Just a few hours to go before the big kick-off and I see this little gadget that fits the occasion nicely for watching the games at home. Gadget blog describes how the control’s buttons are laid-out to appear like two teams formed on the pitch before kick-off. It says that it costs €10 + VAT in Italy and comes with a battery power indictor and the killer feature is the beer bottle opener at the bottom. It just leaves me wondering where the ref is?
Thought Provoking
Abolishing Lectures
Groundbreaking, Tech, Thought ProvokingFrom the BBC comes the story of a university lecturer that podcasts his lectures..
Dr Bill Ashraf, a senior lecturer in microbiology at Bradford University, says the move will free up time for more small group teaching.
He told The Times Higher Education Supplement that first year biochemistry students would watch or listen to virtual lectures in their own time.
Students will access the podcasts via their MP3 player, phone or computer.
I’m asking myself why he doesn’t go all the way and introduce virtual lectures with Vyew, Skype and a webcam?
15 Ways to Live Longer
Thought ProvokingForbes.com – Magazine Article describes 15 ways to live longer, a couple of which surprised me including getting a pet, meditating and not oversleeping.
Burundi’s Currency
Photography, Thought ProvokingPhotographer sues after his image is reproduced on Burundi’s currency. How bizarrre!
© Kelly Fajack
It’s the Future, Stupid: Why most CRM systems don’t deliver their potential
CRM, Thought ProvokingSviokla’s Context delivers a very insightful article about CRM systems from a vendor-independent viewpoint. Basically, the essence of the argument is that CRM systems should begin by adopting a forward looking approach to customer management that focuses on the potential of customer to deliver new business rather than looking at past performance to provide rewards.
One of the few companies I know that treats customers based on potential is Harrah’s Entertainment. If Harrah’s sees you game at the “Diamond Level†— their highest level of status, they begin to treat you like a Diamond customer right away. They then track your actual behavior to decide whether or not you deserve this high level of status. (I think the time period is six months).
Marginal Revolution: The Gender Imbalance Disequilibrium
Thought ProvokingMarginal Revolution: The Gender Imbalance Disequilibrium
China’s gender imbalance is now 117 boys for every 100 girls and for second and third children (when allowed) the imbalance can be as high as 151 boys for every 100 girls. Millions of men, perhaps 15% of the population, may not be able to find wives
Sexy pictures and lacy underwear take men’s minds off getting a good deal.
Thought ProvokingNature magazine reports that macho, testosterone men tend to drive a hard bargin, unless they have been exposed to images like the one below.
Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium asked men to play an ultimatum game, in which they split a certain amount of money between them. High-testosterone men drove the hardest bargain — unless they had previously viewed pictures of bikini-clad models, in which case they were more likely to accept a poorer deal.
The sight of flesh had less effect on the bargaining tactics of low-testosterone men.
Too much self contemplation?
Thought ProvokingThis article in the New Scientist finds self absorbtion disappears when concentrating on a task.
Everybody has experienced a sense of “losing oneself†in an activity – being totally absorbed in a task, a movie or sex. Now researchers have caught the brain in the act.
Self-awareness, regarded as a key element of being human, is switched off when the brain needs to concentrate hard on a tricky task, found the neurobiologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.