I work from my home office, which obviously has many advantages, but being able to connect to co-workers and others across the United States, or the world, can sometimes pose a challenge.  E-mail and Instant Messaging is essential, but being able to send large documents and media has always been a bit of a catch.  It’s hard to know what the attachment limit is for the e-mail provider you use, and I can’t count how many times I have e-mail rejected because of large file attachments.  

There are several ways to upload files and get them to another person.  The first thing that comes to mind is FTP, but not everyone has their own server, and for some FTP might be too complicated.  There are also many sites you can upload files to, but I just don’t trust these services especially with sensitive information.  Another issue is even if you upload the file somewhere, figuring out the exact link can also be a bit of work aadepending on which solution you use.  I often have to transfer large media files via FTP to a colleague, and with all the sub-directories I have the file is usually translated into a very long url.  Not real friendly.

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I noticed last month that Delicious Library 2 was released by Delicious Monster, and this was anotherapplication I was anxious to try out.  Delicious Library can best be described as an application that lets you easily catalog all types of items like your music collection, DVD’s, software, and more.  Why is this useful you might ask?  Well first off, having a complete inventory of items is very important if they were to ever be stolen or destroyed.  Keeping a detailed record of your items is essential for insurance recovery.  Secondly, if you are like me, you have some type of OCD where you need to keep a strict record of everything you own.  Regardless of the reasons, Delicious Library is the most efficient way I have found to accomplish this task.

The UI of an application is always something I instantly scrutinize, and Delicious Library has an impressive design.  The most noticeable is the bookcase-like window that not only has an attractive appearance, but makes browsing the libraries efficient.  There are a few ways to add items, one of which is manually adding them.  Just select the type of item, such as ’software’, and type the title in.  It will then search a database and if it’s there, will present the choices from which you can select.  I had no trouble finding and adding various items in several of the categories.  For the few items which weren’t found, it was simple to add a blank item and enter the relevant information from there.  You can also search for items and have an option to buy them from Amazon.com too.

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Adobe has really been pushing online services lately.  We had the release of Photoshop Express and now the beta for Buzzword is now open for business.  When you think of online documents you think of Google Documents, but Buzzword is aiming to make its own presence known in the online word processing game.  Buzzword is also part of the Acrobat.com beta, which is a web-based suite of online services aimed at users who want to create and share documents on the web.

Buzzword is free to use, but you will have to signup for an Acrobat.com account, or you can use an existing Adobe account if you already have one.   I have been using it with both Safari and Firefox, and the loading of the interface and documents just seemed slow compared to similar services.  It has all the standard features you would expect to find in a word processor, and the interface is clean, although I personally didn’t find the dark background easy to work with.  Creating and editing documents was a snap, and it seemed to handle images and text placement well.  
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By: Wardy Miller
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article, extolling the virtues of Bento, the personal database. Since that time I was asked by the Filemaker folks to take a look at Filemaker Pro. I must say I am quite impressed. FileMaker Pro Version 9 will run on Mac, (ahem Windows) and across the web. 

Running your own business can be overwhelming. People to meet, things to do, inventory, projects, and so forth. Many of the tools used to manage these tasks are templates that you are presented with upon starting Filemaker the first time. 

I am one of those people who could find a ton of uses for databases, but I am too lazy to create one, FileMaker Pro is a godsend. I am able to create a project management database with the click of a button, and can begin inputing data immediately, without having to manually create the database and the form before I can do any work.

FileMaker Pro is loaded with plenty of templates, to get you started quickly. This version can handle anything from inventory management to email campaigns. This product is a very robust and capable database. Manipulation of the pre defined templates is effortless, and there is not much database knowledge needed. 

As I stated previously, I am from a windows environment, and have had cause to use MS Access as well as MS-SQL. Neither come close to the simplicity of Filemaker. If I was starting a business or coming into a business to consult, Filemaker would be on the top of my list of recommendations. However I must add, if you are STRICTLY a home user Bento is a better way to go. 

The Bottom line:
If you are a business owner, and want to use a Mac for your business machine, FileMaker Pro is a can’t miss. 

One of my “hobbies” is customizing my computers and electronics to my own style. It can be as simple as a wallpaper change all the way to a complete change of the user interface. My iPhone is another piece of electronics that gets my attention when it comes to personalization, but unfortunately there aren’t too many ways to alter the look asides from re-arranging some icons and changing the wallpaper. I also have a couple of other cell phones around the house belonging to various family members, and they always want wallpapers made for their phone too, so I went looking for a solution.
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