This clock screensaver displays the current time in hours, minutes and seconds in the style of a retro flip clock, where the numbers are revealed sequentially by a split-flap display.
Remember screensavers? Every major OS still has them, and while their original purpose—to avoid burn-in on monitors from long periods of use—is no longer an issue, they can still be useful. Here are some screensavers that combine the fun and the functional.
Screensavers have always walked the line between fun and useful. If you use your computer all the time and usually don't leave it idle, you'd never even see a screensaver. However, if you (like me) have more than one computer on your desk (and usually only use one at a time), or your work takes your hands off the keyboard but not away from your desk, try customizing your screen with something that's more productive (and more attractive) than a blank screen or a sleeping monitor. Here are a few good ones to get you started.
Advertisement
Keep Up with the News
Advertisement
Sadly, the heyday of RSS-reading screensavers has passed, and many of the best-looking screensavers that would display article headlines and feed text on your screen while you do something else are long gone or no longer support modern operating system. On top of that, Apple pulled OS X's built-in RSS displaying screensaver—which had been bundled since the early days of OS X—when Mountain Lion (10.8) launched last year. That doesn't mean you can't get it back, or read RSS feeds in your PC's idle time.
On the Windows side, RSSMore is probably your best bet for a fully functional and bug-free RSS screensaver. It's...not the prettiest, so we'd suggest setting a single-color image as the background (instead of the many images the site uses to show off its transparency) and bright text colors to read your feeds. You'll be able to work with your hands off the keyboard and look up from time to time to see if there's a story that interests you, or you can let an idle computer next to you stream news while you work on another one. If RSSMore doesn't work for you, 2Flyer RSS Screensaver is a solid alternative. It's a bit more attractive, and although it doesn't show quite as much information, the 2Flyer screensaver 'builder' tool lets you build the perfect screensaver for you.
Advertisement
On the Mac, if you're running a version of OS X earlier than Mountain Lion (that is, 10.7 or lower), you already have the screensaver built-in. If you're running OS X 10.8 or later, your best bet is to just get an old copy of the old RSS Screensaver from an old computer running an earlier version of OS X, and installing it on your new Mac. If you need a copy (and installation instructions), check out this post in the MacRumors forums, which also has a download link for that old RSS screensaver. If you need another download link, try this one. For a more detailed step-by-step to reinstall it in Mountain Lion, this post at Mac Tuts+ will walk you through it (and goes on to show you how to use other newsworthy RSS feeds, like Twitter feeds, to customize it).
Turn Your Screen into a Weather-Reporting Window
If you work in an office without windows or like to plan ahead, maybe a weather-related screensaver is up your alley. YoWindow is a free weather app and screensaver that's been around for a long time, but has also come a long way since it was introduced. Back then you only had one scene, and while the screensaver animated itself along with the time of day and weather conditions, there wasn't a lot of variety to it. Now, the scene varies based on the city you live in, and you can change and store multiple cities. The sun in the sky and the weather conditions change based on their actual conditions, so the later in the day it is, the lower in the sky the sun gets until it's sunset—when the sun goes down both outside and on your desktop.
Advertisement
YoWindow Gives Animated Real Time Weather Reports
Windows: If you'd like more out of your weather reports than a simple sunshine icon and the…
Read more Read
It's pretty, but it's functional too: YoWindow gives you future weather conditions, an hourly forecast, wind speed, chance of precipitation, and more. Its look is a bit dated, but it's a good way to use a large monitor to brighten up a dull grey cubicle. You can check out a video of it in action here.
Advertisement
Clear Day (shown above) is a new, gorgeous weather app for OS X that shows you the current conditions in your location, a full forecast for the day's weather, and also lets you check as many other cities around the globe. You can save as many cities as you want to check, and switching to a new one will toggle an animation that takes you there on the globe you're hovering over, and updates the forecast for that location. You even get animated cloud cover, 'feels like' temperature in addition to actual temperature, chance of precipitation, and future forecast information. It's $2, but it's functional and gorgeous.
Keep Track of the Time
Advertisement
If you don't have time to read feeds on your sleeping computer's screen, or you're not a fan of flashy weather apps, maybe a simple clock is what you need. You'll be able to tell what time it is even if you're heads-down working on something in a notebook or on another computer, and if you look up from across the room, you'll be able to tell what time it is. Fliqlo is an oldie but goodie, and it turns your monitor into a huge flip-clock. If you're a fan of the aesthetic, it's a must-download. It's simple, available for OS X and Windows, and it's free.
Polar Clock is a bit more animated. It too is free, and available for OS X and Windows, and shows you a polar-style clock with the seconds moving in a faster ring around the outside, the minutes one circle in, the hour another circle in, then the day of the week, the date, the month, and the year. It's way more than just the time of day, but it also includes the time of day. Since it moves all the time, it's also fun to watch in your idle time, but it's not too distracting.
Advertisement
Help Save Lives or Search the Stars
Advertisement
While these two may not technically fall under the 'useful' category when it comes to helping you be productive, check the weather, or teach you something new, they're certainly useful in the larger sense. Folding@Home is a project that uses your computer's processing power when idle to complete complex mathematical calculations and protein folding simulations. As a result, your idle processing time can help researchers do models and calculations that can show us how future medicines may work and help find treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases that are under intense study.
SETI@Home, which you may already be familiar with, uses your computer's idle time to process signals obtained from telescopes and listening posts around the world that are pointed at the sky. Those signals also take tons of calculations to see if there are any commonalities, algorithms, or detectable signals in the data they've received.
Advertisement
In both cases, all of that processing would normally require expensive time or equipment to process adequately. Supercomputers, server clusters, and other singularly owned computing networks are usually busy with other tasks or expensive to get time on for even a few calculations. That's why both organizations have turned to the Internet—the biggest distributed computing network to ever exist—to help. Even a few minutes of your PC's idle time can help both organizations crunch a lot of data, and leaving either running while you're working on something else, across the room, or asleep in bed can do a world of good. Plus, both come with beautiful screensavers that are fun to watch and show you what exactly your computer is working on at any given moment.
If you're the type who just puts your monitor to sleep or turns it off when you're not using a specific computer, then a screensaver probably isn't for you. However, some of these great utilities can turn a sleeping computer into a useful tool to keep up with the headlines, tell the time, or decide whether you need a sweater or an umbrella when you head out for the evening. Alternatively, your computer's spare processing time can do some real good for the scientific community, and in exchange you get a pretty screensaver to watch while it works. Give some of them a try.
Advertisement
Photos by Rhe Br, Jamie Zawinski, Doug88888, Arbyreed, and B-$tring.
10 Stunning Clock Screensavers for Windows And Mac
What Are Screensavers ?
Long time ago, screensavers were actually meant to save the screen. Ya speaking literally. Save from what ? Well it happened to be a problem named screen-burn-effect – a permanent deformity on areas of a CRT monitor due to non-moving text or graphics being displayed for a long period of time. To negate this problem, screen savers were used to fill the screen with moving graphics when the computer was idle. But nowadays its sole purpose is to spice up your screen.(Also read : Display RSS Feeds as Windows Screensaver)
Some Free Clock Screensavers
1. Word Clock :
Word clock is a nice replacement for the typical analogue or digital clock that we generally use. It displays the date and time in a sentence. You can select from two display modes Linear and Rotary. The screensaver can be downloaded for iPhone, iPad, Mac OSx and Windows.
2. Fliqlo
Fliqlo is a nice flip style clock screensaver that happens to be my favorite. If you have a habit of keeping your system on for a long period without working on it (or just a download or scan running in the background) then this clock is a nice tool to spice up your PC screen. It is really a nice alternative for a led clock.
3. National Geographic Channel Calendar Screensaver :
This is one of the nicest clock screensaver I have ever used. The date and time is shown in a nice animated fashion. This was the official National Geographic screensaver when I used it. But right now, I have (tried my best and) failed to find out a direct link from their site. Here is an alternate link for the download.
You may also want to check out some desktop tools which allow you to download National Geographic wallpapers for Free
4. In Rumour Screensaver V2 :
Inrumour is not just a clock screensaver. It is actually a weather screensaver too. You get to see the weather forecast for the next 2 days for your locality as well as the present weather update too for the same. The screensaver consists of an analogue clock and shows the date and calendar as well as news from inrumor.com.
5. Time Beat Clock Screensaver :
Time Beat is yet another clock screensaver that only serves the purpose of a clock. It uses a nice screen-beating effect every second. You can have a nice demo of the clock here. Look out for the download link to the bottom right corner of the demo page.
6. Crazyscreen Clock Screensaver :
Crazy screen is a free rotary clock screensaver which shows the time as a nice wheel.
7. Polar Clock Screensaver :
Polar Clock is an awesome clock and calendar screensaver in circles that moves as every second passes. The clock is based upon the idea of polar coordinates. The screensaver is available in 28 languages with numerous options such as text alignment, font size, arc properties, continuous / stepped motion, appearance, colors etc. The screensaver is available for Mac and Windows users.
8. Clockr A Flickr Based Clock Screensaver :
Clockr is a Flickr based clock screensaver that uses random images from Flickr to show the time. It needs a steady internet connection to work properly.
9. Uniqlo Screensaver Music, Dance :
The strangest and most unique clock screensavers among the ones I listed here. All you have on the screen is cute Japanese girls dancing around different exotic locations along with a time and date stamp. The screensaver works in selected countries which are Japan, USA, UK, France, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Download the application here. You will need a working internet connection to download all the sessions of the screensaver.
10. ClockBlock Screensaver :
It is really a nice way to show clock as a screensaver. The screensaver is available here.
You may also like reading online time clocks, stopwatches and timer websites. If you know about any such stunning free clock screensavers then please let us know via comments. And also drop in a few words about how you liked the list.