New software company, Butternut Software, has released their flagship product, a freeware countdown timer app with a twist called VisiTimer. It can be used like any other countdown timers to time anything from baking a cake to taking a break. However, instead of showing the time passage like other timers that display digits counting down or a traditional clock dial, VisiTimer gradually reveals an image or shape in a radial sweep pattern in sync with the time as it counts down. When the image is completely revealed, time is up. The image can be chosen from the program's built in library of many images or can be any image file on the user's computer. There is also an option to just use a colored circle. This unique method of indicating time passage makes the program potentially of interest to parents or teachers of small children who can't yet comprehend the concept of digits counting down but still need to see how much time is left on the timer as it counts down or also for busy adults who just need a quick visual indication of how much time is left. Other features include the ability to run multiple instances of the app and label each one in case users need to time more than one thing. For the alarm that sounds when time expires, users can select any of several built in sounds ranging from animal sounds to truck horns or provide their own by selecting any wav file on their computer. VisiTimer runs on all versions of Windows and is licensed as freeware. More information can be found at http://www.butternutsoftware.com.

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Kyle Dusang