37signals Product Blog

Just updated Project Recon lets Windows users bring Basecamp projects and to-dos to the desktop

Project Recon, which gives Windows users browserless access to Basecamp projects and time, just released a major update with a completely redesigned interface (inspired by the iPhone).

Basecamp is a great tool for managing projects, to-do lists and hours. However, it can be a hassle to fire up a web browser, login and navigate to a project when you switch tasks. That's why we built Project Recon.

Project Recon works with Basecamp to bring your projects and to-dos to your desktop. It sits in the system tray and lets you log hours to Basecamp immediately -- without the hassle of logging in and waiting for pages to load.

At this time, Project Recon is Windows-only. Project Recon requires a Basecamp plan with time-tracking (Plus or Max).

Learn more.

Related: Project Recon gives Windows users browserless access to Basecamp projects and time [Product Blog]

Less Accounting, more Basecamp and Highrise

Steven Bristol of Less Accounting on how the tool integrates with Basecamp and Highrise:

Accounting sucks. Less Everything makes it suck less. Our flagship product, LessAccounting.com was built with ease-of-use at the core of the accounting software, which caters to small businesses and freelancers. The app just got even better by integrating with Basecamp and Highrise to make importing contacts ridiculously simple.

From the dashboard, you can select import from Basecamp or Highrise, quickly enter your account details and then with one click sync all of your contacts. If you'd would rather pick and choose from a list, that option is there as well. Now, go grab something to drink as flying monkeys bring your contacts from 37signals to Less Accounting. Don't fret, they'll send you a friendly email letting you know when they're finished; they're smart little monkeys.

It's annoying having to add contacts to every piece of software. If we can simplify the process for our users by importing contact information for them, then it's our obligation to do so.

Try Less Accounting.

Zendesk integrates with Highrise and Campfire

Zendesk is a modern help desk system in a hosted environment which recently announced its integration with Highrise.

You can now lookup customer information in your Highrise CRM application directly from a Zendesk support ticket. Say you receive a support ticket from a Michael Johnson. This may be the first time Michael has contacted your help desk, but if he is a customer of yours you probably have some information on him in your CRM system already. With this new integration you can populate the ticket page with that information.

An additional feature to the widget is that agents can post notes on requesters/customers from within the widget directly to your Highrise CRM system. Any such notes will also be registered on the ticket in the event log.

Also, Zendesk provides a simple interface for support chat via Campfire.

And on a related matter: We already have provided a simple interface for support chat via Campfire from 37signals. Inspired by their own usage, we now have produced another Campfire integration that pushes status updates from a Zendesk account to a Campfire chat room. Zendesk will send predefined events to the specified Campfire account, including notifications on when a user is created, and when a ticket is either created or updated.

According to Zendesk, next up is Basecamp integration.

Related: Provide Campfire-based "Live Support Chat" with the flip of a switch using new Zendesk widget

Periscope: Basecamp control on your iGoogle homepage

Periscope (stil in beta) provides "Basecamp control on your iGoogle homepage." The extra is made by Ten Seven, Interactive.

Watch a sneak-peek screencast of Periscope. If you'd like to try it when a spot becomes available, fill out your details at the site.

Coming soon: Outpost will let you manage Basecamp projects on your iPhone

Outpost (coming in August 2008 from Morfunk) promises to let you manage your Basecamp projects on your iPhone.

Take notes away from the office. Delegate tasks from the train. Check on deadlines. Upload photos to projects. Anywhere.

Sign up to get notified when it launches.

ProofHQ and Basecamp: Offer your project team richer review and approval tools

ProofHQ integration with Basecamp explains how to add ProofHQ proofs to your Basecamp projects. (ProofHQ is a web-based design collaboration, proofing and approval tool for brands, agencies, designers, print and production.)

If you use Basecamp for project management you can now offer your project team richer review and approval tools using ProofHQ.

When you create a proof in ProofHQ you can add your proof to a Basecamp project and invite project team members to review and approve your proof.

ProofHQ will automatically create a new message in the Basecamp project that you have selected when you create the proof.

The message contains details about the proof and an embedded mini-proof. The mini-proof lets your project team view all the pages of the proof, zoom and view existing comments.

If your team members want to reply to a comment, add their own mark-ups and new comments or view details of the proof, they simply click on the "Full Screen" or "New Comment" button to open the full proof with all the functions.

If you create new versions of a proof, ProofHQ will automatically create a new message in the same Basecamp project and invite the same Basecamp project members to review the new version.

This page offers the following hi-res demo movies: "How to view a proof in Basecamp," "How to create a proof for Basecamp," and "How to setup ProofHQ to link to Basecamp."

Use Jott to transcribe a voice message and post it to your Backpack homepage

Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments. You can even use it to transcribe a voice message and post it to your Backpack homepage. Full details and an example audio track at Jott.

You: Call 866-JOTT-123
Jott: Who do you want to Jott?
You: Backpack
Jott: Backpack, is this correct?
You: Yes
Jott: Beep!
You: Add Task to Home, remember to get lunch for the team.

Jott transcribes your message and posts it to your Backpack homepage.

If you're constantly on the go (or just prefer talking to typing), this sounds like a great way to get entries into Backpack via your phone.

(Note: If you're already a Jott user, add Backpack to your Jott links.)

AgileAgenda: a project scheduling application that integrates with Basecamp

Marc Hughes, owner of project scheduling application AgileAgenda, wrote to tell us how the app lets a user upload their set of tasks as Basecamp Todo items.

AgileAgenda is a project scheduling application that's designed from the ground up to make it easy to create a schedule for a project, and then make it easy to maintain it when things inevitably change. It integrates with Basecamp by synchronizing it's scheduled tasks with todo items in Basecamp so you can share what tasks people should be working on. When someone marks a todo item complete in Basecamp, AgileAgenda will take that information and update the schedule the next time it's synced up. Basecamp can help get things done, AgileAgenda will tell you when that will happen.

Read more about the integration.

Here's a look at the final Basecamp result from an export:

More images: A screenshot of AgileAgenda in action and one of the Basecamp export process.

Import RSS feeds into Basecamp with telegraph

Using telegraph you can import RSS or Atom information from other systems into your Basecamp account.

The app's creator Kasper Garnæs writes:

We're a small web development company and we use Basecamp as an integral part of our development process. To integrate content from other systems into Basecamp we've built telegraph:

telegraph is a web application which handles RSS and Atom feed subscriptions for Basecamp projects. Feeds are checked on a regular basis and new entries are automatically posted as messages when they appear in the feed.

Examples of items you might want to import:

• Updates to your source control system from Unfuddle or your Trac installation


• New bugs registered in your bug tracking system such as Porchlight or FogBugz


• Buzz about your project from the blogosphere using Technorati or Google Blog Search


• Relevant links from del.icio.us


• Any content you assemble using Yahoo Pipes or Dapper

Very cool. If you come up with a neat use for telegraph, let us know.

fixx is a new bug tracking and issue tracking system for software teams that integrates with Basecamp

There's a new Basecamp Extra on the block: fixx, a bug tracking and issue tracking system for software teams made by hedgehog lab.

fixx integrates with Basecamp by allowing you to import your existing projects, milestones and users. This allows you to kick-start your usage of fixx and re-use existing project information, without having to spend your valuable time replicating data that you already have in use.

Further integration is planned for 2.0, with the ability to post release notes to Basecamp and updating your Basecamp projects with time tracking entries from fixx.

Try fixx.