The Velocity Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan recently brought together a collection of experts to discuss the future of cities. We’ve highlighted a selection of the most inspiring ideas.

The TED Conference continues to expand its influence, this time with kids. As part of its TEDx Series, the organizers of last week’s TEDxSMU Conference have organized the very first TED Conference for kids.

‘Rockjazz’ pianist 36-year-old Eric Lewis a.k.a Elew played at TED Long Beach, California, in February this year to an audience that was impressed enough to give him a standing ovation. Elew’s style is difficult to describe. He studied piano as a child and later at the Manhattan School of Music. He then played for the Lincoln Center Jazz Troupe and toured with jazz greats Wynton Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson before breaking off to go it on his own. His individual style – he often stands when he plays, reaches into the piano to pull its strings and contorts his face [...]

Yesterday marked the unveiling of the TED prize, an annual award given to 3 ‘world-changers’ granting them each $100K to fulfill their philanthropic wish.

We attended the Chelsea, NYC screening of the event, sponsored by TED, to (remotely) take part in the live unveiling as well as get a sense of the local TEDophile community. The community, however, was distinctly missing.  Whether it was NYC’s brutally cold weather, low interest or poor promoting, only about 15 people showed up to the large theatre (the crowd at the award ceremony seemed kind

Microsoft’s Photosynth technology originally debuted two years ago, but it continues to impress us with its implications for photography in user generated digital environments.  When the developer, Aguera y Arcas, spoke to the crowd at the 2007 TED conference, he described the Photosynth project as taking “data from the entire collective memory of what the earth looks like…All of those photos become linked together, and they make something emergent—greater than the sum of their parts.”
Photosynth technology was recently seen implemented on a massive scale during the inauguration, when CNN asked viewers to contribute their own photos to create an enormous [...]

I had an email exchange with TED’s PR over the weekend. They were sending me details of a new membership to TED that allowed 10 friends to watch videos of 2009’s TED live. This follows the $4,000 ticket simulacast at Palm Springs – the idea there is that you get to hobnob with the rest of the B-listers while you watch where the action’s at in Long Beach.
The contents of the Press Release included:
In an exciting new chapter of TED’s ongoing mission to share “Ideas Worth Spreading,” organizers of the TED Conference today announced the launch of a [...]