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TED2006

Posted by _tango! on March 1, 2006
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, tech, TED, thoughts. Leave a Comment
TED2006

TED TED TED. What more can I say. It is by FAR THE BEST brain charging, mind-boggling confernece I have ever been to. It’s a life changing experience that is hard to explain. I’ve been fortunate to attend the last 4 TEDs (Technology, Entertainment, Design) and just returned from TED2006. Instead of writing about every single amazzzzing event, I’ll link to some other blogs articles on the conference. Otherwise, some of my highlights were:

1. AL GORE (he is seriously funny)
2. Tony Robbins (what an energizer)
3. Ken Robinson (Man with wonderful words)
4. Playing in a Drum circle at midnight with a bunch of CEOs, Directors, managers, all from fortune 500 companies.
5. Drinking, eating, chillin, with those same people at a private monterey aquarium party.(FABULOUS!)
6. Drinking, chatting, brainstorming with the same peeps at the bar across the street.
7. Watching, listening, laughing, at Charles Fleisher. (Probably one of the most talented, smartests, and funny people on earth)
8. Listening to an 11 yr old violinist zip through some tough classical pieces.
9. TOM RIELLY (As always, a man that sees it all)
10. Beach Party. Great converesations, great weather, great people!
11. Being amazzed at Dynamo.
12. Sitting next to Sergey Brin, Charles Fleischer, Danny Hillis, Peter Gabriel, and Chee Pearlman, all at the same time, watching a session.
13. Watching the Children of Uganda dance!!!!! Unbelievable!!!
14. Listening to Larry Brilliant. Watch the webcast with the other 2 winners.
15. Realizing I was at TED again…TED’s a knowledge heaven that really exisits.

Too many highlights to talk about, but here are some other blogs to check out.

TED blog
Ethan Zuckerman
Bruno Giussani
Tom Guarriello
Lone Ronin
Kate Trgovac
Loic le Meur
Renee Blodgett

Name Voyager

Posted by _tango! on February 13, 2006
Posted in: entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration. 1 comment
Name Voyager

Have you ever wondered how popular your name was as a baby? Name voyager creates a visual diagram of baby name populations in the past 100+ years. Its interesting to see how some names just boom certain years..perhaps due to a rock star, movie, song, movement, etc.
Also reminds me of this discussion I had with a friend questioning the social implications of a persons life based on their childhood names. If any of you have info on this, please comment.
Anyhow, give it a try, type in your name, and watch the dynamic diagram flow.Name Voyager

Dry Liquid! Novec 1230(sapphire)

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: ideas, information, inspiration, materials, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Dry Liquid! Novec 1230(sapphire) Sapphire is an uberliciously new liquid designed to fight fires, without killing the electronics. It’s high tension structure beads off of any surface pretty much making it a dry liquid . You can sink your laptop in a pool of this liquid and type away with no worries. I’d love to have a big pool of this stuff, go swimming in it with my cloths on, walk out, let it all bead off in a few seconds, and continue on with the same cloths….anyhow, I’m still trying to get my hands on this stuff, but apparently you have to be affiliated with the fire department to order it.

Popular Science Article
ABC Good Morning America, dunking a laptop in a tank of it.

all look the same..do we?

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, me. 3 comments
all look the same test

Are you asian, or think you can tell the difference between someone thats japaneses, chinese, korean, etc? This is a great classic site thats been up for years to test your asian awareness-ism. They give you 20 some images, and you vote for what ethnicity that person looks like. I got 13/20..not too bad…do we really all look the same to some people? There needs to be a european version of this test..take the test!

update: They have expanded the “looks like” test with extra cultural test ranging from Food, Art, Architecture, and much more in their new Exam Room. I got 15/18 on the food test 😉

Hyper Sonic Sound

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment
Hyper Sonic Sound

Hyper Sonic Sound, HSS, are uber cool directional speakers invented by Woody Norris. What are they, well, basically, if I stuck a flashlight in front of the speaker, only people within the lights cone would be able to hear what I was broadcasting. It’s the strangest feeling. First you hear it, then you dont . The other wow factor is you cant tell which direction the sound is coming from. I don’t quite understand how it works, but I’ve had the chance to play with and have never seen or heard anything like it. When someone points the speaker at you, it sounds like there’s a speaker inside of you, playing through your lungs or sum something. It’s mad weird!!!!! but uber cooool!
There’s another invention like it called the audiospotlight done by a MIT graduate. Anyhow, I’m not sure what the future of sound is, but this is for sure one revolutionary step for it.Hyper Sonic Speakers
Audio Spotlight (holosonic)

TED conference

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, tech, TED, thoughts. Leave a Comment
TED conference

The TED Conference(Technology, Entertainment, Design) is perhaps the most unbelievable gathering of mind-provoking, astonishing, inspirational, diverse, and life changing conferences I have ever been to. I could rant on for pages about it, but check out their webpage and look at the speakers list and imagine if all the attendees were just as amazzzzing. Only about 1000 people are invited each year. I’ve been extremely fortunate to work for and attend the conference since 2003. The TED conference is a mind-boggling experience taken place in Monterey CA each year.TED conference
Ze Frank (The guy presenting above)

Google Earth

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: brand, entertainment, experience, fun, information, inspiration, tech, thoughts. 1 comment
Google Earth

Google Earth!! What more can I say. This is an Amazzzing program. I used it before Google owned it (Keyhole) and have been hooked ever since. I cant stress how much I love this program. I rarely use google maps anymore. There are a ton of great features, and the list will only get better, though, I was dissapointed that google got rid of the vectored abilities that keyhole allowed.DOWNLOAD IT, USE IT, and travel around the world within a few twitches of your finger. You’ll be amazed, hooked, and looking up everything.

Google Earth

ElekTex

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: brand, design, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment
ElekTex

ElekTex is one of the pioneers in electronic fabrics. I have a real soft spot for their technology because I’m getting tired of plastic and metal tech products. There’s something about soft electronics that’s soooo freakin cool.
Personally, I think softer electronics will bring a nostalgic sense and emotional value that most electronics don’t have. I mean, seriously, you throw away cell phones, laptops, tv’s, mp3 players yearly, but there’s something about those old t-shirts, blankets, teddy bears, baseballs, and other such soft items that easily attach to you.elektex

Aerogel

Posted by _tango! on February 12, 2006
Posted in: information, materials, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment
Aerogel

When it comes to innovative materials, i’m a total sucker for them. Aerogel is a ridiculously amazzzing material that weighs next to nothing and feels like your holding a frozen piece of smoke in your hand. This is the same stuff NASA uses to catch comet trails in space! This material is 99.9% air, reflects all heat, is super cool looking and has some great future application ahead of it.aerogel

update: here’s a video of it!