Posts in category: Video/Talk

TED Talk. Sean Follmer: Shape-shifting tech

TED Talk. Sean Follmer: Shape-shifting tech will change work

21.02.2016

Computers can do a million different things and run a million different applications. Yet, they have the same static physical form and the same static interface elements as well: computers don’t allow us to interact with our hands and capture the rich dexterity that we have in our bodies. Sean Follmer’s belief is that new types of interfaces can capture these abilities, that they can physically adapt to us and thus allow us to interact in completely new ways.

Sean Follmer is building a future with machines that bring information to life while you are working with it. Watch this amazing video!

Sean Follmer is a human-computer interaction researcher who designs shape-changing and deformable interfaces. An Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, he teaches the design of smart and connected devices and leads research at the intersection between human-computer interaction (HCI) and robotics.

Header image: Screenshot from TED video.

A monk on a rooftop in the Himalayans. Copyright: Marco Roth

Bhutan and Nepal: Mountains, Monks and Tigers

15.02.2016

A guest post by Marko Roth

We succumbed to the fascination of Buddhism and Hinduism and eavesdropped on monks praying in Bhutan temples. We admired indigenous people performing spiritual dances in colourful fortresses, traversed the valley of Paro on horseback and cooled down while rafting in Chitwan.

 We lived with the indigenous tribes of Taro, were allured by rhinos and tigers on a safari through Chitwan National Park and took a bath with elephants in Barauli Rivers. We crossed mountain chains at 3,000 meters above sea level, fought with bumpy winding roads, watched the cloudless skies of the Himalayans and Mount Everest and marvelled at crazy Kathmandu streets.
And now, we are back!

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Buddha statues in South Korea

TED Talk. Daniel Levitin: How to stay calm when stressed

24.01.2016

You had a lousy night, overslept, cut yourself shaving, ripped off a button, left your flat in a flurry, forgot to grab the door key from the shelf, got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the airport where you cannot produce your passport for check-in. You now realise, that you had placed it next to the keys on the shelf to remind you of putting both into your wallet … Mishaps like these tend to trigger a chain reaction, if not a vicious circle. Why? Because under stress, our brain releases cortisol, which disables logical thinking and leaves us disoriented in a blur. But we can train ourselves to plan ahead and to get more organised in our daily routine by utilising the power of our hippocampus. A „pre-mortem“ could also help minimise the damage – by anticipating what might happen before it actually does and by having a rescuing scenario ready. One that has been conceived in a calm and controlled situation.

“We all are going to fail now and then,” says Daniel Levitin, the neuroscientist. “The idea is to think ahead to what those failures might be.”

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Algorithm? The image shows balls resembling those used for the Bingo. The TED talk reveals that algorithms reigning the internet can be influenced by human users.

TED Talk. Andreas Ekström: The moral bias behind your search results

18.11.2015

This talk may be well equal to a harsh awakening for uncritical users of the internet! According to Swedish author and journalist Andreas Ekström, it is a philosophical impossibility to ever get unbiased search results. “Behind every algorithm is a person with a set of personal beliefs no code is ever able to eradicate completely.” He explains the power structures of the digital revolution by stating the example (a.o.) of Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who blew up government buildings in the city of Oslo and killed a large group of kids on the island of Utøya. Around 80 people died that day in 2011. Specialists knew that the next thing Breivik would do was to google his own name, a predictable act of vanity. Nikke Lindqvist, a Swedish web developer and search engine optimization expert in Stockholm, understood that immediately and lanced a highly effective campaign. This video talk tells us that we are not helpless after all!

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One can mix concrete - or ideas, and become a multipotentialite.

TED Talk. Emilie Wapnick: Why some of us don’t have a true calling

26.10.2015

You have varied interests, are blessed with subtle potential in a number of fields and a rapid learner? You have changed jobs often because you got bored quickly? Well, then perhaps you are what Emilie Wapnick calls a „multipotentialite“ – a person well-versed in a wide range of disciplines. Multipotentialites are never glued to their comfort zone, readily take on new challenges, are used to being beginners and thus, not afraid to start from scratch – over again. The most intriguing and valuable part may be ascribed to synthesis: by combining two or more areas, something new is being created at the intersection. And this is where innovation happens.

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