
Save your eyes, start using f.lux - jarospisak
http://stereopsis.com/flux/
======
jasonkester
This thing gets a lot of love by a bunch of folks here, so I gave it a good
half year of trying. But it's just too annoying.

Around 5pm, your display turns pinkish orange and it becomes a lot harder to
see anything. Code gets harder to read, colors display wrong, video just fades
to black. None of the advertised happiness ensues.

The second half-year it remained installed, my only interaction with it was to
notice it screw up my display, then right-click the tray icon and disable it.

Needless to say, I didn't install it on the new box I bought this year. I
don't understand why people like it.

~~~
fredsted
Whenever Flux gets mentioned, there's two groups of people:

1: Doesn't understand it, hates the "wrong" colors. Can't get used to it.

2: Appreciates the candle-like colors, says it helps them sleep in the evening
or relaxes their eyes.

I wonder if there's some sort of genetic difference? Maybe some people just
aren't sensitive to bright light in the evening?

~~~
readme
I would take this a step further and say it happens when any project or
software gets mentioned on HN. There are always two groups of people: Those
who like it, and those who don't. Those who don't are usually composed of a
lot of people who don't actually care, but just thrive on contradicting
people.

I'd say it's more of a personality phenomenon, but acknowledge the possibility
you present as well.

~~~
tedunangst
Part of the problem is the people who like it insist that everybody must like
it and anybody who doesn't like it just doesn't get it. I don't get upset when
people talk about things that made their lives better, I get upset when they
make unqualified statements about my life.

------
tptacek
Two (related) things about f.lux from my experience:

1\. With only one exception I can think of, every instance of insomnia I've
had in the last several years I can trace to not having f.lux enabled for some
reason.

2\. The reason that happens is that I often won't notice if f.lux dies for
some reason, because I am so thoroughly used to it now.

I was having real sleep trouble several years ago, and f.lux is part of a
battery of things I did (along with cutting caffeine completely after 12:00PM
every day, getting some aerobic exercise, not coding after ~9:00PM, and taking
over getting the kids out the door in the morning to force myself to get up)
which more or less eliminated those problems.

~~~
msrpotus
Is there any science on this? I've had a similar experience but have no idea
if it's just a placebo effect.

~~~
tptacek
<http://stereopsis.com/flux/research.html>

If I wasn't clear: I can _trace_ insomnia to f.lux being disabled; I'm not
aware of it at the time, but then the next day or so I'm like, "oh, yeah,
f.lux was off, shit." It's not like 11:30PM rolls around and I realize f.lux
is off and suddenly I can't sleep.

------
zedr
On Linux, you can use Redshift: <http://jonls.dk/redshift/>

~~~
icebraining
Well, you can use f.lux too. I prefer redshift because of its CLI nature.

~~~
ufo
Does anyone else here use f.lux on Linux? I installed the Ubuntu version but
not only does the "pause/unpause" option sometimes do nothing at all but other
times it simply forgets to change the colors.

~~~
w1ntermute
I tried f.lux a month or so back on Xubuntu, and it just flat out wouldn't
work for me. So I tried redshift, and it worked just fine.

------
sergiotapia
I love f.lux and can't recommend it enough for software developers who work
with code.

If you're a designer then you probably can't use this. Desginers need colors
to display properly.

Set the transition to slow and you won't get blindsided by the temp change
when it's dusk; use your machine for an hour or two and by 22:00 turn off
f.lux and see how bright your monitor is. It's the sun! That's why I love
f.lux.

------
eschulte
If you happen to have a /sys/class/backlight/acpi-video0/brightness file on
your system (e.g., linux laptop). Here's a light weight and easy to customize
option.

First make this file writable.

    
    
        chmod o+w /sys/class/backlight/acpi-video0/brightness
    

Then add something like the following to your crontab. I'm constantly doing
this manually, and never thought to crontab it until this article.

    
    
        0 17 * * * echo 14 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 18 * * * echo 13 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 19 * * * echo 12 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 20 * * * echo 11 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 21 * * * echo 10 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 22 * * * echo  9 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 23 * * * echo  8 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 00 * * * echo  7 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 05 * * * echo 12 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 06 * * * echo 13 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 07 * * * echo 14 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
        0 08 * * * echo 15 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightnes
    

Note: 15 is the max brightness for me, not sure if that is standard, just cat
the file to see your current level of brightness.

------
herf
Summary of feature requests so far: \- default to a slower transition \-
support dimming too \- Add an API \- Sunset is fine, except in the winter

Most of these are on our list but it is all good feedback!

~~~
arohner
I'd also request testing on multi-monitor setups. When plugging my MBP into an
external display, sometimes flux transitions to the external monitor,
sometimes it doesn't.

~~~
mheiler
I have a color profiled MBP and also see unreliable transitions now and again.
Opening System Preferences > Displays > Color and flipping two profiles back
and forth fixes it.

------
tmcw
Surprised nobody brings up the line in the footer, which seems pretty
important:

> F.lux is patent pending.

So they're applying for software patents on this so-far-free piece of software
that has an open-source linux equivalent?

~~~
jmilloy
Why not?

~~~
tmcw
Not sure if that's sarcastic or trolling or not. In the event that it's
earnest, software patents are relatively frowned upon by most non-corporate
entities: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent_debate>

~~~
shardling
_Using_ patents is frowned on.

Given the existing system, it's silly not to participate. It's not a case
where a boycott would help, and by holding the patent you ensure that no one
else uses it against you.

~~~
_seininn
> and by holding the patent you ensure that no one else uses it against you.

A - Wouldn't they be protected due to f.lux being prior art? B - Would a
competitor be able to get a patent on this in the first case? (due to A)

~~~
shardling
We all know that prior art can be missed when issuing a patent -- I'd assume
having it already in the patent system makes that less likely to happen, and
easier to deal with when it does happen.

------
rlpb
The last time I checked, this wasn't open source. I don't like running foreign
binaries on my system. This doesn't rule it out completely for me, but puts me
off enough that I haven't tried it.

~~~
longwave
Redshift is an open source equivalent for Linux and Windows:
<http://jonls.dk/redshift/>

~~~
sturmeh
Doesn't work on my Windows. :(

>Display device does not support gamma ramps. >Failed to start adjustment
method wingdi. >Trying next method... >No more methods to try.

------
milhouse31
For all my fellow f.lux windows fan, I created a little app (in Delphi) :
Reflux.

You can download it here (There is also another package with source)
[https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=CD51CF0B626581E!134...](https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=CD51CF0B626581E!134&authkey=!AN-
BuQXlbgpR3Qc)

Basically, you can configure it to kill f.lux (and thus get your precious
color back) when certain applications are executed. When all the "killer"
applications are closed, f.lux is restarted automatically. It's barebone
(there is no GUI) and I tried to keep it light (CPU & memory wise)

Reflux quick readme :

\- It's windows only

\- If you want reflux to start on windows startup you have to do it yourself.
(I personally added an entry in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run)

\- I recommend putting the exe and the ini in the same directory than flux.exe
(on my computer C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Apps\F.lux

\- In the ini (open it with notepad), you can add a list of "f.lux killer" in
the KILLERPROCESSES part. ie: KILLERPROCESSES=mpc-
hc64.exe;photoshop.exe;vlc.exe

\- There are 2 other options.

\- If you didn't put reflux.exe in the same directory than flux.exe you can
add a FLUXPATH entry. ie: FLUXPATH=c:\flux\flux.exe

\- The process (by default) is executed every 2500ms. If you find it too slow
or too quick you can add a CHECKINTERVAL entry. ie : CHECKINTERVAL=5000

Hope you guys enjoy it

~~~
znowi
Nice to know someone is still using Delphi :) I had a lot of fun with it as a
kid.

------
matznerd
F.lux is the reason I jailbroke my iPhone. It really is an awesome program.
You can feel your eyes adjust if you disable and re-enable it. It definitely
helps on the phone because it is usually the last screen I look at before
bed...

~~~
graeme
Adding flux to my iPhone fixed my insomnia.

------
tushark
I love f.lux. It does take a bit of getting used to, but if you wait it out,
you'll enjoy it. And, the research they've done on light is quite impressive
too: <http://stereopsis.com/flux/research.html>

That being said, this has been around for a while, so I wonder why it's
trending now. They haven't put out any recent updates afaik

~~~
freehunter
I just wish it would go based on ambient light if you have a webcam rather
than what the sun is doing. Where I work, I'm not always exposed to natural
sunlight, and I don't always work during the day going into the night where
I'm going to want my screen to adjust to me trying to fall asleep halfway
through a second-shift schedule.

~~~
gwillen
It's hard to measure ambient light correctly for something like this, because
in a dark room, most of the ambient light is actually coming from the screen
itself.

------
moepstar
I've tried to use it for a while, but couldn't get used to it and deactivated
it again.

It's just been unusual to me that my screen was being tinted/shaded..

~~~
gallamine
Both my wife and I use it. I don't work with images at all so it works out
fine. I now find the slight tint very pleasant.

------
j_s
I setup f.lux on all my machines to always use the darkest settings. Might as
well spare my eyes the effort of absorbing any light that they don't have to!

In a similar vein, one someday project is to setup a vector-based (HUD-style)
display using a laser projector
(<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005D6D6DY/?tag=hn2013-20> [affil]) and its
SDK (<http://www.picop.org/distros> discovered
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4827130>).

Always looking for ideas on reducing eye strain -- looking forward to my
Oculus Rift! [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-
rift-s...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-
into-the-game)

------
teeray
I've been using this for about a year and a half now... Protip: the fast
transition speed is a little jarring, I found. If you really want to "set it
and forget it"... set the transition speed to slow and you won't even notice
that it's changing over time. Also, make sure that the color temperature it
goes down to is correct. Otherwise you will have a noticeable color cast at
night. I have mine set for fluorescent lighting since that's what's around my
desk.

The goal here is to essentially forget that flux is running yet reap all of
the benefits of it.

------
TimSchumann
User for 3 Years here. Some Tips for new users to help smooth the transition.

-Install during the day.

-Use the Slow Transition Method

-Don't go all the way down to 3400k for night time if you think it'll bug you. I personally love it.

~~~
robotmay
The slow transition is the biggest difference I've found when introducing
people to it. It's actually pretty hard to notice it taking effect.

------
jjcm
Flux is a great first approach, but I think that something like this needs a
lot more tweaking (on the hardware side as well) to become viable. The issue
with flux is that it just creates a color overlay on your monitor - it doesn't
actually reduce the brightness of your backlight. This is understandable
because very few desktop monitors and video cards support dimming the
backlight via software. This is tremendously annoying to me as a designer,
because on one hand I would love to have my displays dim automatically to save
my eyes (and more importantly, to save me time as I end up manually dimming
each of my 3 monitors at home every night as I'm working; something that eats
up a few minutes because I have to navigate through the annoying on-display
menus) but sadly flux isn't an option because it reduces the dynamic contrast
of the monitor as well as the number of possible colors that the display can
output.

Flux works decent for reading/coding/web browsing/etc, but it needs access to
the backlight levels to truly be fantastic.

------
hmottestad
I hated f.lux on my old MacBook with a TN panel, however on my retina MacBook
with an IPS panel it's unnoticeable except when I look at another screen.

My neighbour has a MacBook Air with a TN panel, and when I put my computer
next to his with f.lux on, his screen looks like a gradient from purple to
green with yellow in the middle, while mine has a uniform warm feeling (not
yellow at all).

------
sbornia
Some macbooks have a light sensor, It would be great if this app used that.
Sometimes you are at a dark room, even if it is daytime...

------
DizzyDoo
I used f.lux for a few months last year, I did not stick with it because:

• It overrode the brightness settings on my screen, so it was actually much
brighter than I would normally have it.

• Whenever I needed to work on anything with colours (most design tasks) I
would have to turn it off to get hues correct.

The first one may have been sorted out by this point though.

~~~
ashmud
F.lux is unusable on my work external LCD (junk panel), since I have the
brightness/contrast/gamma turned way down in the display driver panel. I don't
see any option to tweak this in f.lux unfortunately. I'll have to try it on my
home LCDs, though.

------
draggnar
I also use Nocturne for mac (<http://www.blacktree.com>) at night when I am
reading something in bed. It turns the screen basically red and black, and is
useless for anything besides text. Watching videos is impossible, so I just
finish what I'm reading.

~~~
knowaveragejoe
As far as I can tell all this does is enable High Contrast mode.

------
kybernetyk
I tried it and the only effect is that I get sleepy/tired when it gets darker.

I seem to need my harsh cold 6300K in the night ;)

~~~
reportingsjr
Isn't that completely the point of f.lux??

~~~
kybernetyk
Oh, I thought it should just reduce eye strain. But if it's all about making
people sleepy then they've written a damn good piece of software :)

------
readme
For Linux users, redshift has better multi-monitor support.

~~~
dschep
Thats what I read elsewere, but it didn't work for me either. Running fglrx.

~~~
readme
:(

------
DustinCalim
I've tried f.lux and while it's great for ios devices(if jailbroken), the
colors seem to come out weird in most situations.

What I use now is a Chrome extension called "Hacker Vision" and I highly
recommend it to anyone reading this. It flips the colors of websites so you
get a white text on a dark background. It's really great in a dark room or
sitting next to someone at night AND I can turn my MacBook Air's backlight
down to 2 and read everything clearly; that resulted in an extra 30-40minutes
of battery life!

Here's the link: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-
vision/fomm...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hacker-
vision/fommidcneendjonelhhhkmoekeicedej)

------
MattBearman
I happened to start using f.lux on my macbook 3 days ago, and I'm loving it.
Where I am (south west England) sunset is around 4pm, and I usually work until
5 or 6pm. Having a much warmer screen tone as the sky gets darker really feels
nicer on my eyes.

I think you really have to use the slow transition (1 hour) mode, 20 seconds
is quite jarring.

I program in Aptana with coloured text on back background, and I don't find it
any harder to read in night mode. Overall, I can't recommend f.lux enough.

On a related note I've just started using <http://www.protectyourvision.org>
to remind me to get up and move around every 20 minutes, also a highly
recommended tool.

------
magoon
Haters gonna hate, I guess?

Mine is set to 4500K nighttime and I hardly notice it changing 4-5pm when the
sun goes down. If I'm working on something that requires color accuracy, I use
"disable for an hour" or I quit it.

So: When it (rarely) gets in the way, it's easy to swat away

------
boothead
I used it. Didn't really notice much difference for a few days and then saw
that it was maxing out one of my cores to I got rid of it. Might try redshift
at some point, but I guess I can probably do without as I mostly code 9-5.

------
oogali
In my opinion, it really depends on the brightness of your monitor(s).

My iMac screen is rated at 350 nits, a.k.a. super-bright, so when Flux kicks
in, I don't mind it if I'm working on that screen.

On the other hand, my 2nd monitor is an el-cheapo Samsung I bought before I
cared what "nits" meant, and is rated at 250 nits -- a significant difference.

My typical workspace at night is, left screen (iMac) holds the browser where I
view changes, and the right screen (Samsung) has my code editor.

So when f.lux kicks in... my options are one of two things: \- disable it \-
buy a new monitor

Guess which one I go for?

~~~
moeffju
So are you enjoying your new monitor?

(Have you tried calibrating both screens? flux should not affect
brightness/gamma differently.)

------
cuu508
I've got irregular sleep patterns and this didn't help so I didn't bother
setting it up again on next OS reinstall.

I work from home, so can get away with working "whenever". For a while I've
basically given up trying to "fix" my sleep cycle. I'm awake until I pass out
and I wake up when I'm rested. This is of course suboptimal for workouts--you
need to rest properly after workout to get max benefit from it. But lying in
the bed and trying to get asleep is such a bother. If I'm not sleepy I'd get
up and be active until I get sleepy.

~~~
kybernetyk
Yeah, I have a similar "problem": I'm 'rotating' my sleep cycle. I constantly
stay up longer and longer so in a few months I'm awake at night and sleeping
in the day - and a few months from that I'm awake in the day and sleep at
night.

But to be honest that really doesn't bother me that much. It only get's weird
when I have to set a wake up alarm to do grocery shopping before the stores
close ;)

~~~
psionski
This sounds fun :)

------
guard-of-terra
I've installed the ubuntu version into my kubuntu. After launching it does
nothing. Which isn't strange because the /usr/bin/xflux is a 32-bit binary and
the package didn't request the required libraries. I have to consider it
doesn't support 64-bit linux.

Come on. Linux is not Windows. Everybody and their dog already run 64-bit
version. It makes no sense not to. All the software is built for 64-bit too.
It's just a fact of life. Nobody uses 32-bit anymore except for netbooks and
like.

~~~
freehunter
I'm not sure what you mean by "Linux is not Windows" in this context. In my
experience, most installs of Windows these days (Windows 7 and Windows 8) are
64-bit installs. That's what is sold at Best Buy on their desktops and laptops
for example. On the contrary, when a user goes to install Ubuntu, they're
recommended to use 32-bit. When I'm on forums, people mention compatibility
problems with 64-bit Linux and recommend 32 bit instead. Maybe I'm outdated on
that information? Can you elaborate?

~~~
guard-of-terra
Do you remember Firefox trying to cancel 64-bit build for Windows? Stating
they have a lot of extra bugs in it?

In Windows they still run 32-bit software on 64-bit OS, but a typical Linux
install will have not a single 32-bit program.

That's why not having a 64-bit version is pathetic.

~~~
jff
In fact, the _majority_ of software installed on my 64-bit Windows 7 system is
32-bit. Sad.

------
nanook
Took me a few days to get used to the color but now I really like it.
Sometimes I'd stare at the screen so much that I'd have watery eyes by the end
of the day.. doesn't happen so much anymore. (I'm hoping this is not just a
placebo)

Another app that's helped with eye-strain is TimeOut
(<http://www.dejal.com/timeout/>). It helps to take a regular break from the
screen every few minutes.

------
progrock
Probably too late to mention, but someone suggested yesterday that the colours
blue and yellow could help those with dislexia. Looking further into this,
there's mention of using yellow and blue filters to help read. There's at
least one mention here of someone wearing yellow sunglasses. Interestingly
redshift, kind of is like a red filter. It might be interesting to see how
alternative colours could work.

~~~
progrock
I found compiz and it's filters made it easier to look at the screen.

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5037538>

------
nezumi
I tried it for a long time and just found it distracting. I don't work with
images these days but perhaps my background in graphics makes me picky. I'm
familiar with some of the research but I'd be interested to know if the
approach taken by f.lux actually works - real world light wavelengths and
colors faked by mixing red, green and blue are subtly different things.

------
Pezmc
I've been using this for a year or so, both on my computer and on my iPad. It
really does reduce the stress on your eyes.

------
VMG
Is there any evidence that color temperature negatively affects the eyes?

BTW I just scale down the contrast and brightness of my screen

------
jeremyarussell
I've been rather content just turning my brightness down when I turn my lights
off. That said I keep my room flooded with light so as to not strain my eyes
trying to look at a screen or read in the dark. I kind of want to give this a
shot though as my eyes are very sensitive to light and changes in light
levels.

------
knowaveragejoe
F.lux is a godsend when reading black-on-white web pages(so the majority of
pages out there) late at night.

------
SeanDav
I tried this a while ago, but just found the colours weird and distracting,
probably because I don't really have a problem with the normal
colours/intensity at any time, but more a gamma issue.

I was hoping more for a decent gamma adjustment tool as there don't appear to
be any decent free ones out there.

------
uvtc
Installed on Xubuntu 12.04, using dual-monitors. "f.lux indicator applet"
shows up in my Accessories menu. First time running it I gave it latitude &
longitude. It starts up (its icon shows up in the tray), but it doesn't seem
to have any effect.

Trying to open the applet's Preferences has no effect.

------
j45
I have been using flux for years and I definitely notice a difference late at
night and early in the morning.

Also, though, I have higher astigmatism and a high prescription and it might
be why my eyes feel tired and notice a difference.

Either way this software is not a hallucination and makes a difference for me.

------
fixed_input
I just recently started using flux ~2 weeks ago and I've finally gotten used
to the "temperature" change. First couple times it happened I was kinda thrown
off, but I find it does actually help lessen strain on my eyes (since I sit in
front of a computer screen all day)

------
splicer
> Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your
> computer screen?

This happens to me all the time on my MacBook Air. The problem is that Mac OS
X wakes up at the previous backlight level, which is often way too bright for
a pitch black environment.

------
brador
What's the business model on this? Are they selling data on users? Is there a
premium version?

~~~
herf
We are not selling data, and we won't. There may be a premium version in the
future. Some exciting improvements coming, but you don't have to worry about
privacy or spam.

~~~
professorplumb
Is there a way to sign up to be notified when a new version is available?

------
peapicker
Not too useful for me... I've invested the time / money to properly color
profile my monitor with an X-Rite device so the times I end up creating
graphics assets / working with photos, they will look correct.

Although I may play with it ... I spend a lot more time coding.

~~~
jmilloy
So not useful for you, except for most of the time? If you need to see
something in true colors, just turn it off for a second. Also, how do you play
with it? You just use it at night and then your eyes feel better.

------
martindale
Redshift ( <http://jonls.dk/redshift/> ) is a generally better piece of
software with far longer transition times and better configuration options,
rather than the abrupt change that f.lux provides.

~~~
danbee
f.lux has a configuration option to transition over an hour instead of 20
seconds.

Also, it doesn't look like Redshift is available for Mac OS.

------
boringkyle
Does flux practice readable colors on their own website?

It seems like they do - I just returned to HN from reading flux's pitch, and
my eyes did not take too well to the higher contrast on HN. Can anyone confirm
if the colors on their website change over the day?

------
nixarn
I love it, it has absolutely changed how well I sleep. Twice it's happened
that I've had trouble sleeping, then noticing that I had turned off f.lux
becausse I had been gaming earlier in the evening (gaming with f.lux is not a
good idea).

------
guangnan
I used to wear yellow glasses for the same purpose. How silly is that. =)

Flux helps a lot but the display side still sucks. I have to adjust the the
brightness few times per day. Apple display have a nice brightness control but
it's a mirror.

~~~
progrock
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5042010>

------
enraged_camel
Why use f.lux when you can just pop a metatonin pill thirty minutes before
sleep? I've been doing that and I sleep like a baby every night regardless of
how long I stare at my bright monitor beforehand.

~~~
znowi
How does staring at a bright screen affect sleep? If anything, it makes me
tired and I fall asleep even faster.

~~~
enraged_camel
Like any other bright light source (such as the Sun), the light coming from
the monitor breaks down some of the melatonin that your body naturally
produces. You may still become tired when using a computer and subsequently
fall asleep, but the _quality_ of that sleep will be adversely affected unless
you account for reduced melatonin levels somehow (either via a program like
f.lux, or with supplemental pills).

~~~
DanBC
Melatonin is prescription only in the UK. So, go careful if you're travelling
from US to UK with off the shelf sleep meds.

I read some article that investigated melatonin supplements in the US. It said
that because supplements aren't as heavily regulated you couldn't be certain
which pills had melatonin or how much.

~~~
enraged_camel
Actually, most brands will list the amount in milligrams on the bottle itself.

------
mathiasben
It would be really great if F.lux would also adjust for local cloud cover. Sun
is out - screen is bright, it's cloudy - screen dims. has anyone else noticed
that the pointer in windows dosen't dim?

------
thalecress
Has anyone done a rigorous experiment, even on just themselves, with f.lux or
redshift?

Sleep-monitoring wristband data + "did I see a screen, a red-shifted screen,
or no screen" would be really interesting to me.

------
nvmc
I tried this for like six months. Couldn't stand it. I get far better results
adjusting environmental lighting. An LED strip casting a glow behind my
monitor made the most difference.

------
calinet6
Does anyone else notice the slight display lag that f.lux exhibits? On my mac
it's just the slightest bit annoying, and I had to get rid of it.

Otherwise I'd love to use it. Maybe I'll try redshift.

~~~
jcoby
f.lux caused my mouse to randomly jump on OS X. It didn't seem to matter how
fast I'd move it, every 10s or so it would jump 1" in the direction I was
moving. Really, really annoying.

~~~
calinet6
Yep, that's what I saw as well. I attributed it to display lag or something.
It was unacceptable and I had to remove it.

------
andrethegiant
Am I the only one that keeps the same value for night and day? I have it set
to 5400K regardless of the hour. I like the subtle warm glow to remain
constant instead of fluctuate.

~~~
ulrikrasmussen
While a bright monitor can reduce the quality of your sleep at night, I
actually read somewhere (sorry, can't find it now) that a bright monitor at
daytime can be beneficial for your circadian rhythm if you don't get exposed
to much sunlight otherwise.

~~~
sdfjkl
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_therapy>

------
anvandare

      xbacklight -set 0 && xcalib -invert -alter

------
kerno
Had flux for around a year and I can't imagine not being without. Just to see
what life it like without it, sometimes I pause it.

My eyes - they burn with blue light.

------
Howitzer
F.Lux has been a standard program for me for years. The best compliment I can
give is that I forgot I had it installed. It's simply perfect.

------
Sukotto
I wish f.lux was smart enough to detect when I change my desktop clock to a
new timezone and change it's own location info automatically.

------
sdfjkl
My MBP has two light sensors and adjusts it's display brightness automatically
based on actual light levels instead of time.

------
worldsayshi
Since brightness control has never worked on my installation I expect f.lux to
have problems. Or does it not rely on this?

------
hoag
Love it. Couldn't live without it now that I'm used to it. Wish iOS allowed
direct control of screen settings also.

------
tomaisthorpe
I never even realised flux was still installed. Definitely helps my eyes at
night, and I never even notice its on.

------
conradfr
I like on my desktop but on my laptop it seems to conflict with some Asus
energy management program.

------
progrock
I quite liked the way my old powerbook would change it's brightness depending
on ambient lighting.

------
bennesvig
Every time I find my eyes hurting while looking at a computer, I realize Flux
hasn't been running.

------
mtgx
It's available for iOS but not for Android? I didn't even know you could do
that on iOS.

~~~
matznerd
It's worth jailbreaking for! Www.jailbreakme.com As of now, you can jailbreak
iOS 6, but not an iPhone 5

~~~
nwh
You can jailbreak only a 3GS or iPhone 4. A much better resource is
<http://jailbrea.kr/>.

~~~
britta
And if you want more details or help, see <http://www.jailbreakqa.com/> \- it
includes a tutorial for jailbreaking iOS 6.0.1 on iPhone 4/3GS and iPod touch
4th gen, which has a tricky bit where you have to use the 6.0 IPSW (firmware
file) as part of the process.

------
brucardoso2
I used it for 1 year straight on my pc... It bothered me much more than
anything.

------
capex
I love flux, except that it messes up the mouse movement speed on Mountain
Lion.

------
shellehs
great idea !

though my iPhone is higher than OS 5, so I don't have any idea about how to
install it to my iPhone,

but I think , maybe if Apple sensed this, would the integrate this into iOS as
new feature? just call it the Platform's feature

------
chinmoy
I love f.lux. I've been using them for the last 2 years on all my devices.

------
SenorWilson
I find lowering the brightness on my monitor 10x better than f.lux.

------
mxfh
I miss a Berlin toggle, there is no sun for two thirds of the year.

------
irinai13
Love Flux. I've used it for months now and it's super helpful.

------
alinspired
didn't like flux, instead arranged small 15watt lamp to read kindle/book in my
bed but leave the light levels in the bedroom low. this was before kindle
paperlight :)

------
teedubya
I love f.lux. It helps save my eyes. It's a savior, indeed.

------
jongraehl
"save your eyes" - huh? (I've used the program and like it).

------
jbrooksuk
I'm sure this makes front news of HN every few weeks or so?

------
edu
I've been using for a couple of years and it's great :)

------
shellehs
good idea but , hurt indeed...

getting red and red my screen, feel like I am looking at some fire through the
screen

------
zacharystern
Is this not a repost?

------
criley
As long as seeing correct color is not important to you. I'm the kind of
person who can immediately tell when an LCD is not at native resolution and
what temperature the color is set at, so the strong yellow tint of f.lux was
unbearable.

If your eyes hurt at night, just alter your brightness contrast, or write a
script to do that instead of messing with color!

~~~
knightni
Why not mess with colour? I have no need to see the 'correct' colour, if it's
less comfortable to me.

I actually leave my LCDs at a redder tint most of the time now, as I find it
more comfortable. This is particularly useful as most desktop LCDs won't
adjust their brightness down far enough for me. Laptops are better, since they
actually bother to adjust the power of their backlight.

~~~
criley
I prefaced my post with "as long as color isn't important to you".

Since it clearly isn't to you, there's no reason not to mess with it!

------
nerdfiles
This severely affects the emotionality of information I receive. The
aesthetics of one's environment, I believe, is significant to how information
will be processed. At first I noticed headaches after reading, using f.lux,
but soon after I realized that the sensation was a placebo. What I believe was
going on is that my brain was adjusting to the emotional information packed
into the content I was reading; a more significant emotional bond was being
established between myself and "mere content" not dissimilar to spending too
much time with a friend at the café.

Over time, your endurance for it increases, and reading becomes more of an
emotional activity, unwittingly.

------
dakimov
At first I liked the idea, and the app is nice, but when you think of it, what
does my monitor and the document I am working on have to do with the color of
the skies? You can adjust the room lighting that way, but not the document I
working on at my computer, damn, that's even stupid! The monitor can adjust
its brightness with the brightness of the surrounding environment, but that is
the monitor's own business, and it's brightness adjustment, not the color
scheme.

