txtinn^ is an online SMS application for Basecamp that allows you to create, schedule and monitor mobile SMS campaigns

txtinn^ is a new Basecamp extra. It's a simple SMS application that allows Basecamp users to create, schedule and monitor mobile SMS notifications and SMS campaigns.

It integrates seamlessly into your everyday use of Basecamp, making it simple to schedule SMS broadcasts, associate them with your projects and complete milestones.

"With txtinn^s integration into Basecamp, your SMS broadcasts will be automatically assigned to your chosen project. Each text message will appear as a Milestone in Basecamp and be visible to your teammates and clients, keeping everyone on the pulse of your communications."

It's free to sign up or you can view the different plans available.

Survey says Basecamp is the best project management software

"What’s the Best Project Management Software?" asked Gina Trapani, software and self improvement junkie at Smarterware.

I asked my Twitter followers what project management software they use at home and at work, and how they like it on a scale of 1 to 10...Out of the 97 replies I did get, 17 said they use 37 Signals’ Basecamp (and gave it an 8 out of 10 average rating), 12 said they used Microsoft Project (it averaged a 6.6 out of 10 rating), and, interestingly, 9 people said they like Things (which averaged a 7.7 rating) and OmniFocus (which got a rating of 9), both for Mac OS X.

Some of the responses:

tofumatt says, “We use Basecamp, and can’t imagine a better working system.”

rendini says, “Basecamp. I’d give it an 8 out of 10. Perspective = I’ve used many PM tools & I can’t think of one other that I’d give a 5 to.”

Grodzman says, “we use Basecamp for project management at work and at Walsh College. I love it! 10/10.”

See more responses.

DoneDone: Web-based issue tracking tool integrates with Basecamp

Ka Wai Cheung of We Are Mammoth answers some questions about his team's recently launched web-based issue tracking tool called DoneDone that integrates with Basecamp.

What's DoneDone and why did we build it?
We built DoneDone because we just couldn't find an issue tracking system that we actually liked (free or paid). To us, they all look like dropdown boxes made babies with an Excel spreadsheet. We wanted something better.

We think issues get solved faster if an issue tracker can delegate responsibility better. DoneDone is about real-time responsibility. It's focused on who needs to do what next. Here’s a post that better explains it.

How does it integrate with Basecamp?
That brings us to Basecamp. We love using Basecamp at the start of a project to collaborate with our clients. We love using it during development to communicate and organize our thoughts. But, at the end of a project, when we're tying up loose ends, we need something that feels more dictatorial than collaborative. That's when we use DoneDone.

We're using your API to let users import companies and users from projects in Basecamp over to DoneDone so completing a project is as seamless as possible.

Who's behind it?
Our little company is called We Are Mammoth. We're mainly a Flash/Flex-based software shop but we also write other software on the side and blog.

Thanks!

Learn more about DoneDone.

New in Highrise: Twitter integration

Today we're excited to release basic Twitter integration in Highrise.

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.

This is especially handy if you check a person's Highrise page before contacting them again. 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! Thanks again for using Highrise!

(Be sure to follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/37signals)

Convert password protected RSS feeds to emails with Feed My Inbox

Want to get your password protected RSS feeds (from Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise, or wherever) delivered via email? Benjamin Stangland, Operations Manager at Weber Marketing Group, offers this tip on converting password protected RSS feeds to emails.

I found a free solution that will convert password protected rss feeds to emails that I just wanted to share with you guys. Since this might help other 37signals customers.

Converting password protected rss feeds seems to be a challenge but www.feedmyinbox.com works.

You have to place your username and password into the feed line itself however.
https://[username]:[password]@[domain]/[path]

We use this all the time with Highrise and love it.

FYI: An email will be sent to you each time the feed is updated, but no more than every 24 hours (to cut down on inbox clutter). Whether there is 1 post or 10 posts to the feed in a 24 hour period, you receive them all in one email.

Have a good tip related to a 37signals product? Let us know.

Why The Strategic Incubator chooses Backpack for internal project management

Matthew Scott of The Strategic Incubator just wrote: "Internal Project Management: Backpack Is Our Choice."

Think of Backpack as your small business intranet where you share, store, secure, and discuss everything that is important for your team to accomplish a client engagement.

For example, we are currently working on multiple client engagements. We have an office located in Greater NYC area and one in Portland. Occasionally we have specialty contractors from different parts of country. We needed a shared system enabling each person to access, share, and store information vital to the client project success.

I’ll share a brief overview of how we use Backpack within minutes of partnering with a new client.

When Company-X partners with The Strategic Incubator, a process is set in motion:

• We establish a Backpack page of Company X. It takes us about 10 seconds and then we click one button to send an automatic email and text message notifying selected members of our team that we have a new project page.
• Each team member gets to work adding to the to-do list, notes section, and the writeboard section to brainstorm some preliminary creative ideas.

Before Backpack, we would pick-up the phone and receive a work status a few times a day.

Now, we just open our shared and secured Backpack URL site from any computer and in seconds I can see exactly what our individuals are doing.

The full post also includes lots of sharp ideas for how you can use Backpack for your business.

Sync your Ballpark estimates with Highrise Deals

Ballpark, an app that lets you send estimates and invoices, now syncs with Highrise Deals.

Highrise Deals are a great way to keep track of estimates and proposals and take note of which you’ve won and lost. Avid users of Highrise ourselves, we’ve added the ability to sync your Ballpark estimates with Highrise as Deals. Learn more about Highrise Deals

We use Highrise to keep track of incoming RFPs and emails from clients that need to be shared with our team. With Highrise Deals syncing, we can keep the whole team - specifically team members who aren’t in Ballpark - aware of what projects we’ve won and lost, leave notes about what happened, and keep everyone on the same page.

Learn more about the integration and how to enable it at this post on Ballpark's blog.

Export contacts from Basecamp to CSV format with Trailmix

Internet Simplicity offers up Trailmix, which lets you export contacts from Basecamp to CSV format. Perfect if you're looking to get your Basecamp contacts into, say, a database or spreadsheet program. Looks dead simple too:

YouCalc offers new reporting and analytics tools for Basecamp

Rasmus Aaen Madsen, CEO/Co-founder of YouCalc, tells us about YouCalc's new reporting and analytics tools for Basecamp:

We are getting positive feedback from a lot of your Highrise users [more about YouCalc's offerings for Highrise], and since then we launched a number of reporting and analytics for Basecamp.

Yesterday we launched two more Basecamp apps, including a time reporting application that a lot of your users have asked us to build.

You can try the time reporting app here. It gives a quick overview of:
- Hours spent per project in total
- Hours spent per person per project
- Hours spent per person per week

And you can try the To-dos and Resources Analyzer here. Use the app to quickly identify:
- Which users have most completed/uncompleted to-dos?
- Which projects or milestones have most completed/uncompleted to-dos?

And here is a list of all our reporting and analytics apps for Basecamp including gantt charts, milestone progress reports, activity reports, etc.

Twitter engineers use Campfire to communicate

Apple profiles Twitter and along the way mentions the engineering team there uses Campfire to communicate.

When software engineering teams work in multiple group chats, they use Campfire, a web-based group chat service for the Mac and iPhone.