TEDBlog August, 2010 Archive
18 August 2010
Meet Milo, the virtual boy: Peter Molyneux on TED.com
Peter Molyneux demos Milo, a hotly anticipated video game for Microsoft’s Kinect controller. Perceptive and impressionable like a real 11-year-old, the virtual boy watches, listens and learns — recognizing and responding to you. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 11:16)
Watch Peter Molyneux’s demo on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
17 August 2010
Our century’s greatest injustice: Sheryl WuDunn on TED.com
Sheryl WuDunn‘s book “Half the Sky” investigates the oppression of women globally. Her stories shock. Only when women in developing countries have equal access to education and economic opportunity will we be using all our human resources. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 18:23)
Watch Sheryl WuDunn’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
16 August 2010
OTP hits 10,000 translations
Today TED’s Open Translation Project published the 10,000th TEDTalk translation! In May 2009, we launched the translation project in an effort to bring TEDTalks beyond the English-speaking world. We kicked off with 300 translations in 40 languages, and in just over a year, thanks to the power of crowdsourcing and the passion of our translators, the numbers have skyrocketed to 10,000 translations in 77 languages. Today over 5,000 volunteer translators participate in the project, some of whom have worked on hundreds of talks! (See “Our translators” page.) Thank you to all the translators for your hard work and commitment to spreading ideas around the globe.
16 August 2010
How big brands can help save biodiversity: Jason Clay on TED.com
Convince just 100 key companies to go sustainable, and WWF’s Jason Clay says global markets can protect the planet our consumption has already outgrown. Hear how his extraordinary roundtables are getting big brand rivals to agree on green practices first — before their products duke it out on store shelves. (Recorded at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 19:30)
Watch Jason Clay’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
13 August 2010
Imogen Heap wants your nature film
In the video above (filmed during TEDGlobal 2010′s punting party at the River Cherwell), Imogen Heap asks you to send her some nature footage to be part of a half-hour film that will accompany an ambitious new piece of music.
She writes: “It could be a sunrise from your bedroom window, underwater deep sea diving, a flower in a pavement crack, mist over mountains, reeds in rivers, a rare wild cat, rolling desert dunes, the northern lights, a sycamore seed helicoptering down or a cotton wool cloud. We want everyone to explore the colours, lights, shades, rhythms and patterns of nature. Moments that fill us with wonder.”
Get submission details here, and send footage by Sept. 26, 2010. Selected footage will be edited into a half-hour film, in five movements, to play during the premiere of Imogen’s latest work at the Royal Albert Hall.
13 August 2010
The whole wide world: Today’s TEDTalks playlist of fan favorites
(It’s the last day of TED’s annual two-week break; we’ve been posting playlists from the TEDTalks archive.)
TED fans have spoken! Over the past two weeks, each new TEDTalks playlist has sparked debate, discussion and recommendations among our Facebook fans and via email. Our final playlist is a collection of fan-favorite TEDTalks about the wider world, society, curiosity, humanity …
J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost, talks about his “mystery box” — the symbol for all the unanswered questions that drive us forward:
Barry Schwartz talks about freedom of choice — and whether having more choice makes us more free:
William Kamkwamba tells a simple, inspiring story of creation: “How I harnessed the wind.”
Isabel Allende tells the stories of passionate, activist women changing the world:
And Chris Abani, in a powerful talk, muses on humanity and “ubuntu”: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.
Watch these other fan favorites:
Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food
Sir Ken Robinson says, “Bring on the learning revolution!”
We’d love to hear more fan favorites. Add your suggestions to the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: FAN. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting August 16.
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
13 August 2010
Fellows Friday with Oliver Hess
Oliver Hess uses art to challenge the way we think about public space and the built environment. Read this interview to see how giant squid tentacles, rooms brimming with origami and fish taco farms can help do just that.
You have several projects in the works. Can you give us an overview of what you’re doing now?
Our main art practice is called Didier Hess, which combines the last names of myself and my wife, Jenna Didier. We decided to create this umbrella organization for all the different projects we’re doing. We’re just calling things Didier Hess now.
Similarly, Jenna and I are co-directors of our non-profit Materials and Applications (M&A) — she actually founded it. Right now the Squid Capsule is on display in the M&A courtyard. It’s designed by Emily White and Lisa Little of Layer. It involves 50 inflatable tentacles that hang from a cable system and create these sort of different pockets. It’s meant to summon ideas about how space is mediated. It makes physical the sort of subtleties you wouldn’t otherwise recognize. They have mist systems and different kinds of atmospheric phenomena separated by these tentacles. They all look like they’re hanging in what’s meant to look like a physical breeze — a solidified breeze. And inside of that there are different textures and different kinds of experiences of the air itself.
ABOVE: "Squid Capsule" installation at Materials and Applications
It was Jenna’s idea to allow the front of the studio to become kind of a pocket park. It’s a semi-public area where we experiment with different ideas for building in public. So they are experiments for public art, or for architecture or design. We work with people to help to bring their ideas into physical reality. And in many cases it involves us running a larger social organization around that to develop those things.
What’s cooking at Didier Hess?
Jenna and I do public art projects now. I think it’s a genre that has been transforming a lot recently. It used to be the mosaics and giant sculptures and plazas and now it’s becoming more a matter of transforming public space. I’ve been heartened by how many people are interested in this same vision that we have where it’s transforming the actual experience of space, as opposed to just just decorating space.
12 August 2010
Pages from my book: Today’s TEDTalks playlist of fan favorites
(TED’s in the final two days of its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’ve been posting playlists from the TEDTalks archive.)
Let it be heard: TED fans have spoken! Over the past two weeks, each new TEDTalks playlist posted here has sparked debate, discussion and recommendations among our Facebook fans and via email. Our final two playlists are collections of fan favorites, curated into two themes: “Pages from My Book,” collecting personal stories, and “The Wider World,” about technology, society, our planet.
Today’s playlist shares stories of hardship, loss, confusion, discovery and success. First, Steve Jobs gives some critical advice to aspiring leaders everywhere: Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Elizabeth Gilbert explores the creative process … and introduces her daemon:
Julia Sweeney tries to wrap her mind around a great big question mark: religion:
Aimee Mullins redefines the word “disabled” — and shows how adversity can open the door for human potential:
For more, watch these other fan favorites:
John Wooden on true success
Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do
Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight
We’d love to hear more fan favorites. Add your suggestions to the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: FAN. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting August 16.
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
11 August 2010
7 steps to giving your own TEDTalk, courtesy Fast Company
In the new issue of Fast Company, Anya Kamenetz calls TED “the first new top-prestige education brand in more than 100 years.” As she writes in the story titled “How TED Connects the Idea-Hungry Elite”: “The instant popularity of TED talks might say something … promising about both our collective consciousness and our collective attention span.”
In a video accompanying the story, Kamenetz reveals the secret of why TEDTalks are 18 minutes long — and shares 7 tips for giving your own TEDTalk. See the video on FastCompany.com or on iTunes.
11 August 2010
Unconventional art: Today’s TEDTalks playlist
(TED’s on its annual two-week vacation; during the break, we’re posting new playlists from the TEDTalks archive.)
Today’s playlist exhibits art that transcends the museum wall. These speakers, all artists or creators, talk about their unusual means to remarkable ends. Jonathan Harris creates digital artscapes out of Eskimo feasts, balloon wishes and the Internet’s feelings:
Robert Lang revolutionizes a centuries-old paper pastime through simple (or maybe not-so-simple) mathematics.:
Vik Muniz finds art supplies in unlikely places — dirt, chocolate, diamonds, clouds …
Miru Kim explores massive abandoned underground places — and then photographs herself in them, nude, to bring these dark spaces into sharp focus
What are your favorite stories about art in the TEDTalks archive? Add your suggestions for this playlist to the comments below, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: ART. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
And look for fresh TEDTalks starting August 16.
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
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