David Lidsky's Blog, page 3112
November 25, 2014
The Top 6 Mistakes Managers Make When Having Difficult Conversations
These mistakes are common, but they can turn a difficult conversation from uncomfortable to disastrous.
If you're a manager, you're no doubt more than familiar with the sweaty palms and butterflies that come with having to deliver bad news. From a poor performance review to firing an employee, the most stressful conversations are those where you're sure tears or anger will ensue.
November 24, 2014
No Slacking Off With New Slack Feature That Allows Your Boss To Read Your Messages
Updates to the privacy policy and terms of service will let employers with stricter regulations have access to employee communications.
Slack, the insanely popular office collaboration and communication service that recently entered the billion-dollar valuation club, announced today an updated privacy policy and terms of service befitting a serious enterprise startup rather than a funky chat tool birthed out of a failed video game. Most controversially, bosses will now be able to see all the posts of their employees.
U.S. Immigrants Are Using Social Media Check-ins To Prove Residency Requirements
All those check-ins you made at McDonald's might not be pointless after all...if you're an immigrant.
Earlier today my colleague wrote about how, generally, technology has failed low-income people living in America, a demographic that has been largely ignored by both developers and growth hackers.
This Deodorizing Toilet Seat Makes Your Poop Smell Like Avocados
Kohler thinks its shit don't stink.
Wisconsin-based toilet titan Kohler is determined to design away any potential discomfort involved with disposing of human waste. If a $6,400 heated, remote-controlled home DJ/toilet seems a bit too much for your bathroom tastes, the company is now hawking a toilet seat that merely makes your poop smell like avocados and waterfalls.
OK So, This Might Sound Crazy, But OK Go's New Album Will Be Available On DNA
The band is working with a biochemist to encode its album, "Hungry Ghosts," into a DNA sequence.
The band OK Go is known for its insanely creative, viral music videos, and now, they are pushing the bounds of creativity again by releasing their latest album, "Hungry Ghosts," on DNA.
Slingbox-YouTube Deal Reboots The Live TV-Digital Experience
The upgraded Slingbox interface gives YouTube suggestions based on what you're watching—and a vision for YouTube's smart TV future.
YouTube and Sling Media have partnered to bring a YouTube experience to Slingbox users watching live TV, Variety reports. The guide functions within SlingTV and Slingbox 500 devices will be upgraded to add a number of features that bring to life the potential for Internet-enabled smart TV. For example, Slingboxes will now include Audible Magic's audio-fingerprinting technology to call up YouTube clips in the lower-third of the screen based on what it hears from the show a user is currently watching. That relevant clip can then be watched in up to 1080p resolution. The new guide also has a tab for trending YouTube videos as well as a standalone app to browse by category.
Yakety Sax: Why Yik Yak's Huge New Funding Round Isn't As Ridiculous As It Sounds
What Yik Yak raising $62 million means for Sequoia Capital, bullied teens, a spurned cofounder, and bubble watchers everywhere
Yik Yak, the controversial anonymous messaging app popular on high school and college campuses, has raised its third round of funding this year. Sequoia Capital led this $62 million capital infusion in the Atlanta-based startup, putting the company's valuation in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The FAA Does Not Like Drones
New regulations, if enacted, could severely restrict commercial use.
Amazon may still have lofty ambitions to one day make deliveries via drones, but if new proposed regulations go into effect, those ambitions may be just pie in the sky.
Bumble, Launched By A Former Tinder Exec, Wants To Keep Creepy Dudes Away
Not much is known about the app, other than it wants to keep "creepy guys and cheesy pickup lines" to a minimum.
Former Tinder executive Whitney Wolfe left the company she helped build earlier this year, filing an ugly sexual harassment lawsuit against the hookup app's cofounders. (The suit was settled in September for an undisclosed amount.) Now, Wolfe is back—along with two other former Tinder employees—to launch a new dating app called Bumble. At first blush, it looks an awful lot like, well, Tinder.
This App Is Like A Mind-Reading Robot That Helps You Avoid Conflict
Design firm Altitude created a conceptual app that uses emotion-detecting software to help keep users calm and collected.
Many smartphone apps distract us from our feelings—it's hard to get in touch with crushing sadness while crushing candy. But what if there were an app that made users more aware of their emotions, as well as those of their friends and coworkers, and thus made difficult conversations easier?
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