[Editor’s note:  Be sure to join us in person this Thursday, April 11 for the GeekWire Radio Show, live on stage for the first time. Click here for tickets.]

Our topic this week: Your kids, and how to take a break from them.

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Tonightish founder Susie Kroll. (Erynn Rose photo.)

Yes, it’s the eternal challenge for many people with young children — how do you find and book a good babysitter, especially on short notice? Our guest in the studio is Susie Kroll, whose startup Tonightish has developed an app that lets people create a trusted network of friends who share their networks of babysitters. The app lets users check the availability of sitters at once and book one with the help of integrated text messaging.

Kroll, a veteran of Amazon and Microsoft, was inspired to create the app based on her own experience trying to find a babysitter on short notice. “I found myself flipping a coin with my husband for who gets to go out tonight when we got last-minute invitations,” she says.

Tonightish is part of an emerging trend of apps and online services that help people share resources and connect in ways not possible in the past. Examples include the SideCar ridesharing service and the Airbnb room and home-sharing site, among many others.

As Kroll says, “There are crazier things than sitters than have been shared.”

Listen to the interview starting at the 8 minute mark above to hear how Tonightish works, and where Kroll is aiming to take the app from here.

The show starts with our weekly news roundup, including the expansion of Amazon’s AutoRip MP3 service to vinyl records; the meaning of Tableau Software’s IPO filing; the newly announced Facebook Home interface for Android, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen reprising of a classic Microsoft photo.

App of the Week: Umano, the app where real people read you the news, available for Android and iPhone.

Name that Tech Tune: The answer to last week’s T-Mobile ringtone challenge.

Listen to the show above or via this MP3 file.

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