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How about get rid of them entirely except where one needs to be notified of something. Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. The phone tells you a

How about get rid of them entirely except where one needs to be notified of something. Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. The phone tells you and notifies when charging state changes. It might give you notice when something is broken before you try to use it, so I can kinda get it, but really, I think we'd be fine. LED clocks don't need to be there unless a user specifically buys one at night. Appliances could be screen off until a button press. Power tool charger lights make sense. There's no display or Bluetooth, you'll probably be checking it and interested in the status, it needs some kind of onboard indicator. Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Network activity lights are meaningless most of the time, there's always some background nonsense going. Maybe sometimes useful, I wouldn't mind if they went away. Same with disk, unfortunately. Aesthetically, indicator lights look kind of junky. I don't associate them with high tech, because phones and ultra thin laptops lack them. They're always so highly utilitarian looking. We all know that if they really wanted to be fancy they'd use a TFT even if it's not needed. Why do I need to know the status? Is it unreliable enough I need debug info? Ak I supposed to think about it a lot? Is it supposed to remind me to unplug it to save power? Why is it wasting power anyway?

jpc0 3y ago
> Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Why use a simple circuit that is definitely going to work when you can implement a complex software based solution to do the same thing? Honestly there are times a status LED is really useful for quick troubleshooting, I don't want to find some weird menu on a PC of have to get a shell on a server to see whether network came up on a device, if that device even is a PC, it could be an IOT device that the literal only way to even control it is through the very network you are connecting and also receives it's power over said network cable. Sometimes utilitarian is exactly what you need, I don't need a fancy screen on my washing machine or dishwasher, it's a utility item I need to know it's doing what I told it and that is that. People are quick to complain that their new fangled fridges and washing machines and light switches and dishwashers don't last longer than the warranty yet they are exactly like you and don't see how something simple and reliable is significantly more cost effective than a fancy one that has Bluetooth radios and screens and software that goes out of date.
- eternityforest 3y ago
  But appliances don't break because of the Bluetooth. At worst a badly designed smart circuit generally needs a reboot or factory reset, it doesn't break in the way that is expensive or takes more that a few minutes all that often. A 4 bar LCD battery indicator is rock solid, it just isn't as good in the pr9 grade stuff you need to see at a distance. New washers and stuff seem to break because mechanical parts wear out, and some new power tools do in fact have Bluetooth, so you know right away when it's charged and how much is left, on things like battery generator alternatives.
  - just-ok 3y ago
    Needing a smartphone to figure out if your power tool is charging is moronic and a complete waste of human resources in the engineering involved.
    - eternityforest 3y ago
      You don't need one, it's just a convenience feature in addition to the other indicators, alongside other Bluetooth features like anti theft. Also that stuff is not always done by the same people doing more meaningful things. I could easily build a Bluetooth charger. I could probably teach a beginner to design that kind of thing in months. I couldn't do the same for a solar inverter that was any better than existing stuff though. I couldn't figure out the DSP involved in making a better pacemaker. I'm not a mechanical engineer, so I couldn't do anything to make the physical part of a tool better, except by adding more software self protection for it. If I worked at a tool company, what could I be doing instead of Bluetooth?
      - justsomehnguy 3y ago
        > it's just a convenience feature in addition to the other indicators, alongside other Bluetooth features like anti theft. Which adds cost, complexity and failure modes. Thanks what you are not working at a tool company.
Dalewyn 3y ago
>Same with disk, unfortunately. Some newer cases are coming out without a disk activity light, and I hate it. That light is by far the quickest, simplest, easiest way of judging whether a computer is actively doing something. I can just look at it for a second and know! This is even more important now, since SSDs don't make any sounds. Contrast anything else, say Task Manager, which even if I leave it minimized in the notification area I would still first need to wake up the monitor and/or unlock the computer. That's at least several seconds just so I can check if it's doing something. I want my disk activity light back, damnit. KISS is a virtue.
formerly_proven 3y ago
> Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. I have a white anker charger with a blue (of course, it's always blue) LED so bright that I had to wrap the entire brick in light-blocking tape because the LED phased through the case everywhere. Another favorite of mine was an USB M.2 enclosure that of course also had a blue LED (constant on = on, blinking = activity), but instead of using a side-emitting LED they used a top-emitting LED and just made it so incredibly bright that the light leaking out the side was still bright when viewed from outside the case. When you removed the case it was blindingly bright even in a well-lit room. Probably used more power than the USB chipset. Almost surprised you couldn't see it through the aluminium case.

jpc0 3y ago

> Then again, I would prefer there WAS Bluetooth and it broadcasted a notice, and a reflective LCD would be fine too. Why use a simple circuit that is definitely going to work when you can implement a complex software based solution to do the same thing? Honestly there are times a status LED is really useful for quick troubleshooting, I don't want to find some weird menu on a PC of have to get a shell on a server to see whether network came up on a device, if that device even is a PC, it could be an IOT device that the literal only way to even control it is through the very network you are connecting and also receives it's power over said network cable. Sometimes utilitarian is exactly what you need, I don't need a fancy screen on my washing machine or dishwasher, it's a utility item I need to know it's doing what I told it and that is that. People are quick to complain that their new fangled fridges and washing machines and light switches and dishwashers don't last longer than the warranty yet they are exactly like you and don't see how something simple and reliable is significantly more cost effective than a fancy one that has Bluetooth radios and screens and software that goes out of date.

eternityforest 3y ago
But appliances don't break because of the Bluetooth. At worst a badly designed smart circuit generally needs a reboot or factory reset, it doesn't break in the way that is expensive or takes more that a few minutes all that often. A 4 bar LCD battery indicator is rock solid, it just isn't as good in the pr9 grade stuff you need to see at a distance. New washers and stuff seem to break because mechanical parts wear out, and some new power tools do in fact have Bluetooth, so you know right away when it's charged and how much is left, on things like battery generator alternatives.
- just-ok 3y ago
  Needing a smartphone to figure out if your power tool is charging is moronic and a complete waste of human resources in the engineering involved.
  - eternityforest 3y ago
    You don't need one, it's just a convenience feature in addition to the other indicators, alongside other Bluetooth features like anti theft. Also that stuff is not always done by the same people doing more meaningful things. I could easily build a Bluetooth charger. I could probably teach a beginner to design that kind of thing in months. I couldn't do the same for a solar inverter that was any better than existing stuff though. I couldn't figure out the DSP involved in making a better pacemaker. I'm not a mechanical engineer, so I couldn't do anything to make the physical part of a tool better, except by adding more software self protection for it. If I worked at a tool company, what could I be doing instead of Bluetooth?
    - justsomehnguy 3y ago
      > it's just a convenience feature in addition to the other indicators, alongside other Bluetooth features like anti theft. Which adds cost, complexity and failure modes. Thanks what you are not working at a tool company.

Dalewyn 3y ago

>Same with disk, unfortunately. Some newer cases are coming out without a disk activity light, and I hate it. That light is by far the quickest, simplest, easiest way of judging whether a computer is actively doing something. I can just look at it for a second and know! This is even more important now, since SSDs don't make any sounds. Contrast anything else, say Task Manager, which even if I leave it minimized in the notification area I would still first need to wake up the monitor and/or unlock the computer. That's at least several seconds just so I can check if it's doing something. I want my disk activity light back, damnit. KISS is a virtue.

formerly_proven 3y ago

> Phone chargers have no power LEDs and we are fine. I have a white anker charger with a blue (of course, it's always blue) LED so bright that I had to wrap the entire brick in light-blocking tape because the LED phased through the case everywhere. Another favorite of mine was an USB M.2 enclosure that of course also had a blue LED (constant on = on, blinking = activity), but instead of using a side-emitting LED they used a top-emitting LED and just made it so incredibly bright that the light leaking out the side was still bright when viewed from outside the case. When you removed the case it was blindingly bright even in a well-lit room. Probably used more power than the USB chipset. Almost surprised you couldn't see it through the aluminium case.