This post is not so much about a specific product as it is about a recent trend in electronics and computer accessories: The LED that shines with the fury of a thousand suns.
For decades, the most common factor in ranking the “high tech-ness” of a product was the number of blinking lights on the item. Ranging from props in science fiction (the bridge of the USS Enterprise in the original “Star Trek,” the internals of the “HAL 9000” computer in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” etc.) to actual consumer items (the Altair 8800 computer kit, the Lite-Brite children’s toy, etc.), glowing, blinking lights were an unmistakable message: “WARNING! Geeky fun ahead!”
Unfortunately, this trend has now resulted in nearly every electronic gadget or computer accessory being festooned with at least one (usually blue or green) LED. Whether a steady light or a blinking, flickering monstrosity, these LED’s seem to scream “YOU WANT HIGH TECH?! HERE’S YOUR HIGH TECH – RIGHT INTO YOUR EYEBALLS!”
Case in point: The “Atomik Technologies 10 Port Dynamic High-speed USB Hub,” found on Amazon at rock-bottom prices. It’s as though the designers of this hub decided in a meeting, “Sure, we’re making a bargain-basement USB hub, but let’s make sure that the LED can double as a lantern for a Maine lighthouse!” The LED on this hub is so painfully bright, it will actually cast (blue-tinged) shadows in bright daylight. At night however, the LED is utterly blinding – far brighter than a purpose-built nightlight, and prone to eerie blinks and flickers at random intervals. Plus, to add insult to injured eyes, the lens on the LED is shaped so that it paints a massive blue halo on a wall more than 25 feet away.
The truly sad thing about this trend is that it encourages the waste of perfectly good LED’s, many of which will end up hidden behind several strips of tape or paper in a effort to dim their glow. Really, is there anyone who’s writing letters to designers asking for more, bigger, brighter LED’s?
