Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:
Basecamp
Flash & Flex Developer’s Magazine has a new issue out on Project Management and p. 20-29 offer an in-depth introduction to using Basecamp. Another way to learn about Basecamp: Webucator offers a training class.
A neat tip: You can use the new Basecamp Mobile UI as a Fluid menu bar app on your computer. That way you can get a quick view of your Basecamp projects straight from your menu bar. Instructions.
Basecamp Mobile isn’t the only option for using Basecamp on your phone. Ascent is a Windows Phone 7 mobile client for Basecamp. Kompass, a Basecamp portal for smartphones, is now in free public beta. Summit, a third-party iPhone app for Basecamp, got an update (plus it’s half off for a limited time). QuickFire lets you easily add To-Dos into Basecamp from your iPhone.
Other Basecamp Extra news: Get access to your messages and to-dos inside Raven. Are My Sites Up White Label, a website monitoring service, now syncs with Basecamp and Highrise. And Geckoboard delivers a real-time status board for your business that integrates with Basecamp.
Highrise
Lots of Highrise Extras to report on too: Tout lets you templatize repetitive emails so you can avoid endless copying-and-pasting and integrates with Highrise so the people you pitch to are automatically added to your contacts. Ideaffect.com is “suggestion box” software that integrates with Highrise. Zopim Live Chat integrates with Highrise too. So does Bidsketch, proposal software for designers. And WeMakeProjects Gmail gadget does too.
Case studies
In one year, ProductiveMuslim.com grew exponentially, managing a global team of volunteers covering Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, India, Canada and UK and over 20,000 fans worldwide with the help of 37signals products. Top Test Prep boosts conversion rates with Highrise and tracks progress with Basecamp. And DTS International says, “The 37signals Suite takes the useless shit and clutter out of productivity solutions.”
Backpack
Pouch is a third-party iPhone/iPad app for Backpack. Packrat, an offline Backpack client, got a major upgrade.
Campfire
This fun video from Zach Holman on Automating Inefficiencies shows some neat ways to waste time get creative in Campfire:
I decided to do one on some of the tools I use most in my day-to-day interactions with the rest of GitHub: Campfire, my dotfiles, and boom. By combining all of these together, we can successfully make your company’s chat room super inefficient. Apply some programming and boom, you’re suddenly automating inefficiencies.
Miscellaneous
We’ll be retiring our support of OpenID on May 1. What we’ve learned over the past three years is that it didn’t actually make anything any simpler for the vast majority of our customers. Today we have 37signals ID that provides the same functionality with none of the headaches.
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ionut
on 08 Feb 11cool
Steve Benjamins
on 08 Feb 11Someone should make a backpack app that has a nice calendar interface (Satchel’s iOS calendar feels unwieldy & it looks like pouch doesn’t have one) ... just puttin it out there :)
Will be buying up Pouch—looks better than what I normally use (Satchel).
Jason Klug
on 08 Feb 11I’ve been using Basecamp Mobile via Fluid in the menu bar since I saw it on your product blog a few days ago. I’m really liking it so far… much easier to glance at to-dos over the course of a day.
The setup was a little tricky (I’d never used Fluid before), but once I figured out that I needed to allow browsing to certain URLs (yourname.basecamphq.com/mobile) in the Advanced Preferences of the Fluid-created Basecamp app, everything worked like a charm.
Jason Klug
on 08 Feb 11[ The bold url was supposed to have ”*” at either end. Forgot that formatted text as bold here. ]
Thorin Messer
on 08 Feb 11Bummer about openid. Your 37 Signals ID does not provide any of the functionality of openid since it’s not my openid. it’s another username and password I have to remember. Oh well…
munt
on 08 Feb 11“Lost of Highrise Extras to report on too:”
should be Lots of Highrise Extras to report on too:
rob mathieson
on 09 Feb 11Little things like this just show the power and the flexibility of the web! I love it.
Mark Steven
on 10 Feb 11Some super additions to the product here – looking forward to trying them out. Thank you Basecamp!
Cliff
on 10 Feb 11Nice to see Basecamp improving. But honestly, it seems that google docs is also offering some basic basecamp features for free. Doesn’t nearly do what you guys are doing though. We tested a few years ago. It seems like it is time to test again.
This discussion is closed.