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Bento

INFORMATION WEEK: Bento is an 'essential iPhone App for SMBs'

1/26/2010

INFORMATION WEEK's Jake Widman surveys top iPhone Apps and recommends Bento for iPhone as an "essential" one for small and medium business: "Bento is a lightweight database designed especially for the Mac, so what better choice for a database on the iPhone? Bento ($4.99) works as a standalone database on the phone, but it also syncs with Bento on the desktop so you can take your data with you. If you modify the data on your phone, including adding new records and fields, they'll be synced back to your home database. Bento comes with 25 iPhone templates (see image) for managing different types of data."

1/7/2010

MacNN reviews Bento 3, finds much to praise, and awards it 4-1/2 out of 5 stars: "Bento really shows the power of a true personal database, with its well thought out interface. It is immediately useful, thanks to built-in templates and a straightforward design ... I have no reservations recommending this program for use in small business or for home projects."

12/9/2009

"Of the hundreds of Mac apps we saw in the past year, these 13 were our favorites," writes MacWorld Magazine in unveiling its 2009 Eddy Awards. The new Bento 3 is among the honored apps: "Bento continues to set the standard for personal database programs. Bento 3 added iPhoto integration, network sharing, and 128-bit AES encryption. Best of all, FileMaker did the right thing for upgraders: Instead of charging them full price ($50) for the new version, it gave existing users a $20 rebate."

12/8/2009

With the holidays coming up, Yahoo Hot Jobs includes Bento for iPhone among "6 Tim-Saver Gifts for Busy Professionals." Bento for iPhone, they write, "is a one-stop organizer and tracker for all of your files ... It's hard to find anyone who couldn't use this app." The time you save, says Yahoo Hot Jobs, could add up to an hour a week and be worth as much as $1,500 a year for busy professionals.

12/8/2009

MacLife reviews the new Bento 3 and declares it "Great." Praising the new personal database’s ability to organize all kinds of data, interface with Address Book, iCal and iPhoto, and new sharing features, MacLife says, "All of these features make Bento 3 brilliant for personal and small-group scenarios ... The easy-to-use interface makes building databases (dare we say it?) enjoyable."

11/16/2009

Reviewing the new Bento 3, Macsimum News says, "Apple subsidiary FileMaker continues to bring database to the masses. Database is just a geek word for collection of stuff. Used to be, if you wanted a database, you had to hire someone to program it, or learn it yourself—not an easy task ... So FileMaker put together a program that makes it simple — Bento. And with the recent jump to v. 3, Bento takes another step toward making it easy for anyone to build and use a database ... Bento is worth every penny of the US$49 you pay for it. And a five-computer family license is $99. If you have a previous version, buying directly from the Bento website will save you $20 instantly."

11/16/2009

About.com reviews the new Bento 3, awards it 4 out of 5 stars, and says, "Bento 3 offers new features, including integration with iPhoto, new security options, new view options, and the ability to share Bento libraries with up to five users on a local network. Bento 3 is a must-have upgrade for current Bento users, and a must-look-into if you’re shopping for your first database software."

10/2/2009

The new Bento 3 is available, and BUSINESS WEEK says, "The new key feature is that Bento 3 talks to iPhoto, and your iPhoto albums are viewable from within Bento. This makes it easy to store and edit detailed information about your photos, but also to link photos to entries in your Bento database, whether its for a list of small business contacts, or your collection of antique stoneware."

10/2/2009

The new Bento 3 is honored by PC MAG with an Editors’ Choice award. In the review, Michael Muchmore writes, "This is the most useful and appealing version of Bento yet. It's not perfect—I wish there were better sharing options—but the new templates and iPhoto integration are very cool ... Bento 3 may be just about the only consumer database available for the Mac, but it's a superb one, and well worthy of an Editors' Choice."

9/2/2009

MacTribe has made a list of the their favorite iPhone Apps, including Bento for iPhone MacTribe says, "Users fell in love with FileMaker Inc.'s Bento in its original desktop form. Now this admired personal database system is available anytime you need it with the Bento application for the iPhone or iPod touch. The portable organization app comes with twenty-five pre-designed templates for inputting your day-to-day data including recipes, to-do lists, expenses, diet logs, notes, and contacts, to name a few ... Because Bento integrates with your other iPhone apps, your data can cross over; for instance, you can call a phone number stored in your contacts in Bento by simply tapping the number. The app can function by itself or work seamlessly with Bento for Mac."

06/29/2009

"In FileMaker, while there are a few road blocks to perfection, no other database product that I know of will get you up and running as elegantly, as easily and as personally as FileMaker Pro," writes Rick Levine, in Canada’s andPOP. "For anyone curious yet undecided, feel free to download free trial versions of the product from the FileMaker Pro 10 website. The ease of making your first working database and seeing it come to life will probably provide enough of a thrill to actually help you go ahead and make that FileMaker Pro 10 purchase decision."

6/8/2009

Citing FileMaker Pro 10 Advanced’s "great support for Microsoft SQL Server and PDF," Government Computer News awards the new product A+ for features, A for performance, and A for ease of use. And designates FileMaker Pro 10 Advanced its Reviewer’s Choice.

6/2/2009

6/1/2009

PC World reviews the new FileMaker Pro 10 and finds it "an unbeatable combination" of ease of use and powerful features. "FileMaker Pro has always had a deserved reputation as the most accessible relational database going, allowing average users to build and customize databases for typical small-business tasks like list management, accounting, and personnel, without having to hire costly developers. That's why I was so impressed with the key changes in FileMaker Pro 10 ($299), most of which serve to make operations even more intuitive and productive ... once you try it, you won't want to go back."

06/01/2009

In his Infoworld Test Center review, William Heller writes, "A wonderfully easy-to-use desktop database product that runs on Windows and the Mac, FileMaker Pro is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as departments of large and enterprise-sized businesses. FileMaker is simple enough for the office technologist to set up, and for almost anyone in the office to use ... If you already use FileMaker 9, definitely upgrade to FileMaker 10."

5/12/2009

In awarding its prestigious Editors’ Choice Award to FileMaker Pro 10, PC Mag writes, "FileMaker has long been known for software that seems to do the impossible—marry relational-database power with impressive ease of use ... (FileMaker Pro 10’s) dramatically improved interface with toolbars, tooltips, and quick-start screens guides you through the design process faster than ever before ... FileMaker Pro’s versatility should be a match for your creativity."

03/31/2009

"Existing FileMaker users should be excited about the new features and user interface of FileMaker Pro 10, making this update one of the most significant in recent years," writes Christian Harris for IT Reviewed. "The ability to add buttons on the Status Toolbar is going to make life so much easier for many users, and Script Triggers should help to raise development productivity. More importantly, FileMaker Pro 10 allows non-programmers to create their own databases with ease ... this latest version is a big step forward in terms of accessibility and out-of-the-box deployment. A must-have upgrade for any FileMaker Pro user."

2/2/2009

William Porter, Macworld, reviews the new FileMaker Pro 10: "There’s something for everyone in version 10 of the Mac’s most popular database management program, FileMaker Pro ... Saved finds, dynamic summary reports, and script triggers make FileMaker Pro 10 a very desirable upgrade for current users ... if you are not already a FileMaker Pro user ... you should definitely give this new version a careful look."

1/28/2009

Trudy Walsh reviews the new FileMaker Pro 10 for Government Computer News. She writes, "What a nice surprise to take FileMaker Pro 10 for a spin. Can databases have changed so much since the 1980s? Compared to my dBase days, FileMaker Pro 10 was almost fun. FileMaker Pro 10 has a very browser-y look, with a tool bar at the top ... It’s also easy to sort and modify records. Back in my dBase days, I couldn’t modify anything. Fields were impossible to alter once they were set up."

1/21/2009

FileMaker Pro 10 is ‘a solid upgrade’ for users and developers, says Small Business Computing.Praising the ease of use and new power in FileMaker Pro 10, Small Business Computing states, "In an era when many companies slap a few alterations onto an interface and call it a ‘new version,’ FileMaker Pro 10 bucks the trend with a solid upgrade that will appeal to both customers and developers. Even easier to use than the previous version, FMP 10 ups its game with powerful new dynamic reports and trigger scripts."Whether you're a customer looking for ease-of-use and intuitive design or a developer looking for the horsepower to create databases and share the data wealth, FileMaker Pro 10 makes an excellent choice."

1/8/2009

Writing about the new FileMaker Pro 10, CNet says, "Offering a sleek new interface that's as nice to look at as it is intuitive, FileMaker Pro's new Status Toolbar puts commonly used features right where you need them ... Available now for $299, FileMaker Pro 10 is a must-have for those who spend their time working with databases. With features to streamline database navigation, offer easy access to search, preview, and edit modes, and shortcuts to get you where you need to go quickly, we think this update is worth the money for saving you time so you can move on to the next big project."

1/8/2009

PC Pro awards the new FileMaker Pro 10 5 out of 6 stars and says, "Script triggering and interface changes headline an upgrade that's good for developers and users alike ... FileMaker Pro 10 introduces sound practical improvements and it manages to do so within a familiar framework. With something here for everyone and new features that are genuinely useful, this is one upgrade we can heartily recommend."

1/6/2009

Computerworld’s coverage of the brand-new FileMaker Pro 10 notes the "sweeping makeover" of its interface, 30 updated Starter Solutions and 10 new themes, and new features for dynamic reporting. The magazine quotes FileMaker’s Ryan Rosenberg, vice president of marketing and services, saying, "We’re the only one out there talking about building beautiful databases."

1/6/2009

Covering the launch of FileMaker Pro 10, Macworld’s William Porter writes, "I'm pleased that this upgrade offers lots of gain and almost no pain. In fact, at first glance, FileMaker Pro 10 offers so many real benefits to developers and end-users alike that, if you're already using FileMaker, you're going to find it hard to resist the urge to upgrade. And what if you're new to FileMaker Pro? Then you're looking into the database application at a great time."

1/6/2009

ZDNet’s David Morgenstern writes that the new "FileMaker Pro 10 looks to be the real deal" and notes that customers see script triggers as a leap forward in application-building. "Version 10 looks to have the feature set that can spark an upgrade cycle, even in these tough times."

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1/26/2010

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12/9/2009

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06/29/2009

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