Archive for the ‘Related initiatives’ Category

GreenGoose add game mechanics to real life. They provide wireless sensors that have a battery inside which lasts a year. Each one measures a different thing you do, but they all communicate with the same egg-sized base-station. Just stick to items like pet food scoops, frisbees and water bottles.

Have more fun doing everyday things! GreenGoose is a place where you can download and play real-world apps.

Feel closer to those important to you. Examples: has your dog been walked or fed? Are the kids home from school? Has your grandma taken her medicine?

Make playtime more about playing together. Sensors on toys make it fun to share and make new friends.

With more than 100 sensors in development, we have a lot more fun on its way. Keep an eye out for new sensors to add to your base-station. For developers, we have a developer’s page so you dig into our API and get information about upcoming sensors!

More info at http://www.greengoose.com

Badgeville has just announced the launch of Badgeville’s Enterprise Cloud Connectors, a suite of SaaS connectors that provide plug-and-play integration into many of today’s most widely adopted enterprise applications. Already integrated with more than 40 third-party systems, this program further expands Badgeville’s leadership in gamification across the F1000 and interoperability for its client base of global enterprise leaders.

You can read the complete Badgeville’s announcement at http://www.badgeville.com/?q=news/announcements/badgeville-launches-enterprise-cloud-connector-program

If you could plan your diet so that you got paid every time you chose a salad over a burger, would you chose the salad?

IBM “Master Inventor” Michael Paolini believes being rewarded in real time for improving one’s habits is exactly what will affect human behavior and help people become healthier. One of the inventors of a new IBM patent “Providing consumers with incentives for healthy eating habits”, Paolini says the “method, system, and program” was created so that it can be implemented in a variety of ways to accommodate groups with very different needs – be it your health insurance company, your gluten-free diet group, or your employer. But in order for the program to work, use of the system must be voluntary and trust has to first be established.

You can read the whole article at http://www.foodandtechconnect.com/site/2012/01/23/new-ibm-patent-allows-licensees-to-incentivize-good-eating-habits/

Since last Wednesday (18/01/2012), developers who use Microsoft Visual Studio have a new way to highlight their skills, get recognition for the amazing work they do every day, and add some competitive fun to the development day by means of a new plugin called Visual Studio Achievements.

You can find all the information at http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2012/01/18/visual-studio-achievements-program-brings-gamification-to-development.aspx

The National Library of Finland has launched a national e-programme for the digitisation of Finland’s historical documents and material. The first of its kind in Europe, the e-programme Digitalkoot (Digital Volunteers) harnesses the power of crowdsourcing to mobilize people to help digitise millions of pages of archive material.

The e-programme technology provider is Microtask, whose automated platform splits dull repetitive tasks into tiny microtasks and distributes them over the internet. Once carried out by interested microworkers around Finland or around the world, Microtask puts the results back together into a completed assignment.

You can find all the information at http://www.nationallibrary.fi/infoe/uutiset/1297236955390.html