Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac)

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Buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 (Win/Mac) Now

Amazon Review

Amazon.com Product Description

Simply unlimited! The newest version of the #1 selling consumer photo-editing software, Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 delivers powerful yet easy-to-use editing options that help you tell your life stories in amazing ways. Make every photo look its best. Quickly share your memories on Facebook; in Online Albums; and in printed photo books, cards, calendars, and more that look just the way you want. And automatically organize and help protect all your photos and video clips.

Customer Review
by Dawn S. Miller

I upgraded from Photoshop Elements (PSE) 6 for Windows to PSE9 for Mac and was glad to see that the Mac and Windows versions were essentially the same. Since I use iPhoto for organizing, I can't say anything about PSE's Organizer, but I gave the Editor a workout.

Elements is at the high end of what I'll spend for a photo editor, and I buy roughly every third version to keep the price reasonable over the years, so it's time, and I'm happy to say that 9.0 fits my needs . . . and then some.

Like PSE6, PSE9 it is a great overall photo editor. It does a good job of enhancing photos, either with a click of a button or just a few clicks if I happen to disagree with the Auto Smart Fix. It can process batches of photos that all need the same work done to them. And it has enough manual controls (histograms, contrast, brightness, shadows/highlights, red eye, color correction, layers, etc.) to do just about anything to a photo you can imagine.

Pros:
* It works smoothly with iPhoto; I could switch back and forth easily and quickly and open multiple photos at once for editing.
* It's fast on my MacBook Pro.
* The editor hasn't crashed yet, and I'm running through thousands of photos.
* All of the features that I'm familiar with from previous versions still work well, and some, like the magic lasso, work even better than before.
* Content-aware healing can perform minor miracles in my hands. In the hands of an expert, or someone with more patience, it can probably perform major miracles.
* The Guided Edits helped me visualize the steps involved for some of the more complicated features, which helped me make better use of the Full Edit.
* PhotoMerge Group Shot is incredibly easy to use. I had two photos shot at different distances, and PSE had no trouble making the necessary adjustments.
* Removing clutter from photographs is simple.
* Oh happy day, Elements now has layer masks, a feature that used to be the domain of its pricier sibling. Now you can make parts of a layer more or less opaque, allowing for some really neat effects. I won't use this often, but a few of my photos are just crying out for it.

Cons:
* The Welcome Screen is still annoying. Fortunately, you can set it up to go straight to the Organizer or Editor.
* It still can't batch process the Save for Web feature. Sigh.
* My camera has a panorama assistant but doesn't stitch them together, so I was interested in PSE9's enhanced panorama stitching. For the most part, it's very easy. PSE does most of the work. Unfortunately, it created an enormous file--117mg--out of my five 5mg photos and ran out of RAM before it could finish everything--even after I maxed out the RAM in Preferences. I ended up with a very nice panorama but had to reduce the file size before doing some of the final touches myself. Then the final jpeg size turned out to be smaller than any of the individual photos.
* Yeah, I would have liked a manual.


If you are currently using PSE 8, there may not be enough new features to warrant an upgrade yet, though the content-aware healing might make it worth it. From version 6? Definitely.

If you have never used Elements, this is a great application with a bit of a learning curve. Get the free one-month trial, and borrow a book on it from the library. That's where I'll be headed once the manuals for version 9 show up.

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TurboTax Deluxe Federal + e-File + State 2010 [Download]

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Amazon Review

TurboTax Deluxe was designed to make it easy for you to get the biggest tax refund possible, checking for accuracy and uncovering 350+ deductions and credits. Includes free Federal Efile and TurboTax State for completing your state taxes.

• Guides you step-by-step to find and maximize your deductions
• Walks you through over 350 deductions including mortgage interest, charitable contributions, education, medical expenses and more
• Guides you through changes in your tax situation and lets you know how they will impact your taxes
• Audit Risk Meter helps you reduce your chance of an audit
• Includes one free state preparation and 5 free Federal e-Files?receive IRS confirmation and get your refund in as fast as 8 days. State e-File available in certain states for an additional fee.

Customer Review
by D. Walls "Lawnman" (Huntley, Illinois)

Up until 2009 I had an accountant for years do my taxes. They did a good job but the price was steep and I always wondered if I could do it myself like I did years ago. Last year I purchased the 2009 edition and was pleasantly surprised with the ease I was able to do the taxes. It is very intuitive to use and really doesn't require much of a manual. It asks question that require only a yes or no answer and from you answers (i.e. Did you sell any stock in 2010?) It will further customize the program to accommodate your answers. Whenever you start the program it goes to the Turbotax website to see if there is any updates or patches for the program and automatically downloads latest revision. You're able to do the program in the interview mode or for more seasoned tax preparers, you can manually input numbers to the specific forms that apply to you and the program, based on your answers, selects all the forms that apply to you. A side bonus was you have the option to file electronically or print out and mail. I decided to "e" file both Federal and State and I received checks credited directly to my bank account in under 10 days! It cost nothing to file electronically for the Federal but there's a $29.95 charge to "e" file the state return. If you choose instead to print out the forms and mail to the state instead, there is no charge for that. You "e" file the state and pay the fee only if you want your money quickly. Otherwise, save the 29.95 and just send in the return "snail mail". I now have the 2010 version that is advertised here and it is substantially the same as 2009 (except, of course, latest tax info. What is really nice is once you've done one year (in my case 2009), once you purchase load the next year and load it on your computer, it "looks" for previous tax year data on your computer and "suck over" all pertinent info from the previous year (i.e. Name, social security number, other personal info plus it'll even grab "carry forward loses" from stock transactions for previous years. As you enter your data you see instantly the effects on your taxes and it instantly shows changes to your refund (or what you owe) as you enter those numbers.

I was paying hundreds of dollars each year and now, for a fraction of that I get to do my taxes in the privacy of my home at my own leisure. You do not have to do it all in one sitting and it saves your work as you go. No apparent downside here. I think this program is well done and easy to use. you also are allowed to do up to 5 Federal returns so you can actually split the cost with someone on the program and even save more. I like my accountant but with my savings last year, I could almost go out and buy a 16 gig Apple iPad with the money I saved.

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Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007

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buy Microsoft

Review & Detail

Buy Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Now

Customer Reviews
By pm444 "pm444" (MI, USA)

While Office 2003 offered a refreshed look and some improvements in functionality, the basic structure remained the same. While veteran users were able to easily navigate the familiar menus, it had become increasingly difficult to locate some features (for instance, in Word, would you find "insert new rows" to a table in the "insert" or "table" menu?).

With Office 2007, Microsoft offers the "ribbon", a new and more intuitive way to access features that we used to find in the menus. While the features are basically the same, they are now grouped together according to when and how you would normally use them. These groupings are accessed by clicking on tabs, which are organized in the order you'd use them. The best way to get a better understanding of this change is to check out the screenshots, or download a free trial version of Office from Microsoft. While Office 2007 was released at the same time as Vista, you do not need Vista in order to run it. The program ran fine on my Windows XP laptop, which only had 512 MB of RAM, and it runs even better on my Vista laptop with 2 GB of RAM.

As for which version of Office to buy, this is the third time I've opted for the Home and Student version (which has had other names in previous releases, but is still being sold for $149). I need Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and this is the most cost-effective way to get those programs. I was disappointed that Microsoft dropped Outlook from the Home and Student version. In order to continue to use Outlook, I installed Outlook 2003 and haven't had any problems.

Instead of Outlook, you get OneNote, a program that uses notebooks and tabs to save and organize all sorts of files and documents. I haven't had much time to play with OneNote yet, but the more I use it, the more impressed I am with it. It looks like one of those programs that you can personalize to meet your own needs and not have to fight with it to get it to do what you want.

This is a significant upgrade and should allow all users, new and experienced, to work more efficiently and quickly.

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Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

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by Adobe

Review & Details

Buy Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 Now

Customer Reviews
By Michael McKee "mystic cowboy"
I like Photoshop Elements. I've always considered it a good option for photographers who haven't spent the many, many hours needed to learn the full version of Photoshop. That's not to mention the extra $560 the full version will set you back.

I've taught Photoshop at a local college since 2000 and use it in my graphic design business. There are real advantages to having the pro version, for pros. However, there are some real disadvantages, too. I see person after person come into my classes having paid the full price for the full version. With very, very few exceptions these people don't push their program hard enough to exceed Element's limitations and probably never will. There seems to be the mind set that because these people have spend a bundle on their cameras and lenses they "need" the "better" version of Photoshop. They don't. Elements can handle a huge percentage of photo editing and design jobs. You may have to use a different tool than what you're used to but can usually achieve identical results. A better camera can produce better photos. Photoshop CS- whatever isn't a better photo editing program. The underlying graphics engine is identical in both programs. Elements just has a simpler interface. If you think that Photosho Elements is complicated, try learning CS4.

To prove my point to a professional photographer friend I had him come up with a dozen photos. He edited them in CS3 and I used Elements 7. Our results were different on a couple of the images but that wasn't due to Elements but that my interpretation was different from his. Even he agreed.

That said my recommendation is that if you are getting serious about editing your photos, start with Elements. It will save you a ton of scratch and the vast majority of what you learn will be easily transferable to the full program. If you find that you outgrow Elements some day you haven't lost anything. Chances are that Photoshop will have a new version out and even the upgrade for Photoshop is half again as expensive as Elements at full retail.

As to the value of this version of Elements. Some people have written that they find it slower than previous ones. Maybe they had an earlier version of Elements. I haven't found that to be the case on my pretty middle of the road computer. Are the new tools worth the cost? That's a tougher question. If you have version 4 or earlier, absolutely. Version 5, I'd say yes. Version 6? Probably. I usually skip a version when upgrading.

There are some new tools that are nice. The Adobe Photoshop.com isn't too compelling. I've been on Flickr for years and don't plan to move off. Adobe's site doesn't offer an real advantages for me.

The Scene Cleaner and Smart Brush are both very useful tools. The Action Player lets me run pre-recorded Photoshop actions in Elements. That's not quite like making my own, but there are hundreds, possibly thousands of pre-recorded Photoshop actions available for download. Actions can perform automated changes to your images and can be quite useful

Other tools, like the Blue Sky brush have limited functionality. Painting a blue sky over water is easy and cool. Doing so over trees or any complicated horizon is a total pain. The Whiter Teeth brush is handy, though that wasn't that hard to accomplish before. But keeping with Elements' philosophy of simplifying photo editing, I can see that it is an obvious inclusion. And the Surface Blur tool, well don't get too excited about it.

Adobe's Photo Organizer is still an excellent tool, though I would have liked to see Adobe include Bridge instead, as they did in the Mac version of Elements.

Adobe includes some guided activities like creating holiday cards and scrapbooks with Elements. If that appeals to you, there are wizards that guide you through the activities. The results aren't quite professional looking but probably better than most people could achieve on their own.

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