Jolt keeps pixels shining

Thanks, Bryan! Jolt is perfect for watching streaming videos of TV shows.

too much colour in the menubar icon

prefer caffiene

Hi,

I'm the developer of Caffeine. It's been years since I first released 1.0, and since then I've done some smaller changes without releasing another version. So, no, it's not a coincidence that I released this new version right after Jolt. I saw it and thought, "what the heck, might as well release my update". :-)

It's good to see alternatives. Makes sure users don't get stuck with one app.

Tomas

Bryan here, I developed Jolt as a side project. First off, thanks guys for contributing your ideas and opinions.

When I decided to create Jolt, I did first looked at the options available, and while some offered most of the features, I really wanted something that:

1. I only had to click once
2. Could have different timing durations
3. would turn off automatically, so that if I got up from the computer and forgot to turn it off that I wouldn't drain the battery (and also one less step is nice)
4. Could be easily set to start at login
5. Has a nice icon, yes shameless ego here, but I just didn't like the big X through the icon of Caffeine

Some thoughts:

Energy saver can definitely do this, but its a pain. On my laptop I usually want it to quickly start saving power, but when I don't its annoying to change. (just to watch a 3 min video) Jolt lets you temporarily delay it for just a little while.

I've seen a lot of people compare this to Caffeine which is totally fair. I almost settled for using it before I wrote Jolt, after all free is better than $5, right? Well try 20-30 hours of coding/design... but thats why I love mac dev, I can see something thats not quite what I want and improve upon it. Plus, interestingly enough two days after this app gets some publicity Caffeine comes out with a little update that adds "launch at login" and improves the icon. Hmm... Hmm... :) (You Caffeine users might have to thank me for getting your free app improved)

I love free software too, but I also think getting a reward for having a decent idea isn't too much to ask. In addition, being in the tech world, it can seem like its all about money one way or another (people making bank OR expecting everything to be free) Giving 50% to these charities is my way of expressing there's more to it than that.

For the record:

Peter Kieltyka, This does not change your energy preferences at all

Emory Dunn - "You can also use Caffeine, it does litterally exactly the same thing"
NOPE! That why I wrote it, Ian, Chris, thanks for being someone who recognizes the difference!

Tom - "TUAW must benefit from posting Jolt somehow, perhaps a cut of the profits?"
Absolutely not, they're just nice enough to give me some publicity

Mat Lu - Jiggler actually moves your mouse, which for this purpose is a hack and doesn't look so nice when watching a movie or giving a presentation

dantemustdie - metroid is freakin' hard! (but it was not a design influence)

Sorry for the long post :)
Bryan

Am I the only one that when they saw this article, the first thing that came into my head from looking at the picture was it had something to do with Metroid?

I know this isn't a game blog, but still, thats Metroid for sure.
Or macroid. Or something.

...or you could plan ahead and perform the horribly arduous task of OPENING ENERGY SAVER. The horror!!!

I really like the MacOS open source community, and I think they produce some wonderful applications. But I guess I'm completely missing the point on why you need to install something - that lord knows what else it might affect - to perform a simple task that is only one click away.

Are we, as Mac users, really just that lazy?

Like Caffeine, it does the same exact thing, not less not more, and it's free!

Utter Crap! Caffeine stops your monitor from dimming whilst the 'Zzz' is crossed out. Jolt allows you to specify a time-limit to this behaviour. Something which I would appreciate since, whenever I activate Caffeine, I always forget to disable it.

I personally don't think it's worth a fiver but get your facts straight (maybe read a little eh?) before posting crap.

Jolt is free. You can pay the $5 for an upgraded version if you want, but the basic app (Jolt Lite) costs nothing.

The post was wrong when it referred to this as a free trial.

Cool little app, but why isn't it free? I think the one thing I absolutely hate since "switching" is paying for software to replace my PC's freeware/open source apps since the move.

/vent off

Sorry, I just had to when I saw a price tag, lol. What's next, a program to remind you to empty your trash bin for 14.99 and 9.99 to existing customers?

I like the free Jiggler for this.