June 2013 was a shocking month for Dan Pallotta, in a good way. “I thought I was living in an alternate universe or something,” he says. “It was like hell freezing over.” Two things happened in June that Pallotta never expected to see. First, this gay father of triplets saw the United States Supreme Court […]
TED2014 begins in five short days, and we have added even more new speakers to look forward to. Below, a bit about each one: Cellist and beatboxer Kevin Olusola from Pentatonix (swoon!) will open Session 1: The Next Chapter. And as a bonus in Session 1, we’ll be honoring TED’s co-founder, Richard Saul Wurman. In […]
With just one week left to go until TED2014, our speakers are putting the final touches on their talks. But that’s hardly all they’ve been up to. This week, check out which speaker has a bold prediction about artificial intelligence, which one put out a call for a more creative condom design, which one wrote […]
TED2014 will bring together more than 70 speakers with fresh thinking on topics as diverse as leadership, genetics and the magic of fireflies. But this is our 30th anniversary conference, and it’s also time to look back at some of the incredible ideas surfaced in the past. At TED2014, we will hold five All-Stars sessions that bring 50+ […]
Last week on TED.com, origami-folding techniques transformed a 50-cent piece of paper into a fully functioning microscope, human DNA came tumbling out of a vending machine, and we got a look at how an industry is growing to help governments conduct surveillance on citizens. These fascinating talks have something neat in common: The speakers are […]
What would happen if artists Art Wolfe and Liu Bolin stepped into the same room? It’s possible that the space around them would melt into paint. While Wolfe is best known for his documentary photography, charting locations from Madagascar to New Zealand, for his latest series — called The Human Canvas Project — Wolfe painted […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpOjnXcy8NE&w=586&h=330] During the Oscars, I got teary at three things: Lupita Nyong’o’s acceptance speech, the “In memoriam” montage and Google’s filmmaking-themed ad that ran toward the end of the night. This ad, titled “We’re all Storytellers,” showed young filmmakers experimenting with their craft and , on a night all about the power of film, it […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vds6z9HzgaY&w=586&h=330] This week, so much TED-related news hit the transom. Below, some of the highlights. Artist Olafur Eliasson (watch his TED Talk) muses on his latest work — “Little Sun,” a miniature solar-powered lamp that puts five hours of sunlight in your pocket — in this awesome video from our friends at The Creators Project. […]
“It’s easy to think that corruption happens somewhere over there, carried out by a bunch of greedy despots,” says anti-corruption activist Charmian Gooch in her blistering talk from TEDGlobal 2013. “The reality is that the engine of corruption exists far beyond the shores of countries like Equatorial Guinea or Nigeria or Turkmenistan. This engine is driven […]
After an 18 month labor of love, we formally launched the new version of our website today. Here are six things I’m proud of: 1. The team used every opportunity to engage you, our audience, in the new site’s conception, testing and rollout. So your highest priorities were our highest priorities. Beta versions of the site have been […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FxhTn9cEhI&w=586&h=330] “If only the earth could hold up a mirror to itself …” Say no more, thought the impatient billionaire in the audience at the TED conference, who found the speaker’s voice as whiny and irritating as his ideas were inspiring and consciousness-shifting. He already knew the part of the speech that was going to […]
Today on TED.com, you’ll notice some changes. That’s because we have launched our first major redesign since the site debuted in 2007, back when online video was just a twinkle in the Internet’s eye. You might notice that this redesign responds to the things that you, the TED community, have told us on repeat. First: […]
Mary Lou Jepsen’s talk about the future of brain-reading devices was widely discussed at TED2013 and, after the conference, we received a few very specific technical and scientific questions from attendees who watched it live. Jepsen’s is the kind of talk that tests the limit of TED’s short-talk format — it’s full of technical information […]
TED2014, “The Next Chapter,” is less than a month away, and four new speakers have been added to the program. Here, get to know just a little bit about them. First, Peggy Liu will join session 3, “Reshape,” to talk about how environmentalism is a must in China. But do not expect to hear words […]
“What corporate management team doesn’t say that they’re open to innovation?” says Michael Metcalfe, the senior managing director of State Street, the financial institution based in Boston. In November, Metcalfe saw his company do something concrete about building a culture of openness among employees and sharing ideas across the organization. He found himself onstage in […]
Hacking has always been an important component of healthy democracies. Despite the bad connotation the word often has these days — indicating rogue criminals breaking into computer systems, stealing identities, spying or worse — hacking is really just any amateur innovation on an existing system. And that “system” doesn’t have to be a technical one. […]