Month: December 2024

Dejal year in review: 2024

As we wind down the year, let’s review what happened with the Dejal apps in 2024:

Time Out icon Time Out

My popular break reminder tool, Time Out, had four bug-fix updates in 2024, to version 2.9.7. Plus work is underway on a big 3.0 update; more on that in the next blog post.

Simon icon Simon

My pro app to monitor websites and servers for changes and failures, Simon, didn’t need any updates in 2024.

Weather Events icon Weather Events

I introduced a major new app in 2024 called Weather Events, available for Mac, Vision, iPad, and iPhone, as a subscription. It saves a record of the weather conditions to your calendar, so you’ll be able to look back at previous weeks, months, and years, and see what the weather was like back then, with support for different locations for each day if desired. Great for someone who travels a lot, like me, or if you just want to keep a long-term record of the weather. Read the introduction in DejalNews #87, and the 1.1 update post for more information.

Preminder icon Preminder

I also introduced another new app in 2024, called Preminder, available for iPhone, as a free app. A much smaller app, but still useful. It helps with a common issue, where you want to be reminded some number of days, weeks, months, or years before a certain date. It does the date calculation for you. My wife and I use it to get reminders of when a booking window opens up for a campground (e.g. 90 days before our desired arrival), but you could use it to remind you to buy concert or game tickets, buy birthday presents, prepare for some event, or so much more. Read the introductory blog post for more information.

Pack icon Pack

Pack, a simple iPhone app to make it easy to pack for trips, didn’t have any updates in 2024. Now that I take my home with me when I travel, I rarely need to pack suitcases anymore, so I’m unlikely to update it again. It remains a product in my lineup.

Date Stamp icon Date Stamp

Date Stamp, an iMessage app to provide customizable date stamp stickers, also didn’t have any changes. Since few people seem to use iMessage stickers anymore, I’m unlikely to update this either, but will continue to offer it for as long as it keeps working.

Date Stamp icon Another New App

Yes, I introduced two new apps, but I also have another new app in the works. More about this in the next blog post.

Consulting

Dejal also develops macOS and iOS apps for other companies, under the banner of Dejal Consulting.

SheetPlanner icon SheetPlanner

SheetPlanner is a pro-level outliner, planner, todo, calendar, and more. I spent 2024 working on an iPad edition of the app, plus enhancements to the existing Mac app. Version 5.0 is nearing completion, and I’m really proud of the iPad app; I can’t wait for it to be released.

NewsBlur icon NewsBlur

I have also continued to work on the iOS client for NewsBlur, a popular RSS reader; in 2024 it added a native Mac app, which was a huge addition, plus lots of other enhancements and fixes.

So how’d 2024 go?

It was a relatively quiet year for updates of existing Dejal apps, but saw the addition of two brand-new apps, and work on a major Time Out update. Plus lots of work on my consulting projects.

Thank you

Thank you and welcome to my new customers, and many thanks to the long-term customers who are still enjoying my apps, and of course my consulting clients. I really appreciate your support.

DejalNews #88: introducing Preminder, Weather Events 1.1, Time Out tip

DejalNews header

Welcome

This is DejalNews, an occasional newsletter from Dejal.

Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Sign up on the Dejal site.

Introducing Preminder, a new free Dejal app

My wife had a need of an app. As you may know, we travel around the country in a motorhome, which means booking RV parks. We like to plan a year or so out, and book popular places as soon as they become available, so we get the best spot (or any spot if really popular). But each campground has a different booking window; sometimes six months, sometimes 180 days (which is not the same thing!), sometimes 90 days, etc.

To make the reservation on the right day, we used to ask a digital assistant like Alexa or Siri to calculate 180 days (or whatever) before the date we want to stay, then add a reminder on that date. But what if that could be one step? I wrote Preminder to make that easier: simply enter the date of the stay (and optionally a time), and choose from a preset list of intervals, or a custom one for unusual cases, and add the reminder on the appropriate date. Easy!

Preminder is useful for more than just campsites, though; you could use it to remind you of concert or game tickets, birthdays, holidays, or any other situation where you want a reminder some time before an event.

What’s more, Preminder is completely free, available for iPhone, so there’s no risk to download and try it.

Learn more on the Preminder site, or get it now.

Weather Events 1.1 released

Another recent app had an update too. Weather Events is another app I wrote to scratch my own itch, and useful with our traveling lifestyle.

As we travel around the country in our motorhome, I like to keep a record of the weather conditions of where we are, as all-day events on my calendar. I live my life by my calendar, so find it useful to be able to see the weather there. (And also in the menubar on my Mac.)

A key feature of Weather Events is that each day can have a different location; great for people who travel a lot like me, but useful for other when they go on vacation too.

Version 1.1 of Weather Events has a big enhancement that makes the app much easier to use: it will (optionally) automatically change the location based on calendar events. If you have calendar events that include a location, Weather Events can see that and change the location; if there are multiple, it will choose the latest all-day event or longest timed event (and you can tell it whether to only look at all-day or timed events, or both).

This update also includes a bunch of other improvements and fixes, too. Learn more about this update.

Weather Events is available on the App Store for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS. It has a monthly or yearly subscription, and a free two week trial.

Try it now!

Time Out tip: Can I have Time Out remind me when to go home at the end of day?

I recently published a Time Out tip, based on a customer query. They wanted to have a countdown in the menubar for remaining time in the work day. Time Out is very flexible, so I was able to accommodate that request.

Check out this blog post for the details.

I’m hard at work on Time Out version 3, which will be a big update, so won’t be out for a few months, but will have some nice enhancements. I always welcome more suggestions, though, so feel free to get in touch if you have any requests.

Follow Dejal on Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, Micro.blog, Facebook, Reddit, and more

Do you use one of the popular social media platforms? Dejal is probably there!

See this blog post for links to Dejal’s account on those platforms and more.

– David