Syncing nightmare with Bento (AKA: Erasing a database in one step)

Here’s something I found out the hard way.

If you use Bento for Mac and iPhone, deleting a database on the iPhone will also delete the master database on the Mac on the next sync.

Let me type that again, because I still can’t believe it.

If you delete a Bento database on the iPhone, on the next sync, the master database on the Mac, the one with all the critical information you’ve been building up, will be completely erased.

No warning. No confirmation. No temp file hiding in the library. Nothing in the trash to recover. The database is gone. Wiped out. Nuked from orbit. Buh-bye.

Deleting a master database from a field device should take confirmation, a second password confirmation, re-re-confirmation, and the last two addresses you’ve lived at. For a database program to allow an immediate nuke without any prompt? That’s beyond unacceptable.

Filemaker knows about this issue (here and here), but their response has always been “ah, just restore from weekly backup”.

Ah, no. Hell no. This is a crippling “should have never got out of beta” design flaw.

Zero-star rating for Bento. Don’t ever use this app.

Kellogg is recalling Mini-Wheats cereals. Metal mesh found in the product.

Kellogg just announced they are recalling their very popular Mini-Wheats cereals due to some metal mesh getting into the cereal.

Here’s the big writeup from Food Business News about the recall…

BATTLE CREEK, MICH. — The Kellogg Co.  is recalling about 3.2 million boxes of Mini-Wheats in the U.S., Canada and Mexico due to possible fragments of metal mesh that may have gotten into the products. The company said the metal contamination may be due to a faulty manufacturing part.

The recall is expected to cost the company between $20 million and $30 million.

The recalled cereals include Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size Original and Mini-Wheats Unfrosted Bite Size with the letters KB, AP or FK before or after the “Best if Used Before” date, which ranges from April 1, 2013 to Sept. 21, 2013.

“Because our number one priority is the quality and safety of our foods, as a precautionary measure, Kellogg voluntarily recalled certain packages of Mini-Wheats Bite Size cereal,” said Kris Charles, company spokesperson. “No other cereals are impacted and there have been no reports of any injuries associated with these foods.”