Researchers have confirmed that the blue light emitted by all of our electronic devices at night messes with our melatonin production — which in turn hinders a good night’s sleep. But with this black box connected to your TV, you can fall asleep to Netflix and still have a good night’s slumber.
The Drift — which connects between a TV and an HDMI switch or AV receiver — works by slowly and subtly removing blue spectrum light from the screen starting an hour before a user schedules their desired bedtime using a simple on-screen menu. They can also specify a wake up time, at which point the full colour spectrum will be reinstated on their TV.
The Drift’s ‘Max Drift’ setting can be adjusted in ten per cent increments, with 100 per cent removing all of the blue spectrum light from the TV’s image. That maximizes the effectiveness of the device, and ensures your body is producing the melatonin it needs to sleep, but it also makes colours on screen look pretty awful. So individual users can specify what they prefer their ‘Max Drift’ setting to be.
Home theatre snobs will almost certainly scoff at a device that dares to alter the perfectly calibrated colour profile of their sets. But for the rest of us who are more concerned with getting a good night’s sleep than impressing the neighbours with our TV setups, this sounds like the next best thing to sleeping gas.
Saffron, the folks behind the Drift, are optimistic about getting the box in the hands of sleepy late-night TV addicts by Christmas. However, though it will ship to Australia, the initial run for the $US99 device will be limited to around 150 unit. So if you refuse to miss those early morning infomercials despite being exhausted at work every day, you’ll want to get your order in sooner rather than later.
