power posts

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware

SetPower - time-based power management

by Jason Clarke Sep 16th 2009

SetPower is a utility that lets you choose different power management profiles for your computer based on the time of day. So, if you want your computer to stay on during the day, but sleep overnight, that's not something you can do with the built-in power management functionality in Windows. SetPower adds the ability to control which profile is in effect at a given time.

As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, the benefits of putting your computer to sleep when you might otherwise be inclined to leave it running are obvious. In fact, SetPower claims that you could save up to $10 per month simply by putting your computer to sleep overnight.

One of my pet peeves about software is that developers tend not to pay attention to whether the machine is running on battery power or not. This is particularly troublesome with software that runs jobs like indexing your hard drive, which can take a long time and keep your CPU running at a higher level then it otherwise would. That drains your battery when the software could very simply notice that the machine is on battery power, and wait until it is plugged in again. SetPower pays attention to the battery state, and can alter the machine's power management behavior depending on whether it is plugged in or not.

SetPower is free for home use, and an enterprise license is available at a reasonable $5 per machine.

Tags: battery, battery power, battery state, battery-power, battery-state, BatteryPower, BatteryState, power, power management, power-management, PowerManagement, setpower, sleep, time of day, time-of-day, TimeOfDay

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

How to add Windows tray icons for the trash bin, disc drive, and power

by Brad Linder Jul 9th 2008

It only takes a few clicks to do things like empty your Windows recycling bin, reboot your PC or open your CD-ROM drive. But if you're looking for easy access to these features, why not add system tray icons that give you two-click access no matter what you're doing with your computer?

E-sushi has a series of utilities that add these features to your system tray. Disc Tray Toggler lets you open and close your disc drive through a right-click context menu. MiniBin lets you open or empty your recycle bin. And iPower lets you logoff, shutdown, or reboot your PC.

The company also has a couple of other useful utilities including MyKeyGen, a password generator, and TimeBomb, a tool that lets you shutdown, logoff, or reboot your system after a specified periord of time. There's also a program called RunIdleTasks that's designed to force any tasks that normally run when your PC is idle to run immediately. But to be honest, we had a hard time figuring out if RunIdleTasks was doing anything when we took it for a test drive.

[via Shell Extension City]

Tags: disc-tray-toggler, e-sushi, ipower, logoff, minibin, power, reboot, recycling-bin, shutdown, system-tray

Filed under: Linux, Open Source

Intel pushing low-power Linux development for laptops

by Brad Linder Sep 21st 2007

Everyone wants a blazing fast PC. But if you've got a laptop, you also want long battery life. Oh yeah, and if you care about the environment or your home electric bills, you might want your desktop to suck electricity from the power grid a little slower too.

PC power consumption comes from a combination of hardware and software. Intel, AMD, and other chip makers have been trying to reduce power usage in their new processors, and Microsoft and Apple have tried to build power-saving features into their operating systems.

Now Intel has also launched a new initiative to encourage Linux developers to find ways to save power. The goal is to create a community of developers, users, and organizations committed to sharing code, bugs, or tips on reducing the power use of PCs running Linux. Intel has been turning to Linux as a way to boost battery life in ultra mobile devices, and has already demonstrated that low-power software can boost battery life by up to an hour on some devices.

[via APC Magazine]

Tags: apc, intel, low-power, power, power-saving, power-use

Filed under: Business, Google

Google joins the hybrid auto market sector

by Chris Gilmer Jun 19th 2007

When we think about Google, we normally think about search, so what's the deal with the entry into the auto market?

Google is set to give out $1 million in grants to fund the development of technology for both hybrid and electric cars. They are doing this through their philanthropic Google.org. The search giant also has a request for proposals on the table with a $10 million pot for any company that can help commercialize plug-in hybrids and fully electric cars. Way to go Google for taking the initiative in this slow move to convert autos and help reduce greenhouse gases!

Google has done a lot to help the environment lately. The solar power installation at the Googleplex will generate enough to power 1000 homes daily.

Tags: auto, cars, electric, environment, google, greenhouses gases, GreenhousesGases, hybrid, power

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software

Backpack refresher: brush up on your power user tips

by David Chartier Mar 30th 2007

37signals' online PIM service Backpack is known far and wide in part for its extreme simplicity. It offers everything you need with nothing you don't - but that doesn't mean it's lacking in the power user department. While it hasn't been updated in a while, 37signals maintains a Power Users archive page at the Backpack blog with a whole slew of tips and tricks that will likely serve as a great review for old schoolers, or a killer resource for those new to the handy service. Some of our favorites include prefixing reminders with a plus sign and a number to quickly set an alarm for a few minutes or hours, as well as being able to email pictures and even lists of items to pages.

Since that blog hasn't been updated in a while though, what other tricks have you users discovered for the service? Let's see if 37signals' Backpack blogger(s) have been laying down on the job.

Tags: backpack, power, power users, PowerUsers, reminders, tips, tricks

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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