Re-enact great Jedi, Sith battles with... an Apple MacBook

Dark side or light side

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

22nd May 2006 10:03 GMT

Today's silliest idea: hack the motion sensor on an Apple MacBook and use the output it generates to pump out Star Wars authentic lightsabre sound effects. That's what one imaginative coder has done in a bid for 15 minutes of internet fame.

With the MacBooks available in black and white, dark side and light side duality-friendly colour schemes, the utility, MacSaber 1.0 Beta, there's an ideal opportunity for folk with a hankering for the life of a Jedi or Sith Lord - and more money than sense, it has to be said - to start wallopping each other with Apple's new consumer computer.

That said, while the noises may be right, waving a 33 x 23 x 3cm 2.4kg box around lacks the true grace of the Jedi's weapon of choice. It's good for Apple, though, which can now at least tout its new machine as "a more elegant notebook, from a more civilised age". ®