iPod Touch – A flashlight feature
by: George Starcher, Associate Editor
I tend to go to bed well after my wife. She is a morning person. Needless to say being the active minded geek that I am. A morning person I am not; due to late nights of playing on the computer etc. Like writing this blog post when I should already be in bed.
I have found on many occasions I use my iPod touch to light my way to bed. It is like flashing back to one of the Star Trek NextGen episodes where they walk around with this flat light in their hands. You would think they would have an led sized item that can flood a room…
Thankfully I still have a working iPod touch to do this with. Some of you may remember my previous post on the household iPod Touch dehumidifier every US home comes with… Yup my iPod is still going strong.
So, depending on what was last on my iPod screen the level of light varies. Obviously the more white the screen the better the light. Sure there is a web application out there to make your iPod a flashlight. Let me clue you in on an old IT admin trick. We use this to make our browser open fast and without displaying any web page by default.
Open your web-browser. Enter this as your web page URL.
about:blank
Yup. Just that as the URL. No HTTP or anything. It will give you a blank web page. Pure white light goodness to find your way around in the dark. Now just add that to your iPod desktop as a webclip, called light. You can now find your way around in the dark with a one button touch. Even without the Internet.
If you've jailbroken there is an app called flashlight that turns the entire screen white and and turns the brightness all the way up. Everything returns to normal when you hit the home button.
Comment by Ben Drucker — February 2, 2008 @ 11:06 am
Funny you should say that about using the Touch as a Flashlight I've been doing a similar thing with my 5th iPod for a while now, just occasionally do I stub my toe when the light goes off to save energy lolz
Comment by Gazmaz — February 2, 2008 @ 11:38 am
I had same issue with my 5th Gen. The thing about the touch is the light usable when walking in the dark varies based on what you had displayed. A lot more than my 5th gen ever did. So the shortcut to the blank page works best and stays lit longer.
Comment by georgestarcher — February 2, 2008 @ 11:54 am
Timex Indiglo. $25 Not an Apple product but a great flashlight to navigate your way in a darkened room.
Comment by franzenfuffer — February 5, 2008 @ 8:14 am
What a geek I have become, but yes, me too…with my iphone….it's true, the light level makes a big difference, but it's funny we've all found an alternative use to a music player…apple rocks.
Comment by Tony — February 10, 2008 @ 9:33 am
What a geek I have become, but yes, me too…with my iphone….it’s true, the light level makes a big difference, but it’s funny we’ve all found an alternative use to a music player…apple rocks.
Comment by cheftony — February 10, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
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Pingback by Kyle D. Skrinak » Blog Archive » My new iPod Touch 8GB — October 12, 2008 @ 7:35 pm