Archives > Monthly

October 2008

Daniel Goleman's new audio series, Wired to Connect

on

Psychologist Daniel Goleman (watch his TEDTalk about compassion) has just released a series of conversations about social neuroscience, empathy, compassion and social connection, each one with an expert on the topic — George Lucas on education, socially intelligent computing with Clay Shirky, Naomi Wolf on ethical leadership … The audio series is available via download []

Announcing the winner of the TED Pumpkin Prize

on

The winner receives $1, and more important — a wish to change something in the office. They were encouraged to think big (but cheap). Our amazing video team took time out from the Big Re-Upload to snag the prize with Joe the Encoder (left). We didn’t catch their wish, actually. Maybe next year.

An update on TED's Big Re-Upload

on

For the past three weeks, TED’s video team has been working on a giant project — to re-encode and re-upload all our TEDTalks video, replace the old (loud) opening titles and fix some bugs. As the project moves along, the team has found a few other things they want to fix, so we’re anticipating it’ll []

Film

Telling the story of Ezra, a child soldier: Newton Aduaka on TED.com

on

Filmmaker Newton Aduaka shows clips from his powerful, lyrical feature film Ezra, about a child soldier in Sierra Leone. (Recorded June 2007 at TEDGlobal 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania. Duration: 18:43.)   Watch Newton Aduaka’s talk from TEDGlobal 2007 on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks []

Invention

Toys from the future: The Inventables guys on TED.com

on

The Inventables guys, co-founders Zach Kaplan and Keith Schacht, demo some amazing new materials and how we might use them. Look for squishy magnets, odor-detecting ink, “dry” liquid and a very surprising 10-foot pole. (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, California. Duration: 15:46.)   Watch Zach Kaplan and Keith Schacht’s 2005 demo on TED.com, where you []

Education

Dean Kamen says America needs a geek overhaul

on

From BoingBoing: TED alum, Segway creator and inventor of a groundbreaking prosthetic arm, Dean Kamen was interviewed recently by John Meigs, editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, where he discussed his ideas about education and technology, and why it’s so important for kids to learn how to build and then stage elaborate death matches with 120-pound robots. []

For voters, the political is psychological

on

An article in the Association for Psychological Science’s AP Observer points out what TEDsters like Jonathan Haidt have known all along: Our psychology, and our emotions, likely play a larger part in how we cast our votes than any careful consideration of the issues. As Haidt reminds us in his 2008 TEDTalk, ideology, whether liberal []

Design

A sign of satisfaction from Stefan Sagmeister

on

While the world economy twists itself into a tangle, one of our favorite designers and TED speakers, Stefan Sagmeister, is spending more human time in beautiful Indonesia. He just sent me this delightful story … As my village neither possesses proper street names nor numbers, I was sitting at 6:00am today on the couch in []

TEDTalk from the vaults: Blog godmother Mena Trott on TED.com

on

A founding mother of the blog revolution, Movable Type’s Mena Trott talks about the early days of blogging, when she realized that giving regular people the power to share our lives online is the way to build a friendlier, more connected world. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, California. Duration: 16:58.) <   Watch Mena Trott’s []

Climate geo-engineering tactics, ranked by cost, risk, awfulness

on

Last fall, scientist and provocateur David Keith offered one of the most conversation-provoking TEDTalks ever — calmly discussing ideas for geo-engineering our climate that border on shocking (like shooting a cloud of sulphurous particles into the stratosphere to simulate the cooling effects of a major volcanic eruption). It’s a scary subject, but as Keith pointed []

A 3-minute fairy tale of mixed emoticons: Rives on TED.com

on

Slam poet Rives (star of the Bravo special Ironic Iconic America) tells a typographical fairy tale that’s short and bittersweet. (Recorded February 2008 at TED@Aspen, in Aspen, Colorado. Duration: 3:17.)   Watch Rives’ 2008 performance on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from []

Education

Dave Eggers in 4 minutes

on

Looking for a little inspiration — a shot of energy to get involved in making the world a better place? Check out this 4-minute version of Dave Eggers’ 2008 TEDTalk, where he talks about something meaningful you can do right in your neighborhood: Learn more about Dave’s wish at TEDPrize.org and at Once Upon a []

Culture

Why do societies collapse? Jared Diamond on TED.com

on

Why do societies fail? Taking lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how — if we see it in time — we can prevent it. (Recorded February 2003 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:21.) <   Watch Jared []

School lunches and how they got that way, on Newsday.com

on

Today’s Newsday offers an image-packed collection of stories on the school lunch as it is served and paid for in Long Island, New York. Check out the image gallery, which includes Berkeley schools chef Ann Cooper’s dream school lunch pictures above (with recipes). For more on U.S. school lunches, watch Ann Cooper’s TEDTalk >> Image: []