TED brings ‘ideas worth spreading’ to Android

This is very cool, if a little long in the making. TED, the organisation behind the renowned conference series of the same name, has just launched its Android app.

The free app features over 1 200 talks from a wide variety of people, including “education radicals, tech geniuses, medical mavericks, business gurus, and music legends”. It also includes curated audiostreams

The apps launch has not yet been tweeted out by the non-profit’s official Twitter account, or by its curator Chris Anderson.

TED’s tagline is “Ideas Worth Spreading” and it seems to believe that Android’s position as the world’s number one smartphone OS makes it an idea platform for spreading those ideas:

“At TED, we’re always looking for powerful new ways to spread ideas,” said June Cohen, Executive Producer for TED Media. “With its vast installed user base, the Android platform is an important new frontier for us in our effort to bring new thinking and ideas to even more people.”

The app works on all smartphones and tablets running Android 2.1 and up and was developed in collaboration with Sony.

The app reportedly allows includes a number of the features people are familiar with from the TED site:

• Up-to-the-minute videos: TEDTalks are published daily, and Android app users can see the latest TEDTalks videos as soon as they’re available online.
• Browse + search: Whether they’re online or off, users can browse the entire TED library – by theme, tag, rating or popularity – and search for a talk by speaker name or topic.
• Easy sharing: Users who are inspired by a talk can share it easily over Facebook, Twitter or email.
• Bookmarks: Users can mark and save talks for viewing later within their “My Talks” tab.
• Offline viewing: The app is designed to support a mobile lifestyle, in which users move fluidly between online and offline use. Users can download video and audio directly to the device to watch on the plane or other locations where Internet connectivity may not be possible. The full library is searchable in offline mode.
• Curated audio stream: Out for a jog, multi-tasking, or just interested in listening, TED app users can listen to TEDTalks, either on an individual basis or through TED’s curated audio stream.

The Android app adds to TED’s catalogue of apps for the iPod, iPhone and iPad.