Hacker News Reader

Comment by Cthulhu_ | Hacker News Reader

I would say that changing color temperature based on time of day (and location on the planet) as a means to reduce late-night eyestrain and fatigue is something non-obvious, yes. I never even thought about color temperature and the influence of it on your sleeping patterns (esp. late at night) until the guy behind f.lux came by.

View on HN

is it so non-obvious that it requires the state guarantee decades-long monopoly to ensure f.lux can make a return on the significant research & development costs?

could we expect no more non-obvious apps like f.lux get made if the state doesn't guarantee decades-long monopoly?

You've changed the question from "is the invention non-obvious, in the sense that current law requires to grand a patent?" to "do you agree with current patent laws and the value of patents?"

interestingly, f.lux is also free, at least for me. i use it yet haven't paid a dime. so it doesn't exactly look like they're trying to make a profit.. and i'm glad for that.

> […] changing color temperature based on time of day […] to reduce late-night eyestrain and fatigue is something non-obvious

There are themes for text editors which have both a day and night version (and some users will without a doubt have setup cron to switch automatically).

There are also blue-blocking filters recommended to wear at night for improving your sleep rhythm.

Of course none of this means that the f.lux author can’t obtain a patent on something related to his software. The question is if it will hold up if later disputed.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com