iPhone 4S Now Officially Available in the Philippines

The Philippine Apple Store now officially lists Globe Telecom and Smart Communications as official carriers of the iPhone 4S. Both companies held launch parties last night, December 15 in separate venues and released iPhone 4S units at midnight, December 16.

The Smart Communications website now also lists the iPhone 4S prices for both postpaid and prepaid plans. Prices for postpaid begin at P12,500 for the 16GB model at Plan 1500, while prepaid units start at P33,200 for the 16GB model.

iPhone 4S postpaid plan pricing (from the Smart Communications website)

As of this time, the Globe Telecom website has not posted prices for the iPhone 4S online. 

FREE FileMaker Seminar in Manila

Get productive right away with award-winning, easy-to-use database software for your Mac, iPhone, iPad and the Web. This introductory seminar shows you why over 16 million users around the world choose FileMaker Pro for their organizations.

What you will learn:
•What is a database, and why you need one
•What is FileMaker Pro
•How you can create and design databases in 10 minutes
•How to navigate your database with FileMaker’s built-in tools, and
•How to share data to other computers, mobile devices and the web

Who should attend:
•Macintosh, iPhone, and iPad users who want to centralize, organize, and share information within in their business, or
•Anyone interested in creating powerful database solutions for Macintosh, iPhone, and iPad users

Seminar schedules:
•December 8, 6PM, Power Mac Center Trinoma
•December 12, 6PM, Power Mac Center Greenbelt 3
•December 15, 6PM, Power Mac Center Greenbelt 3
•December 21, 6PM, Power Mac Center Mall Of Asia

This seminar is FREE, but registration is required. Slots are limited!
Register now at: www.powermaccenter.com

Smart Communications Soon to Offer iPhone 4S

Smart Communications has now started online registration for the iPhone 4S at www1.smart.com.ph/postpaid/iphone4s. The registration page opened up one day after rival mobile provider Globe Telecoms started their registration page. The registration page indicates "12.16.11," presumably the launch date, but did not state the plans and device pricing yet. There are also no details on whether Smart Communications will offer the 8GB version of iPhone 4 or 3GS alongside the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4 was previously available exclusively through Globe Telecoms. The availability of the iPhone 4S in another major mobile carrier in the Philippines echoes Apple's move to open up the iPhone's availability to other mobile carriers in the U.S.

iPhone 4S Soon to be Available in Philippines

Globe Telecom Philippines has started registration for the iPhone 4S through their website, iphone4s.globe.com.ph. No official date has been set for the release, but sources peg the date as December 16, 2011.

Smart Communications has also been reported to be launching the iPhone 4S within the year.

Apple launched the iPhone 4S last October 14, 2011 in United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. It was released in 22 more countries last October 28, 2011.

Safari 5.1.2 for Lion is Out

Safari is great in Lion with it's supported trackpad gestures (swipe left and right, pinch or double-tap to zoom), reader, and full screen. For some reason though, it crashes more than usual, tends to forget where the windows are sometimes, and eats out all the available memory when working with Flash games. Hopefully this update will fix that, and keep all those memory issues at bay.

Once you download it, it's a less than 10-minute install and restart routine on your Mac.

iTunes 10.5 Out

iTunes 10.5 is out, a 60.9MB download for Lion, and 100MB download for Leopard/Snow Leopard. 

You'll need this to be able to access the new features of iOS 5, such as iCloud and wireless sync.

iOS 5 is expected to be available for download on October 12, 2 days before the retail launch of iPhone 4S in the US.

FileMaker Go Update Out

Filemaker go 1.2.3 is out for iPhone and iPad. Grab it in iTunes or the updates tab of the iOS App Store.

RIP Steve Jobs

FileMaker Pro Database Optimization

For FileMaker Pro developers trying to squeeze in every bit of performance out of your databases, HOnza Koudelka of 24U Software is releasing a set of instructional videos about it. Visit the FM BENCH website (registration required) to view the free videos.

Mac OS X 10.7.1 Out

Apple just released Mac OS X 10.7.1, which addresses the following issues:

• System hangs when playing videos in Safari.
• HDMI or audio out problems.
• Wi-Fi signal dropping.
• Problems with Migration Assistant.
• Missing admin accounts.

Fire up Software Update to download and install it. For those holding out on downloading and installing Lion until the first maintenance fix is released, it's here, so download now.

The installer is around 17MB, so it's a quick download. One thing I noticed is that it didn't prompt for the account name and password, and it continues installing after logging out, so this may be how updates will install in the future.

Can FileMaker Handle Your Database Needs?

Short answer: Yes, 90% of the time.

Here are some items based on FileMaker's Knowledgebase article Technical specifications of FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Pro 11 Advanced:

FileMaker Pro 11.0v4 Updater Out

It's August, and FileMaker Inc. makes good on their promise to address the bugs in FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Advanced 11 with a new updater.

You'll get a prompt to update if you have automatic updates on. If not, you can go to Help > Check For Updates... to go to the updater web page. The update appears to be Mac OS X Lion only, and is around 194MB in size.

Flying MacBook Air

The New MacBook Air: Really Fast

Benchmarks are coming out of the web now that MacBook Air orders are arriving. Apple's website says that the new Airs are up to 2.5x faster than the old ones, and most of the review sites agree. The only edge the older Airs have are over the newer ones are in graphics performance. The difference is not so much though, and newer games seem to erase that performance gap.

For road warriors that want to have the lightest portable around, the 2011 MacBook Airs are definitely a compelling choice. You'll lose the optical drive, Ethernet and Firewire ports, and a lot of weight; you'll even be able to stick it in a Manila envelope!

Here's some links to benchmarks of the new MacBook Airs:
• MacWorld Lab Tests
• Anandtech
• Bare Feats

Mac App Store a Good Deal for Small Businesses

The Mac App Store is a virtual store where you can purchase and download applications for your Mac; it was launched early this year as a software update to Mac OS X 10.6 and is now standard on Mac OS X 10.7. Apple's aim is to duplicate the success of the iOS App Store, with more than 500,000 apps available and 15 billion downloads and counting.

Free FileMaker Solution: FM Starting Point

One of the most comprehensive free solutions you can find is FM Starting Point, now at version 2.1, from Richard Carlton Consulting. Not only is it free for use, but it's also unlocked, so you can look at how everything works and modify the database as you want it.

Free FileMaker Solution: Excelisys Business Tracker 3

Aside from the templates and free solutions offered by FileMaker Inc, there are other companies that offer free solutions that you can use for your business. The Excelisys Business Tracker 3 is the more advanced version of the FileMaker Business tracker that FileMaker Inc offered as a free download several versions before. This newest release now takes advantage of the latest charting features in FileMaker 11 as well.

Free FileMaker Solution: Business Productivity Kit

Aside from the templates built in FileMaker Pro that you can use for your business, the FileMaker Trial site also lets you download several free solutions that you can use. One of them is the FileMaker "Business Productivity Kit."

Free FileMaker Solution: Invoices

Invoices is one of the 31 free Starter Solutions (another term for database templates) included with FileMaker Pro. Unlike the other templates bundled in the app, this one is something you can actually use in your business if you haven't tried downloading the Business Productivity Kit yet (which we'll discuss in the future) or other free solutions.

FileMaker Pro Works with Lion

After upgrading to Lion several days ago, aside from minor issues, FileMaker Pro 11 works just fine. Here are some I've come across so far:

I initially wrote that launching FileMaker Pro for the first time prompted you to install the Java Runtime Engine in Lion; it turns out that it's caused by a plug-in that uses Java.

FileMaker also crashed every time when quitting the application. I also thought that this was due to an incompatibility with Java or something related to the Restore functionality of Lion. Turns out this was also due to an old plug-in. Just to be sure, remove all the non-FileMaker Pro plug-ins in the /FileMaker/Extensions folder (they have the extension ".fmplugin") and put them back one by one if you're experiencing crashes with the app.

Signs That Apple Is Phasing Out Optical Discs

Signs that Apple is phasing out optical discs:

1. Apple releases iPod in 2001, touting "10,000 songs in your pocket."

2. In 2003, the iTunes Music Store opens. It now has 14 million tracks, 2500 TV shows, and 3000 movies available for download.

3. Blu-ray Disc, the successor of DVDs is officially launched on 2008. Steve Jobs says licensing it is a "bag of hurt." As of now it's not officially supported in Macs.

Lion Upgrade Notes

Some notes on deploying Mac OS X Lion on your computer:

FileMaker Pro and Mac OS X Lion Compatibility

From the FileMaker Knowledgebase:
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and FileMaker 11 and Bento 4.

Basically, FileMaker Pro and Advanced 11 will work with Lion, save for some minor bugs in formatting and .xls file compatibility. FileMaker Server and Advanced 11 will work, except for anything related to web publishing. Software updates to address the bugs will be released on August (FileMaker Pro and Advanced) and October (FileMaker Server and Advanced).

For older versions, only FileMaker Pro and Advanced 10 will work (with issues) on Lion. Older versions of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Advanced, FileMaker Server, and FileMaker Server Advanced will no longer work and no software updates will be issued for them.

Mac OS X Lion, New MacBook Air and Mac Mini Out

After announcing sales of 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads, and 3.95 million Macs last quarter, Apple has made Mac OS X Lion available for download in the Mac App Store, and new versions of the MacBook Air and Mac Mini available for sale.

Getting Started with FileMaker Pro

Want to use a database to start organizing your business and share information with everyone? Here's how you can get started right now:

Mac OS X Lion

Any time soon, Mac OS X 10.7 ("Lion") will be available for download from the Mac App Store. With Apple's website listing down over 250+ new features, it's sure to breathe new life into your Mac OS experience. Should you upgrade? I think the question is whether or not you should upgrade, but when.

Hello!

Thanks for dropping by. This blog is about making your business more productive using technology from Apple (Macs and iDevices), FileMaker Pro database software, plus anything that's related to them.

My name is Butch Maceda; I'm an IT Consultant based in Manila, Philippines, and have been using Macs since 1993 (my first Mac was an LC 475). I discovered FileMaker Pro when it was version 2.1 and have been doing database solutions for companies ever since.

These are amazing times for Apple and FileMaker, with the great products and solutions they're creating; see you soon!