Apple Watch political oopsies: Jeb Bush’s ‘Batphone’ interrupts interview, Nancy Pelosi’s makes SOTU cameo

Jeb Bush Apple Watch

It’s no secret that former Florida governor Jeb Bush is a huge fan of his Apple Watch. Since the Apple Watch launched, the Republican presidential candidate has gone after the youth vote by showing off his Apple Watch and calling it a better option than Obamacare, despite labeling it unintuitive and power-hungry a few months later.

Jeb’s “iWatch,” as he often calls it, wasn’t dead earlier this week during an interview with the Des Moines Register’s editorial board, USA Today points out, as the presidential hopeful accidentally either placed or answered a phone call on it unknowingly. Jeb explained it away to the Iowa paper by declaring that he’d never had his “bat phone” turn on. Thankfully there’s video of this genuinely amusing moment.

And on the other side of the political aisle, Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi gave her own Apple Watch an equally entertaining product endorsement during President Obama’s State of the Union address last night …

The former Speaker and current Minority Leader of the US House of Representatives was caught on camera glancing and tapping her Apple Watch during the President’s last SOTU address to Congress. As Jeb would likely point out, Pelosi’s Apple Watch not needing a recharge after 9 pm at night is impressive on its own. My guess is this was a stand alert toward the end of the hour and some odd minutes long speech, but give us your best guesses too.

And while Washington DC’s finest are thumbing around their Apple Watches this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook met behind closed doors with President Obama in a private meeting among White House officials and Silicone Valley execs to discuss national security and encryption. Cook’s position is unsurprising for anyone keeping up with this debate as we learned last night that he’s holding his position on strong encryption and no back doors despite government pressure to make exceptions for law enforcement officials.

Now back to those fantastic Apple Watch uh-ohs from Jeb Bush and Nancy Pelosi:



Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, iWatch, Jeb Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Tim Cook

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Happy Hour Podcast 049 | Apple’s latest feature-packed beta releases

Happy Hour 21

Apple has released new betas across the board for all things. Today, we’ll discuss what new features come along with them and how they may impact your usage, new details about the rumored 4-inch iPhone and upcoming iPhone 7, plus much more.

The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed.

New episodes of Happy Hour are available every Wednesday. As mentioned, you can download this podcast via iTunes or plug in our RSS feed link into your favorite podcasting app. Send an email to listenermail@9to5mac.com (or click here) and your question/comment may be featured in an upcoming episode of Happy Hour.

Note: iTunes (web interface and app) may still be propagating the new episode which could take up to 24 hours. Subscribing to the podcast feed will guarantee the latest episode is downloaded.

Hosts:

Here’s what we discussed in this episode:

 

If you missed our 48th episode last week, you can subscribe and find every episode or start off from the previous episode here.

Remember: Subscribe on iTunes to catch all of the episodes as they go live and send in your questions/comments to listenermail@9to5mac.com.

Filed under: Happy Hour Tagged: beta, betas, Happy Hour, iOS, Podcast

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: LG 34″ QHD Monitor $570, Motorola Refurb Cable Modem $40, 10-ft. Lightning Cable $11, more

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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34-inch UltraWide Displays: LG w/ Thunderbolt $570 (Reg. $700+), Dell Curved $675 (Reg. $750)

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A Dark Room for iOS goes free as IGN’s Game of the Month (Reg. $1)

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LAST CHANCE!!! Giveaway: 1-yr. subscription to Apple Music, Beats Pill+ and Solo 2 Over-ear Headphones ($549 value)

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NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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LEGO did everything right with its new 2,500-piece vintage Batman set

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, app deals, Best Buy, Cable Modem, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, LG UltraWide, Lightning Cable, video games

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Feature Request: It’s time for an official Apple Watch 2 Upgrade Program

Apple Watch Time

If everything goes as planned, Apple is set to hold a spring event in March to introduce the Apple Watch 2 along with some other new hardware and software goodies. That’s only about a year after the original Apple Watch went on sale, but roughly 18 months since the first-gen model was actually announced.

As a mostly satisfied Apple Watch 1 customer, March or April doesn’t strike me as being too soon for the Apple Watch 2. Personally, I’m excited to see if the next model can handle apps better with a needed speed boost and maybe lose a little overall thickness and display bezel.

But while I’m basically already lining up to buy the next Apple Watch, I probably won’t spend the extra $200 on a stainless steel model this time if it’s is going to be an annual product upgrade. And for most Apple Watch customers, buying a new model will probably be an every 2 or 3 year event if that.

Apple Watch has a lot of opportunity to get better over the next few years, though, just like the original iPhone advanced dramatically between iPhone 1 to iPhone 4. A proper Apple Watch Upgrade Program could easily encourage current owners to buy the latest hardware every year (everyone using the latest generation helps the overall product’s reputation) and encourage new customers to splurge on higher-priced models. There would be other benefits as well …

When Apple Watch was first shown off in September 2014, the idea of upgradable internals was widely suggested. If you buy a $10,000 to $17,000 gold Edition model, should it really be technologically obsolete in just a few short years? My guess is if you can reasonably afford one Apple Watch Edition then the next one probably won’t be a big deal either.

But it’s the environmental impact and prospect of wasted materials on all models that convinces me that some method of upgrading the S1 chip to the S2 chip and so on is a good idea. Despite Apple being a relatively good citizen to the planet, Apple letting even an Apple Store Genius tinker with the internals of the Apple Watch as if it’s an old Mac Pro being upgraded just doesn’t seem likely at this point.

An official Apple Watch Upgrade Program, however, could help here, and the company has already created an infrastructure for something like it with the iPhone Upgrade Program introduced last September.

Apple Watch rose gold Watch Plate 2

Finance or lease a new Apple Watch every year, trade-in your old one to Apple and receive credit toward the new model, and put Apple in charge of an official market for very affordable, refurbished Apple Watches that don’t go to waste while responsibly recycling the bad parts.

You can even apply the concept of the Upgrade Program to any Apple product. My colleague Ben Lovejoy expressed interest in a potential version for the Mac, although with higher upgrade periods than 12 months, when I suggested an Apple Watch program. And I think it all lays the groundwork for a future Apple Car leasing program, something that’s already popular with other electric vehicles like Tesla and pricier traditional cars alike.

Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program is modelled similarly after what the major carriers started first, but it could even remove the financing angle for the Apple Watch and just make it a pure trade-in offer while still encouraging regular upgrades and incentivizing buying higher-end models.

What do you think? Would an official Apple Watch Upgrade Program encourage you to buy the latest version more often and possibly even a pricer model?

For Apple, selling more stainless steel models than aluminum models also means more opportunity for selling pricier second and third watch bands. Overall, I think the program is one worth investing in and something Apple is likely considering if not planning already. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Filed under: Apple Watch, Feature Request Tagged: Apple, Apple watch, Apple Watch 2, Apple Watch Upgrade Program, iPhone, iPhone upgrade program

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iOS Outlook app adds Skype integration to automatically schedule & join Skype meetings

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With a growing number of business meetings these days taking place via Skype, Microsoft has made it easier than ever to schedule and join a Skype call in the Outlook iOS app. Version 2.1.3 of the iOS Outlook app adds Skype integration.

Make any meeting a Skype call simply by flicking a switch, then access the call when you need to with just a tap. Now when you say “I’m joining the call now”, you’ll actually mean it. To give it a try, simply turn on the “Skype Meeting” switch when creating or editing an event.

The update also adds a new view designed to provide a clearer sense of your schedule …

Tapping the icon in the top-right corner of your calendar lets you see a new three-day view, as a compromise between the detail of a single day and the overview of a whole week.

Outlook is a free download from iTunes. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, and recently gained support for 3D Touch.

Microsoft appears to be on something of a Skype push at present, the company announcing yesterday that it’s bringing free group video calling to iPhone and iPad.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook for iOS, Microsoft Outlook for iPhone, Outlook, Skype

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Opinion: 8 reasons iPads are losing to Chromebooks in education, and what Apple needs to do about it

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Phil Schiller said in 2013 that “education is in Apple’s DNA,” and it’s no exaggeration. The company’s commitment to the education sector was there from the very beginning. Steve Jobs told the Smithsonian that he wanted to donate a computer to every school in the U.S. as long ago as 1979.

I thought if there was just one computer in every school, some of the kids would find it. It will change their life. We saw the rate at which this was happening and the rate at which the school bureaucracies were deciding to buy a computer for the school and it was real slow. We realized that a whole generation of kids was going to go through the school before they even got their first computer so we thought the kids can’t wait. We wanted to donate a computer to every school in America.

The company couldn’t afford it in those days, but Steve lobbied Congress to introduce a bill that would have created sufficient tax breaks to make it possible. That attempt failed, but Apple did succeed in brokering a tax deal in California that saw the company donate an Apple IIe to every school in California. Apple led the PC market in education for a time, and even created education-specific Mac models.

More recently, Apple appeared set to bring its educational success into the iPad era in 2013 when it announced a $30M deal (that would eventually have been worth a quarter of a billion dollars) to equip every student in the LA Unified School District with an iPad. If that program had succeeded, it would have created a template for rolling out similar ones across the whole of the USA. Instead, it failed catastrophically, and it now appears that Chromebooks are winning where iPads have failed …

CNBC reported last month that Chromebooks now make up more than half of all devices in U.S. classrooms, while Apple’s share of classroom purchases more than halved between 2012 and 2015. Why is that, and what – if anything – can Apple do to reverse the trend?

Below are the are eight reasons I think Chromebooks are currently winning the battle, and in italics the steps I think Apple needs to take to address each …

1. The LAUSD disaster

There’s no other word to use to describe what happened to the LA deal. Well, there is, but the first part of that word is ‘cluster’ and the second part isn’t suitable for a family-friendly site. For those who don’t recall the details, here’s a summary I prepared earlier:

The first sign of trouble emerged when students managed to bypass the restrictions designed to ensure the devices could be used only for school work, but that was only the start. The LAUSD was accused of having miscalculated the cost of the program, resulting in its suspension and later abandonment.

Both the FBI  and the SEC were called in to investigate allegations of corruption, and a federal review concluded that the entire project had been doomed from the startApple paid back the $4.2M it had received to date.

You’d have to be a pretty brave administrator to announce that, despite all that, you wanted to invest in the same deal.

Apple seems to have mostly kept its head down, with little sign of any public comment. I think this is the wrong approach. Apple needs to present a clear analysis of exactly what went wrong, how it happened, what parts were and weren’t Apple’s fault – and the steps it has taken to ensure the same thing can’t happen again. Only with that approach will school districts elsewhere regain confidence in investing in iPads.

2. Cost

iPads are relatively expensive devices. You might think schools would be offered deep discounts for purchasing in bulk, but instead they reportedly paid an additional $200 per device for the software and support package.

Chromebooks, in contrast, are cheap. One of the models offered to schools is the CTL J2, priced at $199, while Toshiba’s Chromebook 2 runs to $249.99, with a $30 management fee covering teacher-approved apps and books. Other models start from just $149.

Apple operates on the highest profit margins in the business on all its major products, and is of course perfectly entitled to do so: nobody is forcing anyone to buy Apple devices. But you’d have thought that a company that once gave products to schools free of charge when it was very much smaller might at least offer a deal at close to cost now that it can comfortably afford to do so.

Shareholders might object, but Tim Cook has stated on more than one occasion that Apple does what’s right, and any investor not happy with that should get out of the stock. I’d also argue that it doesn’t exactly hurt the company’s long-term prospects to introduce entire new generations of people to the Apple ecosystem from an early age.

3. Multi-user support

While one device per student is obviously the ideal, that’s an expensive approach no matter what the device. Many schools need to share devices between students, and that requires support for multiple users.

iPads have so far been single-user devices. Chromebooks have always been cloud-based and account-based, and thus intrinsically suited to multi-user setups. Every time someone logs into a Chromebook, it becomes their device.

Apple is finally addressing this soon in iOS 9.3, but really it should have happened a long time ago.

4. Control

Both iPads and Chromebooks are very nearly immune to viruses, so equally appealing in that respect, but Chromebooks offer schools greater levels of control.

With Chromebooks, student accounts are linked to the individual school, and the school gets full administrative control of what those accounts can and can’t do. iPads offer profiles that provide some degree of control (when kids don’t figure out how to bypass them), but this is an area where Apple needs to up its game.

Again, the changes seen in iOS 9.3 suggest that Apple is aware of this.

5. Apps

For the LAUSD program, Apple did a deal with Pearson to provide educational software and electronic textbooks pre-installed on the iPads. It’s unclear exactly what went wrong here, but teachers complained that the apps were unreliable and not fit for purpose.

Chromebooks, in contrast, come supplied with teacher-approved apps in addition to ad-free versions of the standard Google Apps suite and access to school-specific shared Google Drives, Calendars and documents. Google also provides a dedicated Classroom app designed to help teachers organize classes and communicate with students.

Whatever the root cause of the issues with the education apps, this is clearly something that Apple urgently needs to fix. See point 6.

6. Sales process

Google appears to have made it extremely easy for schools to purchase and setup Chromebooks for use in schools. Apple has a reputation for being great at selling direct to consumers, not so great at dealing with IT departments.

It strikes me that Apple’s IBM partnership could be the perfect vehicle for educational sales. IBM knows exactly how to sell to IT departments, and it also knows how to create bespoke apps for specific industries. Harnessing this expertise could solve problems five and six in a single stroke.

7. Hardware keyboards

We may be moving toward a world where keyboards are less important, and voice input comes more to the fore, but we’re not there yet. Even if we were, a school classroom is not a suitable environment for 30+ kids to all be dictating to their devices. Software keyboards are fine for brief notes, but not for things like writing essays.

So physical keyboards are needed, and Chromebooks have them as standard. The iPad Pro aside, Apple doesn’t have its own keyboard for iPads (something I’ve always felt was a huge missed opportunity), meaning that third-party ones have to be bought at extra cost – and separately negotiated. At the very least, Apple needs to bundle keyboards with education iPads.

8. iPads ‘walk’

The final problem with iPads is one Apple should be pleased to have: kids love them. One of the problems experienced in the LAUSD program was that a number of them mysteriously disappeared.

Apple obviously shouldn’t do anything to make its hardware less desirable, but it does need to address point four to ensure that a stolen iPad is a useless iPad when it comes to using it away from school premises.

Do you think Apple needs to prioritize the education market, even if it makes little direct profit doing so? Or should it cede the market to Chromebooks and focus on the more profitable consumer and business markets? Take our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments.

The intro to this piece drew on historical research from Hack Edu.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices, Opinion Tagged: Apple Inc, Education, iPads in schools, LA Unified School District, LAUSD, Philip Schiller, schools, Steve Jobs

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Quanta reportedly starting trial Apple Watch 2 production later this month

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The Chinese technology media site Commercial Times is claiming that Quanta will begin initial production runs of Apple Watch 2 in January, later in the month. This would match current expectations that the next-generation Apple Watch 2 will be launched about a year after the first Apple Watch, around April. A 4-inch ‘iPhone 6c’ is also on the cards for a March/April debut.

9to5Mac first reported on Apple’s plans for a March event in December. The company has tested an assortement of new features for Apple Watch 2, including the addition of a front-facing camera for FaceTime video calls. The new smartwatch may also add new health and sleep tracking sensors to expand on the fitness foundations from the first-generation Apple Watch.  Apple reporting by Chinese media is always sketchy, but can be accurate with regard to direct supply chain events due to their proximity.

Parts and components leaks for Apple Watch 2 have yet to appear in the wild, although there are also rumors that the second-generation Watch will feature a thinner overall design.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, Apple Watch 2, iOS

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Report: Apple closely watching for Time Warner buyout opportunities to accelerate streaming TV plans

HBO NOW Apple TV 2

The New York Post reports that Apple is closely following the situation with Time Warner; the company is facing pressure from investors to put itself up for sale and Apple is interested in acquiring it. Many investors believe Time Warner stock is trading far below its asset value and many investors believe that a buyout or spinoff of some kind is the best option. Apple could use the company to accelerate its efforts to launch a digital streaming cable service for Apple TV. Time Warner controls a vast content library, including popular shows like Game of Thrones as well as entities like CNN News.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has struggled to create a skinny bundle of programming from existing content partners. A deal with Time Warner would give Apple most of what it needs: CNN news, Turner Sports and such hugely popular shows as “Game of Thrones” and “Sesame Street” from HBO — not to mention Warner Bros. movies and TV shows.

Although there is a chance Apple could buyout the whole company, Time Warner may end up spinning off parts of the business, although the CEO is resistant.

The New York Post says Eddy Cue is watching the events unfold, with Apple potentially interested in jumping at the opportunity if it arises. Apple partnered with HBO (a Time Warner subsidiary) earlier in the year, so a business relationship already exists for the two companies.

Eddy Cue, one of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook’s top lieutenants, in charge of content deals, has been keeping tabs on proceedings at Time Warner, a source close to Apple said.

The Posts also says that unlike other media companies, Time Warner does not have a tiered share structure, making a potential buyout easier to execute without managerial consultation. Other potential suitors for the deal include AT&T, owner of DirecTV.

Apple has been long-rumored to be working on a digital streaming TV cable service, featuring a ‘skinny bundle’ of about 30-40 channels for a monthly subscription as low as $40. Reportedly, the original plan was for the Apple TV 4 to launch alongside the ‘Apple Video’ service. However, due to delays, Apple decided to launch the new hardware last October standalone.

Filed under: AAPL Company, Apple TV, iOS, iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple TV, iOS, streaming service

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Tim Cook voices views on encryption during meeting w/ White House officials

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Last Friday, Tim Cook was among a handful of Silicon Valley officials who met with White House officials to discuss the use of technology and social media in fighting terrorism. The Intercept today reports that Tim Cook again took the stance of there being no backdoors in technology to allow access to user data and devices.

Cook argued during the meeting that it is the responsibility of the White House to come out and say firmly that there should be “no backdoors” to user information. This would mean that the government would have to overrule requests from FBI director James Comey, who believes that prominent tech companies should build a way for law enforcement to access information.

Cook has repeatedly spoken about how there should not be a sacrifice of user privacy to obtain national security, but Attorney General Loretta Lynch responded to Cook’s call for no backdoors with the argument that there should be a balance, decided by the administration, between privacy and national security.

The meeting last Friday consisted of executives from Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Cloudflare, Google, Dropbox, Microsoft, and LinkedIn, as well as White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough,  Loretta Lynch, James Comey, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, NSA Director Michael Rogers, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

President Obama this evening gave his final State of the Union address and while many speculated that encryption and using technology to fight terrorism would be a tentpole of the speech, it was noticeably absent. Obama did mention that technology should be used to fight things like climate change and that computer science should be taught in all schools, but encryption did not come up.

In the past, Obama has been against there being a backdoor to user data, but the ideas of many Washington officials have changed since the attacks on Paris and San Bernardino. Obama has often said that he would rather work with Silicon Valley companies on other ways to counteract terrorism (via Re/code). The President, however left out his stance during his final State of the Union address tonight.

As the United States prepares for the election in November, encryption will continue to be a big topic and Apple will continue to be a company often brought up in encryption related debates. It remains to be seen as to whether Apple and Cook will be able to fight the growing number of people who would prefer backdoor access to user data.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple, Barack Obama, Encryption, Tim Cook, White House

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How-To: Add iOS 9.3’s Night Shift mode to your Mac right now with Flux

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Yesterday, released the first beta of iOS 9.3 and it includes a new feature called Night Shift. Apple says that Night Shift uses your iOS device’s location and clock to automatically adjust the colors in your display, making them warmer and easier on the eyes at nighttime. In the end, Apple says this should make it easier to fall asleep as the bright blue light normally emitted from a display has been found to disrupt your circadian rhythms, making it harder to sleep. While Apple has solved this feature on iOS, it remains an issue on OS X…

Despite Apple touting it as so, Night Shift is not necessarily a new feature. Popular third-party app Flux (or f.lux) has offered this feature for some time now, but only briefly was the app available for iOS. Late last year, Flux was made available for iOS via side loading with Xcode, but not through the App Store as to not break Apple’s policies. A day later, however, Flux for iOS was removed from the developer’s website at the request of Apple. Nevertheless, Flux for Mac remains available it’s incredibly easy to set up…

Flux on Mac does essentially the same thing as Night Shift does on iOS. Flux determines your location and when the sun starts to set, it changes the colors of you display to be more conducive to a setting without natural lighting. Here’s how you set it up…

First, you’ll want to head to Flux’s website. From there, you can download the application for free. Then, you can open the Flux app just like you would any other OS X application. The first time you open it, Flux should ask you to share your location with it. This is important because it allows the app to track what time the sun will rise and set in your area. If for some reason Flux doesn’t ask for your location on launch, there’s a field in the preferences window of the app to enter your location.Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 8.23.06 PMOnce it knows your location, Flux will automatically adjust the temperature of your screen. If it’s past sunset, it by default will adjust the warmth to 3400K. You can adjust this number, however, by dragging the setting at the top of the preferences window to your desired temperature.

During the daytime, Flux sets your display to 6500K, which is the default setting of your Mac. Likewise, you can customize this by dragging the slider at the top of the window. Finally, there’s a bedtime mode that sets the display warmth to 1900K, which is meant to be used in dark rooms.

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Because there is a considerable shock to switching between sunrise and sunset modes, Flux will gradually change the temperature of your display instead of instantly changing it. If, however, you’d like fast transitions between modes, you can enable this feature by clicking on the Flux icon in the menu bar, mousing over “Options” and choosing the “Fast transitions” setting. From the same menu, you can set it to add an extra hour of sleep, which starts the bedtime mode one hour earlier. You can also enable warmer daytime settings for those who want to reduce eyestrain or match office lighting. There’s also a weekend mode that gives brighter light late on Friday and Saturday more bedtime mode each the following morning.

The Color Effects menu has a few more options, as well. These options include a darkroom setting, a movie mode, and a setting to automatically enable OS X’s built-in dark theme at sunset each night.

  • Darkroom: Removes 100% of blue and green light and inverts colors. Darkroom mode also preserves night vision while using a screen.
  • Movie mode: Lasts 2.5 hours. Preserves colors and shadow detail for watching movies with reduced alerting light.
  • OS X Dark theme at sunset: Uses the normal theme during the day and switches to dark theme (dock and menu bar) each night at sunset. Disabling f.lux will also disable dark theme.

Flux for Mac is available as a free download here. With the announcement of Night Shift for iOS, it might become more common knowledge that staring at your device screens could have a real effect on your sleeping schedule. Flux aims to solve that issue on Mac and it does a great job of it.

Filed under: Mac, Tips and Tricks Tagged: flux, iOS, Mac, Night Shift, OS X

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