9 great talks to watch for Video Games Day

playlist

Gamers, unite! Today, July 8, is officially known as Video Games Day. Whether you lose hours to your Xbox or stay glued to your smart phone to play, today is dedicated to all those games that rile you up and drive you crazy. These days, the most riveting video games use motion sensors, animation and artificial intelligence —  technologies that the creators of Pong probably couldn’t have imagined. The nine TED Talks below, organized by year, show not only the science behind, but also the evolution of, your favorite games. Grab some snacks, clear your schedule and embark on this epic video game adventure.

And a bonus talk from the year 2010: Gabe Zichermann’s “How gaming makes kids smarter.” Think all gamers are lazy and unmotivated? Gabe Zichermann explains why video games are actually making kids productive, problem-solvers in his TEDxKids@Brussels talk.

PS: TED has lots more talks on video games and gaming — this search will uncover them.

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Favorites of 2012: Why the eff didn’t you watch these TED Talks?

2012 was the year of radical openness at TED. In that spirit, while our office is closed for winter break, TED’s editorial staffers have selected their favorite talks of the year that, for a variety of reasons, didn’t get as many views as we would have hoped … giving you a peek into both our process and our personalities. We hope you enjoy.

It’s the end of 2012, and that means end-of-the-year lists. And while you’re scrambling to look at photos of 43 people you won’t believe actually exist, to relive the year in animated gifs, or to download the year’s best 100 tracks, you’re not watching TED Talks. Frankly, I’m disappointed. There’s a whole host of nerdy, serious, socially minded, mildly chiding, frankly bizarre talks you might have missed this year. BUMMER FOR YOU. Here are 11 of my favorite TED Talks from 2012 that I’m surprised — nay, appalled – you haven’t seen yet.

Let’s start with William Noel’s talk, “Revealing the lost codex of Archimedes.” Noel is the Director of the Special Collections Center at the University of Pennsylvania and, in this talk, he tells the story of the Archimedes palimpsest, a Byzantine prayer book containing three hidden and previously unknown original writings: one from Archimedes, one from 4th-century-B.C. Greek orator Hyperides, and one a 3rd-century-A.D. commentary on Aristotle’s “Categories” by an unknown source. These works were finally revealed, obviously, by using a powerful particle accelerator. This is easily my favorite talk from TEDxSummit in Doha this year.
This talk has intrigue, medieval manuscripts and a particle accelerator: Why the eff didn’t you watch it?

Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice
No two ways about it: This is a really, really, really good talk. Bryan Stevenson delivered words at TED2012 that stunned the audience and received one of the longest standing ovations in the history of the conference. And not because he was selling perfume-scented technology flowers from behind well-designed rose-colored glasses, but because he asked us to face harsh truths about race, poverty, degradation, marginalization, incarceration and injustice. At turns candid, stat-filled, intensely personal and acutely aware of tragic moments in history, the talk is an absolute powerhouse. The next day Chris Anderson got on stage and asked for contributions, raising $1.12 million for Stevenson’s nonprofit, the Equal Justice Initiative.
Like I said: really, really, really good talk. Seriously: Why the eff haven’t you watched this?

Chip Kidd: Designing books is no laughing matter. OK, it is.
Try smelling an e-book the way you can smell a paperback. Welcome: Chip Kidd, design legend. In his talk from TED2012, Kidd showcases the creative process behind book covers he’s worked on at Knopf in the past 30 years, like Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, Augusten Burroughs’ Dry, and Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. Also, he does a funny dance and is adorable.
Kidd, dinos, naked skeletons, rehab, the Buddha, weird dance: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons
I first heard about this guy from a friend who listened to his story on the Moth podcast. While walking down Sullivan Street in downtown New York one perfectly normal day, designer and builder Ed Gavagan found himself face to face with a group of teenagers about to partake in a gang initiation rite — to kill a complete stranger. That stranger: Ed Gavagan. The teenagers opened him hip to neck. Later in the hospital, the doctors gave him a 2% chance of living. In his TEDMED talk, Gavagan pays homage to the surgeons who saved his life.
Ed Gavagan gets stabbed in broad daylight and lives to tell the tale: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Karen Bass: Unseen footage, untamed nature
Filmmaker Karen Bass shows footage from her shows on BBC and National Geographic. Watch for an INSANE shot at 5:15 of a bat sucking up nectar with a tongue 1.4 times its height.
The bat tongue is ridiculous: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China’s workers
Journalist Leslie T. Chang takes a subtle look at Western guilt and the white-savior complex in this portrait of female factory workers from Dongguan, China. The western media portrays Chinese laborers as if they are forced into factories to slave away and suffer making smartphones for rich Westerners, but it’s simply not true, says Chang. Girls leave their villages with an entrepreneurial spirit, betting on the chance at a better life. It doesn’t matter that they can’t afford iPhones themselves, says Chang, because they don’t want them.
This talk predated the unforgettable SNL iPhone 5 Tech Talk sketch featuring peasant laborers from a Chinese Apple factory and hyperbolic iPhone critics from CNET, Wired and Gizmodo. So: Why the eff haven’t you watched it yet?

Beeban Kidron: The shared wonder of film
At a TED salon in London, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason director Beeban Kidron talks about the importance of a good visual narrative. As a founder of FILMCLUB, an English organization devoted to improving the lives of students through after-school film screenings, Kidron seeks to return to today’s generation a sense of cultural heritage through film. In the words of TED’s content distribution editorial specialist Janet Lee, “Why doesn’t this talk have 1,000,000 views?”
Contains footage that will make you laugh and cry, and you won’t know why: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Rory Stewart: Why democracy matters
British MP Rory Stewart talks about why the Number 1 reason to support democracy isn’t that it promotes good things like economic growth or equal rights for women … but because it’s inherently a valuable way to approach government.
Rory Stewart talks about the intrinsic, not instrumental, value of democracy. WORD. Why the eff didn’t you watch it?

Leymah Gbowee: Unlock the intelligence, passion, greatness of girls
We should never forget that life can be truly absurd and completely horrible. At TEDActive this year, when I saw Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee’s heart-wrenching talk, you could hear a pin drop in the theater. She talks about a lifetime of having to turn away young Liberian girls who had been denied education and a life free from fear. Each time Gbowee had to say “no” to a girl in need, it spurred her to fight harder for peace and safety for women.
Leymah Gbowee puts the G in girls and gangsta: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Bandi Mbubi: Demand a fair trade cell phone
In case there weren’t enough things worrying you about your phone (see: aforementioned factory workers in China, the downfall of Apple Maps, 4-14 on Angry Birds), here’s one more for the list. At TEDxExeter, Congolese activist Bandi Mbubi explains that the tantalum necessary for computers and smartphones has a bloody history, and that the mining and trade of tantalum perpetuate the already devastating atrocities in eastern Congo.
People demand fair-trade food and clothes, so it’s only fair they also demand fair-trade phones. Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Bobby Ghosh: Why global jihad is losing
“Jihad” is an insanely loaded word in “the West” (an equally loaded word), and that’s because people don’t really understand it. Before bin Laden made it one of the world’s most powerful and destructive memes, the media was totally happy never talking about jihad. At TEDxGeorgetown, Bobby Ghosh talks about the denigration of the concept of jihad by bin Laden and how his particular brand of jihad died along with him. Now, says Ghosh, it’s time to reclaim the word.
To be an informed consumer of the news, it’s important to understand the players in the failing “war of terror ” and the plurality of agents currently fighting local jihads in the Middle East and Africa. So: Why the eff didn’t you watch this talk?

Beeban Kidron at the TED Salon: Unseen Narratives, London. 10 May 2012, Photo: Dafydd Jones/TED

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Watch “MeatEater” This Sunday at 9pm ET/PT

I’ve always hated hunting and hunters.

Growing up on Long Island, I watched deer struggle across our land with arrows stuck in them. Deer died on our property because bow hunters couldn’t get the job done or simply didn’t care. Then there were the beer cans littered on the side of the road, next to trucks outfitted with hunting racks. It all disgusted me.

Then… I met Steve Rinella.

He didn’t fit my stereotype. For instance, he applies physics terms to skinning. And most relevant to my 4-Hour Chef food quest, as he put it: “There are far better chefs out there than me. There are far better hunters out there, too. But there aren’t many who can combine the two like I do.”

He is a master of turning the wild into “ingredients” people recognize. In 2004, he prepared a three-day, 45-course banquet from Escoffier’s landmark 1903 classic, Le Guide Culinaire.

By “prepare,” I mean that he foraged, killed, or otherwise procured every ingredient from the outdoors… then re-created the feast himself, which took more than a week. This experiment was chronicled in his first book, The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine. He started trapping for income in rural Michigan when he was 10. Now 38, he writes for a living, and his work is as likely to be seen in The New York Times as in Field and Stream.

Thanks to his incredible teaching ability (and respect for the game he hunts), Steve was my guide in most of the “WILD” section of The 4-Hour Chef.

Now, you can see him in action.

This Sunday at 9pm ET/PT, Steve and I will be on the debut episode of his show, aptly called “MeatEater.” It chronicles a life-changing week-long trip we took to remote Alaska, were we lived on the edge of a river bank, hunting, foraging, and defending camp from grizzly bears.

Here are a few trailers, followed by instructions on how to watch it live.

FAQ

- How do I get the Sportsman Channel?

Click here and look on the right-hand side of the screen, where you’ll find a Sportsman Channel Finder. Type in your zipcode in the box and click “GO.” Follow the instructions in the pop up window.

- What is the cost (or range of cost) for getting Sportsman Channel? Can I test drive it?

On DirectTV, Dish, Verizon FIOS, or ATT U-Verse, the cost for the package can range from an additional $5 a month up to $15 or so, but non-satellite cable providers like Comcast vary from market to market. Be sure to connect with them to get accurate pricing.

That said, the packages almost always come with more than just one channel, so the cost could be spread out over additional channels. For example, you get channels like FOX Movie Channel, the National Geographic Channel, VH1 Classic, PBS Kids, and E! along with Sportsman Channel on Direct TV’s Choice Xtra package.

Worst-case scenario: you can always order and cancel the next day if you’re not happy, and your cable/satellite provider will usually fully credit the amount or prorate, which would end up costing you less than $1 for a day or two. I’m not recommending you screw your cable company, but if you’d like to take the channel(s) for a test drive, there you go.

- Is it available on Roku or AppleTV?

Sportsman Channel is not currently on Roku or AppleTV.

- Any plans to be available for download anywhere like iTunes?

“We’re working on getting all episodes of MeatEater up on iTunes, but it’s probably 3-6 months away. It will be available on DVD in April 2013.As of right now, the episode won’t be available on iTunes, but stay tuned to themeateater.com or www.facebook.com/StevenRinellaMeatEater for updates.”

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Odds and Ends Around The Web:

Greatist’s 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness 2012. I’m flattered to show up at #9.

Gwyneth Paltrow reads The 4-Hour Body? Sweet!

Posted on January 4th, 2013

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In short: A different kind of cinematography, plus the tech to watch in 2013

Enjoy a sampling of the stories from around the internet that captured our interest this week:

Our new favorite Tumblr photographer, Christopher Moloney, takes images of street scenes made famous in classic movies. The twist? He holds an image of the actors in the center of the cityscape. [The Atlantic Cities]
.A roundup of the tech to watch in 2013. [IEEE Spectrum]
.Mark Lynas was a pioneer of the anti-genetically modified food movement in the 1990s. But at the Oxford Farming Conference this week, Lynas says that he was in the wrong. A brave speech, with a fascinating transcript. [MarkLynas.org]
.The app Pocket has revealed the top 10 most-saved videos of 2012, and we are thrilled to see two TED Talks on the list — one second only to “Gangnam Style.” [GetPocket.com]
.Online comments can be nasty — but can they have a negative effect on how people interpret what they read before them? A study has found that, when an article on nanotechnology was accompanied by comments full of name-calling, participants gave less favorable reviews of the technology itself. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
.The story behind the Great Maple Syrup Heist of 2012. [Business Week]
.All-male panels at tech conferences are far too common. Here, a pledge many male speakers are signing that they won’t participate in a panel if it is made up only of guys. [The Atlantic] It reminds us of what TED’s own June Cohen told The New York Times about the complexities of building a conference program where gender disappears.
.It’s the future and past of journalism at the same time — a look at the terrible newspaper that appears in Back to the Future Part II. [New York Magazine]
.Here, a deep-dive look at how Larry Page is steering the Google ship as CEO. [Fortune] Want to know more about the Google machine? Watch Page’s talk from TED2005, with co-founder Sergey Brin, “The genesis of Google.”
.When we look back on life, we realize that we have changed considerably. But we greatly underestimate how much we will change in the future. [The New York Times] Interesting new research courtesy of TED speaker Dan Gilbert.
.What hours does the Big Internet Museum keep? Every day, from 00:00 to 00:00, of course. [TheBigInternetMuseum.com]

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April 16: Watch a TED session live online from Doha, Qatar

Next week, in Doha, Qatar, we’re launching a four-day-long workshop called TEDxSummit — where 700 TEDx organizers from around the world will meet to take classes and learn from one another how to make great local TEDx events.

And to kick off the summit, we’re throwing a session of TED — and inviting the world to watch live!

Mark your calendar for TEDxSummit Opening Night, a two-hour session featuring global TEDTalks stars and powerful, creative, funny voices from the Middle East. TEDGlobal’s own Bruno Giussani curated the program around this theme: “The Power of Reframing.”

The session happens on Monday, April 16, at 7:30pm AST / 4:30pm GMT / 12:30pm EDT, and will stream from this page.

Speakers include TEDTalks star and health-data guru Hans Rosling … boundary-breaking artist Raghava KK … TEDx teacher Diana Laufenberg … “solar cracking” expert Nesrin Ozalp … and the wonderful young singer Zain Awad!

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Showyou for iPad: The Most Productive Way to Watch Videos [Review]

As someone who tries to get the most out of their day but also likes to take some time and relax with a video or two every once in a while, I’ve been out of luck for a while. There’s a lot of noise out there on social networks, especially since I follow a lot of people on them. If I want to be able to keep up with the latest and greatest of what my friends are sharing, I’ll likely have a lot of digging to do. Because of that amount of digging I’ll have to do, it’s more likely that I don’t do any digging at all.

But this week that changed for me because Showyou 3.0 was launched.

Showyou is the first social video app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch – and now it’s available for those who have the Kindle Fire. I’ve had a chance to play with the iPad version, and I’m very impressed with the time I spent in Showyou and the time I saved using Showyou.

??Showyou allows me to seamlessly wade through the videos shared by firends on a variety of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Vimeo, YouTube, etc.) and keeps me out of those services when I want to watch online videos altogether. I just connect those accounts to Showyou and I am able to search through each and every video shared by those I’m following – and I can also add fellow Showyou users to the mix.

The app has a great sense of responsiveness to it, flowing from panel to panel within the “grid” you’ve composed of the various connections you’ve made. I can add videos to those I enjoy by tapping on the “heart” button, can add a comment by pressing the “speech bubble” button, and share videos to social networks, via email or add them to my “Watch Later” list by pressing the “share” button. To watch videos in full screen view, on the iPad you can spread your fingers out over the video and it makes htat happen. Go back to the default view by pinching the video while in full screen. The user interface is simple to use and the app is gorgeous.

If you also want to be able to watch Showyou videos on a much larger screen than your iPad (like, on your TV, for example), Apple’s Airplay lets you play most of the videos you see – if you have Apple TV 2.0.

You can also drill down further into Showyou in a variety of ways. You can watch shared videos by genre, like Film, Comedy, Music and more. You can follow others by pressing their avatars either while viewing a video in default mode or by looking at someone’s profile and seeing those users on their followers’ list. You can also follow “channels” on Showyou, which opens up your social video experience even further. As you can see, there is plenty of socialization that goes on with Showyou, and plenty of it that can go on outside of it as well. You don’t feel disconnected from anyone you’re following while following them on Showyou – in fact, you’re more likely to catch some of the videos by using this app rather than searching through your very noisy social spaces. Plus, you can share videos as much as you want within Showyou, which allows you to keep your Facebook and Twitter streams a little less noisy for others.

That said, one of the things I’ve been unable to figure out is how to add an image to my profile, which may be because I’m using an original iPad (sans camera) and you need to have an on-board camera to do so. It’d be great if I could simply add a photo of myself from my library, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to do this. I’ve seen plenty of Showyou users with a profile photo, so I know it can be done. I’m just one user that can’t.

I’m a big fan of apps that do “one thing well” and don’t try to do more than that, just focussing on making that ine thing better. Showyou has done – and is doing – just that. Showyou launched in April 2011, and keeps getting better and better, optimizing the user experience in both quality and quantity – a rare combination. In fact, Showyou is the only app of its kind to be picked by Apple as one of the best of the year (Best Social Networking App for the iPad, along with Skype & Facebook); to be featured in the Wired app guide; and to make it onto a variety of “Top 10 apps for the iPad” lists.

Showyou won’t only enhance – and curate – your online video experience, but it won’t break your bank. That’s because Showyou is a free app. You can get it now in The App Store, and if you want to keep up with your consumption of online video, get the best of what those you trust are sharing and not lose time in the process, Showyou will show you a really, really good time.

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". Read more of his writing and learn more about him at MikeVardy.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter.

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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wins the Nobel Peace Prize! Watch her video from TEDWomen

This morning, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, was named one of three winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, in honor of her work promoting nonviolent change. Her co-awardees are peace activist Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and Tawakul Karman, who works for democracy in Yemen.

Just before last year’s TEDWomen conference, co-host Pat Mitchell sat down with Sirleaf for an intimate Q&A. In this 3-minute video, she talks about some of the leadership challenges a woman faces — and her unofficial sobriquet: Liberia’s “Iron Lady” …

Watch Pat Mitchell’s full 22-minute interview with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, from the Paley Center for Media‘s website.

(Pat Mitchell will be hosting this year’s TEDxWomen, a one-day event on Dec. 1, at the Paley Centers for Media in New York and LA — and streaming live to TEDx events around the globe.)

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The Lie-In, the Watch & the Half-Empty Wardrobe

If you’re thinking about becoming a self-employed freelance writer, you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

Certain authorities on the subject will describe and exaggerate the positives – working the hours you choose, working from home, working in your pyjamas, working on assignments you prefer – without filling you in on the negatives. And make no mistake about it: there are plenty of them.

It takes a particular type of individual to spend the whole day working in isolation. Many have tried and failed, simply because they require the company of others. They need to be in the presence of other people, to have someone else to talk to, to debate ideas with, to give them encouragement or just to tell them what to do.

Freelancers can work at a pace that suits them, can take breaks whenever they want to, can enjoy walks or drives in the country when time and weather permit. But most freelancers have to work hard to earn enough to get by, and they can’t do that if they’re out swanning around all day. They need to be disciplined and organized or their careers are doomed.

They can enjoy a lie-in every so often if they’re so inclined. Starting work at 8 or 8.30 in the morning probably won’t make a huge difference to the average freelancer, especially if the office is just across the hall. A two-hour session at 3 in the afternoon can be just as productive as at any other time of the day. Other people prefer a solid stint in the early hours of the morning before the rest of the world intrudes. It doesn’t really matter when you work, as long as you do.

It’s a Job
Just like any other “job” the freelancer has to produce the goods. The work might be more pleasant than another person’s but it’s equally as time-consuming and demanding. There’s still the potential for stress, anxiety, and frustration, although a brisk walk along the canal can help to get rid of some of these issues.

According to WebMD sources, job-related stress is caused by a variety of factors, including:

• Lack of control – the biggest cause of stress in the normal workplace
• Too much responsibility – it’s often hard to say “no” to bosses face to face
• Too little job satisfaction – if your work isn’t rewarding it can make you depressed and miserable
• Lack of support –workers are often left to their own devices, only getting feedback when there’s a problem and receiving little or no real support
• Poor working conditions – badly lit rooms, noisy environments, long hours and infrequent breaks can lead to a whole range of health problems

Naturally you’d expect a freelance writer working from home to have a comfortable chair in a well-lit room, a sturdy desk with ample working space, a bookcase or two with a good supply of reference books, and a decent computer. You’d expect him or her to have control over the types of assignments accepted and fulfilled. You’d expect him or her to experience job satisfaction to varying degrees, depending on the subject chosen, the enjoyment writing about it, and the amount of remuneration.

It simply wouldn’t make sense for any freelancer to have to endure poor working conditions or settle for work that’s dissatisfying. After all, you can get that just about anywhere. Despite the fact that you frequently have to tout for business to keep projects and finances flowing smoothly, working for yourself is supposed to be liberating and enjoyable. If it’s not, you’re doing something wrong.

Freelance writers can work just about anywhere. If the office space begins to feel stale or claustrophobic, there’s always the local Internet café. If a particular job is tedious and draining, a walk in the woods with a notebook can help clear the brain and provide much-needed inspiration.

No More Clock-Watching
Working as a freelance writer from home was the best thing I ever did. As soon as I started, I took off my watch. I haven’t worn one in five years. I don’t have as many lie-ins as I’d like, but that’s because I can’t wait to get up and get to work. Weekends are precious, though, and work is rarely allowed to intrude.

As for my wardrobe, it consists of little more than the bare essentials (no pun intended). I don’t need “business” clothes for every day of the week, so most of what I wear is casual or semi-casual. If I need to meet clients face to face I wear something smart, always conscious that they’re paying me to write and not to appear in a commercial. Most of my work comes to me online, so I often don’t meet the people I write for.

Conclusion
Working for yourself isn’t a piece of cake. You get to be your own boss, but that means you have to continually motivate yourself. No-one else is going to do it. Either you work hard or you fail.

You need to balance your work life with your social life, or one will take over the other. You need to make sure the work you do is worth doing in the first place, and that the time you put in earns you a decent amount of compensation. You need to be determined to succeed, willing to learn, patient, committed, optimistic and resilient. You need to believe in yourself whole-heartedly and be willing to work to meet deadlines, even when the sun is splitting the rocks just outside your window.

If you can do these things, your career will likely go from strength to strength, and then you can buy as many pairs of pyjamas as you want. Whether you choose to work in them or not is up to you.

Mel is a full-time freelance writer and author of fiction and non-fiction books. Visit his blog at http://topcopyguy.blogspot.com for more information.

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Watch TEDGlobal 2011 via webcast

You can watch all 12 sessions of TEDGlobal 2011 on webcast through our Associates webcast membership. The high-def video stream costs $500 for four days of amazement, and you can watch with (and split the cost among) up to 10 people. ($500 / 10 / 4 = $12.50 per day of mind-blowing live TED.) More details here >>

The satellite webcast offers crisp TV-quality viewing on high-bandwidth connections, and three more levels of quality for all connection speeds. Watch our test feed here to see what works for you. You’ll be watching the same live feed we send to TED’s simulcast lounge, a professionally switched feed from our nine-camera shoot.

As part of the Associates webcast, you’ll join a lively moderated chat stream, and you’ll have access to a constantly updated video archive for time-shifted viewing of every session at your convenience. Then, a few weeks after the conference, you’ll get access to a high-def, DVD-quality viewing archive (with chapters) of the entire conference, including content not available on the livestream, such as TED University and the TED Fellows presentations — four more sessions of TED inspiration and wonder.

Watch TEDGlobal 2011 from anywhere in the world — at a time convenient for you and your friends, students, coworkers. Or give it as a gift to your favorite student or teacher.

Learn more about the TEDGlobal Associates webcast >>

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Tonight: Watch TED’s Full Spectrum auditions online

Tonight: Watch the first-ever TED auditions, to explore the theme of TED2012: Full Spectrum. We challenged the TED community: Make a one-minute video that describes your idea worth sharing — and how you’d share it with the world. We received hundreds of submissions from around the world in our short timeframe, and narrowed our finalists down to a group of 17, with a wide range of formats and styles.

Watch our 17 Full Spectrum audition finalists present their TEDTalks tonight, May 24, 7-9pm Eastern, via livestream:

livestream.com/tedtalks

And follow our live tweets @TEDNews

The lineup:

Dr. Jane Rigby and Dr. Amber Straughn
James McBennett
Onyx Ashanti
Beth Urech
Virgil Wong
Joe Sabia
Lior Zoref
Flux Foundation
Erik Wahl
Eric Singer
Jared Ficklin
Joshua Walters
LeeAnn Renninger
Cesar Kuriyama
Kevin Carroll
Chris Plough
Tania Luna
Reggie Watts

Follow many of these finalists on Twitter >>

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Watch TEDTalks from some of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2011

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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Watch Online Videos in Half the Time

I recently discovered a nifty utility called MySpeed (for Windows and Mac) that lets you speed up the playback of online videos. I started using it last week, and now I can watch most online videos in half the time it used to take me. Obviously that’s a great time-saver.

It doesn’t work for all videos, but it works for anything Flash-based like YouTube videos and TED Talks videos. So you can watch a 20-minute video in about 10 minutes, or watch two videos in the time it used to take to watch just one.

You can increase the playback speed up to 5 times faster, but you’ll probably want to use 1.5x to 2.5x for most videos. I usually start at 2x and then gradually increase it once I get used to the speaker’s speech patterns. For a slow speaker, you can still get a comprehensible video at 3x speed.

You can also decrease the playback speed to as slow as 0.3x normal, which can be useful for highly technical information that you wish to digest more slowly. It’s also good for watching videos in languages where you aren’t perfectly fluent — you can slow down the rate of speech to hear each individual word more clearly.

The videos are automatically pitch-adjusted, so you won’t hear chipmunk voices. I was impressed with how easy it is to understand the audio as you change the speed. It may take your brain a few seconds to adjust though if you set it to 2x or faster.

The app comes with a 7-day free trial, and it’s very easy to use. You can download it, install it, and have it all figured out within 5 minutes or less.

The main control is a slider bar that pops up on your screen whenever you view a video in your web browser. It tells you whether or not the video is Flash-based, so then you know if you can speed it up.

This is one of those no-brainer apps that will boost your productivity right away. There’s really no learning curve to speak of. If you can use your mouse to move a slider left and right, you’ve mastered it. It does one thing and does it well.

If you watch online videos, especially “talking heads” videos, you’ll definitely save yourself some time, probably many hours over the course of each year. The faster playback is more engaging too. You can listen and comprehend material at least twice as fast as someone can speak it.

The full version is inexpensive (less than $30 at the time of this post). There’s also a premium version that works for offline videos too (under $100).

I was going to recommend this utility no matter what, but since they have an affiliate program, I’ll earn a small commission on each sale that results from my links. After doing the free trial, I purchased a copy of this app for myself, so in this case I’m a regular customer passing on something I think you’ll appreciate. Any commissions I happen to earn will be used to help me bring on new staff members.

On the publisher’s website you can play a little demo video to see how MySpeed works. Do the free trial, and you’ll see right away that this app will save you time and help you digest educational videos in half the time (and sometimes a third of the time).

Maybe now I can actually make it to the end of an Eckhart Tolle video without wanting to commit seppuku.

Thanks to Jim Kwik for telling me about this app.

For a related post I wrote on how to speed up audio, see Overclock Your Audio Learning.

If you've found this website helpful, please click the Donate button. I'm grateful for your support.This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Productivity, Technology, Time Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Sunday: Watch TEDxEarthquake9.0 live

An extraordinary group-curated TEDx event is coming together around the tragic events in Japan in the past month: TEDxEarthquake9.0. From the site:

A comprehensive journey from Japan’s resilience and history of overcoming past disaster to the challenges the nation faces today — passing by the actual response and relief efforts in the field. Join us and be part of the future of Japan and the world’s response. Through five inspiring hours of short talks, speakers from all over Japan will share their experiences overcoming disaster, the extension of the disaster, their successful disruptive initiatives for disaster relief and response and the recovery, rebuilding and shaping the future of Japan.

You can watch TEDxEarthquake9.0 via livestream, in both Japanese and English, on Sunday, April 10, 1-6pm Japan Standard Time (GMT +9 hours) at http://www.tedxearthquake90.com/live.

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Watch the archive of TEDxChange @ TEDxDelhi

This past Tuesday at 3pm Indian Standard Time, an inspiring group of thinkers gathered in New Delhi to talk about new ideas in world health and development coming out of India, during TEDxChange @ TEDxDelhi. Recognizing that 3pm IST is the middle of the night for many people who’d like to watch, the Gates Foundation is hosting an archive of the 90-minute event here. Want to know more before you tune in? Read the TEDx Blog’s coverage of TEDxChange @ TEDxDelhi, assembled using Storify. Tweets, photos, statuses and other updates tell the story of an energizing day of ideas.

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Watch the TEDActive 2011 music video

Aboard the Lennon Bus, a crew of TEDActive musicians created this lovely song — and a video! — in one week. Feel the vibe of TEDActive …

Musicians on this track include Jill Sobule, Wendy Melvoin, St. Vincent (Annie Clark), Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Lisa Coleman, Aaron Sterling. Video created by Hiro Murai / Isaac Hagy. Lennon Bus crew: Brian Rothschild, Hans Tanner, Kevin Hoy, Ryan L’Esperance.

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Watch JR make his TED Prize wish live on the web

In one month, the 2011 TED Prize winner, the amazing artist JR, will unveil his TED Prize wish live onstage in Long Beach. And you can sign up to watch along with him — and be among the first to join his new global project.

Visit JR’s page on TEDPrize.org, and sign up for the mailing list. You’ll be sent a link to watch the entire TED Prize session live on the web, starting at 5pm PST on March 2, 2011. Watch JR share his wish to change the world … get updates on exciting past TED Prize winners including Jamie Oliver and Sylvia Earle … and share in some onstage surprises.

Once JR unveils his wish, the TED Prize team will email you three exciting ways to participate in the wish. (None of them are a call for money…) It’s an opportunity to join in a global … we can’t tell you what yet.

Sign up, mark your calendar, and hear firsthand what JR has in store >>

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Watch Carolyn Porco’s 2007 TEDTalk re-created shot for shot in LEGO

From the great blog annals of spacetime: This. Plus a lovely essay on the how and why.

The behind-the-scenes page is pretty wonderful too.

In a promising development, some other TEDTalks stars have also been modded into LEGO minifigs: Jane Goodall. Prof. Brian Cox. Richard Dawkins. More >>

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