Category Baltimization

Thanks Beta Exam blog! And otherwise, if you recall all of the beta exams I’d talk about in the past, this is no different!

Note: This exam will be available for testing during the time when TechEd is going on, so be sure to definitely plan accordingly!

Registration begins: April 27, 2009

You are invited to take beta exam 71-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration.
By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

71-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

· MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration

Availability

Registration begins: April 27, 2009

Beta exam period runs: May 5, 2009– May 18, 2009

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately! Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: WIN7J
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

•Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

•Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

Test Information and Support

You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge.
You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

If you remember my past posts on Elevate America, there are now some updates to this!

Through a simple clickable map you can find out information on how to obtain YOUR voucher!

This information really speaks to the heart of the issue

The vouchers are part of a new national program Microsoft announced at the National Governors Conference in February. Elevate America hopes to offer job training to as many as 2 million Americans over the next three years.

And if you’re like Sue T. Carter, this comes at the best time possible

Sue T. Carter of Bellevue picked up one of the first vouchers. She said she has been working part time for more than two years and really needs to find a job that will help her pay her rent, because she is less than a month away from eviction.

Special thanks to our friends at the MS Learning Community for the heads up on this

That’s right! If you caught my early announcement post here, it’s available.. a day early!

Free E-Books for April – Early announcements!

So, here we have the following!

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion (Pro—Administrator’s Companion) by Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now! by Patrice Pelland

Note: If you run into an issue whereby you don’t get the “save as pdf” visible when using IE (as I ran into) just access the link, and when you get to the button, just right click on it and ‘save as’ the PDF directly to your machine.  

This is a question I get asked often, and I always mean to write a post about it.. so here goes!

Which tools do you use?

That is an excellent question! I use the following tools: TweetDeck on my Mac and my PC (Primarily PC due to that being my primary machine), Tweetie on my iPhone, and the Web interface on my Windows Mobile Treo (Because WM5 does not have any good ceApps) Note: I am trying out Seesmic Desktop at the moment in Beta, though primarily using it for Searches due to the color scheme being almost unbearable for me!

Why do you use those tools?

Let me put it simply by saying: These are the best tools available for Twitter on a regular basis.   I agree there are a lot of other tools out there, but more tools does not mean better!  As an example, Tweetie is a far better client than TwitterFon which is by far the 2nd best client for the iPhone (And it’s free!) If you’re using Twinkle or Twitterific today, Upgrade to TwitterFon for free or Tweetie for the nominal fee, it will change your twitter experience on the whole!

How do you use those tools?

TweetDeck:

• I have a column called “Technology” where friends and others in the Tech field (Direct Technical, Marketing, Analysts, Bloggers, YouTube, Blogosphere, Storage, Virtualization, Cloud Computing, Etc) are all stored.  Basically if you’re in my “Technology” column, among all of the chatter on twitter, I guarantee I’ll read it when I’m in front of this computer :)
• I also have a column called “Chicago” where friends, folks, people I meet, etc from Chicago who are on twitter are ‘stored’.  And yes, some people are in both Technology *AND!* Chicago, which works out well :)
• On a similar note, I do have a column called NetApp, this is where I store NetApp employees, and only NetApp employees – It’s a smaller list with fewer updates, and thus I’m less likely to miss those as well
• One additional column is a “Search” column, searching for “netapp OR netapps OR ntap” whereby when there’s chatter about our company, a typo of our company or our stock, I can see it!  I’ve used this numerous times to help folks who ran into issues with our systems or equally for those inquiring about information.  I like to help, so this is a great vehicle for that helping!

Tweetie:

• Honestly, I use Tweetie almost the same way I use TweetDeck, except without the groups – so when I’m on the go, it is primarily to read @ responses and DM’s, and random chatter in the ‘all friends’ column, because I lack the grouping capabilities of TweetDeck!

Web:

• Web is truly the only way I can work on my WM5 Treo, so I’ll launch it if I need to/want to share something and my iPhone is dead or has no signal!  This is especially useful when we’re out as a family and we’re tweeting to eachother in a museum or something :)

Seesmic Desktop:

• Seesmic Desktop is interesting, it provides a number of features (more or less, the exact same features of TweetDeck) with the exception that Seesmic supports multiple accounts, and can expand beyond 10 columns.   It’s lack of color changing support makes it nearly unbearable for me, because as you can tell from this blog, I read text against a black background, and when it’ falls against a light background, I have a hard time reading it.  But I’m giving it some rigorous testing in its course! (Though, for what it’s worth… Seesmic is a memory hog, akin to the old TweetDeck Pre v0.25days) Oh and it just crashed on me when I noticed it took out my API limit for the hour ;)

So, hopefully this helps explain and helps you use these tools a bit yourself!  I’ll break it down a bit more over time, but this is just a high-level touch of how I do some of these things (and effectively, and enjoyably :))

If you remember that “Get On The Bus” Promotion I spoke about before, they’ve changed the game a bit more now! Now it’s not only easier, but it’s even easier than that!

Now, you have the opportunity to be rewarded like so:

• Free admission to TechEd 2009
• Hotel stay during the conference
• Return airfare from Los Angeles to your nearest major airport
• Your choice of:
• Airfare from your closest major airport to your choice of cities on the Career Express tour route, where you’ll meet the bus and ride the rest of the way to TechEd, or
• Airfare directly from your closest major airport to Los Angeles

That’s right! You can be flown to “get on the bus” *or!* You can get flown directly to TechEd itself! How’s that for amazing! It’s like winning one of those raffle contests we’ve all hoped and dreamed to win as children!

So, what does it take to win given light of the news of “I can go directly to TechEd!”

• Send us an e-mail with your name, MCP ID, and preferred contact info. Include a link to the essay we asked for (“Why I’m Passionate about Microsoft Learning and Certification”) and an optional video URL.
• You have until 9am Pacific time on Monday, April 20th to enter; we’ll select and notify up to 5 winners the next day.
• Full legal rules and restrictions here.

And let me break that down for you a bit if you’re at all misunderstanding:

You are required to:

• BE an MCP – Meaning you have an MCP ID, No ID, No Soup for you
• Provide a link to an essay you wrote about “Why you’re passionate about MS Learning and Certification”
• An essay does not mean, a resume, your webpage when it doesn’t include an Essay, or any other form of situation where in the end it does not equal your essay.  If you want an example of what an essay looks like, read mine here:
• Get on the Bus: You mean I have to write an essay?!
• (Optional) Include a link to a Video, further stating your passion for MS Learning and Certification.  Again, here is another example :)
• Get On The Bus: The Video

Do all of this by April 20th and you’re in business! So, it’s never been so easy!

If you want to find more information about this – Read the source article from the Microsoft Learning Communities Blog Another Chance to Get on the Bus (or Fly Directly to TechEd!)

Whether you fly direct, or get on the bus – This will be an opportunity you’ll never forget!