Hillside Meditations

This is one web application I am playing with at the moment (next to trying to find some sort of order in what mobile phones are offered at the moment) - by 37signals.
37signals are the people who offer Basecamp , as well - they also offer ta-da-list, web-based to-do-lists that can be used individually or shared.

Backpack is a special kind of web application; Continuous Computing describes it as a “Web-based personal-information-management-slash-social-workspace tool”, which “lets you create pages corresponding to projects or topics, create lists and notes, and upload files and photos. Your collection of pages is then accessible to you or anyone else you authorize from any browser.” “Backpack is to Basecamp what TypePad is to MovableType: a somewhat dumbed-down, individual version of a more powerful tool”

I searched around a bit and found this Usenet posting describing how Jeffrey Windsor uses Backpack to organize his family. And a very favorable review on To-Done.com describing Backpack as “a nice, clear and simple online application to help keep yourself organized and all of your information in one spot online.” Being “flexible” and “plain practical” “you can store notes, to-do lists, images, reminders and a whole lot more in an easily accessible place online. I know I’ve already made quite a bit of use of their reminder system, which will send you an e-mail or SMS to your phone.”

GoodBlimey lists it among the top 10 web applications (see the others, as well, it is an interesting list).


If you still do not have a really concrete idea of what Backpack really is, though, - welcome, same problem here.
I first read about Backpack on O`Reilly Radar , where Marc Hedlund reports on his use of backpack and a Palm Treo as a check in / check out source control system, followed by a lively discussion on the pros and cons of Backpack use.

I was intrigued and subscribed to the $5/month basic Backpack membership (there are free accounts, as well, and three levels of paid subscription) in order to play around with it a bit.
As I understand it so far, it is a central place for everyone to store and access all kind of relevant information - well compatible with my own wishes and ideas for “online-storage” and becoming independet (digitally) from my own computer-gear at home. So far it is a good idea. What I have not really understood so far is, how Backpack (apart from an acceptable front-end) is really different from services like Streamload, Filegenie or BigVault (perhaps apart form the prices) or my own version of online storage which mainly consisted in finding a friendly host at ITH with lots of storage space amd web hosting for quite an acceptable price.
With all the praise I have read about it I am sure I have not yet found out really clever ways of making best use of Backpack and therefore am not yet able to fully judge its value (for me).
In that context I was somehow glad to read that Raymond of Need More Designs seems to think and feel along similar lines, pointing out that” it is yet hard to categorize Backpack - not a blog, not Flickr, not a wiki, not basecamp. We will yet have to find clever ways to use it.” Maybe (my two cents) it is the social component, allowing Flickr-like qualified sharing and tagging of files, which makes Backpack really different from just some webspace of your own.

Having said all this I still like the look and feel of Backpack and will follow the 37signals´ Signal vs. Noise weblog, where questions like these are being discussed.
I am going to try out the examples given on the Backpack site for further inspiration and I would be happy for some feedback by my valued readers and visitors on Backpack-experiences and -ideas of their own.

Lately Backpack provides mobile access for many PDAs, mobile phones, as well (slim HTML pages).

One last quotation, and by now I have unfortunately forgotten who it is from (please take my apologies): “Or maybe Backpack will grow into something bigger. I guess I’m willing to pay my $5 for a while to find out.”

webservice, backpack, app, PIM, organizer, organize, 37signals, knowledgemanagement

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 24th, 2005 at 11:05 pm and is filed under regular. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.