Eee Lights Up Like Christmas Whenever A Message Comes In
With all the lights that adorn modern notebooks, it’s truly a shame that most of them aren’t at all useful. One modder, sharing this philosophy, added a 3-colour LED to an Asus Eee 901 to track incoming messages.
Combined with an extra microprocessor and some custom scripts, the RGB LED illuminates with a different colour depending on whether it’s email, an IM or a new tweet awaiting one’s perusal. With as much extraneous bundled hardware and software bloats most laptops, you’d think someone like HP or Dell would simply integrate such luminescent feedback into their complete line. You’d think. [justblair via lilliputing via CrunchGear]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Should be shorter. Looks like a nipple or something!
Sebastianbf
@Brandon Liu:
i know, he coulda used a surface mount LED for a nice, low-profile effect. i think you can get RGB leds as small as 0603, but dont quote me on that.
@Blake380:
if you need a kit, you'd be wise to never open your computer in the first place.
@GrossGreg: My 12" notebook died almost a year ago, and I replaced it with a 9" eee. I've never regretted it. I do all my heavy computing server-side through vnc to a 8-core workstation that lives in the office, while I write and make presentations on the eee. Plus 9" is so much smaller than 12" so it makes a big difference in haul-around weight.
thing pokes out like a pimple, should be in side of the case imo.
Brandon Liu
Just like the WebTV.
(That's right, this was basic functionality for the WebTV.)
(It was also pretty much the only functionality, but still.)
@dingus: (smacks forehead) You said Tegra, I thought Ion. That's even worse, since it has a suckier CPU with all the power of a 2G iPhone that'll only run WinCE or ARM Linux.
dingus
@GrossGreg: you mean repurpose this?
[gizmodo.com]
Daniel Rosenthal
@helfrez: Welcome to technology. Slower traffic please keep to the right.
Seriously though, if the Tegra is what's keeping you from buying a netbook now, they're probably not for you. CPU performance still stinks, screen size is still tiny, and memory is still limited to 2GB. All Tegra might afford you is to play WoW or 4 year old Steam games at low quality.
dingus
@Kaiser-Machead:well u kinda already own the internet, so um....good job.
ra2daj
@helfrez: I got a netbook about six months ago, and am still trying to figure out what niche it fills in my tech arsenal. If you're hauling around a hefty notebook, a netbook might be a good idea. If you're already packing a smaller-sized notebook, you might want to hold off.
He did something Palm wasn't able to do with the pre.
NurseDave
Next step: Someone mod a MacBook so that the Apple logo lights up in different colors (even during sleep) if someone gets an email, IM, or a tweet.
That is quite a good idea.
Like the stupid USB light orb, only practically portable and non-space-wasting.
This needs to be turned into a kit and sold online.
Blake380
very very VERY nice! and sad but true, this is really kewl hack. In other news, I want, but still havent been able to pull the trigger on a netbook for fear of the unknown. Soon as I get one, all of them will start shipping with Tegras stock or something crazy. As kewl as netbooks are, I still find something like a thinkpad Xseries laptop, significantly more powerful/useful/cost effective...so I wait..and wait..and wait..
helfrez
Then one day at Giz HQ
Wilson came to say
Eee with those alerts so bright
Won't you track my Tweets tonight..
Kaiser-Machead
But what if you work in a Christmas-light factory? Didn't think of that, did you Mark?
And that is why you fail.
@Blake380: I agree. I'd do this to any machines I came across just for shits and giggles, but my internal slacker makes it necessary that it's all available easily. Plus... who doesn't love kits?!
amandizzle