Developer/API The new 37signals API developer list
“The new 37signals API developer list is meant to be the new hub for all things 37signals API. A place where developers can discuss their experiences and challenges working with the APIs from Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise, and Campfire. We’ll try to make ourselves available as best we can to help answer questions and provide clarification on implementation”
Improving the Basecamp API
“We’ve been working behind the scenes to improve the Basecamp API. One recent change lets developers know whether the person making an API request is from a client or an internal firm.”
Highrise The Star-Ledger: Highrise is a a new breed of CRM that emphasizes simplicity
“I particularly like the description used by 37 signals, the makers of the Highrise CRM: Highrise is a great way for business to keep track of who talked to whom, what was said and what needs to happen next. The software excels in the way it blends contact management, to-do lists and other features. You look at a contacts page in Highrise, and you have a window into your communications with that person, notes from meetings, background and any tasks related to the contact.”
Backpack TUAW: “Satchel is Backpack on the iPhone done right”
“It’s worth every penny for the true Backpack fanatic. It’s gone a long way to removing the barrier for those looking to embrace Backpack as a service, but feeling a little hamstrung by the lack of a decent mobile interface. If you love Backpack, you’ll love Satchel.”
Highrise is the best way to keep track of who you talked to, what was said, and what to do next. Twitter integration allows you to have an even better view of what’s on a person’s mind, what they’re saying right now, and what their current interests are.
Now you can check your previous communications history as well as what they are tweeting right now. Tweets are great conversation starters that show you’re paying attention to what’s going on in their world.
Here’s a video to show you how easy it is to add Twitter info for a contact:
We really hope you like this feature (and be sure to follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/37signals).
Basecamp IntelliGantt: Publish and synchronize Microsoft Project with Basecamp
“You don’t have to give up the power of Microsoft Project for the simplicity and efficacy of Basecamp. IntelliGantt gives you the best of both worlds, which means a happy project manager and a happy (and productive) team.”
Twitter engineers use Campfire to communicate
“When [Twitter’s] software engineering teams work in multiple group chats, they use Campfire, a web-based group chat service for the Mac and iPhone.”
Getting Real extendr.com founders: Getting Real is “a crux component to our success”
“Getting Real concepts played key roles in framing our thinking regarding web development as we built and continue to build extendr.com and other web applications. We had an idea for an optimized search results service that our friends thought was worth building. We figured if they wanted it and offered to pay us for it maybe others would too. We just had to find away to build it. Enter the conceptual framework of Getting Real and the utility of Basecamp.”
“Getting Real helped us build ProofHQ on a $15,000 budget and bootstrap to breakeven”
“We started work on ProofHQ in Jan 2007 and I bought Getting Real on 15 March 2007. Although I had founded a tech start-up before, Getting Real summed up exactly how I wanted ProofHQ to be run. Frankly, it was an inspiration then, and continues to be today…We launched in May 2008. By November 2008 our revenues exceeded operating costs for the first time and we just broke even. All this has been possible by keeping the team small, keeping our costs low and moving fast.”
David, Jason, Sam, Ryan and Michael (L. to R.), in a rare moment of in-person collaboration, check out progress on a very cool new Basecamp feature. Any guesses as to what it is?
Campfire Sparkflare pipes tweets and web feeds into Campfire
Sparkflare is a new Extra that pipes tweets and web feeds into a Campfire room. “Our team lives in Campfire and we want all of this information to come to us. We wrote Sparkflare to make this happen — for us, and for you.”
Ember 1.1 is now available (at a discounted price for the next week)
New features, discounted price for the next week. “Ember is a group chat client that allows you to use Campfire™ by 37signals® anywhere you go. Now in a native iPhone app you can chat effortlessly with groups large and small.”
Backpack More examples, improved help, and Extras at the new Backpack site
As mentioned previously, there’s a new look for the Backpack marketing site. You’ll now see more Examples of all the different ways you might use Backpack. We’ve also improved the organization in the Help section so that you can find answers to your questions more quickly. You can also check out all the Extras and iPhone Apps for Backpack in one place.
Basecamp Time Tracking in Basecamp gets a fresh coat of paint
“If your Basecamp plan includes Time Tracking (Plus or higher) then you’ll notice some improvements to your Time tab today. We swept through the time tracking screens to make them a bit sharper and work a bit better. We also fixed some bugs along the way. You’ll notice that actions like editing a time entry or creating a time report are noticeably smoother now.”
New in Basecamp: Export your account in easy-to-read HTML format
“Basecamp has always offered account owners the chance to export their accounts in XML format. The trouble is that XML is a technical file format that only programmers can make use of. We wanted to offer an export designed for everybody—something account owners can download, open in their web browser, and print. That’s exactly what we did with the new “HTML export” option.”
How Basecamp helps KK Bloom make her luxury custom couture invitations
“This is universally the best new tool I have been able to implement into my business. I have recommended it endlessly!...I did my research into other sites, that vaguely do what ya’ll do, but for the rates that you have, and seriously the level of what I can get accomplished with my clients, there is no one else.”
Tune in at your local time:
San Francisco, 09:00
New York, 12:00
London, 17:00
New Delhi, 22:30
Tokyo, Friday, 02:00
Sydney, Friday, 04:00
(See what time 11am CST is in your timezone with Permatime.)
Join Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson as they recap what’s been happening at 37signals. Jason and David will also take questions from viewers and answer them live.
Multiple products How a business school student uses Highrise and Backpack to aid in his internship hunt
“Without Highrise, I’d still be sputtering along with a series of file and folders on my Mac. That process would dramatically slow me down, as I’d have to keep paper to do lists all over the place (and paper doesn’t send you an email reminding you to get on the ball, but Highrise does).”
Basecamp Basecamp helps Peek team deliver value and affordability
“We early on split into multiple projects. Peek had a lot of concurrent projects from building the Peek device, to nailing down our PR/marketing strategy, to building the email servers, the list went on and on. We built projects for many of the streams, particularly ones with different vendors… but we always kept a main Peek Launch project so we all knew what was going on, from the earliest sketches of the device to the final excel sheet of software bugs, Basecamp kept us in touch. The highs and lows of starting up Peek all live in our Basecamp message history!”
Moses says, “Tools like Basecamp need to be part of every small business’ process”
“Today, most companies have either laid off staff or placed a hiring freeze, which means, companies require more out from their team than ever before. Where we’ve seen Basecamp add a ton of value with our client work, is the process in which the productivity of the team members raises to a higher level, where smaller teams are now producing more in less time; because, where before time was wasted on minuscule items and the back and forth, now time is invested in output and getting projects done on time.”
