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Describes motivation process for creativity with emphasis on intrinsic motivation by Corey K Katir

Everyone is familiar with the health benefits of tea: it fights cancer, reduces risk of stroke and other diseases, and revitalizes body cells. Yet, after you’ve drained your delicious cup of tea, you find yourself discarding the used tea bags. Well, don’t. You’ll be surprised at the number of ways you can reuse these materials. [...]

This is my final post on Google Watch. So Google will move from the center of my coverage galaxy to somewhere on the periphery. The company continues to ply its trade versus Amazon in platform-as-a-service (PAAS) and Microsoft with Google Apps. These are solutions CIOs must consider as they seek to cut costs and offload resource management.

Depending on your perspective, this could be Google’s most exciting time, or it’s most dreadful time. It’s certainly been painful for me to watch Google of late, all prefaced by some serious highs and lows.

I remember thinking back in 2007 when Google’s stock crashed the $1,000 mark, thinking as I did at the time that the bloom was off the rose. Once Google attracted that kind of attention, it was all downhill from there.

Despite the economy, Google kind of flourished in 2008 and 2009. There was Chrome in 2008. Android began to show promise on the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Incredible. Google was getting Chrome OS ready.

Then icky stuff started happening in 2010. Google Buzz, the first Facebook/Twitter challenger, blew the privacy quotient, pretty much beginning the product’s slow, tortured end-of-life process.

Then the Street View WiSpy scandal erupted, giving Google another big black eye. It’s hard to enjoy covering tech when all you read about is how the company is skewering user privacy and must be regulated.

But Google settled with Buzz and appeared to appease the FTC and state AGS over WiSpy. Things began to look better in 2011. Google made a lot of buys, and Google+ launched. All was well.

I was wrong. Google is hounded by regulators and privacy muckrakers looking to make their careers on taking down a giant the way they and their predecessors did for Microsoft. You pundits know who you are. Shame on you.

And shame on Google for putting itself in this position, for trying to be all things to all people on the Web. Google Wave was too amorphous and too early.

I enjoy Google TV, but few others do, which means I’m sweating, wondering when the product will be committed to the Google Dead Pool like so many other services Google put down in 2011.

Did you really need to launch a me, too social network, a Groupon clone, an unoriginal streaming music service missing the largest label in the free world?

Of course you did. You couldn’t help yourself. On the other hand, Android remains awesome despite the handwringing about fragmentation, and there is no better browser than Chrome. Gmail and Google Docs remain two of my best business friends.

Google isn’t alone. Just the other morning I awoke to see this story (via Google Reader and my Droid X) that Amazon had hired a VP for Original Programming. That leaves little to the imagination, especially after Google launched original programming on YouTube. What? Are we going to get more implausible cruft like Lilyhammer? No thanks.

It reminds me of the consumerization joke from Fight Club, where the main character comments on the IBM Stellar Sphere, Microsoft Galaxy and Planet Starbucks. Google, Apple and Amazon are becoming like online shopping malls.

I hate shopping malls. I don’t want to buy goods from Google or watch new TV shows at Amazon. Maybe there was never separation of church and state in this digital realm, but there certainly never will be.

On a more serious note, Tim Wu, the Columbia Law School professor, summed up the state of affairs among the tech giants when he told the New York Times:

There was a time when people building things on the Internet didn’t have a dream to be one of the biggest companies out there; their goal was not to be the next General Motors. But that is all changing. Now you have a battle of cultures on the Web where fun is being chiseled away.

So, yes, watching Google makes me think of what it must have been like watching Microsoft getting larger. The fun has been sucked out for me.

Anyway, farewell to all of the Google contacts who have been helpful. I suspect given my new role in focusing on the CIO I will be working with many of you folks again in the near future.

Most importantly, farewell to you, gentle readers. It’s been fun these last four-plus years.

Catch you on the flipside.

I have always been a bake-it-from scratch kind of girl. Until I had three kids, and then I had to get lax on my from-scratch snobbiness and face reality. With three little whirlwinds in the household, scratch-baking just isn’t gonna happen. I don’t want to cheat my kids of the joy of cookie baking (one [...]

Thereas no escaping Jaleel White these days a heas on TV at least three times a week now. (As long as fans keep voting for him on aDancing with the Stars,a that is.) Starting tonight, heall be hosting Syfyas hilarious a seriously, you gotta watch it a new competition show, aTotal Blackout.a

The half-hour show puts contestants in inexplicable skin-tight bodysuits and then shoves them into a pitch black room. While the audience a and White a looks on through night vision, the contestants have to touch, taste, smell and do a whole lot of increasingly funny things without being able to see what theyare getting into. The ways that they freak themselves out, sometimes over nothing more creepy than a hairbrush, is a riot to behold.

We grabbed a few minutes on the phone with White to chat about the awesome that is aTotal Blackout,a being on aDWTSa and whether heall be back on aPsycha soon.

The Post: Howad you wind up hosting aTotal Blackout?a

Jaleel White: I ended up on Syfyas radar and they called me up for a screen test. They had me talk into a teleprompter and hold a tarantula at the same time. I passed that test, they told me I got the gig.

The Post: Whatas the appeal of aTotal Blackout?a

Jaleel White: The thing that I love about aTotal Blackouta is that itas a bowl of candy for people to enjoy, itas definitely entertainment. I donat ever have to beg anybody to enjoy the show or give it a chance. Itas taking a simple childhood fear and turning it into an entire game show. Itas clever and Iam happy to be associated with the show. [At a recent TV press tour,] we saw all these splashy dramas that had way bigger budgets than us and we were like, aGood luck with that, pal.a We just know that all we have to do is turn off the lights and watch everybody scream.

The Post: It mustave been a laugh riot filming the show.

Jaleel White: It was kind of tricky in post-production, trying to make the comedy we experienced on the set translate to the screena|Iam on the elimination stage, theyare all looking at me for answers, I canat say anything. At the same time, when they go into the Dark Room, I have a direct feed and Iam watching them in there so I can comment [on what theyare doing]. It was a hoot a the couples episodes were my favorite, they were just classic. Oh God, Sylvia and Jonathan [from Ep. 2], I feel like they were friends of mine.

The Post: You were actually talking to them while they were flailing around in the dark?

Jaleel White: Yeah, thatas me, right there. The one thing that I tried to do was be sensitive to the fact that these people are going through a little bit of psychological trauma, so Iam not trying to be some wiseass, making it harder for them. If anything, I make it easier for them or give them a bit of comic relief to let them know itas OK.

The Post: Did people freak themselves out so much that they tried to wuss out at the last minute?

Jaleel White: Sometimes it would take contestants 20 to 30 minutes to even start the game. They would literally be on the Dark Stage going, aNah, I wonat do it now.a And then we were like, aWell weare not going to turn on the lights.a It would be this stalemate, this standoff, aIam not moving. Weare not turning on the lights.a We tried different approaches: Why donat you take a step forward? Reach around, nothingas going to reach out and grab you. [Theyad say,] aNope, Iam not going to do it, get me out of here.a Thank God we had editing, because some of the game play went on for eight or nine hours.

The Post: Doesnat the concept of aTotal Blackouta seem kind of mean, maybe a little like cruel and unusual punishment?

Jaleel White: What do you think Iam doing on aDancing With the Stars?a [Laughs] Dancing in front of 20 million people live and youave never done this before? I mean, this is where TV is going right now. I say aTotal Blackouta is guinea pig TV. The cool thing about it is that there are some people who turn the game on its head and power through it and itas like, aHoly smokes, I canat believe this person is acing everything like this.a And then you have other people – maybe some muscle-bound guy whoas screaming more than a woman in the room. Itas very funny to see, when you turn the lights out, who mans up. Sometimes itas the woman.

The Post: Would you ever be a aTotal Blackouta contestant yourself?

Jaleel White: Donat forget, I had to hold a tarantula just to get the job! But, I think a celeb version of it is obviously in order. You could do many themed versions of it, literally you could. I donat know, Iam the host, have we seen [aFear Factorasa] Joe Rogan do it? Iam the host, itas not about what Iam willing to do, itas about whatas appropriate for the show and like I said, I held the tarantula. I got my aTotal Blackouta patch for my Boy Scout uniform.

The Post: Do you ever feel bad about what the contestants are being put through?

Jaleel White: Yes, I do sometimes, I really do. Because weall work until two or three oaclock in the morning. You finish in second place, you might as well have finished dead last and that sucks. I definitely feel bad for them. but one thing about our show thatas important to know is that we have a shrink on set and they speak to [the contestants] before they go in and when they come out. We have people there to deal with the psychological aspects of this show.

One of the things that people donat know understand about darkness is that when you know the spatial awareness of a room that creates comfort in your mind: I know the fridge is in that direction, that door is over there. These people are put into an environment where they donat even know if theyare in a room thatas 10 by 10 or a soundstage thatas a thousand by a thousand. When I say this is the ultimate mindf—, it really, really is.

The Post: How different is aTotal Blackouta from other shows that put contestants in icky situations?

Jaleel White: A lot of people think itas aFear Factora in the dark. No, it’s not, because weare not attempting to gross you out. weare kind of pranking our contestants, but at the same time testing their bravery. So itas really like aFear Factora-meets-aPunkada to be quite honest.

The Post: And on aFear Factor,a at least they can see what theyare in for.

Jaleel White: Yeah, they know theyare about to lick caterpillars off a frickina windshield or something. Weare not doing anything like that. This is about using all of your senses – apart from sight – to survive these challenges and I think thatas pretty cool.

The Post: Have you learned anything about people through hosting the show?

Jaleel White: We donat grow up as much as we think we do. Fear of the dark is a childhood fear and it doesnat seem to go away.

The Post: With aDancing with the Starsa and now aTotal Blackout,a are you looking to become famous for being yourself on TV or do you still want to act?

Jaleel White: Iam going to continue to act, Iave done a lot of great guest appearances this past year, from aNCISa to aHousea and aPsych.a Acting is definitely still on the radar for me in a major way, itas just that some of these other things that Iave been doing are really amazing – Iam shocking myself and I guess Iam shocking my fans, by stepping outside of my comfort zone. You canat keep doing the same thing expecting better results, so my manager really switched it up and put me in a lot of different programs that people havenat been expecting to see me on and itas definitely been turning the tides, itas been fun walking around as an entertainer again.

The Post: Care to share a recent fan encounter?

Jaleel White: I just got stopped at a gas station 20 minutes ago and this guy came over from his pump and said, aSay hi to my wife, she voted for you last night [on aDWTSa], you killed it! Nobody knew you could dance like that.a I said, aI didnat even know I could dance like that, tell her to keep voting. Thank you!”

The Post: Any plans to reprise your Blackapella a capella singer role on aPsych?a

Jaleel White: Thatas my favorite show to guest star on, thatas why Iave done it twice. Who knows? The second episode [which aired in March] came just out of fan demand – fans want to see more Quarter Black. [Laughs.] a| I had real good chemistry with those guys, theyare really fun to work with, James [Roday] and Dule [Hill].

The Post: Youare obviously a good dancer, but are you a songbird in real life, too?

Jaleel White: Iam not at all. My manager kind of lied to the [aPsycha] producers and told them that I could sing, but luckily they had a singing coach out there for us when we recorded our song. Iam kind of going through a period of my life where I discover I can do all of these things on a professional level, so Iam like, aAlright, letas roll with it.a We really sang our songs up there, too.

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