How to know everything there is to know about everywhere – no matter where you are.

Last week we reviewed an iPhone app called All of Wikipedia that essentially brought all of Wikipedia to the iPhone – offline. Not long after publishing, I received an email from the developer of a competing app, Wiki Offline. Both apps are remarkably similar but for a couple of features, the most interesting in Wiki Offline’s favour being “Find Articles Nearby.”

The feature turns Wikipedia on your iPhone into a location based information resource – note I didn’t say “travel guide”. By simply tapping “nearby” on the app, Wiki Offline highlights points of interest nearby with quick links to their Wikipedia articles. What’s more, it seems to work better than the travel guide iPhone apps out there that are designed specifically to provide this very feature. Why? Wiki Offline has articles for locations no matter where you are, you needn’t be in the heart of a city or a tourist hotspot to learn from the app. With most tourist guides, you do.

I can’t quite explain the odd thrill of being stuck in traffic or on a long walk in poor weather – both generally considered rather dull periods – but with every second that passes, learning all there is to know about the area around you.

One perfect example of when this app came in handy arrived just last week. There’s a rather large cemetery just a few minutes drive from my home. I’ve driven and walked past this cemetery at least a hundred times, never wondered in, but stuck in traffic the other day I decided to pull out Wiki Offline and clicked “nearby”. I selected the pin that appeared over the burial ground and in just a matter of minutes, I learned about ten famous people who have been buried there. One was a rather infamous unsolved murder of Vera Page from the early 1930s. Another was Kazimierz Sabbat, the President of Poland in Exile from 1986 until his death in 19 July 1989. Each of the ten famous people have their own Wikipedia article page if you’re keen to dig a little deeper. Agreed, these aren’t life changing facts but merely a couple of interesting examples and something I simply wouldn’t have been able to learn about with such convenience had it not been for Wiki Offline.

Remarkable isn’t it?

With this iPhone app, now firmly positioned on my homescreen, I’m gradually beginning to learn all I possibly can about everywhere I go. What’s more, it’s probably the most productive time killer when waiting for your next meeting appointment to turn up, and a remarkably effective way of breaking the ice once he/she does turn up. In fact, in just a few minutes, you can pretend to know everything there is to know about everywhere, no matter where you are.

Wiki Offline is developed by California based MerchCraft and is available in the app store for $7.99. There’s a nominal $0.99 fee to download future updates of Wikipedia.

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Hedge Fund Manager Didn’t Know You’re Not Supposed To Gamble And Lose Investor Money To Tobey Maguire, Paris Hilton’s Sex Tape Partner, Et Al

You’re a hedge fund manager running a Ponzi scheme in Los Angeles. You’re pretty into poker and attend bi-weekly games with various actors who, as it unfortunately turns out, aren’t half bad at cards. The buy-in’s $100,000 but you don’t have the cash. What do you do? If you’re Brad Ruderman you use some client funds to cover it, as well as the money you lose to Spiderman and Co.

An FBI investigation into Brad Ruderman, the CEO of Ruderman Capital Partners, uncovered how he lost $25 million of investor money in clandestine poker games held on a twice weekly basis in suites at the luxury Beverly Hills hotel, Four Seasons, and the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard. Tinsel town A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon also played in the no-limit Texas Hold ‘em games which had a buy-in of $100,000, multiple members of the ring told Star. DiCaprio, Affleck and Damon are not being sued. Others who were part of the secret society and are facing hefty lawsuits include billionaire businessman Alex Gores, The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes, Welcome Back, Kotter star Gabe Kaplan, Paris Hilton’s infamous sex tape partner, Rick Salomon, record label owner Cody Leibel and Las Vegas nightlife entrepreneur and real-estate developer Andrew Sasson, among others.

The games were “exclusive events, by invitation only, and that there was a regular roster of players consisting of wealthy celebrities, entrepreneurs, attorneys and businessmen,” according to the lawsuit filed against Maguire in the United States Bankruptcy Court, in Los Angeles. Ruderman lost $311,300 to Maguire, including one losing hand of $110,000, on July 30, 2007, it’s claimed. The Ponzi mastermind used clients’ money to “pay for gambling losses at clandestine, high stakes poker games that were operated without any licenses or permits,” the suit said.

In their attempt to win back Ruderman’s losses, the trustee has claimed Maguire is “not entitled to receive the transfers from the Debtor, which transfers were compromised of improperly-diverted investor funds.” In a deposition of the alleged ringleader of the operation, which took in tens of millions of dollars beginning in 2006 through 2009, Maguire is described as a “very, very frequent player,” in the games, which ended in 2009. Maguire won as much as $1 million a month over a period of three years, one source told Star… “That means he could have made up to $30 to $40 million from these games,” the whistle-blowing card shark predicted.

Tobey Maguire Sued Over Multi-Million Dollar Illegal Poker Game; DiCaprio, Affleck & Damon Involved [Radar via FINalternatives]

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