We're once again talking about Caffeine from lighthead Software (makers of Papaya), the freeware menubar app that keeps your screen awake. It's now at version 1.0.2 with one new feature that makes it even more useful: time-limited activation.
A command-click on the coffee cup icon in your menubar presents a menu that allows you to set a variable duration for Caffeine to be activated. Got a 10 minute video to show a friend, but your screen is set to dim or go into Screensaver before the end? Set Caffeine for 15 minutes and forget about it.
We covered Jolt a while back, and this feature was available... for a small, $5 fee (of course, it's worth mentioning that half of those five dollars are donated to charity). But Caffeine has caught up and it remains free. Update your copy or take it for a spin at lighthead's website.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-12-2008 @ 4:41PM
Macroy said...
Caffeine is one of my favorite OS X apps ever, and this just makes it better!
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4-12-2008 @ 5:02PM
Alex P said...
Actually, only $2.50 of the $5 for Jolt goes to charity, I feel that's a pretty important mistake there...
And good work by the Caffeine guys in copying that feature so quickly! :)
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4-12-2008 @ 5:50PM
Brett Terpstra said...
Yeah, it was supposed to say "half of" but I lost it somewhere along the line. Fixed now. Thanks!
4-12-2008 @ 5:13PM
Ed said...
Off topic, but what's the headphone icon in the menu bar in the screenshot?
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4-12-2008 @ 7:25PM
Justin said...
I believe the headphones icon is for Sound Source from Rogue Amoeba. http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/
4-12-2008 @ 5:39PM
Christopher Grant said...
This is perfect for Hulu. Thanks for sharing!
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4-12-2008 @ 5:42PM
Chris Brunner said...
You pay for this?
I just have the "Custom" Energy Saver settings, in System Preferences and Menu Bar, set to "Never" and "Never", and unchecked the first 2 out of 3 boxes in "Options" so I can select quickly when I don't want my screen to dim...
I don't see why you pay for this fuction when you can already quickly turn it on and off...
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4-12-2008 @ 8:26PM
austin said...
but you dont pay for it...
4-12-2008 @ 6:16PM
Mason Cantar said...
This may sound dumb, but it that Terminal in the menu bar?
Hell, can you tell us what all of those are?
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4-12-2008 @ 6:24PM
Brett Terpstra said...
Left to right: Caffeine, Visor, Skitch, iClip, TextExpander, SoundSource... and Time Machine, but you knew that one.
4-12-2008 @ 7:09PM
Sam Major said...
Only one small downside – one is now unable to command-click&drag the icon elsewhere in the menu-bar. I already emailed lighthead to make sure they were aware of the subtlety.
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4-12-2008 @ 8:02PM
sam said...
I bought Jolt and don't regret it. $5 bucks, I like the icon much better, and the interface is easier and better too.
Not there is anything wrong with Caffeine, but if you really like it you should take a look at Jolt and consider supporting Mac developers for the lowly cost of $5.
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4-12-2008 @ 8:03PM
sam said...
This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. Please ignore me.
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4-13-2008 @ 9:54AM
jason said...
caffeine is awesome. very cool (and useful) feature!
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4-14-2008 @ 10:02AM
Roger Mugs said...
I'm still using jiggler.app... LOVE it
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4-17-2008 @ 2:08AM
Aaron Davies said...
Anyone know of something for doing the opposite, putting your mac straight into screen-off mode on command? basically i have a laptop and want to be able to turn the screen off completely at night w/o waiting for a timeout and w/o fooling with the dimmer keys (which take multiple seconds to respond for me) all while having a sane (~hour) setting on regular screen dimming in energy saver.
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