[Category: Ideas. If you are new to my blog please read the "About itimes3" page first]

I’m typing this on my laptop computer which, like every other laptop computer, has a series of LEDs to indicate the status of things, including: one green LED to show the power is on; another green LED that blinks when something is written to the hard disk, another one to show that the battery is charged, an orange LED to indicate the sound is on mute, and a blue one to let me know that the wireless network adapter is switched on.

However LEDs only indicate one of three states: off, on, or third state (which can be “charging” or “near dead” – a green LED that turns red or orange, etc.).

LEDs are nice but they were invented in the 1970’s and it is time they were replaced with something providing more information than just one of three states.

Instead of a green power LED, I would like to have a tiny colour display telling me the voltage in use, the power drawn, and as a configurable option, the cost of the power used (per 24 hours or similar). Instead of a hard disk LED, I would like a small display showing me when the disk is being written to, but also the space available, the fragmentation level, and similar information. The WiFi LED could be replaced with a small display telling me the signal strength, network connected to, and even IP address and similar, ideally configurable, details. And so forth.

LEDs are so binary. And so yesterday. Time to challenge the status quo!

If you like this idea and you work in a type of industry where this is relevant, I would be happy to discuss in more detail, answer questions or assist in other ways. For details and contact information please see the “About itimes3″ page.

George Spark

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