The Beezwax Macworld demo

The Beezwax Macworld demo was built to show off some of Beezwax's capabilities while serving the information needs of those who visited our booth at Macworld.

a look under the hood

A lot of work went into this demonstration of Beezwax services and capabilities. Find out how we did it.

If you're curious, here is how the system was set up and how the process worked:

The conversation

Based on our conversation with you at Macworld, we noted the Beezwax services and products in which you were interested, in addition to the type of project(s) we spoke about.

Into the database

These preferences were added to a FileMaker Pro database, along with your contact info (which was either scanned via your badge or typed in manually by our team).

The photo (optional)

We also may have taken your photo with our iPhone. This was sent via email to our on-site email server. The photo was automatically moved from the email and associated with your database record.

Personalized recommendations

Our system then recommended a number of Beezwax services based on what we talked about. The system then provided pre-selected links to our website for additional information on each topic.

Connecting to many platforms

These recommendations and other dynamic information (such as your first name and the contact info for the Beezwax Bee you met) were all placed in the following personalized documents:

  • A personalized printed datasheet (printed right in our booth)
  • A personalized email
  • A password-protected website
  • A PDF of the printed sheet, downloadable from the website

An SMS text, if we could do it

The system then checked to see if we had a cell phone number for you and if so, we sent you an SMS text with a link to the website and your login and password.

Why did we go through all the trouble?

Beezwax specializes in connecting among different types of data systems, platforms and devices. We built this Macworld system to show off this capability while ensuring everyone who stopped by our booth got personalized information about the Beezwax services and products in which they were most interested. Naturally, there is a lot of redundancy with different media having similar data (printed sheet, email, website, PDF, etc.) and in a real-world client project such multi-platform overkill may not be necessary. But we thought it would be fun to show you what we can do.

Technology colophon

Here is a list of the technology, platforms and devices that were connected together to create this Beezwax Macworld demo project.

  • FileMaker Server and FileMaker Pro clients
  • Ruby on Rails
  • PHP
  • Python
  • XHTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Web Services Plug-in for FileMaker Pro
  • bBox Plug-in, a Beezwax open source project
  • 360Works Email Plugin for FileMaker
  • MySQL
  • External SQL Sources
  • rsync
  • Apache Web Server
  • AppleScript
  • Postfix email server
  • CDYNE SMS Web Service
  • PIVOT framework (for FileMaker)
  • Expo badge scanner
  • Canon PowerShot
  • Eye-Fi
  • NetGear Wireless Access
  • Mac Mini
  • MacBook Pro
  • iPhone
  • Hewlett Packard Color Laserjet

That’s pretty cool. Can you do it for me?

If you're interested in connecting between different technologies, platforms and devices, let’s talk. We love doing this stuff.

Find out what Beezwax can build for you:
info@beezwax.net
510 835 4483