Apple Laptop Doubles as a Portable Three-Component Seismometer

In case you didn't know, the Apple MacBooks, iBooks, and PowerBooks each contain a three-component accelerometer, which can be used to record earthquakes or any sudden bump against your laptop. The SMS is meant to prevent damage to the laptop hard disk in the case of a sudden fall or disturbance. Now, programmer Daniel Griscom has created a handy, free software app called SeisMac that accesses the Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) to display the three component waveforms. You can download the freeware here for Mac OS X. The SMS is not sensitive enough for strict scientific applications, but the SeisMac software could potentially be used as a fun and inexpensive teaching tool in earth science classrooms. (via BB)