Bill Gates' mosquito stunt: What really happened at TED today |
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Bill Gates' mosquito stunt: What really happened at TED today
Yes, they were real. No, they didn't carry malaria. And they definitely didn't qualify as a swarm. But they sure did get a lot of attention.
That's the word from a reliable source after the Microsoft chairman set the tech world, ahem, abuzz by opening a jar of mosquitos at the TED conference today -- reportedly telling the crowd that not only poor people should experience the problem. We made a few calls and found out that the jar contained a relatively modest collection of mosquitoes: more than a few, but probably fewer than ten.
The dramatic move was meant to highlight the issue of malaria, which was one of two subjects of Gates' talk at the hip conference. (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design.) Gates also spoke about education. For a good rundown, see this detailed blog post by Ethan Zuckerman. A video is also expected, and we'll link to it when it's available.
In the meantime, TED's Chris Anderson had the line of the day, saying that the headline for the talk should have been, "Gates releases more bugs to the world."
Update: Here's the video. Thanks to Benjamin for pointing it out below.
[Flickr photo: naturegirl 78]
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Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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