Most small businesses and creative enterprises know they need a database. But the learning curve may seem steep for anything but Excel, but Filemaker has a solution that leaves that spreadsheet in the dust: Bento. The latest release of this compact and muscular tool links iPhoto libraries to the $49 database.

Bento arrived in the Filemaker stable when the company realized that its flagship product might not fit for small customers. We’ve used Filemaker for our publishing company since 1995, but Filemaker 10 is more database than some people need. Bento takes care of that complexity without sacrificing essentials and the Mac’s trademark ease of use.

Bento 3 connects database entries with iPhoto’s libraries. If your business is image-based in any way — photography, video, even inventory items you’ve tracked with visuals — this will be a fresh asset in tracking business.

What’s new is summarized on the Bento Web site, but a Grid View is one of the more useful image-based improvements. You will need to be up to date on your OS X version — it doesn’t work with anything older than Leopard 10.5.7 or Snow Leopard 10.6.1. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this week, InfoWorld reported that “Apple lied” about the secure mail functions of its original and 3G iPhones. While that claim could be argued, you’d be going too far to agree with the article that says the iPhone has now betrayed business users.

Encryption of e-mail is the issue here. Microsoft Exchange mail servers, used in so many corporations and large companies, insist on encrypted mail when they deliver your messages. They don’t double-check your assurance, however. The trouble stems from more than Apple’s previous iPhones. Exchange will apparently believe anything that a mobile mail program tells it about messages.

That’s not new behavior from Microsoft engineering, but Apple took advantage of it ever since it released the 3.0 version of its iPhone software. 3.0 was touted as being ready to swap mail with Exchange. All the software was doing was claiming to send and receive messages with encryption. Only the newest 3GS iPhones can actually do this. Apple’s done the right thing after mis-reporting security. So now the earlier iPhones can’t exchange secure mails if they’re updated to the 3.1 software.

It’s complicated, but the situation’s fallout isn’t as simple as the InfoWorld article claims. If your iPhone user is a corporate-level officer, like a VP of Sales, they’re going to insist on being able to read company mail over their iPhone — security be hanged. You just try to tell them they have to buy a new iPhone to do that. And there may be a good data for believing the iPhone has become a C-level officer’s tool. Microsoft might have to wear some of the egg on its face. Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: The Take Control Of series of PDF e-books is essential to getting the most out of Apple products. These gems published by Tonya and Adam Engst include a new title that goes beyond Apple’s products to cover Wi-Fi networking, with advice shaped for Apple users. I’ve asked a security professional to have a look from his industry-wide perspective.

Review by Steve Hardwick

Many computer users are taking advantage of the wireless technology in their home and small office networks. Unfortunately, many are unaware of the dangers that this can cause if not implemented well. In many cases the initial set-up for wireless equipment gives an easy to use but very insecure network. Take Control of Your WiFi Security, a $10 e-book from Take Control Publications, provides a lot of very useful information for setting up secure wireless networks.

One key element of security, often overlooked in similar publications, is to understand what you are protecting against. Not only does the book’s quick-start guide begin with assessing the threats, but there is a reasonable section on determining your security risk. The three L’s approach — likelihood, liability, and lost opportunity — serve to simplify the definition of risk principles. The section also included some good analogies to illustrate these principles. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a rumor today that Sprint, which heralded Palm’s Pre smartphone as an iPhone rival, will get swallowed up by T-Mobile. The deal is only rumored today, and there’s ample reason to be skeptical. But with all the complaints about ATT service to iPhones, this near-swallow of Sprint sparks a closer look.

The smartphone business is run on the backbone of cellular carriers. Make the most wonderful phone you want, but it still relies on the broad shoulders of broadband connections via cell towers and wi-fi. ATT has troubles in NYC and San Francisco serving iPhones. That’s what’s kept the rumors of an extra iPhone carrier for 2010 alive.

Meanwhile, the third largest carrier wants to buy the fourth largest, and T-Mobile will give you a Blackberry Curve 8900 if you just switch over to them. Well, a 1-cent deal at Amazon, but $99.98 less than that iPhone rival Pre sold by Sprint.

People who dislike a carrier often are operating on second-hand testing. I’m in my first month of iPhone use and find it to be no worse than ATT service while I used an ancient Nokia 3120. Far better, when I was traveling the streets of Vegas recently on a visit to my elderly mom (honest!). Google Maps worked great, sort of a pseudo-GPS that didn’t speak aloud. Sprint customers will be speaking loud if T-Mobile succeeds in its quest to own Sprint’s customers. That matters to iPhone users, because the Pre needs a bigger carrier than Sprint to make Apple improve the iPhone.

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O’Reilly Media has a new book that helps iPhone users get started with some select applications. Best iPhone Apps uses the old-school concept of a book (printed, or available in PDF) to give you a tour of what you might install. It’s organized around uses like “At Work” and “On the Town.” It also gives equal weight to paid and free apps, making it easy to compare.

Rumors of his demise got flipped off when Steve Jobs took the stage today at a media event to introduce a new $149 iPod that will challenge the video Flip cameras.

The iPod Nano could become a key business tool for creative pros and writers on the road. The device comes with a voice recording app, a built-in mic and a video camera. “We want to get in on this [Flip] market,” Jobs said after a standing ovation and more than 45 minutes of other product rollouts.

Jobs thanked the Apple community for its well wishes during his battle with liver disease that culminated in a transplant. “I’ve got the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash,” he said in opening remarks at the event, “and was generous enough to donate their organs. I wouldn’t be here without such generosity.” After urging the audience to become organ donors, Jobs said “I’m vertical, I’m back at Apple, and I’m loving every day of it.”

Mobile devices led the pack of announcements, although no new iPhone models made a debut. Apple put its new 3GS units into the market in June. Jobs said that 30 million of the phones have been sold since Apple introduced the game-changer about two years ago. But a near-cousin to the iPhone, the iPod Touch, got a nudge in Apple’s targeting that makes the Touch look like Apple’s answer to netbooks from PC makers. The Touch, however, received little in the way of improvements except a new $199 price point and more storage in larger models.

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