Cyber News and Reviews is a monthly column published since 1995 for parents, teachers and small business and home business owners offering articles on some of the best computer products available. I cover business software, education, entertainment with freeware and shareware, and some hardware too. Over the years, I've reviewed computer programs from Microsoft, Knowledge Adventure (Davidson) and others. When my kids were young, they couldn't wait for the software to arrive and have fun testing the games and lessons with me. And, in the past few years they've contributed some of their own reviews with opinions. The best advice on software is from the children who use it. Also, many of the business programs reviewed are useful for home business and small business owners.

My writing began in 1979 when I entered the world of personal computers. One of the very first computers was in kit form made by Motorola, with a tiny amount of memory. It used a teletype for typing and it printed the text. I belonged to the local computer group where we exchanged software, helped each other expand our computers and bought the new computers when they came out. I had them all: from the Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, Radio Shack TRS-80 to the IBM PC desktops. Radio Shack and Sharp made the first portable and pocket computers. Eventually, all the computers came with a form of Microsoft Basic language that let you write your own programs. I started writing articles on beginning Basic programming for Byte Magazine, Kilobaud, Personal Computing and others. My articles evolved into two books on beginning Basic programs, first for the TRS-80 and Apple II, then later for the Atari, Commodore and IBM PC. To my delight, the books were used to help teach the Basic Language in elementary and high school computer classes from 1980 to 1986.--Howard Berenbon

Rosetta Stone Personal Edition Hebrew Level 1, 2 & 3 CD-ROM Set

By Becky Berenbon

Rosetta Stone, a language learning software, is definitely one of a kind. The software calls its system Dynamic Immersion™, which models the way you learned your first language as a young child. Through images, intuition, interactivity, instruction, and immersion, you can learn a new language. There is absolutely no memorizing involved. Hard to believe? I wanted to see this for myself, so I tried out the program. The installation process took about 10 minutes, including actual installation and set-up. Before getting started, the software builds your course based on what you want to learn. For example, I had already learned the Hebrew alphabet, so I chose not to focus on learning this.

Each language program is divided into levels, sold separately or in bundles. And levels expand on what was previously learned. Rosetta Stone has just recently updated some of their language programs, including Hebrew, adding a third level to the series.

Each level has units, focusing on topics like “Greetings and Introductions” or “Work and School.” The units contain four lessons. New vocabulary is introduced at the beginning of each lesson, and then worked with during each activity. Once you have finished a unit, you’ll do the milestone, testing out your new language skills in an everyday situation, like on a camping trip or a bus ride.

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We have been reviewing business software, education and entertainment software products since 1995 with the best and most popular software from major and minor manufacturers. All reviews are freely available and archived at our site, for kids, teachers and parents.

Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Beta By Howard Berenbon

When I think of the word acrobat, I immediately visualize a circus performer flying through the air with the “greatest of ease” and that was probably what the developers of Adobe Acrobat thought when they named the software. Prior to Acrobat, it wasn’t easy to exchange files between the different computers and operating systems. Now, Acrobat version 9 continues to be one of the most important applications in our PC or Mac software toolbox. And, since Adobe Reader is a freeware version available to anyone who wants a to view and print PDF files, you are likely using it quite often. The commercial versions, which you have pay for, do a lot more than just let you view and print files. They allow you to create and edit PDF files, a very useful tool for businesses, on and off the Internet.

A Little Acrobat History

Adobe introduced the acrobat program with its PDF file format in 1990, designed for sharing document files between different computers systems. PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and to me it’s just a graphics picture of a text file, but it’s really much more than that. It’s a unique design that allows anyone to share files between the various computer operating systems and Internet browsers. And it’s considered the best way to distribute documents on the Internet worldwide, available for the Mac and PC.

Adobe came out with Acrobat 1.0 in 1993 and with every change, new features were added. It quickly became the standard for the exchange of files, even though other companies offered programs to fill the need. See timeline.

Acrobat 9 offers many new features, but its most important improvement is the ability to combine all your separate files into one PDF file called a Portfolio. Version 9 is all about combining documents, e-mail, images, spreadsheets, forms and video and audio into a single editable file. Another improvement allows you to add Flash movies and videos, in a number of formats, to your PDF file. You can also save a Web page to PDF format and edit the contents without having the original file. With Acrobat 9 you can make that perfect presentation, and it’s easier to use, too. But Acrobat offers more than just presentation abilities, and that’s why it’s popular for business use. It’s useful for writing proposals, business marketing plans, technical documents, legal briefs for sending over the Internet, government intelligence briefs, digital archives, design reviews, business forms and more. And you can password protect your files for security. Finally, when you’re ready to share your work, you can assemble your documents into a single PDF file, with its various elements, and easily send electronically over the Internet.

Installation

Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Beta installed from a single CD in about 15 minutes. This time will vary depending on the speed of your computer.

When you run the program you’ll find the following menu buttons at the top:

File Edit View Document Comments Forms Tools Advanced Window Help

And below that are the following toolbar icons:

Create Combine Collaborate Secure Sign Forms Multimedia Comment

For a test, I created a Portfolio of text files, Internet Web pages and graphics files from my computer, in no time (about 5 minutes). To create a Portfolio, from the File menu you select Combine, and then click on Assemble PDF Portfolio. A new screen is created with the name Portfolio1.pdf, and there you add files (either PDF or non PDF) by clicking on the add button at the bottom of the screen. Each time you add a file, a box is displayed with the file name starting at the left top of the screen. When you’re done, pick a layout from the menu on the right, selecting the way you want your files within the Portfolio to be displayed. Then click on Save Portfolio from the Files menu. That’s it! You’ve quickly assembled your files and created one big PDF Portfolio of your work. Now, it can be more complicated than what I just outlined, because it quite customizable. They offer a number of layout views, let you pick a color scheme, let you add a Welcome and headers, and allow you to specify the fine details, but it’s easy and fast to do.

Favorite Tools

According to Adobe’s PDF Guru, Leonard Rosenthol, who happens to be the most senior PDF technical guy at the company (and developed PDF applications in a previous incarnation), there are several important tools that complement Acrobat. Below is a list of his favorites.

PDF CanOpener (Windjack Solutions) – Lets you view, analyze and edit objects within the PDF file. It’s a must-have application for anyone interested in working with individual components of a PDF file. For Windows users only.

PitStop Professional (Enfocus) – An easy to use tool for viewing and editing the page contents of PDF files. And it allows you to move the elements within the page.

FTMaster (Altsoft) – Gives detailed information about the fonts in your PDF files. It includes font format conversion and font glyph editing. Windows only.

Also, his runner up applications you should look into are:

Redax (Appligent) – This program is used to remove elements from your PDF file. And it’s the only application available that does 100% correct and proper redaction of elements within your PDF files.

Enfocus Browser (Enfocus) – It’s a free plugin for low level PDF editing, and an alternative to tools like PDF CanOpener. For Windows and Mac.

Font Reporter (PDFlib) – A free plugin that creates a PDF report on the fonts in your documents. For Windows and Mac.

Adobe Acrobat 9 standard sells for $279.99 and will run on any multi-media computer 1.3 GHz or faster processor running Windows XP and Vista with 256 MB RAM, 985 MB of hard disk space, 1,024x768 screen resolution and a CD-ROM drive and the Apple Macintosh. For more information, visit Amazon.com

Other versions include Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro selling for $499 and Adobe Acrobat 9 extended for $699. If you run a business, or you’re an educator, and publish and distribute materials: books, manuals, instructions sheets, advertising brochures, have people fill out forms, just to mention a few applications, then Adobe Acrobat, either Standard, Pro or Pro Extended is a must-have tool for your trade. This is one powerful multimedia program with lots of applications, and I highly recommend it.

New Features for Version 9

Acrobat’s features vary somewhat depending on the version. Adobe Reader 9, which is the free version, allows you to view, print and search PDF files the new Portfolios and PDF maps. The commercial versions basically allow you print and search PDF files and Portfolios and create documents you can save into a single file, and share. But, there’s a lot more, so I’ve listed the new and improved features on Page 2. Also, click to view the comparison table for all 3 commercial versions and its development timeline.

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