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Apple´s sudden motion sensor in action.

youtube.com — Desktop manager/motion sensor hack for MacBook Pro

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larst 2 years 137 days ago, made popular 2 years 137 days ago

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blueigloo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47Thats pretty slick.. nothing like giving the macbook a good 'ol slap every now and then
- Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -28/+8This would be great playing a boxing game on your computer. :P
- vbsurfer, on 10/12/2007, -33/+2no, this would be better if it was transferable to other computers for bad commenting ;)
- WalterDirt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28I need this program! After spending over $2500 on my macbook this might very well justify the cost.
  
  //i'm totally being serious, the holy sh*t factor is just too great to pass up
- rgtech, on 10/12/2007, -20/+8Pretty fake, someone with a bluetooth keyboard is changing desktops behind the scenes using keyboard shortcuts.
- ajbalash, on 10/12/2007, -15/+3I agree that it is a fake. Try to visit the link shown in the video, and show me proof that this hack exists. There is no story or news here, except for a pretty video that anyone could have made.
- Lounger540, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It would take more effort to fake this video then to write an app that interfaces w/ the openly available motion sensor interface. Haven't you seen the pinball game and MacSaber apps that use the motion sensor?? Idiots.
- shortie446, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hah, you guys that said it was fake have been slapped yourselves (proverbially of course). The source code has been posted and frontpaged!
spyker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+34thats a sweet hack quick way too hide "whatever" u are doing :)
- mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Problem is, your hands probably won't be free
- ssanders, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10mikeazorin... what the hell do you use the other one for?
  
  Don't get fancy.
MadFunk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18This is actually a good example of functionality that could be very useful on a laptop, or any computer. It's a simple (and seemingly intuitive) action to tap the side of my monitor to send my active windows aside.

The only question, though: does this constant, repetitive motion wear our the joints in the screen's hinge, or cause any other wear to the machine? And is the sensor specific enough to distinguish between a screen tap and any other movement, say, picking up the laptop?
- Isopor, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4That's what I thought to, if it will wear out joints.
  Well, kinda cool anyhow.
- albatross5000, on 10/12/2007, -20/+2I think you hit the nail on the head. See, software vendors have to keep in mind that they can't expect hardware vendors to jump through hoops supporting structural enhancements based on a small "nice to have" enhancement in software. Oh wait apple IS the hardware AND software vendor. So why don't they surprise us more than they do? They don't even have a good office suite (so they worked it out with MicroSoft to help port theirs over). Then again, what am I talking about... Apple is making a big move with this desktop switching thing if you think about it. They are embracing the idea of their hardware supporting WINDOWS and linux, etc. Did they expect needing to do this when they made the choice to use Intel?
- Iam8up, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I don't know how about you, but I pick my laptop up from the base, not the panel...
  
  You're supposed to simply tap it - not really smack it. I'm sure that it will be made cheap in notebooks and made well by a DIY. Just like everything else...
- z0l0pht, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@lsopor:
  Oh, you mean like typing?
- joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"They don't even have a good office suite (so they worked it out with MicroSoft to help port theirs over)."
  
  Pages and Keynote are arguably much more elegant that Word and Powerpoint. Access? That's not that great to begin with. Spreadsheet? Admittedly, Excel is pretty damn good.
  
  FYI, MS has been making Mac software from day one. Apple didn't 'work it out' with MS. MS is simply targetting a profitable market.
- Lounger540, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It looks like a very soft tap. Those motion sensors are actually pretty sensative. My dads thinkpad would pick up the slightest movement.
- fr34k5h0w, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Please, someone get albatross5000 his caffeine drip going again. Stat!
frem001, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5That is so cool, could be very useful. next thing you know a thrid party or apple will integrate a Wii style remote contol mechanism using the built in isight, now imagine navigating front row like that.
RossH, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Where can I get this?
analgesia, on 10/12/2007, -4/+24maybe someone can create a program that will make your mac shut down when you wave to the iSight camera.
Or shut down a program when you give it the middle finger.
- PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Way possible, but problems would include false activation and excessive processor usage.
- BrenBeers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1What about if you had it say hit control+option+shift, and then flip off the screen to close the program? This would help prevent accidentally closing a program, and would also make it so the hack wouldn't need to run all the time, only when the three keys are pushed. I under stand it is just as easy to use a keyboard shortcut at this point, but there is something about flipping off the computer and having it respond.
- mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You can already turn the voice recognition on the mac on, and just teach it "f** you" means quit.
jcz1978, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11I smack my MS mouse all the time...
kkapoor, on 10/12/2007, -16/+2That's hilarious!
Firemeboy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11Riding on the train or bus, you'd have a devil of a time trying to keep your windows on the screen.

And what happens if you sneeze?
- mapkinase, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7I have got a brilliant idea for you. Turn it off when you do not need it. It's an OPTION.
plue2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12He's barely tapping it, it's not ike your causing damage to your $499 monitor. It's interesting, granted, diggworthy even. But it might not work as well going down the road, it's certainly not saving you any time.
- chiller2002, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10@reboare
  
  Seeing as this is a comment thread, I imagine this would be the appropriate place to put relevant thoughts, comments and opinions on the topic at hand. If you don't like his comment, then mod it down, just like I did yours.
marix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22Reminds me of the oldey time type writers where you have to slice it back after each line.
- kenz0r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Yeah it would be neat if someone did something in a word processor where thats what you have to do instead of using the return key.
- NJank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6neat, yes. useful, no.
vikramchawa, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Does anyone know how to implement this hack?
- NiLeS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2read the video comments...
Kitsune818, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2In a few years you will see an "official" attempt at this. I have no doubt.
salsaman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Who's got the link for downloading this hack?
MrBr0wn, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4anyone know where i can get this software?
rohi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2how does the motion sensor work? is it tied into the "airbag" technology for shutting down the hard drive? how does it know which direction you are tapping? Does anyone know of a link to info on the motion sensor, and a link to this hack?

Without any backup info, maybe this is a fake?
- althe3rduww, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Its using a gyroscope, if you are not familiar with that it is a device that can detect motion and the direction of motion. Originally a physical spinning wheel in its early invention, the gyroscope of today uses a non mechanical piezo sensor to accomplish the same thing. The piezo sensor is much more precise and has no moving parts. If you want to understand how the motion detection works first hand I suggest taking a bicycle wheel and and place pegs on either side of the hub, spin it fast and while holding the hub try to move it around, notice the resistance?
  
  I originally learned all about the precision of gyroscopes when learning to fly helicopters.
- alecks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Actually,i'ts using an accelerometer.
- HeapAlloc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I originally learned all about the precision of gyroscopes in 6th grade.
larst, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1i have looked for this but i haven't fount it. So if someone has it it would be nice if someone could link to the software.
greedonever, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2I say work it into an interactive fetish video. They could call it. Spank Me! (lord knows you've spanked yourself enough.)
dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Anyone know what that program he was using is? The one where he moves the window around and the blue stuff flies about (looks like a physics simulation...)
MorrowLess, on 10/12/2007, -17/+1A couple days old, but still cool

http://melivingthedream.blogspot.com/2006/05/teacher-lady-divorce-fund.html
hifiDesign, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3It's probably "hacked" using Virtue (http://virtuedesktops.info/) or Desktop Manager (http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/). Both are very cool and useful without the sudden motion sensor technology.
- rohi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1links are broken..
- harpastum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Anyone trying to use hifiDesign's links: the right parentheses are not supposed to be in the url, but for some reason the digg comment viewer decides to parse it that way. Here they are without the parens, so they work:
  
  http://virtuedesktops.info/
  http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Remove the ) at the end when you click.. One link that is broken is the one on the video (the blog.medallia thingy, goes to an "Internal Use Only" login thing...), anyone know the proper site for this thing?
  
  Is it just me, or could this be very very annoying if friends found out you had it running, and started randomly hitting the side of your laptop while you were using it...? Might want to disable it on a plane, or if the laptop is sitting on your knees too...
  - Ben
gui3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3dugg, i love motion sensor hacks.

macbook light saber
ialertu
the level widget
and now this

cool beans!
SentOne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Anyone else notice that he is on digg during that video?
- larst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah, i saw that. Hope the user steps forward and gives us a link to this cool hack.
awldun, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2FYI, Winxp has a virtual desktop manager available.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
- notfred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It's crap, I'm using it now. It merely keeps track of which window is minimized in which "virtual desktop", and does min/restore as appropriate when switching between windows - the more windows you have open, the longer it takes to switch.
- NiLeS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1not exactly - you can have different settings for the desktop (icons, wallpaper, etc), and it can hide applications depending on the desktop
  
  I use it also, just not at the moment
- hmniq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nevertheless, it is noticeably laggy. I don't think it's my Pentium-M's fault either.
hackman7, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4just tap that mac b***** let me see what you got.
iSEPIC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's pretty cool - but Apple and IBM are at war on who invented the motion sensor both have filed patents.
diggnationyouth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I wanna buy a mac now...
- MuffinMan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Needs to be done for M$ and Linux as well. It'd be retarded awesome if it were cross-platform.
  This + Parallels = PWNAGE
gusx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4In the video, there is a link to http://blog.medallia.com/smack

I guess the software could actually be found on that address but it requires authentification.

Someone needs to bruteforce it. :)
- ealf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No need; it will be up within the next hour. Someone found the video before I got the post up :-/
K4P741NxKRUNCH, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For all of you who are afraid of simply picking up the laptop or even pushing too hard on one side and setting it off, there should be an enable/disable button on the tray. That's just my $0.02.

And for you windows fans who would like a sleek way to have virtual desktops, there are many different applications available which can do this, I personally suggest Altdesk.

You might also want to try linux, which has multiple desktop software built in. I suggest making a liveCD and booting that up so you can get the sense of things, and if you like it, install it!

DUGG for creativity and pure awesomeness
hansonc, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2Come on people there's no way that's real.
- MuffinMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You must beeleeve!
- hmniq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@hansonc:
  A few months back there was a hack that let you play Neverball or something on the Powerbook by tilting it. I think this is much simpler to implement. So yeah, it's probably real.
anirudhn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you do a lot of app switching, you're sure to get a mac-tap-pain-syndrome.
rgtech, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Hasn't it occurred to anyone that this is a fake. The guy behind the camera with the bluetooth keyboard is using key shortcuts to switch desktops when the guy on camera whacks the screen.

Honestly, who in their right mind is going to smack around the $3000 laptop they just bought?
- dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Erm, the motion-sensor stuff has had programs made for it (like that spirit-level widget, and the alarm system for the Macbook Pro), and the desktop switching looks like Virtue Desktops, which is open source, which makes combining the two extremely easy..
  And you don't have to smack the thing by the look of the video, just tap it, you do far more dammage simply opening the laptop..
  - Ben
- NiLeS, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1that's high-larious
mbolgian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It didn't look like he was smacking the side with very much force at all. I personally wouldn't be worried about wearing anything out quicker than it would normally. I wonder if the top has sensors too. You could assign three different actions to the three sides that have sensors.
Various, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The problem with this kind of thing is that if you enable it, you are taking away the system's ability to actually use the Sudden Motion Sensor for what it was designed for: Saving your hard drive after being dropped! All of this stuff is really neat, but is it worth it?
TWillz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This looks totally useless. What's next, wiping your hand across the monitor to erase something?
- NiLeS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2they have that too
johnnythm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I want to see a computer game that uses this: think "slapathon deluxe" you actually slap the side of your laptop to hit your opponent! that would be a sight for sore eyes
hlheavyd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0notice he had the digg site open on one of his screens?

digg
cmw72, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I wanna see somebody use this to write a killer pinball app.
- NJank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2now that would be cool, and it'd even have built in Tilt!
nuXan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yes, pinball. Excellent idea!
zoltan, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1all you macboys dont even want a link to the program? you all just talk about it noone wants to try it.. i think its fake anyways
- hmniq, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0go away.
- NiLeS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2read the video comments..they say how it's done. Pretty easy too!
Swift2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What they need to do is run the audio from a Remington typewriter getting its carriage return hit every time you do it.
nashif, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Just do not use this while on a train or any type of transportation, screens will go left and right like crazy.
nofunnyshtuff, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Whose your Apple daddy?
shaddow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Here is a tool for using the motion sensor as an HID device and includes some stuff for using it to control neverball.

http://www.kernelthread.com/software/ams2hid/ams2hid.html
revgriddler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I like the idea, but I'm really skeptical of this video. Looks like the off camera keyboard plus a desktop manager to me. I have a PowerBook with the SMS, and have played with some of the apps that take advantage of it, but I don't think you could tap your monitor and get a reaction like that. It doesn't have that sort of sensitivity, and is likely based around the HD, not the monitor. If that was the case, it seems that typing or using my laptop on anything other than a totally static surface would make the SMS go nuts.
lightmywifire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Anyone have a direct link for this hack?
KillerX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More motion sensing apps

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/04/07.9.shtml

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/04/24.15.shtml
mpancha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if its real, its got the wow factor. If I had a MBP, I'd want a feature like that just to make my friends ooo and aaah.
Paladin27, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Has anybody done any hacks on the Thinkpads with this sensor?
sxtxixtxcxh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4the blog is finally up at: http://blog.medallia.com/2006/05/smacbook_pro.html
- swindmill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is there a way to get better instructions on how to make this work? And will it work with Virtue, which is built from the discontinued Desktop Manager?
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Apple´s sudden motion sensor in action.

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