This the first 'How To' blog post in what we hope will be an ongoing series of helpful and handy technology hints.
Anyone who uses a computer for long periods of time knows how sore your eyes can become from starting at a screen for hours on end. This is particularly true when using a computer at night – the brightness of today's laptops and desktops can really affect your eyes
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We found this program yesterday, which is compatible with both Macs and PCs. Rather than explain it ourselves, i'll let the people who created f.lux to do so themselves:
'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 the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.
It's even possible that you're staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better.
f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you're in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.
Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. F.lux will do the rest, automatically.'
It takes a bit of getting used to, but it really helps. You just set it to your location and it automatically adjusts your computer screen to fit the time of day. And you can use what type of lighting you are in: Daylight, Halogen, Tungsten or Fluorescent.
It's only a small file to download and try, so give it a go, and let us know what you think.
