TR Out Loud - February 13, 2009

Sonja Thompson: It's Friday the 13th, and that means your weekly TROLOV -- that's TR Out Loud on Video -- just got a little scarier.

I'm Sonja Thompson, a senior editor for TechRepublic, and this is TROLOV on February 13th, 2009.

I know that some people -- IT pros included -- are really superstitious, but the following discussions, which make up the top five discussions of the week, are just plain SUPER:

#1. "Battling recruiters and the salary issue." TechRepublic's Head Blogs Editor, Toni Bowers, said: "Recruiters want to know what your salary requirements are, and you want to know what salary the job offers, so how do you get around this stand-off?" Toni was surprised that this post generated so many comments, but we're going to keep rolling with this interest in salary information by releasing the "2009 IT Skills and Salary Report." Now, this report is a joint study by Global Knowledge and TechRepublic, so be sure to keep a lookout for it on the site later this month.

#2: "Shocked: 'Indispensible' IT pro gets let go," written by TechRepublic member jdclyde. The originally title, "Shocked: 'Indispensible' IT pro gets laid off" -- was truncated, and so we had to change it. Apologies for any confusion. At any rate, this Guest contributor post by jdclyde was popular not only because jdclyde is an active member on the boards and he has a lot of TR peers, but also because this issue -- being laid off -- hits home, so to speak, for a lot of IT pros in these hard economic times. I know that jdclyde is special, but I'd like to extend an open invitation for other TechRepublic members to write guest posts for the TR Out Loud blog. If you have some wisdom to share, tips, or IT experience that you think others will be able to learn from, such as successful or failed projects, please write them up and send them to trol@cnet.com. I'd love the TR Out Loud blog to become the platform where you all can have a voice.

#3. "Smartphone patents foretell the future." Michael Kassner, the host of the Network Administrator blog, says that Microsoft and Apple have been granted patents that will dramatically alter how we use smartphones. Hmmm... He also says that desktops and notebooks may go the way of the dinosaur. Double hmmmm... Take a look at this post to find out why. I'll link to it and the other top discussions of the week in the blog notes.

Michael Kassner is also responsible for the 4th most popular discussion of the week: "Rogue software: How do you know?" Within this post, Michael provides some rogue malware listings, and he opens the discussion up for debate. Have you been caught by rogue software? Read what your IT peers have to say, and then share your experience.

#5. "10 car tech features that have me spoiled." Okay, well, the funny thing about this photo gallery, which we versioned over from CNET, is that it contains only one picture. 10 car tech features, one picture. So, this discussion is mostly people wondering where the other 9 pictures are. Here's the deal, when we finally resolve the little issue we're having with the versioning syntax, we'll re-import this gallery, and all those other images will magically appear. But somehow, I think this discussion is a lot more popular with just one image.

Before I get to this week's top members on the forums, I'd like to talk about an interesting and cool new post on the TR Out Loud blog. Each week, I plan to highlight a few recent Questions that either have really good answers, no answers, or are about a topic that has a large appeal. Now, these aren't to be confused with the most popular discussions of the week, because that's fairly subjective. What we hope to accomplish here is twofold: one, to surface some informative and/or interesting questions, and two, hopefully reinforce the importance of posting questions in the Questions forum, not the Discussions forum.

In the first Questions of the Week post, which I'll link to in the blog notes, I mentioned that I enlisted the help of a few TechRepublic members who are consistently engaged in the Questions forum, namely Jacky Howe, OH Smeg, Peconet Tietokoneet, and I'm also waiting to hear back from a couple others. BUT, if I haven't contacted you, that doesn't mean that I don't need your help. If you'd like to see a particular question highlighted in this weekly post, please send it to trol@cnet.com.

Alright, now onto the members with the most thumbs up over the past week:

Three people tied for 5th place: w2ktechman, StealthWiFi, and robo_dev

#4: Peconet Tietokoneet

#3: seanferd

Two people tied for 2nd place: bwilmot and OH Smeg

And #1: Jacky Howe

And here are the 5 members with the most posts in the past seven days:

#5: Oz_Media

#4: boxfiddler

#3: Taken down from his #1 spot -- jdclyde -- we just hit you when you're down, don't we jd?

#2: Jacky Howe

And #1: seanferd

Sonja Thompson: TR's moderator, Tammy Cavadias, has lots of stuff to share with you all today, so take it away, Tammy! Or at least I think it's Tammy anyway.

Tammy Cavadias: Hi, everyone. Hi, Sonja. Well, this is me without water for about three days. Donations are accepted, or I can try raising my own money using this popular technique. Looking for a job? This is a two-fer  get a job, and then buy a cell phone all in the same place. Or maybe you need some training classes first. If you're into design printing, you can do it now all in Arabic. And lastly, spy on the spammers with this spy pen. Well, that'll do it for me this week. I'm off to go let the plumbers in. Hope you guys have a great weekend, and we'll see you next week. Bye.

Sonja Thompson: Now, as many of you already know, I celebrated my 40th birthday last weekend, and thanks to everyone who wished me well (I was a little sick) and advice about not burning down the house with all those candles... I'm just kidding. I also received a couple surprises, just in time for my big day, and I want to share them with you all. The first is a snippet of a YouTube video created by TR member S!ick. Now, S!ick is also the co-host of TechtalkRadio.com. Maybe S!ick will send me an  official  TechtalkRadio t-shirt, size medium...?

S!ick: [See S!ick's YouTube video in its entirety at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkDEaA4jOLw]

Sonja Thompson: And I also received my very own swag package in the mail a couple days ago, compliments of TR member GG or gadgetgirl. Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I'm going to pull a S!ick and show off some of the goodies I received!

Everything fits really handy in this shopping bag, which GG says is a genuine Geordie tourist item. And the first thing that I'm gonna pull out of here is a HAT collection, which I get to add to my collection -- my hat collection! It says Newcastle United, and I think I might wear it out to the pub the next time I go out for a bottle of Newcastle brown ale. Let's see here, we have an official Geordie Drivin License... and I also have a keychain for when I go out drivin'... and I have a sticker, just in case I ever forget that I'm SUPOR... and there's a cute little pin, and there's a Newcastle pen.

But that's not all! I also received a little swag bag for my son, Andrew! Isn't that SWEET?! And speaking of sweets, she sent these candies...? Well, I shared them with Andrew, I promise. And there's a wallet, a book, and a couple pins, and a pen... LOTS of great stuff, and I really, really appreciate it, GG. Now we just have to win the lottery so we can fly you over here!

Now for the rest of the TR community, if you'd like to send me something that I can show off on future episodes of TROLOV, just send an e-mail to trol@cnet.com, and I'll reply with my mailing address.

Last week's Question of the Week was submitted by w2ktechman: "How many 'new' software packages seem to perform worse than previous versions?" 

According to Hal 9000: M$ programs are a constant source of complaints from end users.

TheChas said: What bothers me more than the computer speed versus software size arms race is the dummying down of new software packages. I want to be able to configure the software as much as possible, thank you.

DHutton responded: HP Installation software... It's bulky and has so much junk in it. It's just a printer! Why does it take 20 minutes to install??

And according to jdclyde: AutoCad 2009. What a piece of bloated crap.

This week's Question of the Week was sent in by betageek52. He wants to know, "Shouldn't malware writers get real jobs instead of wasting their 'talents' on the garbage they write? What say you, our minions of opinion at TR?" And I would also add, "Would you hire a malware writer and trust him or her with your company s intellectual property?" Send your answers to trol@cnet.com.

The TR Pet of the Week was sent in by Bobby Smith. Here is a picture of Shorty. He resembles that comment!

Many thanks to S!ick, GG, Hal 9000, TheChas, DHutton, jdclyde, and Bobby Smith for participating in today's show. These members are eligible for some free swag, so please send me an e-mail with your mailing address and swag item of choice.

If YOU'D like to earn some swag of your very own, all you have to do is participate in upcoming episodes of TROLOV. You can send me an e-mail with an answer to the Question of the Week, a brand new Question of the Week, a comment about the show, a photo, or even a small video clip to trol@cnet.com. And I double dog dare anyone to leave a voice message! Let's see if THAT works! Our toll free number is (866) 414-CNET, that's (866) 414-2638 -- or you can leave a voice message via Skype, and our Skype ID is tr.out.loud.

I'm Sonja Thompson, and this is TR Out Loud.