Jolt defeats Mac OS X energy saver
updated 03:00 pm EST, Wed January 23, 2008
Jolt delays Mac dimming
Independent coder Bryan Hansen has released Jolt, a system utility for Mac OS X. The tool defeats a common problem for Mac owners, in which a user wants to keep the default timing for the energy saver, but is continually interrupted by it when watching videos or reading long documents. By clicking on the Jolt icon located in the Menu bar, users can temporarily delay screen dimming by several minutes. A timer within Jolt's own menu shows how long it will be before a system returns to normal.
The basic version of Jolt, Jolt Lite, is a free Universal Binary, but people can also opt to pay $5 for a complete version, which allows for five different delay settings. Timings can be set anywhere between three minutes and infinity, and each preset can be assigned its own color. Half of the app's price is furthermore being donated to charities, including the International Justice Mission and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
caffeine?
01/23, 03:08pm reply
Doesn't Caffeine already do this?
Avenir
Mac Elite
Joined: Jan 2000
wow
01/23, 03:20pm reply
or couldn't you just set up a hot-corner to disable the screen saver?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
more than the screensaver
01/23, 03:36pm reply
I think the advantage to these is that they pause other energy saver prefs besides screensavers, like HD spin down, in addition to the screen dimming or screen saver turning on.
Avenir
Mac Elite
Joined: Jan 2000
Thanks for the feedback!
01/23, 08:44pm reply
Hello there!
When I decided to create Jolt, I first looked at the options and while some offered most of the features, I really wanted something that:
1. I only had to click once 2. Could have different timing durations 3. would turn off automatically, so that if I got up from the computer and forgot to turn it off that I wouldn't drain the battery (and also one less step is nice) 4. Could be easily set to start at login 5. Has a nice icon, yes shameless ego here, but I just didn't like the big X through the icon of Caffeine
Also, hot-corners aren't bad but I end up there on accident sometimes. Also, does a hot corner keep the machine from going to sleep? I'm not sure...
If you guys have any other thoughts or suggestions I'd love to hear them! Bryan www.driftinglight.com
ShadoFlameX
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2008