Recently, I got the chance to take a sneek peek at FileMaker’s newest version of Bento. I gotta admit, I’m not much for cataloging my CD or DVD collection or keeping track of the number of times my dog howls aimlessly so when I first heard about Bento last year, I wasn’t nearly as impressed as one of my fellow writers here at iBAM. However, recently I have changed my tune all together. As most of you know, I organize PodCamp AZ and it’s quickly approaching. I have an ever growing number of registrants and a database with all sorts of info that I needed some serious assistance in managing. The stage is set for 2 weeks ago and my chat with a couple reps from FileMaker and their demo of the new Bento.

The tour took less than 30 minutes and in that amount of time, I had learned all of the basic essential skills I needed to manage the database. Within an hour I had exported the PodCamp AZ Registration DB and Bento made it all pretty for me. I was able to see how many were coming, how many are interested in pre-registration, who wants a shirt and how many of each size to order. I gotta admit, I was very impressed!

Well, today’s the day! Bento 2 is finally released and ready for you to play with. It has all sorts of new features and easy to use tools to make your data managing a whole heck of a lot less boring. I would recommend at least giving it a test drive to see what it can do. It might just make you sane again! Below is the official press release so you can check out some of the features and raves. Have fun!

Bento 2 by FileMaker Now Available

Popular personal Mac database links with Apple Mail; works with Excel, Numbers, and AppleWorks; and adds many spreadsheet style functions

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – October 14, 2008 – FileMaker, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of Bento 2, the new version of its wildly popular personal database that is as easy to use as the Mac. For the first time, Bento 2 now links Apple Mail messages and RSS feeds to contacts, events, projects, and other information stored in Bento.

With Bento 2, users can export spreadsheet data from Excel and Numbers directly into Bento 2 to view and use that data in beautiful Bento 2 forms, and secondarily import Bento 2 data into the spreadsheet apps. With Bento 2, users get convenient iTunes-style searching, quick sorting, instant summary stats, and much more. AppleWorks data may now also be imported and exported to and from Bento 2 via new support for tab-delimited files.

The new Bento 2 offers exciting new functionality including spreadsheet style “no set-up” data entry with intuitive “fill-downs”; the ability to edit records and modify forms without ever changing modes; view and edit table and detail records in split-view on one screen; and even instantly link to Google Maps and online chat.

“We found that the majority of Bento users were keeping track of their lists in spreadsheets, so we’ve added many new features to Bento that will make spreadsheet users very comfortable, while also accomplishing much more using Bento,” says Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services, FileMaker, Inc.

Ten new ready-to-use beautiful themes, ranging from “Bookworm’s” deep leathery browns to the cool tranquil blues and hues of “Swimming Pool” can instantly “wash-over” a record, changing its background and fonts – almost magically – without any need for database design know-how.

Bento 2 users can now tap into a new world of productivity by sharing templates with other Bento 2 users. Users can now export and email their original templates with other Bento users across the aisle or across the world.

Early evaluators praise Bento 2

“I expect to start seeing a lively exchange of useful Bento templates among avid Bento 2 users,” says Jim Bradley, Talent, OR.
“The ability in Bento 2 to connect to Apple Mail is a major plus for Bento 2 because it allows me to better tie Address Book, iCal, and Apple Mail all together,” comments Mike Dennis, senior pastor, Morocco Church, Tecumseh, MI.

“With the Table View in Bento 2, I can include only the fields currently being manipulated,” reports Trish McIntire, owner, McIntire Income Tax Center, Arkansas City, KS.

“But sometimes, I need to check or add information that I have not included in the current Table View, and this is where the new Split View comes in handy. Split View lets me efficiently add information, without having to toggle between Table and Form views.”

“The ability to print multiple records on one page makes Bento much more useful for the creation of reports; I’m sure the trees will appreciate it,” notes Michel Bintener, teacher, Luxembourg. “Overall, Bento 2 looks like a worthwhile upgrade.

Pricing and System Requirements

Bento 2 is affordably priced at $49 U.S., or $99 U.S. for a family pack of five licenses, and is available on the FileMaker Web store (store.filemaker.com). Bento 2 will also be offered exclusively at the Apple Web store (store.apple.com) and Apple retail stores until October 27 and through other online and retail stores after this date.
Bento 2 requires Mac OS X v.10.5.4 Leopard on a Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor. A minimum of 512MB of RAM and 1GB of hard drive space is recommended. A CD drive is required for installation of boxed software.

About FileMaker, Inc.

FileMaker, Inc. develops award-winning database software. Its products include the legendary FileMaker Pro product line for Windows, Mac and the Web, and the new Bento personal database for Mac. FileMaker Pro won 49 awards, more than its next eight competitors combined, from 2003-2008 in the U.S., and a total of 130 awards worldwide during this time. Millions of customers, from individuals to large organizations, rely on FileMaker, Inc. software to manage, analyze and share information. FileMaker, Inc. is a subsidiary of Apple Inc.

It’s finally here! (Well mostly anyway) The iBAM Community has officially launched. Now, I don’t claim to be a Ning Superhero by any stretch of the imagination so I’m gonna keep playing around with the site pretty much indefinitely. As always, iBAM is a community so I need your help. If you have ideas, suggestions or whatever, please feel free to post your thoughts either here or over in the community. Our goal is to make this cool and fun so DO IT! haha

I hope you guys enjoy the community and remember… Just because you bought a Mac (or even if you want to) doesn’t mean the community site has to be ALL MAC STUFF. We all have other interests too so feel free to share as we all celebrate at least the one thing we all have in common, our Mac.

See you over in the community!

- Brent

Hey all… I’m going to the New Media Expo with the Viddler crew. We’re going to be handing out a bunch of t-shirts with our logos to promote Viddler’s new “brand yourself)” campaign. I will also have a few regular iBAM tees with me to give away as well.

I will have a very limited supply of iBoughtAMac/Viddler (brand yourself) tees and a few regular iBAM tees… So if you want one and you’re gonna be there at NME, be sure to let me know (via the comments) and I’ll be sure to hold one aside for you.

Be on the lookout for my “as random as always” NME videos over at the NME Videos site. You can post videos there as well if you tag your Viddler videos with “newmediaexpo2008″ or “newmediaexpo”.

See you at NME!

Ok… So, I got quite a lot of pressure today to open a CafePress Store after posting Cadie’s onesie pics. So, I took my sheets of iron-on’s and the art I had made for the iBAM Tees and uploaded the whole sha-bang to CP for anyone to posses. That said, if you want one of Cadie’s onesies, a semi-spendy front only printed tee or a pretty cool mug, swing by and do your worst. I’ll try to add more stuff as I think of it (or as you suggest it). All proceeds will go to help out here at iBAM. Just remember that if you buy something, please send me a link to a pic of you and/or your iBAM swag. I really geek out over that stuff! Rock on!

Web sites will Go Pink during the month of October to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, get people talking about breast cancer, and raise money for research.

But to be clear, raising money isn’t the primary purpose of this web event.

The hope is that you turn your site pink (in whatever way works for your site), go out to that World Wide Web thing (in fact you’re on it right now!) and educate yourself about the multiple issues related to Breast Cancer, then take that newfound knowledge and tell someone else what you’ve learned.

This morning brings us a brand new release from Apple. MacBook Pro’s have been upgraded. Of course, those of us (like me) who haven’t even had their MBP for a year are a little bummed, but nevertheless, it’s a necessary evil. Some of the more noticeable changes are that they have a new more power efficient (greener) LCD display that will conserve battery life, better graphics board, capability for more RAM and a slightly faster CPU. I guess I’m a little happy that the upgrade isn’t HUGE or anything, but I am a little bummed that mine is so new and there’s an upgrade. Anyway, those of you that have been holding out for the upgrade to make your purchase, here’s your chance. Pull out your wallet and join the revolution!

Here’s a breakdown of some of the features:

The new MacBook Pro models are now shipping and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The 2.2 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

• 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
• 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
• Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

• 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440-by-900 LCD display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
• Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

• 17-inch widescreen 1680-by-1050 LCD display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
• Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

I went to my Feedburner stats page today (first time in quite a while) and was pleasantly surprised. We have actually had a fairly steady increase in subscriptions since our launch here @ iBAM. I just wanted to share the graph with everyone and take a second to say thanks for all of you who have helped along the way. The comments, the authors, the subscribers… All who participate here to make this site a ton of fun for all who stop by. Thank you so much for everything! I can only say that I sincerely hope that you have had as much fun as I have. Here’s to the rest of the year and beyond!

As always, suggestions, ideas and thoughts are always welcome. iBAM is a community and without you, we would suck! haha! Talk soon!

- Brent

This morning I received my official email announcement from Apple about iTunes’ latest upgrade: DRM free music and videos from EMI artists. This upgrade was released through OSX’s Software Update or direct download a couple days ago as we discussed on our most recent iBAM TalkCast. I think this is a great step forward in the DRM battles of late and am one that will most assuredly go for the extra cents to get the DRM free versions when possible. Here’s a copy of the email just in case you didn’t see it:

Now you can download music and videos from EMI that are free of DRM rules and restrictions. With iTunes Plus, you can burn the music you download from iTunes to as many CDs as you need, transfer it to as many computers (Mac or PC) as you want, or sync it to as many devices as you like. And because it’s encoded in 256 kbps AAC, your iTunes Plus music is virtually indistinguishable from the original recording. Hear it for yourself — you can preview all iTunes Plus songs before purchasing.

iTunes Plus music is available now for many EMI artists, such as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Coldplay, and many more. DRM-free EMI music videos are still $1.99 and music tracks are $1.29.

Even better yet, you can also upgrade existing EMI songs in your iTunes collection for just $.30 per song.

So… Like I said, I think this is a good step in the right direction and who knows, maybe we’ll see everything DRM free someday soon? here’s to hoping!

I received a nice email from iBAM reader “Didi” this morning telling me the story of their recent trip to the Emeryville Apple Store. I found it interesting so I thought I’d share. Didi, I hope you enjoy your new MacBook and find it as enjoyable as I have. Everyone else, if you have been to the Emeryville store (or work there), drop us a comment. We’d all love to hear from you! (the email is copied below, thanks Didi!)

“Emeryville… hmmm… Pixar anyone?”

Brent,

Just wanted to let you know I went to the Apple store yesterday and got me a MacBook! It is awesome — and I never call anything awesome. I kept combining “MacBook” and “laptop” which gives you Mactop, which is what I named her.

The sales person spent a couple of hours with me and I left there with my Mactop, a Canon printer/scanner (for $79 after rebate), Office Mac, and a .mac account. It wasn’t until partway through the sales guy’s explanation of what .mac was that I realized he was talking about an account essentially, because I had read about it on iBAM. I got so excited that I even knew what he was talking about and I told him about your blog. He seemed very interested and jotted down your URL. So now maybe the folks at the Emeryville Apple store in California will be checking out your blog.

One of the first things I did when I got Mactop home? Set the preferences for the trackpad!

Thanks for the help and the inspiration. I will be hanging out at your site.

- Didi

It’s nice to know we’ve made a difference somewhere out there. This actually brings up a great topic. Are there any other great iBAM related stories out there that you (our readers) would like to share with the rest of us? I, for one would love to hear them. Consider this my formal invitation to comment with your iBAM/Apple story.

Also, if you are an Apple store employee, let us all know your name and where you are at and we’ll be sure to stop by and visit you. Heck, if we get enough responses from employees, I’ll make a page for you guys here on iBAM. (Honestly, I don’t expect much response here… but I could be surprised, you never know.)

CREATE MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES THE 2007 CREATE AWARDS CALL FOR ENTRIES

March 7, 2007 – The 2007 Create Awards – one of the top creative competitions for professionals and students in advertising, film and video, motion graphics, graphic communication, photography, printing, interactive media, and copywriting – announces its official call for entries: March 15.

Following a successful first year, The 2007 Create Awards (www.thecreateawards.com) has tripled the Best of Show Award to a once-in-a-lifetime prize for the creative professional: a $30,000 Dream Studio Prize Package with products from industry-leading companies including: Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, NEC Display Solutions, Alienware Computers, Wacom Technologies, Digital Tutors, Softimage (a Division of Avid), Iomega, Wiredrive, Microtek, Inovartis, LensBabies, E-Frontier, Spam Cube, AutoFX, Corel, Pantone, Tivity Software, and Extensis.

Also new for 2007: prize packages for all eight Best of Industry Winners (Advertising/Art Direction, Film + Video, Motion Graphics, Graphic Communication, Photography, Interactive, Copywriting/Words, and Self Promotion) and one Best of Student Prize Package worth more than $2,000. The winner of the Paper/Printing/Packaging Industry, sponsored by NewPage, receives their logo on a NASCAR car along with race day tickets to experience the prize.

Official call for entries begins March 15 and the first deadline for entries is June 1. To enter the competition or receive more information, visit www.thecreateawards.com or pick up a copy of the March/April issue of Create Magazine.

The Create Awards
The Create Awards is one of the top competitions for working creative professionals across the nation and is open to all creative professionals an students working in advertising, film and video, motion graphics, graphic communication, photography, printing, interactive media, and copywriting. The competition officially kicks off March 15 – sign up at www.thecreateawards.com today to stay updated on prizes and entry deadlines!

About Create Magazine
Create Magazine’s mission is to inform, connect, inspire and educate creative professionals. First published in 2001, Create Magazine is an award-winning bi-monthly creative industry magazine published for those who produce or require creative services and products. As a networking resource, Create Magazine provides an insider’s perspective on the people, news, trends and events that influence both local and national advertising and creative production industries. With five regional editions nationwide, each issue features articles by local community leaders who are the trusted source for information and commentary on the Advertising, Design, Printing, Photography, Film and Video, Animation and New Media industries, in addition to national content from industry experts. To find out more, visit Create Magazine online at www.createmagazine.com.

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PRESS CONTACT:
Katrina Priore, Create Magazine: kpriore@createmagazine.com, 407.207.0107, ext. 2664