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As you and I sit here like dopes in front of our computers, a swarm of alpha nerds are basking in the Long Beach sun and enjoying TED2012. Only two talks from the show have been released so far, and they have somewhat differing messages: Abundance is Our Future (by Peter Diamandis) and The Earth is Full (by Paul Gilding). I'll go ahead and embed the latter, as it's a bit more depressing:
But I Want More!
Well, it's a tough gig, but somebody's gotta liveblog the entire conference. No, really! The Guardian's intrepid Carole Cadwalladr is posting dispatches from the conference, including some snippets that are delightfully bonkers when taken out of context. Here, let me decontextualize some of yesterday's coverage for you:
8.48am: ...And what if we could use lightning as GPS? 9.16am: Also, I have to mention that at the opening night party last night, I stumbled on two roboticists have a conversation about teledildonics. And, yes, I've checked. That is an actual word. 9.45am: Ah...there's some sort of crowd-sourcing dancey performance art on now. Men in bodystockings throwing beach balls. 10.04am: The drones have taken over an electric organ and a proto-xylophone. And they're playing the James Bond theme tune! 12.40pm: Right. They're singing about pigeons dying now. I'll spare you the details...
Okay, that's enough cribbing from Cadwalladr's brilliance. You really just have to read it -- this is coverage by a nerd, for nerds, of nerds -- wonderful stuff.
The Party Line
If the live blog doesn't cut it for you, check out the official TED blog, featuring still photography and summaries of the talks. This is also where you'll find video as it's posted -- and it's slowly trickling out, as we're just starting the third day of the conference now. There's also a TED2012 Conference Page that includes a feed of @TEDNews, a boon for the Twitter-addicted (though @TEDchris is slightly more exciting). You can also watch the conference via live streaming video if you have a TED Live membership (but don't go rushing to buy -- membership starts at $995, though a good chunk of that is tax-deductible).
You might also appreciate the Program Guide, which tells us that today we'll see talks from John Hodgman, Jon Ronson, Philippe Petit, and Liz Diller (among many others).
Nanocopters Perform Bond Theme
To tide you over until more session videos are posted, here's (non-TED) video of Vijay Kumar's swarm of nanocopters performing the Bond theme:
Back to the Live Blog
As it approaches 8:30am Pacific, Cadwalladr is presumably about to begin Thursday coverage. I'm getting my popcorn. Oh, breaking news! Kumar's talk on "agile aerial robots" has just been posted!