Mike Ball

We are all packed (except for necessities) and I’m at loose ends for the next few days, so I’ve been catching up on TedTalks. I’ve mentioned a few of them here before.

Here’s one I especially like: Norman Foster: Building on the green agenda.

I have a few special reasons for liking it. First, it explains how architecture is solving the problems of living, not just making beautiful things. Second, it talks about Buckminster Fuller, who is one of the great minds of the 20th century and a personal hero of mine. Finally it explains just how computers are letting architectures build much more efficient buildings.

The kind of computing he’s talking about is called High Performance Technical Computing (HPC), and although the hardware is getting steadily cheaper, is still very hard to write the programs. When I decided to join MicroSoft in 2006, it was because they told me that we could set up a group to make writing HPC programs much easier. Then MS decided that they weren’t going to do it, because there wasn’t a big enough market. I still think they blew it. Finally, I left.

Enjoy the video. If you really like it, subscribe to the podcast and watch more of them.

I know I should have been keeping this up to date, and there really is lots to report on (we now own a house in Oregon), but I’ve just seen a talk and demonstration that really inspired me. Tod Machover at the MIT Media Lab has been experimenting with new ways to play music, and closes with a demo of a man with cerebral palsy playing his own composition. His talk also features some amazing facts about how people interact with music and a clip of Yo Yo Ma playing the hyper-cello! Just watch it.

Oh, and would you believe a robot opera?