37signals has turned on SSL for all apps and accounts. SSL is now required.

So, you will probably see a 403 error when you sync if you don’t have SSL turned on. Simply go into Packrat’s preferences and turn on SSL.

I know you haven’t seen that title in awhile. Packrat 1.7.9 is now available. I fixed a bug that mostly affected users of the free trial. It didn’t allow you to see the contents of first 4 pages like it should have and it you could register once you bought a license.

So if you had problems before, please download another trial and give it another go.

Once I get all my iPhone projects squared away I’ll be finishing up Packrat 2 which has been waiting for a release date and final polish for awhile.

Just released a new update that addresses the new rate-limiting of the Backpack API. No more 503 errors when syncing. Get it here.

I have one customer who is getting a 503 error from the Backpack API when they sync. A lot of people should be running into this issue but I have not heard from anybody else. If you are having this problem, please let me know.

I believe it is caused by a new behavior of the API that puts on limit on the number of requests you can make to it in 5 seconds. Syncing can potentially make many requests in 5 seconds and I think that’s what the problem is.

Ryan Boswell writes:

Unfortunately the one application I would like to see that I can’t seem to find is something like PackRat but for Basecamp instead of Backpack

Read the rest here.

I’ve been thinking of taking a different approach with Packrat’s user interface. I could go ahead and do this in Packrat 2 or wait till Packrat 3. The approach would be to make Packrat look like most information manager apps on the Mac which all look kind of like Mail. Each Backpack page would be treated like a folder. Selecting a page (or folder) would display a list of all the items (notes, images, etc.) on the page (in the folder). Then selecting an item would display that item.

I kind of like this approach. What do you think?

I love the Mac Indie community. As a thank you, I would like to give a free copy of Packrat to any Mac indie developer who would like one. Just email me the link to your website where your software is on display and I’ll send you a coupon.

In this ever increasing web accessible world, does Packrat and other offline desktop web app clients still make sense? I like to know what you think on this as well.

Just released 1.7.7. This one fixes problems with converting Textile nested lists and paragraph attributes. Get it here.