Ever on the lookout for cool tools, and usually using the computer way too late into the evening, I found what has proven to be a fantastic addition to my system. f.lux, by Michael Herf is a great little tool that sits in your system tray, monitors your local time, and adjusts the colour temperature of your monitor based on your settings for the type of lighting in your room and whether or not it is daylight or dark outside.
There are versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and I have been running this on both my main work computer, and my netbook for about a month now, and I can say that I am absolutely convinced it makes a difference.
Once you install f.lux, you provide it your position so it can calculate sunset, and then you set the type of lighting in your room, based on whether you have enough windows to call it natural light, or you are using fluorescent, halogen, etc.
Then, you just let it run. As sunset approaches, f.lux will ‘warm up’ your monitor’s colour display to soften its appearance, and reduce the impact of staring at a bright, daylight coloured light source. You can adjust the transition period, the temperature of the display, and even suspend it in case you need fully accurate colours. The idea is that this can reduce eye strain, and also lessen any impact to your circadian rhythms caused by your eyes fooling your brain when staring at ‘daylight’ for long periods of time after you should have knocked off for the day.
It takes a little more than 2MB of memory, and has never exhibited a measurable CPU spike. Having sleep problems and eye strain issues myself, I can say that after a month of using this, I will never go back. I recommend it for anyone who works past 1700, or for that matter, plays well past when sensible people go to bed.
And speaking of eyes, installing f.lux let me stop squinting so much that you can actually see in my eyes once again. To celebrate, here’s a live performance of Peter Gabriel’s best song, In Your Eyes. There are about 100 versions of this song floating around teh tubes, but this one just looks like the entire band is having fun, and I’d swear that is Paula Cole on stage with him.
Direct link for RSS and email subscribers…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoEQREKFQG4
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f.lux is easy on the eyes: Ever on the lookout for cool tools, and usually using the computer way too late into th… http://bit.ly/aMBJ7I
I’ve been using this for almost a month now and the difference has been amazing. It’s especially useful as a deterrent to staying up late. With the warmer color scheme your body is more likely to relax as it normally would as opposed to being jacked up by the artificial sunlight.
Prevent computer eye strain RT @retrohack: New #retrohack post: f.lux is easy on the eyes http://bit.ly/bzWy8e
f.lux blog post with peter gabriel
RT @retrohack New #retrohack post: f.lux is easy on the eyes http://bit.ly/bzWy8e
RT @herf: f.lux blog post with peter gabriel
RT @retrohack New #retrohack post: f.lux is easy on the eyes http://bit.ly/bzWy8e