Gamification and how we can apply mechanics and principles from the world of games to our products is an idea on the rise, but it does have its limits. Have you considered gamifying yourself as a business practitioner? Chess is a good place to start.Serious chess nerds have linked improvement in their game to enhanced business acumen. This is not completely unrealistic, given the well-documented positive influence of chess on child development in areas like self-esteem, organisational skills, better ...

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that it is cutting 2000 jobs and that its ailing chief operating officer plans to retire.RIM, which is facing increased competition from Apple's iPhone and mobile phones running Google's Android software, revealed plans last month to slash jobs this quarter in a bid to "streamline operations."The job cuts announced Monday amount to just over 10 percent of the global workforce of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company.RIM said in a statement that it would ...

Review: LG P970 Optimus Black. It’s big and it’s black. And really skinny. The obvious conclusion is that LG is going head to head with iPhone with the P970 Optimus Black by eschewing any exterior adornment. LG also clearly decided that it was going to go with one big stick: size counts. The display is BIG and BRIGHT.Instead of the iPhone’s relatively cramped 3.5”, you get a giant 4” slab of pixelly action. But LG was also building to a ...

Six months after they launched a revolution that ousted the regime, Egyptian bloggers have acknowledged that it takes more than a Facebook page to overthrow a dictator."The internet played a key role but it was not the only tool. The revolution really belongs to the people," said Wael Abbas, a veteran Egyptian blogger who has been posting his thoughts in cyberspace since 2004.The 18-day revolution that brought an end to the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak and his regime ...

The US Chamber of Commerce have lamented the fact that American investors were losing out opportunities in emerging markets during a time when the recession was killing profits seemingly everywhere.Part of the fear is a lack of stability and concern over just how safe it is to put money in areas where returns have been massive.If your country’s investment profile doesn’t seem that great, it may not be so much your business, but the perception of your ...

Citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was looking into a possible acquisition of video-streaming site Hulu.Apple's interest in Hulu is in the early stages and may not result in a bid, the newspaper reported.Hulu, which broadcasts television shows through on-demand streaming, said earlier this month that it had 875 000 paid subscribers and was on track to approach half a billion dollars in revenue in 2011.According to media reports, Hulu's owners ...

A new social networking site for ultra-Orthodox Jews takes customary segregation of the sexes online and also bars pictures or ads deemed immodest in ultra-Orthodox society.Go to www.faceglat.com and the home page has signs in Hebrew and English directing men to click on to the right of the page and women to the left.Sign up and you will see a page identical to those on Facebook, but here photos posted on a man's wall may only be of other men; ...

Tweet-happy Olympic-swimmer Michael Phelps expressed surprise he was unaffected by China's ban on Twitter -- and said many Chinese fans were breaching the country's internet controls to read his posts.Phelps said he had expected not to be able to use Twitter, which along with Facebook was banned in the Communist nation after being accused of stirring ethnic unrest.But he said he had been able to access the service since arriving in Shanghai this week for the world championships, and had ...

Not a Review: Immersive games. If you read Andre’s review of FEAR 3 then you know that we think it’s a great game. It has tight and unexpectedly varied gameplay, pretty good graphics and an all-encompassing sense of immersion. That last bit is the most important part of a good game, because if a game immerses you, if it can get you involved in its… vibe (I suppose is the right word), then it’s a lot easier to overlook whatever ...

A US judge has blocked the latest courtroom campaign by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss to undo a deal they made to settle a dispute over who came up with the idea for Facebook.US District Judge Douglas Woodlock in Boston granted a request by Facebook that the case there be dismissed. The judge's terse written order did not outline the reasoning behind his decision.The twin brothers and fellow ConnectU founder Divya Narendra last month ramped up litigation accusing Facebook of duping ...