f.lux author here. I'm pasting parts of the 458 page PDF into Google Translate.
The recommendations look very good, and don't particularly match the Yahoo article.
1. They recommend IEEE 1789 as a flicker standard for Europe, which is fantastic, as it covers lower levels of stroboscopic flicker that other standards have missed. (e.g., typical 120Hz flicker from direct-wire TLEDs)
2. They re-state the "acute" hazard from extremely bright LEDs, while urging some caution on "chronic exposure" to lower light levels. Suggest that some automotive lights could be a problem since they have high luminance. Urge more research on progression of macular degeneration and chronic exposure. The question about acute levels refers to a paper by Hunter [2012]. Nobody is saying that screens or residential lights pose a new problem.
3. Circadian recommendations are solid - more light during the day, and reduce light around 480nm at night. Pregnant women and children may have lower thresholds.
4. Say most ophthalmic lenses filtering blue light don't do very much, and specialized ones (you'd say very orange or red) are required for circadian effects.
I had a travel plug adapter (for conversion between US/UK/EU-style) that had a bright blue LED on it to indicate power.
I don't know who thought the choice of blue was a good idea, because as a travel adapter, it would be plugged into the hotel room where the user would be sleeping. /facepalm
When I changed ISPs I also changed my modem, which is in the closet in our master bedroom. It's brighter than a disco so I bought some light dimmer stickers. It's still too bright so once I remember where I put them, I'm going to add another layer. It's ridiculous. The only upside is that they are green instead of blue, thankfully.
The Asus RT-AC1900 router (and probably others) has a button on the back to turn all the LEDs on or off. Would be nice if everything had that. I'm sure it's caused some customer confusion at some point but it resets to the lights being on when it's rebooted.
Thanks for sharing this. I checked my router config and found the option to turn off LED lights except power. A more elegant solution than electrical tape I had been using before.
I didn't know that! Maybe that's why it's so annoying. My reference to blue was the common belief (fact?) that blue light messes with wakefulness hormones and isn't a good idea around bedtime (hence f.lux).
Electrical tape was useless on my ASUS router with its blinding blue LEDs. Three layers didn't even get rid of the problem, because the lights are so bright that they shine through the white plastic casing of the router. It's incredibly annoying. I finally placed the router inside a cereal box.
I just installed f.lux. It is almost midnight here. As soon as it installed and my screen tuned almost yellow I can immediately feel the strain on my eyes disappear and replaced with a coolness. This is incredible software. I will probably use this the rest of my life.Thank you!
I hope f.lux becomes irrelevant once dark mode becomes the standard in all devices. If the web catches on and if our screens become OLED (or use any technology where dark pixels aren't illuminated), then "night mode" will be seen as a crazy hack.
"Night mode" is still useful with Dark Mode. In most applications Dark Mode still uses plenty blues and greens for accent colors and often strong whites for text colors. Even if fewer overall pixels are dedicated to those colors, it's still useful to color shift them away from blue in the evenings.
How do you like viewing maps in dark mode? I tried Apple's Maps app on macOS, and it felt weird -- like navigating at night. Otherwise, dark mode seems good.
>4. Say most ophthalmic lenses filtering blue light don't do very much, and specialized ones (you'd say very orange or red) are required for circadian effects.
I have had years of success averting personal blue-light issues using what probably falls into the "specialized" lenses category: Uvex S1933X glasses. They came in a 3-pack on Amazon for around $25. The pairs are next to my bed, on my desk, and in my backpack. Inexpensive enough to where I won't loose sleep over breaking a pair. Good not just for device screens, but also for the annoying bright blue power buttons/indicators on just about every other peripheral.
Do you have by any chance a proper spectrometer? After all you developed f.lux?
Would you be able to share images on what the real difference is with and without f.lux? And also the ophthalmic lenses? I just got some so i'm quite curious :)
Thank you ! f.lux is a blessing, i use it since a few years and if it happens to use a computer on the evening without it I feel assaulted with agressive blue light.
The recommendations look very good, and don't particularly match the Yahoo article.
1. They recommend IEEE 1789 as a flicker standard for Europe, which is fantastic, as it covers lower levels of stroboscopic flicker that other standards have missed. (e.g., typical 120Hz flicker from direct-wire TLEDs)
2. They re-state the "acute" hazard from extremely bright LEDs, while urging some caution on "chronic exposure" to lower light levels. Suggest that some automotive lights could be a problem since they have high luminance. Urge more research on progression of macular degeneration and chronic exposure. The question about acute levels refers to a paper by Hunter [2012]. Nobody is saying that screens or residential lights pose a new problem.
3. Circadian recommendations are solid - more light during the day, and reduce light around 480nm at night. Pregnant women and children may have lower thresholds.
4. Say most ophthalmic lenses filtering blue light don't do very much, and specialized ones (you'd say very orange or red) are required for circadian effects.