Liquid Mac: A New Use for Your SMS
Did you know that Apple’s MacBooks, MacBook Pros and some of the later PowerBook G4s have a little accelerometer built-in? Dubbed the “Sudden Motion Sensor”, this nifty little device is capable of detecting how the notebook is accelerating relative to the earth.
So you might be wondering, what’s the point of having such a device in a notebook? It turns out, Apple uses this to protect the movable parts in a hard drive during a fall. When the sensor detects sudden acceleration, it parks the read heads in the hard drive, minimizing potential damage.
Instead of using things for their intended purposes, Mac developers are always finding new and ingenuous ways of making them do things quirky. Take LiquidMac for example; this application uses the Sudden Motion Sensor inside your laptop to control the behavior of the particles on screen. While it won’t really help with your productivity, it does offer a good distraction and some fun to boot.
There are all sorts of parameters that you can tweak, including the particle color, particle radius, motion blur and the effect of gravity. Try changing the particle numbers and simulation speed to see how it reacts. Have fun with this app, but don’t shake your notebook too violently; you could significantly reduce the lifetime of the hard drive.
LiquidMac is free to download and use. If you really like it, consider donating a little something to the developer via PayPal. While you’re checking out Liquid mac, you should also check out Mac Saber; turn your laptop into a lightsaber. Do you know of any other apps that use the Sudden Motion Sensor?
http://www.suitable.com/tools/seismac.html
VirtueDesktops! (i.e. smackbook)
When i read SMS, i first thought the app would send you an SMS when someone picks up yr Macbook. Then i read the article and was kinda disappointed. Would be a cool idea though
You could also make yr macbook pump up the volume and start an audio file…”help, someone’s stealing me, help… Enjoy 
, Jay
Don’t we all wished we could do the same with the iPhone
Hi,
there is also Cinderella (see http://cinderella.de), a mathematics and physics educational software that supports the SMS. See the video at http://youtube.com/watch?v=aM0PrEu-xO8 for a demo of true gravity support in physics simulation.
Also, it can connect to LEGO mindstorms, and we prepared a video showing how to remote-control a LEGO car by tilting a MacBook Pro: http://youtube.com/watch?v=I8VvTENzPGI
Ulli
@Jay, iAlertU alerts you by turning on a siren when someone picks up your Mac, and can send you an email with a picture of the thief (if you have an iSight). It can be triggered by typing on the keyboard, moving the mouse, closing the lid, and the SMS. Once the siren is on, even the mute button can’t turn it off. You can activate the alarm with the Apple Remote or with a password.
iPong allows you to play pong wirelessly with a friend using the SMS to control the paddle. useless, but cool
You probably mean netPong, which I also did:
http://uri.cat/software/netPong/
were can you download it?