Dave admits that he’s “not really a financial engineering expert” however he is “optimistic the basic ideas here are viable, worthwhile and can have substantial economic impact on society in the future.”

I’ve been a fan of Alain de Botton for some time now so I was very excited to learn that he spoke at TEDGlobal in Oxford back in July. Do take a moment to watch his talk above.

A couple of choice quotes:

It’s perhaps easier now, than ever before, to make a good living. It’s perhaps harder, than ever before, to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety.

The next time you see somebody driving a Ferrari don’t think, “This is somebody who is greedy.” Think, “This is somebody who is incredibly vulnerable and in need of love.”

Last week I had lunch with Fabio De Benardi who is behind a delightful little website called ilikeucoz.

Billed as the world’s first appreciation engine, ilikeucoz is a free service that lets you send little messages of appreciation to your friends and loved ones. There is a nifty appreciation feed on the site’s homepage (they call it the ‘Cozmos’) which reminds me of another beatiful website: Twistori.

Fabio and a small team launched the site in just 48 hours at the Launch48 event last month.

Why not try out ilikeucoz now and brighten up someone’s day?

I just spotted these lovely iPod speakers on Twitter (thanks Phil) and thought I’d share them!

They’re made by a company called Speakal and they come in a handful of funky designs – iPig, iPanda and iBoo – but they’re not just a pretty face… They produce 25 watts through five speakers and a subwoofer and they have an iPod dock connection and a 3.5mm jack to plug in other devices. All for just $139!

Last week was TED week in Long Beach, California. The conference (which we’ve written about before) gives the stage to some of the most fascinating people from around the world to talk for twenty minutes about any topic close to their heart. The talks are then published online, free for all to watch.

The first talks from TED 2009 are beginning to be released on the TED website and on YouTube and I’ve embedded the first couple below. First up is Elizabeth Gilbert sharing her thoughts on a different way to think about creative genius:

Next, Bill Gates discussing his latest endeavours in venture philanthropy:

Scientists studied the relationships of 5,000 people for decades and the conclusion they reached was that happiness is like a contagious disease! It spreads like a virus: the more time you spend around happy people, the more likely you are to be happy yourself!

Click here to read the full article.

There’s more on this theme but with a social networking slant over on ReadWriteWeb.

“When you smile, the world smiles with you.”

Via Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh on Twitter .