Democrats took the battle for presidency online by creating an attack Wiki. Dubbed McCain-Opedia, the website is based on the famous Wikimedia software, the same software that runs Wikipedia. The whole purpose of this website is to act as a tool for opposing the candidate. It gives arguments against McCain on everything from his stance on healthcare to his Supreme Court Justice picks. Unlike most other Wiki’s, anyone can’t just walk in and edit a page, spurring some technologists to criticize it. They say that it is against the spirit and ethos that drive wiki’s.

Fans of the real Wikipedia can finally have their cake and eat it, too. You can now take the free encyclopedia offline using the eReader known as the iRex Iliad. Much like the Sony eReader and the Amazon Kindle, this bite sized book machine uses E-Ink technology, to give you a clear and crisp book like experience. Now Wikipedia can go anywhere you want it to go.

And if you find the iRex Iliad out of your price range, the One Laptop Per Child project just might have the ebook reader for you. They announced their next generation One Laptop Per Child computer, the XO2. Designed to be an ebook reader first and a computer second, it contains two LCD touch screen displays and is loaded with tons of free software.

In other electronic book news, Microsoft has just closed the virtual doors on its Live Search for Books. They will no longer be scanning in books digitally, and will be turning off the Live Book Search web pages within the week. Although we are sad to see it go, it should be noted that similar initiatives are still continuing with Google and Scribd’s free book scan project.

And just in time to cover this small blow to online text, we have Microsoft announced a new incentive to get people to use Live Search: paying them. That’s right, Microsoft is dishing out the cash to get users to click on paid advertisements in their search engine. They call this initiative the cashback service, and can save users between 2 and 30% off select retailers.