A Preview of Wednesday's Presentation on Bento

On August 14th, I began tracking the number of MacValley followers we have on Twitter. At that time we had 67 followers.

Today, September 21, we have 540 followings and 173 followers. I am going to be working on sending out ‘welcome’ Tweets to each follower.

This coming week I will also begin calling Social Coordinators at retirement residences for independent seniors. I’ll ask the coordinators if they would be willing to post MacValley’s general meetings and monthly classes on their online ‘Upcoming Events’ pages, and if they would be willing to put up MacValley postings on their bulletin boards as well.

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Last month’s presentation was by Arnold Woodworth on ‘Twitter Basics’. Stay tuned. We’ll be having more on Twitter very soon.

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Our October meeting will be Anton Anderson’s presentation of ‘Bento’. And just in case you thought that you don’t need or want your own personal spreadsheet, take a look at what you can do with Bento.

I can tell you from my own personal experience this kind of page is quick and easy to set up. It’s all drag-and-drop, including photos.

Notice the way the photo draws your attention to the page (especially if you’re a beer drinker) Of course it’s simple for wine connoisseurs to adapt this template for their best wines. And with just a few minor changes, coffee lovers can keep track of what tempts their palate and tickles their fancy.

One of the best

things about this app is that it is engaging and colorful. Never again will you think of spreadsheets as being boring.

Here is a template that can be used to help keep track of volunteer meetings and activities. If you want to make changes and modifications, it’s as easy as point and click.

This artwork template can be easily adapted for family photos. And if you would like to try different backgrounds, those are very easy to change and customize.

You can find templates like this one on Bento’s web pages. Just do a Google search for ‘Bento’, and go to the ‘Bento Template Exchange’, where you will see hundreds of templates you can download.

Again, it’s as easy and drag and drop.

The Bento download for the Mac is available at the Filemaker Store. And to download Bento to your iPhone, and Bento 4 to your iPad, just go to Apple’s App Store. Bento can be easily synced between your Mac, your iPhone, and your iPad. Those of you who own the latest iPad will be in heaven.

Our presenter, Anton Anderson, is a consultant for Pro Consult (www.proconsult.com.) Anton, like Elena-Beth, is a member of the Apple Consultants Network. He is also a member of the FileMaker Developers of Southern California.

Overall, this is one of the most exciting programs anyone can have on their desktop. Come to the meeting on October 3rd and learn about this exciting new upgraded Bento from a real expert, who can show everyone, from the most basic Apple users on up to more advanced users just how easy it is to get started on Bento and how much you can do with Bento to make your life better and a lot more organized.

Cristael Bengtson

President and Publicity Chair, MacValley UG