yaTimer News
Switching to a subscription-only model was a mistake, people hate subscriptions and prefer the one-time payment model. This isn’t exactly a surprise, but I really needed the stability that reoccurring payments bring with them and I figured that without the one-time option most people will just get the subscription – I was wrong, most people showed their dislike for subscriptions by not buying. So, the yaTimer one-time payment option is back. For $59 you can get a yaTimer license that never expires – but it only includes 6 months of free upgrades (the subscription include all upgrade...
I’ve just finished updating yaTimer Central, everything should work now just like before – except that to access the system you now go to http://www.yatimer.com and not to you own subdomain (if you go the the old address the system should redirect you automatically). If there’s any problems please tell me immediately via e-mail or using the contact page. Thank you
This blog has been quiet lately because I had to take a lot of work not related to my products, I had to do so much non-product work that I couldn't really develop new features for yaTimer and Giraffe Upload at any acceptable schedule, I answered support e-mails and fixed bugs but new development is very slow right now. I had to take all this extra work because revenue from yaTimer is very unpredictable, some months it’s way up and some months it’s way down – but I have to pay the same mortgage and feed all my children...
I’ve just uploaded yaTimer 2.8.2 to the server, this is a free upgrade to all current customers, you can get it from the upgrade page or wait a few days and for the auto update system will take care of it. This version contains major improvements to the synchronization system and should solve problems when trying to sync large amounts of data with yaTimer Central.
I’ve spent a good part of this month doing the paperwork involved in running a business (and it’s not even over yet) – and obviously every minute I’m doing paperwork is a minute I’m not working on my products. So, all product releases that were planed for May are delayed to June – this includes the major upgrade to yaTimer Central that was announced on the yaTimer newsletter. Also on the schedule are: yaTimer 2.8.1 – a minor bug fix release, currently scheduled for the beginning of June And yaTimer 2.9 – a larger version with...
Over a month ago I’ve asked readers of this blog to answer a quick survey about a potential web version of yaTimer, a little later I’ve also asked people on to the yaTimer newsletter to answer the same survey. I would like to start by thanking everyone who answered, this really helps me decide about the future direction of yaTimer. The results are not even close – almost 74% don’t want a web version, if a web version existed 57% would not use it, another 35% would use it but only when they can’t use the desktop version....
I’m thinking about building a web version of yaTimer. The advantages are obvious (work on any device from anywhere without installing anything), the disadvantage is that this will require a lot of work (and so will seriously slow down development of the desktop version of yaTimer). Please tell me what you want by filling this survey, filling the survey only requires 4 clicks and it would really help me – or, if you are willing to invest more than 4 clicks leave a comment or send me a message. Thanks
I’ve just finished upload yaTimer 2.8 to the web site, this update is still a free upgrade for all existing customers and, as always, you can wait for the auto-update to do its thing or get get it right now from the upgrade page. This version adds what is probably the most requested reports feature – rounding times so you can give your clients the reports directly from yaTimer when you bill them is fixed increments (1 minute, 1 hour, 6 seconds, whatever works for your business).
As of yesterday when you download the yaTimer free trial you are asked to enter you e-mail address (optionally, there’s also a link that let you skip this step if you want) and when you enter your e-mail you will receive a series of 6 short tips during your free trial. This e-mail tips series has two purposes, first, it lets me tell potential customers about things that are not obvious about yaTimer and second, it will hopefully reduce the number of people who download yaTimer but never use it.
Update: this promotion is no longer available
As of today anyone getting yaTimer as a monthly subscription will receive free access to yaTimer Central Personal for the duration of the subscription.
This is a really good deal you will be getting a service worth $4.50 for free with a $5.99 service.
This promotion is a marketing test, I can stop it at any moment with no notice – so if you’re thinking about buying a yaTimer license you better do it now,
If you already got a yaTimer subscription you also still get this deal, just create a yaTimer Central account and follow the...
I usually only announce things on the blog after I’ve decided what to do and how to do it, this post is different, in this post I’m sharing a business problem that I really don’t know how to solve (but don’t worry, I will solve it somehow), if you want more posts like this one please respond – leave a comment, send me an e-mail or use the contact form – just respond somehow. I’ve announced that in 2012 I’m going to try and release a new version of yaTimer every single month – this means that every month...
Every once in a while I get a support e-mail telling me yaTimer started producing empty reports – and in every single case the problem was an incorrect setting in the reports window, usually setting the project, client and/or color filters to a combination that just doesn’t have any matching tasks. This is not the fault of the customer who sent the support e-mail – this is a design failure of the yaTimer report filtering user interface that makes it easy to choose a filter that will result in an empty report (in my defense, this is a design...
I’ve just uploaded yaTimer version 2.7 to the web site, this is a free upgrade to all customers. This version contains some usability improvements to the reports system that I’ll write about in a future blog post. To update open the main menu by clicking the big round button on the top left of the yaTimer main window and select “About yaTimer”, then click “Check for Updates” or download and install the latest version from the yaTimer upgrade page.
In the last blog post I’ve talked about what happened in 2011, in this post I’ll talk about plans for 2012, but first a disclaimer: A year is a long time for a software company, this post outlines the current plans for the year but those plans will change as the business and technology environments change during the year So now that we got that out of the way here are the plans for the various products: yaTimer time tracking software and yaTimer Central yaTimer and yaTimer Central will continue to be developed based on customer...
The new icons have been on the yaTimer and yaTimer Central web pages for more than a week, but I didn’t have time to write about them before. The new icons are already used almost everywhere on the web site and in the yaTimer Central application, they will appear in the yaTimer application in the next version scheduled for early January.
Again this is the time of year for summarizing the passing year and making plans for the next one. Businesswise nothing went according to plan in 2011, some things went worse than the plan and some things were way better. The bad parts are mostly traced to several months I was so swamped with other work I had nearly no time to work on my products, here are the 2011 plans and how they turned out: yaTimer time tracking software was supposed to have a major upgrade – in reality it had many...
On November 10th I will raise yaTimer’s price from $39 to $49. The truth is that yaTimer has been underpriced for some time now but I resisted raising the price because I wanted to help my customers a little in the difficult times of the big economic crush – now that yaTimer has a low cost subscription option that is perfect for anyone with cash flow issues it’s time to raise the price to a still low but a bit more realistic $49. I would like to remind you that yaTimer comes with a year of free upgrades,...
I happy to announce that yaTimer licenses are now available for purchase not only at a one-time cost but also as a monthly subscription of $5.99 per month. This subscription includes all updates (not just for the first year like the one-time option), you can cancel and renew your subscription at any time and all payments – including the renewal payments – are backed up by our 30 days non-conditional money back guarantee. You can buy your yaTimer subscription (or the one-time payment option) on the buy now page.
I’ve just finished another small upgrade to yaTimer, this one fixes a problem with very long comments in the reports. The easiest way to get the update is to open the main menu, click “About yaTimer” and then “Check for Updates”, this is a free update for all customers.
I’ve just finished uploading yaTimer 2.6.6.2 – as the version number suggests this is a minor upgrade, it fixes two bugs: A crush when editing complete tasks If you change the clock in the control panel between 24 hours and 12 hours yaTimer sometimes wouldn’t show the right clock. This update is free to all existing customers, you can get this update from within yaTimer (Click the big round button on the top left to open the main menu, click “About yaTimer” and then “Check for updates”) or from the...
I made a mistake when creating the yaTimer 2.6.6 auto-update package, the mistake is my fault and I’m very sorry, the result of this mistake is that yaTimer crushes after updating to version 2.6.6. I’ve fixed the problem, this should not happen to anyone upgrading from now on. If you’ve already upgraded and you are seeing this problem just download and install yaTimer from the upgrade page, the setup program will fix the problem. I’m truly sorry and I will see what I can do so mistakes like this don’t happen in the future.
Every yaTimer license includes a full year of free upgrades, up until now I’ve let all existing customer upgrade for free even after that year is over, unfortunately I can’t continue with this policy and starting at the next major version upgrades will only be available to customers who paid for them or are still in the first year of free upgrades. The cheapest way to continue to receive upgrades is to register for the “yaTimer Upgrade Subscription” when you buy yaTimer itself for just $9.99/Year (that’s right, less then ten bucks for an entire year) – this offer...
Tomorrow only (Augusts 2nd, midnight to midnight, pacific time) yaTimer will be featured on BitsDuJour – a deal of the day site – with a 60% discount.
This is a one day only exclusive discount, so if you’re thinking about buying a yaTimer license this is your chance – its so cheap you should get a copy just in case you ever decide to use it :-)
To take advantage of this offer click here
I’ve just wanted to write a quick update about what’s I’m working on right now. yaTimer time tracking software – I’m working on the next minor update to yaTimer, this update will mainly fix the auto-update system, it will also include a solution for people using yaTimer from a USB drive on both 32bit and 64bit systems, also, if you want a feature added to the next major update of yaTimer now is a good time to contact me about it. Squirrel Clock on-line employee attendance tracking - Squirrel Clock isn’t “officially” released – but it’s actually already...
2010 was an eventful year for me, it's a little strange looking at my plans for 2010 blog post and see how much things turned out different then I planned them. Here is a quick look at all of my products, what happened to them in 2010 and what's planned for 2011 (disclaimer: you can expect the same accuracy in the plans for 2011 as there was in the plans for 2010 - that is, things will change) yaTimer time tracking software There were two major updates planned for 2010, version 2.6 and version 3.0. Version 2.6...
I’ve just uploaded a new version of yaTimer to the server, this is a free upgrade for all existing customers and you can download it from the yaTimer upgrade page. This update solves two bugs – the first is a bug that made the reports preview fail and show an empty window, I've had a hard time tracking this bug down and I’d like to thank everyone who reported this, each of you gave me another clue that finally let me fix the typo that caused this. The second bug prevented you from expanding the”(none)” group when using...
I've just sent out the December edition of the yaTimer newsletter, if you are not already subscribed you can subscribe here. I'm still working on finding the right format and content for the newsletter, so if you have any ideas or comments please tell me about it. Quick Squirrel Clock Update The first report is working and the release seems closer then ever, as always, if you need employee time and attendance tracking solution, you can sign up to be notified when Squirrel Clock is ready.
Last week I sent the first ever issue of the yaTimer newsletter, creating the newsletter was more work that I thought it would be but I'm happy with the result - and it will probably be better next month. I'm planning to send out an issue on the first Tuesday or Wednesday of every month, I have some interesting content planned for the next newsletter so if you are interested in time management you should sign up using the link below (and if you are not interested in time management you probably should be): Sign up for the...
I’m working on writing the first issue of the yaTimer Newsletter – a monthly short e-mail newsletter about productivity, time management and a little bit about yaTimer. I’m trying to write this newsletter to be compatible with the GTD “two minutes rule” (if something takes less than two minutes just do it immediately) – that means I’m trying to write a newsletter you’ll be able to read in under two minutes and still get real value from. If you have any opinion about what should go into the newsletter – or you have any productivity related story you...
yaTimer version 2.6.2 is now available, this version fixes a bug that can cause yaTimer to hang when running on Windows 7, Windows XP Media Center and maybe other Windows versions, especially when using custom themes. This is a free upgrade to all customers, download the upgrade here. It took me a long time to find this bug because it doesn’t happen on my exact Windows 7 configuration (and I don’t have XP Media Center), so please, if you find a bug in yaTimer don’t assume I already know about it, just send me a message and I’ll...
A few days ago (yes, this feature has already been live on the server for a few days) I uploaded the version of yaTimer Central that includes generating printable PDF reports for the entire team from the web. yaTimer Central now has all the reports yaTimer has with additions for multi-person reports (usually the name of the person that performed the task) where applicable. I’m now working on the customize reports feature – because I know you don’t want to send timesheets with the yaTimer logo to your customers, soon yaTimer Central will have all the same report...
yaTimer Central development is continuing at an amazing pace and the data export for multiple users feature is already live on the server. Next feature on the list – printable reports.
I’ve just finished updating yaTimer Central (an on-line service adding team features for yaTimer). The big feature of this version is data export, you use all of yaTimer’s data export capabilities (available from the “Export CSV” button on the reports window) over the web – and you can export data not only for yourself but for any of your team members. Next big feature – exporting data for your entire team.
A new version of yaTimer Central is now live, yaTimer Central is a web based service that adds team features to my time tracker yaTimer. This update is contains the most obvious feature missing from the last update: Shared Client List – You can now share a list of clients (as well projects) with your entire team. Shared Project List Improvements – this update also includes a lot of small improvements to the project list editing page. The next big feature on the list: data export.
I’ve just updated yaTimer Central, the on-line companion to yaTimer, this updates includes two new features: Shared Project List – you can now enter your projects list into yaTimer Central and it will be automatically synchronized into everyone’s yaTimer (shared client list coming soon). Simpler Pricing – the number of pricing plans was cut in half, the plans differ in both functionality and maximum number of users. You can see the new yaTimer Central pricing plans (and sign up for your account), the pricing plan chart also lists the new features...
Roger from Bits du hour somehow convinced me to offer a 60% discount on yaTimer (only if you buy from this page and only for 24 hours). I have listed yaTimer on bits du jour before, but never with such a huge discount – so you better take advantage of it before I regain my sanity. The sale starts midnight EST
If you have automatic updates enabled and you are running version 2.5 or later you should get the updated version of yaTimer within a week. If you can’t wait you can always click the “Check for updates” button located in the about window (accessed from the last option on the main menu) or the options window (Accessed from the bottom right of the main menu). There were a few problems with the last auto update – and the reason it has been a full week between yaTimer’s release and it’s availability as an automatic update is that I’ve...
I’ve just finished uploading yaTimer 2.6 to the server, this version is a free upgrade for all existing customers, you can download the new version from the upgrade page. What’s new in this version: You can now edit timing information for a task when its timer is running (you can edit everything except the start time and duration of the currently running timing event) – this is the most requested feature for this version. Open and closed groups on the task list are now saved when you close and reopen yaTimer. ...
Yesterday I announced the soon to be released yaTimer Central and I urged you to register to get an e-mail the moment the service is available – but I forgot the upload the registration form (yes, I’m embarrassed). So, Visit the yaTimer Central page now to register, if a lot of people register I’ll open the service in several small “waves” so the sooner you register the sooner you can synchronize yaTimer on all your computers.
I believe that the fact that yaTimer is a standalone desktop product is one of the main reasons it’s so good – this is not because of technical reasons but simply because yaTimer is designed to be used by YOU, to track YOUR time in the way that is most convenient for YOU. By not having any features that are used by your co-workers, associates, boss or customers yaTimer can be focused on YOUR needs. On the other side this lack of collaboration is also a big disadvantage – it’s harder for the manager to do his or...
I’ve decided to change yaTimer’s development plan, most of the new features planned for version 2.6 will be delayed for version 2.7 (and some will probably only appear in 2.8 or even 2.9) – this will let me get the new features out faster. yaTimer 2.6 will have one major new feature – the ability to connect to an on-line service that will let you backup your yaTimer data and to synchronize it between your copies of yaTimer (for each license you buy you can install yaTimer on up to 3 computers and one portable device such as a...
I’ve just finished uploading yaTimer 2.5.2 to the web site, this is a free upgrade to all customers. This is a bug fix release with just one new feature (that I’ll announce in another blog post in the near future). You can get the update from the yaTimer upgrade page, this update won’t be available in the automatic update system for a few more weeks.
The number one complaint I get about yaTimer is that it doesn’t minimize to the notification tray, this is especially painful for me because yaTimer actually can minimize to the notification tray and has been able to do it almost since the first version. Since a lot of people can’t find the minimize to tray options it’s obviously my fault – and because I see routinely in the uninstall survey it’s very likely this is costing me sales. So, starting at version 2.5.2 minimizing to the notification tray will be the default behavior, if you don’t want to...
I’m finishing up version 2.5.2 of yaTimer, this is a bug fix version with no new features and will be a free upgrade for all customers. There were some problems with the 2.5.1 upgrade, to avoid those problem in the future I’m investing more time and effort in testing the 2.5.2 upgrade, I’m also updating the tools I use to create the update packages. Because of those intensive tests and some last minute improvements to the crush reporting mechanism getting version 2.5.2 out the door is taking longer than planned and it will be released as soon as...
yaTimer version 2.5.1 is a bug fix release with no new features, it is scheduled for release later this month and is almost ready. If you encountered any bugs in yaTimer now is a good chance to tell me about it so I can solve them for this version. You can report bugs using the contact form, clicking “Send Feedback” on yaTimer’s main menu, via e-mail or in a comment on this blog. yaTimer 2.5.1 will be a free upgrade for all existing customers.
I’ve been so busy lately I didn’t have time to blog so I’m writing this post to summarize everything I’m working on and my plans for the future. The most important thing for 2010 is the decision to retire StartMenuSearch and focus on time tracking and time management related products, this will let me expand the Nbd-Tech product line in a way that makes sense from a marketing perspective. I’ve released the second time tracking product - Squirrel Clock – and I have 4 (yes four) other time management products in various stages of planning and development. ...
I’ve just released version 2.5 of yaTimer – my time tracking application (3 days ahead of schedule). yaTimer 2.5 is a free upgrade for all customers, you can get the latest version from the upgrade page.
Disclaimer: This post talks about unreleased software, there will be some small changes before the yaTimer 2.5 is released, yaTimer 2.5 will be a free upgrade to all existing customers.
yaTimer had the option to run in the system tray almost from the beginning, the icon change color if you have active timers and a balloon popup can show you the list of running tasks.
In this version the tooltip and balloon popup tests are a bit nicer, there are two new option in the right click menu (Pause all and Restart Paused Tasks) and everything you can do from the...
Unless there’s some huge showstopper bug yaTimer 2.5 will be released on or before December 20th 2009 and will be a free upgrade to all existing customers. I’m currently working hard on testing yaTimer and fixing bugs, when I’m happy with the quality of the software I’ll release it. As always, I have a very long list of features that didn’t make it into this version, and if you asked for one of those features I’m truly sorry – but in any project you have to make painful decisions about cutting features or the software will never be...
The Disclaimer: This post talks about yaTimer 2.5, version 2.5 of yaTimer isn’t released yet and as such can change before the release, yaTimer 2.5 will be a free upgrade for all existing customers. The “set total time” feature existed in yaTimer almost since the beginning and adding an easy way to add and subtract time has been one of the most requested feature ever. On a side note, requests for this feature have virtually stopped since releasing the last version, there’s an important lesson there for software developers and I’ll write a blog post about it...
Disclaimer (again): version 2.5 of yaTimer, my time tracking software, wasn’t released yet, the feature I talk about here may change until the final release, yaTimer 2.5 will be a free upgrade for all existing customers.
This is an often requested feature, and one that I objected to for a long time, when you start or stop a task (your choice) a small balloon will pop up and ask you to enter a comment for the newly created timing event.
If you ignore the message it will fade out and disappear after a few seconds.
The reason that I objected to this...
Standard unreleased version disclaimer: This post talks about unreleased version of yaTimer, my time tracker, things can change between now and the actual release (but I don’t expect them to change that much), yaTimer 2.5 will be a free upgrade for all existing customers. I’ve always considered the reports to be on of yaTimer’s strong points, there are lot’s of them, they are designed to expose data that is actually useful, there are a lot of customization options and they look good enough to give to your clients. Except for the pie charts, The pie chart looks...
Disclaimer: in this post I’m writing about a feature of yaTimer 2.5, a version of my time logging tool that will be released soon, until it is actually released details can change. yaTimer 2.5 will be a free upgrade for all existing customers. This is a feature that I wanted to add for a long time – and it was always delayed for scheduling reasons. The “Today Mode” feature is very simple, click the button on the toolbar and see only time logged today, live and directly on the task list (click again to return to normal...
I’ve been very busy lately, so busy I didn’t have time to blog about yaTimer development progress. yaTimer 2.5 is basically done, but there are still some bugs I’d like to fix before releasing. yaTimer 2.5 will be a free upgrade fro everyone how bought a yaTimer license.
yaTimer is featured on BoomerApp this week (ending October 25, 2009). BoomerApp.com is a new site from the people who run the discount-of-the-day site BitsDuJour.com, but instead of discount on this site you get a mail in rebate, you print a form, send it using old fashion paper and envelope mail and receive some money back. yaTimer is the first software to be featured on BoomerApp.com and as such it is offered with a 100% rebate – the first (and likely last) time you can buy yaTimer essentially for free, all you have to do is mail a...
Ian Stockbridge, a customer of mine, mentioned yaTimer in his post Time management for the busy, he writes about how he started to track his time – and that it was a life changing experience. I can’t wait for the next post in the series for more details about the experience.
For a limited time only, bloggers can get a free copy of yaTimer.
If you are a blogger or journalist willing to write a review of yaTimer send me a short blurb with a link to your blog and I'll send you a license, FREE of charge, so you can evaluate yaTimer properly.
This offer is good until the end of September 2009, but I may extend or shorten that period depending on demand, so if you want your free yaTimer license don’t wait for the last minute - write a review now.
This is a collection of bug fixes and minor improvements to 2.4, this version is a free upgrade for all yaTimer customers.
The new version is already available from the upgrade page, you can simply install it over any older version and it will keep all your existing data and upgrade the data file automatically if needed.
What changed?
Tasks with more than 1000 hours now display correctly
Changed the way “set total time” is handled in all reports, set total time is now treated as adding or subtracting time and not as overriding the total,...
The Bits Du Jour promotion is over, I'd like to thank everyone who bought a license and everyone who sent me feedback during the promotion.
On August 11, 2009 yaTimer will be featured on Bits Du Jour and for 24 hours only you can get yaTimer for a little less than half price.
The promotion starts in a few hours – don’t miss your chance.
You can get the deal only using this link.
I’ve just uploaded the new version of yaTimer to the server, you can download the latest version of the best time tracking program or upgrade from previous versions at the usual locations.
The biggest feature in this version is the ability to synchronize with a portable copy of yaTimer, this has been the number one request ever since it’s been possible to run from a portable drive, completing this single feature has taken way longer than I planned for it, it is the reason most of the features planned for this version were delayed to the next version and also what...
This post is about unreleased software, everything I say here might change until the final version.
yaTimer 2.4 will be a free upgrade to all existing customers.
When you buy a yaTimer license you can install yaTimer on up to 3 computers and one portable drive (most commonly a USB thumb-drive), one of the most requested features is the ability to synchronize the data between those installations.
The synchronization feature is without a doubt the biggest and most complex feature in yaTimer, it’s also almost invisible from the user viewpoint – you click on a menu item and things gets synchronized quickly and...
yaTimer 2.4 will be a free upgrade for all existing customers.
As yaTimer 2.4 gets closer to release it’s time to give you a sneak peek at the new version and the first thing I’ve decided to show is the improved reports customization feature.
With version 2.3 of yaTimer it’s already possible to customize the reports, to use your own logo, to change the header and footer texts and more – but in version 2.4 I’ve taken report customization to the next level, not only there are some new customization options there is also a preview showing you a real report right...
yaTimer has been mentioned in this roundup of tools.
I just love to read about yaTimer, especially when it’s such a positive review:
http://becoming-a-writer-seriously.com/wordpress/2009/02/28/time-and-motivation-another-timer-to-the-rescue/
Actually it was over five days ago but it was a very busy week and I haven’t had time to blog about it until now.
I would like to thank everyone who bought a yaTimer license, and also everyone who sent me a message, you feedback is very valuable to me.
This was a very successful promotion, managed extremely professionally and efficiently by Roger from BitsDuJour, if you own or manage a small software company I highly recommend running a promotion with them – and if you don’t I recommend following the site, there is some really nice software featured there (I...
On February 28, 2009 yaTimer will be featured on BitsDuJour.com (a deal of the day site), for 24 hours only you will be able to buy a yaTimer license for just below half the normal price.
This is the first time yaTimer is offered at such a deep discount and it will probably be a while before this happens again (if it ever does), so if you are considering getting yaTimer and you like a good deal this is your chance.
You can only get the discount from this page at BitsDuJour
In yaTimer version 2.3 I’ve completely changed the way yaTimer draws itself and interact with Windows, I’ve done this to be more compatible with Vista and 3rd party window management tools.
Unfortunately, I made a small mistake when coding this change and introduced some annoying bugs into the “minimize to notification tray” feature (accessible from the options window).
yaTimer 2.3.2 contains the fix for those bugs, it also contain some internal changes that should improve the drawing performance of the software.
You can upgrade from any version of yaTimer for free at the upgrade page, just install the new version over any older...
I’ve just uploaded yaTimer 2.3 to the web site, you can download the new version here or upgrade (for free) from any older version here.
This is a small release with only user interface improvements (I’ll post the complete change log soon) it doesn’t include any of the big exciting features I’ve been working on.
With this version I also completely redesigned the yaTimer home page, I’d love to know what you think about it (as usual you can reach me by leaving a comment on the blog, using the contact form or sending a message to the support e-mail address).
I said yaTimer will be released sometime in November and yet today is December 1st and yaTimer 2.3 is still not released.
yaTimer 2.3 is ready but I decided to delay the release another week, just to let me test it better and finish updating the web site for the next version.
If you can’t wait until then send me an e-mail or use the contact form and I’ll send you a link to download the new version.
The second page of yaTimer’s documentation is now on-line, it’s a page about the details of resetting tasks in yaTimer (the image to the left is a very big reset icon).
The rest of the on-line help is delayed until the next version of yaTimer will be released, I just don’t want to have to change the new help pages when I release the next version.
yaTimer 2.3 itself is in final testing and will be released this month.
All the features, fixes and improvements that will make it into yaTimer 2.3 are finished, as always I had to delay a lot of features to the next version to keep something even remotely like a schedule.
If there are no serious bugs yaTimer 2.3 will be released this month.
yaTimer 2.3 will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers, you can download the current version on the download page.
The next version of yaTimer is almost done, I expect it will be finished in another week or so.
When it’s finished there is still a lot of testing to do, but based on my experience and the fact that this version is about making the existing features better and not introducing new features I expect the testing phase to be relatively short.
I estimate yaTimer 2.3 will be released sometime near the beginning of December, the actual release date will be when the version is ready.
yaTimer 2.3 will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers.
The first page, describing the task list - yaTimer’s main window, went on-line today.
The current plan is to finish the rest of the on-line help at the rate of roughly one page a week.
As always, comments are extremely welcome.
There are a lot of small user interface improvements in my to-do list, each one, taken separately, is not worth doing – it will just not have the impact on user experience to justify the time investment.
But all of them together – that’s another thing entirely.
So, for the next version of yaTimer I’m going to put all the big features I’ve been planning on hold and add all the small user interface improvements instead.
If you have any suggestions about UI improvements to yaTimer there’s still them to add them to the next version, leave them in the comments for this...
As I mentioned before yaTimer 2.2.1 adds just one small feature – and this feature is screen saver detection.
If you turn this feature on (from the options window) yaTimer will automatically stop all running timers when the screen saver starts, if you use yaTimer to track time spent on the computer you can turn this on and if you forget to stop the timer when you finish your work it will stop automatically in a few minutes when the screen saver kicks in.
After a lot of hard work yaTimer 2.2.1 is finally released.
This is a service update, with just one tiny feature and a lot of bug fixes.
As always you can upgrade you older version for free here.
With this version I also updated my release process and automated some things that I did manually before, this set me back about a week or two for this release but it will speed up future releases.
The plan is to add this new version to the automatic updates system sometime next week.
Today the next version of yaTimer went into the final testing phase, a few more days of intensive testing and the new version will be released.
Version 2.2.1 is a minor service release, it contains a few bug fixes and only one new feature.
Here is the list of all user-visible changes between yaTimer version 2.1 and 2.2:
NEW - Add create from template to toolbar
NEW - Grouping in task list
NEW - Un-pause tasks
FIXED - Comment text truncated on reports
NEW - Weekly project timesheet report
NEW - Weekly client timesheet report
NEW - A new version of all task reports with full comments
NEW - Reset all tasks
FIXED - Time event text unreadable when using XP classic theme
FIXED - Time event show up in wrong order when resetting a running task
NEW - Automatically start yaTimer on login option
FIXED - Bug when manually entering time in the past
FIXED -...
yaTimer 2.2 is officially released - late last night I updated the web site and uploaded the new installer.
All yaTimer customers get the new version for free from the upgrade page.
Now it’s time to start working on the next version, so if you have any suggestions or requests leave a comment or use the contact page.
Blogging has been very light the last few weeks – this is usually a sign I’m working on something big, in this case it’s the next version of yaTimer – my time tracking tool.
First, the standard disclaimer, this post is about an unreleased version of yaTimer, nothing is final until the software is actually released.
yaTimer 2.2 will be a free upgrade for all current customers.
yaTimer version 2.2 is almost ready – and it’s a big update:
Billing
<>In this version I’m introducing the first set of billing related features, you can set a fixed task cost or an hourly rate and yaTimer...
Running from an external drive is not supported in the trial version of yaTimer, it is enabled when you enter your activation code after buying a license.
yaTimer - my time tracking application, can run from a portable drive, it can run from anything with a drive-like interface, a USB flash drive, a memory card, a digital camera, an iPod or an external hard disk.
All of the application’s features work when running from a portable drive except for auto-update.
To run from a portable drive:
Run yaTimer.
Open the main menu.
...
I’m working on updating the yaTimer documentation, the first part of the documentation is scheduled to be available on the second week of April.
You can find the page with short descriptions of the buttons on the main yaTimer window here
I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about yaTimer you can contact me using the contact form or by leaving a comment on this blog.
If you have any suggestions for the documentation or areas of the software that need clarifications please contact me or leave a comment on this post.
UPDATE: I will release a new version of yaTimer late...
The first version of yaTimer had just one button in the toolbar, the version after that had 4, the latest version has five and the next version will add two or three more for a total of seven or eight.
While eight toolbar buttons are still much less then what you’ll find in most applications yaTimer is designed to be able to run in a very small window – and there is just not enough space for 8 buttons in a small window.
I can think of four simple ways to deal with this problem:
The first is to never add toolbar buttons,...
You can view the new screenshots, download the trial, upgrade from previous versions and buy it on the website.
If you have an older version installed you can follow this link to upgrade now or wait for the new version to be available as an automatic update (in about one week).
This post talks about yaTimer 2.1 that will be officially released on February 1st and will be a free upgrade to all customers, with the release I'm also raising the price – so if you buy now you'll get the new version and save 20$.
yaTimer 2.1 got a new look, one reason for the new look is the graphic redesign I'm doing company-wide, (I published the new yaTimer logo a while back, the blog changed and the rest of the site will follow in a few days.
But the real reason behind the change is compatibility, I switched the technology I...
yaTimer started as a very simple timer and is priced accordingly at just about the minimum price I can still make a profit.
Since then I released several versions of yaTimer and it has become a very capable time tracking solution, I did a short competitor search on-line and I think yaTimer is one of the cheapest alternatives available.
On the other hand the US dollar has dropped and left me with less money per sale then I planned for.
So, I decided to raise my price, on February 1st version 2.1 of yaTimer will be released at the new price of 49$...
I originally planned to release yaTimer 2.1 in early December, but December came and it was obvious there's still much work to do, so I rescheduled it to late December – I almost released it on time but I have been delayed by some bugs that were discovered late in the development process.
Now yaTimer 2.1 is finally ready and I'm starting my release process:
Today the new version will be sent to family and friends
In a few days, if there are no show-stoppers I'll also send it to customers that were promised...
This post talks about a version 2.1 of yaTimer, version 2.1 is not released yet but will be a free update to all customers, you can get the current version here and you will be notified when the new version is available.
There are four new reports in yaTimer 2.1, three of them are "daily timesheets" they show details of what you did divided into days.
The daily timesheet report shows what tasks you spent time on, the daily client timesheet and daily project timesheet shows the daily total for the client or project.
A weekly and monthly variation of those reports will...
As part of the next version yaTimer is getting a new logo.
yaTimer version 2.1 is getting closer to release, there are no major (known) problems left and its all about testing, testing, testing and more testing.
Version 2.1 isn’t available yet, but it will be a free upgrade to all customers, you can download the current version here.
This post describes a future version of yaTimer, this version will be a free upgrade to all yaTimer customers.
Version 2.1 is not available yet, but you can download the current version or buy the current version (and get the new version for free when it's released).
This is the most requested feature for this version, it was planned for version 2.2 and moved forward to version 2.1 because of those requests.
Clicking the "Completed Tasks" button on the main menu (this button replaces the "Undo Complete" button from previous versions) opens this window:
You can see the list of completed tasks, filtered by...
The next version of yaTimer (2.1) is scheduled to be released this month (December 2007).
yaTimer is now in the first stage of preparation for release – only features I already added to yaTimer will make it for this release, no new features will be added only bug will be fixed, that coupled with extensive testing should produce a high quality release.
Over the next few days I'll publish some of the new features of yaTimer 2.1 here.
I've uploaded yaTimer 2.0 into the automatic update server, If you click the “Check for Updates” button on the main menu you'll be prompted to upgrade.
And I messed up the auto-update installation again, so most of my customers wouldn’t be able to update from within yaTimer.
As always, updates are free from the web site at:
http://www.yatimer.com/Upgrade.htm
I've fixed the auto-update bug and I hope that the auto update service will work for the next version.
Now that version 2.0 that I worked so long and hard on is finally done its time to think about what to do next.
I have my to-do list...
I am very happy to announce that yaTimer version 2.0 has been released today.
You can now download a trial of the new version or upgrade for free from any previous version.
The new version will be available using yaTimer’s automatic update (by clicking “Check for Updates” on the right side of the main menu) sometime later this week.
I haven't posted much in the previous few weeks, this is because I was too busy working, several projects I'm involved with are getting close to finished (and to deadlines).
yaTimer is one of those projects I've been working like crazy getting all the little details right and now finally all the features planned for this version are finished.
yaTimer now has to go through several days of rigorous testing, and then, if I don't find some huge bug I'm going to finally release version 2.
As with all previous versions I had to make painful decisions about which features are going to...
Finally yaTimer get a reporting feature that's as good as the rest of the software (In case you're new here, yaTimer is my time tracking software).
This is still a work in progress and many things will change until the final release, but here are is a picture of two of the new reports from the latest development version.
I'll write about printing and documents in WPF after I finish my current WPF tutorial series
I've already started working on the next version of yaTimer, and for the first time I'm going to reveal my plan for the future of yaTimer but everything written here is just my plan, plans can change, I'm not promising anything.
As a lesson from version 1.2 I've split my plan into smaller versions, this will allow me to release more frequent updates and get the improvements to my customers faster.
I'm not publishing the target release dates for future versions but all the versions listed here are supposed to be released in less than a year, this combined with my 1 year...
yaTimer version 1.2 has been released on July 27 (3 days ago) and I've been so busy catching up on other projects I haven't had the time to blog about it yet.
yaTimer 1.2 is a free upgrade for all yaTimer customers, To upgrade your installation visit http://www.nbdtech.com/yaTimer/Upgrade.htm.
I haven't released the auto-update for 1.2 yet because of a bug in the setup program of version 1.1, I forgot to include one dll that is used by the auto-update service, as a result the auto-update just doesn't work (it does work for anyone who originally had version 1.0.1).
Version 1.2 does include the...
yaTimer 1.2 is now at the final testing phase and I will delay the release only for critical bugs.
If you leave a comment in this post I'll e-mail you the moment the new version is available for download.
With version 1.2 of yaTimer – my task timer application, I'm extending the free update period from 6 month to a year, and I'm also retroactively extending the free upgrade period to all existing customers.
If you buy a yaTimer license you get any new version released within one year, no matter how big or small the upgrade is.
Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer application, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers.
This is the most requested feature for this version – and one that I actually wanted to add a long time ago, the reason it took so long is that at first I wanted...
Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer software, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers.
Quick-Task is a very simple but powerful feature.
Before yaTimer 1.2 to time a task you had to fill in the task details and only then you could start timing, this is perfectly fine...
yaTimer - my time tracking software, currently has a 45 days free trial.
My original reason was that if someone uses it for this long they would be unlikely to stop, I still think this is true, but a 45 days "sales cycle" is way too long for me (at lease for now).
I'm going to do a little experiment and drastically change the trial period, with version 1.2 (that will be released soon) I'm going to shorten the trial to 14 days.
I hope this will make people evaluate yaTimer a little more seriously (because they have a more immediate deadline) and...
Disclaimer: this post talks about a new unreleased version of yaTimer – my task timer software, the software can, and will, change before the actual release – so there is no guarantee the new features I write about here will be in the release version. Details about the latest released version can always be found here. yaTimer 1.2 will be a free update to all current customers.
Sometimes you want your timer to be always visible, sometimes you don't really care – that is why yaTimer 1.2 not only let you set the task list window as always-on-top it also let...
I haven't wrote about yaTimer in a while, that's mostly because I spend so much time working on it I didn't have time to write about it.
I've just decided to freeze development and release the new version, version 1.2 was not supposed to be a major upgrade but it does have a huge number of tiny improvements – and work on all those tiny improvements adds up, it has taken me more time then I originally planed.
So, everything that isn't already done is going to be postponed to the next version.
It will take me some more time to release yaTimer...
I actually changed the licensing options a long time ago, but I've just found out the latest blog post about it wasn't updated.
I simplified the licensing options, there is just one option now, for every yaTimer license you buy you can install yaTimer on up to 3 computers, I did this because I have multiple computers myself (that only me and my wife use) and having to buy multiple copies of software is extremely annoying to me.
The next version of yaTimer is planned to have support for running off an external drive (such as a USB stick), for each license...
The current version of yaTimer – version 1.1 – has just one report, a timesheet report.
I plan to add some new reports over the next two versions, the current plan is to add at least one new report for the next version and 3-4 more in the version after that.
If you are using yaTimer or any other time tracking tool please tell me what kind or reports you would like to see in yaTimer.
Please post details about the reports you want to see in the comments, if you want to contact me privately you can use the contact link at...
Some time ago I got my daily Google alerts e-mail – and what do I see? yaTimer appears on two crack sites, I was sure that if yaTimer ever gets popular it will eventually be cracked, but I wasn't expecting it so soon, Those site even showed up in the first page of google search results for yaTimer.
My panic was a bit premature, I went to those sites and searched for yaTimer, no results, a few days later the sites disappeared from the google search results.
It looks like yaTimer wasn't cracked (probably because they didn't even try to crack it).
disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.2 that is not available yet, the latest version is 1.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page .
Version 1.2 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone.
The idea is simple, just run yaTimer from an external drive (for example a USB thumb drive) so you can take it with you and transfer it (with your data) from computer to computer.
This feature is very simple to implement, but difficult to implement well, this was actually...
Last week (I haven't been able to blog for most of the week) I had my first sale.
I've given a free license of yaTimer in exchange for an ad once, but this is the first time someone actually paid real money for yaTimer.
yaTimer has a 45 days trial period, this sale was 50 days after I've started selling yaTimer and 45 days after David St.Lawrence wrote about yaTimer is his blog, I assume my first paying customer came from his blog but I can't know for sure.
I’ve just uploaded the new setup program and update package to the website, the next time you run yaTimer while connected to the internet it will ask for permission to update itself.
The next version of yaTimer – version 1.1.0 – is finally done, I’ve just finished preparing the setup program and the auto-update package.
Tomorrow I’m going to release the version to my very capable testers, this is going to be a very intensive day of testing on different computers, if they don’t find any show-stopping bug then yaTimer 1.1.0 will be released sometime over the weekend.
The first time you run yaTimer after I publish the auto-update package it will tell you there is an update available and offer to update itself.
disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page .
Version 1.1.0 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone
UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature.
Sometimes you start working on something without timing it, sometimes you are away from your computer, sometimes you just need to set your timer to some predefined time - For all those situations we...
disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from the yaTimer download page.
Version 1.1.0 will be a free (and automatic) update for everyone.
UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature.
If there is something that is obviously missing from yaTimer it’s the ability to rearrange tasks, so it was a high priority feature for the second version.
As you see in the image there are...
disclaimer: this post is about unreleased software, everything here can be changed until the final version. This new feature is only in version 1.1.0 that is not available yet (but will be released soon), the latest version is 1.0.1 and can be downloaded from here.
UPDATE: yaTimer 1.1 was released and it includes this feature.
Version 1.1.0 will have countdown timers, using them is very simple, when you add a task you can choose to count up or down (you can change it later) and if you choose down you can specify you start time – and that’s it, the timer will count...
I have been spending a big part of my time working on the web-site and the AdWords campaign – but I'm still working on the next version of yaTimer, it's just taking a little bit longer then I would like.
yaTimer is still very much under active development and I'll blog about some of the new features over the next few days.
UPDATE: yaTimer licensing options have changed, see this post for details
For most software a single license gives you the right to install the software on one computer – and if you own multiple computer you are supposed to buy multiple licenses, I own several computers and I find this to be a real pain (and sometimes very expensive).
I expect a lot of yaTimer's potential customers have the same problem, so I've decided to create two different license types for yaTimer:
Single computer license: You can install yaTimer on a single computer, anyone who can use this computer...
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