Four short links: 29 November 2016
Data in Type, China Adopts Black Mirror, Thinking Technology, and Wireless Mice
- Datalegreya — a typeface that can interweave data curves with text. (via Waxy)
- China’s Credit Rating for Everything (WSJ) — More than three dozen local governments across China are beginning to compile digital records of social and financial behavior to rate creditworthiness. A person can incur black marks for infractions such as fare cheating, jaywalking, and violating family-planning rules. The effort echoes the dang’an, a system of dossiers the Communist party keeps on urban workers’ behavior. Search for that text on Google and click through to the WSJ article if you aren’t a subscriber.
- Thought as a Technology (Michael Nielsen) — a thought-provoking essay that mixes two topics I’m interested in: UI and learning new ways of thinking of the world.
- Wireless Control of Mice (IEEE) — Implanted in that mouse’s brain was a device about the size of a peppercorn. When we used our wireless power system to switch it on, the device glowed with a blue light that activated genetically engineered brain cells in the premotor cortex, which sends signals to the muscles. We watched in amazement as the mouse stopped its random motions and began to run in neat circles around the cage.
