I enjoyed this funny little article by Jasper van Kuijk on extremely persuasive software:
We humans were not designed to work behind a computer all day. In fact we were not designed to be in the office all day. We find it hard to concentrate, only drink coffee, and don’t relax sufficiently. Here’s number of programs that tries to coach you into more productive or healthy behavior. Call it persuasive technology (technology that intentionally changes attitudes or behaviors through persuasion and social influence), call it nudging, or call it design with intent, the idea is to get you do do what you want to do even though you can’t always do that.