15 July 2009

Go behind the scenes of a TEDTalk

It's our third anniversary of posting TEDTalks free to the world! We started in June 2006 with our first six talks -- including Sir Ken Robinson, Al Gore, Majora Carter ... Three years and 486 talks later, we hope you'll enjoy this mini-documentary, "Behind the TEDTalk." It stars TED Curator Chris Anderson and the TED team, and a roster of speakers you love: Elizabeth Gilbert, Hans Rosling, Seth Godin and more, in a 6-minute look behind the scenes:

Download the "Behind the TEDTalk" documentary:

+ Zipped MP4
+ Unzipped MP4
+ Unzipped high-def (480p)

Our thanks to the m ss ng p eces team, and to the speakers, thinkers and doers whose interviews tell this story.

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08 March 2009

4 great talks for International Women's Day

To celebrate March 8, International Women's Day, we suggest these four TEDTalks gems from some amazing speakers -- artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women.

Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism -- and the power of passionate thinkers and doers:

The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, talks about one key opportunity to grow African economies -- by investing in women and the businesses they start:

(For more, watch Jacqueline Novogratz >>)

Scientist Nalini Nadkarni explores the world of the forest canopy -- and shares her findings with the world below, through dance, art and bold partnerships. She's working to inspire the next generation of women scientists:

The wonderful Nellie McKay sings "Mother of Pearl" (with the immortal first line "Feminists don't have a sense of humor") and "If I Had You" from her sparkling set at TED2008:

Find these four and many more astonishing women (including the legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, oceanographers Sylvia Earle and Tierney Thys, games theorist Brenda Laurel, Zipcar inventor Robin Chase ... ) on TED.com >>

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14 October 2008

The brain and the banjo

Bluegrass legend Eddie Adcock had brain surgery last month to correct an essential tremor -- an uncontrollable shaking that left him unable to play the banjo. During the surgery, he stayed awake to give feedback while surgeons prodded his brain, looking for the exact spot to stimulate to control the tremor. His method of feedback during surgery? He played the banjo. Astonishing footage from the BBC is here, or watch a news report from Good Morning America below:

Looking for more amazing tales from the brain? Watch Vilayanur Ramachadran's TEDTalk on the journey to the center of your mind; or Christopher deCharms' real-time fMRI of the brain in motion; or Jill Bolte Taylor's powerful stroke of insight.

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26 June 2008

Counting down the Top 10 TEDTalks

With 50 million views since we debuted online two years ago, TED talks have become a powerful cultural force.

To celebrate this milestone, we're releasing a never-before-seen list: the Top 10 TED talks of all time, as of June 2008.

With speakers like neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor and global health expert Hans Rosling, the list proves one of the compelling ideas behind TEDTalks: that an unknown speaker with a powerful idea can reach -- and move -- a global audience. Links to all 10 talks are found below -- or browse through our Top 10 TED Talks Theme. Even if you've seen all the talks, the highlights video is darn fun.

Download the Top 10 TED Talks highlights video:
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Download the Top 10 TED Talks highlights video:
Video to iTunes (MP4)
Video to desktop (Zipped MP4)
Hi-def video (480p)

Top 10 TED Talks of all time
1. Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight
2. Jeff Han: Touchscreen demo foreshadows the iPhone
3. David Gallo: Underwater astonishments
4. Blaise Aguera y Arcas: Jaw-dropping Photosynth demo
5. Arthur Benjamin: Lightning calculation and other "Mathemagic"
6. Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
7. Hans Rosling: The best stats you've ever seen
8. Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better
9. Al Gore: 15 ways to avert a climate crisis
10. Johnny Lee: Creating tech marvels out of a $40 Wii Remote

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01 May 2008

Dick Clark on Jill Bolte Taylor

Among the many TEDTalks stars on this year's Time 100 list, Jill Bolte Taylor gets perhaps the coolest biographer: Dick Clark. He writes:

Through her writings and lectures, she has done perhaps more than anyone else to explain, both to the healthy and the stricken, what a stroke is.

Read the whole list >>

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14 March 2008

Visualizing TED2008 with BigViz

At TED2008 in Monterey, two sketch artists captured the Big Questions live as they happened -- watching each speaker, sketching their impressions, and feeding everything into a groundbreaking new system for sharing and connecting ideas. Autodesk's BigViz system is an interactive way to record and synthesize big ideas in a collaborative environment -- what better place to show it off than at TED?

Two visual cartographers, David Sibbet and Kevin Richards, made more than 700 sketches in the Steelcase Simulcast room using Wacom tablets and Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro, highlighting memorable quotes ... great questions ... unexpected connections. Their sketches of TED2008 have been turned into a 200-page book, available for download as a PDF. Visit the Autodesk site to learn more about the tag-team process of sketch-blogging and the groovy touchscreen from Jeff Han's Perceptive Pixel.

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12 March 2008

Stroke of insight: Jill Bolte Taylor on TED.com

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness -- of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:44.)

Watch Jill Bolte Taylor's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances.

Read more about Jill Bolte Taylor on TED.com.

NEW: Read the transcript >>

TRANSLATIONS:
Read the talk in German here (in the "Hintergrund") >>
Read the talk in Portuguese here >>

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