ReadWriteWeb

Network Hippo is a new startup taking direct aim at the open source and SaaS CRMs so popular with small business. On top of contact management, it adds the ability to handle documents, manage tasks and business deals, and rate the strength, importance and opportunities for each relationship listed in your network.

Network Hippo is a project of Mercury Grove, which has also made other business software, including a CRM. Network Hippo's niche is fine-grained control of business relationships, rather than just a one-size-fits-all pipeline of leads. But unlike social CRM offerings, Network Hippo is something of an odd duck. It's not just a CRM, but it's also not really connected to the social Web.

It might not have a Gmail gadget and an iPhone app, but reminder service Task.fm is a good alternative to popular productivity tool Remember The Milk.

If you don't need all the other bells and whistles, Task.fm is a good choice. The user experience is clean and simple, and the reminders by email, phone or SMS work like a charm. This week it added contacts and groups, yet another strong basic feature integrated into its simple reminder service.

Liquid Planner, the online project manager we first profiled last year while it was in beta, has just released a new feature called Project Portals.

Similar to the project edition recently released by PBworks, these Portals allows for secure access to selected projects for clients and stakeholders. In addition to viewing progress on an undertaking, portal members can comment and collaborate on a project.

By default, task managers are not necessarily the most exciting applications. ReQall, however, is not only one of the better iPhone task managers, but is also trying to make a business out of it by launching reQall Pro today. For $2.99 a month, reQall Pro users get a large number of new features, including Outlook and Google Calendar integration, geotagged events, SMS alerts, and integration with contacts that are already stored on an iPhone (iTunes link) or BlackBerry.