Industrial design and human factors legend Niels Diffrient talks at TED about his quest to design the perfect chair. In full director’s commentary, Niels shares how he redesigned a chair by looking at the human body in all aspects, including the user experience of using a chair.

Why can’t furniture fit like a suit?
- Niels Diffrient

Pattie Maes, founder of the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab, speaks at TED in depth about the project Sixth Sense in collaboration with Pranav Mistry. While the project has received far spread interest and the availability of a short video earlier, Pattie’s talk at TED has now been released. Check it out to see many more demonstrations and potential applications for the Sixth Sense technology.

Scott McCloud, author of several books including Understanding Comics, presents at TED a sketch of his life growing up and and a look into the future of comics. After a brief overview of understanding comics, the meat of the presentation lies in how the medium has moved from printed media and into fully interactive mediums such as those offered through the computer.

Evan Williams, founder of Blogger, ODEO, and most recently Twitter talks at TED about the amazing uses Twitter is seeing. With just 140 characters, but complete mobility, people are using the micro-publishing platform to broadcast their status, coordinate with others, and monitor any and every type of activity.

Bill Gross, founder of Idealab, talks about his persuit of cost effective solar energy. Using new technology and applying genetic algorithms, Bill’s team has re-used old inventions to fit modern applications.

Johnny Lee, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon, has made it big by tinkering with the Wii Remote and posting videos of his ‘Hacks’ on his website.  From 3D head tracking, to low-cost whiteboards, Johnny is making the $40 wand (1024×768 infrared camera, 3-axis accelerometer, with expansion port) worth every penny and more.

World renowned artist and scientist Theo Jansen speaks at TED. Jansen describes how he constructs incredible self sufficient animals using evolutionary algorithms.

Jeff Hawkins, known for his work in the field of PDAs such as the Palm and Treo, is now pioneering new theories in regards to brain science.

MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld shares a convincing view on how personal fabrication labs are the next step after the digital revolution. At the Center for Bits and Atoms, Neil’s team works to build Fab Labs aimed at developing programmable molecular assemblers that will be able to make almost anything.

The killer app of personal fabrication is products for the market of one person.
- Neil Gershenfeld

Saul Griffith, an inventor at Squid Labs, shares his work on designing and programming physical materials to behave and function in innovative ways.