Ambrosia Software, long-time publisher of the best games and utilities for the Macintosh, and relatively recently a publisher of software for Windows, announced today a free product for Mac OS X called ScreenCleaner Pro. As they explain:
Over time, your LCD or CRT monitor will gradually fade in brightness and contrast. This fading is inevitable, because the backlights for LCD screens eventually fade, and the photo-reactive substrate on CRT monitors eventually degrades.
ScreenCleaner Pro rectifies this situation by altering the gamma of your monitor to compensate for monitor degradation, so it will look as good as new. Don't toss out that old monitor, just run ScreenCleaner Pro on it, and watch your old monitor gain a new life.
After downloading the application, simply let it run in the background so that it can analyze the current state of your monitor. That will probably take around ten minutes, except on the fastest Macs; the math involved is very complex. Once the utility has collected enough calibration data — and you can keep working during that time — the utility will adjust your monitor to restore it to like-new condition.
This is yet another way in which Mac owners get more value than Windows users!
More information is available at MacWorld, or you can download ScreenCleaner Pro 1.0.0 from Ambrosia, where it is listed on their Freebies page. Finally, as with all of Ambrosia's excellent products, they also provide a forum for discussion.
Article comments
1 - bhw
Pretty neat. I don't know what monitor "gamma" is, but I wish I could have mine adjusted. I have a 19" CRT that I love -- I picked it up used for $75 -- but that is starting to wear out. I have the brightness setting up as high as it will go, so it's only a matter of time before it becomes unusable.
But, alas, I use Windows, so I'm SOL on this one.
2 - Phillip Winn
Such a shame!
3 - Eric Olsen
knowing the altruism of Apple, I assume this product is free
4 - Phillip Winn
It's from Ambrosia, not Apple themselves, but of course it's free. :-)
5 - DrPat
This effect is almost as old as I am, bhw, and was actually discovered by Rudolf Mössbauer, who won a Nobel for it in 1961.
I'm glad the Ambrosia folks have found an application for it - can the PC be far behind?
6 - Phillip Winn
Wow, Dr Pat, you raise this sort of thing to the level of "art form." I top my hat to you!
7 - JR
Not sure we're talking about the same Gamma here. But I could be wrong, it may be that there is some convoluted connection between the two different uses of the term.
I think I'd be uncomfortable with the idea of my monitor emitting gamma rays, even if they were supposed to be stopping at the screen.