TreoAlarm

[kimmy]

TREO ALARM.....Last Updated: January 1, 2005


Summary: Add Alarm Clock with Weather Forecast to your Treo 600. Not only it will wake you up, TreoAlarm will also deliver local weather report and 5-day forecast to your smartphone. TreoAlarm 0.95

[looping]

Thanks for this release. It seems to fix download problems with french pages from Canadian office. The problem with Datebk5 alarms is always here.
Thanks a lot.
Thierry.

[wjwhitty]

Great program now.  Finally the disconnect after weather retrieval and the alarm is very controllable as well as easy to set. Looks like it is ready for final release.  Congrats.

[shneor]

TREO ALARM.....Last Updated: January 1, 2005


Summary: Add Alarm Clock with Weather Forecast to your Treo 600. Not only it will wake you up, TreoAlarm will also deliver local weather report and 5-day forecast to your smartphone. TreoAlarm 0.95

Unfortunately, this app now shows up without the (time) digits visible on my screen - I use white lettering (foreground) on a black background.  All that is visible, aside from the two buttons at the bottom, is "Alarm is off". May I suggest a menu to allow selection of foreground and background colors (just black and white would be fine).

Thanks,
Shneor

[shneor]

Unfortunately, this app now shows up without the (time) digits visible on my screen - I use white lettering (foreground) on a black background.  All that is visible, aside from the two buttons at the bottom, is "Alarm is off". May I suggest a menu to allow selection of foreground and background colors (just black and white would be fine).

Thanks,
Shneor

Having tried a number of times, I finally noticed that the black digits on a white background appear when TreoAlarm is started, only to immediately disappear - as does a broad white stripe at the bottom of the screen.

Shneor

[Feldhege]

Great program now.  Finally the disconnect after weather retrieval and the alarm is very controllable as well as easy to set. Looks like it is ready for final release.  Congrats.

Where are those options? I can't find where to make it disconnect after retreiving weather. Unless I use the menu command of course. I am assuming (dangerous I know) that you mean it will autodisconnect after retreiving the weather.

Robb

PS. Does anyone know if this is going to switch to a pay for use program after 5/1/2005? That is when mine is set to expire.

[wjwhitty]

There is an auto disconnect with any of the alarms  as well as a manual disconnect after a weather retrieval by going to the disconnect in the menu tab at the right.  Don't know about whether it will be free or shareware.  Thought if it is shareware it is worth it for a reasonable price. But I did see somewhere that it was free.  Free is always nice If it is.  Only complaint is that I would like to see it work around the phone being off.  Now you have to have the radio on before it can get the weather and If I have that on I get a ton of SMS's that keep alarming.  Would rather turn my phone on when I want.

[roustk]

Does anyone know if this is going to switch to a pay for use program after 5/1/2005? That is when mine is set to expire.

Robb,

I hope you've found the auto-disconnect option after wjwhitty's post. It is in "Alarms...|Edit..." form (version 0.95).

I do not have an exact date for release yet. I plan to wrap up all the program changes, website and documentation by May 1st. The program looks usable but there are a few more features I wanted to add (and a few more to fix). The alarm clock itself is free, but weather forecasts require server hosting and maintenance and I wanted to have a $10-15 annual subscription to cover these.

Among the features I hope to add before release:
- MP3 playback
- Multi-language forecasts from Y!
- Forecasts from BBC
- XML forecast feed from US weather service
- Support for countdown alarms/timers
- Display forecast download timestamp

Fixes required:
- Proper clock display on dark backgrounds
- Do not try to download forecast if radio is off
- Center button in menus in Treo 650
- Alarm doesn't sound if Datebk5 alarm window is displayed

Nice to have features:
- "Quick-pop" option (great for side key on Treo 650)

[wjwhitty]

roustk,
      I want to sy I like the program alot but think that a one time fee is reasonable.  Avantgo offers accuweather and the weather channel for nothing along with the free subscription.  To charge yearly for the service, I think will lose purchase appeal.  I maybe wrong but I thought that there is probably another option for getting the weather without a yearly charge.  Still a great program and Idea.

[roustk]

Hi wjwhitty,

Thanks for the feedback, I need it!

Maybe I am thinking too far ahead, but let's say there is no subscription.  If I buy TreoAlarm then I'd except that the weather forecast will be delivered forever, right?

Here is a sad story:

Let's say 10 years passed -- it is 2015 now and people have completely new and cool devices; nobody uses old crap like Treo 650 (I won't even mention 600).
Nobody, except 5 die-hard users of TreoAlarm. Suddenly, in 2015 US national weather service changes the format of the weather report and TreoAlarm does not deliver weather anymore (roustk just bought Treo 95000 and happily writes software for it)... TreoAlarm users now feel angry, write nasty letters and launch a class action lawsuit.

I am not good at stories, but these thoughts crossed my mind a few times.

[wjwhitty]

I appreciate the story and if that be considered, an upgrade fee would be fine for new and improved program or for changes in versions, OS upgrades and changes in devices but for the right to use weather service on a yearly rate I have a hard time swallowing.  The program has alot of potential and if there was a way to set it up so that the radio can be turned on just prior to the web access for weather, before the alarm,  I think you'd really have something.  Then I wouldn't need a radio on off application to turn the radio on just prior to treo alarm being activated.  Sorry to get wordy on you.  Think it is a must have for any power user and for most people that use the phone as an alarm clock which I find to be many people.  I get SMS messages stored up at night when I have the phone off.  Then I have the phone set to turn the radio on in the morning and usually the SMS alerts will wake me up.  I think if you could add this feature so that the phone on is part of the treo alarm application as the inital part of the alarm function it will make it a killer app.  Thanks for listening.  Bill

[Slarti]

I agree with the one time fee, if the app was going to end up subscription based I'd just check the weather online and use a free alarm clock.

[roustk]

... if there was a way to set it up so that the radio can be turned on just prior to the web access for weather, before the alarm,  I think you'd really have something.  Then I wouldn't need a radio on off application to turn the radio on just prior to treo alarm being activated.  Sorry to get wordy on you.  Think it is a must have for any power user and for most people that use the phone as an alarm clock which I find to be many people.  I get SMS messages stored up at night when I have the phone off.  Then I have the phone set to turn the radio on in the morning and usually the SMS alerts will wake me up.  I think if you could add this feature so that the phone on is part of the treo alarm application as the inital part of the alarm function it will make it a killer app.  Thanks for listening.  Bill

Bill, thank you for the idea. I have added wireless mode options in the version 0.95b:

http://www.treoalarm.com/files/TreoAlarm.prc

[roustk]

I agree with the one time fee, if the app was going to end up subscription based I'd just check the weather online and use a free alarm clock.

Thanks, I am getting the point ... I'll get rid of subscription...

[roustk]

Unfortunately, this app now shows up without the (time) digits visible on my screen - I use white lettering (foreground) on a black background.  All that is visible, aside from the two buttons at the bottom, is "Alarm is off". May I suggest a menu to allow selection of foreground and background colors (just black and white would be fine).

Thanks,
Shneor

Shneor, please try version 0.95b. It should look better on dark backgrounds.