We're rapt to see the new version of FileMaker released, a major release covering all 3 aspects of the FileMaker suite (FileMaker Pro, Server and Go) in one hit, and bringing a raft of new features along with speed and robustness improvements... all very good stuff, so here's a few highlights and what they'll mean for you.

We were supposed to be competing (hmm... let me think about that word?) in the Lakes Loop Challenge, originally set for early this month. But fate stepped in at the last minute and the event was postponed.

Every business dreams of a paperless office right? Where administration takes a back seat to customer care and excellence in your field. Dr Alex Buller and his team at Eye Surgeons Hawkes Bay (ESHB) have put the blinkers on, buckled their seat belts and embraced this challenge with absolute determination.

Imagine being able to access your business systems from anywhere, at any time, not having to run your own server, worry about backup, or have a plan for when the server dies…

I can't think of a better escape than a trip San Diego in middle of the New Zealand winter, which is exactly what Daniel and I did a couple of weeks ago as we headed off to the annual FileMaker Developer Conference (DevCon) - an annual geek fest in a nice warm place.

By day, Steve is a database developer, quietly dealing to some of our most tricky database integrations, but by night, under the cover of darkness he's banging out some very sexy iPhone/iPad apps. His latest creation is "Canterbury Earthquakes".

For a long time I was a bit of a Doubting Thomas when it came to the online accounting package cleverly named Xero. Well, I’m here to say I’m a convert. We love Xero!

We think those Aussies are kind of the same as us.... don’t be fooled they are most definitely not!

For a long time I was a bit of a doubting Thomas when it came to the online accounting package cleverly named “Xero”. I thought it was a good idea and was pretty impressed by what the NZ company based in Wellington were undertaking. But I guess I thought the product was still too immature to cover the full gambit of functionality required to replace our incumbent system (MoneyWorks) and be a useful business tool