Technology Entertainment and Design (TED)

The brilliant expositions, profound vignettes, distillations of wisdom, and general ruminations from this annual conference are online and also available on iTunes -- definitely worth checking out!

My favorites so far:
David Deutsch - on being improbable
Jeff Han - multitouch (now seen in the iPhone and Microsoft Surface)
David Pogue - humorous musical takes (a la Tom Lehrer) on software
Tony Robbins - motivational speaker and life coach
Hans Rosling - making demographic statistics (and swordswallowing) come alive
Seth Godin - sliced bread and marketing by being risky
Jeff Bezos - the early days of the electric industry... and the internet
Rick Warren - a purpose-driven talk -- what is in your hand?
Barry Schwartz - choices make us less happy
Steven Levitt - the freakonomics of Chicago gangs
Jeff Hawkins - the brain as a prediction engine

Meebo Rooms

Meebo has introduced chatrooms, in which multiple people can use a web interface instant messaging (IM) client to communicate with each other. This is a combination of IRC and IM, along with a web interface. (Unfortunately, this is not fully integrated with MSN, Jabber or other existing IM systems, and the chat must take place within the meebo system).

In addition, the Meebo Rooms are video-enabled, such that sending a message that contains a URL of a video (e.g. YouTube) will result in that video appearing in a video window inside the Meebo chatroom. This makes it more convenient to share videos with a group and have a discussion about it in real-time.

Here is my meebo room, which is most likely empty.

Essays on software and startups

Recently, I have read through two excellent essay collections on software and startups: Joel on Software and Paul Graham.

These essays have been very insightful in terms of understanding the mindset of an entrepreneur, and also provide handy straightforward advice. What I find impressive is how they take ideas which might be present in nascent form in many people's minds, and analyze them in full length essays that go far beyond the usual depth of a blog entry. These essays cover topics such as the divergent incentives of VCs and employees, bad reasons to not start a startup, the sociology of nerddom, and why software talent matters.