FMTouch

iPhone 3.0 Breaks Syncing - Apple Bug on iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:28:00 +0000

Bug in Apple iPhone 3.0 Causing Syncing Issues

A number of FMTouch users are reporting problems with syncing.

Unfortunately this is a well documented bug in the Apple iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade. Essentially when you upgrade an iPhone to 3.0 (or sometimes even to just 3.0.1) and choose to "Restore from Backup" the wifi becomes unstable.

One workaround at this time (apart from completely reinstalling iPhone OS on the phone) is to put it into airplane mode during syncing - that will keep the wifi connection stable enough to sync.

There are other apps that are affected by the issue, such as Skype, since it also requires a non-interrupted connection to work.

Hopefully Apple will resolve this quickly.

In Kindness
Stephen Knight

Windows 7 and FileMaker 10 Compatibility

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:08:00 +0000

Windows 7 will be released tomorrow, and many people are wondering if FileMaker will work with Windows 7.

Here's the lowdown from FileMaker Inc.

FileMaker Pro 10 and FileMaker Advanced 10 is compatible with several known issues.

* List control may get garbled when scrolling
* Mouse clicking outside of a modal dialog box causes the dialog box to flash excessively
* Opened file names are not added to the Recent list

FileMaker Server 10 and FileMaker Server Advanced 10 are not compatible.

In Kindness
Stephen Knight
FileMaker hosting made easy
http://www.fmgateway.com

Micro Focus Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Micro Focus Part 2

In my last article I discussed the inability for people to focus for more than a few minutes on any give task. The article also focuses on the emotional attachment that we affix to social media and our online persona. I am going to delve a little more into why we are only able to concentrate in micro burst, the psychological benefits we receive from being a part of the crowd and ways to be productive in the world that demands our constant attention.

Is it vanity or insanity that encourages us to open seemingly unlimited channels of access to our daily lives? In an effort to get more done we have actually created an environment which is the antithesis of productivity. Why have we suddenly felt the need to be connected on so many levels? Each of these levels includes a specific value of importance, whether it be email, IM’s, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, cell phone, phone or physical intrusions – we place a certain value or level of importance on each.

Why do we allow these interruptions? How can we possibly be productive in an environment where we cannot focus on our task at hand because we are worried about delivering a witty remark on twitter – or responding to an instant message. Why do we do this? It’s simple; it is basic human nature to belong, to congregate, to communicate.

The first thing that people do in a conversation is they try to find something in common. It’s critical. In fact, individuals will begin a conversation with probing questions ‘many times subconsciously’ until they hit upon something that they have in common with the other person. Then this ‘similarity’ will be the catalyst that will lead into further conversation and acceptance. We tend to like people that share similar interests so it is paramount that we discover this in others in order to converse.

The same applies to social media. Look at the groups that have formed online, Facebook is a great example nearly ½ the population of the US has a Facebook account, Twitter is growing faster than facebook with millions of users. People are spending twice as much time online than they are watching TV. The need to congregate and communicate is an incredible driving force of human nature.

We will allow interruption in our lives because we need the interruption. Whether we like it or not, we need significance we need ‘social validation’. We need to feel that our life has value, that we are smart, that we are funny, that we are productive and our lives are interesting - not only interesting but interesting enough for others to want to take time out of their lives to read about what we are doing. We seek validation from others; we seek to prove to ourselves and others that we are interesting, that our lives have meaning.

We also have the need to feel connected. Believe me you are - your connected to cable, your cell phone, the internet, chats, blogs, forums, IM’s, and to various social media groups. What does this do to our productivity, the way we think, the way we interact with others?

For many it adds a new level of stress to their lives that must be addressed and explored. You see not to long ago we used to communicate with maybe 3-5 people every day – but now with Twitter and other micro blogging platforms – we suddenly converse with hundreds of people. We now have the expectation of not only communicating but creating an online persona that is interesting and responsive. Here is where things begin to fall apart.

Many people find themselves feeling needing to twitter to validate their actions. Any task or any action that is deemed to have some importance or value – they feel the need to twitter about it. So suddenly they are torn, they move from being productive – to feeling a responsibility to Twitter. The same thing happens with Facebook, and other micro blogging sites. Not so much with IM’s as there is not the ‘group’ acceptance or expectation.

In many ways, the way we communicate has changed as well as stayed the same. The same psychological needs are there, but the responsibilities that we have placed on ourselves have changed. We are now challenged to converse in micro burst of text. Will this cross over to our daily lives and interactions with our families or fellow co-workers? Will this change our way of thinking and processing? Will we adapt and become proficient in multitasking and rapidly making decisions? This still remains to be seen.

I for one am still exploring the value of social networking and micro blogging. I can see that it can be a powerful way to interact with hundreds of people at once, but I also see how it can destroy productivity and consistent thought flow. To stave the psychological drive that I have to communicate with others and seek social validation I created a few simple guidelines for myself. They have greatly increased my productivity and still allowed me to be active in the social community and to respond to the multiple interruptions that I receive throughout the day.

Bay steps to freedom. *See confession below*

On average I receive 60-80 personal emails a day. These may be support emails, questions about products, request for information etc. I was at the point where I was checking my email every 10 minutes to make sure that no one had to wait for a response. This was an ABSOLUTE productivity killer and I was in ‘constant’ reaction mode. It was an emotional yo-yo that affected the way I responded to my staff and family. This was an incredibly hard habit to break, but I managed to develop a way to handle my emails quickly and efficiently and with amazing focus.

I schedule 3 times that I would check my email, morning, after lunch, and at the end of the day. I gave myself one hour to answer all of my emails – each section broken up into a 20 minute time period. I set a timer, and then focused purely on getting as many emails answered as I could in my allotted time. When the timer went off, I closed my email and moved to my next task on my list. The amazing thing, because I knew that I had only twenty minutes – I was able to focus completely on my task and be extremely productive. This system works great for me.

I have also found that if there is truly an emergency (which I always worried about – that was one of my reasons for constantly checking my email) that they ‘will’ find other ways to get in touch with you.

If you are working on a project, set a timer for 30 minutes – and work solely on that project for 30 minutes. Build your time up to 50 minutes and then take a 10 minute break to brainstorm and let your mind explore. I have found that at MAX I am able to code – or be hyper productive where it takes complete focus for only 5-6 hours a day -However setting the timer at 50 minute intervals keeps me focused and driven.

Make a list, and follow the list! This sounds simple, but it is much more than just the activity of writing a to-do list. Psychologically it is a powerful affirmation of things that you will get done. You are involving your physiology in the process – and many times just the pure process of physically writing the list will help you expand on ideas or tasks that you need to accomplish. Writing accesses a different part of the brain – so expect other ideas and creative additions to become manifest as you begin creating your lists.

Set aside 20 minutes a day for social media. As I said above, I use a daily task list to get the most out of my days. I do the same for social media – like Twitter. On my to-do list I leave 20 minutes for Forum posts, blogs and Twitter. I will jot little notes or things that I want to converse about. I give myself 3 opportunities during the day to post to social media sites.

The above tasks are simple, but they have played a powerful role in helping me take back control of my life. The difference is I still feel connected, but I feel more in control and less reactionary. I can feel the difference as my stress level has decreased and the emotional roller coaster ride I used to take each day has disappeared – that amusement park has closed down. My family and my fellow co-workers are grateful for the change – and I feel like I have regained an important piece of my life and my sanity.

In my next article I will discuss the value you receive from social media and the impact that it has on your life and your business.

I truly hope this article is helpful to everyone that reads it. I understand the psychological pull for connection and the need to communicate. I for one am glad to have found a way to focus – and regain my ability to be productivity; it has given me a chance to spend more time with my family and my wonderful darling daughter who I love so much. I hope this article helps you experience just a little more freedom in your life and provides you with a few insights that enable you to spend more quality time with your family and friends.

*** (I must admit here, that while writing this article I developed a tool to help me monitor my tasks and remain on schedule. I developed a simple Flash application that runs on my desktop. It allows me to add the tasks I want to accomplish, and set a timer for each task. Once the time runs out on that task, an alarm sounds, and I can move on to the next task. If you are interested in this tool, I will package it into an executable and make it available for everyone.) ***

To learn more about Stephen Knight and FMWebschool, please follow me on Twitter at –

http://twitter.com/stephenknight

FMTouch Developer Version - Test Submitted to Apple

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:33:00 +0000

If you have been following along, FMWebschool has been working on a developer version of FMTouch that will allow FileMaker developers to create FileMaker / FMTouch bundled solutions and then sell them (yourselves) on the iTunes store.

Pretty radical! This means you don't have to know any code - you will just create your FileMaker solution - bundle it with FMTouch and then we will compile it so it meets Apples guidelines - and then you submit it to Apple to be sold on the Apple App store.

We are testing this theory now with an application we have submitted named: FMGolf

If Apple approves our trial run - then we will sell a developer version of FMTouch that will allow for rapid development of iPhone Applications for FileMaker developers.

New version of FMTouch Released to App Store

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Sunday July 12th, we released a new version of FMTouch to the App store for approval. We improved connectivity for syncing and we added beta support for barcode scanning :) We also include all of the internals for the Developer Version of FMTouch. I'll cover more details about that in another post.

Hopefully anywhere from 7-14 days this new release will be approved!

v1.484 Updates:
- Slightly improved sync when connecting using server sync
- A couple of small bug fixes
- First time DDR loading after updates now has a message that it may take 1-2 minutes

v1.480 Updates:
- Added beta support for Barcode Scanning
- Waits for opening script to finish before displaying the first layout (this avoids the visual glitch of the full interface if you are trying to hide it)
- Fixed a number of reported crashes
- Added support for the Round calculation function
- Added support for Perform Find (note: no stored find is performed, you must use "Enter Find Mode", a number of Set Field commands, and then "Perform Find" for a find to work)

FMTouch 1.41 Good News and Bad News

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:57:00 +0000

I have some good news and I have some bad news. Well twice as much good news as I do bad news.

I'll start with the bad news - we have discovered a couple bugs in FMTouch. Not only discovered but a few people knocked us over the head with them. The good news is these bugs have been squashed with a large sized 12 shoe of programming. Take that you pesky bugs!

The bad news, it will most likely take Apple 5-7 days to release the new update that fixes all of the bugs. This is a typical time-frame for updates. OK, more good news - we are working on the server technology that will allow you to sync to your FileMaker database hosted on good old regular FileMaker Server for the Mac and the PC. That means syncing wherever you have an internet connection. More below..

First with the bugs and what has been fixed

We wanted to be up front and let you know -

Bug fix release addressing several crashes

- Toolbar with Next/Prev/Dial buttons is now properly visible in horizontal mode
- Fixed crash when using table based value lists
- Fixed crash with portal row deletion
- Fixed a number of rare crashes when creating and duplicating new records
- Fixed a number of other minor bugs

This should fix 90% of the crashes FMToucher's are experiencing. I will send an email to Apple Dev as well requesting for a speedy approval for the new udpate.

Server Update

One of the biggest requests that we have received is the ability to sync to FileMaker server via the internet. We are talking regular FileMaker server for the Mac and PC.

Well in our next major update - you will be able to do this. We have been testing in house, and so far our new plug-in works flawlessly. I will be posting to the FMTouch blog and to everyone on our FMTouch notification list when this update has been submitted to Apple.

BlackBerry version of FMTouch

As we are working on the BlackBerry version of FMTouch, please take a few moments and submit some of the scripts you would like to see available in the new version. You can post your suggestions to the FMTouch Blog.

To learn more about what we are up to every day, please follow me on Twitter follow me on Twitter.

Thank you everyone!

In Kindness,
Stephen Knight

FileMaker Pro for BlackBerry Storm, Pearl, Curve and Bold

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Very soon, FMWebschool will be releasing a very powerful relational database system for the BlackBerry. FMTouchBB will allow multiple related tables and databases. You will be able to sync back to FileMaker Client and to FileMaker Server.

The beginning of July will mark over 9 months of programming - and we have decided give everyone a look at FileMaker running on the BlackBerry.

So, imagine if you will, the ability to run a relational database, view, sort, edit, create records, display portals, images in portals, value lists, display layout objects, and container fields and sync. You can access all of your FileMaker data without being connected to the internet. Your data will be running locally on your BlackBerry:)

We have created a simple FileMaker Devcon Database to give an example of FileMaker running on the BlackBerry.

Contact's Layout with fields, number formatting, container fields, and layout objects displaying.

Exhibitors Table / Layout with fields, portals pulling from a related table and layout objects showing.

Agenda with multiple layout objects, and value lists

Contact's database running on the BlackBerry Curve.

For those of you that are interested in learning more about FileMaker and the BlackBerry - be sure to join the FMTouch notification / email group at http://www.fmtouch.com or follow me on Twiter

New FMTouch Update Underway

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:46:00 +0000

We are currently working on a new update to be released to the Apple store in about a week for approval. Here is what we are working on :)

New Licensing - we are working on Developer versions that will allow you to bundle your own application and then resell that app on the Apple iTunes store
New Developer features to allow bundling to happen
Improvement on Container sync
Fix - Value List bug
Fix - Sound / Container bug
Fix Previous / Next Horizontal view bug (Previous / Next currently hidden when iPhone is held horizontally)
Add the ability to run a script on start-up
The ability to hide and show buttons - functionally governed by scripts
Dial Telephone Script step
A few other scripts
Working on Mac and Windows Server Syncing
Working on Live data connection

We will have one more major release after this one before the FileMaker convention. I will be posting as to the new features that will be included.

FMTouch Developer License - Publish your solution to iTunes

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0000

FMWebschool is working on a solution that allows you to publish your FileMaker application to the iTunes App store. We are working on the documentation that will tell you exactly what you need to do.

What will the developer version do?

The developer version of FMTouch will enable you to bundle your solution with FMTouch and sell it at whatever price point you desire. Your customer will NOT need to buy FMTouch separately.

* You will need to apply for an Apple developers license (usually takes about 24 hours)
* You will have to submit your application to Apple and go through the same approval process that everyone else goes through.
* FMWebschool is going to create a couple basic solutions bundled with FMTouch and submit them to the App store to see if there are any gotchas. This will help us with documentation and improve our bundling process.
* Customers buying your product will not have to have FileMaker Pro - but if you provide a desktop version - they will be able to sync to that version.

Price Points Open to discussion
(Please don't just say "Too high or Too Low" we need a good discussion)

We would like to discuss price points with everyone as this will enable everyone to bundle their solutions and sell them to all Apple iTunes visitors. Remember this puts your App online, worldwide without you having to write or learn any code.

You could create a FileMaker solution, bundle it with FMTouch and then sell it on the Apple App store for $4.99

Developing such a license will affect our sales of FMTouch as we will lose a lot of Enterprise sales where companies buy 50-100 copies of FMTouch at a time.

So these are the price points that we are considering.

Basic Development License $297 - This will enable you to bundle once FileMaker application with FMTouch and sell it on the iTunes store.

Pro Development License $497 - Allows you to bundle up to 5 FileMaker solutions with FMTouch and sell on the iTunes store.

Unlimited Development License $997 - Allows you to bundle as many apps as you like with FMTouch and sell on the iTunes store.

Further Explanation

You would basically be able to create a FileMaker application, bundle it with FMTouch and sell it as your own application without having to learn Objective C, X-Code etc...

All profits would be yours paid to you by Apple, Inc., and you would pay no royalties to FMWebschool.

Further help with Apple Developer License - App Submission Etc...

For developers that would like help with the process of getting their Apple developers license and submitting an application for the first time (as well as help with bundling) we will offer a service where we will do this for you for $197.

We've built several applications, FMTouch, a Battleship App, and a game called WaitAndPlay" so we know our way around the App store and what is required.

Please, we would like your comments on the pricing, and we will let you know how our bundling testing and Apple approval goes.

In Kindness
The team at FMWebschool

New FMTouch Installer Package for the Mac

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:03:00 +0000

If you use a Mac, here is a simple way to install the FileMaker plug-in for FMTouch!

FMTouch Saves Patirent from Medical Mishap

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Raylene Renfrow has developed a great FileMaker iPhone application called "My Medical History". You can see it here.

Little did she know that her application would help to save someones life. Her client - we will call him "Bob" for anonymity has a serious medical condition. Recently Bob was at the doctor for his routine visit when the nurse came in to give him a shot.

He asked the nurse what it was that she was giving him. When she told him, he said "I've already had that shot. She argued with him and wanted to continue on and give him the shot.

He opened "My Medical History" on his iPhone and showed her that he had already received the shot - and asked her to check her records. The nurse left and went to verify his story. She came back and told him that he was correct - and that she was extremely sorry.

He emailed her a copy of his Medical History report - the report contained his photo - and all of his medical history. Raylene tells me that the nurse was amazed and asked him how he did it.

Since Bob has a serious medical condition it is extremley important for him to have all of his medical information with him.

Raylene also went on to tell me that the reason he had called - and told her the story because he wanted to get her KidID kit for the iPhone and wanted to know if she was going to make "Vital Info" (A complete record of ALL your personal, medical, financial etc., business in case you are unable or unavailalbe to handle your affairs.

Great job Raylene!

Lawyers using Bento for the iPhone? Think Twice

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:28:00 +0000

This blog post should start with a little man vigorously waving a red flag!

I am certainly glad that FileMaker is proud of Bento for the iPhone, and they should be. But, they should also realize that Bento for the iPhone has it's place.

First Hand Knowledge

I'm going to come at this blog with some first hand knowledge being the first in the FileMaker community to create web based FileMaker applications for the iPhone and the first to develop a database system for the iPhone with "Thousands of users".

Lawyers - You need to read this

FileMaker is now Twittering about how Lawyers are using Bento for the iPhone. I do believe that FileMaker should let people know that their data is not secure in the Bento database, and that it should be used for NON SENSITIVE information.

FileMaker is suggesting that you use Bento for the iPhone for the following.

* Your Contacts
* Your Classes
* Your Customers
* Your Expenses
* Your Home Inventory
* Membership Lists
* To-do Lists
* Time Billing

Seems Benign right? Last year nearly 8 million Americans (This is only US figures) nearly 8 million people had their phone lost or stolen. Being that we have thousands of users using our FMTouch - FileMaker application for the iPhone - we received dozens of calls from clients whos iPhones had been lost or stolen.

Your Data is SAFE with FMTouch

At least I know that we did our part - you see FMTouch offers 128 bit encryption. We went through a 3 month process with the U.S. government to get the rights to do this. We wanted to make sure our clients data is safe.

What does FileMaker Tech Support Say?

So I called FileMaker tech support and inquired about Bento for the iPhone and what security they had implemented if my phone were to be lost or stolen. None. Absolutely nothing.

It seems Harmless

Why would something as simple as ** Your Home Inventory** database be dangerous? Well if an unscrupulous individual steals your iPhone and you have your home inventory in Bento for the iPhone - suddenly they have access to your contacts - your personal information - and everything in your house.

If you are a Lawyer - sure go ahead and put your contacts - many of them could be court officials that I'm sure would love their information made public. Or perhaps even your time billing - another thing you want to be made public.

Think things through- what value do you put on your personal information?

It's simple - think through your actions before using a program that does not add protection. Your personal information may soon be everyones information.

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Micro Focus Part 1
By Stephen Knight

It was a normal weekend and I was taking a relaxing stroll through the neighborhood with my wife. We came upon a group of children playing a game of kick ball. Right away I was swept back to childhood playing kickball in my backyard. All of the neighborhood kids loved to play kickball at our house because we had a huge flat backyard – with a 6 foot high fence. Kick the ball over the opposite fence and it was the same as scoring a home run.

We stood and watched the children for a minute, not much seemed to change – except… what was she doing? The girl that was supposed to be up next to kick ran over to her cell phone and began texting furiously. I could tell by the telltale ‘thumbs-a-flying” technique which I as an adult had never mastered.

Over the course of the next 5 minutes this little girl ran back to her phone a half dozen times. She couldn’t even focus on the game – this 10 year old girl was already beginning to play her part in a “Micro-Focused” society. In this article I’m going to explain how Micro Focus is taking over our ability to focus and be productive. Our mind is playing a peripheral game of ping-pong – we are losing the ability to maintain long term focus and produce quality results in our endeavors.

Psychologists say this is a real problem – as humans we have an incredible filtering system that allows us to be bombarded with sounds, thoughts, and internal and external stimulus. Our mind is so advanced that we are instantly able to filter out what is necessary – and we are able to instantly stamp a level of value to that stimulus – and we do this all unconsciously.

That’s one of the reasons why we can be in a car daydreaming and suddenly we find ourselves tuned into a radio commercial. We’ve unconsciously ignored all of the other advertisements, but suddenly something triggered in our mind and we are now interested in what is being said. We’ve applied a value to this commercial and now our conscious mind is prompting us to pay attention. Here is where the trouble starts.

It is the Value Level that we have used for years that is actually causing us problems now. The same values that make our conscious mind pay attention to certain stimuli also come with different levels of emotional attachment.

The greater the emotional level, the more we pay attention – the more “value” we place on this stimulus, the greater chance that we will physically take action. Our conscious mind will step in and demand some type of action. Our reactions will vary depending on the stimuli; we may react in anger, reciprocity or the need for self fulfillment. But the difference is, we take action.

Why now? Why are we losing our ability to focus on one task and be productive? A few of reasons, validation, social proof and fear are strong triggers that demand attention. The new world of social media / networking has put tools in our hands that can be immensely valuable – yet many of us are not psychologically ready to handle the responsibility that comes with this new environment. Individuals actually split into multiple personalities to conform to their online persona.

Let’s take Twitter as an example. Twitter is an online social networking site that allows individuals to communicate in short 160 word bursts. Twitter was created so you could tell your friends in just a few words what you are doing. “I’m going to go see Star Trek”. “I’m at the deli ordering a club sandwich”. On the onset this seems to be pretty benign.

The more you Twitter the more friends will be following you. In no time you can have literally hundreds of people following you – and all of them posting about their day. Suddenly something extremely simple has become so much more. Expectations are suddenly attached – and with those expectations – emotions.

The fact is we become reactionary – we begin to feel the NEED to Twitter, and the need to comment, we suddenly have the feeling of responsibility. Over the past few weeks of observing Twitter there are individuals that post all day long incessantly. They feel the need to be connected; everyone else after all is doing it (Social Proof) so I need to do it to. I also need to feel important (Validation) so I need to Twitter about all of the amazing things that I am doing in my life.

Is Twitter bad? No, not at all it can be a very valuable tool for business and a way to communicate with friends. The danger comes when you feel that in the middle of working on a project that you have a “responsibility to post”. We have to establish guidelines and instead of reacting to emotions that we place on online communities – we have to step back and look at the reality of the situation.

Ask yourself intelligent questions that lead to more productivity and to a positive outcome. Do I visit the Twitter website more than 3 times a day? What are the triggers – why do I feel the need to continually visit and post to Twitter? Could I be more productive if I changed my Twitter habits to twice a day? How could I use Twitter to benefit me and my goals? How can I incorporate Twitter into a process that helps build productivity and is part of a focused plan?

I’m not just picking on Twitter, as an experiment as I typed this article; I left all of the bells and whistles on my computer and set my cell phone beside me on my desk. In the short hour that it has taken me to write this article, numerous text messages have come through, my Skype line has rang several times, I’ve received several messages from Google Talk and Skype, and the little flag that lets me know that I have emails have popped up several times. I’ve also been interrupted twice by employees coming to my office to ask questions.

But this is the world that we live in. This is the world we have created that takes away our ability to focus. It is all of these little micro elements of interruption that capture our attention. As my phone Skype went off I took a look at the number and I made sure that I captured the call into voicemail.

My eyes flickered down to look at the email flag to make sure it wasn’t emergency support. Google Talk and Skype Instant Messages – I checked those to make sure I wasn’t needed immediately – yet they still triggered a “value” inside of me that caused a reaction.

The typical person checks their email 5 times a day. There are many people that I work with that check their email constantly – every ten minutes they are checking their email. 82% of people have either Skype or some sort of instant message software running continually on their computer as they work.

We are losing the ability to focus – we are becoming a society that is living life in Micro Blasts of reaction to stimulus. Productivity actually when broken down equates to simplicity. It breaks down to having a plan of action and making decisions. It is understanding the emotional value that we place on things and acknowledging the difference between action and reacting.

Next Month I’ll cover -
So what can we do to begin to break our pattern of reacting? What can we do to make ourselves more productive? How can we begin to live life in the moment and not be ruled by emotions that we have attached to our social interactions be they online or in life? How can we establish new guidelines and procedures that allow us to feel that we are still fulfilling expectations while not being reactionary?

I would love to hear your thoughts! Please feel free to post your thoughts!

FMTouch and Bento for the iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:09:00 +0000

I have received a lot of emails from our concerned friends about FileMaker releasing Bento for the iPhone. Their concerns have been that it will hurt our sales, and that we will have to wage a marketing war against FileMaker.

Please do not worry - FileMaker's launch actually helped to propel FMTouch even further. Here's how.

1. FileMaker is running a heavy marketing campaign - this campaign has helped to introduce people to FMTouch - more people are visiting the Apple store and searching for FileMaker and finding us.

2. Bento only syncs with the Mac, there is no Bento product for the PC, that is great for us! You see about 95% of the businesses out there use PC's and they do not want to use a program that only syncs with the Mac.

3. A BIGGIE - Bento is not secure. Did you know that last year over 8 million cell phones were lost or stolen. FileMaker is pushing for people to use Bento to store personal and business information. Think about this, would you want someone to have access to all of your contact information, know where you work, where your kids go to school, where you live, your friends addresses and numbers and email addresses.

You see when we created FMTouch we realized that personal and business data needed to be secure - so we went through a 3 month process with the U.S. government to be able to sell a product that offered 128 bit encryption. This means your data is locked down and safe. No one can access your databases.

4. Bento simply lacks the power of FMTouch. The ability to generate PDF reports, .CSV reports, signature capture, sound recording, scripting, calculations .....

So no, we are simply not worried at all. We will continue to work hard - support our customers and add new core functionality and features to FMTouch and change the way people use their smartphones!

New 1.40 Feature Executing Scripts

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:37:00 +0000

One of the new and exciting features in FMTouch is the ability to run a script before and after syncing - watch this movie to learn how.

FMTouch Embedded Containers 1.40

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:31:00 +0000

We've added some cool new features to FMTouch! One of the new features enables you to sync embedded container fields. I know that is a mouthful, but watch this movie and you'll see how useful it truly is!

New Update Released For Approval Today 1.4.0

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:21:00 +0000

We have submitted a new release candidate to the Apple Store for approval today. This is the much awaited 1.4.0 version. Here is what we have included.

Here is a list of the new features and upates!

* Perform Script - FMTouch now supports loops and if statements
* Syncing images in an embedded container field
* "Sum" and auto enter calcs now work
* CSV Export (This is a big addition - requested by hundreds of users to be able to export their data to be used in other applications. This works wonderfully) use the "send mail" script in your FileMaker database. You will be presented with several options in FMTouch, choose the CSV option to create a CSV record of your file - and email it as an attachment. Very cool new feature.
- Support for aggregate functions of Sum and Count
- Properly working calculations that are based on other calculations, equals, not equals, and or
- 30-80% faster sync times
- Added support for 15 other calculation engine functions
- Tabbing between fields
- Improved support for value lists, values properly sorted now
- Voice recording and playback using container fields (This is another biggie, we have had doctors, lawyers, realtors all asking for this feature.)
- Improved support for a number of other script steps
- Slightly more intuitive interface when updating a DDR or initializing
the database

As you can see we have been very busy!

Here's a fun movie to check out - Enjoy

FMTouch Tic-Tac-Toe

When Bloggers Go Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:58:00 +0000

I have been speaking with John Gordon about his blog post - I have revised this blog post to focus on being informative.

So I thought I would take a few moment to dissect his blog post and then give answers to a few things that others may find confusing.

1. Here is his first comment - They’re at version 1.35 now; it is supposed to work with FileMaker 8 – 10 (I’m on version 8; FM Inc hasn’t done anything of interest to me for a while – I’m only on v8 because OS X required an update).

Stephen Knight - 1.40 is now available at the App store. Yes, it does work with FileMaker 8-10.

2. Problem is, it’s $70, and there’s no “LITE” version to test with.

Stephen Knight - Here's why we currently do not have a lite version?

One of my first questions is what would we take out? I hate the thought of limiting any of the features for FMTouch. Our direction is not to create a lite version, but to create a powerful application that does great things. Plus the price range enables us to employ a support team that is focused on the customer.

We could certainly lower the price to $29.99 and sell a million of these apps, but that is not our goal. We would drown in support. Our goal is to sell a respectable amount of FMTouch and concentrate on product excellence and support.

3. The App Store reviews are marginal

Stephen Knight - The App store ratings are actually really good. 4 Stars for a software product is not easy! Our clients have to BUY FMTouch to post a comment on the App store. I'm not sure but I don't think that a lot of people would post a good review after spending $70 if they did not mean it!

4. The app is reasonably popular, but the vendor’s blog has been pretty quiet and the web site has been poorly maintained.

Stephen Knight - Yes, thank you for calling me out on the blog. I certainly do need to do a better job, and bringing this to my attention is very helpful. I will be more active and keep the FMTouch community more informed. - On a side note - most FMTouchers are hearing from me via email. Please make sure you join our mailing list. I email quite often about what's going on. (Update) As promised, I've been posting more to our blogs as well as to our mailing list. You will also notice that the website is going through a new face lift. Thanks for putting the fire under the seat of my pants!

FMTouch website - is going through a lot of changes - we are actually re-working all of the websites - www.fmgateway.com - fmweschool.com etc.. Also please remember our forums - they are very busy as well - http://www.fmwebschool.com/frm

5. The “tutorial” on sync is a screencast only. I can’t find any reviews from my usual trusted sources.

Stephen Knight - The user guide goes into detail on syncing and all aspects of FMTouch - http://www.fmgateway.com/download/FMTouchUserGuide.pdf - The style guide gives all kinds of help on developing the right look and feel for FMTouch - http://www.fmtouch.com/FMTouchStyleGuide_v2.zip

To the FMTouch community - we will continue to endeavor to develop a superior product - we will continue to listen to you - and we will always strive to do our best to provide excellent customer service.

In Kindness
Stephen Knight

iPhone 3.0 Copy, Cut Paste

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:11:00 +0000

iPhone 3.0 has some very exciting new things to offer for iPhone developers and iPhone users. Let's start with - copy, cut and paste. Macworld's iPhone Central has a great article on many of the new features and goes into a lot of detail about - you guessed it, the lovely ability to cut and paste.

iPhone Central article

One of the exciting new features is a subscription model in the App store. This will allow software developers selling games and business applications to include modules, and extended levels that they can sell as additions to their core product.

There are many other exciting features in this update, you can read about them here.

How do I delete a file off FMTouch?

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Hello everyone, I've received several emails on how to delete database files off of the iPhone. So, here you go, a fast and furious tutorial.

Step 1. Click on the lovely FMStudio icon on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Step 2. Once FMTouch launches, click on the little "i" in the right hand bottom corner.

Step 3. Select the database from the list by touching it with your finger.

Step 4. Select the trashcan image.

Step 5. Select either Delete or Cancel from the list

Enjoy FMTouch!

How to take a screen shot with the iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:31:00 +0000

I've received a lot of emails asking how to do screen capture on the iPhone. Screen capture is amazingly simple.

How to take a screen shot on your iPhone.

Step 1.

While holding the "home" button (The large circular button) press the sleep/awake button on the top of the iPhone.

Step 2.

The screen will flash, and the picture will be saved to your camera roll. You can access the camera roll by pressing this button.

Step 3.

You can then grab your images in your camera roll.

Let me know if you have any questions. This is a very simple technique.

We had the skill to build the best Apple App - do you have the courage to play?

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:32:00 +0000

We had the skill to build the best Apple App - do you have the courage to play?

Are you cunning? Do you have the wit and savvy of a major strategist? Are you chocked filled with daring do? Can you calculate your enemies movements like James Bond of yesteryear? Then you are a perfect match for “place exciting musical score here” Battleship2Go.

Never before has there existed such a perfect game as Battleship2Go - mostly because we just created it. But don’t let that stop you from playing - we think, this is the most exciting game available for the Apple iPhone and should probably be the standard by which all other games are designed. We cover modesty in our new book, “Battleship2Go - Modest Moments, A Tale of a lonely Seaman“.

Now on to annihilation and destruction. Battleship2Go is a classical nautical warfare game that enables you to - STOP! OK, wait Mr. Narrator none of that advertising lingo! Tell me why I should spend my hard earned money to become one of the lucky owners of Battleship2Go. I need to know, Is it fun? Is it easy to use? Is it contagious? Will it cure boredom? Does it make loud noises that will annoy others while sitting at restaurant? Can I play it under my desk or conference room table without my boss knowing? I am constantly besieged with scrutiny.

These are all extremely valid points and they should be addressed. However I made a promise to only use my “q” key twice in this tome and to answer these questions would certainly push my “q” quota over the top however I digress.

Battleship2Go is the definition of fun. You can challenge the computer to a daring game of strategy! If the computer wins, blame it on chance or that the game is rigged. If you win, mock the inadequacies of computer simulated play and rest upon the laurels of your superior knowledge. Battleship2Go is extremely easy to use, and you can begin playing against the computer, others in your office or even a friend from across the globe. For those of you that are literalist, you are not actually leaning over “said globe”; you are actually playing against someone that resides in a country other than the one you inhabit.

Is Battleship2Go contagious? Well yes and no. If you are talking about contagious in a bacterial sense of the term - then yes, once you start playing you will want to keep playing. However if you are referring to contagious such as - viral, then no, we can assure you that our game is virus free. Outstanding question however.

Battleship2Go will cure boredom and it will also give your fingers something to do other than text messaging. That is of course, unless you are texting to your friends about Battleship2Go and if so, by all means don’t let us stop you.

Battleship2Go is full of noises and twists and turns, the excitement level that you achieve from each game will actually build up in your system and counter any built up boredom. * This incremental increase of excitement elixir will free you of any pent up boredom and destroy the evils of binge eating brought about by boredom. We have been so successful at curing boredom and binge eating we almost used the tag line “This App will help you lose weight and make money”.

I know this all sounds too good to be true, but we are too vain to say otherwise. Where can you go to learn more about Battleship2Go? Well the Apple App store of course! I’ve made a tiny URL so you can easily find Battleship2Go. http://tinyurl.com/4jt5p3 and if you just cannot get enough of Battleship2Go and our magnificent diatribes about absolutely nothing, please visit our lovely new site http://www.battleship2Go.com - we’ll leave the turrets up for you.

* disclaimer - this does not include any type of chocolate cake or my moms secret brownie recipe.

Battleship2Go where our turrets always point skyward.

We are just a Twitter away

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:35:00 +0000

As a child I used to drive my father crazy with my constant questions. I'd wait for his favorite TV show, sit on his lap and then ask "why did he do that?" What's he gonna do now?" "Why does he have a gun?" So now, a year later I no longer sit on my fathers lap (my stint with the Adkins diet being totally unsuccessful) - but I do still incessantly ask questions. It seems to annoy him just ever so slightly and let's face it I'm amused by simple things. I'm a programmer and my life is filled with 1's and 0's.

I'm sure you didn't notice but I had to pause from typing for a moment just to go on. You may be asking yourself now, what the heck is this blog post all about? Well please don't, if you read the first paragraph you know that I am the one asking the questions.

Ok, I digress the blog post is actually about following us programmers on Twitter. If you would like to be a part of our rantings, or get updates immediately on product releases, updates, new features, rants and great cookie recipes then by all means, please follow us at Twitter.

Now you have a couple of options, you can either follow me the good looking modest developer here at FMWebschool, or Michael Petrov who wears shorts to work and is on a badminton team. I don't know, ocassionally I will wear a kilt to work or some sort of Davy Crockettish clothing but, shorts and a "logo ridden" t-shirt - it just is to much.

So anyways if you would like some serious dialog with me please twitter me - Stephen Knight at
Twitter hyper good looking genius at Twitter

Or you can Twitter Mr. Petrov - world class badminton player and culinary expert at - Michael Petrov Twitter extraordinare.

Sorry to be personal, but are you stylish?

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Hello fellow touchers - outside it's a cold miserable rainy day, but here inside the FMWebschool office it's nothing but sunshine and flowers. Why is that? Well I'll tell you. We have a new style guide written by none other than style guru Sir Andy Gaunt.

If your FMTouch solution is not adorned in Mr. Gaunt's stylings, you may want to take a peek at his exquisite offerings. Style Guide. The Style Guide is a cornacopia of information on font sizes, colors, layout design and more. The new style guide can change your database from ordinary to extraordinary.

Listen to what Maggie Baker had to say. "Before using the style guide my database was ordinary. And after using the style guide it was well, extraordinary." Of course we made that up but if there is a Maggie Baker using FMTouch and if she is using the style guide, I am quite sure those very words would have flown freely from her lips.

So be sure to download your copy of the style guide today, and make your database the envy of the FileMaker community.

Burning the Midnight Oil

noreply@blogger.com (FMWebschool Team) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:56:00 +0000

I'm looking at the clock midnight is creeping around putting a stranglehold on my development time. I'm listening to Billy Joel's Cold Spring Harbor on iTunes - I believe this CD to be some of his greatest work.

We are all working late here working on our own masterpiece - well nothing that comes remotely close to the brilliance of Mr. Joel... I mean he did marry a supermodel after all and he has had I don't know seemingly hundreds of hit songs. Last time I checked programmers just don't get that kind of recognition. I did date a cheerleader once - but I'm sure that doesn't count.

Yes, back to why we are as the title says "Burning the Midnight Oil". We've been working on several exciting projects. First version 1.30 of FMTouch. The next version of FMTouch will include some amazing new features that will help to establish the iPhone as a serious competitor in the business Application market. Over the next few days I will be giving you a blow by blow of our development and release cycle.

We will also be launching our new developer and ready made template section of our website. We have some of the top developers in the industry creating some great new ready made FileMaker templates for you to use on your iPhone. We will also be tying all of this together with http://www.findfilemakerdevelopers.com

Andy Gaunt of FMPug will also be releasing a new style guide. Thousands of FileMaker users have downloaded this great educational guide on how to develop databases for the iPhone. Links to the style guide will be posted at http://www.fmtouch.com

Well Nocturne is beginning to play - so for now - I will say good night. Thank you Mr. Joel for the inspiration.