Finding answers to complex questions on the Internet is often a challenge, as a simple search can sometimes lead you down a rabbit hole of impersonal data. In A Haystack Full of Needles: Cutting Through the Clutter of the Online World to Find a Place, Partner or President, Jim Hornthal explores groundbreaking new approaches to discovering the […]
Not all TEDx presenters speak in the traditional sense of the word. Many sing, dance, contort and do dazzling acrobatics. Since the TEDx program’s launch in 2009, we have seen some spectacular physical performances curated by local organizers. As we celebrate TEDx’s 5,000th event and 20,000th talk — we felt it was only right to […]
X certainly marks the spot. The TEDx program was launched in 2009 to bring the mission of spreading ideas to the local level, with independent organizers curating their own events for their own communities. This week, the program is celebrating many milestones. Not only did yesterday mark the 5,000th TEDx event — this week also […]
According to the United Nations, by the year of 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. So what will the city of the future look like? These are some of the questions that dominate our conception of “The City 2.0”: How will we transport ourselves? Where will we grow our […]
Yesterday, Afghanistan got its very first TED experience with TEDxKabul, which brought together 250 people for a day of ideas, innovations and hope in the war-torn city. Themed “The Art of the Unexpected,” the lineup of speakers was 75% Afghan, with about half the talks in English and half in Dari — and simultaneous translations for […]
There are some questions an Internet search just isn’t so good at answering: What do I want for dinner tonight? How can I make a career change? Who is my ideal romantic partner? Asking a search engine any of these things will most likely result in a deluge of useless data rather than an excited […]
Just like school … not! TEDYouth is like a TED Conference for high school students, starring a lineup of speakers working at the top of their fields of culture, science, technology and art. You’ll hear about scientific discoveries and crazy art projects that will surprise you, make you laugh and blow your mind a little. […]
On the TEDGlobal 2012 stage this summer, guest curator Sarah Caddick hosted the session “Misbehaving Beautifully,” a deep dive into a near-taboo subject: mental health and mental illness. Today, Oct. 10, happens to be World Mental Health Day, and TED.com is premiering the final talk Sarah curated for the stage, Ruby Wax’s “What’s so funny […]
[ted id=1591 width=560 height=315] “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, is credited with saying this first — and in a fast-paced talk from TEDGlobal 2012 University, marketer Tim Leberecht takes Bezos’ observation as a jumping-off point. “Hyperconnectivity allows companies to […]
Are we becoming blank-eyed cyberzombies, thanks to the internet and all the tech tools we obsess about every day? Instead of asking whether the Web is making us stupid, Howard Rheingold turns that lens around and asks how digital media could actually improve our intelligence. In his new TED Book, Mind Amplifier: Can Our Digital Tools Make […]
In early September, data artist and TED Fellow Salvatore Iaconesi announced to the world that he had brain cancer. And he refused to let his medical records stay sealed. “They were in a closed, proprietary format and, thus, I could not open them using my computer, or send them in this format to all the […]
Happy 30th birthday, compact disc. The CD was introduced on October 1, 1982 — but in early 1984 it was still slowly rolling out to consumer markets. In this surprising demo onstage at the very first TED, in February 1984, Mickey Schulhof of the Sony Corporation describes and then demonstrates the use of “compact disc […]
Every day, 450,000 people log on to TED.com. But where are they located? And what are they watching—our newest offerings or our classic talks? In the spirit of visual data artists like Hans Rosling and David McCandless, TED web engineer Alex Dean created a map of the United States which shows when and where TEDTalks […]
It’s a complaint we’ve all heard about the internet: all the cat videos and incessant celebrity gossip sites are making us, as a culture, stupider. However, digital community expert Howard Rheingold, doesn’t think that’s the case. In fact, he believes that both designing and using digital media can actually improve our intelligence. As Rheingold sees […]
An overwhelming majority of our experience is guided by forces that are invisible to the naked eye. While we can easily see other people, we cannot see their thoughts, nor their genetic structure. And while we can easily rest our eyes on matter, we cannot see gravity, atoms, energy, gases, electricity, or radio waves. Ditto […]
Thomas Dolby, TED’s longtime musical director, has retired from his post. Dolby recently returned to recording after a break of nearly two decades, and has been enjoying a personal musical renaissance with the release of his new album, A Map of the Floating City, and a worldwide concert tour. Over the past 12 years, Dolby […]