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To those wondering why the MacBook would have a sensor for this, it’s likely there to support Desk View[0]. It shows the items on your desk in a geometrically c
by postalcoder 1y ago
To those wondering why the MacBook would have a sensor for this, it’s likely there to support Desk View[0]. It shows the items on your desk in a geometrically correct, top-down view. Knowing the angle of the display is very helpful when applying keystone correction.
0: https://support.apple.com/en-us/121541 https://support.apple.com/en-us/121541
- anal_reactor 1y agoYou could calculate the angle from the camera view as long as at least some piece of the MacBook is in view.
- vaenaes 1y ago[dead]
- antennafirepla 1y agoYou could, for orders of magnitude more compute than reading a magnetic encoder (my assumption at how they estimate it)
- estimator7292 1y agoSure, but not more than what you're already spending on transforming the image. And it's not like these devices are exactly lacking in horsepower.
- 3eb7988a1663 1y agoThis is trivially broken by people who affix some type of cover over the camera. I do this on the off chance some errant application thinks it deserves to take pictures of my environment.
- yonatan8070 1y agoIf someone covers the camera, the feature isn't relevant since it requires the camera to see your desk
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- kazinator 1y agoIsn't the desktop view is produced from the iPhone camera capture, not from from the MacBook's camera?
- empressplay 1y agoIf you have a new Macbook the built-in camera does it
- kazinator 1y agoI'm typing on a 2024 Macbook Pro. Is that sufficiently new? I don't see how it would work, practically. The only camera is the user-facing one. If the screen were tilted down toward the desk, I'd have to kneel down to see it.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Cthulhu_ 1y agoBut compute is cheaper for the manufacturer than adding a sensor (parts & labor, and it adds up over millions). Someone must've done the math.
- lazide 1y agoHo boy, good luck convincing people it wasn't watching them wank!
- sannysanoff 1y agoshameless plug: https://sannysanoff.github.io/whiteboard/ https://sannysanoff.github.io/whiteboard/ not only for mac users.
- ivanjermakov 1y agoRelevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/
- junon 1y agoThis was correct a number of years ago. Feels a little strange we can just do an API call for bird recognition now.
- djhn 1y agoBut is there actually an API for that? Last I checked the big providers Video Intelligence APIs even distinguishing cats and dogs was still unreliable.
- MaxikCZ 1y agoThese days you dont need an api, you can run the stack on tamagochi
- SAI_Peregrinus 1y agoBirdNET from the Cornell lab of ornithology provides that api.
- filoleg 1y agoUnless I am missing something massive, BirdNET[0] is for identifying birds by sound, not by images. Merlin[1] (also from Cornell Lab of Ornithology), on the other hand, has both image and sound ID. I haven't used either, so I cannot compare the quality of results from Merlin vs. BirdNET for sound ID, but afaik only Merlin has image ID. 0. https://birdnet.cornell.edu/ https://birdnet.cornell.edu/ 1. https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
- reaperducer 1y agohttps://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/ https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
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- Biganon 1y ago[flagged]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- inetknght 1y agoThat sounds like an excuse to enable turning on the camera without turning on the light for it just because no user-software is using it. No thanks. Plenty of users put stickers on their cameras. One simple user trick would break your whole workflow.
- gcanyon 1y agoThe Mac camera light is wired inline so as to make this impossible. The only way for the camera to be on and the light not is if the light itself is broken.
- gcanyon 1y agoThe Mac camera light is wired inline. If the camera is on, so is the light. Since we're not seeing the camera light flashing on periodically, this isn't how it's being done.
- danhau 1y agoThe Macbook tally light isn‘t necessarily wired to the camera. It very well could be independently software controlled. At least it was not too long ago. IIRC there was an article about this, posted here on HN. Macs used to have (still have?) a feature where you could declare it as lost/stolen and remotely take a photo with the camera. I believe the light didn‘t glow for that.
- OJFord 1y agoSimpler than that I think - when do you turn off the screen or sleep? Because it isn't fully closed, but you want to be able to 'privacy-duck' the screen a bit before that, and having a sensor rather than just a fixed angle switch makes it software defined and something they can update.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- hamandcheese 1y agoI'm pretty sure the sensor for that is a simple reed switch.
- OJFord 1y agoA reed switch (plus magnet and choice of location) would be an implementation of a 'fixed angle switch' per my comment above.
- vasco 1y agoIf you approach something metalic to the top of the base in the left side of most macbooks you can feel where the magnet is. They either have both systems or maybe they switched this recently.
- OJFord 1y agoPresence of a magnet doesn't imply presence of a reed switch - are you sure that's not just to give it some resistance to opening for example? Or angle sensing could be implemented with a magnet and Hall effect sensor.
- rzzzt 1y agoWhen I ran a MacBook Pro in closed clamshell mode and put another laptop on top of it, it went to sleep. Must be a weight sensor in there as well. (/s)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Reason077 1y agoIt can’t be exclusively for Desk View. Desk View only works on Macs with wide-angle cameras, which were introduced in 2024 and 2025 models. But this sensor has been in MacBooks since the 2019 models.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- appellations 1y agoApple has a history of adding sensors, security chips, etc. a few revisions before the feature they support launches. It’s a really good idea because it helps them sort out the supply chain, reliability, drivers, etc. without any customer impact. It decouples the risks of the hardware project from the risks of the software project. If things go particularly well you get to launch the feature on multiple hardware revisions at once because the first deployment of the component worked great, which is a neat trick.
- Hamuko 1y agoYeah, my iPhone 11 Pro came with the ultra-wideband chip in late 2019, and before the AirTags were released in early 2021, I believe the only thing it was used was for ordering AirDrop targets by proximity. It was clearly intended for the AirTags from the beginning, but it took about 1.5 years before it actually mattered.
- DSingularity 1y agoShows you how good they are at planning and decomposing features into well scoped hardware and software features which can ship earlier, provide some value, while enabling richer future features. You have to respect them for this because this is how they have always operated.
- wklauss 1y agoAt Apple Stores, laptops screens have to be opened exactly at 76 degrees. I wonder if they use this sensor and specific software for adjustment (I'm not implying this is the only reason it's there)
- KeplerBoy 1y agoFascinating feature! Is it known how they do it? Is it just an image transformation or a full blown AI model using Gaussian Splats or something along those lines?
- a1o 1y agoHow does this work? Does it have two cameras?