TED conference makes videos available free online

TED, known for its annual invitation-only summit of the "world's brightest minds," today made high-resolution videos of more than 100 full-length TED talks available free on its new website.

TED.com's impressive new design includes an innovative custom video player. Shown here (click to play): Ray Kurzweil's TED 2006 talk, "How technology's accelerating power will transform us")

This is an important moment in TED's history," said Chris Anderson, Curator of TED. "With the launch of our new website we're really saying to the world: We want to share with you our best content for free, and we want you to connect with like-minded people inspired by these talks. In other words, we see the site as a way of dramatically expanding our community from the 1000 people who attend the conference to millions of knowledge seekers around the globe."

KurzweilAI.net, April 16, 2007

Nanotechnology Takes Off

What's 100,000 times thinner than a strand of hair? A nanometer. Discover the nanotech boom in Berkeley, where researchers are working to unlock the potential of nanoscience to battle global warming and disease.

KQED Quest

Acceleration Studies Foundation slide shows

Here are some excellent slide shows that will engage your mind and imagination. They are selected PowerPoint presentations by Accelerating Studies Foundation president John Smart. More may be found at his personal site.

If you don't have Microsoft's Powerpoint software I suggest you download the free Open Office Suite. It can display and save documents in Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, etc., as well as it's own, often superior, formats.

Here are some titles to some of the many slide shows found here:

• Adapting to the Future (249 slides, 19MB) Slides component of a daylong workshop with NASIC staff on guiding accelerating change for strategic advantage. May 2006
  
• Stanford Singularity Summit: Searching for the Big Picture (90 slides, 8MB) A three part framework for understanding and guiding accelerating change. Apr 2006
  
• POST Command College: Accelerating Change, Foresight and Evo Devo (153 slides, 9MB) Assumptions, models, studies, skillsets, domains, and systems relevant to accelerating change. Jan 2006
  
• Medicine Meets Virtual Reality 14: Accelerating Change Toolkit (147 slides, 6MB) Assumptions, processes, studies, skillsets, domains, trends, and scenarios in accelerating change. For physician-innovators. Nov 2005
  
• Tamkang University: How to be a Strategic Futurist (169 slides, 6MB) An integral approach to predicting, managing, and creating our accelerating future. For futurists.

ASF: Slide Presentations

Blogged with Flock

Domo the Magnificent

Go to Bed Bath and Beyond and similar stores today and you may buy a little robot that will vacuum your house. Robotic vacuum cleaners, mops and pool cleaners are already available. That is not all that robots can do today. The April 11, 2007 edition of  from San Hose, California, touts Domo.

Watch the humanoid robot named Domo. Domo can make a stiff drink. He can put away groceries, shake hands, and, if properly prompted, give a person a hug. Not that remarkable, except for one thing: Domo is a real, live humanoid robot. And he may fascinate you or creep you out. But there is no doubt: Domo is the future. According to the Mercury News, Domo won't be going on sale at Amazon.com anytime soon. His inventor, Aaron Edsinger, an MIT postdoctoral associate, thinks it could take years before it makes economic sense to mass produce full-fledged humanoid robots.

Blogged with Flock

TEDTalks / Inspiring videos

TEDTalks is an excellent online video resource if you want to hear short (20 minute or so) inspiration talks by cutting edge leaders in the fields of design, education, and technology. Listen to 3 of them in a row and see how you learn something new and get inspired.

Rick Warren is the one religious leader I have found among the many videos. Pastor Rick Warren is author of The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold 30 million copies worldwide. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 21:46) Watch Online

TEDTalks (audio, video)

Blogged with Flock

Jott.com - Mobile Note Taking and Hands-Free Messaging

Jott.com is a free service that turns your cell phone into an email reminder system. Register at the Jott.com website, then put the Jott toll-free phone number as a fast dial number on your cell phone. Now when you have an idea or remember something you need to do ... but you are away from your computer or can't get to it right now ... Jott an email to yourself via the jott toll-free number. This is a cool and useful application worth consideration.

Here are some ways people use Jott:

• Remind themselves of important things
• Delegate tasks to people
• Communicate with teams in one step
• Record Expenses
• Record Hours billed, and for what

Jott.com - Mobile Note Taking and Hands-Free Messaging

Blogged with Flock

Google Launches Free 411 Service

Here is a great help when you are on the road, at work or home, and need to call a business but don't know their phone number. It's a free 411 service from Google that is described below. Make it a voice activated automatic dial-in on your cell phone -- 1-800-GOOG-411 --and you are good to go.

I learned about it from this post on techcrunch.com:

Google threw a new product called Goog-411 into Google Labs today - a free telephone based information service that could replace toll 411 calls. About 2.6 billion 411 calls are made in the U.S. each year, and it is a $7 billion/year market.Goog-411 can be accessed by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411. The product is completely automated and there is no way to talk to a human for additional or clarifying information. You tell it your city and state, and then ask for a specific business or business category. In my tests the product was excellent. Although the voice recognition was only working at about 70% efficiency, I just said “back” and retried when it didn’t understand what I said. Results are spoken back or text messaged back to you, and you are automatically put through to the phone number requested.GOOG-411 is using Google’s normal local business information available on Google Maps and elsewhere. Businesses that want to add or correct data can do so here.

Google Launches Free 411 Service

Vanquish Anger

Most of our suffering is born from our lack of understanding and insight that there is no separate self. The other person is you and you are the other person. If you get in touch with that truth, anger will vanish.

Thich Nhat Hanh,
Anger: Wisdom For Cooling The Flames, p. 115