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The Mobile Gadgeteer

Matthew Miller & Joel Evans

Professional backlighting for your monitor for under $13

By | November 25, 2011, 11:55am PST

Summary: Once I adhered the strip of LEDs to the back of my monitor and plugged it in, I immediately noticed a nice glow behind my monitor.

If you tend to stare at a computer monitor for hours at a time, you’ve no doubt suffered from eye fatigue. Well, the folks at Sound Science have come up with an affordable, professional backlight solution for your monitor–the halo 6 LED bias lighting kit. The kit features an LED strip that contains six LEDs and is powered by an available USB port. You simply adhere the strip to the back of any LCD monitor, up to 24″, and the bias lighting will produce a subtle white backlight for your monitor.

When I first unpacked the bias lighting kit I was definitely skeptical. After all, I have a light that I use as a sort-of backlight already, to try to reduce eye fatigue. However, once I adhered the strip of LEDs to the back of my monitor and plugged it in, I immediately noticed a nice glow behind my monitor. I can’t tell for sure if that glow will help reduce my eye fatigue, but I can assume it will, given what I know about backlighting in general. According to Sound Science:

“Bias lighting adds a subtle white backlight to your monitor, reducing eye fatigue and increasing perceived image clarity. The color and brightness of the LEDs are carefully calibrated to achieve the optimal viewing experience and increase your monitor’s perceived contrast ratio – making blacks blacker and colors more vibrant.”

If your job or hobby requires you to sit in front of a monitor for extended amounts of time, and your monitor is placed against a light colored wall, you can’t go wrong giving the bias lighting kit a try.

Read more or purchase the soundscience halo 6 LED bias lighting kit for $12.95.

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Topics

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.

Disclosure

Joel Evans

Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.

Biography

Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.

Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.

Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.

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RE: Professional backlighting for your monitor for under $13
tony@... 29th Nov
@Willnott - just get a USB power dongle - like the one used for the Kindle. With recent EU legislation to standardise cellphone chargers to be micro-USB, many are doing this with a power dongle with a USB socket and then a USB to micro-USB cable, so the same charger can be used for other devices.
Good price.
I could not build one for much less even if I did not include my time.
Gives me an idea though, I do have several LeDs of various colors.
Actually a much better app is to glue them to the underside of kitchen cabinets to illuminate the working surface...except that most kitchens don't have convenient USB ports yet. Monitor "backlights" are hardly as much of a necessity IMHO.
@Willnott - just get a USB power dongle - like the one used for the Kindle. With recent EU legislation to standardise cellphone chargers to be micro-USB, many are doing this with a power dongle with a USB socket and then a USB to micro-USB cable, so the same charger can be used for other devices.
It's a good idea. I already use a low power halogen desk lamp for this purpose and it is very helpful. Looking at a bright monitor against a dark background does induce eye strain.

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