News around the web: IT is hot again

[Erik]

IT is hot again - Tech firms try to outperk one another @ LA Times
The Best Free Software of 2010 @ PCMag
States high on pot tax as budget cure @ Reuters
Technical error hits Google China @ BBC News
See more articles and reviews.

Five years ago in TechSpot:
New laptop battery can recharge in one minute

Storage
Plextor PX-128M1S 128GB Solid State Drive @ PCSTATS
Cirago USB Hard Drive Dock with Card Reader CDD1000 Review @ DragonSteelMods

Video
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Review @ HardwareHeaven
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) @ InsideHW
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 series preview @ Elite Bastards

Peripherals
Razer Imperator @ LanOC Reviews
Logitech Gaming Mouse G500 @ Barry's Review Blog
JayBird SB1 Sportsband Bluetooth Stereo Headphones @ Legit Reviews

Misc.
NVIDIA Drops Their Open-Source Driver @ Phoronix

Sound
Amphion Helium 510 review @ TechRadar
Razer Mako Speakers Review @ ITShootOut.com
Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD sound card @ APH Networks

Power Supplies
FSP Group Zen 400 Watt Fanless Silent Power Supply Review @ Tweaknews

Enclosures
SilverStone DS221 2.5" HDD Enclosure Review @ BayReviews

Network
brite-View LinkE PowerLine Kit @ TestFreaks

Cooling
Noctua NH-D14 Review @ Overclockers Online
Prolimatech Armageddon @ Legion Hardware
CoolIT ECO A.L.C. CPU Cooler @ BCCHardware

Memory
Transcend aXeRAM 4GB DDR3-2000 @ PureOverclock

Cases
Silverstone Strider Essential Series @ DreamWare Computers
Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Case Review @ ThinkComputers.org
SilverStone Grandia GD05 HTPC Case - a real bargain? @ TweakPC.de

Notebooks
Samsung N130 Netbook Review @ OCC

Motherboards
ASUS ITX-220 Motherboard @ iXBT Labs
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 LGA 1156 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Canucks

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https://www.techspot.com/news/38421-news-around-the-web-it-is-hot-again.html

 

[Puiu]

I already knew most of the free software in the "Best of" list, but i did find a few good ones that i didn't know about too.

PS: i want to work at that firm too.

 

[Guest]

"IT is hot again"

Nice to know. Albeit a lot of us who'd been down that path are burned out or looking to do something else careerwise.

couple things need to happen (for me neways) to go back to the corporate madness:

-hourly pay, no more salary. I can't tell you how much overtime I put just to keep my head above water while understaffed doing helpdesk, e-mail, network, server, app support and Blackberry/palmtop support. Why is it in IT we are forced to wear many hats, while in medical field there are better separation of duties (and pay to go with it)

-40hr work week. Anytime worked over 40hrs "on salary" is no longer a benefit for the employee.
I understand the "occasional" overtime involved, but give us comp days or overtime pay once in awhile.

-mandatory lunchtime - Yes. because some people think we DONT EAT LUNCH like normal people. So whenever they have a computer problem, they think their lunchtime is the ONLY time to have it fixed. Sorry man, I eat during lunch too ok?

-separation of Blackberry/iPhone/WindowsPhone/palmphone BACK to the wireless provider/manufacturer. Look I got a lot on my plate already, why do I need to support this guy's frakking iPhone issues? He should go to whomever he got it from and DEAL WITH IT. When somebody's hard drive crashed at 4:45pm, I got better issues to deal with. What next we deal with people's home wireless issues? (next point)

-home networking stuff at employee's home is THEIR responsibility. I will test VPN on our internal line to see if it works, but if you get home and can't connect, CONTACT YOUR ISP OR ROUTER MANUFACTURER. I am NOT your personal ISP or Home Router helpdesk thank you.

-at least 2 or three IT guys should work together sharing the same responsibilities. Assuming working in a medium or large corporate office, I HATE being the only guy working in IT. It's a frakking lonely job and much harder when emergencies arise requiring you to be in multiple places at one time. It's like being the only doctor in the hospital with 1000 patients. We appreciate company. Even a part timer or intern will do.

-give us real perks like MSDN technet, iPad, and cool gadgets/machines that WE can pick for ourselves to keep us educated and on top of our game.

I'm sure there's more, meh.