Ah yes, as I start to mentally gear up for my annual SXSW Interactive and Film Conference trip, I am reminded that there is always a cooler conference. TED is going on in Monterey, California right now. TED stands for "Technology Entertainment Design" and is a gathering of the big brains in those fields talking and performing for each other and generally feeling really, really smart about everything. You have to either be invited to TED, or you have to ask to be invited and pay them several thousand bucks. Here are some interesting TED-related links that I've stumbled across in the last couple of days...
- Boing Boing's Mark Frauenfelder has been live-blogging from the conference, recapping all of the interesting talks and performances he's seen. The posts are littered throughout BB today and yesterday.
- BIL is the cutely named open-source counter conference to TED, held this weekend for free in Monterey. Standing for "Breeding. Intelligence. Luminary." it's sort of like what Slamdance is to Sundance, I suppose.
- Burlington-based start up Kluster.com is at TED showing off their cool social network/brainstorming web app. They posted video of (a very nerd-chic attired) Robin Williams stopping by and goofing with them at their booth. (via Vermont Tiger)