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"Most of Apple’s customers have probably never given that green light a second thought" I did. I used microscopic lens to see how they are made, you will see c

"Most of Apple’s customers have probably never given that green light a second thought" I did. I used microscopic lens to see how they are made, you will see concentric holes that are microns wide. I was amazed too, I knew it only could be made by lasers but I was delighted how someone could have that original idea. It is brilliant, and so elegant.

furyg3 15y ago
I din't pull out a microscope, but I did wonder why they didn't implement this for all the lights (battery-level indicators on the side, charging indicators on the power supply connector).
- tomelgin 15y ago
  The battery lights display useful information by being visibly off. When you see 7 dots light up, you need to be able to see the 8th dark hole to know it's at 7/8 charge and not 7/7 or 7/10. Similarly for the charging indicator: when it's not charging, you want that to be obvious. Arguably, knowing that the laptop camera (or the wireless keyboard bluetooth pairing) is not active is not as useful information.
swombat 15y ago
You can see them with the naked eye, if you look from about 5-10cm away. (and, presumably, if you have excellent vision or are near-sighted)
- pooriaazimi 15y ago
  they're talking about the GREEN indicator, on top of the screen (which shows the iSight camera's status), not about sleep indicator (the WHITE, rectangular thing, beside the IR receiver). http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/macbook-air-webcam-indicator.jpg http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/macbook-air-w...
  - malyk 15y ago
    The ones on my wireless keyboard are easily visible as individual holes when the light is on from 2 feet away. I don't know if the iSight is different (not having a metal macbook), but they are probably very close to the same.
  - swombat 15y ago
    That is indeed the one I'm talking about. Yes, you can see it with the naked eye if you're close enough.

furyg3 15y ago

I din't pull out a microscope, but I did wonder why they didn't implement this for all the lights (battery-level indicators on the side, charging indicators on the power supply connector).

tomelgin 15y ago
The battery lights display useful information by being visibly off. When you see 7 dots light up, you need to be able to see the 8th dark hole to know it's at 7/8 charge and not 7/7 or 7/10. Similarly for the charging indicator: when it's not charging, you want that to be obvious. Arguably, knowing that the laptop camera (or the wireless keyboard bluetooth pairing) is not active is not as useful information.

swombat 15y ago

You can see them with the naked eye, if you look from about 5-10cm away. (and, presumably, if you have excellent vision or are near-sighted)

pooriaazimi 15y ago
they're talking about the GREEN indicator, on top of the screen (which shows the iSight camera's status), not about sleep indicator (the WHITE, rectangular thing, beside the IR receiver). http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/macbook-air-webcam-indicator.jpg http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/macbook-air-w...
- malyk 15y ago
  The ones on my wireless keyboard are easily visible as individual holes when the light is on from 2 feet away. I don't know if the iSight is different (not having a metal macbook), but they are probably very close to the same.
- swombat 15y ago
  That is indeed the one I'm talking about. Yes, you can see it with the naked eye if you're close enough.