Wise Clock 3 - Dec 2011 software release

From the desk of Mr. Ruud, a new software release for Wise Clock 3 is now available.
Below is the long list of impressive features, improvements, changes etc. Ruud, thanks again.

• Because of the large number (28) of menu entries the menu is now split in 2 loops, one for the Apps and one for the Settings.

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  Apps menu loop:
  SETUP, QUOTE, BIG, TIX, WORDS, CNTDN, STOPW, SCORE, PONG, PACMN, TCLOK, UTC, LIFE, DEMO, STATS.

  Settings menu loop:
  APPS, ALARM, AL+/AL-, DATE+/DATE-, REMI+/REMI-, TEMP+/TEMP-, MESG+/MESG-, CHME+/CHME-, FONT+/FONT-, CELC/FAHR, 24H+/24H-, TIME, Y M D, DAY, SLEEP.

Selecting the "SETUP" menu entry will take you to the Settings menu loop, selecting the "APPS" menu entry
will take you to the Apps menu loop.

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• Stopwatch: This will show the time passed by in tenths of seconds, pressing the Set key will show the "lap" time.

• Count Down Timer: This timer allows for setting a time of up to 24 hours and will beep 3 times after counting down to 0 seconds.

• TIX clock: Showing the time using colored squares (if you do not know what a TIX clock is, Google it!) The PLUS key alows for changing the interval between 1, 4 and 60 seconds.

• Time Clock: This allows for recording the amount of time spent on a project. You clock "IN" at the start of the project and clock "OUT" when you are finished for the day. The Time clock will show the total amount of hours and minutes spent on that project over several days. It allows for 5 different projects. A project may be cleared by pressing the Plus key when the "IN?" text is displayed, a future version will store all "IN" and "OUT" times together with the project number in  an Excel compatible file on the SD card. This file may then be processed on a PC using Excel.

• "Word Clock": This will show the time and date using words instead of numbers. All "words" come from a "word" text file on the SD card and can be changed with any editor. At runtime you may choose from 10 different "word" files. Currently there are 5 different "word" files included:

  1. word1.txt The "official" English version showing: "The time is seven minutes past one o'clock in the morning on Monday the fourth of July."
  2. word2.txt The short English version showing: "It's one oh-seven am"
  3. word3.txt The "funny" English version showing: "It's 5 + 2 past six and you are up early"
  4. word4.txt The French texts version showing: "Le temps est sept minutes apres une heure du matin."
  5. word5.txt Example file for advertisement purposes, showing texts like: "We are now closed, opening hours are from 9 - 5" or "10% extra discount from 12 - 1".
  You may create your own versions with whatever texts/language you like, see the word1.txt file for details.

• New large Font: This new proportional font, selected by "FONT+/FONT-", is 14 dots high and has variable width (letter i = 2 dots wide, letter m = 10 dots wide).

• The "message.txt" file now contains, 10 different personal messages, the "MESG+" menu entry allows for selecting one of them (M1, M2, M3 etc.).

• The "Quotes" menu entry now let you choose from up to 10 different "Quotes" files named quot1.txt, quot2.txt etc. several sample files (like: Texts by Shakespeare, fake alarm system, Spanish lesson, the clock's user manual (what you are reading now = "quot0.txt") are included. If you select the 11th file then the "message.txt" file is displayed which shows e.g. all 10 personal messages, reminders, DST etc.You may put your own "quote" file on the SD card, make sure that lines are not longer then 175 characters and end with a Carriage Return and Linefeed character. The file must be bigger then 512 bytes.

• It is now possible to put characters in the non visible "video" ram and make them visible by overlaying the present display in horizontal or vertical mode. When in Big Mode, press the Set Key to see a demo.

• The "UTC" mode now allows for changing the number of hours difference (+12 till -12). It allows for showing the time in "Graph" (= analog clock) or "Text" mode. The "Time.txt" file is no longer used and should be removed.

• The temperature (TEMP+ menu entry) will now also show the highest and lowest temperature for that day.

• The brightness is now changed with the Plus Key and the scroll speed with the Set key. The Set key is used in some of the new apps, but the brightness can always be changed with the Plus Key. 

• "STATS" menu: This menu entry will show the highest and lowest temperature for the current year, the last time the power went off and the time when the power came back. It may take up to 24 hours before this info is available.

NOTE: The filemanager for the SD card is limited, so if you want to make any change to the files on the SD card then format the SD card first and copy all files in one go to the SD card. Also there cannot be more then 16 files on the SD Card.