To: People who keep putting blue LEDs that can't be switched off on everything.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Stop putting blue LEDs that can't be switched off on everything.

[Mike O'Malley]

[skedastic]

Antec engineer 1: Our new Sonata case design is plain, unadorned piano black. Simple, elegant.

Antec engineer 2: We totally forgot to put two insanely bright blue LEDs on the front. With no off switch.

Antec engineer 1: Oh, right. Fixed!

[Lunch of Kong]

Originally Posted by Coca Cola Zero

Stop putting blue LEDs that can't be switched off on everything.

Why do you hate America?

[Wholly Schmidt]

Originally Posted by skedastic

Antec engineer 1: Our new Sonata case design is plain, unadorned piano black. Simple, elegant.

Antec engineer 2: We totally forgot to put two insanely bright blue LEDs on the front. With no off switch.

Antec engineer 1: Oh, right. Fixed!

Unplug them from your motherboard.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Originally Posted by Wholly Schmidt

Unplug them from your motherboard.

Easy enough to do on a computer case, but they put these goddamn things on everything that plugs in now, including lots of things you can't open without voiding the warranty so you're stuck living with it or using electrical tape to cover it up.

[Kalle]

Ah, electrical tape. Is there anything you can't fix?

Seriously, I HATE the fuckers at Samsung who made the bright blue LED power switch backlight on my 226BW monitor blink when the computer is turned off. Cause everyone loves bright blinking lights in dark rooms.

[Equisilus]

While those Sonata blues didn't bother me much (I am always in a dimly lit room, at least), I switched to the P182 and all I have is a single tiny blue LED to indicate power on. The drive LEDs (also blue) are behind the door. I like blue just fine, but I can see why it'd bug people if it's in your line of sight. It is rather intense, and I'd avoid them on displays for sure (anything that's going to be in my viewing angle).

Although, when I put my system in sleep mode, the blue LED flashes continuously. In a dark room (fortunately, it's my home office) it does tend to shed quite a bit of light that I don't notice when I'm working at the computer.

[Charles]

MOAR BLUE LEDS!

I loves them.

[Gendal]

I hooked everything up on my Antec stacker case till I saw that fucking blue LED, which I promptly disconnected. It's even worse than the sonata because it doesn't diffuse the light, it just shoots the retina piercing blue laser* directly into your brain.

*Yes I know it's not technically a laser but my cornea disagrees with you

[Machfive]

Olevia is guilty of warcrimes because the blue LED on their TVs is on WHEN THE TV IS FUCKING OFF.

You can't put an Olevia TV in the bedroom even if you wanted to.

[krayzkrok]

Originally Posted by Kalle

Seriously, I HATE the fuckers at Samsung who made the bright blue LED power switch backlight on my 226BW monitor blink when the computer is turned off. Cause everyone loves bright blinking lights in dark rooms.

All you have to do is press it, then it stops. Of course it defeats the whole point of not having the switch the damned monitor off every time you switch the computer off, but after a few weeks it becomes second nature (no, I don't like it either).

CCZ has a point, though. We have to hang a cloth over our DVD player / amplifier / digital receiver / HD recorder stack below the TV when we want to watch a movie because of all the glowing lights, buttons and displays that you can't switch off or turn down. At least most car manufacturers have twigged that you don't need bright dash lights ruining your concentration while driving at night, and can turn them down or off, but why can't we get the same thinking applied to our homes?

And don't get me started on those cheap hi-fi / car stereo systems that are constantly on demo mode, blaring with cycling flashing lights and text.

[SqueakyFoo]

My Sonata has blue LED lights, my Eclipse II keyboard glows blue, as does my Razor mouse, and my LG monitor as well. I can turn off the keyboard backlight (which I've done), I can unplug the Sonata lights (also have done), but the mouse and monitor I have no recourse. I guess I can put electrical tape over the monitor, but I think that would bug me even more. The mouse body is translucent as is the mousewheel so taping that up isn't really an option.

[krayzkrok]

Originally Posted by SqueakyFoo

The mouse body is translucent as is the mousewheel so taping that up isn't really an option.

Black paint?

[Thrag]

Originally Posted by Equisilus

I switched to the P182 and all I have is a single tiny blue LED to indicate power on.

I've got a p182 as well. Best case ever. I am amazed though at just how bright that one blue LED is in an otherwise dark room. I sometimes sleep in the room that computer is in and when that LED is blinking on and off because the computer is in sleep mode it's enough to notice the blinking through my closed eyes.

Thankfully, as mentioned above, electrical tape was a simple remedy.

[Athryn]

Between the 2 G-15 keyboards, the Microsoft mouse, and the blue LEDs on our computer cases, we have to shut the door to the computer room at night so we can sleep.

[Equisilus]

It does bring up another thought, though: if it was possible to have dimmer lights, why would they choose such intensely bright blue LEDs? I know LEDs are generally brighter for less power use, but I'm unsure of the reasoning behind them. Was there some market research that showed that people loved intensely bright lights on their tech equipment? I'd be just as satisfied with the soft green glow like those on my Dell displays (which is barely noticeable although, as I mentioned, the blue doesn't really bother me).

[teledyne]

Attention K-Mart Shoppers, there is a blue-light hazard on aisle Wikipedia.

Blue-light hazard is defined as the potential for a photochemical induced retinal injury resulting from radiation exposure at wavelengths primarily between 400 nm and 500 nm. The mechanisms for photochemical induced retinal injury are caused by the absorption of light by photoreceptors in the eye. Under normal conditions when light hits a photoreceptor, the cell bleaches and becomes useless until it has recovered through a metabolic process called the “visual cycle.” Absorption of blue light, however, has been shown to cause a reversal of the process where cells become unbleached and responsive again to light before it is ready. This greatly increases the potential for oxidative damage. By this mechanism, some biological tissues such as skin, the lens of the eye, and in particular the retina may show irreversible changes induced by prolonged exposure to moderate levels of UV radiation and short-wavelength light.

[EvilIdler]

Electrical tape and liquid rubber (for mice; make sure you clear the area with the sensor). Solves everything.

[MyNameIsWill]

Blue LEDs, ftw.

[caesarbear]

even car designers have caught on

[Sarkus]

Originally Posted by skedastic

Ha ha! Those lasted about five minutes when I built my current computer.

[Aszurom]

I think what's far more obnoxious is when they put them on your monitor. Like, my buddy has a 22" that has a bright blue "SCEPTRE" about 3 inches wide right under the display. I bet that's fun playing in the dark.

[SqueakyFoo]

I bought a USB external hard drive in order to better facilitate transferring all my data from my PC to my MBP. Guess what colour the status lights are?

[antlers]

Originally Posted by teledyne

Attention K-Mart Shoppers, there is a blue-light hazard on aisle Wikipedia.

I smell class-action suit.

[quatoria]

My USB drive has a brighly pulsating orange light that never goes off, but thankfully, it's quite receptive to being covered with tape.

[Rob_Merritt]

Originally Posted by caesarbear

even car designers have caught on

Saw thart on top gear. Man thats ugly.

[Moggraider]

I agree with all the complaints here. This blue LED thing is inexcusable, and it's getting only more common. And my Gateway 30" leaves a blue light on when the monitor is off, just like someone's monitor above. This is inexcusable, as I'm still in school and have my bed across from my computer. Not pleasant. I have to lift up my metal mousepad and leave it standing covering the monitor's blue light to get any sleep.

The blue lights on my XPS 420 desktop and Inspiron desktop (yeah, two desktops; yeah, I'm crazy) also get covered up with speakers, iPods, external hard drives, CDs, anything. And of course I have similar complaints about Razr mice and other glowy keyboards, which I have owned or own.

All blue LEDs should be able to be turned off.

[bigdruid]

A few years back my wife and I were researching home theaters (not "a big TV and a couch", but a dedicated room with a projection screen, theater seating, big speakers, etc - we never ended up building one <yet> but it was fun doing the investigation). As part of this research, we went to this real-estate magnate's house where he'd put in this insanely expensive theater in - soundproofed, sealed room, 3-chip DLP projector, mahogany paneled *equipment closet*, the works, with a set of stand-alone digital-input speakers for the L/R channels in the front, next to the screen.

It was awesome...except for the fact that these speakers had these LED displays that showed the current numeric volume setting (they were digital-input, so they had their own amps - I'm assuming the LEDs were there so you could see the volume setting while controlling them via remote, but you couldn't turn the damn things off. So you'd be in this pitch-black $200K room with top of the line equipment watching some movie on the projector screen, and your eyes would keep getting drawn to these stupid red number "8"s glowing on the *front* of the speakers.

[Austin Arlitt]

I've taken to using the blue LEDs stuck in my Antec Nine Hundred case as a night light for trips to the bathroom at 3:00 AM. They're placed in all of the fans, so there's not a lot I can do about them anyway.