Sonja Thompson: Greetings, everyone. Another week has just flown by -- it's amazing how that happens -- and I'm here to give you some of the highlights that we've had on TechRepublic.
I'm Sonja Thompson, a senior editor, and this is TROLOV -- or TR Out Loud on Video -- for July 17th, 2009.
Starting off with the five most popular discussions of the week -- believe it or not, Jason Hiner, TechRepublic's Editor in Chief, was responsible for creating the top discussion -- for the second week in a row.
Sonja Thompson: Hey there, Jason. It looks like you've struck a chord again this week with your post called, "Google Chrome OS: 3 reasons it matters, and 4 reasons it's irrelevant." Why is this such a hot topic?
Jason Hiner: Well, you know, Google announced its long-awaited OS -- the Chrome OS -- worst-kept secret in technology for the past few years that they've wanted to do this. So, everybody's been interested in what they're going to do, and they finally announced it. My thing was, I talked about the reasons why it matters -- mostly because it's Google -- and the reasons why it could be irrelevant -- that the time for the OS has really kind of passed, the OS has sort of faded in the background, and primarily, Google hasn't really shown us that they know how to build an OS. With Android, their mobile phone OS, they haven't set the world on fire with that, and they also said that that was going to be on netbooks, and the Chrome OS is primarily on netbooks. So, pretty confusing... Google hasn't really shown that it knows how to play in this space. And then, you know, for IT professionals, does this really matter for IT, for business? I'm not sure. Only in the sense that users might bring it in, but probably very little impact.
Sonja Thompson: Can we expect to see more about Google Chrome in the Tech Sanity Check?
Jason Hiner: Definitely. Definitely this year and the next year as well.
Sonja Thompson: Ok, great. You heard it folks. Stay tuned!
Jason Hiner: Thanks.
Sonja Thompson: #2. "Poll: What's your 'geek look?'" This Geekend post by Justin James came in at a close second, and at the time of this recording, over 1,500 members had taken his poll with "IT casual - ancient khakis and polo shirts that ceased to fit years ago" taking the lead with approximately 33% of the votes. In the discussion thread, J.Ja described himself as "The home worker slob," wearing mostly old T-shirts and sweatpants. Oh, and don't forget that 5 o'clock shadow. Take a look at the discussion thread to see how your IT peers dress for work. As always, I'll link to this and the other top discussions of the week in the blog notes.
Sonja Thompson: The third most popular discussion of the week was inspired by Toni Bowers, TechRepublic's Head Blogs Editor, and the original post was called, "10 boring phrases you should cut from your resume." So, what were some of these gems, Toni?
Toni Bowers: Oh, you know, like "work results oriented person" or "works well with all levels of staff" -- those kinds of things.
Sonja Thompson: Ok, so what are some other ways to say things?
Toni Bowers: Well, if you say, "Works well with staff," if you're someone who looks at resumes a lot, you're just going to zone out when you see that, but provide an example -- say, "In this position, I had to work with the CIO and the CEO and then carry their orders down to end users and explain to end users" ... you know, use concrete examples of that.
Sonja Thompson: So, do you know how long it takes for a really good phrase to become boring?
Toni Bowers: Oh, in the corporate world, after you get the cliche masters and the corporate executives in it, probably two months.
Sonja Thompson: Ok. Thanks, Toni.
Toni Bowers: Thanks.
Sonja Thompson: #4. "Is billing by the hour unethical?" In the IT Consultant blog, Chip Camden wrote this post in response to a member's inquiry about value-based fees. According to Chip, a little flexibility is the key to overcoming the disconnect between hourly and value-based billing. Chip also prompted the TR community to take three separate polls about billing. At the time of this recording, the majority of respondents didn't think hourly billing is unethical, they agree with Weiss' ideas about value-based fees, and most bill for their IT consulting services by the hour.
And #5. "Video: TR Out Loud for July 10th, 2009." Thanks to everyone who participated in last week's TROLOV discussion to bump this one into the top five. And thanks to The Scummy One for editing -- and even pre-editing -- some of his comments.
If you haven't had a chance to check out TechRepublic's Question forum, it's a great place to ask and receive help with IT problems. Here are the folks who have been deemed the most helpful this past week by the number of thumbs up they've received:
#5: Jacky Howe (4)
#4: shasca (5)
#3: OldER Mycroft (6)
Two people tied for 2nd place. SinisterSlay and OH Smeg (8)
And #1: CG IT (11)
And here are the members who had the most total posts on the site in the past seven days.
#5: santeewelding (124 posts)
#4. OldER Mycroft (126 posts)
#3: jdclyde (141)
#2: Deadly Ernest (178 posts)
And #1: Palmetto (235 posts)
Sonja Thompson: As most web sites that have open forums, TechRepublic receives its fair share of spam. However, with TR's moderator, Tammy Cavadias, at the helm, spam doesn't stand a chance. Let's take a peek at this week's Spam Buster report.
Tammy Cavadias: Hi, everyone! Hi, Sonja! Well, we're back this week with the weekly Spam Buster report! Well, it's been a pretty quiet week (again). I'm not sure if it's because the word finally got out that the TR members eat spam for lunch, or maybe there's a spam convention somewhere in town, which would explain the Grey Poupon shortage.
If you happen to be in the market for the new iPhone 3GS, you might wanta kinda skip this one. I have a finally it's going to cost you a lot more than your money. Look out boxfiddler! Someone is trying to take away that spam busting title of yours! OnTheRopes is starting to give you a run for your money! And lastly, some spam for the spammers. Now you can submit all your links to thousands of directories in one single click.
Well, that'll do it for me this week. I hope everybody has a great weekend, and I'll see you all next week! Bye!
Sonja Thompson: We didn't receive a lot of TR community participation for this week's show, so I'm hoping some of you lurkers out there will step up to the plate and send me an e-mail with a comment or a photo for a future episode of TROLOV. Pretty please?
One new participant, TR member ghunter591, sent in a Garden Club photo that I've already added to the official Garden Club gallery (check the blog notes for the link). This is of ghunters' garden on the Laguna Madre.
TR member Catworld sent in a couple photos where he's deployed the TechRepublic flag during on-site calls -- different offices, a digital xray machine, and even a Linux file server. Way to raise the flag, catworld! We love it!
And Datacommguy, who sent in an e-mail to collect some TR swag, also attached a photo of one of his all-time favorite vendor shirts.
Last week's Question of the Week was submitted by KSoniat, but it was directed just to the TR members who attended the Community Event in Louisville, Kentucky. She wanted to know, of all the board games that were mentioned beforehand: What did you play? Who played? And who won?
According to TR member Ganyssa: "Board games? We brought board games? I barely even touched my phone."
NickNielsen said, "I don't remember any board games. In fact, the closest I remember we got to a board was when JD broke out the carrot cake and we all bellied up to the board. I think we were more interested in actually meeting each other and talking face-to-face than in playing games."
Jdclyde clarified, "There were NO board games played at the gathering. I had several decks of cards, chinese fingercuffs, a puzzle (that Soni couldn't figure out) and carrot cake. Never did end up playing cards." By the way, JD, I totally could have figured out that puzzle if I wanted to, but it was a lot more fun taking it apart and watching YOU put it back together)
Last but not least, Boxfiddler said: "The games I brought didn't leave my hotel room. My guess is that the others can say the same. What I played? No telling. Who I played with? No telling. Who won? We all did." Yeaaaaa!
This week's Question of the Week was sent in by TR member dsr: "Do you know if dbqwiksite is still in business?" Fer reals? Alrighty then... if you know the answer, please send it to trol@techrepublic.com.
I'd also like to ask a Question of the Week since I'll be attending BlogHer 2009 at the end of next week, and that's "What questions would you like me to ask the BlogHer founders, or any guest speakers, sponsors, or attendees at the conference?" Please send only legitimate questions to trol@techrepublic.com.
The TR Pet of the Week is Peter, sent in by CNET Web Developer April Fultz. Peter is April's little female French bulldog.
Many thanks to ghunter591, catworld, Datacommguy, Ganyssa, Nick Nielsen, jdclyde, boxfiddler, dsr, and April for participating in the show. You know the drill, if I mentioned your name on today's show, I'll hook you up with some free swag -- so just shoot me an e-mail with your mailing address and swag item of choice.
If free swag isn't motivation for some of you to participate, I definitely don't have to send you anything, but I'd still love to hear from you. Please send in an e-mail with a Question of the Week, an answer to the Question of the Week, a comment about the show, a photo, or a small original video clip to trol@techrepublic.com.
And as I said earlier in the show, I'll be at BlogHer 2009 next week, which means... no TROLOV? But I will have some kind of video for you to enjoy next Friday -- possibly a Community FAQ, or a Flip video peek at BlogHer, or a revised and abbreviated TR Community Event video with some of the member interviews... you never know! Guess you'll just have to tune in and see.
I'm Sonja Thompson, and this is TR Out Loud.
