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.
Comparison Table
| Acrobat 9 Standard | Acrobat 9 Pro | Acrobat 9 Pro Extended | |
| Author, store, and share documents, and share your screen, using Acrobat.com services | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Experience richer content and greater interactivity with native support for Adobe® Flash® technology | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create PDF documents from any application that prints | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Convert Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Access files to PDF with one-button ease | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capture web pages as rich, dynamic PDF files for review and archiving | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Archive e-mail or e-mail folders from Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scan paper documents to PDF and automatically recognize text with optical character recognition (OCR) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Save PDF files as Microsoft Word documents, retaining the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables, to facilitate reuse of content | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Help protect PDF documents with 256-bit encryption | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apply restrictions on printing, copying, and altering PDF documents | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Examine documents for hidden information and delete as needed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Merge files from multiple applications into a single PDF document | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Assemble a wide range of content types in a polished, organized PDF Portfolio | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Review documents using familiar commenting tools such as sticky notes, highlighting, lines, shapes, and stamps partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage shared document reviews that allow review participants to see one another's comments | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enable real-time collaboration with synchronized document views and chat | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Digitally sign PDF documents partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Certify PDF documents using digital IDs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Easily create fillable PDF forms from paper or existing files using the Form Wizard | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Distribute PDF forms to collect information and track their status | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enable users of Adobe Reader® (version 8 or later) to fill in and save PDF forms locally | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Convert documents to PDF/A for archiving with easy search and retrieval | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Validate documents for conformance to ISO standards PDF/A, PDF/E, and PDF/X | No | Yes | Yes |
| Personalize a PDF Portfolio with customizable templates for navigation and branding | No | Yes | Yes |
| Permanently delete sensitive information, including specific text or illustrations, with redaction tools | No | Yes | Yes |
| Convert Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Project files to PDF with one-button ease, preserving document layers in Visio and AutoCAD and object data in Visio | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enable users of Adobe Reader (version 8 or later) to digitally sign PDF documents | No | Yes | Yes |
| Compare and highlight the differences between two versions of a PDF document | No | Yes | Yes |
| Create dynamic XML forms with Adobe LiveCycle® Designer ES (included) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Preview, preflight, correct, and prepare PDF files for high-end print production and digital publishing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Create and validate accessible PDF documents | No | Yes | Yes |
| Insert FLV or H.264 video for direct playback in Adobe Acrobat® and Adobe Reader | No | Yes | Yes |
| Easily add audio, video, and quizzes to your PowerPoint slides and create rich, interactive presentations with Adobe Presenter (included) | No | No | Yes |
| Convert a variety of video formats to FLV for playback in PDF | No | No | Yes |
| Embed video in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint and convert to FLV in PDF | No | No | Yes |
| Convert 3D content to PDF for cross-platform sharing and collaboration | No | No | Yes |
| Combine multiple CAD formats in one assembly and save as PDF with Adobe 3D Reviewer (included) | No | No | Yes |
| Convert 2D and 3D designs from major CAD applications to PDF for use by extended teams without expensive CAD or viewer software | No | No | Yes |
| Create PDF maps by importing geospatial files that retain metadata and coordinates | No | No | Yes |
Development Timeline
May 2008--Rosetta Stone Personal Edition Hebrew Level 1, 2 & 3 CD-ROM Set
April 2008--QuickBooks Pro 2008 from Intuit Inc.
March 2008--TurboTax Deluxe for Tax Year 2007 from Intuit Inc.
February 2008--Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and My Guitar from eMedia
January 2007--English-Hebrew Language Learning Software from LingvoSoft
December 2007--CounterSpy Anti-Spyware and Edventure Maze
November 2007--Anti Spyware Software: You've Got to Have It
October 2007--The Incredible Wii Game Machine from Nintendo
September 2007--KoolMoves Update to a Cool Tool for Flash Development from Lucky Monkey Designs LLC
August 2007--A Neat Free Network Monitor from Snapfiles.com and NirSoft
July 2007--Freeware Utilities for Your Flash Drive from SnapFiles.com®.
June 2007--QuickBooks Pro 2007 from Intuit Inc.
May 2007--Flash Drives: You Got to Get One!
