Slashdot Mirror
MacSaber Turns Your Macbook into a Lightsaber
Petey_Alchemist writes "SomethingAwful.com forum goon isnoop has developed a useless but fun app that takes advantage of the new sudden motion sensor available in Macbooks. The MacSaber 1.0 causes your Macbook or Macbook Pro to whoosh and crash like a lightsaber depending on how you swing it around. The reviews from those who have installed it say it is quite fun--although there is some concern about whether or not 'lightsaber battles' fall under warranty."
And I love it :) I'm sitting here waving around my spankin' new 17" and smiling like an idiot. Luckily you don't have to wave it too hard to get the cool sounds.
And the SMS data display is just kinda neat anyways. I had no idea it was so detailed... now I know that my desk leans 3 points to the left.
Cheers.
The Macbook (and before it, Powerbook) line has had the motion sensor for a while now. The sensor isn't the news.
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
NetworkMirror since the original site didn't connect for me. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
The most famous app to use this feature is probably iAlertU, which has a demo on YouTube.
e gym.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAtRfA1UXc
http://www.slappingturtle.com/home/
Bubblegym was one of the first games to make use of thos:
http://www.balooba.se/baloobasoftware/texts/bubbl
No. About a year ago Apple starting adding a general purpose motion sensor to the motherboard, accessible via an API. The OS uses the motion sensor to park a HD during a jolt. Others have tapped into it for more fun/useful uses.
The IBM one, by the way, is a feature of the HD controller and is not available via a general API.
Apple's KB article on it
Some developer info on the motion sensor and how to tap into it
Further discussion of above link
A car alarm-style app that uses the SMS to detect if the laptop is being moved when the alarm is activated
E pluribus unum
No, what you're saying is incorrect, and unfortunately, what many people seem to believe.
Apple and IBM sensors are similar.
*BOTH* are on the motherboard. Not sure where this "sensor on the hard drive" myth comes from.
*BOTH* use the same technology (they are MEMS sensors).
*BOTH* are manufactured by non-Apple/non-IBM companies.
*BOTH* are driven by software drivers (what else do you expect?).
*BOTH* have a private interface that is not available to third parties.
*BOTH* have been reverse engineered by third parties.
There's already support for using the IBM's sensor in Linux. The first reverse engineering was that of the PowerBook's sensor (the kernelthread.com link that you mentioned) -- way back in early 2004.
Most importantly, please don't say "Apple sensor has an API" etc. Apple certainly never made anything public about how to "use" the PowerBook/iBook/MacBook/MacBook Pro sensors. kernelthread first reverse engineered it, and then the whole idea became popular all over the net in no time.
And while we are at it, IBM started including such a sensor in ThinkPads a long time before Apple. Like Apple, they didn't make their "API" public either.
the software is the news, not the sensor.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xcffXvJ7TnY&search=macs aber
The Sudden Motion Sensor is accurate enough that there is a dashboard widget that emulates a bubble level. Of course, this is in my PowerPC-based Powerbook, so the SMS is not actually "new."
can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcffXvJ7TnY&search= macsaber