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.
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.
Best Software Picks List of 2007
CounterSpy Anti-Spyware--December 2007
QuickBooks Pro 2007 from Intuit Inc.--June 2007
TurboTax Deluxe for Tax Year 2006 from Intuit Inc.--March 2007
AddWeb Website Promoter 8.1.1.0 Professional Edition from Cyberspace--January 2007
Best Software Picks List of 2006
Macromedia Studio 8 from Adobe Systems, Inc.--September 2006
GroupMail 5.1 from Infacta Ltd--November 2006
TurboTax Deluxe for Tax Year 2005 from Intuit Inc.--March 2006
November 2006--GroupMail 5.1 from Infacta Ltd
Freeware at a Great Price: Free from SnapFiles®.com--June 2006
Best Software Picks List of 2005
Adobe InDesign for Desktop Publishing - November 2005
GroupMail 5 from Infacta Ltd. -August 2005
Spybot - Search & Destroy from Safe Networking Limited - April 2005
TurboTax Deluxe from Intuit Inc - March 2005
Microsoft FrontPage 2003: The Microsoft Office Web Site Creation and Management Solution - May 2005
Best Software Picks List of 2004
AddWeb Website Promoter 7.0 - December 2004
The Hobbit, The Prelude to The Lord of the Rings from Vivendi Universal - August 2004
Shrek 2 The Adventure Continues from AcTiVision - July 2004
QuickBooks Premier - Professional Services Edition 2004 from Intuit Inc. - May 2004
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring Game from Vivendi Universal and Sierra Entertainment, TurboTax Deluxe 2003 from Intuit Inc. - March 2004
Macromedia Studio MX 2004 from Macromedia, Inc - February 2004
Best Software Picks List of 2003
AddWeb Website Promoter 6.0 and Enclave from Vivendi Universal and Black Label Games - June 2003
JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade from Knowledge Adventure - May 2003
Zoombinis Island Odyssey from The Learning Company - April 2003
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Game from Vivendi Universal Games, TurboTax Deluxe from Intuit - March 2003
KoolMoves, Mix-FX and SWfX Flash Tools - February 2003
FrontLook Super Theme Designer Packages for Microsoft FrontPage from DPA Software - July 2003
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!
