The Thinking Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Fridays, covering the ideas The Mechanism is thinking and talking about with our peers and clients.

The week in quick links:

• beta620: Experimental Projects from The New York Times.

• Phase Change Materials Bring Us Closer to "Brain-like" Computers.

• The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors.

• Web Typography for the Lonely.

• An 80 page dissertation on what makes Instagram tick.

• Twitter's Jack Dorsey reportedly invests in "new kind" of marking firm led by Ex-Apple Exec.

• Björk's Biophilia album-app: reviews from a techie and a music fan.

• Cooking classes, Live on Google+.

• A preference box you want to uncheck on LinkedIn.