Store your account/login info at Highrise

In 37signals' internal Campfire chat room, Jamis said, "Highrise is great for aggregating information about all the accounts I have for various web applications."

For instance, I've got a Blinksale account to send invoices for the PeepCode ad on my blog. So, [in Highrise] I have "Blinksale" as a company and my login URL as a web address in the contact info for blinksale.

Since I only log into Blinksale once a month, there's no way I remember what my login url is or my username. Highrise is a good central place to manage that, especially since I can forward my "welcome" email from Blinksale to it (as well as record any Blinksale related tasks and other correspondence). I use the "About" field for recording my username and other info too.

So whenever Jamis pulls up his Blinksale page, his login URL is right there:

New Basecamp Customer Video: NYSE TransactTools

TransactTools is the commercial technology arm of the New York Stock Exchange. They work closely with the world's leading financial institutions to set the standard for reliability and intelligence in electronic trading connectivity technology.

David Litner, TransactTools' Senior Vice President of Engineering, explains how they use Basecamp to communicate and coordinate with their engineering teams in New York City and Puna, India.

Instrument and Wieden+Kennedy use Basecamp to launch new WK site

Instrument and global ad agency Wieden+Kennedy recently used Basecamp to collaborate on W+K's new site. Instrument's site summarizes the project:

The new wk.com features front-end Flash wizardry and a custom, AJAX enabled Content Management System built by Instrument in Ruby on Rails with a complete API. Now, W+K staff has access to manage hundreds of pieces of content through a simple, powerful and elegant web-enabled system.

Instrument's Vince LaVecchia wrote us to describe how Basecamp helped the cutting edge project succeed. He says, "There's no way the project communication would have begun so quickly, been managed so effectively and allowed so many people in so many places to collaborate on one big, critical, creative and technical project."

The full story from Vince:

We offered Wieden and Kennedy the use of our Basecamp software to manage two large website projects, one of which was the relaunch of their own website: wk.com. Instrument designed and built the CMS that runs the whole website in Rails and powers the Flash content. The project launched successfully and to much fanfare around the Internet about 3 weeks ago.

Marcos Weskamp (marumushi and Newsmap) worked from our office in Portland and his office in Tokyo on all of the Flash work. W+K staff worked across the river in Portland and some freelancers logged into the project as well from their home offices. I believe there were somewhere between 8-10 people in on the project from no less than 4 companies. W+K staff has offices all over the world on several timezones, some of whom had access to the project.

Marcos and Justin recently presented the project at Flash in the Can in Toronto, which went really well for everyone...

Basecamp was central for email transcripts, multi-national to-dos, long message threads with feedback on features, design and approvals. Instrument's Basecamp allowed the team to instantly and actively begin collecting, organizing and ticking off the efforts it took to build the site.

There's no way the project communication would have begun so quickly, been managed so effectively and allowed so many people in so many places to collaborate on one big, critical, creative and technical project.

Everyone had visibility of what everyone else was saying and doing. If to-dos were falling behind, the entire group had visibility. Only 3 people had access to add to-do lists for active items. In the final stages of the project, we effectively used to-dos for bug monitoring and launch items.

In the end, Basecamp allowed Flash developers in Tokyo to communicate with creative and project management leads at W+K in Portland, as well as the programming crew at Instrument also in Portland. The software was so simple to begin with, to launch the project, to manage huge amounts of data, to-dos and transcripts, it left no question as to where the direction and status of the project was going.

Basecamp quickly and easily became a hub of effective and simple project management for a website that involved overseas resources, and collaborators from vastly different backgrounds and skill levels.

Highrise tops 1,000,000 contacts

We launched Highrise on March 20, 2007 and just about 60 days later people have added over 1,000,000 contacts. Highrise customers have also added over 140,000 task and 280,000 notes so far. Thanks to everyone who's signed up and provided great feedback so far. If you haven't tried Highrise, check it out today.

10‭ ‬Ways to Be Productive with Backpack

Web Worker Daily just published 10 ways to be productive with Backpack.

There are a million uses for Backpack,‭ ‬but what follows is a list of‭ ‬10‭ ‬productive uses for them.‭ ‬Why use Backpack‭? ‬As a web worker,‭ ‬you need a tool that you can access any time,‭ ‬anywhere‭ ‬–‭ ‬not just from your home computer.‭ ‬And Backpack is a great tool because of its intuitive,‭ ‬easy-to-use interface.‭ ‬It’s also versatile and seriously useful.‭

The list includes reminders, to-do lists, mobile access, capturing information, and more. Check out the full list today.

Twitter, Campfire, and the power of persistent real-time chat amoung groups

Everyone's atwitter for Twitter. It's changing the game for how many people communicate. And the reason it's working is very similar to the reason Campfire works: Power is unleashed when you bring a simple UI to persistent real-time chat among groups.

Let's break down what we mean by that:

Persistent chat means people can leave and re-enter the discussion at any time and still participate. It's there for consumption whenever you're ready. It's "always on" yet can also recede in the background. It offers information when you want it but you can also tune it out when you don't want to be interrupted.

It's real-time. It happens now. Yet it also shifts time in a way too. You can "talk" without everyone having to stop what they're doing at exactly the same time. When you're ready, it's ready.

The group aspect lets you create your own inner circle. You choose who can see what. Open the doors to your friends and co-workers. Close them to the the outside world. Everyone's in the loop.

And don't forget the simple UI. You can get data in easily. There's just one field. You type and go. That means people actually use it.

Twitter and Campfire are clearly different animals. But fundamentally, they both get their strength from the same source.

Using Highrise to maintain meaningful relationships

Youth worker Josh Cook is a big fan of Highrise. He writes, "If your work requires that you maintain relationships with a large network of individuals (read: youth workers) this application is a must for you."

He's got a bunch of tips that are good idea starters for both youth workers and anyone else who uses Highrise.

Maintain relationships
In Using Highrise to Facilitate Real Ministry, he talks about how Highrise helps you maintain relationships:

Highrise and youth ministry are a beautiful marriage. I've been doing some thinking, and I think I've figured out why they work so well together. They're both good at the same thing: Maintaining meaningful relationships...By taking something blurry and esoteric (maintaining relationships) and making it something manageable and concrete (tasks, notes, etc.), Highrise facilitates real-world ministry.

The power of "About"
Then he gets down to some concrete tips, like how the "About" field can transform relationships:

Use the "About" field - Each profile has a section called "About", and it's nothing but a big, beautiful, blank box. You can put whatever you want here - family information, interests, friends, etc. I suggest taking little notes about students whenever you come across something noteworthy: favorite bands, quirks, or any little thing that you'll want to remember about your kids. If you put a little bit of energy into it, this little empty text box can be transformative in your personal relationships.

Getting Real inspires Courseway

Jo Potts writes in about Getting Real:

I'd just like to quickly say thanks for changing my life! I was a .net contract programmer (and still am part time) but your inspiration is driving me forward to a better future. The book simply consolidated what I already felt, and you guys, having already achieved what I dream of, help me to believe. I hope I can mail you again before too long to give you my success story!

Glad we could help Jo! Learn more about Jo's CourseWay, an app that gives instructors a public website to promote courses and keep students informed.

Add tasks quickly to Highrise via Quicksilver

Fitzage.com offers Quicksilver addicts two scripts that integrate with Highrise.

One of them gives you the ability to create tasks with various timeframes and the second gives you the ability to attach tasks directly to Cases and set timeframes.

Here's how adding tasks works:

Call up Quicksilver using whatever your standard shortcut is, type a period to enter text mode, and type the name of the task you want to create. Hit tab and type your shortcut to call up the pertinent highrise script. Hit return.

Creating a task with a different timeframe is almost as simple. There is only one change. After typing the name of the task, type a colon and then the timeframe. For example, "Do stuff with so-and-so:next_week"

If you're a Quicksilverer, this sounds like a great addition.

Backpack one of PC World's 100 Best Products of 2007

PC World lists the 100 Best Products of 2007 and Backpack comes in at #66. We're thrilled to be included.

37signals deserves its rep for building great, tightly focused applications. Backpack helps you manage projects through a simple interface that permits you to grab data from lots of sources.

Related: PC World calls Backpack "tremendous."