http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:43:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/25/wikipedia-screensaver/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/25/wikipedia-screensaver/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:31:40 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7224 Screensaver Thursday here at Ghacks it seems. After the visual impressive PC screensaver Analogy comes one that is more for the mind and less for the eye. And I do not want to get into the argument again if screensavers make any sense these days other than being visually pleasing or information providing. I’m not an expert on burn-ins. Just that much. According to Wikipedia only CRT and Plasma monitors are affected by burn-ins which is caused by the phosphor coating. The article points out that LCD monitors can only be affected by a usually not permanent form of image persistence.

The Wikipedia Screensaver displays random Wikipedia pages which are replaced in intervals that the user can define. The screensaver makes use of Internet Explorer to display the Wikipedia page in fullscreen on the monitor.

The screensaver can be configured to kill any application or processes that are still running on the system. The question about the usefulness of this screensaver has to be answered by every user individually. I personally cannot really see a reason to use the screensaver. It does not make much sense to display the pages when the user is sitting on the desk while they also do not make sense when the user is not that close to his desktop.

It could be useful to show others that you are a clever guy though. Let me know if you find some use for this screensaver. The screensaver requires the Microsoft .net Framework 1.1.

Tags: pc screensaver, pc software, screensaver, wikipedia screensaver

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/25/wikipedia-screensaver/feed/ 7 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/25/pc-screensaver-analogy/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/09/25/pc-screensaver-analogy/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:21:40 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=7217 PC Screensavers do not really have a functional purpose anymore because today’s LCD monitors because they do not make use of cathode ray tubes which could “burn in” images into the screen. Today screensavers serve an mostly aesthetic purpose. There is also the believe that screensavers save energy when they are running which is not the case. Users who want to save energy should configure the computer to turn off the monitor after a certain time instead.

The PC screensaver Analogy (via Lost in Technology) by Jesson Yip provides strong visual elements. The basic idea is to display a analog-digital clock hybrid which combines the aesthetic visuals with the functionality of a clock or as the developer put it “Analogy is a typographic clock which fuses the immediacy of digital with the visual-spatial quality of analogue into a hybrid format.”

The screensaver comes as an executable that installs the screensaver automatically during installation. The Pc screensaver takes the information from the system clock and displays the hours, minutes and seconds and their progression.

The PC screensaver comes in two versions. The default version uses a black screen while the other version a white one. There is no other difference between the two screensaver versions.

Tags: analogy, clock screensaver, computer screensaver, download screensaver, pc screensaver, screensaver

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