TED Talk: Ryan Merkley demos Popcorn

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Today, a powerful new Popcorn Maker demo makes its debut on TED.com, showcasing Popcorn’s potential to change the way the world tells stories on the web.

Mozilla Chief Operating Officer, Ryan Merkley, presented Popcorn Maker with a live demo at TED Global in Edinburgh on June 29. The online tool, developed as part of Mozilla’s Webmaker program, makes it easy for anyone to add live content to any video — photos, maps, social media feeds and more.

Video beyond the box

Video arrived on the web in a small box, separated from the incredible data and content all around it,” says Merkley. “Popcorn changes all of that.”

“Videos created with Popcorn behave like the rest of the web — dynamic, full of links, completely remixable, and finally able to break beyond the box.”

Popcorn + TED Talks in action

Mozilla is also experimenting with TED Talks in other ways. Today the Popcorn team released this remix of a TED Talk from Dr. Beau Lotto, adding a clickable layer of information that anyone can add to, edit or remix.

Working with content from TED was a great way to test the new Popcorn Maker app we’ve been working on over the past year,” says Brett Gaylor, Director of the Popcorn Project at Mozilla. “We used it to add add links, Wikipedia articles, images and maps directly to the video, weaving opportunities to learn more and go deeper right into the talk.”

“At TED, we’re excited by the potential of Popcorn Maker to create an ecosystem of deeper, richer information around TED Talks — from our editorial team, from speakers, and from you, our audience.” —TED.com

Launching Popcorn Maker 1.0 at the Mozilla Festival

In November, Mozilla will launch Popcorn Maker 1.0 at the Mozilla Festival in London, UK. In the mean time, we’re making this new beta version available for testing to coincide with today’s TED talk launch. While the team is still polishing the final release, this beta is fully functional and ready for anyone eager for a first look.

Get involved

About TED

TED  is a nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading” from the technology,   entertainment and design worlds. On TED.com, they make the best talks and performances available to the world, for free.

Open source in action

Popcorn Maker has been built by many Mozillians, including the contributor community for the Popcorn.js framework that powers the tool, talented team-members like Bobby Richter, Jon Buckley, Kate Hudson, Scott Downe and Ben Moskowitz, and Mozilla’s unique partnership with Toronto’s Seneca College. Popcorn Maker would be impossible without students Christopher de Cairos, Matthew Schranz and David Seifreid, led by instructor David Humphrey.


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