Posts Tagged ‘highrise

08
May

37signals & Lypp VoIP Mashup Expanded

By Erik Lagerway 3 Comments
Categories: Ruby on Rails, VoIP Mashup and voip api
Tags: , , , , , ,

I have been talking with the guys at 37signals and we have decided to open up the Lypp + Highrise Mashup contest to include all of the 37signals APIs. This means that developers can integrate Lypp with Campfire, Basecamp, Backpack, Writeboards et al!

We think this presents a unique opportunity to create some very exciting telephony features for the 37signals group of applications. Some examples might include:

* Dynamic calling via Campfire for one-to-one or one-to-many calls. Imagine chatting with your colleagues and at the click of a button have a Toll Free number and PIN presented where everyone could call in and be in a conference call. Going 1 step further we could present a link that everyone could click on where everyone who clicked on that link is presented with a dialog that requests their email and telephone. They are called by the system and all are soon in a one-to-one or a conference call.

* Using the Backpack + Lypp API could really open up a new channel for communication within Backpack. Imagine scheduling a weekly call where the entire team is called wherever they are with the call being recorded and added to the assets/files when the call is done.

* Basecamp is another huge opportunity for collaboration. Projects calls could be managed with greater efficiency and again the Campfire ad hoc calling concept could play a roll here as well.

* Writeboards would have hot linked phone numbers that could be clicked and called.

* Emails could have hot links that could invite users into a call or allow them to call the phone number in the signature with one click.

These are just a few examples as to how to use the various 37signals APIs with the Lypp API to create a new and exciting mashup!

The contest will be extended to May 25 so get your applications in before that!

Best app:

  • $3000 Apple gift certificate
  • 20,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $1800)
  • 12 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $1800)

Runner-up:

  • $1500 Apple gift certificate
  • 10,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $900)
  • 6 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $900)

2nd Runner-up:

  • $500 Apple gift certificate
  • 5,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $450)
  • 3 month subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $450

Here’s how to enter:

  1. Fill out the Lypp partner sign-up form.
  2. You will receive your Lypp API credentials soon thereafter.
  3. Authentication for the various 37signals APIs requires that you have an existing user account.
  4. Start Mashing!

Here’s how to win:

  1. Make it useful.
  2. Make it functional.
  3. Make it simple.
25
Apr

Lypp Developer API Quick Start

By mdeering 0 Comments
Categories: Lypp, Ruby on Rails, VoIP, VoIP Mashup, lypp.com and voip api
Tags: , , ,

1.) You have signed up and received your developer account information for our partner/developer environment.

2.) You have given our API documentation a good read.

3.) Your still not sure where to start?

The following example is about the steps to make your first call using the API so I will use curl to keep things language agnostic.

Confirm that your account information works and that your information is correctly entered.


curl \
-u username:password \
https://lypp.com/users/{user_id}.xml

Create your conference.


curl \
  -u username:password \
  -H 'Accept: application/xml' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/xml' \
  -d '

        Development Team Meeting
        2008-08-24T20:19:34Z
      ' \
  -X POST \
  https://lypp.com/users/{user_id}/conferences

On that last curl call your conference will have been created and and you should now have the id of the conference ({conference_id} to reference when adding attendees. Lets take a look at the return for that call before we start adding our attendees.



  {conference_id}
  2008-04-23T22:18:56Z
  2008-04-23T22:18:57Z
  1
  pending
  2008-08-24T14:19:34-06:00

  false
  Development Team Meeting
  false
  false
  false

  0000000
  000000000

All the boolean values you see returned there are also optional arguments that can be passed in while creating the conference or changed after conference creation, including while a call in in-progress. Now all we need to do is add our other attendees to the call.


curl \
-u username:password \
-H ‘Accept: application/xml’ \
-H ‘Content-Type: application/xml’ \
-d ‘

Mom
555-555-5555
‘ \
-X POST \
https://lypp.com/users/{user_id}/conferences/{conference_id}/attendees

Mom likes to check in my Development meetings :)

14
Apr

37signals VoIP Mashup with Lypp

By Erik Lagerway 6 Comments
Categories: Conference Call, Gaboogie, Lypp, Ruby on Rails, VoIP, VoIP Mashup, conference calling, lypp.com and voip api
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The mashup doors are officially open. Come get some!

We are less than one day away from opening the doors to the 37signals VoIP Mashup with Lypp. Tomorrow at noon (Pacific) the contest starts.

Developers, build a mashup application or mashup your existing application using both the Highrise API and the Lypp API and win stuff. This is a great way to show off your Ruby-fu and win some great prizes.

Best app:

  • $3000 Apple gift certificate
  • 20,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $1800)
  • 12 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $1800)

Runner-up:

  • $1500 Apple gift certificate
  • 10,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $900)
  • 6 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $900)

2nd Runner-up:

  • $500 Apple gift certificate
  • 5,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $450)
  • 3 month subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $450

Here’s how to enter:

  1. Fill out the Lypp partner sign-up form.
  2. You will receive your Lypp API credentials soon thereafter.
  3. Authentication for the Highrise API requires that you have an existing Highrise user account.
  4. Start Mashing!

Here’s how to win:

  1. Make it useful.
  2. Make it functional.
  3. Make it simple.

Submissions will be accepted up until May 10th. Winners will be posted here 3rd week in May. We will also try to interview the winners and post the recording here as well.

For assistance with the Lypp API please post your comments below. If you have any comments/problems/issues with the Highrise API you can post them on the 37signals API Forum.

Good Luck to all!

by erik | http://blog.lypp.com

31
Mar

Highrise + Lypp Mashup: April 15th

By Erik Lagerway 0 Comments
Categories: 37signals, Click to talk, Conference Call, Lypp, Ruby on Rails, Telephony API, VoIP Mashup, api, click to call, conference calling, highrise, lypp.com and voip api
Tags: , , , ,

+

We have had some great early  feedback on this mashup which has motivated us to make a few updates to the API prior to opening the mashup doors . We are improving upon a few things, including…

- Better user creation and management
- Updating conferences with single REST call with multiple variables, instead of multiple REST calls

Due to these and other updates we are pushing back the entry date for the 37 Signals Highrise and Gaboogie Lypp Mashup to April 15th. We will be posting another announcement here on that day inviting everyone who wants a piece of the action to sign up.

In the meantime, go check out the APIs: Highrise, Lypp
The original post.

26
Feb

37signals and Gaboogie Mashup Contest

By Erik Lagerway 9 Comments
Categories: 37signals, Conference Call, Gaboogie, Lypp, Ruby on Rails, VoIP Mashup, api, conference calling and highrise
Tags: , , , , , ,

+

We have been exchanging some ideas with the guys at 37signals and we have come up with what we think is a very cool mashup contest. Here is what we came up with…

Developers, build a mashup application or mashup your existing application using both the Highrise API and the Lypp API and win stuff.

Best app:

  • $3000 Apple gift certificate
  • 20,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $1800)
  • 12 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $1800)

Runner-up:

  • $1500 Apple gift certificate
  • 10,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $900)
  • 6 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $900)

2nd Runner-up:

  • $500 Apple gift certificate
  • 5,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $450)
  • 3 month subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $450)

Application for entries: April 1 to May 1
Winners announced: May 15

We are giving you plenty of time to think about what you want to create using the Lypp and Highrise APIs. Some examples might be; Integrated Conference Calling within Highrise, Scheduled Calls, Click to Call Contacts in Highrise, Call-back Task links, just to name a few.

We will be posting more information about the contest in the next couple of weeks but that shouldn’t stop you from taking a look at the APIs right away. If you have any preliminary questions or comments please send them over: mashup@lypp.com or post them below.

25
Feb

37signals’ New Backpack

By Erik Lagerway 0 Comments
Categories: 37signals, Conference Call, Lypp, Ruby on Rails, VoIP Mashup, backpack and highrise
Tags: , , , ,

The new Backpack has been unveiled and it’s a pretty significant step up. We use Backpack and Highrise here on a daily basis, these new Backpack features are already having a positive impact on our business.

Now if only someone would integrate Lypp into Highrise I wouldn’t have to swivel chair to make a quick call or create a conference call with my prospects and clients.

21
Mar

CRM Hell

By Erik Lagerway 0 Comments
Categories: Conference Call
Tags: , , , , , , ,

So after posting about my experience with Highrise, a client I'm doing some consulting for asked me to assist in cleaning up their Netsuite implementation. Netsuite is obviously a far more complex app than Highrise, in that it deals with every aspect of the customer lifecycle — from sales force automation, pipeline management, quotes and orders through to customer service, trouble-ticketing, financial accounting… I expect, for a large fee, their professional services team can get it to do your laundry.

But even though it's complex, why does the interface have to reflect this? As a neophyte user it would in most cases be literally impossible to figure out the functionality, which means expensive training and frustrated users, many of whom are sales people who should be outside getting orders not inside learning software.

There's a great article here addressing the challenges of interface design. I was particularly interested in the points the author, Mike Padilla, makes about the balance between too much information on the screen so that the user can't process everything he sees and too little information so that the user needs to work too hard to find the functionality she needs.

Netsuite is firmly in the too much information category, and benefits from the extent to which users have been conditioned to expect complexity, and those making buying decisions budget for near-endless professional services and training. There's all kinds of song and dance on their corporate site about the use of AJAX in their interface, but that's missing the point on an epic scale: I don't care if I can drag and drop in the browser window if I can't figure out how to use the app!

Not that Netsuite are the only ones. I've used salesforce.com and a few other competing applications and found the same story there. I'm fairly tech-savvy but it's just too frustrating to figure out the inconsistent navigation and arcane labelling of functions. There's a list here of some more intuitive alternatives, but I don't think any of these has fundamentally solved the user experience challenge.

My primary hope about the promise of Web 2.0 (yes, yes, I know it's a terribly cliched term these days) is that there will be a from-the-ground-up demand for better user experiences as they are delivered at the consumer and lightweight business application level. We've all been sadly mistaken in expecting the supply side to deliver what we want, so let's keep our fingers crossed that this demand trickles upmarket.

19
Mar

Highrise is live. Another killer 2.0 app?

By Erik Lagerway 0 Comments
Categories: Conference Call
Tags: , , , , ,

9:05 pm in Calgary. Don't know yet. I'm signing up right now in the other tab of my browser…

9:08 pm. First nice thing: I logged in with my OpenID and it worked like a charm.

9:09 pm. First not-so-nice thing: Can't import people from a csv file, and it didn't alert me to a duplicate contact.

9:15 pm. Would be nice to have a go with the Cases feature, but I'll have to upgrade to the paid version for that. Not convinced yet.

9:32 pm. OK, I caved in record time. I need the cases feature and have signed up for a Plus account.

I am, however, seriously annoyed that I didn't get a free 30-day trial on the Plus version, because I upgraded from the Free one. Great, 27 minutes and I lost $49.

10:07 pm. Now I've gone from seriously annoyed to seriously impressed. David Heinemeir Hansson emailed me directly to offer me a free month. Let's add customer service to the list of things these guys are really good at.

Update, March 20th. I've been using Highrise quite a bit today. Really starting to see the power of the application, but it's quite onerous having to add contacts one by one. Just discovered I can export everything from my Apple Address Book into one vCard, and then import that into Highrise. That's not bad, I guess.

Lots of positive press for the 37signals guys so far. 

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