopedia. Neither the sources nor the number of entries are stated, but the database appears to be quite large. The search engine also recognizes the sought term in little captions under the entries. The operator, Netpoint, offers applications for searching not only on the site, but also via WAP and SMS mobile services for T-Mobile and Oskar. With Oskar, this encyclopedia is a part of the SIM Toolkit offer, and now allows searches for multiple-word phrases.
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http://www.najdi.to

This is a service offered by the provider of the volny.cz connection. It offers two variants, a mini-dictionary with a small vocabulary, which the user can keep open while working in another window. Additionally, anyone can add it to their own web site – the operator has published part of the html code needed for access to the database. A large dictionary – the Millennium On-Line Multi-Field Dictionary – translates words in their general meanings, and then according to the various fields, such as law or military.
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http://www.azdodomu.cz

This multi-language dictionary by LangSoft is supplemented by the Cambridge Dictionary encyclopedic dictionary in English. Surprisingly, this dictionary is a part of a distinctive department store that offers home deliveries of groceries. The site’s orientation is confusing, but it offers the unique option of comparing outputs in Czech and English. The LangSoft dictionary is also used by another operator – slovniky.centrum.cz – that has expanded it to include audio recordings of the pronunciations of some words.
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novelties
http://www.mpacz.org
The web site of the Association for Mobile Payments, aimed at developing and supporting a unified system for payments made via mobile phone. Its services should make it possible to use a telephone like a credit card – recharging credit, paying in shops or over the net, etc.

http://www.novinky.cz
This news site, supported by the Seznam.cz company and its portal, has become the official on-line news site of Právo, replacing the earlier flashnews.cz. Columns of favorite authors are preserved, but the design has been completely redone.

http://snowboarding.idnes.cz
The portal of the iDNES news site has been expanded again, this time focusing on snowboarding. Its content is not for beginners. The same group offers pohlavnichoroby.idnes.cz (sexually transmitted diseases), sponsored by the maker of Durex condoms.

http://valentyn.tiscali.cz
This large portal seeks to celebrate Valentine’s day with a new section. Since the beginning of February, Valentine-oriented sites have opened not only at Tiscali, but also at valentyn.centrum.cz. Here you can send cards, order flowers, and so forth.

word of the month:
peer-to-peer
– The phrase peer-to-peer, or P2P, is used to describe a so-called virtual exchange system. Anyone who is interested can share (open up to the entire world by means of the relevant software) information, data, and files, which other users can source and easily download into their computers. This protocol was originally created to allow sharing of musical recordings in MP3 format. Napster, which no longer exists, is one of the best-known such systems. This site currently allows the exchange of texts, films, and images, as well as music. The programs that currently use this system and can be downloaded from the internet for free, such as Morpheus or KaZaA, work like public libraries. Millions of files are exchanged every day. However, some of them are protected by copyright, so these systems often face law suits.