TED Blog
14 October 2010
The art of the eco-mindshift: Natalie Jeremijenko
Natalie Jeremijenko’s unusual lab puts art to work, and addresses environmental woes by combining engineering know-how with public art and a team of volunteers. These real-life experiments include: Walking tadpoles, texting “fish,” planting fire-hydrant gardens and more. (Recorded at Business Innovation Factory 5, October 2009 in Providence, RI. Duration: 19:51)
Watch Natalie Jeremijenko’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
14 October 2010
Introducing the TED iPad App
Today, TED releases the new TED iPad app, an innovative way to browse and watch TEDTalk video. The app redesigns the TED experience for the touchscreen, offering some cool iPad-only features for exploring, saving and watching.
The iPad app, which is the first official mobile app released by TED, lets viewers browse our almost 800 TEDTalks, running from 3 minutes to 30 minutes long, on a wide range of topics. The app is free and can be downloaded through the App Store in iTunes.
“The iPad presents a thrilling new platform for delivering a TED experience,” said June Cohen, Executive Producer of TED Media. “We rethought the user experience to take advantage of the portability, the touchscreen and the focused media time people have when they travel or settle in for an evening. We think TED fans will particularly love the “Inspire me” button, which creates a custom playlist to fill the exact amount of time they have free.”
The TED iPad app features include:
+ “Inspire Me” button. Touching this icon reveals an elegant watch face and the question: “How much time do you have?” Dial up a time, choose the type of talk you want (Inspiring? Funny? Jaw-dropping?) and you’ll get a playlist of talks that fits your schedule.
+ “Themes” serves up curated playlists of TEDTalks around topics such as “The Power of Cities,” “How We Learn,” “A Greener Future” and “Unconventional Explanations.”
+ “Tags” breaks down TEDTalks topics into some 250 categories, from “insects” to “robots,” from “happiness” to “fish.”
“Saved Talks” allows you to download and queue up several hours of TEDTalks for viewing offline anytime.
+ “Playlist Browser” lets you browse ahead in any playlist while watching a saved talk. It’s accessible by tapping the Info button.
The TED iPad app was developed by Matt Drance, a former Application Frameworks Evangelist at Apple who worked on the first iPhone SDK. He now works with the firm BookhouseSoftware. Read TED’s Q&A with Matt Drance >>
This first generation of the app does not yet support downloadable subtitles, but support for this feature on the iPad and on TED.com is in the works. A version of this app optimized for iPhone/iPod will be released in the first quarter of 2011.
Rolex, the supporting partner for the TED iPad app, figures prominently in the app’s “Inspire Me” feature, which evokes a watch face as it asks viewers “How much time do you have?”
The TED iPad app is available in Apple’s iTunes Store today for free. Download here >>
14 October 2010
TED’s iPad App: Q&A with developer Matt Drance
TED iPad App developer Matt Drance.
The TED iPad project was inspired by a number of requests coming in from TED fans wishing to see TEDTalks on mobile devices. In the past, the development community has graciously volunteered building various applications on both iPhone and Android platforms. When the iPad came out, we saw an opportunity to try our hand with our first foray into mobile platform development. The larger screen real estate of the iPad is a promising feature for viewing TEDTalks. We were also excited about what users may want to do with the content in offline mode, as well as what a TEDTalk playlist could look like. With assistance from OjingoLabs in the preliminary design stages and Matt Drance from BookhouseSoftware on final delivery, we hope we’ve brought to life a product that enables our fans to enjoy TED beyond the browser experience.
Matt took some time off from his busy day of coding to share with us thoughts on the project from behind the scenes.
Tell us a little bit about yourself: how did you come to be in the iPhone development space, and perhaps a glimpse into one shining moment in your career?
I grew up on Long Island, and I’ve been professionally involved in software development since I moved to California in 1999, with most of that time spent at Apple. I was the Application Frameworks Evangelist while the iPhone SDK was initially rolled out, which was obviously a tremendous learning opportunity. I helped companies build the first few generations of iPhone apps day in and day out until I decided to go off on my own and try life on the other side of the fence.
I think the decision to go independent has certainly been a shining moment for me. I loved every moment of my time at Apple, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without it, but I think everyone dreams of doing their own thing, and that journey has been incredibly rewarding. It’s working out wonderfully so far, which certainly helps. This project has definitely been a highlight, and I’m sure it will continue to be for a long time.
When you were working on the TED iPad App, was there an a-ha moment, a breakthrough during the process that you’d like to talk about?
You need big obstacles to have big breakthroughs, and thankfully there were not many of those with this first release. Once I got familiar with the project in its then-current state, everything was pretty smooth. It’s been fun all the way through.
What feature are you most excited about with this app?
I’m really excited about the playlist browser, which you can see in the Inspire Me section or by tapping the info button when you’re watching a saved talk. It gives you some insight on what you’re about to watch before you watch it, and it’s just generally cool to play with. Thaniya Keereepart from TED had a great idea and it was a lot of fun to bring that to life.
What feature do you think will be a favorite among TED fans?
My money’s on Saved Talks. The ability to hold onto some videos for offline viewing when I’m on a plane or train, or otherwise offline, is awesome. You can get quite a few hours queued up. I also think people will like discovering new content through the Inspire Me feature. I know I had a ton of eye-opening experiences while building and testing it. I never thought I’d learn so much staring at my iPad for hours at a time!
What were a few of the tools that you used, and would you like to give some shout-outs?
The standard SDK tools of course: Xcode, Interface Builder, Instruments, Pixie, etc. We used git for source control, which really is a joy. (As much “joy” as source control can be at least.) For graphics work, I used Photoshop and a great, inexpensive Mac tool called Opacity.
I also think Apple’s Preview app is really underrated for rapid cuts and crops, and inspecting the app’s appearance. I take screenshots of the iPhone Simulator with the control key held down, which puts the image on the clipboard. Then I fire up Preview, hit Cmd-N to create a new image containing the screenshot, and take a close look at the elements on screen: their alignment, their distance from the edges, their color values, and more. When I’m done, I just close the window without saving, and I don’t have to chase down or delete any files. You can get a lot done in Preview, and it launches in about a second.
I definitely need to thank my old friend Ken Hill for introducing me to TED and kicking all this off. Mark Bogdanoff and Thaniya at TED have been amazing to work with throughout.
What would be a radical idea for TED to adopt on the mobile platform moving forward?
I’d really like to see something that provided TED content related to current events or headlines. A lot of the topics discussed at TED are timely if not ahead of their time. Jeff Han’s multitouch demo from 2006, a full year before the iPhone was introduced, is a great technology example, and there are plenty in the social and political spheres as well. It’s more an editorial challenge than a technical one, but it would be a great way for people to discover the amazing breadth of talks that TED has made available.
Along the same lines, I think there’s enough content at this point to provide some location awareness. You could point users to talks about issues in the user’s area, or maybe just a great talk by a person who lives / works / grew up nearby. It’s a way of inspiring people to step up and do something great themselves, by showing them something close to home.
13 October 2010
Haiti’s disaster of engineering: Peter Haas on TED.com
“Haiti was not a natural disaster,” says TED Fellow Peter Haas: “It was a disaster of engineering.” As the country rebuilds after January’s deadly quake, are bad old building practices creating another ticking time bomb? Haas’s group, AIDG, is helping Haiti’s builders learn modern building and engineering practices, to assemble a strong country brick by brick. (Recorded at the TED Senior Fellows conference at TEDGlobal 2010, July 2010 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 8:30)
Watch Peter Haas’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
12 October 2010
3 lessons for nonprofits (from Coke): Melinda French Gates on TED.com
At TEDxChange, Melinda French Gates makes a provocative case for nonprofits taking a cue from big corporations such as Coca-Cola, whose plugged-in, global network of marketers and distributors ensures that every remote village wants — and can get — a Coke. Why shouldn’t this work for condoms, sanitation, vaccinations too? (Recorded at TEDxChange, September 2010 in New York, New York. Duration: 16:29)
Watch Melinda French Gates’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
12 October 2010
TEDGlobal in 2011: in Edinburgh!
TED announced today that TEDGlobal 2011, which was originally scheduled to take place in Oxford, is moving to Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The dates won’t change: the conference (theme: “The Stuff of Life“) will take place 11-15 July 2011. We have asked TED’s European director, Bruno Giussani, to explain the reasons for the move and what TEDsters can expect from the new location.
Why this move?
TEDGlobal has successfully taken place three times in Oxford (2005, 2009, 2010). We love the city and its great beauty and rich historical and cultural roots. We are proud of the events that we have been able to organize there, and grateful to all those who have helped us make them happen. However, the (lack of) infrastructure in Oxford was increasingly limiting our ability to develop TEDGlobal in new, imaginative ways. After an extensive analysis, we have found a fantastic venue, the Edinburgh International Conference Center (EICC) and have decided to make it the new home of TEDGlobal.
Why Edinburgh?
When we started considering a move, we looked at several other UK cities. Edinburgh topped our analysis. The town’s cultural life is vibrant and far-reaching (think of the Edinburgh Festival). The city (and its university) was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, and poet Walter Scott were born in Edinburgh. Its tradition includes being the home of philosopher David Hume and of economist Adam Smith (and of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, too), among many others. We firmly believe that Edinburgh will be a very fitting home for TEDGlobal, as much as Oxford has been — just with improved facilities and infrastructure.
Will the move change the mix of those who attend TEDGlobal?
Not significantly. We will keep the size of the conference roughly the same (800 attendees), and we expect a similar high-level audience profile as the one in Oxford. We are comforted in this decision by the overwhelmingly favorable response to a survey that we submitted a couple of weeks ago to all those who have already registered to attend. We may use the increased capacity of the theatre to attract a few additional attendees from countries that aren’t currently very well represented at TED conferences, making the event even more international.
For those who have never been to Edinburgh: how do you get there?
The city is located about 380 miles north of London. It’s a 1h20 flight from London’s airports, and Edinburgh’s airport is well-connected internationally, as is Glasgow’s airport, an hour away. However, I would suggest that attendees who have some flexibility consider traveling by train at least one way, leaving from London’s Kings Cross: it’s a beautiful 5-hour train ride across the summer countryside.
Tell us more about the actual venue.
The Edinburgh International Conference Center, which will host TEDGlobal, is a fantastic piece of event architecture. It features a great, intimate theatre (actually, three of them, with surprising characteristics) and enough space and flexibility for hosting TED University, TEDx workshops, the TED Fellows conference, arts and tech exhibits, simulcast lounges, networking spaces and more. I’m just back from a visit there with TED’s Operations director Katherine McCartney, and we are very excited at the new possibilites offered by this infrastructure.
There was a charm to Oxford: how will we re-create that?
Ediburgh is actually a very nice city. It doesn’t feature the dreaming spires and gargoyles and Harry Potter-esque dining rooms of Oxford, but its old town is one of the best-preserved European medieval cities. It is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, a fortress atop a volcanic rock. The city is rich in museums (including the Royal Scottish Academy and the National Museum), it is home to the Scottish Parliament (whose spectacular new building was designed by star Catalan architect Enric Miralles). We will carefully weave TEDGlobal into the fabric of the city, using its intriguing landmarks for special events.
Remind us of the theme of the conference.
The theme of TEDGlobal 2011 will be “The Stuff of Life.” Over four days, with 50-plus speakers and performers from all over the world, we will look at who we are, what we do, and how we relate to each other and to other living organisms. We will analyze the resources, technologies and skills that make life possible and keep it going — and the many things that make it interesting, enjoyable and worthwhile. We will explore themes that are basic to our humanity, and those that threaten it. The team is at work to make this a stellar experience; We’ve been working on the program for the last few months, and it’s shaping up to be amazing.
Registration is open (and half the tickets are already gone). A TEDGlobal 2011 pass costs US$5,200 until the end of March 2011; after April 1, 2011, a TEDGlobal 2011 pass will cost US$6,000. Register here >>
09 October 2010
Poetry in motion: TEDTalks Playlist
Today’s playlist is about poetry. Where does a poem come from and how does it reveal itself? These speakers perform poems that come from the battlefields, childhood, and even from inside a computer, to create a lyrical soundtrack in some traditional and not-so-traditional ways.
C.K. Williams shows how growing up is not so easy, and opens up about the experiences and oddities of youth.
Emmanuel Jal channels the war-torn terror of his childhood to produce words and music that inspire.
Rives tells a type-faced story about a boy who loves a girl with a ponytail.
We’d love to hear more of your favorite TEDTalks about Poetry. Add your suggestions to the comments below, join the conversation on Facebook, or email contact@ted.com with the subject PLAYLIST: POETRY. (Jog your memory with the TEDTalks spreadsheet.)
Curator of this playlist: Rachel Tobias
09 October 2010
Behind the TEDTalk: New mini documentary starring Sir Ken and Raghava KK
With 300 million views since we started posting video in 2006, TEDTalks have become a powerful cultural force. But it all starts with a single person on a stage …
At TED2010, we sent a video crew to follow two speakers as they prepared to give the talk of their lives. One, the artist Raghava KK, had never spoken at TED before. The other, Sir Ken Robinson, in 2006 gave one of the most emailed TEDTalks of all time; this was his first time speaking at TED since then. Follow both speakers on their journey to the TED stage in this charming 8-minute film:
And watch these TEDTalks:
Ragava KK’s Five lives of an artist
Sir Ken Robinson’s: Bring on the learning revolution!
Sir Ken Robinson’s classic talk from 2006: Do schools kill creativity?
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08 October 2010
Fellows Friday with Kellee Santiago
What was your first experience with video games?
Well, I had played games all my life growing up. In my house, it was me and my younger brother. It was something that we could always share. We made every game cooperative, I think, whether it was or not.
I really liked this one PC game called “Sleuth.” It was like “Clue.” You played as the detective, and the goal was to find out who was the murderer, with what, in what room. Your icon was this little ASCii smiley face that moved around. If you hadn’t solved the mystery in so many moves, you would start hearing footsteps behind you. Eventually, you could get caught by the murderer. And it just scared me to death! [Laughs] I just loved that. It was so simple, but so effective and so evocative.
But I was coming from a theater background when I came to the University of Southern California’s MFA Interactive Media program. In the second semester we had to take a course on the history of games throughout human history. It discussed how the evolution of play occurred. It was really inspiring to me. Coming from my background in theater, I was always really inspired by creating new and original work. That’s why I was drawn to interactive media, because a lot of new theater was incorporating digital media and interactive elements. It was that same inspiration that drew me to games. I felt there was so much untapped potential in video games, as a communicative and expressive medium. It was really attractive as a creator.
Moving from theater to developing video games seems like a big jump. Did you have a background in computers?
I had grown up with computers. My dad was in software engineering. So we always had a computer at the home, as soon as you could. His rule of thumb was, “Do whatever you like, just make sure you back-up and make a copy first.” I think that really did leave me open to experimenting with technology, and inspired me to use technology, as it evolved, to express new messages. Every stage of evolution in technology unlocked more possibilities for creative communication. I find that really exciting.
Tell us about your flagship video game, “Cloud.”
“Cloud” was the student game that launched thatgamecompany. “Cloud” was an experiment in seeing if we could (a) make a game that expressed something different than video games had in the past, and (b) if people were even interested in playing that type of game. This was five years ago, and a lot has happened in games in the last five years, so it’s funny to think about it. But we really didn’t know at the time. We thought, “Maybe people only want to play ‘Grand Theft Auto’ style games. What do we know?”
So we started with the idea of trying to capture the feeling of what it was like to be a kid, staring at the clouds and daydreaming. We thought this was an emotion that anyone could relate to. In the game, you play as a boy who’s sick and trapped in a hospital. He daydreams that he can fly through the clouds. And you move the boy through the clouds, collecting them, drawing in the sky with them, and you can create thunderstorms. It’s a very simple game. It’s at thatcloudgame.com.
It was just put up online because it needed to be available for download for festivals. We didn’t promote it or anything. Within four months we had over 400,000 downloads, which was more than every single person in every single theater I had ever worked in. That sort of did it for me. I saw the Internet as the new theater. It’s just a great way to access people directly around the world.
“Cloud” had unprecedented success, especially for a student game. And that was extremely validating. We really saw that people were excited by playing something different. And that’s what inspired us to start a studio to keep doing that.
You mentioned cooperating with your brother as you played video games. Do you design cooperative games now?
The games we make so far aren’t necessarily cooperative, in that you don’t play with another person. But one of the fundamental goals of our studio is to make games that anyone can relate to, regardless of their age, gender, or race. So they’re meant to be experiences that could be shared, across boundaries that have been perceived in the past.
We often get emails from parents who were really touched by being able to share a video game experience with their children, in a meaningful way. They both were getting something very meaningful out of the experience together.
What do you think of violent, mainstream video games?
I love video games, and I’ll play “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” just as much as the next gamer. But I think it’s important to know that not all video games are like that. It’s sort of like saying all films are action movies. Of course that’s not true. At the same time, I don’t think action movies shouldn’t be made. I think those games have their place. And I think those developers should be free to develop the type of game that they want to make.
You have said, “Video games are going to outgrow every medium in the upcoming century … Marketing, architecture, city planning — every industry will start to use game design as a way of engaging people in their experience.” Can you explain what you mean by this?
A fundamental aspect of game design is creating “flow.” A state of flow is achieving the right balance between challenge and experience. If we’re presenting the player with something that’s too difficult for them while they’re playing it, they’re going to be really frustrated. But on the flip side, if it’s too easy, and their skill level is very high, it’s going to be boring. The sweet spot is called the state of flow.
The term comes from the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and his observations of people in the 1970s. He studied how people achieve happiness and how we define it. He came up with the word “flow” because most people describe that feeling as being carried along in the water. So it not only is a great tenet of game design, but it really applies to our whole life, and life design.
And what is fantastic, is that in the last few decades in game development, we’ve really refined and honed in on what that means, and what it takes to achieve flow. Because that’s all we do. That’s the job of game design. And I think we’re seeing that knowledge base now being applied in different areas, including education.
A very basic example of how it’s being applied in education is the GRE test. In that test, you are given a question, and if you get it right, then the next question is going to be harder, and you’re scored differently on it. If you get the question wrong, your next question is going to be easier. It puts you through that flow to find out the general level of your knowledge base. And that’s just one test. That same process could be applied to an entire semester, or a year’s worth of programs, where teachers can be empowered to evaluate their students on whether the challenges they’re being given is appropriate to the level of skills that they have. That basic tenet can really help someone become more engaged. Because when you find your state of flow, it’s like everything is … better. You’re more excited, you’re more engaged, you’re more able to learn new information.
There are many aspiring social entrepreneurs out there who are trying to take their passion and ideas to the next level. What is one piece of advice you would give to them based on your own experiences and successes?
Learn more about how to become a great social entrepreneur from all of the TED Fellows on the Case Foundation blog.
I think defining your personal goals, for whatever space you’re working in, is an extremely important starting point. This will help you be able to answer some of the much more difficult and complex questions you’ll have to answer as an entrepreneur. Questions like how you want to structure your company, how you want it to grow, or how you want to grow within your field. All of those things are really determined by what your initial goal or impetus is. So it’s very important to define it.
With thatgamecompany, our goal was to make commercially successful games that pushed boundaries of games as a communicative medium. So we needed to find a partner — either an investor or publisher — that would allow us to make those games. It definitely helped us find Sony Santa Monica as our first publishing partner, because they really supported that same creative goal that we had. We knew that we wanted to be commercially successful. Defining that also helped lead us to Sony as a publishing partner — as opposed to trying to raise investments on our own, or going with a different partner. We knew the exposure we were going to get from partnering with Sony was going to be really beneficial in establishing our brand in that space.
And referring back to those initial goals just consistently helps us decide what kind of games we’re going to make.
Can you tell us about “Journey,” the next game your company plans to release?
“Journey” was inspired by a conversation my business partner and I had with a space shuttle pilot. Being the pilot, he got to take people to the moon, though unfortunately never went on the moon himself. But he got to witness the experiences of these astronauts. Many of them were agnostic or atheists before the journey. And then every single one of them, he said, at some point, whether it was immediately on the trip itself, or months after they returned back home, had a deep spiritual experience, and became very religious.
My business partner, who’s our creative director, felt like this was because of the sense of supreme awe and wonder you probably have when you’re standing on the moon, looking back at Earth. And that even a smaller sense of awe and wonder is something that’s kind of lacking in our day-to-day lives now. We have so much power and capability as humans to go at high speeds, to talk to anyone anywhere at anytime, to work in buildings that are above cloud lines … maybe it’s even a very fundamental part of our human experience that we’re missing.
Especially in video games you’re very powerful. You’re usually immediately given a weapon of destruction. “Journey” is an experience that’s built to give the player a sense of being small, and feeling awe towards the environment around them. We wanted to see what would happen when we took all that power away, and also allowed players to find each other online while they were playing this game.
We compare it to hiking. You’re moving through this space and exploring and discovering, and you can encounter someone else. There’s no name on them, you can’t talk to them. You just know that they are another person that’s playing. And you can choose to journey together, or not. And if you don’t, then you go on your own way, and you may run into someone else.
You’ve written about hiking experiences before. Is hiking one of your passions?
Yeah, I really got into hiking when I moved to California. In the Los Angeles area, there are just so many different textures within a very small area. In an hour I can go from the ocean to snow. I just really love being able to experience all that.
What are your other hobbies?
I really am passionate about games. I love playing board games. I have a bunch of friends that get together and play modern board games.
At thatgamecompany, we make games that are more like interactive experiences. We really leverage audio and graphics to create a more immersive experience. But some types of games focus more on the elegance of the mechanics, which is the systems of what you do. In chess, for example, the way all the pieces move are the mechanics of the game. And there continue to be board games being made today with mechanics that are just so beautiful. You think you’ve seen every possible way you could use different systems, or ways of people interacting, and then these designers create something new out of these systems. It’s exciting.
I’m also involved with a small investment group called Indie Fund. We’re attempting to fund small, independent projects to empower them to become and stay independent game studios. The idea is to support them so they don’t have to give up a lot of royalties or a percentage of their company, in exchange for a small amount of money to create digitally distributed games.
Did the TED Fellowship help you in your work?
Yes, absolutely. The exposure to not just the TED Community, but to the other TED Fellows, has been extremely inspiring. It’s been great to have a network of individuals who, although we’re all in different fields, are kind of facing the same challenges: in trying to innovate, in trying to bring new ideas into popular thought. It’s been really useful to be connected to these people, and ask for advice, and at the same time continue to be inspired by their work, which motivates me to do my own.
07 October 2010
The good news of the decade?: Hans Rosling on TED.com
Hans Rosling reframes 10 years of UN data with his spectacular visuals, lighting up an astonishing — mostly unreported — piece of front-page-worthy good news. Along the way, he debunks one flawed approach to stats that blots out such vital stories. (Recorded at TEDxChange, September 2010 in New York, New York. Duration: 25:35)
Watch Hans Rosling’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
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