Alarm

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.

I’ve received a report of a bug in Alarm 3.5.10 which causes the program to freeze when it is sounding and is switching between songs on the playlist. If anyone is dealing with this problem, please send an email to alarmsupport@russell-patterson.com immediately with a description of your computer system specifications. Obviously I want to fix this as soon as possible.

Thanks.

Hey everyone, today I’m releasing Alarm 3.5.10. This version contains a couple of bug fixes to the app launcher and windows update functionality.

Go get it.

I found a minor bug with Alarm 3.5.9 so I’m going to be releasing an update soon. I haven’t decided if it’s going to be 3.5.9.1 or 3.5.10 yet though. It literally has only about 2-3 lines of code changed from 3.5.9 so I’m leaning towards the 3.5.9.1 tag. I’m testing it heavily to stamp out any other bugs I can find so I don’t have to keep maintaining this version. If I find other bugs, I’ll go with 3.5.10.

That’s all for now. Look for the next version of 3.5 soon.

Today, I’m releasing Alarm 3.5.9. This build is 99.9% the same as RC 2.

New features since 3.5.8 include:
-Volume control – control the volume of Alarm separately from the system volume.
-Focus Time – choose whether the alarm time takes the place of the current time when the alarm is set.

It is available from the update service for versions since 3.5 and will be made available for download from this site as soon as I complete this post.

In other, other news, the update service of previous Alarm versions will be removed based on the following schedule:
-Alarm 3.1.7-3.1.8 – Update support already ended.
-Alarm 3.5-3.5.7 – Update support will end on August 1, 2009.
-Alarm 3.5.8 RC 1 – Update support will end on July 15, 2009.
-Alarm 3.5.8-3.5.9 – Update support will end approximately October 1, 2009.

Anyways, that’s about it for now. Update that software everybody!

Today, I’m releasing Alarm 3.5.9 Release Candidate 2. This is only a minor update of the previous RC build, in fact, it only has the build tag 35932 instead of 35931, so it’s clearly only a minor change.

This new release candidate version contains the option to focus the alarm time while the alarm is set. This was suggested by someone on download.com and I decided to add it to 3.5.9 after I realized that it wouldn’t be difficult at all.

Download Alarm 3.5.9 RC 2 Here (Link Removed)
(MD5: e30695fda4388c6065f98905c31acb55)

Enjoy. Final build probably coming Thursday.

Today I am releasing a release candidate of Alarm 3.5.9. This version contains a change in the update system for Alarm 4 updating and a new feature which allows the user to set the volume for the application. Use it in conjunction with Test Volume to make sure your Alarm is at a reasonable level.

If no bugs are found, the release of Alarm 3.5.9 is planned for July 1. If you find any problems, please send me a message using the bug reporting address.

Download Alarm 3.5.9 RC1 (Link Removed)
(MD5: 440cf900ebf885951a25c099522624e1)

Also, as of September 1, 2009, versions prior to 3.5.8 will no longer be supported. This means that users who are still on 3.5.7 and lower will have to update before then or lose their ability to do so through the application. This is because I need to clean up my web space a bit and migrating to the server-side update script is better for everyone.

Well, thats all. Alarm 4 is on it’s way!

I’m now hard at work on Alarm 4.0. This version includes many new enhancements, the most noticeable of which is the new scheduling system.

The system allows for the user to set multiple alarms with various means of notification. These include the classic system beep from Alarm 2.0-2.9, the single song functionality from Alarm 3.0/3.1, the playlist functionality from Alarm 3.5, and a new type of alert done by using the Windows system sounds. These scheduled events will be able to be set to go off on specific days of the week too.

Also coming in Alarm 4 is an overhaul of the theming system. As of right now, it is planned that the UI will be capable of being completely skinned. This means that there will probably be a theme site up for the software where these new and improved skins can be downloaded.

The final thing that I want to talk about is the way that users will be interacting with the alarm. I am not sure as of yet, but I think that this may be the first version of Alarm without a main window. This means that all of the configuration, etc. will be done by using the tray icon. I am just having trouble coming up with a compelling enough reason to continue having the main window when all the alarm setting, etc. will be available in other dialogs. I might also just make it an option or something.

Well, that’s about it for Alarm 4. Look for it later this summer.

As for the next version of Alarm 3.5, I will be releasing version 3.5.9 within the next week or so. This version will contain a single new feature, volume management, which was originally intended for Alarm 4. It will also include an enhancement to the update service which will support updating to Alarm 4. This will also be the final version of Alarm 3.5 as development efforts will seriously be focused on Alarm 4.

Thanks for reading.

I will be releasing Alarm 3.5.8 later today. This update includes several new things including:

-Ability to Launch an Application when the alarm goes off.
-The Automatic Update Feature has now been updated to AUA v4 which is a completely re-written system which future versions will use.
-New “Alarm Off” button when the alarm is set, but not going off.
-”Turn Off” has been renamed to “Silence”
-Loads of refactoring done.
-Stupid little issue with automatically turning on certain settings. Ugh.
-Option to make the Alarm retain focus while it’s going off. This is a very good feature if you’re using a media center remote to hit snooze in the morning. The focus stops when the mouse moves over the main window.

Download it when you get a chance.

Today I’m releasing a preview version of Alarm 3.5.8.

This version includes tons of cleaning up and refactoring and a couple of new features. More on them during the official release.

You can get the Release Candidate on the Downloads page.