It’s clear to most that persistent computing is becoming the norm thanks to most SmartPhones and now computers. Instead of taking the time to shutdown time and time again, simple sleep cycles are becoming the defacto. Especially when you now factor in tablets like the iPad and their ability to be instantly available at the press of a button. Clearly Apple is sending signals that the future of all computing will be as such.

Also judging by the AppleTVs foray into a never “off” device, not having a power button is quite liberating. It shaves a button off my remote, and saves me an extra step. And to me time saved is productivity for all intensive purposes. But one thing that has changed thanks to the latest AppleTV is the amount of time my TV now stays on.

Really at first it disturbed me to think my TVs been on eight hours just for music playback. Granted in the future I’ll look into more suitable options like an Airport Express for solely audio, but currently with AirPlay audio support I’ve begun to really appreciate having always on devices.

I’ve truly enjoyed coming across audio or video snippets from articles or feeds and being able to push the audio content to my much larger room speakers while still enjoying content on my iPad. And until AppleTVs AirPlay gains video support, thanks to my AppleTVs simple Flickr screensaver my television is both refreshing and inspirational in the interim.

My big question though is when we’ll begin to see persistent TVs. Similar to current monitors, one’s that are always on and dictated by the use of the devices plugged into them. It’s quite simple, and quite efficient to imagine TVs as monitors since really it’s the same technology scaled to a larger size.

Devices like my AppleTV should offer “Energy Saver” similar to OS X’s. After a few minutes of inactivity trigger the screensaver. After ten minutes of inactivity kill the backlighting and let the monitor rest while still retaining full control of the device. Awake on contact. Simpler.

If not for the sake of convenience do it to save energy.