hot damn. basecamp on my treo.

Looks like a few weeks ago someone released a Basecamp client for several mobile platforms, including my favorite, PalmOS.

http://www.phonified.com/Tracker.html

I'm working on 2 short films, a documentary, and another documentary right now on top of my day job, and the busier I get, the more Basecamp reveals itself to be a lifesaver. This little palm app, Tracker, is ugly, seems to be written in Java, flaunts palm UI conventions and has a frankly bizarre setup procedure. It also seems to work, and right now that's where the bar is.

For anything I manage by myself, I still love you SHADOW, the best outliner anywhere...but the collaboration thing is so undeniable once you start seeing it in practice, and being locked out of basecamp by the Treo's low-end mobile browser is very frustrating. Tracker seems to work by using a server backend to grab info from Basecamp and then pass it along to the handheld; it has to re-sync a project from time to time, but it's all there - milestones, messages, comments, to-dos. Actually...alllll the to-dos are there, even completed lists, which is a bit annoying...clearly still a 1.0 product. Also, no writeboards, but it's understandable; that could be pretty tricky on a small screen.

Making Basecamp genuinely mobile is a huge step - I'd been considering picking up PalmOS development myself again to do this one - and so I am thrilled to have Tracker around. I assigned it a hot-key within 5 minutes.

Been Reading.

I've noticed that when I'm busy I tend to get the most stuff done - that is, busy with work, somehow, results in lots of non-work creative and inteelektual meanderings accomplished. To wit: while working on Rhyme Animal, I read:

Collected Short Stories of Pushkin
"Anansi Boys", Neil Gaiman
Re-read "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell", Susanna Clarke
"Ladies of Grace Adieu", Susanna Clarke
"American Gods", Neil Gaiman
"Good Omens", Nail Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
"Foundation", Isaac Asimov
"Rising Tide", John Barry
"Water for Gotham", Gerard T. Koeppel

I know there are at least a couple of others I'm forgetting at the moment. It's no spectacular truism, but it does point to the fact that an agile mind depends on keeping it well fed...and don't worry, the queue of books waiting for attention is a bit broader than the previous list, so the diet is properly balanced.

I could use a good, interesting history book right now actually.