The Skinny on the new Powerbook motion sensor

Amit Singh has posted a
fascinating article about the new Powerbook Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) that is now standard in all Powerbooks. This is the little feature that senses is the Powerbook has been dropped or moved suddenly and stops the hard drive in hopes of preventing damage to the drive. I am sure even if you have a Powerbook with this feature dropping it is a terrifying experience.

The SMS might be too sensitive for some users. Amit reports that loud thumping bass seems to trigger the SMS, and spins down the disks. If you are using a Powerbook to pump out said techno beats, you might want to check out Amit's tip on disabling this feature because nothing stops a rave faster than a skipping track.

Amit has also built a few applications that take advantage of the information that the sensor reports on, and demonstrates what can be done with the sensors.