TEDBlog March, 2011 Archive
31 March 2011
Google’s driverless car: Sebastian Thrun on TED.com
Sebastian Thrun talks about Google’s amazing driverless car — and his very personal quest to save lives and reduce traffic accidents. Jawdropping video shows the DARPA Challenge-winning car motoring through city traffic with no one behind the wheel; dramatic test drive footage from TED2011 demonstrates how fast the thing can really go. (Recorded at TED2011, March 2011, in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 10:41)
Watch Sebastian Thrun’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 900+ TEDTalks.
30 March 2011
Tom Morello shreds at TEDActive
New video from TEDActive’s Desert Party: On the final evening of TEDActive, the all-star house band Dinah Shore Jr. welcomed the Nightwatchman — guitar legend Tom Morello, ex of Rage Against the Machine. He jumped onstage with Wendy Melvoin (of Wendy & Lisa, and Prince’s longtime bandmate), Annie Clark (of St. Vincent) and Jill Sobule, TEDActive’s muse, and peeled off this 2-minute solo in the middle of “The Ghost of Tom Joad” … One viewer has already commented: “That was so spiritual, I feel like I just made up for all the missed Sunday Masses in my life.”
See more video on TEDActive’s Vimeo channel >>
Credits: The TEDActive 2011 House Band, Dinah Shore Jr., is Jill Sobule (here, on banjo), Wendy Melvoin (bass), Annie Clark (guitar), Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (violin), Josh Boardman (guitar) and Aaron Sterling (drums), joined tonight by Tom Morello.
And thanks, Jesse Fagan, for correction on the song title.
30 March 2011
The genius puppetry behind War Horse: Handspring Puppet Company
“Puppets always have to try to be alive,” says Adrian Kohler of the Handspring Puppet Company, a gloriously ambitious troupe of human and wooden actors. Beginning with the tale of a hyena’s subtle paw, puppeteers Kohler and Basil Jones build to the story of their latest astonishment: the wonderfully lifelike Joey, the War Horse, who trots (and gallops) convincingly onto the TED stage. (Recorded at TED2011, March 2011, in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 18:12)
Watch Handspring Puppet Company’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 900+ TEDTalks.
29 March 2011
Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon: Ralph Langner on TED.com
When first discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm posed a baffling puzzle. Beyond its unusually high level of sophistication loomed a more troubling mystery: its purpose. Ralph Langner and team helped crack the code that revealed this digital warhead’s final target — and its covert origins. In a fascinating look inside cyber-forensics, he explains how. (Recorded at TED2011, March 2011, in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 10:41)
Watch Ralph Langner’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 900+ TEDTalks.
29 March 2011
Moving forward: TEDxTokyo shares their story
Patrick Newell, organizer of TEDxTokyo, has been collecting and sharing news from TEDx communities affected by the recent tragic events in Japan. He sends this report:
The effects of the earthquake that struck the Tohoko region of Japan on Friday, March 11, has had an impact all around the world.
Here in Tokyo, thousands were stranded as transport systems came to a sudden halt. A shortage of water, food, fuel and electricity continue to cause anxiety, while uncertainty over the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant has led to health concerns for millions across the east of the country. In the hardest hit areas, over 20,000 people are dead or missing, and hundreds of thousands are now living in shelters.
Whilst many upcoming events in the region have subsequently been cancelled, the TEDxTokyo community feels more determined than ever to hold our big annual event as originally planned on May 21. In times of crisis, there is no understating the importance of sharing ideas, solutions and stories of human resilience and unity. TEDxTokyo will enable this to take place against the background of the huge upheaval we are now seeing.
Beyond our event itself, the TEDxTokyo community are working reactively and proactively to help those in the Tohoku region, through the establishment of a reconstruction planning team, partnership to provide immediate support for existing orphanages, children who have lost their parents, a disaster relief supply center at a local international school, and through personal donations of money, goods and time to local relief organizations.
To find out more about these efforts please read this post on the TEDxTokyo blog.
Please join us and share your stories of ways in which the situation in Japan has influenced your local communities. Post stories on our Facebook page or email stories@tedxtokyo.com.
28 March 2011
“5 Bodily Fluids”: A public service announcement
Last weekend, TED’s Film + Video director, Jason Wishnow, made this video for Maitri, an AIDS hospice in San Francisco. There’s some NSFW language, yes, but it’s memorable, and an important message.
Interested in learning more? Our writer Shanna Carpenter assembled this playlist for last December’s World AIDS Day:
Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV — let’s get rational
Mitchell Besser: Mothers helping mothers fight HIV
Annie Lennox: Why I am an HIV/AIDS activist
28 March 2011
Don’t insist on English! Patricia Ryan on TED.com
At TEDxDubai, longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan asks a provocative question: Is the world’s focus on English preventing the spread of great ideas in other languages? (For instance: what if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL?) It’s a passionate defense of translating and sharing ideas. (Recorded at TEDxDubai, December 2010, in Dubai, UAE. Duration: 10:35)
Watch Patricia Ryan’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 900+ TEDTalks.
28 March 2011
Thomas Dolby’s new EP, ‘Oceanea,’ drops today
TED’s musical director, Thomas Dolby, releases his new EP Oceanea today, a preview to his upcoming full-length A Map of the Floating City — set to be his first studio record in two decades. You can download Oceanea on iTunes or from Thomas’ website (where you can also read about the EP’s production). Metro calls it “an expansive, emotional work,” and the title track features the gorgeous voice of TEDtalks star Eddi Reader. At Drowned in Sound, David Edwards writes:
The composite sound of the tracks is beautiful: he knows and cares for sound. And though it’s all very laid back, you somehow suspect that’s the way Dolby wants it.
UPDATE: The song “Oceanea” will be Amazon’s Free Song of the Day this Sunday, April 10. Hop on and download!
25 March 2011
Singing the primal mystery: Claron McFadden on TED.com
“The human voice: mysterious, spontaneous, primal.” With these words, soprano Claron McFadden invites us to explore the mysteries of breathing and singing, as she performs the challenging “Aria,” by John Cage. (Recorded at TEDxAmsterdam, November 2010, in Amsterdam, NL. Duration: 10:55)
Watch Claron McFadden’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 900+ TEDTalks.
25 March 2011
Fellows Friday with Esther Chae
Interactive Fellows Friday Feature!
Join the conversation by answering Fellows’ weekly questions via Facebook. This week, Esther asks:
How will YouTube, TED, and perhaps a future Facebook video channel change, degrade or enhance live performance?
Click here to respond!
What’s the latest and greatest in the world of Esther Chae?
Well, the big news is, I just got engaged! In August I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with my now fiancé, Paul von Zielbauer. We had reached the summit, and at the break of dawn, Paul called me over, shouting “Pa-jun! Pa-jun!” That means, “Green scallion pancakes!” in Korean. [Laughs] So I ran over all excited, thinking he wanted to take a photo, and he proposed. He didn’t exactly get down on one knee, but I did sit on his left knee, so it was in fact a proposal that involved a knee. [Laughs] We’re now getting ready for our move from here in LA to Santa Monica.
These big changes are wonderful, but difficult, too. Building a new home with someone in a new place has its challenges. I used to live in Brooklyn, New York, and I would come back to LA often to check in with my dad and my mom — my mom is a long-term care patient in a hospital. I always share this part of my life with the TED community: the way I learned about TED was due to my mom’s series of brain trauma initiated by TB meningitis.
One day I was given the link to Jill Bolte Taylor’s talk, “A Stroke of Insight.” Dr. Taylor, a renowned brain scientist, had a massive stroke and she eventually regained full functioning. Her incredible talk inspired me to aggressively follow the studies in regard to the brain and its recovery. So the way I encountered TED was through her TED talk.
I think sometimes people I meet at TED are surprised to hear this, because at TED I’m the actor! From Hollywood! Touring! And doing all those things. But I came to TED through personal tragedy and scientific curiosity, even though my representation at TED is as an artist.
How has the TED Fellowship impacted you?
My solo performance piece, So the Arrow Flies, that I performed part of on the TEDU stage, has really catapulted me into a respected generative artist and thought leader role. I knew the play was really good and had a lot to say, but I wrote that play in a somewhat solitary time of my life. I finished it while I was doing really nothing else but being a caretaker for my family. Mrs. Park, a very loved character in the play, I wrote as an ode to my mom and my parents, and as a larger context, to the immigrant generation.
Find stories on the TED Blog about:
Become a Fan of TED
on Facebook
Follow TED on Twitter:
@TEDNews | @TEDTalks
Subscribe to TED RSS feeds:
TED Blog | More RSS Options
