Damian Palin: Mining minerals from seawater

Video Description: "The world needs clean water, and more and more, we're pulling it from the oceans, desalinating it, and drinking it. But what to do with the salty brine left behind? In this intriguing short talk, TED Fellow Damian Palin proposes an idea: Mine it for other minerals we need, with the help of some collaborative metal-munching bacteria."

Jack McBrayer & Triumph Visit Chicago's Weiner's Circle - CONAN on TBS

Video Description: "CONAN highlight: Jack McBrayer & Triumph the Insult Comic Dog pay a visit to Chicago's infamously hostile hot dog stand."

This is the funniest video I have seen in a long time, be aware its very vulgar but it is bleeped. I hope you enjoy it and are not offended by it.

Paul Otlet, Envisioning Internet/Web in 1934

Video Description: "Paul Otlet, a Belgian bibliographer, pacifist and entrepreneur imagined a day when users would access the database from great distances by means of an "electric telescope" connected through a telephone line, retrieving a facsimile image to be projected remotely on a flat screen."

Paul Otlet is one of several people who have been considered the father of information science. (More information)

Anil Gupta: India's hidden hotbeds of invention

Video Description: "Anil Gupta is on the hunt for the developing world's unsung inventors -- indigenous entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, hidden by poverty, could change many people's lives. He shows how the Honey Bee network helps them build the connections they need -- and gain the recognition they deserve."

Magnus Larsson: Turning dunes into architecture

Video Description:"Architecture student Magnus Larsson details his bold plan to transform the harsh Sahara desert using bacteria and a surprising construction material: the sand itself."

Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic?

Video Description: "Product designer Eben Bayer reveals his recipe for a new, fungus-based packaging material that protects fragile stuff like furniture, plasma screens -- and the environment"

MaKey MaKey: An Invention Kit for Everyone

Product Description: "MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything inbetween" (more information is on Kickstarter)

Ultimate Marketing/Promotion Ideas Super List - The Jason Chronicles

Do you need a list of promotional ideas that you can use to increase the sale of your products and services?  Here is an excerpt from an article about the subject: "Below are marketing and other types of promotional ideas that you can use to increase the sale of your products and services. This is a broad list, it includes different methods and other considerations that several different types of businesses have used to promote sales or set their merchandise a part from the competition." (finish reading the rest of the article)

Number One Factor that Drives Sales - The Jason Chronicles

Do you know which one factor that will influence sales and brand awareness in your marketing efforts?  Here is an excerpt from an article about the subject: "The first thing that you need to realize is that there is one main factor that determines whether a customer is going to buy from you or your competition. That one factor that will drive sales and brand awareness is how well you understand and utilize "human psychology " in your marketing efforts." (finish reading the rest of the article)

Drew Curtis: How I beat a patent troll

Video Description: "Drew Curtis, the founder of fark.com, tells the story of how he fought a lawsuit from a company that had a patent, "...for the creation and distribution of news releases via email." Along the way he shares some nutty statistics about the growing legal problem of frivolous patents.

Regina Dugan: From mach-20 glider to humming bird drone

Video Description: "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" asks Regina Dugan, then director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects -- a robotic hummingbird, a prosthetic arm controlled by thought, and, well, the internet -- that her agency has created by not worrying that they might fail."

Rory Sutherland: Perspective is everything

Video Description: "The circumstances of our lives may matter less than how we see them, says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness."

Reuben Margolin: Sculpting waves in wood and time

Video Description: "Reuben Margolin is a kinetic sculptor, crafting beautiful pieces that move in the pattern of raindrops falling and waves combining. Take nine minutes and be mesmerized by his meditative art -- inspired in equal parts by math and nature."

Speed of Light / aka / The World's Tiniest Police Chase

Video Description: "From the brains behind viral smash Address Is Approximate comes the smallest police chase ever seen, made using the world's smallest video projectors. 100% projected and filmed FOR REAL without CGI trickery, Speed of Light features an escaped convict, a determined cop and a fully armed police helicopter!"

Disney-lapse: A time-lapse journey through Disneyland.

Video Description: "Over 30,000 still images, taken over the course of a year."

How Piracy and Pornography Drive Technology

Here is an excerpt from the article: "Over the years piracy and pornography have played accidental roles in defining the direction of technology and creating new commercial business models. I want to state that this article is not advocating piracy or pornography, but shows how it unintentionally drives technological and business innovation, by influencing customer buying decisions.


Throughout history sexual content has influence language, art (e.g. sculptures, drawings, paintings, etc.), printing (Pietro Aretino's Postures (1524)), photography, film, cable, telephone, computer (e.g. content and games), VHS, DVD, Internet Streaming. The basic appeal of sexual content has help standardize technologies when there are media format wars such as VHS vs. Beta. Its often speculated the VHS won this format war because the pornography industry backed the VHS standard, because Sony refused to allow sexual content on the Betamax system." (read the rest of the  article )

Brian Greene: Why is our universe fine-tuned for life?

Video Summary: "At the heart of modern cosmology is a mystery: Why does our universe appear so exquisitely tuned to create the conditions necessary for life? In this tour de force tour of some of science's biggest new discoveries, Brian Greene shows how the mind-boggling idea of a multiverse may hold the answer to the riddle."

Discusses: How Multiverse are tied to String Theory.

Amory Lovins: A 50-year plan for energy

Summary of the video: "In this intimate talk filmed at TED's offices, energy theorist Amory Lovins lays out the steps we must take to end the world's dependence on oil (before we run out). Some changes are already happening -- like lighter-weight cars and smarter trucks -- but some require a bigger vision."

In Summary: Discusses how modern efficiencies making the world better.

Great Learning Resources for Kids

Are you looking for great learning resources for kids? These are two of the best free sites that I have found.

• Minute Physics: Explains complicated physics concepts with easy to understand examples.
• Kahn's Academy: Has over 3,200 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history.

If you have any additional free learning resources (similar to these sites) that I can include in this list please include them in the comments.

Atul Gawande: How do we heal medicine?

Our medical systems are broken. Doctors are capable of extraordinary (and expensive) treatments, but they are losing their core focus: actually treating people. Doctor and writer Atul Gawande suggests we take a step back and look at new ways to do medicine -- with fewer cowboys and more pit crews.

Cocorobo - the Intelligent Vacuum Cleaning Robot

I have used a Roomba for years, I like the product but it does have its limitations. The greatest limitation of mine has been the batteries which seem to die after a few months of use, and then have to be replaced.

Now I have a new intelligent vacuum cleaning robot lust known as Cocorobo. You can communicate with robot via your a smartphone application, speech recognition, or its remote. It also has the ability to respond to you with simple greetings.

Other features include:

• 1.3-megapixel camera
• an LED light
• wireless LAN connectivity
• Uses phosphate lithium batteries (which has a batter life three years or 1,200 charges)

All these features doesn't come cheap, the estimated retail price for the RX-V100 is around US$1,600 or the basic version RX-V80 without a camera will be around US$1,100

[AUDITIONS SAN FRANCISO] Turf,- America's Got Talent 2012 (Season 7)

Video Description: America Got Talent a Show For all kind of people with crazy talent from singing to variety dance crew so better to say everthing is welome on America got talent 2012

IMHO: This guy is an amazing dancer, that comes from a very humble background.

NPR: Is Thorium A Magic Bullet For Our Energy Problems?

I am huge fan of Thorium reactors as alternative to Uranium reactors because I believe they're safer.  Here is a great podcast from NPR on the subject called: Is Thorium A Magic Bullet For Our Energy Problems? Here is excerpt from the article: "As the search for cheap, safe and non-carbon emitting sources of energy continues, a band of scientists say the answer may be nuclear reactors fueled by thorium. Others caution that thorium reactors pose waste and proliferation risks. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the pros and cons of thorium reactors." (read the rest of the article or listen to the audio)

The Race To Create The Best Antiviral Drugs : NPR

I learned lot from this NPR podcast, and I thought I would share it: The Race To Create The Best Antiviral Drugs : NPR.  Here is excerpt from the article: "If you've ever had a bacterial infection like staph or strep throat, your doctor may have prescribed penicillin. But if you've had the flu or a common cold virus, penicillin won't work. That's because antibacterials only kill bacteria, and both the flu and the common cold are viruses. So for illnesses like the flu, doctors prescribe antiviral drugs, which target the mechanisms that viruses use to reproduce." (read the rest of the article or listen to the audio)

Top tips for reducing your cell phone bill

Feel like your cell phone bills are going through the roof? TODAY financial editor Jean Chatzky has three strategies for making your payments more manageable.

PAL-V Flying Car - Best Flying Car Concept

The Dutch company PAL-V announced the first flights of its prototype "flying car".  This  vehicle is called the PAL-V One, or the 'Personal Air and Land Vehicle'.  On the ground the vehicle drives like a sports car. Within minutes its rotor is unfolded and its tail is extended: then it is ready to take off with its gyrocopter technology.  The next step will be the design of the first commercial production model of the PAL-V, and first deliveries are expected in 2014. (More information: www.PAL-V.com)

Flash mob in the Copenhagen Metro. Copenhagen Phil playing Peer Gynt.

In April 2012 Copenhagen Phil (Sjællands Symfoniorkester) surprised the passengers in the Copenhagen Metro by playing Griegs Peer Gynt. The flash mob was created in collaboration with Radio Klassisk http://radioklassisk.dk/. All music was performed and recorded in the metro.

Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet & PC

In1974 Arthur C. Clarke told the ABC that every household in 2001 will have a computer and be connected all over the world. Courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Reset Gadgets Back to Factory Default

Have you ever had the need to reset a device back to its original factory default?  If you do a search for the device in your favorite search engine you will probably find these instructions.

Warning: Following the instructions on this site will erase all your data on the device and revert it back to its original configuration when you first bought it.

There's a site called Factory-Reset.com that is trying to be a one stop shop for this information.  Before resetting your device, backup your data (if you still can).  To reset it, just search the site for the product, then follow the instructions.

Camera Drones: Losing More Personal Privacy?

The military has been using surveillance camera drones for years, now the police and the average citizen has access to this technology.   Like any technology how it will be exploited for good or bad, only time can tell how it will be used or abused.

Watch the video like the one below to see what awesome things can be done with this technology, but you might also see the potential for how the technology can be abused.  For example, it gives anyone access to view in to places they might not of had access to before.



I am not a legal expert in any way, but as I understand the law about privacy, every person has a reasonable expectation of privacy unless they are in a public place (more information).

Best of Web 2

Meet John Collins, "The Paper Airplane Guy"

Will and Norm meet The Paper Airplane Guy to learn about the craft of designing and folding amazing paper airplanes.  John Collins creates paper airplanes for a living, and recently designed a plane that broke the world record for longest flight. Learn more about folding paper airplanes at John's website.

Largest Rube Goldberg Machine: Purdue team set new world record (2012)

From YouTube: "WEST LAFYETTE, Ind., USA--The Purdue Society of Professional Engineers team smashed its own world record for largest Rube Goldberg machine with a 300-step behemoth that flawlessly accomplished the simple task of blowing up and popping a balloon - setting the new world record for the Largest functional Rube Goldberg machine, according to World Records Academy"

Myshkin Ingawale: A blood test without bleeding

Anemia is a major -- and completely preventable -- cause of deaths in childbirth in many places around the world, but the standard test is invasive and slow. In this witty and inspiring talk, TED Fellow Myshkin Ingawale describes how (after 32 tries) he and his team created a simple, portable, low-cost device that can test for anemia without breaking the skin.

Rob Reid: The $8 billion iPod

Comic author Rob Reid unveils Copyright Math (TM), a remarkable new field of study based on actual numbers from entertainment industry lawyers and lobbyists.

Vijay Kumar: Robots that fly ... and cooperate

In his lab at Penn, Vijay Kumar and his team build flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams -- for construction, surveying disasters and far more.

T. Boone Pickens: Let's transform energy -- with natural gas

The US consumes 25% of the world's oil -- but as energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens points out onstage, the country has no energy policy to prepare for the inevitable. Is alternative energy our bridge to an oil-free future? After losing $150 million investing in wind energy, Pickens suggests it isn't, not yet. What might get us there? Natural gas. After the talk, watch for a lively Q&A with TED Curator Chris Anderson.

Harmless Computer Practical Jokes (Updated)

I wrote the original blog post a few years back, and it turned out to be one of the most popular posts on this blog. I have updated and expanded the original text, you can read the updated version of the article here.

The Free Universal Construction Kit

Here is a reason why I want to build a 3D printer (I am just waiting for the one I want to be available [Printrbot]), I want to build things like The Free Universal Construction Kit.

Below is except from the site, "Ever wanted to connect your Legos and Tinkertoys together? Now you can - and much more. Announcing the Free Universal Construction Kit: a set of adapters for complete interoperability between 10 popular construction toys."

Jamie Oliver - Nugget experiment epic failure

From the show Jamie Oliver Food Revolution. Jamie Oliver attempts and fails miserably in trying to convince a group of American kids that consuming processed chicken nuggets are bad.

Noel Bairey Merz: The single biggest health threat women face

Surprising, but true: More women now die of heart disease than men, yet cardiovascular research has long focused on men. Pioneering doctor C. Noel Bairey Merz shares what we know and don't know about women's heart health -- including the remarkably different symptoms women present during a heart attack (and why they're often missed).

RUIN (awesome animated short film)

An awesome animated short film in a post-apocalyptic universe.

Brené Brown: Listening to shame

Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. Brené Brown, whose earlier talk on vulnerability became a viral hit, explores what can happen when people confront their shame head-on. Her own humor, humanity and vulnerability shine through every word.

Note: This talk starts out really slow but gets much better about half way through.

Kevin Allocca: Why videos go viral

Kevin Allocca is YouTube's trends manager, and he has deep thoughts about silly web video. In this talk from TEDYouth, he shares the 4 reasons a video goes viral. (This is the first talk posted from an amazing TEDYouth event. Many others will come on line next month as part of our TED-Ed launch. We can't wait ...)

Shlomo Benartzi: Saving for tomorrow, tomorrow

It's easy to imagine saving money next week, but how about right now? Generally, we want to spend it. Economist Shlomo Benartzi says this is one of the biggest obstacles to saving enough for retirement, and asks: How do we turn this behavioral challenge into a behavioral solution?

Public Key Cryptography: Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange

Diffie-Hellman key exchange was one of the earliest practical implementations of key exchange within the field of cryptography. It relies on the discrete logarithm problem. This test clip will be part of the final chapter of Gambling with Secrets!

Stuxnet: Computer worm opens new era of warfare

Computer virus's evident success in damaging Iran's nuclear facility has officials asking if our own infrastructure is safe. Steve Kroft reports.

Avi Rubin - All Your Devices Can Be Hacked

Avi Rubin is Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and Technical Director of the JHU Information Security Institute. Avi's primary research area is Computer Security, and his latest research focuses on security for electronic medical records. Avi is credited for bringing to light vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines. In 2006 he published a book on his experiences since this event.

Lucien Engelen: Crowdsource your health

You can use your smartphone to find a local ATM, but what if you need a defibrillator? At TEDxMaastricht, Lucien Engelen shows us online innovations that are changing the way we save lives, including a crowdsourced map of local defibrillators.

Peter Diamandis: Abundance is our future

Onstage at TED2012, Peter Diamandis makes a case for optimism -- that we'll invent, innovate and create ways to solve the challenges that loom over us. "I'm not saying we don't have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down."

Paul Conneally: Digital humanitarianism

The disastrous earthquake in Haiti taught humanitarian groups an unexpected lesson: the power of mobile devices to coordinate, inform, and guide relief efforts. At TEDxRC2, Paul Conneally shows extraordinary examples of social media and other new technologies becoming central to humanitarian aid.

Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing

2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create.

Jenna McCarthy: What you don't know about marriage

A casual talk from TEDx, writer Jenna McCarthy shares surprising research on how marriages (especially happy marriages) really work. One tip: Do not try to win an Oscar for best actress.

Brewster Kahle: Universal Access to All Knowledge

Brewster Kahle: Universal Access to All Knowledge from The Long Now Foundation on FORA.tv As founder and librarian of the storied Internet Archive (deemed impossible by all when he started it in 1996), Brewster Kahle has practical experience behind his universalist vision of access to every bit of knowledge ever created, for all time, ever improving.

A Story for Tomorrow (video)

Questions from the video, "is it possible to be happy with this life?", "did you enjoy your story?".

AT&T Archives: Robot, by Jim Henson

From YouTube: "Jim Henson made this film in 1963 for The Bell System. Specifically, it was made for an elite seminar given for business owners, on the then-brand-new topic — Data Communications. The seminar itself involved a lot of films and multimedia presentations, and took place in Chicago. A lengthy description of the planning of the Bell Data Communications Seminar — sans a mention of the Henson involvement — is on the blog of Inpro co-founder Jack Byrne. It later was renamed the Bell Business Communications Seminar."

Kevin Kelly: The Future of the Digital Media Landscape

From Fora.TV: "Kevin Kelly has been a participant in, and reporter on, the information technology revolution for the past 20 years. His books include the best-selling work on the networked economy, New Rules for the New Economy, and the classic volume on decentralized emergent systems, Out of Control. His most recent book, What Technology Wants, lays out a provocative view of technology as an autonomous force in the world. Kelly helped launch WIRED in 1993 and served as executive editor for six years, during which the magazine twice won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. He currently holds the title of Senior Maverick at WIRED and is the publisher and editor of the Cool Tools website. From 1984 to 1990, Kelly was the publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review. He also helped launch the WELL, a pioneering online service, in 1985 and co-founded the ongoing Hackers' Conference. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Time, Harpers, Science, GQ, and Esquire."

Mikko Hypponen: Three types of online attack

Cybercrime expert Mikko Hypponen talks us through three types of online attack on our privacy and data -- and only two are considered crimes.

Defend our freedom to share (or why SOPA is a bad idea)

What does a bill like PIPA/SOPA mean to our shareable world? At the TED offices, Clay Shirky delivers a proper manifesto -- a call to defend our freedom to create, discuss, link and share, rather than passively consume.

Best of CES Awards 2012

CNET once again presents the official awards program of CES. The awards recognize the best products at the show, including a Best of Show award and a People's Voice award, as voted by the CNET audience. (Source)

Dirt Bike Riding Snow-Covered Mountain Tops

Riding Grand Junction, Colorado's snow-covered mountain tops.

Infographic: Geeks vs. Nerds

In the ongoing battle between geek and nerd, one must take sides, but how can this be done without a solid argument for both personas? We here at Masters In IT (a mix of nerds and geeks) decided that it's time to lay all the cards on the table to determine which is better and answer the question some fear to know: Are you a geek, or a nerd? (Source)

Sheena Iyengar: How to make choosing easier (Avoiding Choice Overload)

We all want customized experiences and products -- but when faced with 700 options, consumers freeze up. With fascinating new research, Sheena Iyengar demonstrates how businesses (and others) can improve the experience of choosing. (Source)

LaGreca, O'Neill, Suskind: The Rise and Fall of Wall St.

"Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, Paul O’Neill, the famously candid Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush and a 2008 adviser to Barack Obama, and Jesse LaGreca (blogger and writer for Daily Kos and Occupy Wall Street activist) meet for a high-voltage conversation about the rise, fall and bailout of Wall Street, the perils of speaking truth to power, and the tough choices ahead for America." (Source)

Great Moments Of 2011

A compilation of clips from 2011

The Day The LOLcats Died - #SOPA #PIPA Protest Song

SOPA and PIPA are two examples of recent legislation that is lethal to the internet as we know it. The internet rose up and is on its way to successfully fighting them off, but we need to stay vigilant.

The only way to prevent legislation like this from being passed in the future is to call your Congressmen and tell them. Make it clear that you don't support SOPA, you don't support PIPA, and that you won't support future legislation that damages the stability of the internet.

For more information, visit:

http://www.SeattleAgainstSOPA.com

http://bit.ly/lifeaftersopa

http://stopcensorship.org/

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p-TV4jaCMk)

Samsung's Smart Window (CES 2012)

Check out the "Smart Window" technology at the Samsung booth at CES 2012.

Digital Carpet - Interactive Digital Signage

I really like the idea of "Digital Carpet" as a user interface. This video is two years old, and I am surprised the concept has not taken off. I can really see a million applications for this technology, especially for children's learning and game software.

Fotoshop by Adobé (Funny Fake Commercial)

This commercial isn't real, neither are society's standards of beauty.

Why Some Women Stay Single

Does YOUR cat act suspiciously when Valentine's Day comes around?

Mieders Alpine Coaster (with no brakes!!)

This is a single-pipe alpine coaster in Mieders, Austria. You reach the summit via a cablecar and then sit on a small car with a brake lever and off you go.

Cat Plays Fruit Ninja on iPad

How Tower Crane Are Setup

Tower Crane always seem to be part of almost any metropolitan cityscape that I have been too. These cranes are a critical tool in the construction of modern skyscrapers. Although for years I wondered how they were setup. I answered my own question by spending a few minutes to do a YouTube search.

30-story building built in 15 days*** Construction time lapse

From the YouTube Description:" What can you accomplish in 360 hours?

The Chinese sustainable building company, Broad Group, has yet attempted another impossible feat, building a 30-story tall hotel prototype in 360 hours, after building a 15-story building in a week earlier in 2011.

You may ask why in a hurry, and is it safe? The statistics in the video can put you in good faith. Prefabricated modular buildings has many advantages over conventional buildings.

Higher precision in fabrication (+/- 0.2mm).
More coordinated on-site construction management.
Shorter construction time span.
Lower construction waste.
Also many other health and energy features are included in Broad Sustainable Buildings (BSB)

The building was built over last Christmas time and finished before New Years Eve of 2012."

Taking Out GE's Trash

Deals with overcoming the challenges of converting trash from a waste stream back into reusable materials.

Best of Web HD

A compilation of the best HD video in recent months.

Speeding Around The World in Under 5 minutes Time Lapse

17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs.

Why Cities Grow, Corporations Die, and Life Gets Faster

Summary: As organisms, cities, and companies scale up, they all gain in efficiency, but then they vary. The bigger an organism, the slower. Yet the bigger a city is, the faster it runs. And cities are structurally immortal, while corporations are structurally doomed. Scaling up always creates new problems; cities can innovate faster than the problems indefinitely, while corporations cannot.

IMHO: Its a long video but has some great information about how cities and corporation grow and die.

Will We Ever Understand the Brain?

Summary: "As neuroscientists are learning more and more about our body's hidden frontier, we have gained fleeting insights into our own intuition, habits and seemingly unexplainable preferences. Can we solve those mysteries by creating a complete computer model of our brain? Or, is the brain an unsolvable puzzle? Two leading neuroscientists discuss these question and more as we look into the neurology of the brain."

African Bull Frog Plays Ant Crusher

The video is of an African Bull Frog playing the Ant Crusher game on a smart phone.

"Firewall" (Don't Let Our Government Ruin The Internets)

Leah Kauffman wrote this song taking aim at the Stop Online Piracy Act (aka SOPA). She is also the singer/songwriter behind the 2007 song "I Got a Crush on Obama".

Kindness Boomerang - "One Day"

Watch as the camera tracks an act of kindness as its passed from one individual to the next and manages to boomerang back to the person who set it into motion.

End of the World Parody (CollegeHumor)

Funniest News Report of all Times

What do you get when you have a 48 Ton Dead Whale, and a half ton of dynamite? Watch the video to find out what happens. Not amazingly, there is a web site dediciated to this event (theexplodingwhale.com)

Yoav Medan: Ultrasound surgery -- healing without cuts

Imagine having a surgery with no knives involved. At TEDMED, surgeon Yoav Medan shares a technique that uses MRI to find trouble spots and focused ultrasound to treat such issues as brain lesions, uterine fibroids and several kinds of cancerous growths.

Awesome Projects on KickStarter

Below is a list of my favorite projects that I am watching on KickStarter. If you're not familiar with the KickStarter site, its dedicated to crowd funding small projects that could be the next awesome thing by pooling together money contributed by lots of different people.  If a project gets fully funded the project creator gets the money, if the full funding is not reached then the contributors get their money back.

Printrbot: Your First 3D Printer
Excerpt from the project Kickstarter page: "I designed the Printrbot to be the simplest 3D printer yet. There are some great kits out there - the Makerbot, the Ultimaker, the Prusa Mendel, and others - but none as small and simple as the Printrbot. This all-in-one 3D printer kit can be assembled and printing in a couple of hours. Other kits will not only take you many more hours to build, they will also have hundreds more parts, and they will cost more. My design also does away with the finicky calibration and adjustment from which most 3D printers suffer. This is the printer a kid could put together. We assemble the electronics, we assemble the hotend, and we put the connectors on all the motors and components... no soldering required!" (more information)




Multi-Touch Keyboard and Mouse
Excerpt from the project Kickstarter page: "Multi-Touch keyboards and mice are the next generation in computer peripherals. These elegant well made devices are composed of quality tempered glass, a solid metal base, and the finest components. They are designed using simple existing technology and have no moving parts. They have rechargeable Lithium Polymer batteries and are completely wireless. The tactile sounds and lighting can be turned on or off per the users' preference plus they are coffee and doughnut resistant!" (more information)



Teagueduino: Learn to Make
Excerpt from the project Kickstarter page: "Teagueduino is an open source electronic board and interface that allows you to realize creative ideas without soldering or knowing how to code, while teaching you the ropes of programming and embedded development (like arduino). Teagueduino is designed to help you discover your inner techno-geek and embrace the awesomeness of making things in realtime — even if you’ve only ever programmed your VCR." (more information)



Twine : Listen to your world, talk to the Internet
Excerpt from the project Kickstarter page: "Want to hook up things to the Web? Maybe you want to get a tweet when your laundry's done, or get an email when the basement floods while you're on vacation. Even if you're good with electronics and programming, these are involved projects. Instead of worrying about wiring or networking code, you can focus on your idea." (more information)



BoardX: The Open Source Miniature Motherboard
Excerpt from the project Kickstarter page: "BoardX is a collection of electronic circuit boards that stack on top of one another to share resources, communicate, and extend the functionality of one another. This system is built on the motherboard that acts as both an electrical and structural foundation." (more information)

Google’s Graphing Calculator (new feature)

Google introduced a new feature recently in the search result page which is the ability to plot mathematical functions and display using an interactive graphing calculator functionality. For example, if you type in a function like sin(x) and you’ll see an interactive graph on the top of the search results page.

Cheryl Hayashi: The magnificence of spider silk

Cheryl Hayashi studies spider silk, one of nature's most high-performance materials. Each species of spider can make up to 7 very different kinds of silk. How do they do it? Hayashi explains at the DNA level -- then shows us how this super-strong, super-flexible material can inspire.

Luis von Ahn: Massive-scale online collaboration

After re-purposing CAPTCHA so each human-typed response helps digitize books, Luis von Ahn wondered how else to use small contributions by many on the Internet for greater good. At TEDxCMU, he shares how his ambitious new project, Duolingo, will help millions learn a new language while translating the Web quickly and accurately -- all for free.

Thomas Barnett: The Pentagon's new map for war and peace

In this bracingly honest and funny talk, international security strategist Thomas P.M. Barnett outlines a post-Cold War solution for the foundering US military: Break it in two. He suggests the military re-form into two groups: a Leviathan force, a small group of young and fierce soldiers capable of swift and immediate victories; and an internationally supported network of System Administrators, an older, wiser, more diverse organization that actually has the diplomacy and power it takes to build and maintain peace.

Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad Science

Every day there are news reports of new health advice, but how can you know if they're right? Doctor and epidemiologist Ben Goldacre shows us, at high speed, the ways evidence can be distorted, from the blindingly obvious nutrition claims to the very subtle tricks of the pharmaceutical industry.

William Shatner's Steps to Unfriending Recovery

...LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW! (Awesome Video Compilation))

Here is the list of videos used to make this compilation.

Justin Hall-Tipping: Freeing energy from the grid

What would happen if we could generate power from our windowpanes? In this moving talk, entrepreneur Justin Hall-Tipping shows the materials that could make that possible, and how questioning our notion of 'normal' can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs.

Cynthia Kenyon: Experiments that hint of longer lives

What controls aging? Biochemist Cynthia Kenyon has found a simple genetic mutation that can double the lifespan of a simple worm, C. Elegans. The lessons from that discovery, and others, are pointing to how we might one day significantly extend youthful human life.

Britta Riley: A garden in my apartment (Window Farms)

Britta Riley wanted to grow her own food (in her tiny apartment). So she and her friends developed a system for growing plants in discarded plastic bottles -- researching, testing and tweaking the system using social media, trying many variations at once and quickly arriving at the optimal system. For more information, check out RNDIY.ORG

Phil Plait: How to defend Earth from asteroids

hat's six miles wide and can end civilization in an instant? An asteroid - and there are lots of them out there.

The US Stop Online Piracy Act: A primer

Computerworld reports: "The Stop Online Piracy Act, the subject of a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Wednesday, has generated heated debate since lawmakers introduced it on Oct. 26.

The bill, called SOPA, would allow the U.S. Department of Justice and copyright holders to seek court orders requiring online advertising networks, payment processors and other organizations to stop payments to websites and Web-based services accused of copyright infringement." (Read the rest of the article)

Advantages of Thorium Reactors

Motherboard TV has created a documentary called The Thorium Dream, that discusses some the great advantages of Thorium based nuclear reactors. The video points out that Thorium is considered more abundant, safer, has less waste, and can't be utilized as weapons grade material vs uranium.

The problem in the US is that our systems for creating nuclear material are built around uranium because it can be used for both generating power and weapons.

(watch the video here)

The Thorium Dream (Trailer)

Adrien Treuille: Crowdsourcing science

Can gaming cure disease? By creating games like EteRNA for protein folding and nano-engineering, Adrien Treuille and his colleagues are outsourcing research, each week scoring and then actually synthesizing top players' work. By studying players' strategies, scientists can improve their computer modeling while also creating new ways to fight disease.