by , 2:15 PM EDT, June 6th, 2006

A variety of utilities that use Apple's laptop motion sensor, from silly to useful, have appeared since the technology first showed up in the PowerBook and iBook lines last year. John Bowman, writing for CBC News, rounded up a variety of them late last month.

The motion sensor, which is also included in the new MacBook and MacBook Pro, was intended to detect sudden movement and lock the hard drive's heads so that the disk isn't damaged during a drop or other jarring action. It's also been used to create a game, Bubblegym, that's controlled by tilting the laptop, as well as MacSaber, which creates lightsaber effects from the Star Wars movies when the computer is moved around.

On the practical side, someone created a utility called SmackBook Pro, which allows users to switch between virtual desktops by tapping the laptop on one side or the other. Another program, iAlertU, sounds an alarm if someone picks up the computer.