“Easier than Outlook. Simpler than notepad. More useful than either. 37signals Backpack is an outrageously cool and useful web application that you can post to, read and edit effortlessly. The basic (advertising-less) service is free and probably useful enough for most people as-is. As the obsession builds your needs may scale and the pricing plan starts at $5/month, cancel at any time. I can’t say enough good things about this tool and have only scratched the surface in my own usage.” -Littlegray Media
July 11, 2006 in Buzz/Press
“I just wanted to thank you for crafting Backpack so well. I’ve only recently started making proper use of my account, and everything fits together so beautifully that it’s a joy to use. I’m most happy about all the complicated things Backpack doesn’t do: negative space is great! So, thanks!” -Alisdair
May 24, 2006 in Buzz/Press
On the This Week in Tech Podcast Leo Laporte talks about how he uses Backpack to “store his stuff.”
December 20, 2005 in Buzz/Press
Backpack makes the FlavorPill F-List (despite the name, that’s a good thing).
Think of it as an A-List of up-and-comers: our newest tradition, the F-List is Flavorpill’s snapshot of emergent cultural happenings, both offline and on. It’s your guide to the artists, trends, and technologies that have already shaped the way we think in 2005, and will have still more impact in 2006 and beyond.
December 16, 2005 in Buzz/Press
PC World writes about What’s New in 2006: The Web’s New Generation and cites Backpack as “a tremendous Web site.” We’re blushing. Thanks PC World!
November 1, 2005 in Buzz/Press
Backpack fanatic George Taylor McKnight has put together a ton of tips, tricks, and “hacks” for Backpack. There are some really great ideas here so do check it out. Thanks George!
September 28, 2005 in Buzz/Press
BusinessWeek’s Best of the Web 2005 is out and we’re honored that both Basecamp (in the @Work Collaboration category) and Backpack (in the @Home Services category) were awarded an Editor’s Pick. Backpack and Basecamp also came in #1 and #2 in the Reader’s Survey in the @Work Collaboration category. Read more about “The Whole New Web” at the BusinessWeek site. Thanks to the editor’s of BusinessWeek and everyone who voted in the reader’s survey! We have more apps coming soon so here’s to 2006!
September 17, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“I think Backpack is AMAZING and am recommending it to eveyone I know!!! Well done and thank you!!”
-Alex Norris
August 11, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Again, your service is amazing, backpack is the perfect personal organization tool and Basecamp is an absolute home run on group project management. You really have helped me turn around a lot of my organizational problems.”
-Chris Escalante
August 11, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Very cool web based application, I’ve always carried a little moleskine notebook around with me everywhere, looks like this app might start to supplant the pen and paper”
-Phil Zajicek
August 10, 2005 in Buzz/Press
To-Do Lists Go Hi-Tech includes a piece on Backpack. The story is on the left and the video is in the upper right corner.
August 8, 2005 in Buzz/Press
If you get MIT Technology Review, check the sidebar in this month’s issue on page 52 (article: Social Machines).
July 25, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“I’ve been using Backpack a lot recently to keep track of all the ideas and notes i’m making on the various projects i’m working on and it never ceases to amaze me just how good a system it is.”
-Random Words
June 30, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“I am in love with 37signals’ Backpack service. I am using it to organize my Europe trip, Chicago trip, to-do lists, Events etc. You can make specific pages private or shared with certain people or public. Its so awesome.”
-gtmcKnight
June 30, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Before Backpack, I would store my notes in a confusing mess of Word documents, Notepad notes, e-mails and so on. But, nothing seemed to have the perfect balance of robustness and accessibility, until Backpack. If you need to get things done, you should give Backpack a try”
-Traffick
June 24, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“I’ve been using a JotSpot wiki for a while now, to keep track of various projects, to-dos, articles to read, etc., but recently moved everything to Backpack to give it a go. Though I adore wikis, for me Backpack’s speedy ajax (read: inline editing) won over JotSpot’s feature-richness. Editing a page in JotSpot just took way too long, because you’ve gotta load the whole javascript wysiwyg thing just to do simple editing.”
-Eric Case
June 24, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“This is by far the best web application I’ve ever used. The user-experience is … well … shocking. It makes you wonder why ALL web applications aren’t this good. After all, if it’s possible to build such great things online, why doesn’t everyone build them? Major kudos go to 37signals, who believed the Web could be used for great things, and then made it happen.”
-Robert Hoekman, Jr
June 24, 2005 in Buzz/Press
Kim Komando, a nationally-syndicated columnist and radio show host, calls Backpack her site of the day on June 1st, 2005. Thanks Kim!
June 2, 2005 in Buzz/Press
If you get the paper, check the front page sidebar [highlighting mine] of the Marketplace section, otherwise read Net-Based To-Do Lists Permit Collaboration By Family, Colleagues online (available for 7 days, then registration only). I believe this version at Mossberg’s site is always free. Basecamp and Ta-da List are also mentioned (as are productivity sites Lifehacker, 43 Folders, and newcomer To-Done). A special thanks to Tom Weber for including us in the article.
Last week Backpack was also written up by Jeremy Wagstaff in the Wall Street Journal Online Edition. Setting your Online Agenda covers the reminders-side of Backpack while today’s article by Tom Weber covers the to-do list side of Backpack.
May 26, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“I recently stumbled across Backpack, and I’m in love. Love, I tell you. Backpack is such a brilliant online organiser for travellers that it’s like a Filofax or PDA mainlining IV espresso… Brilliant. Brilliant, I tell you.”
-Wanda Lust
May 25, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Backpack and Ta-da are beautifully simple, elegant and intuitive tools that make an Outlook screen look like the software equivalent of a torture chamber.”
-Jeremy Wagstaff, The Wall Street Journal
May 20, 2005 in Buzz/Press
Backpack is now one of Sarah’s Damn Good Websites. Check out the thee minute video clip review from Attack of the Show. Special thanks to Jason Santa Maria for digitizing this clip for us.
May 19, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“First, let me say that I am absolutely delighted with Backpack! I’m so glad I was browsing David Pogue’s Posts and found his enthusiastic endorsement. I’ve spent the last 3 days working out strategies to completely revamp and streamline my record - keeping and information- storage strategies for my work, personal interests, and scholarly projects. As a librarian, someone in the information organization and retrieval business, this is particularly exciting!”
-Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling
May 17, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Getting yourself organized can be an uphill task. But extending the thought to a small group might send shivers through your spine. If so, take a peek at this great Web-based tool. The free parts allow you to collect and share to-do and note items. If you upgrade to the paid version, you can add file attachments. Oodles of other nifty features are to be had, such as RSS feeds, and every page has an inbound e-mail address. It’s worth every penny.”
-St. Petersberg Times
May 16, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“I wouldn’t shill for 37signals if they weren’t really awesome. Indeed, I shilled for them just two weeks ago, in praise of their undefinable Backpack application, which I have been using religiously. They are twice awesome now, having released a mobile version that actually works on my phone… I think that, when people look back on 2005, they’ll be talking about the ten or fifteen people at Ludicorp and 37signals as today’s most influential developers — no less important than box-based developers like Adobe and Microsoft, one thousandth their size, and poised to replace them.”
-Tangentialism via Flickr
May 15, 2005 in Buzz/Press
Check out the full-size cartoon and other cartoons by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Thanks Debbie!
May 10, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Brilliant and very flexible web-based PIM, with adding data by e-mail, RSS changes, and a very loose wiki style”
-Waxy
May 3, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Backpack is cool like the other side of the pillow”
-Bill Liftin
May 3, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Great job (yet again) — you’re setting the standard for web-based applications in today’s always-on internet environment.”
-Dan Rubin, Webgraph
May 2, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Backpack is way, way cool. It’s a capital Good Thing, I think. Wikis of various forms have made it possible to to what Backpack does, but I haven’t used any that make it nearly as easy or as elegant. The thing is, it looks really good.”
-Alan Schussman
May 2, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“[Backpack is] not at all what I expected. It is even cooler than I expected. It was a good day for products I love (Apple and 37signals, life would suck without you).”
-Max Riffner
May 1, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Even though all this functionality is ‘out there’ in different applications by themselves, Backpack is, how shall I put this, perfectly usable and elegant. I could very well put up a public wiki or something for collaboration, but it won’t match Backpack’s ease of use. It’s the little features that make my day… Backpack’s interface is excellent.”
-Ankit Solanki
May 1, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“…it [Backpack] is so simple, elegant and easy to use that you don’t care what’s under the hood. There are so many neat tricks in this little engine of productivity. You can use to add todo lists, pages, and even files to your Backpack project. One of the things I love about 37signals is that they are applying their “secret sauce” to open standards and are leveraging the “always on” Internet.”
-Om Malik
May 1, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“37signals has done it again. First Basecamp changed the way I work and now Backpack has changed the way I live! It took about 10 minutes to decide to sign up for a paid plan and half that time was looking for my credit card!”
-Hunter Hillegas, Liberation Media
May 1, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Yes, Backpack is the kind of Internet application that is so useful anyone can find a real use for it. Anyone. I’m just about to purchase an upgrade. Flickr is the only other thing to do this to me!”
-The Market West Journal
April 30, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“For years we have heard that online applications will grow in use. We have been told that local applications will go away. Gmail started me thinking that this may be true, Backpack has made me a believer. The user interface is superb; truly a wonderful online application.”
-Lyle Troxell, Geek Speak
April 30, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“As a hint about what Backpack can do, and just how ridiculously simple and awesome it is, let me say this: I am about to leave the house, but I really want to continue playing with this all day, so I will.”
-Tangentialism
April 30, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“It’s like Flickr and Ta-Da Lists got together and had a freakishly clever child. It is the solution to my short term memory problems and heaven for the organizer in me. I want to marry it.”
-Simply Geeky
April 29, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Backpack is a veritable checklist of all those affordances I’ve been meaning to hack into my inbox, calendar, todo list, wiki, blog, … — all packed elegantly into a fetching duffel I can throw over my virtual shoulder”
-Rael Dornfest, O’Reilly
April 29, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“So many applications build on one feature — web-based email, or a calendar — and specialize in that technology only. The calendar may be great, but it’s just a calendar.
In Backpack, you instead get a solution to a need — how do I keep track of my life online? Rather than scattering information over several web sites or tools, you can come to one place to find a simple, incredibly elegant and powerful, beautifully-designed answer. Backpack makes it easy to get organized and move ahead.”
-Marc Hedlund, O’Reilly
April 26, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG.”
-Sarah Hatter
April 26, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Backpack is perfectly conceived and the most elegantly executed web app I’ve seen. Period. I’m excited again about keeping things organized at work and at home. I plan to be Backpack-ing a lot every day.”
-Richard Bird, R.BIRD
April 25, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“Backpack is perhaps the most convincing Web answer yet to the power, flexibility and simplicity of a spiral bound notebook.”
-Khoi Vinh, Subtraction
April 22, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“All the wiki with none of the wacky. Backpack is an intranet for your life. The easiest place to add, edit, organize and share the details that make a difference.”
-Josh Petersen, 43things
April 21, 2005 in Buzz/Press
“It’s as easy as a wiki and gives me a permanent place to leave various info that doesn’t fit elsewhere. I’ll use this whenever I travel, to note flight times/numbers, hotel addresses, and rental car reservations.”
-Matt Haughey, Metafilter
April 21, 2005 in Buzz/Press
