Business | Bartleby

How to think about gamification

The world of badges, streaks and leaderboards

The MoPei phone-swing device is ingeniously depressing. It is a cradle for smartphones that rocks back and forth when it is plugged in, and it is designed to cheat fitness apps into believing that you are on the move. If you have a step counter, this phone shaker can gull it into thinking you have taken 8,700 paces in an hour. “Ideal for those people who don’t have the time or energy to get your recommended steps in,” boasts the product blurb.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “The play’s the thing”

Say goodbye to 1.5°C

From the November 5th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Business

Larry Ellison’s face feeding a sand timer with some planet and stars elements above. Two small figures on the right of the it looking scared.

What Elon Musk should learn from Larry Ellison

The founder of Oracle has demonstrated remarkable staying power

Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid dribbles the ball during the LaLiga EA Sports match between Real Valladolid v Real Madrid.

Football clubs are making more money than ever. Players not so much

For both teams and their top stars, it helps to have a brand


A surreal city of LEGO-like houses with identical figures walking along grey paths

The allure of the company town

Lego, Corning and the survival of an old idea


From cribs to carriers, high-end baby products are in vogue

Demographic and technological changes are making infancy more expensive

No one gains from American tariffs on cars from Mexico and Canada

Donald Trump’s levy will hit his country’s carmakers hardest

DeepSeek poses a challenge to Beijing as much as to Silicon Valley

The story of Liang Wenfeng, the model-maker’s mysterious founder