SOMEWHAT FRANK

Highrise 37signals' Contact Manager

We all have a number of contacts but how do you keep track of them all? Aside from an "old school" roledex, you could use the Microsoft Outlook or some other contact management software. 37signals silently slipped itself into the online contact manager arena with Highrise. Highrise is a simple contact management product which could be ideal for small businesses. At first glance it looks like Highrise could offer social networking like functionality in business context.

According to the Highrise web site the product was built because:

"Your address book doesn’t do enough. Traditional CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software tries to do too much. That’s why we built Highrise. It’s the just-right, more thoughtful way to keep track of the people, conversations, and tasks that are the lifelines of your business."

In taking a quick look at the product it appeared to offer the classic 37signals design elements which makes it extremely intuitive and easy to use. 37signals offers a Highrise product tour that walks through a number of key features. Additionally, Chris Messina offers a number screen-shots of the Highrise product. Give it a try to get keep your contacts organized and let me know what you think.

Gradefix Helps Students Plan Study Time

Gradefix is an online tool that aims to help students with getting better grades by auto-generating an appropriate study schedule based on a student's availability.  A student simply enters all of their homework, readings, quizzes or exams and Gradefix does the rest. Gradefix uses a set of patented algorithms to look at how much time the student has available and then Gradefix calculates the optimal schedule for completing the tasks. Gradefix color-codes each class automatically as well as categorizes each task by task type with the letters "R" is for reading, "H" is for homework, "Q" is for quiz study, and "E" is for exam study. For more details on how to use Gradefix check out this instructional video.

In testing Gradefix, I found the application simple to use with a clean user interface as shown below. Gradefix makes it easy to print out a set study schedule as well as enables users to set up email reminders. Recently Gradefix also offered the ability to receive tasks list in RSS format. Currently Gradefix does not appear to offer a mobile component. It might be nice to start by offering the ability to send SMS text message task reminders.

Gradefix is free for up to 10 tasks and $5 per month for unlimited tasks. For more information on the product check out the Gradefix soapbox.

Bottom-line: Gradefix gives students a hand with task management by creating a study schedule for them based on their availability.

8apps Suite Of Productivity Tools

8apps, an online suite of productivity applications, recently was launched by Tokyo-based jonkenpon. The current suite consists of three applications which are all in private beta but will be released with time and as new applications are released. According to co-founder,  Jon Yongfook Cockle, the goal of 8apps is as follows:

"I’m hoping that in 8apps, I can provide a suite of 8 applications that provide both an indispensable function and a simple, easy-to-grasp user experience."

The current applications in the suite are called Handshake, Orchestrate and Blueprint have been briefly highlighted in this article.

The backbone of the 8apps suite is an application called Handshake which is a professional social network for users to make new contacts, strengthen existing relationships. It is more a contact management system that is integrated into the rest of the 8apps products as any contact in Handshake becomes accessible in the other applications.  The network enables users to weigh in on their contacts skills which creates an interesting profile graph as shown in the right rail of a profile.

Orchestrate helps you to keep track of your “to do” list or simple tasks. It offers the ability to color coat various lists for better organization. Lists can also be shared with contacts from Handshake.  Orchestrate was well received in its initial release and was previously mentioned in the Wall Street Journal.
 
Collaborate with Blueprint as it allows users to brainstorm online by interacting with a number of individuals from Handshake without forfeiting control of the process. The project manager can control the look and feel of the layout by dragging and dropping items around the board.

Maybe it is the name, the inviting interfaces, or simple productivity apps but something about 8apps reminds me of 37signals. Nonetheless, I look forward to the official launches of these and other 8apps products to the masses.

For more information check out this article on jonkenpon which offers two screen-casts explaining the applications in more detail.

Zirrus For Web 2.0 Inspired To Do Lists

I have had quite a bit "to do" lately so I thought it was an opportune time to discuss an interesting "to do" list product. Zirrus is a very simple "to do" list product that incorporates a number of web 2.0 characteristics. Zirrus gives users two "to do" lists to keep track which can be defined as follows:

Braindump - a place to dump anything you think of
Now - consists of more immediate "to do" list items

Zirrus offers the ability to view your items in both a list and cloud view. With either view, items can be added with various priority levels which change the size of the font of the item. Items can also have tags associated with them for additional sorting. For a three minute overview of Zirrus check out the Zirrus quickstart demo.

Bottom-line: Zirrus offers a simple, yet unique web 2.0 "to do" list product which could help to keep track of all of the things that come your way.

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Procrastinate? To Do Lists TechCrunched
Posticky For the Post-it Note Crazed

Posticky For The Post-it Note Crazed

Posticky, a web 2.0 startup based out of Palo Alto, California, offers web based sticky notes available anywhere, anytime. Posticky is simple virtual repository for your to-do's in the form of the post-it note. Upon creating an account you can post and arrange virtual post-it notes within your browser. You can also set reminders to be sent to you via email or by text message to you cell phone. One other notable feature is the ability to send notes to your Posticky account via email or via your cell phone. The cell phone feature assigns each user a unique email address to send text message to-do's for "on the go" functionality. Below is a screen-shot of my recently created Posticky account - you can see I have set up three quick post-it reminders.

Overall, I was pleased with what Posticky offers, I just wish I would have known about Posticky a few weeks ago prior to writing a review on simple to-do lists for TechCrunch.