iLounge

The Omni Group has released OmniPlan for iPad, the iOS adaptation of its popular Mac project management app, completing its commitment to bring its five premium Mac apps to the iOS platform. Designed to help users visualize, maintain and simplify projects, OmniPlan for iPad provides mobile access to important project management information with advanced features such as enhanced collaboration, change tracking and smart scheduling for project teams. Users can also share and synchronize entire projects over-the-air between multiple devices using a WebDAV service, allowing project teams to keep current while on the go; change tracking further allows users to easily see the latest updates at a glance.

OmniPlan for iPad also provides advanced resource management including resource splitting and hammock tasks with user-defined prerequisites along with a Smart Scheduling feature to help project managers schedule projects for both individual resources or the project as a whole, including working back from a fixed end date and both automatic and manual resource levelling. Custom filters allow users to easily focus on specific aspects of a project plan based on criteria such as resource, status, type or date range and users can also create multiple baselines for project history analysis. OmniPlan for iPad can be used as a standalone app or synchronize with OmniPlan for Mac using Omni’s Sync Server or any WebDAV server; users can also configure multiple server repositories for sharing different projects with different teams. OmniPlan for iPad requires iOS 5.0 or later and is available from the App Store for $50.

FileMaker has released a major update to its FileMaker 12 database software lineup, including new, free versions of its FileMaker Go iOS companion apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The prior version of the FileMaker Go iOS apps previously sold for $20 for the iPhone version and $40 for the iPad version; the new FileMaker Go 12 apps are now available for both devices as free downloads from the App Store.

FileMaker Pro 12 for OS X provides a new set of themes and Starter Solutions combined with powerful design tools geared toward creating databases designed explicitly to work on the iOS platform. The new Starter Solutions include read-to-use screens and touch controls optimized for the iPad and iPhone that make use of iOS specific design elements. New design tools allow users to take an existing theme and customize every detail to create their own, unique design.

The FileMaker Go 12 iOS apps are designed to be used as companions to the desktop and server versions of FileMaker, allowing users to access databases from their mobile device while on the go. Users can connect live to FileMaker Server 12 or FileMaker Pro 12 via a Wi-Fi or cellular network connection to make updates in real-time or copy databases into FileMaker Go via iTunes File Sharing or open them from an e-mail for offline use. Sync is not natively supported but advanced FileMaker developers can create custom solutions for synchronizing and reconciling changes. The new FileMaker Go apps introduce iOS multitasking support and direct media integration for audio and video recording and playback along with enhanced container fields when used for streaming media content from fileMaker Server 12 without any storage limitations. The new version also adds support for several additional export formats including Microsoft Excel, CSV and HTML. FileMaker Go 12 for iPad and FileMaker Go 12 for iPhone require iOS 4.3 or later and are both available from the App Store as free downloads. FileMaker Pro 12 is required to create or modify databases.

Byte² has released a major update to Office² designed to bring the advanced document editing features of Office² HD to the iPhone and iPod touch. The latest update to Office² provides a variety of new layout tools for working with Microsoft Word documents including multi-column layouts, text boxes, page rulers, file versioning and the ability to insert shapes and section breaks. Images can now be set to float above text and support for headers, footers, footnotes and endnotes has also been added in the update. Saved documents now preserve existing content and formatting for proper collaborative sharing between Office² on the iPhone and Microsoft Office on the desktop. Office² is available from the App Store for $6.