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I am puzzled by so much fuss about one simple and small app (I am not questioning its usefulness, I am using it too). Every once in awhile (and frequently latel

by ssijak 11y ago

I am puzzled by so much fuss about one simple and small app (I am not questioning its usefulness, I am using it too). Every once in awhile (and frequently lately) it pops up on hacker news front page or somewhere on the web.

xcasex 11y ago
basically its the old Microsoft adage that Apple somehow co-opted, embrace - extend etc etc. Apple implemented a feature for the next release of osx that does what f.lux does, knowingly.
- JeremyBanks 11y ago
  That's not what that expression meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish
  - kedean 11y ago
    Ehhhh, it's a grey area. They are definitely in the 'embrace' stage, but they're doing it on iOS, where f.lux doesn't really have a presence. You can argue that makes it different, or you could argue it's close enough.
- ssijak 11y ago
  That is a story from a week ago. But news about flux pop on hacker news for as long as I read hacker news. And about that apple feature, I did not get that also, so what if they implemented it (and did not allow 3rd party apps to do it)? It`s not like they have to check if there is an app for something that they like to put in the OS (and there is an app for almost everything now).. Btw, I use Android primarily because of customization options, there was not one thing I could not do on Android which I needed and there were some really advanced stuff that I wanted from a phone :)
- kalleboo 11y ago
  Back in the olden days (System 7~8) Apple would actually buy out the third party tools they wanted to add to the OS (MenuClock, WindowShade, etc). Then Steve Jobs came back and they just started Sherlocking developers instead...
  - cowsandmilk 11y ago
    They also bought third party tools under Steve Jobs (e.g. SoundJam MP, now known as iTunes)
Spooky23 11y ago
Apple is implementing its core features in iOS days after the developer figured out a way to side load the app. Not sure about the angst. Maybe the people behind it are annoyed, or its just good fodder with the Apple connection.
scottlocklin 11y ago
Because a lot of us are hammering on our laptops at odd hours and get a much better night's sleep as a result of f.lux and redshift. I can say without reservation: this simple little piece of software significantly improved my life. It's probably more important than something like emacs in my quality of life.
InclinedPlane 11y ago
F.lux is based on a very, very simple idea. It comes from the basic idea that "white" is not a universal when it comes to human vision, because not all light sources are the same. That's why "white balancing" photographs is necessary, because you need to balance colors appropriately for the given light source. But our eyes do this automatically. If you take a white sheet of paper outdoors, indoors, wherever, it will generally always appear white to your eyes, even though its appearance will change color in an absolute sense. This is where computer displays confound things, because they are a source of light, but they are used among other sources of light. And those light sources change over the course of a typical day. And thus the white balance changes over a typical day. Let's say you're using a computer in an office with white walls. Those walls don't seem to change color throughout the day, but they very much do, because the light illuminating them changes. From sunlight to artificial light. Your eyes adjust to this naturally though. But computer displays don't change, which means that during daylight hours your eyes might perceive the display as being normal while after sunset your eyes start to see the display as blue-ish or excessively bright. Alternately, your eyes could perceive your surroundings as different, seeing artificial lighting as yellowish and dim. F.lux is simply an attempt to harmonize the white balance of your display with the white balance of your surroundings, based on some information about the type of lighting you have and the local times of sunrise/sunset. Once you get used to it it seems perfectly normal that displays should do this. The problem is that a lot of the underlying technology (monitors, display drivers, OSes, etc.) are built on entirely different assumptions, the idea that the display itself is a universal arbiter of the "correct" color choices and there's no need to white balance harmonize with the rest of the world. Which means that sometimes it's difficult to get something as simple as F.lux to work on a given platform. That's why it's a topic of frequent conversation. It should really be a feature built into all displays and operating systems as it's a very straightforward idea. And essentially every digital imager in the world is built based on a universal understanding of the need to account for white balance, but there is still an uphill battle in getting people to understand the need for white balance management in digital displays.
verusfossa 11y ago
I agree. It's helpful, but by no means novel or interesting beyond being a tool in the utility belt. It gets more attention than other tools far more interesting.

by ssijak 11y ago

xcasex 11y ago

basically its the old Microsoft adage that Apple somehow co-opted, embrace - extend etc etc. Apple implemented a feature for the next release of osx that does what f.lux does, knowingly.

JeremyBanks 11y ago
That's not what that expression meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish
- kedean 11y ago
  Ehhhh, it's a grey area. They are definitely in the 'embrace' stage, but they're doing it on iOS, where f.lux doesn't really have a presence. You can argue that makes it different, or you could argue it's close enough.
ssijak 11y ago
That is a story from a week ago. But news about flux pop on hacker news for as long as I read hacker news. And about that apple feature, I did not get that also, so what if they implemented it (and did not allow 3rd party apps to do it)? It`s not like they have to check if there is an app for something that they like to put in the OS (and there is an app for almost everything now).. Btw, I use Android primarily because of customization options, there was not one thing I could not do on Android which I needed and there were some really advanced stuff that I wanted from a phone :)
kalleboo 11y ago
Back in the olden days (System 7~8) Apple would actually buy out the third party tools they wanted to add to the OS (MenuClock, WindowShade, etc). Then Steve Jobs came back and they just started Sherlocking developers instead...
- cowsandmilk 11y ago
  They also bought third party tools under Steve Jobs (e.g. SoundJam MP, now known as iTunes)

Spooky23 11y ago

Apple is implementing its core features in iOS days after the developer figured out a way to side load the app. Not sure about the angst. Maybe the people behind it are annoyed, or its just good fodder with the Apple connection.

scottlocklin 11y ago

Because a lot of us are hammering on our laptops at odd hours and get a much better night's sleep as a result of f.lux and redshift. I can say without reservation: this simple little piece of software significantly improved my life. It's probably more important than something like emacs in my quality of life.

InclinedPlane 11y ago

F.lux is based on a very, very simple idea. It comes from the basic idea that "white" is not a universal when it comes to human vision, because not all light sources are the same. That's why "white balancing" photographs is necessary, because you need to balance colors appropriately for the given light source. But our eyes do this automatically. If you take a white sheet of paper outdoors, indoors, wherever, it will generally always appear white to your eyes, even though its appearance will change color in an absolute sense. This is where computer displays confound things, because they are a source of light, but they are used among other sources of light. And those light sources change over the course of a typical day. And thus the white balance changes over a typical day. Let's say you're using a computer in an office with white walls. Those walls don't seem to change color throughout the day, but they very much do, because the light illuminating them changes. From sunlight to artificial light. Your eyes adjust to this naturally though. But computer displays don't change, which means that during daylight hours your eyes might perceive the display as being normal while after sunset your eyes start to see the display as blue-ish or excessively bright. Alternately, your eyes could perceive your surroundings as different, seeing artificial lighting as yellowish and dim. F.lux is simply an attempt to harmonize the white balance of your display with the white balance of your surroundings, based on some information about the type of lighting you have and the local times of sunrise/sunset. Once you get used to it it seems perfectly normal that displays should do this. The problem is that a lot of the underlying technology (monitors, display drivers, OSes, etc.) are built on entirely different assumptions, the idea that the display itself is a universal arbiter of the "correct" color choices and there's no need to white balance harmonize with the rest of the world. Which means that sometimes it's difficult to get something as simple as F.lux to work on a given platform. That's why it's a topic of frequent conversation. It should really be a feature built into all displays and operating systems as it's a very straightforward idea. And essentially every digital imager in the world is built based on a universal understanding of the need to account for white balance, but there is still an uphill battle in getting people to understand the need for white balance management in digital displays.

verusfossa 11y ago

I agree. It's helpful, but by no means novel or interesting beyond being a tool in the utility belt. It gets more attention than other tools far more interesting.