If we had to choose a theme for this week’s comments, it would be Interaction Now. Usually, the highlights are reserved for your one-off quips, but from the themes of the talks, to speakers commenting on their own TEDTalks, to lightning-fast replies on threads, it was all about talking it out. On Margaret Wertheim’s TEDTalk: […]
We’re on to our second week of picking our favorite comments from the pile, and it already seems to be getting harder. Your voices are many, and your quips are witty. Here are the long deliberated choices: On Shai Agassi’s TEDTalk: A bold plan for mass adoption of electric cars: Brilliant. Persuasive. Visionary. I’m not […]
A week ago today, the John R. Wooden Award was given to the best college basketball players of the year. Back in 2001, Coach Wooden (the namesake of the award and former UCLA basketball coach) gave a touching TEDTalk which proved why he is so revered and respected in the basketball and academic communities. The […]
Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin works on the AlloSphere, one of the largest scientific and artistic instruments in the world. Based at UC Santa Barbara, the AlloSphere maps complex data in time and space. Dr. Kuchera-Morin, a composer, demoed the AlloSphere at TED2009 in February, showing five films of scientific data mapped visually and sonically into compelling […]
Shai Agassi has a record of accomplishing huge tasks in record time — from completing his college degree by 18 to founding several successful software companies before 30. In recent years, he has shifted his intense focus to the global problem of climate change. He discusses his blow-by-blow plan to propagate the electric car in […]
We love your comments here at TED, and often what our community has to say is as interesting as the talk or post itself. The clever quips, the personal revelations and the hot debates don’t go unnoticed — we read every one. A few of our favorite comments this week: On our home page makeover: […]
Via speigl.org via verylowsodium: Instructions: 1. Stare at the image for 10 seconds 2. Look at something — your hand, a book, your friend 3. Enjoy! For more on illusions — and the delight of our buggy minds — see Al Seckel’s 2004 TEDTalk >>
A Forbes article points us to an interesting bit of news for star game designer (and TED speaker) Will Wright: [Will Wright] is leaving EA to go hang out with robots. Wright will run a former side project called Stupid Fun Club. EA said it is making an equity investment in the venture and Wright, […]
Economist George Ayittey gave a blistering talk at TEDGlobal 2007, laying out his case that not only has Western aid not helped in most African countries — it’s actually hurting. We asked Ayittey for his thoughts on the new book Dead Aid, which has lately been burning up the talk shows and opinion columns with […]
Emily Levine’s TEDTalk this morning references Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde‘s 1998 book about the trickster figure — who crosses continents and centuries to appear in almost all recorded mythologies. The book is also, it turns out, a cult favorite at the TED offices. TED’s media production specialist, Angela Cheng, a writer and filmmaker, […]
In 2002, bearing her microscope on a microbe that lives in the gut of fish, Bonnie Bassler isolated an elusive molecule called AI-2, which showed not only that almost all bacteria can communicate — but that they do so all the time. (Watch her 2009 TEDTalk!) The TED Blog interviewed Bassler over the phone to […]
Via Mashable and ReadWriteWeb: Anand Agarwala’s Bumptop, a viral demo from TED2007, has gone live (for Windows). From Mashable’s report: Two years ago, a bright engineer, Anand Agarawala, gave a presentation at the TED conference about a new technology he and a team were working on that showed how they believed the desktop should work. […]
Via an article in the Wall Street Journal: The machine, which GM says it aims to develop by 2012, would run on batteries and use wireless technology to avoid traffic backups and navigate cities. Watch Dean Kamen of Segway talk about inventing and giving >> Watch Larry Burns of GM talk about reinventing the car […]
On Friday, March 27, just as a surge of new deployments was being announced for Afghanistan, the TED Blog talked with military analyst P.W. Singer. Posted today, his TEDTalk discusses the use of robots in modern combat zones. In this interview, he applies his intensive knowledge of robotics and war to the situations the U.S. […]
In her inspiring 2009 TEDTalk, Aimee Mullins redefines what the body can be. Her prosthetic legs are a combination of form, function and aesthetic. She encourages designers to change the idea of “disability” and the definition of beauty by bringing their talents to both the science and the art of designing prosthetics. In the comments […]
TED Prize winner Jill Tarter tips us to this event going on right now: Around the World in 80 Telescopes, a live 24-hour telescopecast from astronomical observatories around the world. It’s part of the “100 Hours of Astronomy” celebration happening April 2-5. From the site: “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” is a unique live […]