17

Blynker — a reminder to take frequent breaks from your screen

almost 7 years ago from , Product Designer @ Student Beans

Introducing www.Blynker.com

I made this little thing for myself months back to help from getting headaches and sore eyes after working on a screen all day. It's really simple and just reminds you to take a 20 second break from looking at the screen, every 20 minutes. Just hit play and leave it running in the background.

Anyway- thought I'd stop being selfish with it and share it publicly now i've cleaned it up a little. Hopefully some of you find it useful!

11 comments

  • Kieran RheaumeKieran Rheaume, almost 7 years ago

    I think I'm going to use this everyday.

    3 points
  • Oz ChenOz Chen, almost 7 years ago

    Awesome project. For those who want a desktop equivalent, I've been using Timeout for years:

    Timeout for Mac

    1 point
  • Jordan Simpson, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

    I'm going to give this a try while working tomorrow as I'm always getting sore eyes. Great idea!

    1 point
  • Dan GDan G, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

    Interesting idea.

    I've been trying to get Awareness to work as something like this really appeals, but for some reason it frequently misses the 20 minute counters.

    http://lifehacker.com/5815698/awareness-reminds-you-to-take-breaks-without-being-annoying

    E —

    I've been using it for a while now and I like it, it also doesn't seem to use much memory (~100MB).

    My 2¢ —

    1. Allow me to be able to change the volume like Noisli does.
    2. I'd prefer it as a Chrome extension or Mac OS app rather than requiring me to use a tab but that's me getting ahead of myself and being fussy.
    3. I'd potentially consider changing the chime to a single bowl kinda thing. It's a little too aggressive currently IMO.
    1 point
    • Chris Weston, almost 7 years ago

      Thanks for the feedback Luke!

      A chrome extension was my initial idea for this but as I hadn't made one before I just went with the concept I could quickly execute. I think a chrome extension could be a great addition to it though and definitely something i'll look into when I get some time!

      Also, you're right, I'd like to add an option to pick a sound that suits yourself. I chose this one as it was the only one out of a bunch that actually interrupted me when I was listening to music haha

      0 points
    • Tom CTom C, almost 7 years ago

      I have no issues with Awareness making a sound at any time interval (including 20 minutes) and it serves me well for a long time now.

      0 points
  • Tyler Finck, almost 7 years ago

    Giving it a try now, great idea Chris.

    1 point