Category: starred

Hostage negotiators have a tough job, and we can learn a lot about negotiation from how they do things on a daily basis. Over on Barking Up the Wrong Tree, FBI negotiator Chris Voss suggests that the first tip we can all take away from a hostage negotiator is “active listening.”

Active listening is pretty straight forward and exactly what it sounds like:

1. Listen to what they say. Don’t interrupt, disagree or “evaluate.”
2. Nod your head, and make brief acknowledging comments like “yes” and “uh-huh.”
3. Without being awkward, repeat back the gist of what they just said, from their frame of reference.
4. Inquire. Ask questions that show you’ve been paying attention and that move the discussion forward.

Essentially, a hostage negotiators first job is to hear out the other side and then respond. It’s a good tactic for any type of negotiation. Head over to Barking Up the Wrong Tree for a bunch more negotiation tips from hostage negotiators.

6 hostage negotiation techniques that will get you what you want | Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Photo by Ben Smith.
via Lifehacker
Use “Active Listening” to Get What You Want in a Negotiation

An anonymous reader writes “Professors at the Ohio State University are embracing MOOCs, with a Massive Open Online Calculus Course — it is completely open source; everything is on github. There is are free videos, free online assessment system, and a free textbook!”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

via Slashdot
Ohio State Introduces Massive Open Online Calculus

Dilbert readers – Please visit Dilbert.com to read this feature. Due to changes with our feeds, we are now making this RSS feed a link to Dilbert.com.
via Dilbert Daily Strip
Comic for August 31, 2013

Ruger has just announced the Ruger American Rimfire, a bolt-action rimfire rifle that uses the Ruger 10/22 magazine. As much as I love the .22 cartridge, feeding it is a problem in many guns. I generally find a brand of ammunition that feeds well in a particular gun and stick to it. The Ruger 10/22 is […]
Read More …
via The Firearm Blog
Ruger American Rimfire: .22 LR and .22 Magnum 10/22 Style A Bolt Action Rifle

OS X and iOS: We’ve looked at ways to break down the barrier between your Mac and iPhone in the past, but nothing offers quite the seamless experience you get with DeskConnect. Thanks to a lot of clever tricks, the desktop and mobile apps communicate quickly, reliably, and intelligently so you can move data between devices with ease.

Most desktop-to-mobile data transfer apps fail to do one of the following things: send information reliably, automatically understand the data being sent, offer shortcuts, work with multiple third-party apps, and stay out of your way. DeskConnect manages all of these things with an interface so simple you rarely even see it.

On the Mac side, you install a menu bar app that can send anything with two clicks or a keyboard shortcut of your choice. If you send a Google Map or directions, the mobile app knows to set up a map or directions in your navigation app of choice. The same goes for web sites. DeskConnect doesn’t expect you to stick with Apple defaults. If you prefer Google Maps or Chrome, you can send data there as well.

Sending data back to your Mac works pretty much as easily but requires a little setup. You have to go through a mildly confusing process to save a bookmarklet to send sites, but once you do it works so well and so quickly that you’ll forget all about it. Sending photos and videos can come from any app, too, as you just need to utilize iOS’ “Open in…” functionality and choose DeskConnect. This makes it easy to transfer files. The only downside is you don’t have easy access to the files themselves. DeskConnect will show them to you, but it hides them in an Application Support folder that isn’t easily accessible.

If you need to transfer data from your Mac to your iPhone and back again, DeskConnect makes the process about as simple as possible and charges you nothing for the service. We’ve seen few first versions of any software work quite so well.

DeskConnect (Free)
via Lifehacker
DeskConnect Breaks Down the Barrier Between Your Mac and iPhone

Need to do some work around the house but don’t have the tools?  Don’t buy them – borrow them from the The Rebuilding Together Central Ohio Tool Library!   The RTCO Tool Library offers over 200 different types of and over 4,500 individual hand and power tools.  Tools can be borrowed for 1, 3, or Read More

The post Borrow Tools from the Central Ohio Tool Library appeared first on Columbus on the Cheap.
via Columbus on the Cheap
Borrow Tools from the Central Ohio Tool Library

The downloads folder on a Mac can get pretty messy, but MacWorld shows off an automator script that automatically keeps that folder organized and clean.

Chances are that the bulk of your downloads fall into one of a few different categories: videos, images, disk images, or archives. With MacWorld’s workflow, you can set it up so every time you download a file it automatically gets organized into whatever folder you choose. Of course, you can also do this with software like Hazel, but the Automator script is free and built right into OS X. Head over to MacWorld for the full guide.

Automator workflow of the month: automatically file downloaded items | MacWorld
via Lifehacker
Automatically Organize Downloaded Files on Your Mac with Automator

Before shooting big action scenes, directors often commission rough pencil animations to work out the composition and sequencing. Here’s some footage of an epic Iron Man sequence that never made it into The Avengers.

via The Awesomer Iron Man Unused Animatic

Works with a machete to clear brush

via Cool Tools Reaping Hook

A few years ago, YouTube switched to a streaming protocol called Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, or DASH for short. While it’s more efficient in most cases, you probably know it best as the thing that only lets you preload the video a few seconds ahead of the playhead, no matter how fast your connection is. Luckily, it’s easy to disable.

First, you’ll need to add YouTube Center to your browser of choice, either as an extension or as a user script. Once that’s done, you’ll notice a gear icon in the upper right corner of YouTube. From this dropdown menu, go to YouTube Center Settings > Player, and uncheck Dash Playback. Now, YouTube videos will be able to preload in their entirety, which is awesome if you’re on a slow connection, or if you’re jumping around from point to point.

YouTube Center obviously has a lot else going on, so be sure to poke around once you’ve cured this particular grievance.

Update: As has been pointed out in the comments, you’ll need to enable developer mode in Chrome to install the extension, since it’s not coming from the Chrome Web Store.

YouTube Center (Free) | GitHub via Ghacks

via Lifehacker Preload Entire YouTube Videos By Disabling Dash Playback