On October 17th, Applelinks' Charles Moore gave a great review of Bento 2. What I'd like to do here is provide a more detailed exploration of FileMaker and Bento, and explain why both are excellent database programs which serve two completely different customers. The fact is, Bento is an amazingly simple, easy to use database that requires no knowledge on how to create a database. FileMaker is an amazingly powerful database that is very simple (when compared to other databases), but requires creating every field, every relation, and every structure of a database. Admittedly, this is much more complicated and more work than many people need. Thus, there is Bento (and to borrow a phrase from the early days of Apple), a database "for the rest of us."

DriveSlim should prove especially popular with MacBook Air Users and those who go with the 128 GB Solid State Drive option on other model MacBooks

Parallels lets you run a PC on your Mac. It's that simple, and it's that straightforward. However, as opposed to the free program that Apple provides with each new Mac (Boot Camp), Parallels does not require you to re-boot your computer each time you want to switch back and forth between the Mac and the PC Operating System. While it is a tad slower than running a PC on Boot Camp, you do maintain efficiency by not having to restart between systems any time you want to switch the OS. As a benefit to many PC users, Parallels will support PC OSs from Windows 3.1 to Vista and many shades of Linux. You do need to purchase your own copy of whatever OS you use and all software you want to use as a separate purchase.

Odysseus Email Client version 1.0 beta 7 was released Thursday. This build continues to improve on existing features, while adding a couple of critical ones

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is best by categorized as a Digital Processor. That is, from bringing images to your computer, cataloging them for later retrieval (and, if you want, backing them up to insure protection against accidental loss), enhancing and fine tuning your images, all the way to printing and/or digital distribution—one can do it all from Lightroom. However, one of the strongest reasons to use Lightroom is the opportunity for playing with images with no concern about how many versions and variations of the image you create without screwing up your original image. Despite a complex learning curve, there is much to like in Lightroom 2.

Cruz is a new social browser project for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard and up. While it looks very much like Safari, and is based on Apple's Webkit browser engine, Cruz has several interesting and unique features that set it apart from not only Safari but other browsers as well