Wanna build something cool and useful and maybe win an Apple gift certificate worth up to $3000? Build a mashup application or mashup your existing application using both the Highrise API and the Lypp API and you could win. More details on the Lypp blog. We’re real excited to see what you come up with. Get coding!

So far our four-day work week experiment is working. We haven’t found ourselves collectively wishing we had an extra work day a week. We haven’t found ourselves gasping for extra hours. Instead I feel like we’ve been more focused and working better together.

Since going to the four-day work week just about a month ago we’ve released the following updates:

• A better project switcher in Basecamp.
• A complete revamp of tasks in Highrise.
• Reply to a message via email in Basecamp.
• Advanced search in Highrise.
• Bulk delete in Highrise.
• ...and a few more things coming soon.

Could we have gotten more good work done if we worked those extra five Fridays? I seriously doubt it. Would we have been happier working five extra days over the last 30? I seriously doubt it. Is a four-day work week better for morale and productivity than a typical five-day work week? I seriously believe it.

One thing I’ve come to realize is that urgency is overrated. In fact, I’ve come to believe urgency is poisonous. Urgency may get things done a few days sooner, but what does it cost in morale? Few things burn morale like urgency. Urgency is acidic.

Emergency is the only urgency. Almost anything else can wait a few days. It’s OK. There are exceptions (a trade show, a conference), but those are rare.

When a few days extra turns into a few weeks extra then there’s a problem, but what really has to be done by Friday that can’t wait for Monday or Tuesday? If your deliveries are that critical to the hour or day, maybe you’re setting up false priorities and dangerous expectations.

If you’re a just-in-time provider of industry parts then precise deadlines and deliveries may be required, but in the software industry urgency is self-imposed and morale-busting. If stress is a weed, urgency is the seed. Don’t plant it if you can help it.

Folks from 18 states plus London, Paris, Antwerp and Montreal have registered for our Third Seed Conference on June 6th in this amazing building.

Speakers include Jason Fried (37signals), Jim Coudal (Coudal Partners), Carlos Segura (T26), Jake and Jeffrey (Threadless), Edward Lifson (NPR, Harvard), and Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV). Gary is pouring wine at the reception after the show as well.

Seats are going quick. We’re close to 50% sold in just the first week. We look forward to seeing you there.

I really wish you could forward mobile phone voicemails like you could forward emails. Sometimes I get a call, someone leaves a message, and it’s more relevant to David or Sarah or someone else.

Visual Voicemail on the iPhone is a huge step forward for voicemail, but it still feels a bit last generation. It’s still about the static message that sits in your box. You can’t forward it along, you can’t email it to yourself, you can’t even play it to someone else who’s on the phone with you.

I’m looking forward to the day when voicemail is as easy and flexible and portable as email.

Gary Vaynerchuk is a legend in the making.

Gary is best known for his wonderfully passionate video reviews on his self-styled Wine Library TV. But he’s much deeper than that. Gary is an incredibly shrewd businessman with and innovative and intuitive business mind. Gary understand the next generation of promotion as well as anyone I’ve ever seen.

He’s a master of the things that really matter now.

1. A master of the product he sells. He understands everything there is to understand about his product. He knows the business, the process, the flavors, the appeal inside and out. He’s immune to dogma — he has his own opinions about his product and his industry.

2. A master of PR. Without a PR firm he’s been on Conan, Ellen, and Nightline. His video reviews are watched by over 60,000 people a day. A good portion of those people don’t give a damn about wine either. They’re there to see Gary go. He’s talked about at wine conferences, tech conferences, print media, new media, everywhere. This is not an accident.

3. He’s a master of community. His wine reviews routinely get well over 100 comments. Some topping 300. His obsessed fans, affectionately branded the Vayniacs, are as passionate as he is. Through link ups, Facebook friending, and relentless Twittering, he gives them the fuel, attention, and love they need to keep the fire burning. And he reminds them that he appreciates every moment of it.

4. He’s a master of his own brand. He endlessly promotes Wine Library, his family’s wine shop, and his own brand on camera, off camera, and through merchandising. He genuinely believes you can help people by being true to yourself. When you think of Gary you think of authentic passion. Is there a better quality for any brand? Here’s some more great advice from Gary at Strategic Profits Live.

5. He’s a sharer. Gary shares all day long. He understand that when you share you get back more in return. But fundamentally he’s not really sharing to get back, he’s sharing because he loves to give. He loves giving his opinion on wine, business, life, etc. He wants other people to be successful.

On top of all this, Gary is just one hell of a nice guy. I’ve recently gotten to know him and the one thing that really stands out — besides his ridiculous energy — is his generosity and overall desire to see others do well. Tara Hunt’s interview is a great example of this. I look forward to learning a lot from Gary. I hope you do too.

Architecture fans will enjoy these two Charlie Rose interviews.

Philip Johnson at 90:

Philip Johnson at 95:

And for those who haven’t seen it, you must watch the two 1957 Mike Wallace interviews with the 88 year old Frank Lloyd Wright. They just don’t make people like FLW anymore. A paragon of confidence, a wellspring of opinion. What a treasure.

What a beauty. Nature wins every design competition.

Using the Basecamp API, we automatically post product releases to the Deployments project in our Basecamp account.

When we push an update a message is automatically posted to the project. Here’s an example of two recent deploys:

Each deploy lists the changes that were logged into subversion, who logged the change, and a description of the change. We also add a one-line description that sums up the main reason for the deploy.

This year we’re considering writing/publishing the second edition of Getting Real. The second edition will be more small-business focused. Less web-app, more business strategy.

Proposed topics include who to hire, how to surround yourself with great people, how to promote/market without breaking the bank, how to get press without a PR firm, how to focus on what matters and ignore what doesn’t, how to get big things done with a small team, the beauty of the basics, embracing the unknown, throwing out your plans and just winging it, finding a distinct voice, etc.

We’d like to take Getting Real to the masses. We’re seeking a publisher partner that believes in the potential of Getting Real to be a business best seller.

We’ve sold over 40,000 copies (PDF and paperback combined) of the first edition purely through blog posts and word of mouth (reviews). We believe additional exposure and wider distribution could catapult sales deep into six figures and beyond.

If you’re interested in publishing Getting Real, please drop me a note at jason at 37signals dot com (subject line: Publish Getting Real). We look forward to hearing from you.