Programmer Reveals MacBook Pro Light Sensor Secrets

by , 3:20 PM EDT, June 20th, 2006

Mac programmer Amit Singh, who in February figured out how to access and manipulate the motion sensor in Apple's laptops, has published an explanation of the ambient light sensor also found in the company's latest portables. The ambient light sensor detects the amount of light in a room and brightens the laptop's keyboard as needed.

Apple has not published any APIs for programmers to use when accessing the motion or ambient light sensors. Working with his MacBook Pro, Mr. Singh has figured out how to retrieve readings from the ambient light sensor, retrieve and set the backlit keyboard's brightness value, configure a fade to a target brightness, and retrieve and set the display's brightness.

Mr. Singh provides code on his blog so that other programmers can replicate his work. He only tested his programs on his laptop, however, so he is unsure if they will work with Apple's other portables.

Thanks to MacNN for the link.