Sometimes the glow from your computer monitor just isn’t enough if you’re typing in a darkened room. Other than turning on the lights (duh), there’s got to be a better way to see the keys, right?

Richmond’s Clinton Fleenor came up with a solution: a task light that clips to your monitor, providing just enough illumination without spoiling the ambiance of a dark room. But he didn’t have the means to design or manufacture the device.

So he submitted his idea to the website Quirky.com, which uses crowdsourcing to bring products to the marketplace. His invention, now called the Mantis, will be featured Wednesday on the Home Shopping Network. 

I chatted with Clinton this morning at the Starbucks across from the Siegel Center. You can read more about the Mantis in the business section of tomorrow’s Times-Dispatch.

What do you think? Would you buy one?

(Photo: Quirky.com)