CurdBee mobile was always on the plan, but it was on the back burner as we had to focus on other essential improvements. However, there came a time when a mobile version became that essential need. The first major call we had to make was whether we should go for native mobile application(s) or make a web optimised application or even both. We took our time to analyze all the pros and cons with these approaches and finally came to a conclusion on the path we should take.

We built a couple of prototypes using different platforms such as Sencha, jQtouch and jQuery Mobile during our initial experiments before finally settling with jQuery Mobile. The main reason for picking jQuery mobile was its compatibility across different mobile platforms. It took us a while to put together, and today we are releasing our first take on the CurdBee mobile experience.

At present, CurdBee Mobile is optimized for Time and Expense Tracking, as those are the features which most of our users will need on the go. Invoices and estimates can be viewed as well, with support for creating and sending them coming soon.

Try CurdBee on the go and let us know how you like it!

CurdBee Plus becomes Expansion Pack

Starting from now, we are going to rename ‘CurdBee Plus’ as ‘Expansion Pack’. Some of you were a bit confused with CurdBee PRO and Plus. As you may know, this add-on brings some essential enhancements such as the option to remove CurdBee branding, use your own domain and add taxes, discounts etc. to your account. We think the name ‘Expansion Pack’ sums up this important add-on very well.

Add-ons are now just a click away

CurdBee is one of the very few solutions with a truly on-demand pricing model: our free account comes with all the essential features to make your invoicing workflow perfect, which can then be extended with several add-ons to meet your exact needs. The new ‘Upgrade’ section is where that customization takes place, and we have improved it to make this process much easier.

This was necessary because we kept growing our list of add-ons (a lot more in the pipeline too) and also introduced CurdBee BIG which brought more complications to the original workflow. After weeks of careful planning, implementation and thorough testing we finally nailed it down to what you see under the new ‘Upgrade’ link. So go ahead and start customising your CurdBee experience now!

Introducing user profiles

With this update we are introducing a new user profile in addition to the business profile we had before. Why? We are working on several more ideas such as multi-user access, client accounts, etc. which will make CurdBee a comprehensive platform for SMEs, and we think this is just the right stepping stone in that direction. Stay tuned for more information about these developments in the coming weeks.

Messages

This new addition will work as a message archive featuring all the updates from feature releases to system alerts related to your account. If you are a user who visits CurdBee less often, you will find this handy as you can quickly run through the recent changes which may have taken place since your last visit.

Tweaking Settings and CSS3 Awesomeness

While making the above changes, we also made some improvements to the ‘Settings’ section by making it even simpler. The web geeks among you will notice that we now have our buttons done with CSS3. Although the look and feel remains the same as before, this has made the code leaner and load times faster.

We hope you will enjoy these changes. As always, please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions with us.

The much anticipated payment service Stripe was opened to public last week. Compared to other payment services, accepting credit card payments with Stripe is unbelievably easy.

You don’t have to worry about setting up Metchant Accounts, unexpected charges (they only charge you 2.9% + 30 cents per successful charge) or data portability. Stripe will take care of everything for you and transfer money to your bank account at the end of the day.

Until now, Stripe was mainly popular among developers; since it required some programming skills to get up and running. But starting today, anyone using CurdBee can start accepting credit card payments for their invoices via Stripe. All you need is to enable the Stripe module and provide the Stripe’s publishable and secret keys. Now who says running an online business is difficult?

Stripe module for CurdBee is available free for BIG users. Others can enable it for just $2 per month. For a step-by-step guide on enabling the Stripe module, read this support article.

Please note Stripe is currently available only in US; but they are promising to expand to other regions soon.

A while back, we introduced CurdBee Push Notifications, a way for you stay on top of your CurdBee account no matter where you were. However, with Notifo shutting down, we had to find an alternative messaging system for you guys. While we were at it, we made some big changes!

Today, we’re revamping our entire alerts system, allowing you to get your account updates via Email or SMS and even have it sent straight to your iPhone, iPad or Desktop via Boxcar. Under this new alerts system, you will receive notifications both when an invoice is viewed or paid, and when an estimate is viewed or accepted.

Here’s a quick rundown of the services we now offer.

Email Alerts are now enabled by default. You can turn them off, of course, but we think they’re useful to receive.

SMS Alerts is a $2/month module that gives you unlimited notifications to your mobile number. This service is currently only available to users from the United States and Canada.

Push Notifications for iPhone/iPad/Desktop via Boxcar is available as a free module for all users. Use it to receive quick CurdBee Alerts on your mobile device or computer desktop.

So, what are you waiting for? Have a look at the support article and take these new features for a spin!

Amit is one of those special people who came forward to help us when we were getting ready to launch CurdBee few years back. We just dropped him a mail inviting him to check CurdBee and share his thoughts, possible improvements we can do, etc. But we never thought he would even have time left in his schedule to pay attention to us, we being total strangers. But he did and replied back within matter of hours.

Today we think its our turn to help this wonderful entrepreneur, who’s fighting against Leukemia and is looking for a bone marrow doner from South Asian descent. If you are one of them who’s living in US, you can surely help Amit. Not a South Asian descent living in US? Still you can spread the word and we salute all those efforts.

Tony Bacigalupo wrote a detailed post about Amit and here’s an excerpt,

” Amit is the founder of the endlessly wonderful DIY photography site Photojojo. He’s the cofounder of Jelly, a casual coworking community which started in New York in 2006 and spread to over 60 cities worldwide, acting as the starting point for countless coworking communities. The original Jelly in New York was my first coworking experience, and my firsthand inspiration to dedicate myself to what would become New Work City.

Amit has leukemia. He was diagnosed only two weeks ago, but already so much has happened. He’s undergoing chemotherapy now at Connecticut’s Smilow Cancer Center in Yale-New Haven Hospital, near his family.”

Read the post and see how to contribute: http://tonybgoode.tumblr.com/post/11098100728/lets-help-amit-defeat-leukemia

Where did B Labs come from? What is your vision for the company?

We want to change the way mobile platforms are designed by making the virtualization layer as standard in all mobile devices. In servers, virtualization is well recognized, but in mobile devices, there is either an operating system, baremetal software, or real-time software. A hypervisor is a layer that brings all of them into one runtime.

In a competitive and yet highly technical field, how does B Labs differentiate itself from its competition?

There are several hypervisors out there for mobile platforms. All of them are focused on a proprietary niche. Today there is no wide acceptance of any solution. We want to use a strategy that starts small, but eventually influences the industry to adopt the technology.

What is the biggest hurdle facing the virtualization industry of today?

The biggest hurdle is that a hypervisor is seen as an additional layer among the aforementioned hardware and the OS, and current vendors could not make a sufficiently compelling value proposition to ignite the change.

What is the best part about working in the field?

Best part is that we might have a modest chance to make a change in a deep technology area that affects the mobile industry.

Why did you come to Vesess for your website revamp? What did you like about the experience, and what can we do better next time?

I think Vesess design talent is top notch. I believe with the budget we had you did the best, but if we had a greater budget, one step up would be also collecting information from us that would make our side less of a blocking factor in progress.

Of course, before you begin using this feature, you’ll need to head to Settings > System Preferences and set when your Fiscal year begins. This is a new setting that we’ve introduced and will default to January when you first login.

You should now see a Year-to-date summary on your CurdBee dashboard. We hope this will give you a quick and easy run down of the year in progress and motivate you to keep at it, even when the going is tough!

Third party gateways and Authorize.net emulation

Many third party gateways also allow you to use the Authorize.net architecture to process payments, and as of today, you can begin using them with CurdBee. To enable the emulation of third party gateways, visit your Authorize.net Module settings page, click the tick box next to Use a gateway with a Authorize.net emulator, paste your emulator URL in the Emulator URL field and click Save Changes. All transactions will now be forwarded to it. To test emulation, you can try a gateway like BluePay.

Create Recurring Profile from Invoices and Estimates

A requested feature, this update allows any invoice or estimate to be converted into a recurring profile quickly and easily. It’s just one of those things that we hope will make your workflow better, allowing you to spend less time invoicing and more time living!

Oh, we’ve also fixed a few minor issues.

Finished Recurring Profiles now show up as Completed
A bug in Recurring Profiles caused them to do something unfortunate in that they used to send invoices out for the number of occurrences specified and then just stop, leaving a future date specified as the Next Billing Date. This was confusing indeed, and more than a few users had problems with it. With this CurdBee update, this issue is now fixed, and completed Recurring Profiles should show up clearly as Completed.

Swiss German Number/Date Formats Added
As requested by our Swiss German users, we’ve added a new number format (100’000.00) and a new date format (25.08.2011) as well. Enjoy!

Today, we’ve rolled out changes that remove even that. Starting now, it’s possible to make it completely yours. From account name to domain and login page, a fully unbranded online invoicing solution is something every CurdBee Plus user can now enjoy for just $5/month.

This feature is also a precursor to some new templating features we hope to roll out in the months ahead. Await more customisability from your favourite online billing solution!

A WordPress deployment, the site which Vesess delivered allows the organization to create, edit and maintain its own content, a must for an outfit of this nature. Integrating easily with the NGO’s social media initiatives, the new site facilitates the quick spread of The Healing Tree content via services like Twitter and Facebook. A straightforward solution to the Non-profit’s requirements, Vesess was delighted to provide a clean, good looking website that The Healing Tree could call home.

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