Recent Links: September 28 to October 05

It “is the primary goal of this text to better define Interaction Design: to provide a definition that encompasses the intellectual facets of the field, the conceptual underpinnings of Interaction Design as a legitimate human-centered field, and the particular methods used by practitioners in their day to day experiences. This definition and investigation centers around the issue of argument and rhetoric, and illustrates that Interaction Design is a form of communication that can be thought of as identical in nature to language. As Interaction Design is a vast subject, this text attempts to touch on many topics in a slight manner rather than one topic in a deep manner.

“An additional goal of this text is to assure practicing Interaction Designers that they are not, in fact, simply tools to be used in the cleanup phases of a technology-centered project. Interaction Designers need to possess a great intellectual capacity for complicated problem solving, for dynamic inquiry relating to technology, and for substantial empathy of the human experience. This intellectual insight is ideal for solving strategic business problems and for humanizing technology, and the creation of ‘pretty interfaces’ is perhaps the most blatant misuse of this critical resource.”

Google’s Privacy Center includes an easy way to opt out of being tracked via cookie.

add many window management features to most Mac applications:

* Keep windows afloat (heh) on top of all others.
* Make windows transparent with a gesture.
* Move windows from anywhere, not just the title bar.
* Turn a window into an “overlay” on your screen that doesn’t hinder your work.
* Show a window’s file in the Finder with nothing more than your keyboard.
* Do all of this with quick keyboard shortcuts, or a flick of your mouse wheel or multitouch trackpad.

The Netflix API allows access to data for more than 100,000 DVD titles plus a growing library of more than 12,000 choices that can be watched instantly on PCs as well as access on a user’s behalf to manage their movie queue.

The Netflix API is free and allows commercial use.

A nice set of tips for presenting well and keeping the audience engaged.

mushit.com is a service that goes beyond the limitations of Photoshop, Fireworks & Co. It uses image format specific non-lossy image optimization tools to squeeze the last bytes out of your images – without changing their look or visual quality. You’ll get a report of how many bytes you can save by optimizing your images and all the changed images as a single zip for download.

Smush it comes in different flavours:

* You can upload a bunch of pictures in your browser
* You can provide us with a list of image urls or
* You can get a Firefox Extension to optimize the images found on any web page

VOTE411 is a one-stop-shop for election related information. It provides nonpartisan general and state-specific information aspects of the election process including Absentee ballot information, Ballot measure information (where applicable), Early voting options (where applicable), Election dates, nonpartisan candidate information in various federal, state and local races, tips on watching candidate debates, voter ID requirements, Polling place locations and where to vote, voter registration deadlines, Voter qualifications, Voter registration forms, Voting machines, overseas voters

A useful demo of the relationship of font scale and vertical rhythm of traditional typography with tools to make it easy to adjust the layout and easily view/copy the resulting CSS.

There are several principal ways that the FiveThityEight methodology differs from other poll compilations:

Firstly, we assign each poll a weighting based on that pollster’s historical track record, the poll’s sample size, and the recentness of the poll. More reliable polls are weighted more heavily in our averages.

Secondly, we include a regression estimate based on the demographics in each state among our ‘polls’, which helps to account for outlier polls and to keep the polling in its proper context.

Thirdly, we use an inferential process to compute a rolling trendline that allows us to adjust results in states that have not been polled recently and make them ‘current’.

Fourthly, we simulate the election 10,000 times for each site update in order to provide a probabilistic assessment of electoral outcomes based on a historical analysis of polling data since 1952. The simulation further accounts for the fact that similar states are likely to move together, e.g. future polling movement in states like Michigan and Ohio, or North and South Carolina, is likely to be in the same direction.