Alarm

So I just found a bug in 3.5.12 that I missed during my normal testing, which means I am pulling it from auto-update. Basically, the playlist doesn’t advance past the first song when the alarm is going off, meaning if you sleep through your first song (as I often do), you probably wont wake up and be late for work/school/whatever as I was this morning. I removed something that was serving a purpose that it wasn’t supposed to serve in the first place. I’ll fix it ASAP and get 3.5.14 out there. I’m shooting for tomorrow but it may be as late as this upcoming Tuesday (June 29).

If you’ve already updated (about 350 of you), I suggest either using 3.5.12 RC 3 (before it was broken) or using the 3.5.12 release in tandem with a backup alarm clock.

By the way, yes, I am skipping 3.5.13. I feel like that’s just asking for trouble.

Alarm 3.5.12 RC3 download:Here

The RC3 build is basically the final build before I made some last minute optimizations which as it turns out broke the final release.

I just uploaded Alarm 3.5.12. Get it on the downloads page.

I’ve updated the release candidate. This contains the Windows Media Player playback functionality. Test thoroughly, as I just wrote it an hour ago and it might not work properly.

Download Alarm 3.5.12 RC 2

Hey everyone, I know I haven’t said a whole lot lately, but I have a release candidate of Alarm 3.5.12 ready for download. I need extensive testing done on it as I have made a ton of changes over the past 6 months, most of which haven’t been used a lot. So please email me if you have any issues with the RC by using the “Report Bug” link in the software.

Download 3.5.12 RC 1 Now

Final release coming in a couple weeks.

Yeah, so I kinda failed on the April 2 release date, but I have been actively developing Alarm 4 and it is coming along nicely. It’s just a huge project and I’ve been ridiculously busy with other aspects of my life. I have 2 out of the 3 main pieces pretty much wrapped up so the first test versions will be headed out soon (looking like May/June at this point).

I’m planning on releasing another patch to v3.5 soon that will include a few changes.

This is what I’m planning as of now for v3.5.12:
-Beeping media file (brings beep support to computers without system speakers)
-24 hour clock option
-New WMP-based media playing functionality (maybe)
-Some other minor enhancements/code cleanup

Anyways, that’s where it stands as of now.

Today I put together an aggressive roadmap to get Alarm 4 out the door by April 2. While the dates aren’t set in stone, I will be working diligently on meeting the dates that I have planned. Here’s a summary of my release goals:

Alpha 1: February 15, 2010 – Main design goals completed (Scheduler)
Alpha 2: February 22, 2010 – Secondary goals completed (Startup, Wake from Sleep)
Alpha 3: March 1, 2010 – Other goals completed (New update system, Theming, Media Search)
Beta 1: March 8, 2010 – Bug Fixes, code cleanup
Beta 2: March 15, 2010 – Bug Fixes, code cleanup
RC 1: March 19, 2010 – Bug Fixes and Finalization
RC 2: March 26, 2010 – Final Fixes and Changes
4.0.0: April 2, 2010

As I have done in the past, the first patch version (4.0.1) will be released about a week later with following updates about every month or so. The alpha versions will go out only to testers. If you would like to become a tester, please send an email to alarmsupport@russell-patterson.com and I will add you to my list.

EDITED ON JANUARY 31, 2010: Pushed back a couple dates due to unforeseen issues.

I am pleased to be releasing Alarm 3.5.11. This version, while originally deemed a major update, has been downgraded minor update due to an overly-complicated update process between 3.5.10 and 3.5.11. So, the new settings system is delayed for Alarm 4.0, as originally intended. Having the new system in earlier 3.5.11 builds though has allowed me to fix a few issues with the system.

Changes to 3.5.11 are as follows:
Addition: 2,3,4,6,8 Hour and Custom Quick Alarms. Thanks to Missy for the suggestion.
Addition: Alarm 4 About dialog added.
Change: Removed one of the first startup dialogs. (The thanks dialog)
Change: Code refactoring
Change: Automatically Displays Morning Reminder when Alarm goes off.
Change: Some changes to the default settings.
Addition: Release Notes Viewer
Change: Check for Updates doesn’t run on first startup.
Addition: University of Akron (Grad School) Color Scheme.
Change: Adjust Volume now disabled when media isn’t selected.

Download Here

This will hopefully be the last version of Alarm 3.5. Alarm 4.0 is coming, I promise.

Also, Merry Christmas to everyone!

I’ve changed the main Alarm support email address.

You can now receive support by sending a message to:
alarmsupport@russell-patterson.com

—
I’ve decided that in order to have a more consistent experience for those who would like to add a link to the Alarm installer on their website, I will have a permanent location for the latest version of Alarm. This location will always be available as long as this site is online so that download links will not be broken and people are guaranteed to get the absolute latest version of Alarm when they download it.

The address is:

http://alarm.russell-patterson.com/alarm-latest.exe

Please use this address whenever you link to the installer.

—
The update process for 3.1.7-3.5.7 has been changed slightly so that I no longer have to support the older update service. Basically, users of those versions will be told that there is a new version available without actually saying what that version is. Once they download the installer, they will be able to see what they are installing before they actually agree to installing it. This makes it easier to make sure those with older versions of Alarm are presented with the absolute latest updates.

That’s about it. Thanks for your continued support.

If you like Alarm, please consider joining the fan page on Facebook.

Click Here to Visit Alarm @ Facebook

There you will get notifications of updates delivered to your news feed as well as the opportunity to directly interact with the developer. Suggestions are always welcome!

Today I noticed that a lot of people are still using pre-3.5.8 versions of Alarm so I decided to again support those versions. Please upgrade them to 3.5.10! I just set up the auto-update feature so that you can now upgrade from those versions again.