Category Archives: Software

A developer review of the new FileMaker 11 – Part 1

I’ve been fortunate enough to use FileMaker Pro Advanced v11 and have been testing it since the 2nd week of February.  Per an email from FileMaker Inc, version 11 boasts the following top new features: FileMaker Charts – Create eye-catching reports using bar, line, area, and pie charts. Quick Reports – Make reports in a spreadsheet-like format. [...]
Also posted in Design, FileMaker, FileMaker techie questions, General, Programming | 1 Comment

Vertical Market Solutions in FileMaker, Issue 0

There’s not a lot of info, I realize, on the web or collectively disseminated about building a vertical market solution using FileMaker Pro as your development and user environment. Many people have built vertical market solutions, but few have actually spoken about it. Given this is something I feel passionate about and have had numerous [...]
Also posted in Design, FileMaker, Programming | 3 Comments

Designing for politeness

“If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.” — Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum I recently found an article on Viget Advance that nicely reviews what separates frustrating software from good software.  It summarily reviews designing “polite software”.  In [...]
Also posted in Design, FileMaker | Leave a comment

Announcing InBloom Shop Software 2.0

After a massive rewrite, I’m delighted to announce InBloom Shop Software version 2! This was a re-dreaming of what InBloom can and should do with FileMaker Pro’s growing ease of use and power, as well as what a good product should strive to be. This new version is designed for retail and resale business owners who aren’t [...]
Also posted in FileMaker, General, InBloom, Noteworthy | Leave a comment

Who knew? Printing on a Mac CAN be sexy!

The folks at NRG Software put up a post about how Mac OS 10.5.2 now has Zebra printer compatibility. For the uninitiated, this means Macs can finally interface to the Zebra printers just about every retail business uses/needs. Dymos are good but not for heavy duty printing. I’m absolutely psyched and you [...]
Also posted in FileMaker, General, InBloom, Mac | Leave a comment

The Stupidest Web Shortcuts

Forgive the rant, but who the heck thought of using the Command+Left and Command+Right shortcut for Back and Forward in a web browser (I’m looking at you Firefox)???  I can’t even begin to count the number of times this shortcut has created necktie-in-the-shredder frustration and had me accidentally backing out of a WordPress post or [...]
Also posted in Design | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Introducing InBloom, a new application from SWL

InBloom is the first-ever complete shop solution made to organize your store and run on your Mac, PC, or both. It's the only inventory management, point of sale, check printing, contact & buyer management, and more solution that is networkable and customizable. You can use and create the sexiest reports & receipts you've ever seen, share data and network computers with multiple users, and it doesn't require a whole technology staff to run. All you need is your computer and a printer.
Also posted in FileMaker, General, InBloom | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Recovering FileMaker Passwords

For those who don’t know, Filemaker offers password and file recovery services in case you ever need to repair a version 7 or 8 file.  But recently, I learned of a tool careof Passware.com and LostPassword.com, called FileMaker Key. The tool resets passwords to any FileMaker file, though version 8, to an 8-character string.  [...]
Also posted in FileMaker, General | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Zephoria on ‘Youth Speak or Web 2.0 Company?’

As per Zephoria.org : When did “q” gain the right to replace “k”? Or “ew” sounds be represented with 3+ “o”s? And since when is “z “such a popular letter in English? And why are we dropping “e”s? And how did words get dots in them?!?! People often complain to me about the youth speak that i [...]
Also posted in Design, General, WWW | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Google ≠ Netscape ???

I had proposed the idea that Google was becoming the new Netscape, on the heels of news that Google had acquired Writely and MeasureMap, and later learned that they had also acquired @Last Software, makers of the fun-yet-powerful Sketchup. But in a seemingly odd cue of events, I stumbled upon a couple of articles that talk [...]
Also posted in Design, General, WWW | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments