use $() instead of backticks in talkwith

[Steve Holmes]

This is more a unix shell script question than anything but I'm
curious; why the recent changes as denoted in the git update below and
this subject line:
use $() instead of backticks in talkwith
I may not be super current on shell script behavior and trends byt why
is $(command) better than `command`? I've alwys used the tic marks
because I've seen that most often used.  No better reason than that
but I figured I can change my approach if this other deal is better or
more appropriate.

Curious minds would love to know. <smile>