Illumination 2.1 Beta 2 is available for download!

This release is almost entirely a bug fix release to take care of a few issues uncovered as folks are building their entries for the first monthly Illumination Competition.

What’s changed in 2.1 Beta 2:

- The “Adobe Flex – Web” build option has returned!
- Significant bug fixes to the Flex builds (if you had troubles before, definitely try it again!).
- Graphics drawing functionality is temporarily disabled in Flex builds while we iron the kinks out (if you have Graphics blocks in your project, they will simply be ignored when you build for Flex).  Graphics functionality is still available in Python builds in Beta 2.
- Right clicking and deleting blocks now works again under MacOS X 10.5 and 10.6.

And, don’t forget, right now we’re having a “Name Your Price” sale on Illumination Software Creator.  If you’ve been on the fence about picking up a copy… now’s the time!

Downloads:

Illumination 2.1 Beta 2 for Linux

Illumination 2.1 Beta 2 for Windows

Illumination 2.1 Beta 2 for MacOS X

You can download the tutorial, grab additional example projects and purchase a license from RadicalBreeze.com and talk with other Illumination Software Creator users over at the official forum.

Last week I published an article on how I went about going “Cell Phone Free” — essentially a step-by-step way to use GoogleVoice, Skype, etc. to completely ditch cell phones (and the cell phone companies).

In that article I talked about using the Nokia N810 WiMax edition internet tablet as a viable, and inexpensive, portable device that, in effect, allows you to make skype/google voice calls while on the go.

At the time I wrote that article it was possible to purchase an  N810 WiMax edition for about $150.  Mostly due to the face that the N810′s are no longer being produced and are about 2 years old.

In the one week since then… my how things have changed!

A quick search on eBay, Amazon and a few other sites reveals that the cheapest I can now find an N810 WiMax tablet is… drumroll…

$575.

That’s right.  Since I published that article, the demand for this device has forced the price up nearly %400.

What makes it even crazier?

The N810 WiMax edition sold for $449 when it was first announced.  So it is now considerably more expensive than it was the day it came out.

And the N900, the successor to the N810… which is a currently shipping device… retails for less than $500.  So the older N810 WiMax is now more expensive than its newer, more powerful, brother.

Pure madness!

29 years ago, this week, an important event happened: The introduction of the first IBM PC.  Needless to say, this was a pretty big deal.

To commemorate that event, we are putting Illumination Software Creator on sale… and you get to set your own price.

For those not yet initiated into the wonderful world of Illumination Software Creator, here’s the overview: Illumination lets you design your own software in a completely visual way (no writing code)… and it is completely, totally, utterly, ridiculously easy to learn for anyone who can use a mouse (no programming skills necessary).  What’s more, it runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS X and even lets you build Flash websites.  Pretty cool, eh?

In addition to the sale (which runs through August 18th), we’re also kicking off something new:

The Monthly Illumination Software Creator Competition

The idea is simple.  Every month we’ll hold a competition with a specific set of guidelines.  Everyone has until the last day of the month to complete their Illumination project and get it submitted.  The person (or persons) who win (the criteria of which will change month to month) will get a prize for themselves and, in addition, we will donate 20 licenses of Illumination to any school of the winners choosing.

Grade school, College… heck even outreach programs.  Any sort of educational institution (public or private) that you have a particular fondness for (or feel could benefit from this) is eligible.  No strings attached.

Illumination is great for teaching software development and general logic & computer skills — and the more kids that can benefit from this, the better.

For this first contest we’re starting off with something simple: A number guessing game.  Pretty simple right?  Well the trick is this: the person who can meet the criteria for the game while using the least number of Illumination Blocks… is our winner.  Check the Contest tab at RadicalBreeze.com for more info.

In case of a tie… we’ll have multiple winners.

So go to http://radicalbreeze.com/.  Grab a copy of Illumination while you can set your own price.  Grab the tutorial from the Downloads page.  Check out the example projects and start working on your contest entry!  Good luck!

We’ve got a new PDF tutorial for Illumination Software Creator over on the download page at RadicalBreeze.com.

It’s a quick read (only about 4 pages).  We tried to make it longer… but learning to create software Illumination is just too easy.

There’s also some rather fun stuff coming tomorrow.  So keep an eye here tomorrow morning for those announcements.

(And, in case you missed it, version 2.1 is now in Beta.)

The first Beta release of Illumination Software Creator 2.1 is available!

People have been creating some very cool desktop, mobile and flash/web applications with version 2.0 (which, let’s be honest, is the coolest visual programming tool on the planet)… but one of the biggest requests I get is for graphics functionality.  People want to unleash their creative sides!

Ask, and ye shall receive!

Lots of good stuff in 2.1 Beta 1!  Here are some of the highlights:

- New Variable Type: Picture (For drawing onto)
- New Variable Type: Color (So your drawings have color)
- New UI Control: Canvas (For drawing your picture variables onto.)
- New UI Control: ColorButton (To let your users select colors)
- New blocks for getting and setting ColorButtons and Canvases.
- A new “Picture” block category for handling pictures.
- A series of new blocks for drawing onto pictures (rectangles, lines, etc.).
- Bug Fix: Dragging and dropping blocks (and UI components) now creates the block exactly at the mouse cursor.
- Plus lots and lots of bug fixes, optimizations and under-the-hood improvements.

There are two things worth noting that are not in Beta 1:

- Adobe Flex/Web Builds
- Haiku Builds

There are a few big bugs in both of those currently, and we decided to get this Beta out there, for everyone to play with, now… and then those two features will return in the next Beta release.  (Never fear!  You won’t have to wait too long!)

To get you rolling with the new graphics functionality, here is a simple example of how to draw a series of charts with colors that can be changed at run-time.

(Note that this project requires Illumination 2.1 Beta 1 or higher in order to function.)

The combination of these new features adds a huge amount of flexibility to what you can create with Illumination!  Even building your own custom Canvas-based buttons is now possible.

Downloads:

Illumination 2.1 Beta 1 for Linux

Illumination 2.1 Beta 1 for Windows

Illumination 2.1 Beta 1 for MacOS X

And, of course, you can grab additional example projects or purchase a license from RadicalBreeze.com and talk with other Illumination Software Creator users over at the official forum.