BMW Group Malaysia introduces... Eco Pro screensaver(!?)

[Won]

If you're scratching your head wondering if you read the title right... well, wonder no more. BMW Group Malaysia introduced today the BMW Eco Pro screensaver that echoes BMW's Auto Start/Stop function, enabling both Windows and Mac users to contribute towards energy conservation and environment sustainability.

The Auto Start/Stop function automatically switches off the vehicle's engine at a standstill once when the brake pedal is depressed and restarts the engine as the driver presses the accelerator pedal. This innovative feature, created under the BMW EfficientDynamics strategy, enables fuel savings of up to 20%. This Eco Pro screensaver uses a webcam and facial detection coding to detect the absense of presence of the user. Should the webcam detect absence of the user after 10 seconds, the screensaver would automatically switch off the computer screen, and revert upon the user's return. BMW claims that the average consumption on an idling laptop can be reduced by 693.99watts, or a 89.87% reduction from a computer's default settings. Over time, they say that Malaysians could potentially save over 12 million kW of energy if everyone were to leave their computers and notebooks idle for 10 minutes and initial projections recorded by BMW estimate that the move could reduce up to 36 tonnes of CO2 emissions, along with a worldwide financial savings of up to RM145 million.

Would it be easier to just set your computers or notebooks to turn off the screen after 10 seconds of idle time? Perhaps. But hey - you've gotta applaud BMW for taking the effort to spread the awareness of energy conservation. You can learn more and download the BMW Eco Pro screensaver from BMW's website here.

What is BMW Eco Pro Mode? - YouTube

 

[humongousgravy]

I don't have a webcam, wonder if it will work as a normal Windows screen saver?

 

[Won]

That's actually a good question. My desktop doesn't have a webcam and I'm wondering if it'll work. Anyone care to try?

 

[humongousgravy]

I did, and it doesn't work. It installs alright but it doesn't activate since there's no webcam.

Damn, but at least we know now.

 

[Won]

Yeha, I tried as well for the sake of knowing. Guess the folks without webcams will need to rely on the good 'ol regular screensaver.

 

[Tom]

well it works on a Mackbook Pro and does turn off the screen after 10 seconds.
Turns back on when it detects your presence, pretty cool.

Though the webcam and indicator LED will be on permanently, but they may have figured that the webcam would consume less enough power to make this effort worth while.

But the thought of the webcam being turned on the whole time might be disconcerting for some people

---------- Post added at 10:48 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 10:30 PM ----------

then again, after 15mins of usage, the program somehow forgets my face or my presence and turns off the screen until i made some moves. not sure why this happened

 

[Won]

Very odd. I think it could just be a bug in the software. Does it work by face detection, or motion detection?

And yes; security is definitely a question. Get access and you could potentially monitor anyone without their knowledge, I suspect!

 

[Tom]

well it just happened again. this could be very motion-detection biased rather than facial. my eyes were wide open, i'm literally working on photoshop throughout and there's good lighting everywhere