Here’s an app that you don’t see every day. I always find myself adjusting the display brightness when I wake up, and then forget to turn it down through at least half the night. Staring at this white screen I don’t really know what kind of impact my eyes are going to suffer in a few years. Yet, I still do it. The only relief is knowing that I’m not alone in doing this. Proof? Now there’s an app for just that!
Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow? Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen? During the day, computer screens look good—they’re designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn’t be looking at the sun.
F.lux fixes this: it makes your computer’s lighting adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.
A screenshot from Vista. Mac pref pane is not so jazzy.
I gave it a whirl, and on first run I was horrified. My display went all murky orange, almost like half burnt paper. Then I found my latitude using wikipedia, and F.lux adjusted itself. I found that the lighting source said Halogen by default, so I changed that to “Daylight”. The numbers readjusted themselves, but I still didn’t like the look. Still, looking at the comments, I thought I’ll get used to this slightly reddish tone.
After using it for a full day, I thought I’d see what it’s like without this display adjustment. Holy Jamolies! The difference is so obvious, in terms of eye strain, that I quickly turned it back on. I don’t know whether this is all psychological, or whether I will grow out of it, but for now I’m leaving it on. Note that my machine is an iMac, without the ambient light sensor that some of the notebooks have.
F.lux is a free download, and is available for Mac and PC.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Graphic designers, digital photographers and color enthusiasts everywhere thank you for posting this… now we know never to bother installing this app!
I’m sure this is a cool app for the average consumer, but I don’t know any visual content-creators that would even consider this app.
It is common sense not to use this in applications related to colour accuracy. That’s why it has a shut down for 1 hour function. Those who do graphics all the time should not install this app for sure.
Thanks. But its not very accurate in its cycle. The tinges look like you are out on the beach during a sunset.
But nevertheless its a nice implementaion which can go further for the better.
The tinges are certainly disturbing at first, but turn it off after a day and you’ll see what I mean. Honestly, doesn’t hurt to try it out.
To the best of my knowledge, only the MacBook Pros, the Air, and the Alu MacBooks have them ambient display sensors.
And BTW, I though ambient light sensors were ubiquitous on Apple laptops and desktops.
You’re not missing much by not having them, trust me. The ambient light sensors are about as reliable as Internet Explorer on a standards compliant website and Windows in the hands of someone who’s not a software engineer!
(The “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” option should not be selected by default, by the way.)
Trust me, ambient light sensor is the one thing that I love about my MacBook. Not in any of my friends’ lappies.. Its so ergonomic when the display automatically adjusts the brightness.