In its public beta version, Chrome was just an experimental browser, at first without even bookmark management. In spite of Infoworld declaring “Firefox is dead” this year, at least that browser for the Mac is years beyond experimental status. But as of this week, Chrome for the Mac is out of beta test and into a full release, the first of many. It’s promised to be fast, open and secure. A business user might consider Chrome as their window to the Web.

Picking a browser is like choosing a home repair store. You develop a habit of using one and stop thinking about the alternatives. Chrome is definitely a faster browser than Firefox in our use, delivering a payoff in the “time is money” formula. If you browse a lot, Chrome could be an upgrade. (Safari’s performance is much closer to Chrome’s)

But Chrome’s got some steps to catch up in other areas. In the Mac version we downloaded this week, some Web sites aren’t working completely. Our TypePad account editor (where we publish the 3000 NewsWire blog) won’t let us resize graphics for posts in Chrome. The editing features at the Constant Contact email site also won’t perform with Chrome for the Mac, either.

This puts Chrome in a category with the iPad: very fast and slick for consumption of information. Not so good for creating messages and more. As for the death of Firefox, that obituary shouldn’t be written yet. 350 million users won’t expire overnight. Read the rest of this entry »

Chances are, your doctor isn’t using a Mac. Over 95% of the electronic medical record software on the market today won’t run on Macs. But there’s an online guide that wants to spur more doctors to begin injecting Macs into their practices.

PC users have been switching to Macs for many reasons, and easier use is among the leaders. An article from the Software Advice marketing Web site makes good cases for why Mac-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software is ready to help in healthcare. The article lists on-the-Mac solutions, then goes on to track the software hosted offsite, but available to Mac users.

Web-based EMR software is a growing segment of the market and one that is appealing to physicians in a wide range of specialties. Because web-based EMRs don’t depend on a specific operating system, a physician needs to only have a compatible web browser (Safari or Firefox for example) on their Mac to access the software online. There’s no installation of software on a physical machine; all data is hosted in the “cloud.”

The number of web-based EMR vendors is rising but only a handful have optimized their software to run on a Mac-based web-browser. The Software Advice site points to demo versions of these applications.

Apple’s mail program, Mail, is gaining a regular place for our business. One of the best things about this software is its ability to travel. We’ve learned to use it on our iPhones to keep up with e-mail while we’re out of the office. The 3G capability is what makes this possible, but you can check mail while mobile over a WiFi connection on other Apple devices.

That includes the iPad as well as the iPod Touch. Take Control Books, edited by Mac veteran Adam Engst, has a new PDF book title out to maximize your use of Mail while mobile. Take Control of Mail on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Written and edited by Joe Kissell and Dan Frakes, the 96-page book promises to make Mail more useful on these devices.

This new ebook takes a practical look at using the Mail app on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. It explains various email account options, helps you develop a real-world mobile email strategy that integrates with your Mac, explains the mechanics of sending and receiving mobile email, and provides essential troubleshooting advice.

Mail is one of the most useful things on the iPad, in part because you can create something in it — an aspect of the iPad that’s still gaining credibility. Even over a WiFi link, it’s become a ready tool in my business belt. Take Control has other Mail training aids as well, if your exposure to Mail is limited to your desktop. Read the rest of this entry »

There are millions of users of Intuit’s QuickBooks, and for the smaller business that’s a fine choice for accounting and finance on the Mac. But a larger company, or one with business-specific needs, would do well to look at software like Connected Enterprise from Accountek.

At the latest MacWorld Expo, the company was displaying a new inventory lot control solution for Mac-based businesses. A modest little kiosk, one developer/representative, and a lot of functionality in demonstrations on the floor. In a release for Accountek 6, company officials explained

Lot control is necessary in many industries and where detailed part identification information must be tracked in the event of a product recall.  Having a lot control system allows a company to completely track all parts received and shipped by their lot numbers.  The changes in Connected make it very easy to track and pick specific parts throughout purchasing and sales process.

Connected’s lot control allows a business to:

• Simplify the process of tracking parts throughout production.
• Meet the needs of your industry when lot tracking is a requirement for product recalls.
• Identify specific lots received by purchase order and pick and ship specific lots on customer orders.
• Build products and create your own lot number and expiration dates.

If you’ve got no idea what a lot is, as it relates to inventory, you can move on. But Accountek understands financials in a way that corporations use to communicate with each other. It’s assuring to know that even if the solution starts at around $5,000, there’s business-class accounting available that lets you soar above the muddied plains of QuickBooks.

Filemaker has announced a new Business Productivity Kit which works with its new Filemaker 11 database, a collection of charts and reports that are “a fast-track way for small businesses to get instant results and grow their businesses,” according to VP of marketing and services Ryan Rosenberg. The kit is available as a free download from the Filemaker site and includes a 30-day trial copy of Filemaker 11.

While Filemaker has also made a run at small business with its $39 basic-level Bento database, Filemaker 11 is worth the extra $140. The Productivity Kit includes templates — ready-made database reports — to serve companies dealing in either goods or services. The Standard Edition Kit is aimed at sellers of goods, while the Service Edition includes templates for, well, services companies.

Filemaker 11 does ship with a raft of templates already, many suitable for the business user. But the company promises that the new kit’s free templates are “an integrated set of business tools and each module ties to the other, eliminating any need for duplicate fields, tables and data re-entry.”

The biggest advance in Filemaker 11 may well be its charting, and the Kit proposes to make that power ready to use, along with what the company calls “on-the-fly” reporting.

After a few days building and experimenting with the Bento database, it’s plain that the Filemaker advantages of customization are well worth its lift in cost. Starting with a set of templates that you can customize gives a small business room to grow and expand to new opportunities. Filemaker even includes a guide to database basics and one for working with Microsoft Office in the Productivity Kit.

Read the rest of this entry »