Apple owned FileMaker on Tuesday introduced Bento 3, the newest version of the company’s personal database application for the Mac. The new version of Bento adds many new features including further integration with Apple’s built-in applications and technologies. For example, Bento now integrates with iPhoto, allowing users to store additional information about photos.

Ryan Rosenberg, vice president, marketing and services at FileMaker explained to The Loop that the integration with iPhoto works just like the existing integration with Address Book. Even though the photo shows up in Bento, the application is only linking to the photo, it doesn’t actually copy it.

Bento 3 also introduces the concept of sharing libraries. Taking its cue from Apple, Bento 3 treats sharing just like Apple’s iTunes shares music. When the application is opened, Bento will automatically find other shared libraries on the network — if you have permission to access the library, you can see the information in Bento just like it was on your computer.

“Sharing has been a top user request,” said Rosenberg. “There is no configuration or setup needed from the user.”

The new version also adds 10 new templates allowing users to get up and running very quickly.

FileMaker will also release a new version of Bento for the iPhone that resolves compatibility issues related to Bento 3 for Mac. Users will see the update on their iPhone when it becomes available in the App Store.

Bento 3 costs $49 or $99 for a family pack of five licenses. It requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard and will also run on the recently released OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. For a limited time, FileMaker is offering a $20 rebate to existing users of Bento 1 and Bento 2.