Author Archives: Dirk Reynolds

About Dirk Reynolds

Hacking away at computers of all sorts since early '80s. Developing data-driven websites and custom Filemaker solutions since mid '90s. Wondering if a blog is a good idea after all since late '00s. Now that we're in the '10s, I guess it's time to find out.

Apple Fix

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

I know, I know. Some of you hate Apple, despise OSX, scoff at the iPhone, and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing white earbuds. Some of you may even have a point. Droid does indeed rock, and Windows 7 has, against … Continue reading →

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Recurring Imports

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

Sometimes, even when you have a Filemaker solution up and running, your team still needs to use their Excel sheets. Excel has been around forever, and (more importantly) is a seriously kick-ass program. So, if you have both Excel and … Continue reading →

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iPad 2 on its way

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

Apple never says anything officially beforehand, but it seems pretty clear that their latest announced ‘event’ (for next Wednesday, March 2) will be to unveil the next generation iPad. Nobody knows the specs yet, but aside from the normal hardware … Continue reading →

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Surf, Sand & Filemaker

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

Ever wanted to overdose on Filemaker geekiness, all while staying in a beautiful city along the shore? Well, wait no longer. This year’s Filemaker Developer Conference is being held in San Diego, between August 2- 5 at the Hilton San … Continue reading →

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Gimme Speed. Thin Client Speed

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

Larger teams or businesses need their data to live on a server. This allows the data to be properly managed in one place, accessible to all from their own machines. When you have a server in the office, and everyone … Continue reading →

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Site & Software Project Planning

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

When planning, it’s important to share. This means taking your brilliant solution out of your head, and putting it onto something others can review and understand. During the begin phases you don’t want to over plan things, but you still need … Continue reading →

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Snapshot Links

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

Sometimes you’ll be searching through some data, and after much fiddling about, find a useful subset of data. For example, all the current accounts that normally order at least 3x a week, but for some reason haven’t placed any orders … Continue reading →

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Top 10 Instant Web Publishing No-No’s

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

One of Filemaker’s least used, yet coolest, features is its ability to instantly publish your database to the web. That’s right. No HTML coding, no FTP’ing, no PHP, no nada. As long as you’re hosting your Filemaker solution with Filemaker … Continue reading →

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Bento 3 – Free Kit

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

Filemaker’s younger and simpler brother, Bento, is now offering a handy free demo and kit for its newest version (Bento 3). If you like databases, but hate all the programming bits, then Bento could very well be just the ticket … Continue reading →

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The Ultimate Interface: Plain Language

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Dirk Reynolds

First, 1′s and 0′s and cards. Then command-line typing, followed by GUI with mice, and now fingers. Some systems even offer voice-recognition, where you can actually tell the computer what to do by simply saying it. The voice thing’s getting … Continue reading →

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