Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Filemaker has released free holiday-themed goodies for Bento users. The Bento Holiday Kit has templates for cards and labels, a party planner and a gift list."

You have to be using Bento 4 in order to take advantage of this, so if you don't have it, feel free to download the free trial here. If you do have it and want some of the themes, in the US head here, or if you are in the UK head here.

"Just two months after launching mobile versions of its flagship database program, FileMaker is rolling out a significant upgrade to the iPhone and iPad versions of FileMaker Go. The 1.1 update to FileMaker Go-which was expected to hit the App Store Wednesday morning-brings greater parity between the mobile and desktop versions of the database application."

Filemaker, which is a subsidiary of Apple, makes some great database products. I'm a huge fan of Bento for OS X. They also make a program called Filemaker (of course), and they've just upgraded the iOS versions of that software, which is called Filemaker Go. Both the iPhone version and the iPad version include the ability to share databases by email, and to create PDFs from databases. The iPhone version is $19.99 and the iPad version is $39.99. It's a free upgrade to current owners of Filemaker Go.

"FileMaker has introduced an update to its collection of free tools and templates designed to help users of its flagship database product streamline their business processes."

They brought out two versions, one is Standard Edition that is geared for companies that sell physical merchandise and the other is the Service Edition, mainly for companies that offer intangible products such as consulting firms or opinions about Apple products. Both are in the free Business Productivity Kit, which also includes a 30-day free trial of Filemaker 11.

"FileMaker Pro 11, the latest version of the Mac database software, was officially released Tuesday, packing in improved chart visuals, "on the fly" reporting, a new Quick Find capability, and a number of productivity tools that aim to make database creation simpler and quicker."

The last update was in 2009 when they released FileMaker 10. They also released updates to the entire line of FileMaker products. The retail price for FileMaker Pro 11 is $299.00 USD, or $179.00 USD to upgrade. The prices for advanced and server go up from there. I haven't used FileMaker in years, do any of you use it on a regular basis?

Until January 28th 2010, current Bento 1 and 2 owners can upgrade to Bento 3 for a $20.00 USD discount.

Pretty good deal if you already own Bento 1 or 2, you can upgrade for $29.00 for a single user, or if you have require a family license its $79.00 USD. But act fast, it expires 1/28/10.

"DnG Design & Development, the driving force behind FMPug announced today their latest version of The Everything Reference is available for download - completely FREE of charge - to anyone and everyone interested in FileMaker."

This includes Filemaker 10, and is a complete reference of the most widely used reference materials. According to the FMPug site, "The Everything Reference provides quick, easy access to the most widely used FileMaker-based reference material, eliminating the need to hunt through a countless number of manuals, books and/or sites. The guide offers a concatenation of the most useful, most referenced FileMaker information in a single source." 

Well, that does sound complete doesn't it? 

"For a limited time, you can download a free FileMaker Graphics Pack full of professionally designed icons and buttons - just buy and register any qualifying FileMaker 10 product."

To get your free graphics pack, you have to purchase between July 1st and September 18th this year, as well as register the product by September 24th. The graphics pack has over 1,000 images, so sounds like a pretty good deal if you are in the market for a FileMaker product anyway, just make sure you register!