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Posted by leephillips 9/7/2025

The MacBook has a sensor that knows the exact angle of the screen hinge(twitter.com)
Alts: https://hachyderm.io/@samhenrigold/115159295473019599, https://bsky.app/profile/samhenri.gold/post/3ly7252lx422d

Theremin Mode: https://twitter.com/samhenrigold/status/1964464940049453153

Github: https://github.com/samhenrigold/LidAngleSensor

1023 points | 489 commentspage 3
cush 9/7/2025|
Looks like something is off with the value. That “exact angle” makes zero sense
ghoulishly 9/7/2025||
Hey, developer of this experiment here. I screwed up the calculation on the demo video, but it’s patched in the latest version on the repo.

I thought it was centidegrees but it turns out the sensor was reporting the raw degrees.

socalgal2 9/7/2025||
Yes, the video shoes the screen moving about 120 degrees but the number goes from ~335 to 0 (~3x too much)
kubatyszko 9/7/2025||
Reminds me of a "stable window" app gadget from mid-2000's that used the built-in accelerometer to make a window stable irrespectively of laptop's tilt.
mouse_ 9/7/2025||
Close/open sound font ideas

> Jacket zipper

> C Major scale

> Slide whistle

> Washboard

> Airlock

> Vinyl record scratch

oever 9/7/2025||
> trombone/piano/violin glissando > falling and crash sound > ratcheting ring spanner > passing train/helicopter/car > heavy door (safe/cave) > theremin
anotherhue 9/7/2025||
Creaky dungeon door surely?
oh_fiddlesticks 9/7/2025||
That's what the OP demonstrates....
danielbln 9/7/2025||
As someone who recently wrecked their MacBook's screen by leaving something hard and pointy in between keyboard and screen when closing the lid, I wonder if one can turn on the webcam briefly before the lid closes and sound an alarm if it detects anything in the way.
mc3301 9/8/2025|
I love this edge case.
Finnucane 9/7/2025||
this just makes me miss the old Mac OS that let you add sound effects to anything.
I_dream_of_Geni 9/7/2025|
IKR? The good old days...
wslh 9/7/2025||
Is this part of telemetry?
dotcoma 9/8/2025||
I sure hope they don’t feed it to advertisers to fingerprint me!
ModernMech 9/7/2025||
Microsoft has had this in their Surface Book. It has a screen that could detach and be used as a table, which had an accelerometer in it that could measure the angle.
mtz_federico 9/7/2025|
Does anyone know if this is used by any program to check if you are actually looking at the screen? I could imagine it being used for some blackmirror type stuff
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