This website is on a mission and it will take you with it. Ted.com is the website of TED (technology, entertainment, design): an annual conference in California for “ideas worth spreading”; ideas that this organisation believes can change the world and people’s way of thinking.

At this conference, there are many 18-minute TED talks with speakers previously including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The topics explored range from global issues, technological advances, science, poetry, live music, life-coaching and even mathemagics.

The beauty of this website is that many of these invitation-only talks are available to watch for free on Ted.com. Around 400 talks are currently uploaded and have been viewed over 90 million times.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m8YaW6JBZQ[/youtube]

There is something about watching these talks that reels you in. It will become an obsession. It’s like YouTube with purpose. You can dip into Richard Dawkin’s exploration of the “queer universe” and then switch over to watch a live performance of jazz piano or learn how Bonnie Bossler thinks bacteria communicate (if you really want to). Whatever you’re passionate about, you’ll find a talk and viewpoint about it here.

All the thinkers and doers who share their human experience, wisdom, knowledge and, sometimes, unconventional ideas at TED, manage to inspire, excite and, simply, spread ideas. The internet had never had such a power of oratory before.

Helen Fisher talks about the science of love and the future of women:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ewvCNguug[/youtube]