Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Highrise
Tout lets you templatize your email campaigns and track the results in Highrise
Tired of re-writing the same e-mails? Tout lets you templatize your emails so you can reach out to potential customers, journalists, and bloggers faster and then analyze the results. And it now integrates with Highrise. That means the people you pitch to are automatically added to your Highrise address book.

Tout_events_integration

Create customized letters for your Highrise contacts with LetterGenie
LetterGenie is a web-based program for creating customized letters using your existing contact database — and it integrates with Highrise.

[Case study] UK’s largest graduate job website uses Highrise to manage thousands of business contacts
“On our desktops, we have it hooked it into our VOIP phone system so we can just ‘click-to-dial’. It’s fast and easy. Using the iCal feeds, our tasks appear on our Google Calendar’s and iPhone calendars, so we’re always aware of what to do next. Integration with Mailchimp means we can see who received our newsletter and whether they opened it, right in Highrise. The export functions & API are very simple for extracting data, so we use these to make extra reports and spreadsheets when the need arises.”

How to export Highrise contacts by tag
“Can I select the contacts I want to export by tags?”The answer: Yes. When viewing a group of contacts filtered by tag, you can choose “Export contacts tagged…” at the top of the right sidebar to download a vCard containing just those contacts.

Basecamp
A preview of the new Basecamp messages and comments editor
The new editor (a WYSIWYG – “What You See Is What You Get” – editor) lets you turn text bold or italic without having to know the special “Textile” formatting codes you used to have to use. You can also create bullet lists and numbered lists by just clicking a button. No more battling with Basecamp just to make a bullet list or some bold text in a message.

New-basecamp-editor2

How a Pakistani tech company converts 80% of prospects with help from Basecamp
Riaz Salim is the CEO of eTeam, a technology company operating out of Karachi, Pakistan. He explains how Basecamp has helped him grow his company.

Criminal defense lawyer keeps clients informed with Basecamp
“We have used Basecamp for years, to keep clients better informed about their cases and in the loop at all hours of the day. Better than email – the messages function in Basecamp insures that your concern will get to me and my response will get back to you with the least grief possible. If you are a lawyer go check out Basecamp and think how easy life can be for you and that client. And you can post documents to the client’s project for review without the grief of sending a fax or the worry of lost emails. No $6 faxes needed!”

Why Basecamp is a “perfect fit” for web app developer Wikid Labs
“Use the heck out of to-do lists. Get the things you need to do out of your head and into Basecamp and prioritize them. We’d also suggest you split the bottom quarter or even half of your to-do items to new lists at the bottom of the page. Lists that are long are intimidating and distracting. Focus on getting the most important stuff done first, and then take stock to see what the new most important things are to get done. That’s been our approach, and it’s been working pretty well.”

Design/architecture firm DBD Studio hooked on using Basecamp as a home base
“The message board saves me from CC’ing every time I email and keeps messages keyed to their respective project. Writeboards are ideal for our collaboration on design and writings. The to-do list and milestones replaced our calendars, and the file system we abuse everyday and it keeps coming back for more. We have slowly phased our clients into using Basecamp with us and as a result some of them have entertained becoming Basecamp users themselves.”

Radar is a native Mac app that notifies you of updates to your Basecamp account
“It’s easy to get distracted. Radar enables you to concentrate on your work without needing to login to Basecamp all the time to check for updates. Radar checks for updates on a time interval that you set. Radar also launches when you login to your Mac and updates itself as well, so once you’ve setup your account information, you can get to work.”

Tip: Put all the information your core team needs in ”/root” Basecamp project
“First things first – we have a Basecamp project called ’/root.’ – This is where we brain-dump all of our internal information. All company-wide milestones, messages, writeboards, files and to-do lists go in the /root project. This allows us to never have to worry about making things private. It gives our core team complete freedom when working or adding items to /root. Plus, it allows us to say things like ‘throw it up in root!’”

Campfire
New in Campfire: Drag and drop uploading
Use Campfire with either Safari, Firefox, or Chrome? Then you’re going to like this. Now you can drag a file from your desktop right into your Campfire room and the file will automatically be uploaded to the room. You don’t need to click “Upload a file” in the sidebar and go through that process anymore. Just drag a file right into your browser window and up it goes.

Multiple products
See what we’re working on at the 37signals change history page
We’re constantly working “under the hood” of our apps to improve them. Now you can follow along and see a list of all the latest changes/tweaks/additions at the 37signals change history page (you can also follow these changes at Twitter.com/37changes).

Using Speed Dial for Firefox to view all your 37signals projects at once
The Launchpad lets you access all your 37signals products from a single screen. But Aleks Nesterow, an iPhone developer at Screen Customs in Biełaruś, decided to take the concept even further. He set up a system where he can view all his 37signals projects at once in Firefox.

Getting Things Done on webOS with Basecamp and Backpack
David Lich struggled with the lack of full-featured, sync-able task and memo apps on the Palm Pre. He finally settled on a combination of desktop and mobile solutions including Basecamp and Backpack. He details how he puts it all together in “Getting Things Done on webOS with Basecamp and Backpack.”

YouVersion, a “social Bible,” reaches 4 million users with help of Basecamp and Highrise
“Basecamp is a lifesaver. First, it’s easy enough to use that I don’t have to train each new volunteer. I just post my standard introduction message and they’re able to figure out the rest. Second, Basecamp makes it easy to manage LOTS of people working on LOTS of projects. Third, Highrise makes it easy to organize everyone in a way that makes sense with my system. Finally, Basecamp and Highrise together gives our internal dev team the ability to lead the volunteers without having to be ‘the boss.’”

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