FREE TEMPLATES FOR THE MAC

Organize your beer collection, keep track of your scuba dives, and do any kind of database with these templates for the Mac.

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FILEMAKER TRAINING

The popular FileMaker database program runs on Windows and Mac computers and is a lot easier to learn and use than Microsoft Access. There’s a new training series for FileMaker 10…
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KEEPING TRACK

Thomas Jefferson was so good at keeping track of his expenses that we still have records of almost everything he spent, including the tips he gave out at inns. (George Washington, by the way, was also a meticulous recorder of his expenses.)

Expense tracking isn’t a magic solution to budgetary woes, but it helps.

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THE DATABASE

After having a word processor, the most important program you can have is a database. There’s one called Blist that is a blast.

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ORGANIZE IT ON A MAC

FileMaker has released Bento, a $49 version of the FileMaker database for the Mac’s Leopard operating system. FileMaker is a really great database program, and this is an easy-to-use version for people who don’t have severe database demands (which is most of us).

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BOOKS

“FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual” by Susan Prosser and Geoff Coffey; $35 from MissingManuals.com.

FileMaker Pro is an insanely popular database program, not least because it works the same on either Windows or Mac machines. It’s powerful enough to manage a substantial business or a small country.

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A REAL NICE DATABASE

Out favorite database, Alpha Five, is just out in Version 8. It has been our favorite for many years because it’s easy to use and at least as powerful as the offerings from Microsoft and others.

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INTERNUTS: ASK SAM AND TRAVELISTIC

AskSam.com and Travelistic.com

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