Undimming a monitor using libGaze?

I’m sitting here using my MacBook and the screen dims after a minute or so.  I look back down from the movie I’m watching (Mutant Chronicles – dodgy sci-fi!) and the MacBook’s screen stays dim.  With so much CPU power available, why can’t the screen auto-un-dim when I look at it?

The camera is looking at me…couldn’t it tell that my gaze is back on the Mac’s screen?  The very recent libGaze by Sebastian Herholz seems like it ought to do the trick.  It is open-source, released this year (2009) and runs on Linux and WinXP so it probably ought to run on a Mac just fine.  For bonus points it has a Python interface.

The documentation is pretty solid (25 pages) and installation looks easy enough.

Anyone fancy some UI fame by writing a neato tool that dims the monitor when you’re not looking and brightens it when your attention is back on the screen?


Ian is a Chief Interim Data Scientist via his Mor Consulting. Sign-up for Data Science tutorials in London and to hear about his data science thoughts and jobs. He lives in London, is walked by his high energy Springer Spaniel and is a consumer of fine coffees.