App: TED by Venue M
Category: Education
Price: Free
Associated websites: http://www.ted.com, TED on iTunes
Do you know TED? TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and refers to a conference that has taken place in California every February for the past 25 years. Their tagline is ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and indeed they are. Fifty speakers with a unique experience or body of knowledge have an 18-minute slot. These talks are recorded and made freely available on their website in audio and video versions.
You can listen to a neuroscientist personally describe the experience of suffering a stroke; a unique opportunity in her line of work. Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, talks about the career and life prospects of drug dealers versus minimum wage earners, while astronomer Jill Tarter talks persuasively about the work of the SETI Institute.
Discovering TED is a bit of a revelation for information junkies and much of the content is timeless, inspiring, entertaining and generally incredibly informative.
The app version links through to the website and makes finding the hundreds of talks easier. You can easily subscribe to the talks via iTunes, which is handy when wifi isn’t available for streaming. In this instance, the TED app icon is more of a reminder of the great content on offer.
The app currently features 142 audio talks and 309 video presentations, each with a summary. You can mark them as favourites or forward the link to a friend. Spread the word about the TED iPhone app.
Michelle Matthews is the founder of the Melbourne-based publishing company Deck of Secrets. In November 2008, the company launched its first iPhone app – DRINK. Melbourne. It now offers 10 apps, with more on the way. Michelle’s iPhone has all 11 app screens filled, with dozens more in iTunes.
