Green screen turns itself off
THE DAYS of having a green screen are back.
A British boffin has come up with software that detects whether or not you are looking at your computer and switches off the display if you are doing something more important.
Peter Hopton of Sheffield University, UK, says his idea could save a fortune in energy bills and significantly reduce people's carbon footprint, particularly if they also wash their feet.
It has been released onto the market by his company, VeryPC. It uses open sauce face detection software linked to a webcam. The software monitors the presence of someone's face in front of the screen and reacts to it.
Now ordinarily people switch their computer to sleep mode after a set period, but many users override this because it kicks in if they are reading a book or watching a long film.
Hopton points out that once the settings are installed few people ever change them. His gizmo will sort that problem out, he claims. No word on price yet.
VeryPC has been busy tinkering with the University of Sheffield's supercomputer to make it even greener. µ
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And how much power does this camera and software use versus how much power does this approach save over having a timer based display shutdown?
British boffins would be better off figuring out why British boffins spend an extraordinary amount of effort on useless pursuits.
"It uses open-sauce face detection software linked to a webcam."
...linked to a quad core desktop with 1000w power supply to power the webcam and run the software to let the TV know if you're still watching.
That's very green!
the automatic toilets that "sense" when you're sitting and flush when it "thinks" you've gotten up (as opposed to just leaning over to get some toilet paper and/or go Larry Craig on someone), then count me out. Fix the toilet technology, then work on the monitor.
I'm sure I read TV in there somewhere....
While I am sure this a great idea, they never seem to work in real life. If people are concerned they should either put it to sleep or turn it off. People always think more technology is better but often times its not, at least in my mind.
When I leave the desk for a long time I turn the monitor off, simple. It's like two feet infront of me, not in Narnia for christ sake.
Also, no word on system usage, a background task eating up my resources for a simple change of habit.
User: "It's still turning off every few minutes"
Tech support: "Have you tried moving your mouse?"
User: "That works, but only for a few minutes!"
Tech support: "Is your camera up and running! Can you see yourself in your webcam viewer program?"
User: *long pause* "Yes."
Tech support: "Okay, it may be a driver issue, but try moving closer to the camera."
User: "...I think it worked."
Tech support: "How close are you now?"
User: "2 inches. But I hardly see the screen from here."
Tech support: "I'm glad we've resolved your issue. It's usually an issue with the user."