Common Paradox Tech Blog

Quite frankly, we’re surprised this one even warranted a study, but in case you didn’t already know, firing off emails and swapping instant messages can be a serious time killer and cut into your productivity. But is the effect on your work even greater than you thought?

"Our findings suggest that even seemingly brief and inconsequential on-screen pop-up messages might be impacting upon our efficiency, particularly given their frequency over the working day," said Dr. Helen Hodgetts, co-author of the study at Cardiff University.

Rather than rely on a survey, Hodgetts, along with colleague Professor Dylan Jones, instructed volunteers to work on a simple task of moving different sized disks between three rods. Short on-screen interruptions were given, and even when they lasted only five seconds, the researchers found that it took people longer than normal to finish the next step of the task.

"The interruption breaks our cognitive focus on the task in hand, so we have to work out where we were up to and what we were planning to do next before we can resume the task at our original speed," explained Dr. Hodgetts.

We suppose that’s one spin to put on the research. The other? Perhaps doing work and filling out TPS reports are the real time killers, cutting into our Peggle time and whatever other de-stressor we might have going on.

Image Credit: anuj-mehta.blogspot.com

An anonymous reader writes “Turns out that those BlueHippo commercials advertising financing for computers and other electronics for anybody, regardless of credit, were way more sleazy than you thought. The FTC is bringing this fraud down, but not too soon. ‘According to the FTC, the company’s brazen business model continued without interruption after the 2008 settlement. “In fact, in the year following entry of this Court’s Stipulated Final Judgment and Order for a Permanent Injunction, BlueHippo financed — at most — a single computer to the over 35,000 consumers who placed orders for computers that could be financed during the period,’ the FTC told a court (PDF) yesterday. In the meantime, the company took in a cool $15 million in payments from consumers, who don’t appear to have received anything in return.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

For those hoping for a re-enactment of the Kanye/Taylor Swift viral video that became an Internet meme, SNL didn’t deliver the goods last night. There was, however, a nod to one of the biggest Internet fads of the year, as guest host Taylor Swift included a mention of the event in her “Monologue Song” (video below).

For those wishing to relive the meme one more time, check out our Top 10 Kanye West Interruption Parodies.

For international viewers, versions of the clip are still available on YouTube.

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: kanye west, taylor swift

One of the top Internet memes of 2009 is likely going to get a shot of new life this weekend as Taylor Swift hosts Saturday Night Live.

Of course, we’re talking about Kanye West’s interruption of the singer at the MTV Video Music Awards that spawned countless “I’ma let you finish” parodies, Halloween costumes, and even the use of the word “jackass” by the President.

NBC has just released the first preview for the show, which, you guessed it, alludes to one of the greatest viral video moments of all-time. We won’t ruin the punch line for you, but you can probably guess what it is. Here’s the video:

Tags: kanye west, snl, taylor swift, video

The offer will only be extended to corporations, but T-Mobile will soon support Wi-Fi calling on Blackberries, seamlessly.

The plan is simple. At the office, workers make calls on their Blackberries that automatically piggyback on the existing Wi-Fi network. Meanwhile, they can leave the building without interruption to their conversation as the call switches to the T-Mobile network.

Yes, the idea itself sounds a lot like network-extending femtocell boxes, but there’s one key difference: The phones will work with standard Wi-Fi routers instead of requiring specialized hardware.

And while there’s no word on pricing or specific roll-out, the Wi-Fi plan will require an additional monthly fee on top of normal service. Now if only T-Mobile would announce the same offer for residential consumers, we’d be on to something. [Reuters via MobileCrunch]