What was the greatest invention of the industrial revolution? Hans Rosling makes the case for the washing machine. With newly designed graphics from Gapminder, Rosling shows us the magic that pops up when economic growth and electricity turn a boring wash day into an intellectual day of reading. Read Hans Rosling’s lively chat about this […]
“If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she’s gonna call me Point B … ” began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis — from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York’s Bowery Poetry Club to […]
The Gates Foundation and TEDx are presenting another extraordinary TEDxChange event — this time in New Delhi, India. In partnership with TEDxDelhi, TEDxChange @ TEDxDelhi is about some of the most interesting and creative development work happening in India right now. India is a hub of creative problem-solving for many of the issues that can […]
Lighting architect Rogier van der Heide offers a beautiful new way to look at the world — by paying attention to light (and to darkness). Examples from classic buildings illustrate a deeply thought-out vision of the play of light around us. (Recorded at TEDxAmsterdam, October 2010, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Duration: 16:52) [ted id=1098] Watch […]
Volunteer firefighter Mark Bezos tells a story of an act of heroism that didn’t go quite as expected — but that taught him a big lesson: Don’t wait to be a hero. (Recorded at TED2011, March 2011, in Long Beach, California. Duration: 4:08) [ted id=1096] Watch Mark Bezos’ talk on TED.com where you can download […]
We think of space as a silent place. But physicist Janna Levin says the universe has a soundtrack — a sonic composition that records some of the most dramatic events in outer space. (Black holes, for instance, bang on spacetime like a drum.) An accessible and mind-expanding soundwalk through the universe. (Recorded at TED2011, March […]
Tapping into his latest book, NYTimes columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences — insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can’t hope to understand humans as separate individuals making choices based […]
Ogilvy Notes brings us Liisa Sorsa‘s graphic realization (click to see full size) of June Cohen’s talk this morning at SXSW: “Radical Openness: Growing TED by Giving It Away.” During this talk, June announced TED’s intention to open our API to coders to build new tools. A few more tweets from this talk: From @SuziDafnis […]
At SXSW this morning, June Cohen, TED’s Executive Producer of Media, announced TED’s intention to open an application programming interface (API) for its posted TEDTalks and associated data — in the hopes that developers will use the API to build new tools for viewing and sharing. Initially, the API will focus on TED’s content library, […]
Are you a Hulu fan? We’re adding the TEDTalks archive to Hulu’s great video library, starting with 55 TEDTalks — including the first talks released from TED2011 last week! Head to hulu.com/tedtalks to browse, review and discuss — and stand by as we build the collection. Watch TEDTalks on Hulu >>
From TEDxRainier: With streams and rivers drying up because of over-usage, Rob Harmon has implemented an ingenious market mechanism to bring back the water. Farmers and beer companies find their fates intertwined in the intriguing century-old tale of Prickly Pear Creek. (Recorded at TEDxRainier, November 2010, in Seattle, WA. Duration: 08:47) [ted id=1093] Watch Rob […]
MIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language — so he wired up his house with videocameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son’s life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch “gaaaa” slowly turn into “water.” Astonishing, data-rich research with deep implications for how we […]
Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises — and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script — give students video lectures to watch […]
TED curator Chris Anderson asks: First, if you haven’t seen it yet, watch the amazing TED Prize speech given by French street artist JR. He’s initiating a spectacular global art project that anyone can participate in. But how? This is up to the creative imagination of people around the world. Join this conversation with Chris […]
In the middle of TED, I’m almost inseparable from my big Nikons. In the spirit of continuing my little lo-fi TED photography project, however, I kept snapped off a few frames every time I pulled out my iPhone to stay in touch with the rest of the media team during the event. Here’s a batch […]
When we asked astronaut Cady Coleman to speak to TED2011 from the International Space Station, she asked us: “Will I be able to see a little bit of TED?” We thought: awesome! Our video engineer George Riley talked us through the options in an email thrillingly titled “Watching TED2011 in space?” He writes: We coordinated […]