A while ago, I has posted a link to a great TED talk on the science of motivation. The RSA has taken that talk and turned it into a brilliant animation that illustrates the truth behind what motivates us.

As long as the task required mechanical skills only, higher incentives derived better performance. However, when the task required even rudimentary cognitive skills, higher incentives led to poor performance.

I am not surprised one bit that monetary incentive only goes so far. If we don’t love what we do, if we’re not passionate about what we do, if there is no purpose to what we do, no amount of monetary compensation is going to change that. Creativity and passion cannot be bought; it has to come from within, driven by a purpose.

Make sure to watch the whole video

{ 0 comments }

A few days ago, Consumer Reports completed their test of the iPhone 4 and posted their results…

The iPhone scored high, in part because it sports the sharpest display and best video camera we’ve seen on any phone, and even outshines its high-scoring predecessors with improved battery life and such new features as a front-facing camera for video chats and a built-in gyroscope that turns the phone into a super-responsive game controller.

Eventhough the iPhone 4 placed at the top of the smartphone stack, Consumer Reports would NOT recommend the phone for one simple yet important reason – It does not perform the role of the “phone” in iPhone, as well as it should…

there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.

As an iPhone 4 owner who upgraded from the first generation device, I would attest to the problem, as would any number of other users. Apple however, instead of acknowledging the problem has blamed it on everything from software to users themselves.

Do you think that any company other than Apple, any CEO other than Steve Jobs would have gotten away with telling users that they are “holding the phone all wrong“? I don’t either. Whatever happened to “customer is the king”? I fail to understand Steve’s reluctance to accept that there is problem with the device. Maybe he simply refuses to see a flaw in what he considers a perfect work of art?

There are a few ways to get around the signal loss – hold the phone “right”, get a bumper (Apple should be giving this away) or as the Consumer Reports article suggests, use duct tape…

an affordable solution for suffering iPhone 4 users: Cover the antenna gap with a piece of duct tape or another thick, non-conductive material. It may not be pretty, but it works. We also expect that using a case would remedy the problem.

Obviously, Apple feels that the Consumer Reports article is bad for it’s image, and so have gone out of their way to bury any threads that discusses the report. Even Apple’s fanboy blog TUAW is finding it hard to interpret this the right way.

In my opinion Apple has grown way too powerful for it to see reason. No, it does not have the market share to warrant an anti-trust inquiry, but its actions – some of which would put Microsoft to shame – of late definitely do.

UPDATE: Cult Of Mac believes that it is inevitable that Apple will issue a recall of the defective hardware that is the iPhone 4

Apple will be forced to recall the iPhone 4 following Consumer Reports tests proving the “Death Grip” antenna issue is not software related, but a hardware flaw

{ 0 comments }

Alejandro Falla getting tips from Rafa Nadal on playing Roger Federer?

June 21, 2010

Roger Federer recovered from two sets down, and barely scraped through his first round match 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0, against unheralded Alejandro Falla. First rounder on grass, against the defending and six time champion, you’d think Falla had no chance.
Yet, here he was going toe to toe against Federer, possibly the greatest grass court [...]

Read the full article →

What kind of dynamic is at work here?

June 5, 2010

I try and make a conscious effort to be impartial, but, more often than not I tend to be tough with my six year old son, while being the opposite of that with my 2 year old daughter. What is the dynamic at play here? The father-daughter bond, or is it simply that the younger [...]

Read the full article →

The blog that turned into a lifestream

May 5, 2010

Everyone’s blogging, I should too!
I first wanted to write a blog because it was the the cool thing to do. Everyone and their dog had a blog, and I had to get one to keep up with the Joneses. Setting up a new blog is after all very straightforward – all you have to do [...]

Read the full article →

9 Things I Learned From My Dad

May 5, 2010

Let me start by saying that I love and respect my parents. It’s either a cultural thing or a family thing that this love is taken for granted, and there never is quite the need to express it.
Today, my Dad turns 80 and this is as good an any occasion to express the love and [...]

Read the full article →

Hello Blogosphere!

April 28, 2010

This is my first post. Not much to see here, but you can read about me, and I will hopefully have more posts soon.

Read the full article →