About TED, TEDx, etc

Applying Hanselman's advice about conserving one's key strokes, & since I've been asked about TED, TEDx, TEDx Nile lately a couple of times, I'll sum up all the answers (to the questions I was asked) in one blog post to refer people to it whenever I'm asked again :D

So, first TED is a a foundation, that is mainly focused on sharing Technology, Entertainment, & Design ideas (that's where the name TED, comes from) through (mainly) a series of conferences held across Asia, Europe, US. There's also a TED prize for the best idea. TED later decided to share their talks with the world through their website. Also, the talks aren't bounded by technology, entertainment, & design ideas anymore..

Later, another project called TEDx was started. That's independently organized events (aka independent from TED foundation) where people share their ideas, or watch TED videos & discuss the ideas, in a TED-like environment/format.

Since TEDx project started, a lot of people -here in Egypt- were really anxious about bringing such an experience to us. The first one that came to my knowledge was TEDx Cairo, I was then introduced to TEDx Nile(which is the only & first TEDx in Egypt to come to reality, as far as I know), & TEDx Giza.Yet, I need to add that a fellow twitter pal claims that TEDx Giza was the first initiative :)

For more about the topic you might wanna read:
Wikipedia entry about TED
TEDx Introductory video
Review by fellow TEDster أحمد المهدى مسعود
My review about TEDx Nile (April 1st, 2010)
TEDx Nile hype on twitter
TEDx Arabia
My favoorite Talks & speakers