IDE 1.2.94 VM 246
(stable release)

Major IDE and VM Changes
* Support wireless programming (great for robots)! Look for `connect (BLE)` in the standard Connect menu (BLE stands for Bluetooth Low Energy). This has some limitations:
    * `connect BLE` is only available in the web IDE running in Google Chrome, and possibly a few other browsers that support Web Bluetooth. It is not supported by the standalone IDEs, nor the web IDE running in Firefox or Safari.
    * `connect BLE` is only supported on the following boards:
        * Calliope V3
        * ESP32
        * micro:bit V2 (including CuteBot robots)
        * Raspberry Pi Pico W (including the XRP robot)
* Add block `seconds` to `Input`.
* Add advanced blocks `millisecondsSince` and `microsecondsSince` to `Input`. These should always be used to measure elapsed time, instead of simple subtraction, because they handle clock wraparound correctly.
* Add block `BLE id` to `Input`. It returns a 3 letter BLE ID for the connected board. This ID will be part of the name you see in the `connect BLE`'s dialog box. If the connected board does not support BLE, the block returns an empty string.
* Add advanced block `if _condition_ then _x_ else _y_` to `Operators`.
* On ESP32 boards, code is now stored and executed from Flash memory, allowing larger projects

Other Notable IDE and VM Changes
* Reset the value reported by `timer` (in `Inputs`) to 0 when the the `start` button is pressed.
* All clocks (`seconds`, `millis`, and `micros`) (in `Inputs`) now wrap at 2^30. Formerly `millis` wrapped at a smaller value.
* Do a full reset when the `start` button is clicked. This eliminates a source of confusing behavior when a user edits a block that initializes something, and that block only runs if needed (lazy initialization).
* Make library description text selectable and copyable. This is especially useful for URLs.
* Reloading a text library is much more robust, and no longer reloads dependencies. This makes it easier to work on libraries by editing text, sets of related libraries.
* Show a crosshair cursor while choosing colors in the color palette
* Add the ability to install ESP firmware on a board in two ways: by selecting `install ESP firmware from URL` from the gear menu, or by dropping a .bin file onto the IDE.
* Removed Metro M0 as a built-in board. It can be installed from extraVMs.

New Supported Board
* Calliope mini v3

New Community Supported Boards
* ESP32-S3 (esp32-s3-devkitc-1)
* ESP32-C3 (LuatOS ESP32-C3)
* MakerPort v2 and v3
* Robotistan Gamepad prototype
* XRP Robot
* M5Atom-lite
* BeagleBoard Freedom Connect (built on Zephyr; https://openbeagle.org/beagleboard/microblocks)
* Pre-compiled firmware for many community supported boards is now distributed in https://microblocks.fun/downloads/pilot/vm/)

New Libraries
* `Graphics and Displays/Color` (replaces `Graphics and Displays/HSV Colors`, which is deprecated)
* `Graphics and Displays/Four Digit Display (TM1637)` (supports the display used by Brown Dog Gadgets)
* `Kits and Boards/PicroBricks-mb` (not yet shipping as of August)
* `Motors/Encoded DC Motors`
* `Motors/PID` (for proportional-integral-derivitive control loops)
* `Motors/Zio Four DC Motor Controller`
* `Network/BLE Scanner`
* `Network/BLE Radio` (for peer-to-peer broadcasting between boards that support Bluetooth BLE)
* `Network/BLE Serial`
* `Network/OctoStudio` (send messages to/from MIT's OctoStudio phone/table programming system)
* `Other/Keyboard and Mouse` Update key menu to make it work on MacOS; remove entries that do no work (e.g. Caps/Num/Scroll Lock).
* `Robots/Cutebot Pro`
* `Robots/Fantàstic`
* `Robots/XGO Lite` (uses much less code than the XGO-nano)
* `Robots/XRP`
* `Rhythm` (used with MIDI library for music live coding)
* `Sensing/Light (TSL2591)`
* `Sound/MIDI` (MIDI output for real-time music)
* `Sound/Scales & Chords` (scales, chord, and arpeggio generator for music live coding)

Library Changes (not complete)
* `AI/HuskyLens`: serial read size correction and parsing correction.
* `Graphics and Displays/8 Bit Graphics`: add blocks: `bitmap ... rotated...`, `bitmap ... mirrored across...`, `color number for...`, and `current palette`.
* `Graphics and Displays/TFT`: add a `draw bitmap...` block. Add optional `bg color` argument to the `write ... on TFT...` block.
* `Kits and Boards/databot`: add support for the ICM20948 accelerometer/magnetometer.
* `Kits and Boards/MakerPort`: add missing dependency `Tone`.
* `Kits and Boards/PicoBricks`: make the light sensor block report higher numbers for brighter light.
* `NeoPixel`: fix issues with newer NeoPixels.
* `Network/OctoStudio`:
    * Add `Octo last beam` and `Octo beam received` blocks.
    * Change blocks `Octo start` and `Octo stop` to advanced blocks `_octoStartBeam ...` and `_octoStopBeam`.
    * Add support for receiving Octo beams on Raspberry Pi Pico-W from Android phones.
    * Other changes to advanced blocks.
* `Network/WiFi`: ensure the password is at least 8 characters long in the `wifi create hotspot...` block.
* `Network/WiFi Radio`: indicate when out-of-range numbers are received from a non-MicroBlocks computer.
* `Other/ED1 Stepper Motor`: add IO expander digital pin access.
* `Other/Lists`: add `pick [a few/some/most] from aList` block.
* `Sensing/Touch`: fix a bug caused by an incorrect variable name.
* Move the libraries that were in the `ELECFREAKS` folder to the following locations:
    * `Robots/Cutebot`
    * `Kits and Boards/Nezha2`
    * `Kits and Boards/Octopus`
    * `Kits and Boards/Wukong`
    * `Kits and Boards/WuKong2040`
    * The `NeZha` library is gone.

New Translations:
* Traditional Chinese (translated directly from Simplified Chinese)

Updated Translations:
* Castellano
* Catalan
* Chinese
* Deutsch
* Spanish

Many thanks to Russell Owen for creating this summary of changes since the last stable release.