Power Meter Plus Puts Ambient Battery Meter On Your Desktop

Windows only: Software maker Matt Collinge wanted a better way of knowing how much battery power his laptop had. So he wrote one that’s visible and intuitive, yet unobtrusive. Power Meter Plus only shows up when you’re charging or discharging your battery (unless you want it always on). As your battery drops from 100 percent, the transparent vertical gauge becomes more visible. It rests on the bottom left and right corners, switching over whenever your mouse gets near. And it’s highly customisable in colour, font, and warning levels. For those who regularly work or play unplugged, Power Meter Plus provides a welcome alternative to obsessive-compulsive mousing over the Windows system tray icon. Power Meter Plus is a free download for Windows 9x, XP, and 2003 systems (though it seemed to work fine on Vista).