Daily Cup of Tech

This is one of those projects that makes you go, “That was so obvious! Why didn’t I think of that?!” Pretty much every computer system has the ability to run a screensaver. Back in the days of CRT monitors, they were a much needed tool, especially when you could read the text on your screen and the computer is turned off! In general, I tell people to turn off their screensaver if they have an LCD monitor or at the very least set it to a black screen.

But, I may have to change my recommendation to always use a black screen screensaver if more people start to build this little device!

photozz has developed a system that monitors (no pun intended) the status of the screensaver. As soon as the screensaver kicks in, it sends a signal to the printer port which is picked up from this device. This then tells the device to cut the power to all of the appropriate peripherals that are connected to the device!

This ideas is pretty ingenious to me because if the screensaver is running, then you are probably not at your computer to use the peripherals that are connected to it! I wish that I had seen this before I wrote Reduce Home Network Power Consumption. It is a really cool way to help keep the electric bills down.

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