OS X Mavericks Taps Ambient Light Sensors to Detect Motion and Prevent System Sleep

[lipwak]

In my case, I have the Energy Savings set to Never for both Battery and Power Adapter, "Slightly dim the display while on battery powder" unchecked, "Automatic graphics switching" unchecked and it still dims the screen after I set my MBP off to the side within a second or two. When I move the computer back onto my lap, the screen brightens. I think it is due to the accelerometer being activated, not the light sensor as I can wave my hand in front of the light sensor and nothing happens.

It's innocuous but I'd rather it didn't do that. I don't see a way around it though and don't want to mess with the Terminal or get a hack.

Another light sensor issue I've been having...

I thought I had figured out how to get keyboard brightness to ignore the light sensor by unchecking "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light." Setting that to Never didn't help for me. I have a window right behind where I work so the light sensor would pick up that light even when the keyboard was hard to see. Now I can adjust the keyboard brightness regardless of what the light sensor is picking up. A better place for that light sensor would be next to or IN the keyboard. That is what we are trying to look at, not the screen...

Cheers,

John

2011 15" MBP, 2 ghz, 8 gb ram, 10.9

 

[AppleMark]

I hope this sensor isn't "racist" like the HP webcams...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/22/hp.webcams/

Is it fair to say that the NSA, or US Board control won't be ordering HP camera's for facial recognition then?

 

[Cougarcat]

But can it tell the difference between a human, and a feline looking for a warm place to nap?

 

[nekonari]

I hope this sensor isn't "racist" like the HP webcams...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/22/hp.webcams/

Better Off Ted anyone?

 

[Texxy]

For the sensor I am confused. It is more in effect during night time when I have a light on which makes no sense because it does not allow me to turn on and off the keyboard light BUT during the day when there is FULL sunlight coming through my window for example, the sensor still lets me turn up the brightness and whatnot...

 

[MythicFrost]

My guess would be that there was *just* enough flex in the floor (depending on precisely where you walked) to cause enough vibration for the mice to register movement.

That or ghosts.

Mmm, well it was on carpet. And I was at least a few metres away. I think ghosts is most likely LOL. (Maybe not, but lol.)

 

[vampyren]

After I seen this article, I decided to test it out a bit. I set mine to sleep after 1 minute. Just sitting and looking at the screen without touching anything kept it awake. I wasn't moving around a whole lot. I was trying to stay as still as possible, but it picks up the slightest movement, which is good. I sat for about 3 minutes and the screen stayed on. I stood up and walked off to the side, out of view from the sensor but where I could still see the screen. It dimmed after 10 seconds, and went to sleep after 20. This means the timer does not reset and begin counting after it stops sensing movement. If you don't use the computer at all after your time is reached, it won't shut off until it stops sensing you sitting there. Basically, the timer starts counting after the last physical interaction with the computer, but won't begin sleep mode until you walk away. Very neat and well designed.

Nice it works, but not when i only set the screen timer, it has to be the sleep timer for it to work. Not sure why. Still very nicely done. Wonder why they dont mention these things and hide it from users.

 

[MacOG728893]

You need an application for that? Windows XP has had that built in since 2002

My question to you is with Mavericks, do we not need to use an app like caffeine? For instance, if I am rendering something or doing a disk encryption, my computer's screen will only turn off and not go to sleep because it's in the middle of process?

Hope I am understanding this right.

 

[lipwak]

I *think" I have disabled this behavior by unchecking "automatically adjust brightness" in the display pane.

And getting the keys to light up regardless of the sensor can be accomplished by unchecking "adjust keyboard in low light" in the keyboard pane. Having it checked and selecting never won't do it, as I thought it would.