What a welcome to TED. The speakers' dinner was attended by an enormous cast of brilliant people and big names in the community. It was truly a fantastic and inspirational event that took place in a beautiful setting, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The great surprises of Day 1 for me were the optimistic take on the trends of violence in the world, presented by Steven Pinker and the closing act of the day, musician Raul Midon, who blew the audience's mind with solo acoustic guitar, soulful vocals, and trumpet solos without a trumpet. Amazing.

Day two is off to a great start with a stirring first session, starting with a passionate presentation on global warming by engineer-turned-VC John Doerr and closing with yet another enlightening talk by Lawrence Lessig. Anand Agarawala's 5 minute talk on his invention, BumpTop, a physical desktop engine, was also impressive and extremely well received.

Session 4 is underway. More to follow...