I’m close to releasing a new version of Catfood Follower.
The update has some cool new features including Klout integration and a switch to bulk twitter APIs that allow the follow engine to run much more quickly. I’ve also mopped up several bugs and generally tidied up the interface.
Download Catfood Follower 1.40 Beta and leave a comment below if you have any problems, questions or suggestions. Thanks.
(Updated 2011-10-22: 1.40.0136, improves Klout integration so that processing an account does not fail because of temporary Klout failures.
(Updated 2011-07-09: WebCamSaver 3.10 has now been released. Thanks for all the great feedback!)
The next release of WebCamSaver is now in beta. As usual I’m handing out free licenses to anyone who provides feedback. This time there’s a twist – you’ll get a license for yourself and a license to give to a friend. To qualify all you need to do is install the beta and then leave a comment on this post. You can ask for a feature, report a bug or just let me know what you like or hate about WebCamSaver. This offer expires once WebCamSaver 3.10 is released.
- Download Catfood WebCamSaver 3.10 Beta
The beta currently adds proxy server support, fixes several bugs related to the webcam list in WebCamSaver settings and allows the webcam list to be sorted by description, time zone or the date that the webcam was added. This first beta release is version 3.10.0087.
I’ll update this post as the beta is updated. Check back here, or subscribe to comments to get notified when new versions are made available.
(Updated 2011-06-30: Beta updated to 3.10.0105. Major directory overhaul to remove duplicate webcams. Non-integral timezones are now supported.)
(Updated 2011-07-03: Beta updated to 3.10.0160. In four and sixteen cam modes each webcam now updates simultaneously. You can also jump from the screensaver to the webpage for a cam — hold down any key and then use the mouse to click on the cam you'd like to open.)
(Updated 2011-06-11: Catfood Earth 3.10 is now released. Thanks to everyone who took part in the 3.10 beta.)
I’m working on an update to Catfood Earth that will include many commonly requested features such as rotating the image to a specific longitude (something that didn’t make it over from the original Catfood Desktate) and handling corrupt cloud layer downloads better.
The beta already adds support for proxy servers, allows the cloud layer download URL to be overridden, updates the time zones layer with the latest data and fixes a few different crashes and other bugs.
If you provide feedback during the beta in the form of a comment on this blog post I’ll give you a free license for Catfood Earth. If you have a license for Catfood Earth already you can give the free one to a friend. Feedback can be positive or negative and can be about your experience with the beta or a request for Catfood Earth to do something new. All you need to do is comment below. Make sure you use an email address where I can contact you (this is not made public or included in the comment, I just need a way to get in touch to provide you with your free license). This offer will expire when Catfood Earth 3.10 is released.
With this update I’ve also hooked the Catfood bug tracking system up to twitter. Follow @CatfoodSoftware to see what’s in 3.10 and to get notified as new releases of the beta become available. You can also bookmark this post and check back, I’ll note each new release below.
I hope you enjoy the beta and I’m looking forwards to lots of great feedback!
(Updated 2011-05-28: Version 3.10.0165. Includes a screen saver that shows the current Catfood Earth image and adds support for rotating the image so that a specific longitude or solar (sidereal) time is at the center of the screen.)
(Updated 2011-06-05: Version 3.10.0222. Support for custom image size and location (i.e. for display on a monitor with portrait orientation), corrupt cloud downloads detected and skipped, option to display larger earthqukes first instead of most recent first, international date line shown on timezones layer, improved text wrapping and prevents text overlap between layers.)
(Updated 2011-06-07: Version 3.10.0236. Added volcanoes layer.)
Catfood Weather 2 Beta is now available for download.
Version 2.00 substantially improves both performance and presentation. If you’re looking for a compact taskbar (tray icon) forecast app give it a try and provide feedback by leaving a comment on this post or sending me an email. Bookmark this post as I’ll update it as I release new versions of the beta.
Catfood Weather shows current conditions and a 7-day forecast for any location in the United States. You can set the forecast location by ZIP code or latitude and longitude.
(Updated 2011-05-01: Fixed bug that caused night forecasts to be displayed for the rest of the week when the current day conditions are no longer valid. Added support for displaying weather alerts. If Catfood Weather does not start after installation then a reboot is required (this will be fixed in the next update). Version is now 2.00.0239, click the link at the top of the post to upgrade or get started).
(Updated 2011-05-08: Fixed installer to prompt for reboot if needed. Added support for proxy servers. Version is now 2.00.0286).
(Updated 2011-05-14: Catfood Weather 2 is now released).
I've added the final two layers to the Catfood Earth beta - Political Borders and Places. The Places layer now includes time zones and has the option to display the current local time for each location.
There's also a new Themes tab that allows you to configure Catfood Earth for common display modes in a single click. The current themes are: Natural (daylight, nighttime and clouds), Time Zones (color coded countries and political borders) and Earthquakes.
Catfood Earth is pretty close now. There's a bit of tidying left to do and a few more minor features to add. Download Catfood Earth Beta from the original blog post.
The latest update to Catfood Earth includes a sophisticated time zone layer:
Catfood Desktate supports simple time zones by (optionally) displaying 24 clocks across the top of the image. In Catfood Earth I wanted to add a layer with greater accuracy.
The new layer adds color to show the current time around the world. By default the colors are added to each country in the image with color codes clocks that show the current time in each zone. You can also add color to the rest of the map as well. Click the image above for a more detailed view.
What won't be immediately obvious is that the layer is updated when a country changes time zone, i.e. switching to or from daylight savings. Whenever this happens the layer is updated so that the color coding remains accurate throughout the year.
Making the new time zone layer involved a lot of data. I'm indebted to Eric Muller for his time zone shapefile, the tz database and the zoneinfo project. In the course of processing the data I wrote and released an open source library for parsing ERSI Shapefiles.
This is still a work in progress, especially the default color scheme. Please give the time zone layer a try and provide me with feedback - preferably in comments below, alternatively send me a email.
Download Catfood Earth Beta from the original blog post. Remember that I'm still giving away free licenses if you provide feedback on the beta.
I've just improved the way that Catfood Earth displays earthquakes:
The biggest change is that you can choose to display a description for each quake. The description includes the magnitude, location, date and time.
There is also now a transparency range so that recent quakes are highlighted and then fade over time. The start and end of the range is fully configurable.
Lastly you can now set a minimum magnitude so that the display isn't cluttered with numerous minor quakes.
Download the update from Catfood Earth Beta and leave a comment to let me know what you think.
The Catfood Earth Beta now supports displaying weather radar images from over 160 sites around the Unites States. Just select the site closest to you and choose from Reflectivity, 1 Hour Precipitation, Storm Total Precipitation, Velocity, Storm Relative Motion and Long Range Reflectivity images.
The screen shot below shows 1 Hour Precipitation for San Francisco:
I'm currently offering a free license to anyone who provides feedback on the beta. See the Catfood Earth Beta for full details.
I just released a small update to the Catfood Earth Beta adding a layer for earthquakes.
The layer uses the USGS feed for earthquakes over magnitude 2.5 in the past day.
Catfood Earth displays an accented circle over the epicenter of the earthquake. The size of the circle is proportional to the magnitude. You can customize the fill and accent colors. It's also possible to show earthquakes from the past hour up to the past 24 hours.
(Updated 2009-12-06: Catfood Earth released today!)
Catfood Earth is the new name for Catfood Desktate. Desktate made sense for the first few versions but the product has expanded over the years and now makes your desktop wallpaper into an Earth simulator. The image below is from the beta release today (click for a larger version):
Version 3 is now in beta. If you send me feedback during the beta then I'll send you a free registration key. Let me know what you like or don't like, report a bug or request a new feature.
Download Catfood Earth 3.00 Beta
If you have Catfood Desktate installed then I'd recommend uninstalling it before you install the Catfood Earth beta.
I'll update this post as new beta releases become available and when the final version releases. I received a lot of feedback for the WebCamSaver 3 beta so I'm really looking forward to hearing what you think about the new Catfood Earth.
(Updated 2009-07-12 to 3.00.0277: Now includes an earthquakes layer showing magnitude 2.5 or greater earthquakes over up to the last 24 hours.)
(Updated 2009-09-13 to 3.00.0329: Added US weather radar, fixed problems with updating on Windows XP.)
(Updated 2009-09-27 to 3.00.0349: Fixed a Julian date calculation bug that caused the render date to be incorrect. Added 7 day trial logic.)
(Updated 2009-10-25 to 3.00.0417: Improved earthquake layer - control transparency range, minimum magnitude to display and optional description including local date and time for the quake.)
(Updated 2009-11-24 to 3.00.0511: Added time zone layer. XP support is still flaky - this will be improved soon.)
(Updated 2009-12-03 to 3.00.0654: Added political borders and places layers. Improved XP support. Added Themes to set defaults for common configurations.)
(Updated 2009-12-06 to 3.00.0713: Out of beta!)