Challis Hodge’s UXblog

The latest issue of Design Philosophy Papers has just been posted; its theme is De/Re/Materialisation.

DPP 03/2004 � CONTENTS

Theme: De/Re/Materialisation

Anne-Marie Willis, Editorial introduction

Albert Borgmann, Information & Inhabitation: toward an architecture of disclosure & enclosure

Cameron Tonkinwise, Is Design Finished? Dematerialisation and Changing Things

Voice of Sustainment
Tony Fry, Rematerialisation as a Prospective Project

Hot Debate
Anne-Marie Willis Imperatives Effaced

ACCESSING DPP
The current issue is always free � www.desphilosophy.com Back issues can be accessed from the site if you are a subscriber. This facility will become increasingly useful as the number of back issues grows.

A pill-sized brain chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play computer games using his thoughts. The device can tap into a hundred neurons at a time, and is the most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far.

In June 2004, surgeons implanted a device containing 100 electrodes into the motor cortex of a 24-year-old quadriplegic. The device, called the BrainGate, was developed by the company Cyberkinetics. Each electrode taps into a neuron in the patient’s brain.

The BrainGate allowed the patient to control a computer or television using his mind, even when doing other things at the same time. Researchers report for example that he could control his television while talking and moving his head.

It really is amazing how obsessed we’ve become with up to the minute poll data. We spend time perusing individual polls and poll aggegators. One has to wonder what the real affects of this are. Are we influencing the polls or are the polls influencing us? Does a slight shift in a poll push a voter into a decisive posture?

If they are influencing us, are they accurate? Have you ever been polled? How many twenty-somethings out there don’t even have a landline? How many people pickup calls without a recognizable caller id?

Assuming there is such a thing, electoral vote predictor at electoral-vote.com seems to be one of the best out there and they have a nice RSS feed.

Electoral Vote Predictor [RSS]

A few others you may wish to visit:
Zogby
Gallup
American Research Group
Mason-Dixon
Rasmussen
Research 2000
Strategic Vision
Survey USA