TEDBlog October, 2010 Archive
07 October 2010
“Wish granted,” says TED Prize winner Cameron Sinclair
In the Huffington Post, Cameron Sinclair reports:
Today is a very big day for my 2006 TED Prize.
Thanks to this. It’s granted. Done. Finito. Complete.
“This” is a brand-new iPad app called Open Architecture. It uses the power of Sinclair’s Open Architecture Network to help users discover and explore innovative building projects. Think of it, Sinclair says, as “the YouTube of sustainable design.”
The app is available now in the iTunes Store, and it costs $2.99. As Sinclair writes:
All the proceeds of the application are being placed towards projects that are improving lives and selected through a virtual credit system by app owners. The first three projects to be funded will be a youth technology center in the slums of Nairobi, housing for those displaced by floods in Pakistan and a cultural center in New Orleans. As each project is funded, Architecture for Humanity will build those buildings, and additional structures will be added to the app, creating a unique ability to support and track projects in real time. Think Farmville, but you are actually supporting farms that are feeding real families!
Read the full announcement on HuffPo >>
05 October 2010
An economic reality check: Tim Jackson on TED.com
As the world faces recession, climate change, inequity and more, Tim Jackson delivers a piercing challenge to established economic principles, explaining how we might stop feeding the crises and start investing in our future. (Recorded at TEDGlobal, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 20:23)
Watch Tim Jackson’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.
05 October 2010
Try the TED App on Boxee
Browse TEDTalks in Boxee's elegantly simple interface.
Boxee, the video player that puts web content into an intuitive TV-friendly interface, has built a cool new app just for TED. The TED App runs on the free Boxee downloadable player; and it’ll work on the upcoming Boxee Box, due in the US this November.
Using an elegant and simple interface developed by Boxee in collaboration with TED, users can surf TED’s full database of nearly 800 TEDTalks — browsing with a mouse or the soon-to-be-released Boxee Remote.
There are 3 steps to get started right now:
1. Visit boxee.tv and download the free Boxee player (now in beta for Mac, Windows and Linux; you can also play with the source code)
2. Open the Boxee player, go to the App Library, and find the TED App (see screenshot below)
3. Start browsing and building your playlist of TEDTalks
You can watch what’s new or browse by themes — such as Tales of Invention, A Greener Future, What’s Next in Tech, Master Storytellers — or by topic tags, such as Technology, Biology, Economics, Brain, Art. You can also choose talks based on length. Or simply hit the “Surprise Me” button!
“TED’s mission is to spread ideas, and the Boxee TED App brings TEDTalks into the living room in a really effective new way,” said June Cohen, Executive Producer of TED Media. “This collaboration with Boxee has allowed us to design, for the first time, a ’10-foot experience’ of watching TEDTalks. We think viewers are going to love the new navigation model, whether they’re using their mouse or the new Boxee remote.”
“TED is the quintessential example of the kind of web-only content that should be on TV,” says Avner Ronen, CEO & co-founder of Boxee. “We’re proud to be partnered with TED to help bring the amazing stories and ideas they share to the best screen in the house.”
The app is available today via the App Library on Boxee’s free, downloadable software.
Read more on the Boxee Blog >>
Find the TED App in Boxee's App Library
04 October 2010
Are mushrooms the new plastic?: Eben Bayer on TED.com
Product designer Eben Bayer reveals his recipe for a new, fungus-based packaging material that protects fragile stuff like furniture, plasma screens — and the environment. (Recorded at TEDGlobal, July 2010 in Oxford, England. Duration: 9:05)
Watch Eben Bayer’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.
02 October 2010
Sensational technology: TEDTalks Playlist
Today’s playlist is about innovative technology that can enhance or even replace our ability to see, feel, hear, taste and smell. These speakers have each worked with one of our five senses -– and the results are truly sensational!
Josh Silver designs some funny-looking eyeglasses that can easily and cheaply match prescriptions for those in even the poorest villages.
Adam Grosser demos his low-cost and electricity-free refrigerator that can keep food cool — and preserve medicines — in remote corners of the world.
Dean Kamen’s new prosthetic arm can do everything your arm can do — and maybe more.
We’d love to hear more of your favorite TEDTalks about Technology for the Senses. Add your suggestions to the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: SENSATIONAL TECHNOLOGY. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
01 October 2010
Fellows Friday with Tino Chow
What do you devote most of your time to?
Everything I do is based on what I believe in: making the world a better place, using my skills as a designer and a community organizer. The company I started about a year and a half ago, called Big New Ideas, is kind of my official channel of doing that. We are a storytelling, community-building design studio. We specialize in helping people with Big New Ideas communicate what that idea is. We look for businesses and non-profits that are trying to make the world a better place. And we help them learn to build a community around their idea. Because without the community, without people believing in it, it really doesn’t matter how good the idea is.
How is Big New Ideas run?
My two partners and I spend about 60% of our time doing revenue-producing client work so we can eat and survive. We spend about 40% of our time making our own ideas happen: a “24 Hour Design Jam,” a cross-country bike trip, a design meet-up in New York City. We’re trying to build our own communities and ask our own questions.
On the side, I do a lot of different projects to help other non-profits that don’t have the resources to hire us yet. For example, the 24 Hour Design Jam gives an opportunity for designers and creatives to come together, and work on some projects that benefit our local community.
The 24 Hour Design Jam sounds like a lot of fun! Tell us about that.
It’s a gathering of a group of six or seven local designers and creatives, coming together to help a local non-profit within twenty-four hours over a weekend.
It solves a couple issues on several levels. Firstly, that in this day and age it’s really hard to find time to volunteer. Volunteering for a couple hours a week over a couple months is not ideal because people have different commitments, and people lose interest or … you know, things happen. This whole idea is to condense the period over Friday and Saturday, so it’s not a huge commitment, but a manageable one.
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