TED

TED. It stands for Technology. Entertainment, and Design. It's a non-profit organisation that organises (no pun intended) annual conferences which have, in recent years, become the stage for prominent people to speak their mind. Whether it's about something they do or if it's their opinion, there may be some things that you do not agree with (so, again, take what you hear with a pinch of salt or an entire salt flat), but there are also many that will impress you.

The tickets to these conferences are expensive, and they're held in very specific places - Oxford, California, and India are some that I noticed on their website for 2010. but many of the talks are available online for anyone, for free.

You can check out the talks on iTunes (hopefully, the iTunes link works outside the UK as well), and also, on the TED website.

Links:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=160892972

http://www.ted.com/

Some talks I recommend:

•Gordon Brown: Wiring a web for global good, 2009

•Al Gore: Alarming new slides depict a worsening climate crisis, 2009

•David Pogue: Cool new things you can do with your mobile phone, 2008

•David Pogue: Simplicity Sells, 2006

•Sergey Brin & Larry Page: Inside the Google machine, 2004

•Bill Gates: Mosquitos, malaria and education, 2009

•Evan Williams: Listening to Twitter users, 2009