ReadWriteWeb

The mission of TED (Technology Education Design) is to promote "ideas worth spreading." And as such, there is plenty of material that entrepreneurs - folks definitely interested in spreading their ideas - can find inspiring in the recordings available on TED's website.

We've gone through the archives and hand-picked some of our favorite TED talks for startups. Granted, it's hard to select just ten to feature here out of the 700-some-odd videos available. So if your favorite isn't listed, be sure to leave us a comment.

When doing my research yesterday, I saw a tweet linking to Steve Duplessie's most recent blog post on startup failures. "Launch now!" was part of the title, and as that seemed eminently quotable, I jotted it down as a prospective topic for a ReadWriteStart guide.

Indeed, that is how quotations work. They are phrases that crystallize far more meaning and significance than just the sentence itself. And while Thomas Edison famously noted, "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration," we shouldn't overlook the power of that 1% to move us forward.

Barack Obama's rise to fame in the years leading up to the 2008 presidential election caused many to compare the young Illinois senator to John F. Kennedy. Like Kennedy, Obama mobilized an enormous following across age and racial boundaries with his charismatic and inspirational speeches about a hope for a brighter future. But according to New York Times contributor and multi-Pulitzer Prize winning author Thomas Friedman, while Kennedy continued to inspire after his eventual election, Obama has not.

Motivational speaker and author of the book Start With Why Simon Sinek believes he has found a way to map out the way inspiring leaders and innovators think. Young entrepreneurs who may think they aren't up to snuff with the big boys of innovation should be encouraged by Sinek's theories which seek to break down inspiration into an easily replicated formula.

He calls his concept "The Golden Circle," a series of three concentric circles that represent the different ways we think about a product or goal. The outermost circle, labeled "What," represents, for instance, a company's product. The next circle, "How," would be the technology behind this product, and the innermost circle represents "Why" the company makes the product.

If your taste in online video-watching goes beyond the viral videos of mass appeal that include things like this drugged-up kid, Where the hell is Matt?, or even the latest internet phenomenon Susan Boyle, then you're going to love the new site called Nizmlab. While its name may be a bit funny, its content is pure sophistication. Instead of just counting down the most popular videos across video-sharing sites on the net, Nizmlab is run by editors who pick the most interesting and unique creations to showcase on the site.

Like it or not. You're a writer. You're creating content on a daily basis, updating your Facebook status, commenting on blogs, sending tweets. Social networking requires that level of communication. But as a writer, you're also a potential victim for writer's block, a condition that plagues even the most prolific authors.

The next time you find your desire to write lacking, Plinky may be just the inspiration you need.