Blog

by John B.

A new email tool app for The Unified Group

As a national organization for independent HVAC companies, The Unified Group provides great resources to help their members prosper. Shared best practices, education and training are key components of their services.

We’ve worked with this great group for more than a decade.  Recently, we began working on an email tool for members to utilize technology to communicate with each other. With this email tool, members can post a question and have the question sent to people who are part of a specific list. They can in turn reply to take part of the conversation. What’s great about this solution is that it works in two ways. Questions and replies are automatically added to their website.  So members can always log in and contribute. The solution also works with email. They can easily ask a question or reply via email. All correspondence is automatically added to the website and all messaging is automatically sent to the inbox of the appropriate people.  It’s a great way to communicate that offers flexibility and functionality. 

by John B.

We're all aboard with the new Basecamp

As a firm that is working on many projects at one time, having a tool to help you manage your workflow is important. At echo, that tool has been Basecamp. Developed by Chicago based 37 Signals, this popular online project management system provides a simple, straightforward way for us to stay on top of our projects.  Even better, our clients are on Basecamp too.

This week, 37 Signals released a new version of Basecamp.  It’s now even better. We might even call it awesome. When they thought about redesigning Basecamp, it’s clear that ease of use was first and foremost. It truly is an amazingly fast, easy to use product that embraces the same philosophies we believe in such as an intuitive interface wrapped in a beautiful design.

by John B.

Getting ready for the release of the iPad 3

At echo, we’re itching to get our hands on the new iPad 3. As part of our web development, we’ve been taking advantage of the retina display technology for a while on the iPhone. We love how it makes the type ultra crisp and images sharp.

As we look at the upcoming announcement next week, we’ve already began playing with responsive programming which will take advantage of the retina display on the new iPad 3 (we know it’s not official yet). Stay tuned as we get ready for a very exciting week for Apple fans.

by John B.

TDI Nationwide selects echo for web app

TDI Nationwide has selected echo for the development of a custom web application for employee safety tests. With this online application, an employee will be able to take an extensive test online related to safety. Once submitted, the web app will grade the test, mark any wrong answers and issue a pass or fail grade. The test will be kept in a secure back end database and results will be emailed to specific personnel within TDI Nationwide.

We are excited to take on this project. With the grading feature, TDI staff members will save a substantial amount of time and errors from grading by hand will be eliminated. We will also provide a convenient portal for organizing, sorting and filtering tests. It’s a great project.