Shared posts

14 Jun 04:56

Roomba Cinema - The Right Stuff

Achewood strip for Friday, June 10, 2016
27 May 05:22

Tips for Playing Overwatch

by Alan Henry
Tboneynot

I haven't felt this way about a game in a decade.

Tips for Playing Overwatch

Of all the games with tens of colorful heroes and millions of people playing incessantly, Overwatch is the least overwhelming. That said, it’s not entirely like anything else out there. Here are some tips to help you wrap your head around it. [Kotaku]

27 May 05:21

Remains of the Day: You Can Now Upload Images Directly to Reddit

by Andy Orin
Remains of the Day: You Can Now Upload Images Directly to Reddit

If you frequent Reddit than you are also familiar with Imgur, the image-hosting service that has served as the backbone to the site for years. But things are about to change, as you’ll soon be able to upload images directly to Reddit, no third-party host required.

27 May 05:21

The Backyard Barbecue Playlist

by Eric Ravenscraft
The Backyard Barbecue Playlist

Memorial Day is coming up! If you’re one of the lucky folks who get a long weekend, you’re probably ready to fire up the grill to celebrate. Today’s playlist can help.

This playlist, from Spotify user Asa Holt, combines some of the best classic rock and golden oldies for the perfect holiday weekend playlist. It features artists like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Eagles. Hit play, fire up the grill, and enjoy your weekend.

Welcome to our Featured Playlist series. Each week, we’ll share a new themed playlist, embedded for your convenience! You can copy the track list to your service of choice, or listen right here. Have a sweet playlist of your own? Share it with us in the comments below!

Background photo by slgckgc.

27 May 05:20

I mean, the chalk doesn't lie...

by /u/SmileyFace-_-
27 May 05:00

The Offenders

The Offenders
28 Mar 23:26

Jonah Hex Knows Exactly How to Get People Watching Legends of Tomorrow

by Katharine Trendacosta
Tboneynot

America wants to see these characters beaten. This speaks to me.

It’s by punching Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) in the face. Hey, if Jonah Hex (Johnathon Schaech) delivering this justly deserved bit of frontier justice to the rogue Time Master doesn’t get you on board for this show, nothing will.

Read more...










28 Mar 23:24

AMC's THE WALKING DEAD Introduces NEGAN & LUCILLE

Tboneynot

Fucking Christ this is horrifying.

"Hi, I'm Negan."
28 Mar 23:23

MARVEL Teases 'DEATH OF X'

Tboneynot

Here it comes...

Who's dying to die in the Marvel U?
28 Mar 23:23

MARVEL Invites Retailers To Fire CIVIL WAR II Opening Volley With Launch Party Kit

Tboneynot

NOW WITH TONY STARK BITCH SLAPPING ACTION.

MARVEL is offering retailers a special kit to host their own CIVIL WAR II launch party.
28 Mar 23:22

BATMAN v SUPERMAN Deleted Scene Hints At [Redacted], LUTHOR - [Redacted] Connection - SPOILERS

Tboneynot

This could help explain Luthor being portrayed like a manic lunatic.

A deleted scene from BATMAN v SUPERMAN may show just what Lex Luthor was referring to at the end of the film.
28 Mar 23:20

KINGSMAN 2 Gets Subtitle, Details, Concept Art Revealed

Tboneynot

KINGSMAN 2: KINGDOM OF WHIPASS

The sequel to KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE will officially be titled KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE.
28 Mar 23:20

OFFICIAL: MARVEL Unveils DEAD NO MORE Two-Part Promo Art

Tboneynot

Hmm.

Check out a two-part promo image released by Marvel for DEAD NO MORE.
28 Mar 23:19

GRANT MORRISON Explores 'Provocative Elements ' of WONDER WOMAN in Latest EARTH ONE

The never-boring writer talks about his and Yanick Paquette new OGN that re-imagines Wonder Woman that leans on original creator William Moulton Marston's original.
14 Jul 18:35

Movie posters for the Sharknado sequels nobody asked for

by Lauren Davis

Movie posters for the Sharknado sequels nobody asked for

Sharknado may have been a ratings flop, but there are still so many natural disasters that Syfy could mashup with hungry sharks. Buzzfeed's John Gara has come up with six movie posters for fishy storms more deadly than a Sharknado.

Read more...

    


14 Jul 18:33

Someone actually bothered to debunk the idea of a Sharknado

by Lauren Davis

Someone actually bothered to debunk the idea of a SharknadoAccuWeather wants you to know that you need not live in fear of shark-bearing tornadoes. The weather site debunks not only the idea of sharks attacking humans from a tornado, but also some of the other odd weather patterns in Syfy's Sharknado movie.

Read more...

    


23 Jun 22:32

Arnold Schwarzenegger shuffles into tearjerker zombie film Maggie

by Lauren Davis

Arnold Schwarzenegger shuffles into tearjerker zombie film Maggie

Although it's set during a zombie outbreak, the scale of the upcoming film Maggie sits on the opposite end of the spectrum from World War Z. It's about a small farm family who helps their eldest daughter come to terms with her zombie infection. And it's just nabbed itself an unlikely star.

Read more...

    


17 Jun 23:00

Y: The Last Man movie might actually get made!

by Meredith Woerner

Y: The Last Man movie might actually get made!

The long awaited Y: The Last Man movie adaptation is as "close as it's ever been" to happening. Which fills us all with excitement and dread. Please be good. Please be good.

Read more...

    


17 May 17:54

Familiar Star Wars fans tell J.J. Abrams what should be in Episode VII

by Rob Bricken

J.J. Abrams stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to promote Star Trek Into Darkness, at least until he was asked about the Star Wars sequel. When he admitted he and his team were having some writer's block, a group of fans helpfully offered their opinions on what we should see in Episode VII. I tell you, I think that third fan is really onto something.

Read more...

    


16 May 00:00

Google Music All Access: Should It Be Your New Streaming Service?

by Alan Henry

Today Google unveiled Google Play Music All Access, a subscription music and internet radio service that opens the door to millions of tracks, all intermingled with the music you already own. Sounds great, and the price is competitive, but should you ditch your current streaming service for it? Let's take a look.

What Google Music All Access Has to Offer

Google Play Music All Access is a subscription music service that opens the door to the 20 million songs that Google Play Music has to offer for a monthly fee. You can listen to or download (for offline playback) any of the millions of songs available at Google Play, get recommendations of artists to listen to or purchase based on the music you own and the music you've already listened to, and create internet radio stations based on any song anywhere at Google Play. If you really love something you hear, buy it from Google Play to own it, free and clear, with no DRM.

What makes All Access really special is its approach to streaming radio. The songs you hear are personalized, meaning they're added to your playlist based on their similarity to the artist or song you used to start the station. That's normal, but what's really special is that you can peek at the songs coming up in the playlist, and swipe away any that you already know you'd rather not hear. You can even drag and drop songs in the playlist to reorder them. If you just want to lean back and enjoy the music, you can do that too—but if a song comes up that you don't like, you can skip as many times as you like. You're not restricted to a certain number of skips per day or hour, or a certain number of hours of streaming, all of which is unusual for a streaming radio app, and what makes All Access unique.

All Access also comes with the features you may already enjoy in Google Music, including storage space for 20,000 of your own songs, which you can still upload, manage, download, and add to playlists along with anything else you find at Google Play. You can still stream anywhere you go, and make the music your own by buying it and storing it in the cloud.

Features: Google Rocks Radio, Other Services Have Bigger Libraries

There's a reason why Google made sure to put All Access' radio features front and center during the demo. The radio features are by far the most unique, especially compared to other streaming music services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and Grooveshark. The ability to reorder radio tracks on the fly and skip as many as times as you want, whenever you want are features you won't get in any other service (with the exception of Grooveshark, which allows you to edit station queues on the fly).

However, All Access's streaming radio features are only available with a paid monthly subscription. If you're using Google Music for free, you don't get any streaming radio—not just ad-supported radio, or feature-limited radio, you get no radio at all. You also don't get the ability to listen to anything in Google Music's 20 million song catalog without purchasing it outright first. By contrast, at least Spotify and Pandora have radio features available for free.

Spotify, by comparison, also packs about 20 million songs in its catalog, and at least gives you unlimited streaming radio for free, and access to its entire catalog to play whenever you want and to use to create personalized radio stations. Even if it's jam-packed with advertisements and doesn't offer mobile or offline support, at least Spotify is giving away a little for free. You can pony up the $5/mo to ditch the ads, or the full $10/mo to ditch the ads, get mobile access, offline support, and better audio quality, but by that point the two services are starting to look really similar. Of course, Spotify doesn't let you upload your own music to the cloud, but you can sync your mobile device with your Spotify library on your computer. We also can't ignore the ecosystem around Spotify—full of shared playlists, Spotify Apps, integration with Facebook, and of course, the fact that Spotify is available outside the US, while Google Play Music is still US only.

Rdio on the other hand, also has radio features and a library of over 20 million songs. On the desktop, you can customize your radio experience and add and remove tracks from your playlist. You can't create radio stations based on specific artists (they're auto generated by what you and your friends are listening to), but you can take those playlists and the "Heavy Rotation" station with on you the go. The trouble is that Rdio doesn't have a free plan to speak of. They claim to, but we've discussed how Rdio's free plan comes with mysterious caps before. Ultimately, you'll pony up $5/mo to use the web player as much as you want, or $10/mo for unlimited streaming on the web and your mobile phone. Rdio doesn't give you access to your own songs.

Pandora, for comparison, is entirely streaming radio, with no music catalog of its own and no way to play your own, personally owned music. Paying for a Pandora One subscription lets you stream as much radio as you want, but you still can't reorder tracks on the fly and you don't get unlimited skips. Still, comparing All Access to Pandora is a little unfair: Pandora is entirely an internet radio service, and while we would love to see those on-the-fly playlist tweaking options and unlimited skips in Pandora, they're probably not coming.

GrooveShark probably comes the closest to All Access, but that's because the service is completely free and uses the music uploaded by users to make its catalog (as well as the music it gets through partnerships with individual artists and small labels). It too has streaming radio on the desktop and on mobile, allows you to upload your own songs to the service for access on the go, lets you tweak streaming radio (your queue, once you start a station) to remove songs you don't want to hear and move up songs you do want, lets you build a station based on anything you find anywhere in the catalog, and more. We love GrooveShark and know you do too, but its legal issues can't be ignored.

Of course, there are more services than just these. Rhapsody, Slacker, MOG, they're all competing in the same space, even if they're somewhat smaller than the above. Still, many of them have attractive subscription services that may even beat All Access on price, but have smaller libraries, and while they all have streaming radio features, none of them have on-the-fly playlist tweaking or the ability to mingle your own music with their streaming catalog.

Price: Spotify and Rdio have Free Plans for the Desktop, All Access Costs No Matter What

Like we mentioned, Google Music All Access is entirely a paid service. It's $10/mo, but if you sign up before June 30th, you can get in at $8/mo forever, just for being an early adopter. It comes with all of the features of All Access and Google Music, from the great streaming radio and access to full tracks in Google Music's massive catalog to the cloud storage and offline syncing we already love. However, it's important to note that there's nothing about All Access that's free. Google Music is free, but All Access, and all of the music and streaming options it opens, costs money. You can, however, try it for free for 30 days.

Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and GrooveShark on the other hand all have some free options, just to get you excited about the service and using it before you finally cave and pay for the premium features. Whether those features are no ads and unlimited streaming (Pandora) or the ability to take your music on the go on your phone (Spotify), at least you can get your feet wet with a free plan. In the case of Google Music All Access, free amounts to "upload and listen to your own music, and explore this massive catalog of music you can only listen to snippets of, but you can buy if you want."

The Bottom Line

So should you switch? If you're already paying for Spotify though, there's not much to make you move unless the internet radio features in All Access are absolutely must-haves for you. However, if you're paying for Spotify and have all of your personal music uploaded to Google Music anyway, it might make sense to switch and consolidate everything to one streaming music service that offers everything: streaming radio, tons of music, mobile apps, desktop access, and the songs you already own.

If you're not paying for anything right now, or if you're using Spotify or GrooveShark for free, you'll find that those services tend to give away a little more than Google does to free users, who won't be able to try any of All Access' great features. However, you can use Google Music's basic cloud storage and mobile streaming for free, which is a pretty big incentive—assuming it's available where you live.

Feature-wise, Google Music All Access is on par with services like Spotify Premium, and even edges Spotify out a little bit in terms of streaming radio and cloud storage for your music. All Access is the only one fully integrated with its own music store, and the only one with cloud storage that your music purchases are automatically routed to (although you may not do much purchasing if you can just stream or sync anything in the catalog whenever you want). Price-wise, All Access is right there with Spotify and Rdio's premium plans. All three are $10/mo, and all three give you access to unlimited streaming music via the web and via mobile apps.

Ultimately, which one you choose depends mostly on how you manage your music. If you prefer cloud storage and ubiquitous streaming for everything you own and millions more songs seamlessly, all without worrying about local storage (and you use Android, and you live in the US), Google Music All Access is where it's at. If you'd rather keep your music local and only stream when you want to, or you already have a lot vested in Spotify playlists and Spotify apps, have tons of friends who use Spotify, or prefer iOS and desktop players to webapps, stick with Spotify.

16 May 00:00

Gmail Adds New "Quick Action" Buttons, Helps You Act On Your Messages

by Whitson Gordon

Gmail launched a new feature today called "Quick Actions," which recognize certain types of messages and help you take action on items immediately.

For example, if your friend sends you a Google Calendar invitation, you can RSVP right from your inbox by clicking the RSVP button. It'll also recognize if you ate at a restaurant and ask you to rate it or—even cooler—show you all your flight information at the top of the message if it detects a confirmation email.

Check out the full post at Google's blog for more info. You should see these buttons roll out over the next few week, with more actions to come.

Take Action Right From the Inbox | Official Gmail Blog

15 May 20:12

How to Ditch iTunes Forever and Keep Syncing Your iOS Devices

by Whitson Gordon

The iPhone and iPad are great devices, but unfortunately, Apple heavily tethers them to iTunes, which is a bloated, slow, and feature-poor program compared to some of its competitors. Here's how to migrate your music to a new player and keep syncing your iOS devices without iTunes.

We're only going to cover Windows in this guide, since iTunes isn't nearly as bad on the Mac—and since Mac users don't have a ton of options when it comes to syncing their music. Apple regularly attempts to block any software that syncs music with iOS, so most programs don't even try. Luckily, MediaMonkey—one of our favorite music players on Windows—syncs with all kinds of iOS devices, so it's a great iTunes replacement. If you want to use something else, you could always use iTunes for syncing and that player for listening, but today we're going to look at how to do it all in one program, which means we'll be using MediaMonkey.

Sync Your Music, Videos, and Podcasts With MediaMonkey

MediaMonkey is an awesome, fully-featured media player that's perfect for replacing iTunes. It has a ton of awesome organization features, syncs with iOS devices, and has a bunch of add-ons for tons of customizability. All you need to do is import your existing iTunes library and you'll be well on your way to a better music experience on Windows. Here's what you need to do.

Step One: Migrate Your Library

To start, you'll want to move all of your music from iTunes to MediaMonkey. This is very easy:

  1. First, download and install MediaMonkey. You don't need to pay for the Gold version for today's tasks, but it does have some nice extra features.

  2. When you first open MediaMonkey, it'll take you through a setup wizard. During the last step, it'll ask you to scan your music folder for files. Select the folders you want from your "iTunes Media" folder (like Music, Videos, and Podcasts). If you like, you can also click on the iTunes Media folder and click "Scan at Startup" or "Scan Continuously," which constantly monitors that folder for new music.

  3. When you're done, click Finish. MediaMonkey will now scan your iTunes folder for files.

When it's done, you should see your entire library—music, videos, and podcasts—show up in MediaMonkey. MediaMonkey will then prompt you to import things like play count and ratings, to which you can reply "Yes." When it's done, you'll have all your music, metadata intact, inside MediaMonkey.

Step Two: Migrate Your Playlists

Unfortuntely, MediaMonkey misses out on importing one thing: playlists. If you want to keep all your playlists from iTunes, you'll need to import them separately, after you've imported your library. Luckily, this is really easy to do:

  1. Head to this site and download the iPlaylist Importer script. Double-click on it to install it into MediaMonkey.
  2. Once it's installed, head to Tools > Scripts > iPlaylist Importer.
  3. Navigate to your iTunes music folder and select your iTunes Library.xml file. It should import all your existing playlists.

You'll find the newly-imported playlists under the "Playlists > iPlaylists" section of the MediaMonkey sidebar, after which you can move them to wherever you want in the Playlists category.

Step Three: Sync Your Music, Videos, and Podcasts

Now that your library's in place, it's time to sync your device! Here's what you need to do:

  1. Plug in your device—iPhone, iPod, or iPad—and look for it in the sidebar. When it pops up, click on it to access its options.
  2. Click on the "Auto-Sync List" tab and select the media you want to sync. You can select music by artist, album, rating, genre, or select certain playlists instead. You can also sync videos and podcasts.
  3. When you're done selecting your music, click over to the Options tab, choose "Auto-Sync," and select "Delete files and playlists not included in the Auto-Sync list from the device." This makes the sync work just like iTunes, removing files you haven't selected in MediaMonkey so you don't have to delete them manually. You can also select "Auto-Sync files from the device to the PC" if you ever download music, videos, or podcast on your device.
  4. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the MediaMonkey window.
  5. Click the "Auto-Sync" button at the top of the MediaMonkey window. It will start the sync process, just like iTunes.

That's it! When it's done, you'll have all your music, videos, podcasts, and playlists on your device just like you usually do. You'll need to keep iTunes installed in order to sync, so you can't uninstall it completely, but from now on you can add new music to MediaMonkey, manage it from right inside the app, and never open iTunes again. If you want to add new music to MediaMonkey, just add it anywhere in your old iTunes Music folder and head to File > Add/Rescan in MediaMonkey to add them. Alternatively, if you selected "Scan at Startup" or "Scan Continuously" in the initial setup, it'll automatically add those files to MediaMonkey after you copy them to your old iTunes folder. You can move your music to another folder if you like, but everything should work fine as-is.

The only thing you won't get after migrating is automatic folder organization, like you had in iTunes. For that feature you'll need to Purchase MediaMonkey Gold, then enable the "Auto-Organize" feature in MediaMonkey's settings.

Transfer Files to All Your Apps with iFunBox

So that takes care of your music, but what about the apps on your device? Chances are you have an app or two that requires some sort of document sync. Maybe it's a third-party video player that needs videos, or a comic book reader that needs comic books added to its library. You can keep syncing these files without iTunes using an iOS explorer like iFunbox. iFunbox is particularly easy to use:

  1. Download and install iFunbox to your computer, then open it up. Click over to the "Managing App Data" tab.
  2. Select the app to which you want to sync your files.
  3. Drag your files from Windows Explorer into iFunBox's window, and it'll copy them to your app of choice, without ever opening iTunes.

As far as downloading new apps, you don't need iTunes for that either—you can do that straight from your device.

Back Up Your Device with iCloud

When you sync your device with iTunes, it backs up your device's settings to your computer, which is really handy if your device breaks or you get a new one. Luckily, you don't need iTunes for this either, though. Open up iTunes, plug in your device, and select the "iCloud" option under the Backup category. Click Apply and from now on, your device will back up all those settings to iCloud instead, meaning you never need to plug it into iTunes again.


This may not cover every single thing that iTunes does (does anyone use Voice Memos?) but it should get you over the biggest humps. If you've got any other tricks for ditching iTunes, let us know about them in the comments.

Music by Chris Zabriskie.

14 May 01:51

Disney finally moves forward with an animated Marvel flick! BIG HERO 6 coming November 2014!

Tboneynot

Thoughts?

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. When Marvel was bought by Disney all geek brains started trying to figure out which Marvel property was going to be developed into an animated feature. It wasn't a question of "if" but of "when" and that "when" is now. After some rumblings, it is official: Big Hero 6 will be the first Disney animated Marvel feature.





When they first appeared in the Marvel U back in the late '90s the team was comprised of Sunfire, Honey Lemon, Gog Tomago, the Silver Samurai and 13 year old robotics prodigy Hiro with his robot bodyguard that could morph into a dragon named Baymax.

The press release announcing the project says the film will be released in 3D November 7th, 2014. It also says the boy wonder's name is Hiro Hamada, which isn't what it was in the book. Granted I'm not up on this particular title, but the character in the book was named Hiro Takachiho.

Whatever his name is, they released the first footage from the film, a test reel of fictional amalgam city San Fransokyo, home to Hiro. Looks pretty rad.





Thoughts?

-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter

13 May 22:04

Goodness Gracious A New Day brings New MAN OF STEEL Poster & TV Spot!!!

Tboneynot

Yes. Sir.

Hey folks, Harry here... getting ready to dive into my STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS review - when...  lo and behold yet another MAN OF STEEL poster.   This one removes the big SUPERMAN shield so that it doesn't look a dollar sign!  

 

And faster than a speeding bullet, this latest TV spot hit:



I've got the sneaking suspicion that Warner Brothers is going to pummel us with daily updates of marketing materials on this film - and I'm fine with that.   It's incredibly exciting to see this film ramping up its exposure.   Now, just release the Hans Zimmer full score already!

13 May 22:01

DC gets ready for Superman Vs. He-Man, round 2

by Rob Bricken
Tboneynot

For the love of...

If, like me, you were wondering why DC had recently given the blond barbarian a "New 52"-ish redesign, wonder no longer — it turns He-Man and the Masters of the Universe are coming to the DC universe in a crossover reminiscent of Supes and He-Man's first battle in the '80s. The six-issue miniseries begins in August.

Read more...

    


13 May 00:16

Stomp all over princesses in these Disney villain shoes

by Lauren Davis

Shoe designer Kobi Levi designs all manner of quirky footwear—flamingo shoes with one stiletto tucked under, shark shoes that open into toothy maws in the back. His latest series, titled "Witch-Craft," pays tribute to three classic Disney villains through the art of the high heel.

Read more...

    


07 May 04:27

Five Tips to Negotiate Better with Just About Anyone

by Tessa Miller

If you think about it, we use negotiation in various ways almost every day. From conflict resolution and dealing with customers or vendors, to attempting to lower your cable bill and asking for a raise. The key to negotiation is to get what you need/want while—at the same time—not cheating or neglecting the other person’s needs/wants. And, that is the real challenge.

One of the better books I’ve read lately dealt with the subject of negotiation. Negotiation Boot Camp by Ed Brodow is a great resource if you are looking to improve your negotiating skills—and I don’t know many who aren’t.

I mentioned my attempt at getting a 30% raise at work two months ago. What I didn’t tell you is that I was dealing with one of the most talented negotiators I’ve ever met. My boss routinely makes seven-figure deals with Fortune 500 companies while dealing with other, very highly skilled “bargainers." So, while I didn’t get exactly what I was looking for during my raise request—I did learn a few things.

I’m not expert at the art yet—but I would like to tell you what Brodow (dubbed the “King of Negotiators” by SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt) talks about in his book and what I’ve picked up from my boss. I believe if we can increase our negotiating prowess, we’ll have an easier time getting what we need/want in a dignified manner.

Listen

One of the first points that Brodow makes in his book is to listen. Listening is a fairly underrated skill in today’s world. It’s so easy to assume what others are saying OR (as is my habit from time to time) finish what others are saying for them. Listening is definitely one of those things that comes easier to others. I would say I’m an average listener, but I have a tendency to mentally doze off when others are talking. I really have to concentrate on what others are saying and process things.

Brodow stresses the importance of listening because it will do two things: it will cause the other party to feel respected and it will build trust (another very important aspect in any negotiation). Listening entails making sure what you’ve heard is actually correct. My boss does this well. He will repeat to you (mirror) what you’ve said to be sure he is understanding.

Seek a Win-Win Outcome

How many times are you so focused on getting what you want in a negotiation, you don’t even think about the other person? When I read that Brodow is always seeking a “win-win” solution in a bargaining deal, I was a bit shocked. It seems to go against the purpose of negotiation. Aren’t you supposed to knock the other out and take it all?! In reality–the “win-win” negotiators seem to have the most success.

We try to use this approach with my step-son and it seems to be paying off. For example: like most kids his age, he is very independent. He wants us to “stay out of his life” as much as possible. And while we can’t fully do this as long as we are supporting him and paying for his food/roof, we can still aim for a win-win solution. So we’ll say “to get us out of your life more, you need to______.” So, he'll be getting what he wants (us, out of his life + gaining more freedom/independence) and we will be getting what we need (him following rules, getting done what needs to get done, etc.). A win-win outcome really is the best way to approach negotiations.

Look for Commonalities

Another key aspect to negotiating is to be on the lookout for things you and the other party share in common. If you ever watch the show “American Pickers” on the History Channel, you know how affective Mike and Frank (the Pickers) are at getting a decent deal on collectibles. One of the objects Mike loves to find are old bicycles. And sometimes–when he's dealing with another bike enthusiast–he will try and talk about their love for old bikes. When you can share a common interest or find a common ground with another person, they'll have a harder time being in confrontation with you.

Acknowledge Counters or Objections

One way another party will seek to end a negotiation before you can get what you need/want is to offer a counter–or objection—to your proposal. For example: during my request to lower our cable bill, the representative said “I don’t have the authority to give you that." They were hoping to end the discussion and that I would give up. It works–because many do give up.

But, to counter a counter, acknowledge them: “I understand you don’t have the authority to give me a reduction in my cable bill–but do you know someone who does?” OR “I realize you don’t have that authority, so can I speak with your supervisor or someone in retention?”

Acknowledging objections makes the other person feel heard and avoids ending the discussion. I’m sure you’ve gotten the telemarketing phone call:

You say: “I can’t afford this right now.”

They say: “I can appreciate that you don’t have the money right now. What if we offered an installment plan, you can pay a fourth upfront and the rest later on. Can I get your credit card and we can get your order processed?”

They use it all the time in sales. Don’t be afraid to add it to your arsenal.

Broaden the Pie

Sometimes when we'r'e in negotiation we get so centered on the one thing—we forget there might be other possibilities. Brodow recommends thinking about a bigger pie. It’s an attempt to negotiate outside the box.

During my raise request, my boss wasn’t able to give me what I wanted. But, he talked about working together to get that raise down the road through a promotion or more responsibility. Thinking outside the box, you're able to offer more than what was originally on the table, increasing your odds of succeeding in the negotiation.

5 Tips for Better Negotiating (and Getting What You Want) | Three Thrifty Guys


Aaron Shepherd helped start Three Thrifty Guys with his friends Charlie and Mark after being inspired by how they lived their lives "on the thrift." A designer by day, Aaron was once $40k in debt. After 5 years, he dug himself out and lives to tell about it. Aaron also blogs at the StarTribune.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

07 May 04:26

One Time Thing

One Time Thing
07 May 04:25

The Last Unicorns

The Last Unicorns
25 Apr 23:15

Learn the Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts with This Elegant Cheat Sheet

by Melanie Pinola

We love keyboard shortcuts and we love Gmail. This minimalistic Gmail cheat sheet brings the two together, visually highlighting the shortcuts that will help you use Gmail faster and easier.

Of course, if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled in Gmail (you have to go into your settings to turn them on), you can hit the question mark (?) for Gmail's own pop-up keyboard reference. This cheat sheet, however, is a great visual reference, which might make learning and understanding the shortcuts a bit easier. Also, you can save it to your desktop or post it in your office for a quick look every now and then.

Here it is for you to save (by right-clicking on the image):

Visualeks | via Gizmodo