6 ms·

Sleeping tactics and f.lux

153 points by somid3 10y ago

jasonshen 10y ago
Can someone explain more of the backstory behind Youexec? I can't tell if their sparse, name-dropping landing page is brilliant or a marketing hack. And I've got a marketing background so that's saying a lot!
- derefr 10y ago
  To me, that landing page reads as: 1. This product doesn't precisely need a web presence—it's an email newsletter, not a web-app. 2. We rely so little on inbound marketing that our site can have obvious grammatical errors. Nobody reads our copy; everyone just comes in from Google already pre-qualified, scrolls until they see the CTA, and hits the button. 3. People mostly find out about our product through outbound marketing—i.e., we call, email, or "run into" them. 4. We don't have all that many customers; we're still at the "doing things that don't scale" stage.
- yladiz 10y ago
  It's weird, right? After a little research I would lean towards the latter, because it seems like dropping names without having something to really back it up is what's happening. The oldest post I could find is from January, and the corporation (which does exist) was only incorporated in March. While I don't doubt the veracity of the testimonials, it is a little strange to see such a sparse website, without even an about page, and a testimonial stating something like "in under six months...". The service does seem like it could be useful, but it may be trying to make itself seem bigger than it actually is.
  - tedmiston 10y ago
    Plenty of people work on their product or test the market for customers before they form the legal entity. A two month difference is not necessarily concerning.
- OJFord 10y ago
  It started a few months ago, I think I saw it here and signed up out of curiosity. There's very little available free, with (I'm led to believe) more content available at the cost of giving people your referral link. I haven't given anyone my referral link though, since the content that is available to me seems so poor. Frequent typos, questionable advice, (most recently 'if your CV will be read digitally, it should have a dark background') and probably-paid advertisements masquerading as recommendations ('buy your boss an {obscure item link} to get noticed').
  - stagbeetle 10y ago
    > advertisements masquerading as recommendations You're not wrong. He mentions two products in the article: f.lux and the Sleep Smarter book. The rest is in the disclaimer: > You Exec has no affiliation with f.lux. We have not been paid to promote the software, neither do we gain any financial value if you use their software. We have tested their software to the best of our abilities and we did not find any spyware, viruses, pop-up ads, etc. Legal notes: follow the suggestions of this article at your own risk. The book itself also has some alarming ratings.
    - tedmiston 10y ago
      I thought the disclaimer seemed out of place as it seemed obvious they had no affiliation with f.lux. Now it makes sense that they just have a disclaimer for everything so it's clearer what's sponsored content.
  - tallanvor 10y ago
    "most recently 'if your CV will be read digitally, it should have a dark background'" It seems to me that would be more likely to get a resume tossed out. It would be harder to read and would break your concentration when you're looking through a bunch. I guess somebody might think that will make you stand out, but at least for me, it wouldn't make you stand out in a good way.
- shurcooL 10y ago
  I'm really confused. Am I seeing the same page everyone else is seeing? What are you referring to by name-dropping? Where are the "obvious grammatical errors"? Can you maybe post a screenshot of what you're seeing, maybe this is some A/B test?
  - stagbeetle 10y ago
    See the 3x3 layout of "We've helped members from these firms" for the name-dropping. ETA: Check under "How We Do It" for the grammatical errors.
    - tedmiston 10y ago
      Eh, customer testimonials and logos are a pretty standard part of the startup website equation.
      - stagbeetle 10y ago
        The site's marketing is deceptive if you're not vigilant. > We've helped members from these firms Could mean anyone anywhere up the food chain. From "execs" to unpaid interns. Looking at the customer testimonials portions, they only include first names and their name-brand firm. No position or anything else to help identify their qualifications. If we assume youexec is aligning their marketing towards people who are -- or want to be -- in executive roles, and look at some context clues, the testimonials become nearly worthless. Brian from McK doesn't have front-office dress, so we can rule him out. Oluyemi from Google refers to himself as only a "software developer" (if we assume he's not being modest). Olga from CN, I have no idea. But that only makes it 1 for 3. But, it looks more likely that YE is following the footsteps of "Think and Grow Rich" -- and the infinite spinoffs of which it'll most likely be joining if its current state is to be used as a predictor. The crowd who wants what the other guy's having. Not because of said thing's inherent value, but because someone important is doing it.
        tedmiston 10y ago
        Personally I did not find this deceptive or confusing as members of jumped out at me right away. I've also seen several other startups do the same thing before. Beyond the article, I don't know anything else about this company per se.
tedmiston 10y ago
Everyone is talking about the company or typos for some reason. The article here actually has some interesting ideas though. I think I'll send it to Kindle to read instead of a phone in the spirit of that.
- somid3 10y ago
  Thank you.
- bostonvaulter2 10y ago
  I'm curious what the easiest way to read emails on a kindle or other e-reader is.
ryandrake 10y ago
It doesn't seem to mention anything about who the interviewee is. Clicking through a few other articles on the site shows the same pattern. A very odd angle for a web site. We "interview" anonymous people who may or may not be Fortune 100 execs, and further may or may not be real people.
- somid3 10y ago
  most of the people I have interviewed request to remain anonymous -- we had one person ask for money and we refused, hence we can't use his name. The other ones would rather remain annon because his customers would feel used (that was the viral gifts one). And you're right, we are a small team and do this on the side... so sometimes typos do happen.
  - nitemice 10y ago
    Can I suggest that you specifically state that in your articles then? It would at least clarify the cause for a lack of source/interviewee name.
somid3 10y ago
Hi all, I started You Exec with a few friends -- and its true, most of the people I have interviewed request to remain anonymous -- we had one person ask for money and we refused, hence we can't use his name. The other ones would rather remain annon because his customers would feel used (that was the viral gifts one). And you're right, we are a small team and do this on the side... so sometimes typos do happen. Overall, we carry out interviews, write articles, and create resources to help professionals. I thought this sleep article would help some developers. Why don't you ask me anything and I'll be happy to answer. And I am sorry for the negative energy in the comments -- overall, if I can be of service or help let me know.
- somid3 10y ago
  I personally learned about F.lux and love it. The developer did a great job of making the app available on Windows, Mac, etc. Also, yes we do use minimal referral links to create side income to pay for servers, email software, etc.
- majewsky 10y ago
  Since you're writing here, some quick feedback: > By the way, if you don't believe me about the blue-light concept there are plenty of scientific papers about the topic, consider this article from the Washington Post. The link to the referenced article is missing.
  - somid3 10y ago
    Ah, just added it
- smoyer 10y ago
  I don't disagree with the premise (that blue light affects your brain chemistry and can keep you awake) of the article but it's all hand-wavy. My biggest question is how this exec knows he's performing at his best - Has (sh)he tried poly-phasic sleep? Compared his/her output against working 10 hour days, etc. Sleeping 11 hours a night is too much for many people but even then, there are 13 waking hours. How much of that becomes your optimal work day?
pvinis 10y ago
So many "as sleep" instead of "asleep".
scorpioxy 10y ago
Tangential but does he really need 10 hours of sleep a day? The article says from 10 till 8. I know that some people need that amount to be well rested but that's unusual and often it turns out that they also need exercise and a change to a healthier diet and once those happen, they need less sleep.
jbmorgado 10y ago
"Sleep is the new status symbol." Seriously, I actually sleep quite a bit, but this guy comparing himself to an athlete at work, and also telling me that he has to sleep 11h in the days we goes working out is just plain bragging... which is typical from the Fortune 100 execs the article then claims that they might or may not (this part is weird) be interviewing.
zamalek 10y ago
> airplane mode My old HTC had quiet times - mute the phone unless an the same person phones twice. It was a great feature that doesn't seem to have made it into newer models.
- hvidgaard 10y ago
  The last 2 major versions of Android have had this build in.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 10y ago
    including bypass for double attempts?
    - MaurizioPz 10y ago
      yes (if they retry in 15 minutes)
- elmigranto 10y ago
  That's how iPhone's Do not Disturb works by default (default interval is 3 mins IIRC).
dfc 10y ago
How was the 1% to 2% decrease in performance measured? Or was it a case of let's make up a number so our article appears to have an experimental basis.
- sundvor 10y ago
  If I sleep poorly, I'm adding a zero at least to those numbers. Only a 1-2% reduction from bad sleep ... in my dreams!
- wodenokoto 10y ago
  It is a number that conveys that it is hardly noticeable, but compounds into big losses. It's a personal assessment.
  - somid3 10y ago
    minutes spent working via a time tracker.
veganjay 10y ago
Slightly off-topic, but I previously used f.lux and switched to redshift-gtk. It has a system-try indicator and auto-start built-in. http://jonls.dk/redshift/ http://jonls.dk/redshift/
- MegaDeKay 10y ago
  And if you are using archlinux, you can also grab a redshift plasma applet from the AUR that works great. Just put it on my laptop last night. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plasma5-applets-redshift-control/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plasma5-applets-redshift-...
- matt_kantor 10y ago
  The downside of Redshift is that it doesn't work with Wayland. GNOME 3.24 has a built-in feature called "night light"[0] that supposedly does work with Wayland (I haven't tried it). MacOS also now has a similar feature called "night shift"[1] and I expect other desktop environments will follow suit, eventually spelling the end of third-party solutions like f.lux and Redshift. [0]: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/02/gnome-night-light-blue-light-filter-linux http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/02/gnome-night-light-blue-li... [1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207513 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207513
NoGravitas 10y ago
Works 5 hours a day, sleeps 10? Nice work if you can get it.
chandmk 10y ago
"all the light bulbs in my home are warm, they emit more yellow and orange than any other color. Like chocolate at midnight, " Now, it is not that easy to find these light bulbs that emit extra more yellow/orange light and chocolate color at midnight
- tedmiston 10y ago
  I figured he was referring to Philips Hue bulbs or similar.
  - disease 10y ago
    I assumed the same thing. I bought a bunch of these things and made sure they were displaying red light late at night and believe this helped me feel more relaxed and tired late at night. Note that I'm in Minnesota where it is much more difficult to rely on natural lighting for wake/sleep periods.
smichel17 10y ago
For any interested, Red Moon is a GPL android app for filtering blue light and dimming your screen. https://github.com/raatmarien/red-moon https://github.com/raatmarien/red-moon Disclaimer: I am one of the developers.
StillBored 10y ago
Why not just wear a pair of blue blocker sunglasses?
- somid3 10y ago
  Sounds like a Kickstarter campaign in the making.

153 points by somid3 10y ago

Can someone explain more of the backstory behind Youexec? I can't tell if their sparse, name-dropping landing page is brilliant or a marketing hack. And I've got a marketing background so that's saying a lot!

derefr 10y ago
To me, that landing page reads as: 1. This product doesn't precisely need a web presence—it's an email newsletter, not a web-app. 2. We rely so little on inbound marketing that our site can have obvious grammatical errors. Nobody reads our copy; everyone just comes in from Google already pre-qualified, scrolls until they see the CTA, and hits the button. 3. People mostly find out about our product through outbound marketing—i.e., we call, email, or "run into" them. 4. We don't have all that many customers; we're still at the "doing things that don't scale" stage.
yladiz 10y ago
It's weird, right? After a little research I would lean towards the latter, because it seems like dropping names without having something to really back it up is what's happening. The oldest post I could find is from January, and the corporation (which does exist) was only incorporated in March. While I don't doubt the veracity of the testimonials, it is a little strange to see such a sparse website, without even an about page, and a testimonial stating something like "in under six months...". The service does seem like it could be useful, but it may be trying to make itself seem bigger than it actually is.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Plenty of people work on their product or test the market for customers before they form the legal entity. A two month difference is not necessarily concerning.
OJFord 10y ago
It started a few months ago, I think I saw it here and signed up out of curiosity. There's very little available free, with (I'm led to believe) more content available at the cost of giving people your referral link. I haven't given anyone my referral link though, since the content that is available to me seems so poor. Frequent typos, questionable advice, (most recently 'if your CV will be read digitally, it should have a dark background') and probably-paid advertisements masquerading as recommendations ('buy your boss an {obscure item link} to get noticed').
- stagbeetle 10y ago
  > advertisements masquerading as recommendations You're not wrong. He mentions two products in the article: f.lux and the Sleep Smarter book. The rest is in the disclaimer: > You Exec has no affiliation with f.lux. We have not been paid to promote the software, neither do we gain any financial value if you use their software. We have tested their software to the best of our abilities and we did not find any spyware, viruses, pop-up ads, etc. Legal notes: follow the suggestions of this article at your own risk. The book itself also has some alarming ratings.
  - tedmiston 10y ago
    I thought the disclaimer seemed out of place as it seemed obvious they had no affiliation with f.lux. Now it makes sense that they just have a disclaimer for everything so it's clearer what's sponsored content.
- tallanvor 10y ago
  "most recently 'if your CV will be read digitally, it should have a dark background'" It seems to me that would be more likely to get a resume tossed out. It would be harder to read and would break your concentration when you're looking through a bunch. I guess somebody might think that will make you stand out, but at least for me, it wouldn't make you stand out in a good way.
shurcooL 10y ago
I'm really confused. Am I seeing the same page everyone else is seeing? What are you referring to by name-dropping? Where are the "obvious grammatical errors"? Can you maybe post a screenshot of what you're seeing, maybe this is some A/B test?
- stagbeetle 10y ago
  See the 3x3 layout of "We've helped members from these firms" for the name-dropping. ETA: Check under "How We Do It" for the grammatical errors.
  - tedmiston 10y ago
    Eh, customer testimonials and logos are a pretty standard part of the startup website equation.
    - stagbeetle 10y ago
      The site's marketing is deceptive if you're not vigilant. > We've helped members from these firms Could mean anyone anywhere up the food chain. From "execs" to unpaid interns. Looking at the customer testimonials portions, they only include first names and their name-brand firm. No position or anything else to help identify their qualifications. If we assume youexec is aligning their marketing towards people who are -- or want to be -- in executive roles, and look at some context clues, the testimonials become nearly worthless. Brian from McK doesn't have front-office dress, so we can rule him out. Oluyemi from Google refers to himself as only a "software developer" (if we assume he's not being modest). Olga from CN, I have no idea. But that only makes it 1 for 3. But, it looks more likely that YE is following the footsteps of "Think and Grow Rich" -- and the infinite spinoffs of which it'll most likely be joining if its current state is to be used as a predictor. The crowd who wants what the other guy's having. Not because of said thing's inherent value, but because someone important is doing it.
      - tedmiston 10y ago
        Personally I did not find this deceptive or confusing as members of jumped out at me right away. I've also seen several other startups do the same thing before. Beyond the article, I don't know anything else about this company per se.

tedmiston 10y ago

Everyone is talking about the company or typos for some reason. The article here actually has some interesting ideas though. I think I'll send it to Kindle to read instead of a phone in the spirit of that.

somid3 10y ago
Thank you.
bostonvaulter2 10y ago
I'm curious what the easiest way to read emails on a kindle or other e-reader is.

ryandrake 10y ago

It doesn't seem to mention anything about who the interviewee is. Clicking through a few other articles on the site shows the same pattern. A very odd angle for a web site. We "interview" anonymous people who may or may not be Fortune 100 execs, and further may or may not be real people.

somid3 10y ago
most of the people I have interviewed request to remain anonymous -- we had one person ask for money and we refused, hence we can't use his name. The other ones would rather remain annon because his customers would feel used (that was the viral gifts one). And you're right, we are a small team and do this on the side... so sometimes typos do happen.
- nitemice 10y ago
  Can I suggest that you specifically state that in your articles then? It would at least clarify the cause for a lack of source/interviewee name.

somid3 10y ago

Hi all, I started You Exec with a few friends -- and its true, most of the people I have interviewed request to remain anonymous -- we had one person ask for money and we refused, hence we can't use his name. The other ones would rather remain annon because his customers would feel used (that was the viral gifts one). And you're right, we are a small team and do this on the side... so sometimes typos do happen. Overall, we carry out interviews, write articles, and create resources to help professionals. I thought this sleep article would help some developers. Why don't you ask me anything and I'll be happy to answer. And I am sorry for the negative energy in the comments -- overall, if I can be of service or help let me know.

somid3 10y ago
I personally learned about F.lux and love it. The developer did a great job of making the app available on Windows, Mac, etc. Also, yes we do use minimal referral links to create side income to pay for servers, email software, etc.
majewsky 10y ago
Since you're writing here, some quick feedback: > By the way, if you don't believe me about the blue-light concept there are plenty of scientific papers about the topic, consider this article from the Washington Post. The link to the referenced article is missing.
- somid3 10y ago
  Ah, just added it
smoyer 10y ago
I don't disagree with the premise (that blue light affects your brain chemistry and can keep you awake) of the article but it's all hand-wavy. My biggest question is how this exec knows he's performing at his best - Has (sh)he tried poly-phasic sleep? Compared his/her output against working 10 hour days, etc. Sleeping 11 hours a night is too much for many people but even then, there are 13 waking hours. How much of that becomes your optimal work day?

pvinis 10y ago

So many "as sleep" instead of "asleep".

scorpioxy 10y ago

Tangential but does he really need 10 hours of sleep a day? The article says from 10 till 8. I know that some people need that amount to be well rested but that's unusual and often it turns out that they also need exercise and a change to a healthier diet and once those happen, they need less sleep.

jbmorgado 10y ago

"Sleep is the new status symbol." Seriously, I actually sleep quite a bit, but this guy comparing himself to an athlete at work, and also telling me that he has to sleep 11h in the days we goes working out is just plain bragging... which is typical from the Fortune 100 execs the article then claims that they might or may not (this part is weird) be interviewing.

zamalek 10y ago

> airplane mode My old HTC had quiet times - mute the phone unless an the same person phones twice. It was a great feature that doesn't seem to have made it into newer models.

hvidgaard 10y ago
The last 2 major versions of Android have had this build in.
- yjftsjthsd-h 10y ago
  including bypass for double attempts?
  - MaurizioPz 10y ago
    yes (if they retry in 15 minutes)
elmigranto 10y ago
That's how iPhone's Do not Disturb works by default (default interval is 3 mins IIRC).

dfc 10y ago

How was the 1% to 2% decrease in performance measured? Or was it a case of let's make up a number so our article appears to have an experimental basis.

sundvor 10y ago
If I sleep poorly, I'm adding a zero at least to those numbers. Only a 1-2% reduction from bad sleep ... in my dreams!
wodenokoto 10y ago
It is a number that conveys that it is hardly noticeable, but compounds into big losses. It's a personal assessment.
- somid3 10y ago
  minutes spent working via a time tracker.

veganjay 10y ago

Slightly off-topic, but I previously used f.lux and switched to redshift-gtk. It has a system-try indicator and auto-start built-in. http://jonls.dk/redshift/ http://jonls.dk/redshift/

MegaDeKay 10y ago
And if you are using archlinux, you can also grab a redshift plasma applet from the AUR that works great. Just put it on my laptop last night. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plasma5-applets-redshift-control/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plasma5-applets-redshift-...
matt_kantor 10y ago
The downside of Redshift is that it doesn't work with Wayland. GNOME 3.24 has a built-in feature called "night light"[0] that supposedly does work with Wayland (I haven't tried it). MacOS also now has a similar feature called "night shift"[1] and I expect other desktop environments will follow suit, eventually spelling the end of third-party solutions like f.lux and Redshift. [0]: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/02/gnome-night-light-blue-light-filter-linux http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/02/gnome-night-light-blue-li... [1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207513 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207513

NoGravitas 10y ago

Works 5 hours a day, sleeps 10? Nice work if you can get it.

chandmk 10y ago

"all the light bulbs in my home are warm, they emit more yellow and orange than any other color. Like chocolate at midnight, " Now, it is not that easy to find these light bulbs that emit extra more yellow/orange light and chocolate color at midnight

tedmiston 10y ago
I figured he was referring to Philips Hue bulbs or similar.
- disease 10y ago
  I assumed the same thing. I bought a bunch of these things and made sure they were displaying red light late at night and believe this helped me feel more relaxed and tired late at night. Note that I'm in Minnesota where it is much more difficult to rely on natural lighting for wake/sleep periods.

smichel17 10y ago

For any interested, Red Moon is a GPL android app for filtering blue light and dimming your screen. https://github.com/raatmarien/red-moon https://github.com/raatmarien/red-moon Disclaimer: I am one of the developers.

StillBored 10y ago

Why not just wear a pair of blue blocker sunglasses?

somid3 10y ago
Sounds like a Kickstarter campaign in the making.