In recent weeks I have become a huge fan of 37signals’ Backpack. Backpack is hard to describe.
It is an electronic organizer, a group calendar, a to-do list keep and reminder, an idea drop-box, file-storage, brainstormer, internal messenger and a whole lot more.
Lifehacker put it this way in January—
If getting your shi*t together is high on your resolution list and you live online, Backpack – a free-form notes, to-do and calendar webapp – is the place to do it. Backpack is slick and useful for organizing your 4th of July barbecue or stowing away research for your next car purchase.
and elsewhere
it’s all the fun of a wiki without any of the learning curve plus todo-lists, reminders, file storage and mobile access all rolled into one.
I came to Backpack to solve a specific work issue/need but am finding it to be an incredibly powerful and useful web-based application. I now use it to communicate with my colleagues and reduce the amount of “telephone” we play when information is incorrectly transmitted. I use it to collect pictures, manage a to do list, store files and documents for easy access anywhere anytime. I used it to collect ideas, information, slides and random thoughts as I prepared a talk I gave at a conference last week. Best of all, it is not only powerful but it is easy to use. In fact, it is the first time I pushed my colleagues toward a new technology that they did not initially curse me about.
The problem is- while Backpack’s pages are fully accessible from an iPhone or iPod Touch they are a bit too difficult to manipulate easily.
Fortunately, some incredibly smart folks have created some amazing “add-ons” that make Backpack one of the most iPhone-friendly and powerful applications around.
Justin Michael at violetpixel.com as created iBackpack. iBackpack is code that optimizes Backpack pages for viewing and use on an iPhone. He has posted screen caps on his site that show the difference.
They take Backpack from this…
………………………to this………………………
………………………and this………………………
………………………and this………………………
Justin’s code make each page easily accessible, fully readable. It makes adding, editing and changing the information on a page a breeze. It makes Backpack one of, if not the, best iPhone organizational tools around.
But…
that left an addition issue. Once I optimized my pages using iBackpack I created direct links to some of my most-used Backpack pages on my home screen. They work great but look downright ugly.
Luckily Grettir Asmundarson at tinypineapple.com created a lovely little iPhone icon
and has shared it with anyone who wants it. 
Now Backpack works great AND looks great on my iPhone. It has become my most important organizational application in a short period of time and I have no doubt that will only increase as 37signals and other creative folks find new and powerful uses for it.
A free, but limited Backpack account is available from 37signals.
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TAGS: iPhone web apps
