This week, we welcomed Jim Hunt to the W+K family. He is our new Head of Technology working with the CT guys, interactive production and the creative department at large, to ensure that our tech output is best-in-class. Jim will also make sure that we're working with the most innovative partners, technologies and platforms, and will generally be our 'Senior' face for all things technology.

He's worked at various places including R/GA, Agency Republic, Tribal and most recently at BBH London as their Technical Director, doing some pretty cool stuff in the process.

I'm back from the TED.

For the fifth year running I had the privilege of
attending the TED Conference in California.

And, as ever, it didn't disappoint.

This year they sourced the speakers in slightly
different way. The TED guys travelled the world and ran an open talent search
on four continents to find new, interesting, inspirational people for talks.
And they sourced half of all the speakers through this process.

It was, without doubt, the best of the five I have
been to.

The talks will be going up online over the course of
the next two to three months but some highlights to watch for are:

SUGATA MITRA

Winner of the 2013 $1m TED Prize to create a 'school in the cloud' in
India. This is a truly remarkable talk and you can watch it here:

JACK ANDRAKA

An amazing kid who invented a methodology to test for pancreatic cancer,
at FIFTEEN! It trounces the existing test in terms of accuracy and costs only
$3, compared to $800.

STEWART BRAND

This is one of those stand-out TED talks that blows the mind. He and his
colleagues have basically created DE-EXTINCTION – how to bring back extinct
animals. This is Jurassic Park, made real.

ELEANOR LONGDON

A remarkable young woman who has learned to live with the permanent
'voices in her head', and not only that but has become a leading psychiatrist
in order to help others with the condition, and to raise awareness of other
'voice hearers'

DANIEL REISEL

Talked through his work studying and working with psychopaths to see if
a psychopath’s brain can be re-programmed to feel empathy. This is worth a
watch – thoughtful, compelling, cogent – to see how we can think differently about
'punishment' and prevent reoffending.

To be honest I could have picked another 35 talks to highlight. It was
great.

Can't wait for next year.

Kevin Chesters