Multisensory CPU meter

It just occurred to me that my newish MacBook gives me no less than four sensory modalities for detecting high CPU usage:

  1. The scrolling bar-graphs [one per CPU] of the Activity Monitor icon in the Dock
  2. The unobtrusive little purring fan that comes on every few seconds after the CPU’s been busy for a while
  3. The extra warmth of the computer against my palms and lap (I won’t say it gets “hot”; maybe “toasty”.)
    …and the number Four sensory modality I just recognized:
  4. Faint, pleasant scent of warm electronics (“New Computer Smell”)

Still missing is taste, and maybe balance and proprioception, but I think I don’t want my computer using those pathways to communicate with me.

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By
Jens Alfke

On
March 28, 2006
at
1:41 pm

As
Ideas, Computers

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