Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 126 posts

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#51

Post by coldtea »

lispit wrote: post #27
joosters wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with that? It's commercial software, and they are nice enough to let you use a copy for free. They aren't (AFAIK) doing anything remotely malicious, like grabbing user data or bundling malware. It doesn't add advertising to your computer. (I'm not sure if f.lux does any update checking, which some people might count as unacceptable)

It's the "patent pending" part that sucks. They're trying to patent the idea of changing your video card's CLUT (color look-up table) to reduce eye strain, which is a fairly obvious and trivial thing to do once you know that blue light affects melatonin production.

>It's the "patent pending" part that sucks. They're trying to patent the idea of changing your video card's CLUT (color look-up table) to reduce eye strain, which is a fairly obvious and trivial thing to do once you know that blue light affects melatonin production.

On the other hand, since nobody else has done it (or patented it yet), real life proves that it's not that "obvious".

Like the "egg of Columbus" some thing are obvious in retrospect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#52

Post by coldtea »

forgotpwtomain wrote: post #37
striking wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the f.lux EULA, which I'm fairly certain no one has ever read through (evidently, because there hasn't been a backlash over it): You may not (and agree not to, and not authorize or enable others to), directly or indirectly: (a) copy, distribute, redistribute, rent, lease, mirror, timeshare, operate a service bureau, or otherwise use for the benefit of a third party, the Software; (b) disassemble, decompile, atte…

Not to mention this is a relatively simple thing to implement I think redshift for linux (linked above as [1]) is ~ 10k lines of C code and maybe a few hundred of python-qt.

10k lines of C doesn't mean "simple".

Perhaps not in this case, but even an 1K line of C program could need tons of research to be written, extravagant math, etc.

There can be 1K programs that are orders of magnitude more complex to write than 100K programs -- e.g. cryptography vs a game engine.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#53

Post by JustSomeNobody »

chillacy wrote: post #35
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #30

This is why consumers need root access to their phones. These are more than just phones, they are pocket sized computers. We have root/admin access on our laptops and desktops, we should have it here.

I would counter that there are people whom you do not want to have root. As sudo says, with great power comes great responsibility. Having clueless users being able to break the sandbox would do them more harm. So while root would be useful to some consumers, the majority would be better off without it.

It doesn't have to be either or. Having/ setting up an admin/root account should be an option, not the default. But it _should_ be an option for those of us who do have the abilities to use it wisely.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#54

Post by izacus »

ucha wrote: post #46
internet2000 wrote: post #5

If they'd open source it, users would be able to compile for their own devices just fine. There are fully open alternatives that Apple doesn't mind, like https://github.com/anthonya1999/GoodNight I know where they're coming from, but all this wolf crying is getting annoying. I wouldn't mind if they came clear and said "we can't open source f.lux because we want to pressure Apple into letting us monetize it someday."

How does making it open source helps 95% of the iPhone owners out there? Outside of this tech ivory tower, most people don't even understand what a compiler does.

Not every piece of software has to be usable to the 100% of world's population.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#55

Post by [deleted] »

chdir wrote: post #42

I used f.lux on my PC for a year or two but ultimately removed it because it occasionally caused the screen to flash (can't recall but probably on sleep / wake-up / UAC actions). Sometimes it would stop working altogether. If I were Apple, I'd be skeptical before allowing a low level driver access to an app that can potentially affect the device experience. I'd want to test it to death & be damn sure that the benefit…

[deleted]

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#56

Post by coldtea »

hannob wrote: post #6

Seems you haven't understood the Apple world. You get fancy designs. You loose your freedom to install what you want. They decide, not you. That's the deal. Live with it or don't buy their products. (I choose the latter.)

I think you don't understand it either. While I do "lose the freedom to install what I want" (outside of the 1.5 millions apps that I can install that is), I get more than "fancy designs".

I get a system where progress and adoption is faster, I get far less (close to statistical noise) malware compared to Android (none, actually, if I stick to top tier apps -- whereas there are Android phones that came with malware pre-installed by the carrier), I get most pro apps first and often (e.g. for music creation apps) exclusively, and a whole ecosystem that works admirably well, from laptop to watch, and, for my uses, better hardware.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#57

Post by mangeletti »

lispit wrote: post #27
joosters wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with that? It's commercial software, and they are nice enough to let you use a copy for free. They aren't (AFAIK) doing anything remotely malicious, like grabbing user data or bundling malware. It doesn't add advertising to your computer. (I'm not sure if f.lux does any update checking, which some people might count as unacceptable)

It's the "patent pending" part that sucks. They're trying to patent the idea of changing your video card's CLUT (color look-up table) to reduce eye strain, which is a fairly obvious and trivial thing to do once you know that blue light affects melatonin production.

I was starting to feel confused about the anti-commercial sentiment I was seeing in here, noting that this is a forum created by one of the most successful venture capital firms in technology.

But, then I saw your comment. I can get on board with this comment. The fact that they're attempting to patent something so trivial puts them right up there with the likes of Intellectual Ventures, etc., IMHO.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#58

Post by SyneRyder »

internet2000 wrote: post #5

If they'd open source it, users would be able to compile for their own devices just fine. There are fully open alternatives that Apple doesn't mind, like https://github.com/anthonya1999/GoodNight I know where they're coming from, but all this wolf crying is getting annoying. I wouldn't mind if they came clear and said "we can't open source f.lux because we want to pressure Apple into letting us monetize it someday."

> If they'd open source it, users would be able to compile for their own devices just fine.

"Just download this repo & compile for your own device" really isn't a solution for most people. There's a lot of people who would love to use f.lux on their devices, but wouldn't have a clue how to compile something with Xcode. Even offering the binary to sideload is a poor solution - what about people who don't own a Mac to connect their phones to?

For the maximum number of people to benefit from this, whether it's f.lux or GoodNight or another solution, it needs to be built into the OS (like Samsung has with Reading Mode) or on the App Store behind a big easy button that says "Get". That's what f.lux is campaigning for.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#59

Post by Bud »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #30

This is why consumers need root access to their phones. These are more than just phones, they are pocket sized computers. We have root/admin access on our laptops and desktops, we should have it here.

Except we shouldn't, because about 98% of people can't keep their devices secure, at all, if root is just floating around aimlessly for any apps to grab any privs. The security record of Android vs iOS illustrates this extremely well.

The gatekeeper model works for mobile devices.

Re: “f.lux has been ready to ship for iOS for four years, but we need Apple's help.”

#60

Post by mangeletti »

coldtea wrote: post #51
lispit wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the "patent pending" part that sucks. They're trying to patent the idea of changing your video card's CLUT (color look-up table) to reduce eye strain, which is a fairly obvious and trivial thing to do once you know that blue light affects melatonin production.

> It's the "patent pending" part that sucks. They're trying to patent the idea of changing your video card's CLUT (color look-up table) to reduce eye strain, which is a fairly obvious and trivial thing to do once you know that blue light affects melatonin production. On the other hand, since nobody else has done it (or patented it yet), real life proves that it's not that "obvious". Like the "egg of Columbus" some th…

This is also true (also called hindsight bias).
Post reply on HN