When you hear the word lithium, many people first think of modern rechargeable batteries, battery technology or - with a skeptical eye - psychotropic drugs. But lithium is actually much more than that: it is a naturally occurring trace element that has been present in our environment since time immemorial - in rocks, in water and also in small quantities in plant-based foods.
Markus Schall
FileMaker Conference 2025: AI, community and an unexpected incident
The FileMaker Conference 2025 in Hamburg is over - and it was a special milestone in many respects. Not only because this year's conference focused on many topics related to artificial intelligence, performance and modern workflows - but also because the personal exchange and the "family atmosphere" of the FileMaker community once again came into its own. For me personally, it was an intensive, inspiring and all-round enriching time - right from the very first evening.
Integration of MLX in FileMaker 2025: Local AI as the new standard
While MLX originally started as an experimental framework from Apple Research, a quiet but significant development has taken place in recent months: With the release of FileMaker 2025, Claris has firmly integrated MLX into the server as a native AI infrastructure for Apple Silicon. This means that anyone working with a Mac and relying on Apple Silicon can not only run MLX models locally, but also use them directly in FileMaker - with native functions, without any intermediate layers.
MLX on Apple Silicon as local AI in comparison with Ollama & Co.
At a time when centralized AI services such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini are dominating the headlines, many professional users are increasingly looking for an alternative - a local, self-controllable AI infrastructure. Especially for creative processes, sensitive data or recurring workflows, a local solution is often the more sustainable and secure option.
Anyone working with a Mac - especially with Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3 or M4) - can now find amazingly powerful tools to run their own language models directly on the device. At the center of this is a new, largely unknown component: MLX, a machine learning framework developed by Apple that is likely to play an increasingly central role in the company's AI ecosystem in the coming years.
MCS: When life forces you to move for the third time
I am writing these lines from a vacation apartment in Pilsen, Czech Republic. It's a simple, clearly structured place. Kitchen, WLAN, a good table to work at. Everything I need - no more, no less. I'm not here because I'm on vacation. I'm also not here to follow a whim or start a new chapter. I'm here because I had to.
gofilemaker.de is closing its online store - and celebrating with a 15 % discount!
Sometimes a step back is exactly what leads forward. That's why gofilemaker.de is saying goodbye to the classic online store on September 30, 2025. Sounds crazy? But it's well thought out. And to celebrate this liberation, there will be a 15 % discount on all purchase licenses until then - for the last time. After that: individual licensing, a clear line, no more compromises.
Why ERP software alone is not enough - and how to really understand processes
In many companies, it always follows the same pattern: at some point, management realizes that "something is no longer running smoothly". Perhaps processes have become too slow, errors are accumulating, or the company is increasingly losing track of figures, customers or internal processes. The call for a new software solution becomes loud - preferably a modern, powerful ERP software that "can do everything". But this is often where a fatal fallacy begins.
How I wrote five books in two languages in four months
...and why this is not a miracle, but the result of a clear strategy
For a long time, writing books was seen as something tedious - a lonely project that drags on for months or even years. But what if you let go of this image? What if you rethink writing - with a clear focus, well thought-out processes and targeted use of AI?
In my new book "Writing books 2.0 - a practical guide for authors in the age of AI" I describe exactly this path. A path that has enabled me to write five books in just four months, publish them in two languages - and not accept any loss of quality compared to traditional publishing.