Twinkle, twinkle, little Net router. And cell phone. And digital video recorder. And cable modem. And game console. And capability strip. And TV — even though it’s turned off.

Turn off the lamps in a living room or bedroom today, and chances are good the room will still be aglow with the tiny diode lights of a half-dozen gadgets.

They can be useful indicators of what state a gadget it is in, or where it is, but they additionally bother folks who’d rather not have lights shining in their faces when they’re trying to sleep or watch movies.

To sleep in a dorm room full of electronics at Cornell University, Rafael Garcia has covered some lights with black tape. He turns his laptop upside-down and places a mouse pad and a picture of his girlfriend on his desktop computer to block its lights. His electric toothbrush has to come out of its charger, or it will blink through the

Unplugging the gadgets stops them from disturbing the darkness, but an unplugged laptop or toothbrush plus doesn’t charge. Other devices, such as computers, take day to shut down and start up.

“It’s gotten way, way, worse, particularly in the last year or two,” said Shawn Therrien, a Los Angeles computer programmer. “Every without thing we buy has little neon-blue flashing lights on it. … Turn the light off and they shine like beacons.”

Therrien’s bedside nemesis is an alarm clock that doubles as an iPod docking station.

“It lights up like the Fortress of Solitude,” he said, likening it to Superman’s headquarters of glowing crystals. He tamed it with 12 strips of black tape.

Tom Hespos, a partner in an advertising firm in New York, counted six glowing devices in his bedroom. One is an alarm clock with a blue backlight so strong he has to put a…

Original post by Top Tech News