37Signals rolled out 37Signals ID – a unified, single sign on system for all their products recently. The feature invited a lot of heated arguments, but promises interest integration opportunities.

Transition to the new system was very smooth. A page asking you to select a new username, easy automated checking of usernames and useful suggestions about available usernames, and a one click, quick submission. The email notification too is well designed just like all other 37Signals products.

I was expecting we will have to do some changes on PlannerX for the new system to work. I was gladly surprised that we did not! You can continue using PlannerX with the new Basecamp username / password (the old ones won’t work, obviously). You don’t have to make any change to PlannerX!

Smooth!

Warm welcome to all activeCollab Giveaway winners (and participants!)

All winners may have received their discount codes from activeCollab team via a direct message on Twitter. Here’s how you can use those discount codes.

Redeeming Apps Magnet Discount Code

1. You should have received a special secure URL to claim the prize you won. The URL will look like

   https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?c=cart&i=207231&cl=49669&ejc=2

2. Along with that, you should have also received a discount code. A few alphabets in the beginning and 4 digits at the end.
3. Open the E-Junkie purchase URL in a web browser.
4. Enter the discount code in “Discount Code” field. Click “Update Cart”.
   

   Enter the discount code

5. The discount should be applied and the cart total will change.
6. Click on “Checkout” and complete the process.
   

   Checkout once discount is applied

7. At the end of the process, you will get a link to download the module (Planning / Reports / Housekeeping) or to complete your sign up for acGarage. Follow the link.
8. You will also receive an email notification about the product.
9. Each module contains installation instructions. Follow them to get started.

Note that the discount code can be used only once, and will expire on March 30th, 2010.

If you have any questions, post them on our Community Support Forums.

Once again, congratulations! We hope you will enjoy using the products as much we do.

Apps Magnet has partnered with activeCollab in their Giveaway. You can now win Apps Magnet products just by tweeting a simple message.

Win activeCollab and much more.
Find out how: http://bit.ly/acgiveaway

We are giving away

• One of five Planning Module licenses
• One of five Reports Module licenses
• One of twenty Housekeeping Module licenses
• One of fifty 20% off on acGarage subscriptions

Apart from our products, you can also win:

• One of five activeCollab Corporate licenses
• One of five activeCollab Small Biz licenses
• One of fifty 20% discount coupons for any of the activeCollab editions or for an additional service (Upgrade and Support plan, Upgrade and Support Credit, 30 day Hosted Demo)

We felt the activeCollab giveaway was more for people who are not yet using it. We wanted to celebrate activeCollab and current users – so we decided to pitch in with our products. Apps Magnet products add missing features to activeCollab and make your life easier. So if you are an existing activeCollab user, this is your chance to try your luck and win!

It’s easy to participate

All you have to do is tweet a simple message. Only one tweet per account will be counted and the giveaway ends 8th December.

Tweet now for your chance to win

All the best!

Read more about the giveaway on activeCollab’s website.

(Image courtesy mysza)

This combo offer has expired. Products mentioned here are now available for individual purchase.

Apps Magnet is launching 3 products today, and have a special 20% off on combo pack till midnight November 30th.

What are these new products?

Housekeeping Module – $19

Automate routine system maintenance and cleanup activities with Housekeeping module. Our housekeeping module was exclusive to acGarage subscribers, now it’s open to all! It can save you many hours of work and give you peace of mind. All for just $19!

acHack – Incremental Backup – $21

activeCollab’s Backup module takes full backup every day. Incremental Backup copies only those files that have changed to the backup. This significantly improves backup performance and drastically reduces disk space usage. This provides you the most optimal and secure data backup for activeCollab.

acHack – Copy Pages and Discussions with projects – $17

The process of creating new projects from templates in activeCollab does not copy over pages and discussions. Pages and Discussions are very important part of a project – we use pages to gather initial design brief / project requirements. We even want that our discussions are structured similarly across projects.  Not being able to import discussions and pages was a limitation.

This hack solves that problem. Creating a new project using a template project will now also copy pages and discussions from your template project to the newly created projects.

What’s the special deal?

These three products total up to $57. But we are giving a big 20% off if you buy them together. The offer is valid only till midnight November 30th, MST.

Get Housekeeping Module + Incremental Backup + Copying Pages & Discussions for only $45.60 – Offer Expired.

Plus you get full one year upgrades.

Not sure yet? Take your money back if you are not happy

We are confident of our work. We use these tools daily on our projects. And we know they create awesome value. So if you are not happy with the product, just let us know within 30 days and we will give you your money back.

Support us in bringing out great products

Building great products takes huge efforts. We spend long hours thinking, crafting and fine tuning our products. We took one extra week to tweak little things so that your experience with the products is great. When you buy Apps Magnet products, you are not only getting value for yourself, but also allow us to invest in improving these products and building better solutions.

Buy all three products together, and get 20% off now

The offer is only available from this page, and will end midnight 30th November 2009 MST.

Click here now to buy Housekeeping Module + Incremental Backup + Copy Pages and Discussions with Project for $57 $45.60 – Expired.

BTW, acGarage customers get all three products free. acGarage customers will also get all future acHacks for free. Learn more about acGarage and how it can save you many hours and thousands of dollars.

Another must-not miss opportunity

You may know that we are also working on the next version of Reports Module. The new version will be coming next week and the price will go up to $69 from the current $39. If you haven’t purchased the Reports Module yet, lock in the price and buy it now. You will get one year upgrades for free.

That’s all! Thank you

That’s all for now! We thank all our customers for their continued support. We will strive to make your activeCollab experience better and better!

Viewing reports is typically a passive process. You would see your burndown chart and make mental notes. You would see the hours chart and nod your head. You will see project reports one after another and think about how you can improve your next iterations.

What if you can take some action right on that reports page?

That will make reports even more valuable. Imagine seeing a burndown chart and firing an email to your project lead – either congratulating on the consistent progress or inquiring into the causes of recent decline in project velocity.

We experienced a sudden flash of creativity while we were building people reports for the next release of Reports module for activeCollab.

We are incorporating a simple feedback mechanism on reports – ability to send an email to your team while you are viewing the project / people / companies reports. You can invoke it by a keystroke or clicking a button. You will be able to do that from any screen – project reports, people reports or companies reports.

Do you think it will be useful to you?

(PS: The bad part: This will delay the release by a few days. But we’ll complete it ASAP!)

First week of November 2009 is going to be eventful for AppsMagnet. Last week was launch of Planning Module 1.2.1 and ac Journal, this week we are launching 4 items for activeCollab:

• Upgrade to Reports module – now with People and System reports
• Smart Backup module – incremental backups for activeCollab
• Housekeeping module – automated maintenance for activeCollab
• Project Template hack – copy pages and discussions when you create a new project from template

Reports module is the biggest item for this week.

After the launch, the latest updates will be pushed to acGarage customers. acGarage customer will get Smart Backup, Housekeeping module and Project Template hacks for free. As a matter of fact, we started Housekeeping module as a special service to acGarage customers and now offering it to everyone.

But the week won’t end there. Near the end of the week, we will also begin a major upgrade to PlannerX. We aim to bring PlannerX close to Planning Module for activeCollab in terms of features. It’s going to be a big upgrade and will be rolled around November end.

We received dozens of fan mails and thank-you notes after the last major Planning Module upgrade – version 1.2. We are thrilled by customer feedback and glad that the module is really helping people plan their projects 5 times (or more) faster! Some customers even said that they bought activeCollab because of Planning module! That makes us proud!

At the same time, we received bug reports and tweak requests. And here comes another release of Planning Module! It adds few features and fixes some annoyances. We recommend you upgrade.

BTW, if you don’t like to keep upgrading modules and activeCollab yourself, we offer an annual upgrade and housekeeping service – acGarage.

Here are the changes in this version.

Enhancements

• Updated error handling during server problems. Session time out, PHP errors and others are treated distinctly now.
• Increased the width of “Recover Project” message for readability. (thanks to Jani Kiviranta)
• Now stripping invalid characters from plan before XML handling. (thanks to Brian and others)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed number of issues with notification sending. (thanks to Randy, Alexey and others)
• Start and Due dates now span full days in Gantt chart. (thanks to Franklau for reporting this)
• Top menu toggle button labels can now be translated. (thanks to Jani Kiviranta)
• IE7/8 gave “HTTP Request Error” over HTTPS (thanks to Chris)
• Updated upgrade instructions. (thanks to Anthony for pointing to confusion)

The last version (1.2) was a significant upgrade and added support for multiple projects on Gantt chart, calendar for start/due dates in Outline, an administration panel, branding removal option and many other features. Click here to review release notes of version 1.2.

How to Upgrade?

You can always download the latest version of Planning Module for activeCollab using the download link in your purchase confirmation email. If you can not find your purchase confirmation email send us the email address with which you purchased the module.We will resend the email with download link.

Upgrading is done by uninstalling the module and then installing it. First go to activeCollab Administration – Modules. Uninstall current Planning module. Then upload new version files to your server. Go back to activeCollab Administration and install Planning module. That’s all!

acGarage customers have already been upgraded with this latest release!

BTW, if you have not yet signed up for acGarage, it’s a great time to do so. We can upgrade both your activeCollab setup and Planning module in one go!

How to Buy?

If you have not yet bought the Planning Module, you can buy it now. It’s only $149.