37Signals' new product Basecamp seems to be a very useful project management tool for web developers and such like. With a similar hosting and payment model as Typepad, it gives creative companies the means to create a secure online environment between them and client; notifying - in a weblog format - the client about the project’s progress, keeping track of key dates along the project timeline and managing to-do lists of tasks to be completed.

As a freelance developer, I can envisage how something like this could be really useful for both myself and the client and I’ve been thinking about implementing something similar - a kind of secure client weblog - for a new site I have in the pipeline. Basecamp, with all its excellent features, has made me reconsider whether coding something myself - which would be nowhere near as feature rich - is really worth it.