Safe Eyes Parental Control Suite

Did you know that 69% of teens regularly receive online messages from strangers and that 89% of sexual solicitations happen on the Internet? Even worse, 75% of kids who receive an online sexual solicitation don’t tell their parents. Safe Eyes Parental Control Suite keeps online predators away from your kids! It is the easiest and most effective way to ensure your children’s safety on the Internet. From blocking unwanted Web and email content to monitoring IM, social networking, and Internet usage, Safe Eyes provides powerful protection for your family, giving you peace of mind. BENEFITS: 1) Easy to set up and use. 2) Blocks access to inappropriate Web sites - sophisticated Internet filter blocks harmful content, such as pornography and drugs. Or you can set your own filters. 3) Monitors your child’s online interactions - tracks, blocks, and records instant messaging, email, and social networking communication. 4) Controls PC, online and program access - lets you set time limits or schedule the time (such as bedtime) that you want your kids to log off the Web. 5) Instant alerts quickly notify you by email, SMS, or phone when your kids attempt to access inappropriate Web sites. 6) Free yearly product updates - includes 1-year free product updates and upgrades. 7) 90-day money back guarantee. FEATURES: Shield your family from inappropriate content, harmful programs, and online predators with powerful controls. The Internet filter includes over 35 blocked Web site categories (or you can set your own) and blocks certain key words and phrases. Works on Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, MySpace, and Facebook. The tamperproof system clock allows you to control time spent on the computer or Internet. Safe Eyes Instant Message and email monitor records and saves IM and email conversations so you can review them at a later time. *Mac version does not log Instant Messages, contain social networking or email blocking features.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Fantastic! I feel so much safer with my kids on the internet..
After installing Safe Eyes on my kids three computers (the max allowed with the software, though you can have up to SIX user accounts), I tested the software by going to some nefarious websites. It didn’t allow me to go there. Perfect! A few minutes later, my wife called me from her work. “Is Johnny home?” she asked. Of course he wasn’t, and I told her so. She said, “I just got an e-mail from SafeEyes, saying Johnny was trying to go to some web site.” SafeEyes worked that FAST, that perfectly!

The options are SUPER customizable, allowing the blocking of ANYthing, but also specific categories: porn, guns, violence, language, chat, game sites, ANYthing!

Very simple to set up, and once it’s set up, it needs no maintenance. Time schedules, time LIMITS, it has it all!

I give my highest recommendation!

Walt D in LV

2 Stars Good protection - but incompatible with software
I’ve used Safeeyes on my children’s PCs for several years. While it is fairly solid in it’s abilities - the way in which it works prevents some software from functioning - such as anti-virus software.

Support is rather unresponsive.

The features and management controls are not intuitive. If you are intimidated by setting up software - look elsewhere…

5 Stars Excellent Software!!!
This is the best filtering software I’ve found yet. It’s running on multiple machines and has no conflict with the array of software I use daily (from AutoCAD to Sony Vegas). For anyone looking to keep crap off their computer and out of sight, this is great stuff. Let the world pollute its own; and let those who have an eternal hope live like the One who called us out!

5 Stars This is the one you want…
Excellent software. Easy to install. Bargain price. Each registered copy can be installed on up to three computers, allowing customized safety perimeters for multiple users on each. Safe Eyes makes it a breeze to control and monitor your child’s use of the internet. After typing in all the customized data for each of my six children, I was thrilled to see that Safe Eyes remembered all settings when I installed it on other computers in our home. Now each of my children has personalized log in information that allows them safe access to the internet on any computer we own, and they can’t lock me out with a password change. Even my computer savvy teens haven’t figured out how to beat this software without me knowing about it. Score one for Mom!

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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Adobe Lightroom V2 for Windows and Mac. Lightroom provides an efficient way to import, select, develop, and showcase large volumes of digital images.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great for a photographer
Lightroom (why do we need the photoshop in front?) is great software for moving through images rapidly and making darkroom style adjustments. Its perfect for my needs

5 Stars Software with much depth
Lightroom 2 represents a significant set up from version 1. Version 1 on the Mac suffered from too much. Primarily too much comparison to Aperature. But with this release and the 2.2 upgrade Lightwave finally comes into it’s own.

Unlike a photo editor, Lightroom2 focuses on the management of your photo portfolio. After installation, you tell it where you store your photos and it imports the photos into Lightroom. This is a major improvement from version 1, although this will take a bit of time (about 45 minutes for approximately 13,000 photos). It will then monitor your photo directories for change, although this is not as quick as google’s editor

But those are minor quibbles. Lightwave adopts an assembly line like approach to dealing with photos and it does so very effectively.

Starting with your photo library, you move on to “develop” for a photo or a group of photos. Develop allows you to adjust parameters of the photos ranging from exposure to overlays to layout. This really is the heart of program and what makes it so powerful. This is not at all like photoshop; these aren’t at all competing products, rather they complement each other.

If that’s all Lightwave had to offer, it would a pretty good product, but Adobe has created the ability to develop plug-ins that allow Lightwave to interact with both other programs (such as DxO) to websites (Flickr, Facebook). Don’t consider this an exhaustive list; rather, just search the web for “Lightroom Plugins” to understand the breadth of these plugins.

In summary, this product is valuable tool for people who care about their photos. It’s powerful, intuitive (well, for an Adobe product), and is not a product that you will easily outgrow.

5 Stars Best Thing to Happen to My Workflow…since I 1st Heard the Word “Workflow”
Before discovering this program, I had files all over the map, a terribly disorganzied disaster area of jpgs mixed with RAW mixed with Lord knows what. Additionally, my post-processing routine was anything but. Hours of tedious and frustrating work.

Along comes Lightroom and cleaves my workflow in half! It also has streamlined my archives in such a way that I can find images from several years ago that under normal circumstances would have been buried in a mountain of kilobytes, never to be seen again.

My present day operation is a genuine joy. I have not had a need to even glance at Photoshop CS3 except for the more complicated retouching operations or major projects (movie posters, promos, composites, etc.).

This is a clear winner in comparison to Aperture as well. I’m a die hard Mac guy for my photo work, don’t get me wrong. Aperture is clever and solid, but lacks something in intuition that Lightroom has in spades.

LOVE this software…and can’t fathom life in the studio without it now.

3 Stars WONDERFUL program. SERIOUS bug
Lightroom is a 5-star product, with a serious bug in this version. Hence the 3-star rating. I will definitely buy version 2.3, which Adobe says should correct this bug.

I am a Mac user — I don’t know if this bug also exists in the PC version.

First, the great product:

I have thousands of photos (including many duplicates) in disorganized folders all over my disk After using the trial versions of both Lightroom 2 and and Aperture for several weeks, Lightroom was my clear winner.

Big reasons:

1) Lightroom’s internal catalog corresponds directly to the Finder’s folder/file structure. You can change the name of a file, or move it to a new folder, all within Lightroom.

2) Lightroom can keep several edited versions of one master photo. These are stored as edits, which saves space, and makes it easy to keep several versions for special purposes (e.g., web postings, email, printing).

3) The photo editing is awesome. I suspect I’ll have very little need for PhotoShop.

Now the problem: Version 2.2 has a very serious bug (for me).

If you mistakenly import non-standard files, in particular the “shapeimage..” files Mac uses in websites, Lightroom crashes and cannot be restarted without deleting the entire catalog and reimporting all the photos.

When I called Adobe they were very helpful. I quickly reached a knowledgeable person, who says this is a known bug, to be corrected in version 2.3, out in a few months they hope.

4 Stars Almost Perfect Photo Tool
Lightroom 2, can’t help you with Aunt Lucy’s photo, if you want flames shooting out of her head…. that would be Photoshop. However, what Lightroom 2 offers is a full-range of editing tools to make the photo of Aunt Lucy look fantastic. As a professional nature/wildlife photographer, it has everything I would expect from a top-of-the-line photo editing product, and everything I need (almost) to review, select, store, convert, edit and print a large number of RAW photo files. The one thing I would like to see added, perhaps in the next upgrade, is a watermarking tool. It’s also a very speedy and solid performer, which is absolutely required for a professional workflow.

I struggled with other photo storage, conversion and editing tools for several years. Often, having to use multiple tools to perform various workflow functions I needed. I’m very happy to have discovered one tool that does it all…. Lightroom 2.

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Punch Home and Landscape Design Suite with NexGen Technology

Take home, landscape, and interior designing to a new level. Punch! Home and Landscape Design Suite with nexGen Technology is easy as punch. It’s the most comprehensive home and landscape design software today. With its revolutionary nexGen Technology, you can build a new house or replicate your own house in just minutes. With the Intelligent Design feature, walls, paint, flooring, and more are moved, changed or updated with a click of the mouse. There’s also a ?Building Green” feature - scroll over your design and the screen will highlight areas where you can apply environmentally friendly, energy or money saving tips and options. Web integration can add to the already thousands of objects provided in the program’s custom library by importing objects from Google SketchUp.

Real-time walk and fly through Landscape topography Property slope tools and Excavation tool Deck design tools including multi-level decks Automatic curved stair & railing generator Estimator Framing, roof truss, window & door schedules Floor Plan Trace 3D landscape growth Definable sun location Automatic floor plan dimensioning Custom complex roof tool International plant zone maps Editable home & deck plans 2D & 3D object designer Construction phase overlays Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, Foundation planners Lawn Sprinkler Designer Irregular shaped Wall Wizard Skylight and Dormer cutout tools 3D Cutaway slider Exterior wainscot tool Cabinet Wizard PlantFinder BMP, JPG, DXF & DWG import/export and Google SketchUp & 3DS import

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Wasted Time and Money
I bought this product with the single purpose of designing and building my workshop. Having been involved with steep learning curves on other software, I also enrolled in Punch University to learn how to use the software. After looking at the first lesson, I realized I couldn’t find the tools they were using. I couldn’t find the toolbar. After an email to them, I get a call from Customer Service telling me that the University provides instruction in an entirely different product and no, there is no training available for the version I bought. Tuition was rerfunded a few days after they said it would be so I decided to go it on my own. Understand that I am no neophyte to drawing and CAD programs. After many false starts and hitches, I have the building drawn and fire up their “Power Tool” called Framing Editor and hope to get a materials list and a drawing. No joy. Software wouldn’t print from that view and the materials list didn’t include framing. Gave up and threw in the towel. They got me on this one so be careful if you’re considering this software. I gave it one star because the system wouldn’t let me go lower. On the piece of [...] scale this thing reeks.

Jim

5 Stars Great Program
Although I’m unable to compare this with other titles in the same category, I think Punch! Home & Landscape Design Suite is a great program. If you’re interested in home improvement or construction, this is a great tool! Getting started is quick and easy but all the possibilities will keep you involved with this program for a long time. I created a model of our current house and the 3D walk-through is an uncanny experience. The ability to visualize improvement ideas is of great assistance. Much better than heading out to the store and looking at samples and trying to picture it in your head.

2 Stars Poor Controls
I bought this product as an upgrade hoping the controls would be better than the previous versions….they made them worse. I find myself clicking on building components (windows, doors, etc) SEVERAL times trying to move it but instead grab the wall its attached too. The whole feel of the program is awkward and time consuming to use. The product has been out for awhile now but you wont find any information about it on the Punch technical support page. Its not even listed as a product they support, it can only be found on their sales page. This product may be inexpensive but its too miserable to use to be worth your time.

1 Star Amazon failure
The product never arrived.

I sent customer support three emails about it. Not a single reply from Amazon.

Called AMEX and put a hold on the payment…

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Civilization IV Warlords Expansion Pack

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Warlords is the first expansion pack for the Firaxis Games’ award-winning title, Civilization IV. Paying homage to some of history’s greatest military leaders, the expansion delivers eight unique and interesting scenarios, giving players the chance to change the course of history with the help of their new powerful ?warlord? unit. Civilization IV: Warlords includes new civilizations, leaders, units, and wonders that offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization’s military power as they strive for world domination. Leader Traits - In addition to the many existing leader traits in Civilization IV, two new leader traits accompany the expansion. New Wonders - There will be three new awe-inspiring wonders, all contributing new benefits and culture to your civilization. Unique Buildings - Players will now be able to construct buildings unique to each civilization. Units, Resources, & Improvements - Many new items not available in the core game will be introduced in the new scenarios Core Game Tweaks and Additions - Expanded features and gameplay tweaks will be made to the core game Requires the full version of Civilization IV for Mac OS X to play Requires Operating System - Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later with PowerPC G5 or Intel running at 1.8 GHz or faster

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars end of game is slow, requires disc
you will need to have the disc to start this game. a bummer when you’re on a laptop on the road and you just want to play a video game. most people don’t carry around the cds that come with their software anymore. it also doesn’t stop people from copying games illegally or cracking them to use without discs (do a google search).

that said, the game play is good, the graphics are nice, but the end game gets to be pretty slow moving. i have a fairly recent macbook pro and this game gets really sluggish as there are more units and map revealed. kind of sad since that’s when it gets more interesting.

buy world of warcraft instead. this game is a poor port to the mac platform.

5 Stars Great
My sons have spent hours creating their civilizations. This game seems to be very entertaining.

3 Stars Great game but terrible programming
Civ IV is a a lot of fun. Similar to old PC games like Master of Magic.

Unfortunately, the Mac version is moderately buggy. Let me count the ways:

1) Audio glitches. Occasionally an old sound will seemingly ’stay in the buffer’ as an annoying buzz for several minutes.

2) Video. After playing for a few hours some of the terrain improvements turn completely black. Restarting the game works for this one.

3) Video. After a few hours it gets slow and the video glitches. The menus become partially unreadable. Restarting also works here and there is no noticeable corruption of the autosave files.

4) Complete Crash. Several times I have had my whole machine lock up when playing in full screen mode. Its interesting in that its not a complete freeze, but instead the mouse slows down to 1/100 of its normal speed. However, I am unable to exit the game at this point and am forced to Hold Down the Power Button !!! to hardware restart. This is atrocious and the only program I know of that actually crashes the OS.

I have a 2.4 GHz iMac Intel Duo with 2 GB of RAM and running Tiger.

1 Star Will not run and Amazon will not help
I received this program and loaded it into my Mac Book. The software gives an error message when starting up and cannot use. I tried to contact Amazon but they do not answer and make it very difficult to find them. I had no option but to begin a dispute through American Express.

A waste of time and money.

1 Star Terrible, until Aspry decides to support this game…
Im going to start by saying that the Mac port compared to the windows version is ok at best. What I am truly frustrated by is the lack of support Aspyr is placing in its software. I bought this game with the intention of playing multiplayer with my friends, all of which own PC’s and were able to buy the gold edition for half what I payed. Regardless, I put up the absorbent amount of money for this three year old game and attempted to play multiplayer with my friends. To my dismay I discovered that Mac users were not allowed to play multiplayer with PC users because Aspyr has not released a patch compatible with the windows patch 2.13. To make matters worse I also discovered that gamespy is no longer supporting the internet play of the Mac version. So even when the patch is finally released I will only be able to play direct IP connect. After learning this crucial information I called Aspyr support to find out if they plan on releasing a patch soon so I could make my $80 investment worth while. But to no avail, the tech support told me that the incompetent Aspyr “is working on it” but have no definite date for release. The final nail of the metaphoric coffin was the fact that Mac users could also not get the latest Expansion beyond the sword. What makes it even more offensive is the fact that Aspyr has no plans of releasing this half year old expansion pack in the future. Please heed my advise and do not buy this game until Aspyr gets their act together!!!

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