Apple Briefs

Today the Scan Snap stopped working. The computer just wouldn’t recognize when the lid was open. So, like I do every few weeks, I went to Google and searched on “scan snap snow leopard”. And what did I find? Fujitsu released an update on Friday for Snow Leopard. Scan to folder works again. That means no more messing around in Adobe Acrobat.

Within a couple of minutes I had shut down Scan Snap Manager and run the updater. And no dice. The scanner still wouldn’t work. It turns out that the Scan Snap (I tried both the S510M and S300M) just wasn’t comfortable working through our USB hub anymore. It had been fine for months, but decided to stop just in time for me to go find the Snow Leopard update. Thanks USB hub! And thanks Fujitsu!

Now that I have had a few days to try building something useful in the new Bento version 3, I feel like I have seen enough to share my impressions. In some ways, this is like a review of Bento versions 1 and 2 because I never had the opportunity to give them much of my attention.

When I first downloaded the Bento demo, I was a little disappointed. It seemed like Bento would be good for tracking a few appointments, contacts, or projects, but not for anything heavy duty. I have been surprised, though, with the breadth of what I was able to build with Bento. It’s like having a setting of simple tools that, when used in combination, can make something which didn’t seem possible.

Case in point: smart collections. I was disappointed when I saw the list of options for smart collections. It’s nice to be able to view a list of projects that are due within the next three days. But what about overdue projects? How do I distinguish between tasks due yesterday and those due last month? For projects due yesterday, I can select those for which the due date is “in the last 1 days.” But there was apparently no option for selecting tasks that were due at least 14 days in the past.

So I put on my thinking cap and browsed the manual. I came across the section on Calculation fields and inspiration hit. A Calculation field   while nowhere near as powerful as those available in Filemaker Pro   could get me to where I wanted to go. I created a Days Overdue field by subtracting the due date from today. Creating a smart collection where the Days Overdue field is at least 14 (or “2w”) shows the tasks that are at least 2 weeks overdue.

The proper workflow to use is still something of a mystery to me. I created several smart collections, only to discover that later changes to the library’s forms don’t get replicated in the smart collection. So I need to make sure that I finalize the data fields and forms before I start filling out the smart collections.

Having worked with sophisticated databases and interfaces for many years, I still struggle a bit to get things done in Bento. But it sounds like Bento is a good springboard into Filemaker Pro, so it should serve the firm well for at least the next 6-12 months when a more advanced solution is ready.

AppleInsider has a nice cost comparison between the new Mac Mini Server and cheap Windows servers. Apple essentially deciding to throw in a free copy of OS X Server really tips the balance in favor of Macs (and it’s not even close!)

Or, as AppleInsider put it:

Prior to Snow Leopard, the unlimited user version of Mac OS X Server cost $999; that’s what the unlimited user version now costs with the Mac mini server thrown in for free.

I’m not deluding myself into believing that small businesses that currently run Windows are going to race out to buy Mac Minis to replace their servers. But for small businesses that are on the fence or leaning toward Macs, this could be a game changer.

Apple released new Macs today, and these new models offer more than just a trifling speed bump. The new 27″ iMacs are shrinking the previously large gap between the iMac and Mac Pro lines. It won’t come cheap, but a 27″ iMac can sport 16GB of RAM and a quad-core Intel processor, along with a 2TB hard drive.

But probably the biggest news of the day (apart from a multi-touch mouse – which I’ll really have to stop into the Apple Store and play with to get some impressions on it) is the server Mac Mini. For $999, you can get a Mac Mini loaded with Leopard Server. It also has a second hard drive in place of the optical disk player for a total storage of 1TB. If we ever decide to move away from Dropbox for more control over our file storage, it will definitely be worth a look.

My wife has used a decidedly low tech approach to tracking client work while a more robust Filemaker solution is being worked on. About a month ago, my wife decided to take an interim step and get a Bento database rolling to computerize at least some of the workflow. Three days later, I got an email that Bento 3 had been released.

It’s turned out to be quite a nice surprise. Bento version 3 finally includes what was probably the first user feature request: database sharing. I am honestly not sure why this feature is buried so far down on the list because it is huge for small businesses. The ability to share a database with a few other people in your group is a perfect budget solution for new businesses and situations where you just want a “quick and dirty” solution.