Microsoft Press books, e-books, and newsletters can help you gain the technical information you need. Here is a quick summary post of some of recent giveaways at Microsoft Press :

Free ebook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (DRAFT Preview)

Free ebook: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (DRAFT Preview II)

Code for “Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010” DRAFT ebooks

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Free ebook: Programming Windows Phone 7 Series (DRAFT Preview) (by Charles Petzold)

Free ebook: Own Your Future: Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft

Free ebook: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (Second Edition)

Free ebook: First Look Microsoft Office 2010

Free ebook: Windows 7 troubleshooting tips

Free ebook: Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2

Free ebook: Deploying Windows 7, Essential Guidance

There’s going to be something in that list for you to enjoy, so enjoy !

                          

Microsoft has provided excellent resources for teachers. They may Watch videos, and download guides and e-books to inspire class and to help make the best use of tools and technology in their lessons.

Digital storytelling

Creating digital stories ignites a love of learning and is a powerful student-centered learning activity.

Free tools

Engage your students, energize a lesson plan, and save time using free tools you can download today.

The Microsoft Office System

Improve collaboration and increase productivity with Microsoft Office PowerPoint, Office Word, and Office OneNote.

Windows 7

Make everyday tasks easier, and take less time to complete them. You’ll quickly discover shortcuts to the things you use the most.

Windows Live Movie Maker

Enhance your lessons with movies you make in Windows Live Movie Maker. It’s fun and easy.

                          

Mitch Tulloch has updated & released a free ebook of Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions, From the Desktop to the Datacenter. This book contains Six chapters adding up to 466 pages and is a must guide for those explorong new horizons in Virtualization Solutions.

This book is available in both XPS as well as PDF format.

Download : XPS format and PDF format

                          

On Technet, a number of How-to-do videos for various Microsoft technologies are available. You can learn more about products such as SQL Server, Security, Windows Server, Exchange and SharePoint with these "How Do I?" videos. TechNet has assembled these short videos for customers to learn how to accomplish specific tasks with Microsoft products: step-by-step.

Azure Deployment Internet Explorer Exchange Exchange Online Forefront Microsoft Online

Office Comm. Server Script Center Security SharePoint Server SQL Server System Center

Virtualization Windows Client Windows Mobile Windows Server 2008 Windows Server Terminal Svcs Windows SharePoint Services

Subscribe to the TechNet videos RSS feed to learn about new videos.

How-do-I Videos : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc138021.aspx

                          

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 is a Solution Accelerator for operating system and application deployment which supports deployment of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to deployment of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits:

• Unified tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment in a common deployment console and collection of guidance.
• Reduced deployment time and standardized desktop and server images, along with improved security and ongoing configuration management.
• Fully automated Zero Touch Installation deployments by leveraging System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 Release Candidate and Windows deployment tools. For those without a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure, MDT leverages Windows deployment tools for Lite Touch Installation deployments.

Download here

                          

So heres Second edition of TechTwitter :

• Win7 SP1 Xclusive Screenies  http://www.muywindows.com/2010/01/17/exclusiva-windows-7-demo-pre-sp1-revelado/ 18 Jan 3AM
• Almost 9 months of my dell studio 15 & its battery has wear by 64 % :-/ 18 Jan 1 AM
• #Intel Introduces #Twitter in 3D! http://is.gd/6mV17  18 Jan 12:30 AM  
• #CTD #Delhi on 24th January, 2010 for agenda, details & registration: http://communitytechdays.com #delhiitpro #delhidevs 17 Jan 11:50PM
• Predictions for Microsoft in 2010 http://mymicrosoftlife.com/home/my-2010-predictions/ 17 Jan 11PM
• WindowsTalk Blog Post: Getting Books Online http://is.gd/6orob 11:59 PM Jan 16th
• LG – Windows Mobile 7 coming to US in September http://bit.ly/8rt5Vy 8:49 PM Jan 16th
• Bringing Indian Bloggers Together: http://digg.com/d31Fla0?t 1:45 PM Jan 16th
• Infosys sacks techie, suspends two for criminal acts. http://bit.ly/4zSg9J 11:16 PM Jan 15th
• MvpOpenday its frm 20-23 Jan10 @ MSIDC …11:06 PM Jan 15th
• The Silverlight 4 Training Course:hands-on-labs,a video & a whitepaper to help u learn the new features- http://bit.ly/64mmyQ 6:51 PM Jan 15th
• #MVPaward #1 Benefit free #technet/ #msdn subscription 7:35 PM Jan 15th

                          

Beginning today we are starting a roundup of Tweet-Tech by me. As me & a friend of mine VasudevG (MVP) were discussing that ours blogging activities have been decreased since we have started Micro-blogging, this idea striked to include best of last few Tweets i encountered on Twitter. Hers first edition goes :

• • VS2010# RTM on 12 April 2010 http://blogs.msdn.com/robcaron/archive/2010/01/13/9948172.aspx 1AM 15 Jan
  • See Google’s satellite images of the Haiti earthquake | http://su.pr/AEs3cL RT @time 12:02AM 15 Jan
  • Tech Jargon Busters – EBook http://is.gd/6gnuF RT @being_pc 11:57PM 14th Jan
  • MobileWorld Conference would feature Windows Mobile 6.6 rather WM 7 .. i knw it too its kicking the expectations of consumers.. 11 PM Jan14th
  • Windows 7 SP1 would be including usb 3.0 support 11 PM Jan 14th
  • LightShot Screen Capture Tool http://bit.ly/66csNp 9:30 PM Jan 13th
  • Mine too Lets c when it reaches Mum. Pretty xcited 2 open it @vasudevg My MVP award package has reached New Delhi ! Tracking with Bing. 9:16 PM Jan 13th
  • Live Meeting Converter for Recording-To convert LM recordings2 WMV: bit.ly/7vEsAA grt2 share recordings dn over LM . RT @abhishekkant 7:35 PM Jan 13th
  • A #Silverlight Based Operating System http://www.silveos.com 7:06 PM Jan 13th
  • Google China to be Shut down 5:32 AM Jan 13th
  • Excel Web App 2010 Overview http://bit.ly/8HCw5t 4:52 AM Jan 13th
  • Want to learn more advanced features in Windows 7? try Windows 7 Test Drive http://bit.ly/6vC4vi 2:31 AM Jan 13th
  • Interested in the Making of Windows 7? here’s a cool short video on our Talking About Windows site http://bit.ly/7lb4QV 1:30 AM Jan 13th

These are a few of posts i RT-ed or Tweeted during past few days. Next edition to come pretty soon

                          

Microsoft re-released the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool under GPLv2. This tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD. Earlier it was posted @ Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool .

Microsoft combed through the code after a blogger raised concerns that it violated the GNU GPLv2. Raphael Rivera Jr. found that part of looked suspiciously like it was lifted straight from an open-source program called ImageMaster.

The company announced it would comply with the GPL by open-sourcing the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. In late November, Microsoft said the process was taking longer than expected.

Now the project is now hosted on CodePlex.com, Microsoft’s Open Source software project hosting repository, and the code can be found here.

The tool can also now be downloaded from the Microsoft Store here.

                          

Pivot is a software application from Microsoft Live Labs that allows users to interact with and search large amounts of data. It is based on Microsoft’s Seadragon and Deep Zoom technologies & powered by Silverlight.

Pivot focuses on this intersection, enabling us to learn key lessons while attempting to broadly apply this philosophy to the Web. We hope that Pivot will inspire and fuel transformative experiences across the Web.

Pivot at its core have "Collections." They combine large groups of similar items on the Internet, so we can begin viewing the relationships between individual pieces of information in a new way. By visualizing hidden patterns, Pivot enables users to discover new insights while interacting with thousands of things at once.

Microsoft is making a limited technical preview of Pivot available to a set of invited testers. The team is counting on developers to extend the “Collections” that are central to the Pivot technology. Collections, as the Pivot team explains on the Web site, are combinations of large groups of similar items on the Web that allow users to “begin viewing the relationships between individual pieces of information in a new way.”

We have Microsoft Pivot invitation as Giveaway 3 for WindowsVJ, Comment here with you mail id and Tweet this on twitter “ Get #pivot invitation @windowsvj “ Still 8 more Invitations for Pivot remaining with us.

                          

Create Windows 7 Bootable USB Drive or DVD Using Official “Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool” from Microsoft.Microsoft has released a new utility "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool" which allows you to create a bootable USB drive to install Windows 7. It also allows you to create bootable DVD.

You can download it using following link:

Download Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

After downloading and installing the tool, when you launch it, it’ll ask you to select the path where you have stored Windows 7 ISO file and you can easily make your flash drive bootable. Earlier we covered how to make a flash drive bootable using command prompt as well.It is in Tips and Trix Section of WindowsVJ.com

System Requirements:

• Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
• Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
• 50MB of free space on your hard drive
• DVD-R drive or 4GB removable USB flash drive

Tx 2 VG for sharing this tip.