TED Pranked With ‘Color Wheel of Death’ Glitch During Presentation on a Mac
- Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:33pm by
Liz Klimas
- Print »
- Email »
Whether you give a presentation to a couple dozen, hundreds or thousands, when it comes to bringing up your multimedia component, a technical glitch can be your worst nightmare — especially if you’re not one for improv.
A speaker at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference met a familiar foe of Mac users while on stage beginning his presentation. Frequently referred to as a color wheel or beach ball of death, the spinning icon pops up on Macs while the computer “thinks” and remains spinning if the computer stalls.
(Related: Blaze staffers share how they really feel about the Mac ‘Color Wheel of Death’)
If you don't know what the beach ball/color wheel of death looks like, this is an example.
Watch what happens to Colin Robertson who only had three minutes to share his idea about a “solar-powered crowdsourced health care solution” to 1,500 people:
Perhaps you were tipped off to the fact this was a prank when the umbrellas started popping up in the audience, or maybe it was when the glitch went from spinning color wheel to major malfunction, either way the folks at Improv Everywhere had a good time. The Huffington Post reports that even Robertson was part of the prank; his real name is Eugene Cordero.
According to Improv Everywhere’s post on this prank, participants in the beach ball/color wheel/whatever-you-call-it joke were TED attendees themselves. Those who signed up to take a course on Improv Everywhere didn’t even know what they were getting themselves into.
[H/T Daily Rushbo]
Comments (42)
Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In
Popular Stories
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 587 Comments
‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 414 Comments
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 412 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 375 Comments
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 372 Comments
Faith
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 412 Comments
Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 414 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 372 Comments
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 151 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 303 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 412 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
mizflame98
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:47pmWhat was the point?
Report Post »mlcblog
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:07amI think fun, which is a heavy topic of late. Its effects on us.
Report Post »grudgywoof
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 6:47amNow that’s funny! Get a life because what good is life without a bit of fun and surprises.
Report Post »jjrglobal
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 9:23pmThats the gayest **** I’ve ever seen. Is this what passes as funny in the world today? I think it is, just like flash mobs. This generation “zero” likes to prove on a daily basis that it is by far the shittiest generation in the history of people. Once again, mission accomplished kids.
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 10:33pmActually, to this generation it appears as if the generations that have sold them into slavery through ever increasing national debt to fund kickbacks, corporate handouts, corrupt market regulation, and let’s not forget the massive welfare state, are the 5hittie5t generations that have ever been. However, just like with any massive group of people, there are outliers and there are people just as bad as your generation in my generation. But please keep the age discrimination to a minimum lest you cause a violent uprising in the younger generation to throw you under the bus and sell you and your labor potential to a communist nation like China to settle our debts like you are trying to do to us.
Report Post »dave88
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:45pmYou should never do a presentation on a Mac. They are unreliable and pretty much just for kids.
Report Post »Corwin of Amber
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 10:20pmThis kind of petty platform based flaming would offend my kids with the level of immaturity demonstrated. Are you 12?
Report Post »MrObvious
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:38pmMacs are extremely reliable. I leave mine running 24×7, with no issues. It never gets infected. It still runs just as fast now as when I restarted it about a month ago (to install an OS upgrade, which went smoothly). My windows 7 system, at work, reboots itself once every couple of weeks to install security updates, and has an AV running all the time to catch and prevent infections; and, it stays mostly clean, and runs reasonable fast as well; but, of the two, it’s the Mac that out performs the PC in terms of up time, and responsiveness. If have to force-quit apps on the PC way more often than on the Mac. The wheel of death – is usually on an app (at least these days) and not the whole mac. Once upon a time (back around OS 9- equivalent would be windows 98), one rouge app could freeze the whole system. When apple switched to a BSD Unix core, those kinds of problems went away.
Report Post »Snow Leopard has a slight edge on windows 7 in terms of stability and security,
Lion goes beyond that.
Every once in a while my Windows 7 box grinds down to a crawl or hangs altogether, to the point where it needs rebooting. That doesn’t happen on my Mac. Occasionally things used to slow down just enough to interfere with my high def video streams, when I only had 1gb RAM. Upgraded to 8gb, problem solved.
The hardware on my work PC is top notch and very stable. It’s Windows, that has the issues.
ireport uderide
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 9:21amOh no Dave, now you’ve done it. You woke up the priests at the Mac Cathedral.
For more information on the performance of Mac PC’s, you should read.
Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters: And What to Do About Them (964 pages). Found on Amazon with my Windows Vista PC.
With Steve Jobs gone, does that mean Bill Gates wins?
Report Post »Here we go…
Melvin Spittle
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:36pmLooks like they have been pranked by the Patriotic Nigras that plagued Second Life and Anthrocon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvVk9jn-vN0
Report Post »One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:22pmSpinning beach ball of death… lol, that‘s funny and exactly what ’it be’.. ; )
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 8:08pmIt’s what a rainbow molecule looks like…….
Report Post »Or so I just made up.
garylee123
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:57pmHow about some of you out there find out who runs TED and who his wife is on boards with. I have. Same people all the time.
Report Post »82dAirborne
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:55pmFor Pete’s sake!! Do some of you really want ONLY doom & gloom? I sure don’t want to go down that road. Everyone needs a break from the important things from time to time.
P.S. Try reading the headlines…… If it sounds too much on the silly/light side for your taste: DO NOT CLICK ON IT!!
Report Post »llotus
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:52pmThank you Blaze. I didnt know what that thing was……..but I knew I didnt like it. Lotus.
Report Post »NO_MORE_OBAMA
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:05pmThe middle east is going to crap.
Our soldiers are getting blown up by cowards who are to afraid to go man on man.
Our president is a freud and may not actually be a citizen.
Gas prices are going thru the roof.
China has stolen all of our military secrets.
Iran will attack Isreal if they get the nuke.
………. And you think we give a dam about TED or his PR stunt?
WAKE UP ……………. BLAAAAZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Report Post »constantreverie
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:16pmWhy do we have to spend our whole lives consumed grieving? It’s perfectly fun to have fun every now and then while still keeping whole of the big picture. Look how Christ lived his life.
Report Post »bpodlesnik
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:18pmQuit whining. They have those articles everyday of the week.
Report Post »IvanK
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:20pmJeeze, I‘m a HUGE Mac lover but I have to say that this is one of the Blaze’s WORSE articles ever… Why is this worth the text on here? STUPID.
Report Post »majasdad
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 8:18am“The middle east is going to crap.”
No, the people are uprising against evil dictators, eventually leading their countries to democracy.
“Our soldiers are getting blown up by cowards who are to afraid to go man on man.”
Yes, but you forgot to mention (a few of) our soldiers ******* on dead enemy combatants, the insane sergeant who just massacred 16 innocent civilians, the burning of Korans. Now that didn’t help, did it?
“Our president is a freud (I guess you mean a fraud) and may not actually be a citizen.”
No, that issue has already been proven false, and the only people still harping on about it are now generally seen by a huge majority of the population as cuckoo for cocoa-puffs.”
“Gas prices are going thru the roof.”
Seems like the perfect reason for investing in alternative energy sources.
“China has stolen all of our military secrets.”
Industrial espionage happens all the time and has always happened, and no, they haven’t stolen all of our military secrets. You’re just childishly pissed off because China has designed an airplane that looks way more awesome than any of ours and you just can’t bear it.
“Iran will attack Israel if they get the nuke.”
Correction, Israel with attack Iran whether they have a nuke or not, judging by the rhetoric.
“………. And you think we give a dam about TED”
You should. Watch it and you just might learn something.
“WAKE UP ……………. BLAAAAZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEE
Report Post »TheObamanation
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:05pmSome people shouldn’t wear skin tight outfits.
Report Post »Eric_The_Red_State
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:04pmSpeaking of ERIC HOLDER — please contact your representative (Or John Boehner) and INSIST that they do something about FAST AND FURIOUS and the ERIC HOLDER “FREE PASS” that is going on right now.
While your at it – INSIST that something be done about VOTER ID in TEXAS.
Like I said — when 185% of Texans vote for their candidate – then MAYBE they will do something.
Report Post »But not until UN-REVERSABLE DAMAGE is being done on this country.
Donald
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:01pmMissed it……
Report Post »And would have……..Ever and Ever….thats a constant.
photography czar
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:00pmTED is a leftist group!!!!
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:29pmTotalitarians Evolving Democrats
Taking Everyones Dollars
Teaching, Educating, Dummifying.
Teaching Evolution Daily
Report Post »brntout
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:57pmSomewhere over the Rainbow….
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:02pmUnder the Rainbow. Probably Chevy Chase’s best movie in my humble opinion.
Report Post »Ditto Head
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:10pmThe real joke is that so many people take this solar b.s. so seriously.
Report Post »brntout
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:27pmYou folks are getting sharp! Please continue!
Report Post »Fried Okra
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 11:18pm@RJ
Report Post »The Pearl is in zee River…
justangry
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:51pmWho the hell cares? When is GB going to get back to talking about what’s wrong with THIS country instead of these puff pieces? Something has changed in him. Who is he afraid of anyway?
Report Post »bpodlesnik
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:54pmIs there not enough articles on what is happening in this country that you have to complain in this one?
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:08pmAnybody old enough to remember an independent Media??? Now Glenn , Rush, Sean, Tron, Mark, Dr. Savage, Andrew and others in the Conservative Media have to reveal the TRUTH. Sad that MSM Media Journalists are DEAD
Report Post »constantreverie
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:14pmmaybe you are just old? Maybe you have never used a computer before? The beach ball of death is annoying as hell, and I thought this was hilarious. TED had nothing to do with it, it was by a group called Improv Everywhere, and it was funny.
Glenn can post news that is political, and entertaining. Its like you have some concept that Glenn is only allowed to post 1 story a day, and now that he has posted entertainment, he can’t post anything about to lighten the mood.
If you don’t like it, stfu grow up and don’t read the story
Report Post »justangry
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:21pmHe used to investigate stuff that the MSM wouldn’t and tell us about it. Now they just pick and choose which stories to post off Drudge and other news sources. Haven’t you noticed?
Report Post »bpodlesnik
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:49pmAwesome!
Report Post »TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:49pmAnd the singles dance for nerds is right after the presentation. And remember to mingle… no crowding the walls. Get out there and dance!
Report Post »Kisha
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:47pmI liked it… that was funny! He was so like… “What is happening?” LOL
Report Post »DoctorRon
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:42pmThis is news?
Report Post »bpodlesnik
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:50pmPlease leave.
Report Post »lcltcc
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:06pmditto, it was stupid.
Report Post »brntout
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:37pmRainbow group (as opposed to Blue Man Group)?
Report Post »