4 ms·

Please correct me if I'm wrong (I probably am), but using this for anything but a cool demo feels dangerous to me: You're relying on the input signal of an emer

by pilif 12y ago

Please correct me if I'm wrong (I probably am), but using this for anything but a cool demo feels dangerous to me: You're relying on the input signal of an emergency motion detector to park the harddrive heads as a device to do UI interaction. What I mean is: In order to switch spaces, you have to hit the machine hard enough for the "uh oh - shock emergency" sensor to actually trigger. That means that you have to hit the machine hard enough for it to think it has to do something in order to prevent hardware damage. What was meant as an emergency measure for rare emergencies now becomes commonplace. Are you sure that a) the mechanism always works? and b) that the emergency head parking doesn't put too much stress on the disk to wear it down more quickly? I'm basing this question on the fact that in the demo video there was one instance where they didn't hit the device hard enough for the switch of spaces to actually happen. That leads me to believe that the sensor isn't that accurate and really only measures dangerous levels of activity. But yeah: As a demo performed once or twice it's really cool and fun to watch.

geofft 12y ago
You can get acceleration data that's well within the non-emergency situation from Macs. This thing works on Chrome on my Mac (which is a little disconcerting, to be honest): http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/device/orientation/deviceorientationsample.html http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/device/orientation/de...
- dabockster 12y ago
  Bookmarked. That thing is cool. And yes, the accelerometer exists to detect movement consistent with the shock of hitting the ground. For other purposes, the movement is way too small to trigger the mechanism.
- Pirate-of-SV 12y ago
  I got a MBA (Mid 2011) + Chrome but I can't get it to work. A friend asked me WTF I was doing and it felt like a April fools joke.
  - madeofpalk 12y ago
    Didn't work for me on my retina MBP either. Wouldn't be surprised if our Mac notebooks, being SSD based, didn't have the SMS Edit: Apple says all Intel Mac notebooks have the SMS, but then goes on to say that SSD notebooks don't use them http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1935 http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1935
  - geofft 12y ago
    Hm. http://caniuse.com/deviceorientation http://caniuse.com/deviceorientation links to https://www.chromestatus.com/features/5874690627207168 https://www.chromestatus.com/features/5874690627207168 , which claims it's been on by default since Chrome 7. The model list in http://crbug.com/44654 http://crbug.com/44654 lists only MacBook Pros, though -- I have a mid-2012 MBP that originally shipped with a spinning disk. (It's possible that the Airs, which only ship with SSDs, don't have an accelerometer?)
  - jhgg 12y ago
    I had this work on my late 2008 macbook pro a long while ago.
- Cowicide 12y ago
  >a little disconcerting, to be honest Yep, this is yet another vector to assist in de-anonymization of people - especially those using machines that often stay at a certain, specific x-y axis tilt on some desktops, etc.
  - Cowicide 12y ago
    Haha... I have to wonder why something so noncontroversial got downvoted without mentioning why I'm "wrong" about this. I guess a knee-jerk, lizard brain fear response? Haha... Oh boy, I bet they'd really downvote me if I mentioned canvas fingerprinting. :P
coldtea 12y ago
>What I mean is: In order to switch spaces, you have to hit the machine hard enough for the "uh oh - shock emergency" sensor to actually trigger. Who said it has to trigger (the parking mode)? Isn't it more probable that it just reads the current value from the sensor (which monitors movement constantly)... It's not like you have to have the same threshold for parking the heads and for hitting the machine. >I'm basing this question on the fact that in the demo video there was one instance where they didn't hit the device hard enough for the switch of spaces to actually happen. That leads me to believe that the sensor isn't that accurate and really only measures dangerous levels of activity. That's quite premature to deduce from one instance though. But even so, if the sensor works OK and does what it should, there should be no problem.

by pilif 12y ago

geofft 12y ago

You can get acceleration data that's well within the non-emergency situation from Macs. This thing works on Chrome on my Mac (which is a little disconcerting, to be honest): http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/device/orientation/deviceorientationsample.html http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/device/orientation/de...

dabockster 12y ago
Bookmarked. That thing is cool. And yes, the accelerometer exists to detect movement consistent with the shock of hitting the ground. For other purposes, the movement is way too small to trigger the mechanism.
Pirate-of-SV 12y ago
I got a MBA (Mid 2011) + Chrome but I can't get it to work. A friend asked me WTF I was doing and it felt like a April fools joke.
- madeofpalk 12y ago
  Didn't work for me on my retina MBP either. Wouldn't be surprised if our Mac notebooks, being SSD based, didn't have the SMS Edit: Apple says all Intel Mac notebooks have the SMS, but then goes on to say that SSD notebooks don't use them http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1935 http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1935
- geofft 12y ago
  Hm. http://caniuse.com/deviceorientation http://caniuse.com/deviceorientation links to https://www.chromestatus.com/features/5874690627207168 https://www.chromestatus.com/features/5874690627207168 , which claims it's been on by default since Chrome 7. The model list in http://crbug.com/44654 http://crbug.com/44654 lists only MacBook Pros, though -- I have a mid-2012 MBP that originally shipped with a spinning disk. (It's possible that the Airs, which only ship with SSDs, don't have an accelerometer?)
- jhgg 12y ago
  I had this work on my late 2008 macbook pro a long while ago.
Cowicide 12y ago
>a little disconcerting, to be honest Yep, this is yet another vector to assist in de-anonymization of people - especially those using machines that often stay at a certain, specific x-y axis tilt on some desktops, etc.
- Cowicide 12y ago
  Haha... I have to wonder why something so noncontroversial got downvoted without mentioning why I'm "wrong" about this. I guess a knee-jerk, lizard brain fear response? Haha... Oh boy, I bet they'd really downvote me if I mentioned canvas fingerprinting. :P

coldtea 12y ago

>What I mean is: In order to switch spaces, you have to hit the machine hard enough for the "uh oh - shock emergency" sensor to actually trigger. Who said it has to trigger (the parking mode)? Isn't it more probable that it just reads the current value from the sensor (which monitors movement constantly)... It's not like you have to have the same threshold for parking the heads and for hitting the machine. >I'm basing this question on the fact that in the demo video there was one instance where they didn't hit the device hard enough for the switch of spaces to actually happen. That leads me to believe that the sensor isn't that accurate and really only measures dangerous levels of activity. That's quite premature to deduce from one instance though. But even so, if the sensor works OK and does what it should, there should be no problem.