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Daily Update for February 21, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
FileMaker offers demo solutions for FileMaker Go 12 on iOS
If you're a user of FileMaker Go 12 on the iPhone or iPad, its creators want to give you a better idea of the sorts of things the mobile database software can do. To that end, FileMaker has launched a lineup of demo solutions that you can download and try out right from within FileMaker Go 12. The demo solutions cover a range of applications, from customer relationship management to mapping to invoicing and point of sale. The solutions were created by companies that use FileMaker Go 12 in order to better show what the app is capable of. FileMaker points out that the demos are either limited in features or by a timer, but they should give you a good idea of what the free app is capable of when paired with FileMaker Pro for Mac.
FileMaker Go for iPad and iPhone tops 500K downloads
Database management suite FileMaker Go for iOS has passed the lofty sales milestone of 500,000 downloads, TechCrunch reports. FileMaker Inc., the company behind both Filemaker Go 11 and FileMaker Go 12, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple, and was formed in the '80s under its former name Claris. While FileMaker is available for desktops on both Windows and Mac platforms, FileMaker Go is iOS-exclusive. The app is designed as a platform for sharing easily digestible mobile versions of traditionally complex desktop databases, while offering the flexibility to customize a solution to whatever need a user is looking to fill. Speaking with TechCrunch, FileMaker VP of Marketing and Services, Ryan Rosenberg, was predictably upbeat. "We know from when we talk to our customers that they're very excited about taking the use of these devices beyond simply personal productivity, to creating custom solutions for them," he explains. "We think we're at the beginning of the curve of creating these custom solutions for organizations, and we want to help them do that."
FileMaker's new iOS apps hit 100K downloads in one week
FileMaker announced that its mobile database solution, FileMaker Go 12 for the iPad and FileMaker Go 12 for the iPhone, surpassed 100,000 downloads in their first week of availability. This is an impressive milestone for an enterprise tool that lets customers run iOS database apps created with FileMaker Pro 12. It has a much smaller audience than a consumer-oriented app and shows that custom business app development is a growing market. Show full PR text New FileMaker Go 12 for iPad and iPhone Apps Surpass 100,000 Downloads in First Week Strong customer demand affirms FileMaker's role as a leading platform for creating and deploying custom iOS business apps SANTA CLARA, Calif. – April 12, 2012 – FileMaker, Inc. today announced that FileMaker Go 12 for iPad and FileMaker Go 12 for iPhone, apps that run custom business solutions created by FileMaker Pro 12, have been downloaded more than 100,000 times in their first week. FileMaker Go 12 for iPad and iPhone are free on the App Store. FileMaker Go 12 makes it easy for everyone to run iOS database apps created with FileMaker Pro 12. The new FileMaker 12 product line features stunningly beautiful new themes and Starter Solutions, powerful iPad, iPhone and desktop design tools and superior file management for today's media-intensive applications. "The rapid adoption of FileMaker Go 12 strengthens FileMaker's position as a leading platform for creating custom iOS business apps," said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services, FileMaker, Inc. "Businesses are using FileMaker Pro to create apps to manage everything from their inventory to contacts to salespersons' routes, and deploying these on their iPads and iPhones with FileMaker Go." A free 30-day trial of FileMaker Pro 12 lets everyone see how easy it is to start creating custom iOS business apps.
FileMaker Pro 12 offers new design features, improved iOS compatibility
I started using FileMaker Pro way back with version 6, when I was developing solutions for a residential school. I grew to love the pro database software, and since then it's gotten better and better. The new version 12 of FileMaker Pro, announced today, continues the trend of improvement with fantastic new features like enhanced charting, strong iOS support, vastly improved design capabilities and a lot more -- including free iOS versions of the database app, which previously were paid apps. Here's our first look at FileMaker Pro 12. Design FileMaker Pro 12 features a new theme architecture and 40 total themes to choose from. Several of the new themes have companion "touch" themes, which have been optimized to run on the iPhone and iPad. FileMaker followed Apple's Human Interface Guidelines while developing the touch themes, so every field, button and element is legible and usable and Apple's mobile devices. Also, new guides and rulers (or "stencils," as they're called) make it easy to create a layout that fits your target device's screen. There's no guesswork; just tell FileMaker which device you're designing for and the layout guides jump into place. Version 12 also features improved layout object formatting, including object states. Anyone who's made a button in FileMaker Pro will appreciate this. Instead of a static image, FileMaker Pro 12 lets you assign three states to your buttons: normal, hover and pressed. Use the inspector to customize the button's appearance in each state, even with gradients. Now buttons behave much the same as they do on websites, making them eminently clickable. New Starter Solutions FileMaker Pro 12 comes with 16 new starter solutions. The folks at FileMaker told me that one half of its customers use a starter solution as a launchpad for their database projects. When I was learning years ago, these templates provided a great start for me, and poking around to see how things worked was very educational. All About iOS What's most impressive to me about FileMaker Pro 12 is the amount of attention the team has clearly paid to iOS. When you consider the touch layouts, web support and FileMaker Go for iPad and iPhone (now free apps!) you realize that small business owners or even individuals who lack the time or resources to create a custom iOS app have a solution in FileMaker Pro. During the demo that I saw, an iPad running FileMaker Go was able to view an iOS-optimized layout, stored remotely. What's more, when changes were made to that layout, they showed up automatically on the iPad. Also, new ways container fields handle images (automatically creating thumbnails) and video (streaming from FileMaker Server), not to mention gesture support, further enhance the iOS story. It's important to note that both flavors of FileMaker Go -- v11 and v12 -- remain on the App Store at this time, and each comes in a separate iPhone and iPad package. Version 11 is still a paid app, and will open databases created with the older versions of FileMaker Pro. Version 12, while free, will only work with databases created in the new desktop v12; you can't use the older files with it. Enhanced Container Fields A container field is a special type of field that can store images, QuickTime files, audio, and several other types of files. Container fields are greatly improved in version 12. First, you can add items with a drag-and-drop. You'll also notice that FileMaker Pro automatically manages and encrypts remotely stored files. Now the app automatically generates photo thumbnails, and FileMaker Server lets you stream videos, music and PDFs. Scroll through multi-page PDFs right within a container field. Improved Charting All those years ago, when I was rocking FileMaker 6, there was no charting. We had to rely on 3rd-party solutions and, more often, scripting acrobatics. Today, FileMaker's chart support is extensive. It now supports ten chart types, five of which are new, including Bubble, Scatter and Pos/Neg charts. FileMaker Pro 12 is a 64-bit application. It also features progressive backups that won't bog performance down for connected users and a nice web-based group start page (Server Advanced only), so users can find just the database they want easily. Compatibility and Pricing One drawback for longtime users: FileMaker 12 features a file format change, so you won't be able to mix and match older clients with new files. FMP12 can upgrade old databases to the new format. Here's the pricing breakdown (all prices are USD). FileMaker Pro 12: $299 ($179 upgrade) FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced: $499 ($299 upgrade) FileMaker Server 12: $999 (599 upgrade) FileMaker Server 12 Advanced: $2999 ($1799 upgrade) FileMaker Go for iPad: Free FileMaker Go for iPhone: Free
FileMaker Go for iOS updated with charts, signatures and AirPrint
Just a few weeks after FileMaker released new Starter Solutions for its FileMaker Go app, the mobile app itself has been updated to version 1.2. The update includes the following: Support for FileMaker Charts, including bar, area, line and pie charts Digital signatures on iPhone and iPad AirPrint integration Enhanced PDF creation FileMaker Go for the iPhone is US$19.99, and the iPad version is $39.99 and works with all versions of FileMaker from 7 on. Both versions require iOS 4.2.1 or later. Check out our review of FileMaker Go to get an initial impression of the software.
FileMaker Starter Solutions released for mobile apps
FileMaker announced the availability of three new Starter Solutions for its FileMaker Go mobile application. FileMaker Go lets you access and edit your FileMaker databases on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch while away from your desktop. The three Starter Solutions are optimized for Apple's multi-touch mobile devices and include: Contacts: Organize and search your contacts. Documents: Work on documents remotely and synchronize any changes to a master database. Assets: Track all types of assets and create custom categories, such as serial numbers, purchase dates, depreciation calculations and more. The Starter Solutions can be edited on your mobile device and your Mac or Windows computer. Mobile usage requires the FileMaker Go application, which is available from iTunes for the the iPad (US$39.99) and the iPhone and iPod touch ($19.99). Desktop editing requires Filemaker Pro 11 ($299) for the Mac or Windows. For a limited time, you can purchase FileMaker Go and receive a 50 percent discount on the full version of FileMaker Pro. Not ready to lay out $150+ for this database solution? Then point your browser to FileMaker's website where you can download the Starter Solutions and a 30-day trial version of FileMaker Pro 11 for free. You can also check out our review of FileMaker Go for the iPad.
FileMaker Go update adds PDF creation, photo import
The latest revision to FileMaker's two mobile database apps, FileMaker Go 1.1 for iPhone and for iPad (two separate products), gives the Go team a few vital new features for users on the move. First up: PDF creation in-app, which allows you to take a database report page or form and instantly create a saveable or mailable PDF -- great for invoices, site reports or price quotes. Second, the apps now support image capture from the iPhone camera or from the iPad's photo library; you can populate image fields in a database directly, a great tool for real estate or inventory applications. Other new features include scripted record imports from remote or local databases, the ability to email an entire DB from your device, file embeds (like a spreadsheet or document) into database records, and some additional security options. The URL handling for FM Go has also been souped up, meaning that other iOS applications can hand off data more easily; the first example is barcode scanning, which uses a separate app to do the scan and then hands off the result to Go. FileMaker Go works with all desktop versions of FileMaker from 7 to 11. The iPhone/iPod touch version is US$19.99 and the iPad version costs $39.
TUAW Review: Filemaker Go for iPad
Filemaker has brought its flagship product to a whole new level of portability with Filemaker Go for iPad (US$39.99) and iPhone/iPod touch ($19.99). Years ago I used Filemaker Mobile with a Palm, and this is a far cry from those early days. Here's what I found while testing Filemaker Go on the iPad. Design When FileMaker Go is first launched, you're presented with two columns: stored files on the left and remote files and hosts on the right. Configuring a remote host is easy and will be immediately familiar to anyone who's done it before with the desktop version of FileMaker Pro. In the upper right-hand corner you'll find two familiar icons: add a host and search for a host. If you choose to add a host, a slip will flip into view (nice bit of eye candy there) and ask for its IP address or domain name. Optionally, you can enter the host's name, which is helpful if you have multiple servers to keep track of ("Corporate Office" and "School Building," for example). Note that FileMaker Go connects to databases hosted by FileMaker Server/Server Advanced 11 and 10 and FileMaker Pro/Pro Advanced 11 and 10. %Gallery-98992%
FileMaker Go launches today for iPad and iPhone
Mobile databases: they're a good thing, as Martha might say. Back when Palm ruled the handheld space and HanDBase was the king of the data portability castle, it might have been hard to imagine the iPhone/iPad world of today -- but the challenge of taking your data with you on the road is still just as present now as it was a decade ago. For Mac users, and a hearty helping of Windows users too, the database of choice for small to medium business and home use is FileMaker. Although there's already a third-party mobility solution for FileMaker DBs and the iDevices (via the US$9.99 FMTouch application and development suite), the notion of FileMaker on the move gets a big authenticity boost today as the Apple subsidiary announces FileMaker Go for the iPhone and iPad. The two separate applications ($19.99 for the iPhone/iPod touch version, $39.99 for the iPad version) don't allow the creation of new databases -- you'll need FileMaker 7 or higher for Mac or Windows to tackle that. Once your databases are created, however, you can access them remotely over WiFi or 3G (given the proper networking configuration for your server, or a hosted FM provider) and update records, search and browse on the fly. You can also operate in fully mobile mode, with a copy of your database sent via iTunes, email, Dropbox, box.net, etc. and stored in its entirety on the iDevice. While there's no record-level sync built into the product that would allow you to 'rejoin' a database to its parent once it's been on the road, FileMaker VP Ryan Rosenberg told us that there are script-based sync solutions available from FileMaker's developer network if you have to reconcile detached DBs back into a master file. We'll be diving into these apps with gusto once they are available on the App Store later today. The potential for mobile recordkeeping, audit and customer service applications built on top of FileMaker and the iPad is huge -- can't wait to see what some of the experienced FileMaker development folk can do with this new capability.
