A very useful software program

As regular readers of this blog will know, I usually put up new posts late each evening. Sometimes my eyes are tired after a long day in front of the computer, and I have to squint at the screen and turn down the brightness in order to complete my work before going to bed.

I was recently informed of a piece of software called F.lux. The company producing it, Stereopsis, describes it as follows:

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.

They're not joking! I downloaded the (free) program today (it's available for multiple platforms), and it's already doing wonders for my eyes. As the sun set this evening, I watched my screen fade from the chilly, contrasty blues of daylight to the warmer yellows of evening light. Right now, the white background to my Blogger editor is more of a cross between yellow and light ochre. F.lux informs you what lighting 'temperature' it's using (in degrees Kelvin). You can tell it to disable itself for an hour at a time if you're doing color-sensitive things like photo editing, or exit the program completely if you need to.

Generally, I rate Stereopsis' F.Lux a very useful program indeed - and you can't beat the price! Recommended.

Peter