Traffic Circle 2.0

I’m starring in my first YouTube video, thanks to the fine folks at InformIT’s ON Certification website. If you’re wondering what makes my book unique and useful, check it out here:

or follow this link: Mark Soper discusses his CompTIA A+ Cert Exam Guide

CompTIA A+ Certification exams usually change every three years to reflect changes in the industry, the new exams usually have new numbers, and once you achieve A+ Certification, you keep it for life. 

Starting in January 2011, none of these will be true. CompTIA’s current 220-701 (A+ Essentials) and 220-702 (Practical Applications) exams will be replaced by new exams with the same exam numbers! What’s new? Windows 7 coverage.  Windows 7 has been such a big success at both the retail and corporate levels (unlike the unloved Windows Vista) that CompTIA decided not to wait to roll out changes. But wait, there’s more!

Because the new 2011 CompTIA A+ Certification exams will be ANSI certified, CompTIA A+ Certifications will no longer be “for life” as with certifications earned in the past and up through December 31, 2010.  Instead, the new A+ Certification CE (continuing education) will be good for three years. Fortunately, CompTIA has created a list of many activities A+ techs might already perform that are good for CE credits.

So, if you want a lifetime CompTIA A+ certification without worrying about CE credits or Windows 7, there’s still (barely) time to get yourself to a testing center. To get yourself up to speed, I’d suggest getting a copy of my book CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Cert Guide and using its extensive print and DVD-based resouces to prepare yourself.

Please join me Thursday evening from 6:00PM to 7:30PM, September 17, at McCollough Branch Library, Evansville, Indiana, for the first of two presentations on digital photography. 

I’ll be discussing how to shoot better photos of school events and sports, based on my latest book The Shot Doctor: the Amateur’s Guide to Taking Great Digital Photos.  This book and others will be available for sale, and I’ll be happy to sign and inscribe them for you.  See a sample chapter here: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1347408

Learn more about the program here: http://evpl.org/events/search/event.aspx?id=18983.

Need a map?  Go here: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107016838176065254607.00043feb8844aa3119721&ll=37.99481,-87.563095&spn=0.142856,0.275688&z=12&om=1&iwloc=00043feb94b7a95143145

I’m looking forward to seeing you there!

My latest book, The Shot Doctor: The Amateur’s Guide to Taking Great Digital Photos, is now available at your favorite bookstores including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and others.

Find out more by checking out the chapter on Recipes for Better Daytime Digital Photographs or by taking a look at excerpts available at Google Books.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Windows 7 lately, and my latest Windows 7 Feature Focus article, on Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise XP Mode, is now up at Maximumpc.com.

If you need to run non-3D Windows XP applications and don’t want to worry about tinkering with them for Windows 7, take a close look at XP Mode.

Even if you think you know what XP Mode can do for you and how it works, be sure to check it out. It cuts through the misinformation and helps you deal with some of the trickier features of this new virtualization environment.

My tenth book, Unleashing Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center, has just been published by Que.

It’s a complete guide to the Windows Media Center feature in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions. Special features include:

- How to connect standard and HDTVs and home theater systems to your PC

- How to watch and record TV and movies

- How to find your favorite actors, directors, and genres

- How to use WMC to help you with fantasy sports

- How to play both casual and high-performance 3D games from your WMC desktop

- How to access media on other PCs through WMC

- How to use an Xbox 360 as a Windows Media Extender

- How to use Windows Media Center, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Live Photo Gallery, and Windows Movie Maker to make WMC even more powerful

- Where to find the best third-party programs that make WMC even more powerful

- How to watch TV on your WMC PC, even if you don’t have a TV tuner

Hear my interview with Plugged In’s Justin Williams here. Read the Amazon.com reviews here.

Evansville Courier tech columnist and MacOS developer Justin Williams interviewed me for his weekly Plugged In radio show on WNIN-FM88, and you can listen to Episode 3 here. You’ll want to hear the entire show, but if you’re in a hurry, my segment starts at 18:17 into the program.

I’ll be appearing on the show again later this year to introduce my newest book Unleashing Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center after it hits bookstores in November. 

Many thanks to Justin and to WNIN-FM88 for the opportunity.

…for making last night’s public library program on Preserving Your Old Family Photos possible. I want to thank McCollough Branch head librarian Glynis Rosendall for asking me to do this presentation, to WNIN-FM88 for interviewing me, to the over 50 attendees who asked great questions, to those who lent me their photos for some demonstrations, to those who purchased books, and to my wife, McCollough Branch children’s librarian Cheryl Soper, for helping me set up and take down my equipment.

For a taste of what we covered last night, check out these samples from the PowerPoint preview I ran before the presentation started:

  

 

If you’ve reached this blog via my guest post at The Dawn Patrol, welcome! Many thanks to Ms. Eden for allowing me to speak to her readers. While you’re here, I hope you’ll find useful information to help keep your computer running smoothly.

This blog is primarily about my full-time work as a technology writer and consultant. I do most of my day-to-day blogging at Maximum PC’s newly-remodeled website, and also blog from time to time at Amazon.com (where my current and older books are available for purchase) and my publisher’s developer-oriented website, InformIT.com.

To get a taste of what I think about topics that are more important in the long run than the latest computer or photography gizmo, see the Beyond Technology – Thoughts on Ultimate Issues (God, Life, Right and Wrong) section of this website.

Have a wonderful 4th of July – and beyond.

 

If you work at home,  have you ever thought about how secure that environment is against cyber-intruders? If you’re shaking your head ‘No,’ you’re not alone. Fortunately, there’s plenty you can do to protect yourself from the most common threats, and in most cases, you can harden up your work-at-home environment for free. See my article at CIO.com, Stop That Attack! Blocking and Stopping Network Intruders, to find out more.