[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_inrDxcFBB4[/youtube]
Those from SlashGear they made a video test in which they demonstrate how the screen of a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro can be closed using a simple fridge magnet. If you walk that magnet near the audio jack of your MacBook, the screen will close instantly and with it the Wi-Fi connection will be closed. To restart it, you have to use the keyboard and everything returns to normal without any reset, nothing. It is interesting that the SmartCover case has exactly the same effect on the iPad 2 tablet when the screen is covered, but there is talk (without concrete knowledge) about a functionality implemented through a proximity sensor.
The "issue" arises when you've got a magnet, here we've got a tiny refrigerator magnet for example, and you pass it along the left side of the base of whichever machine you're working with. The actual spot this oddity comes up is right near the headphone jack on both computers. What happens is the monitor goes blank and your Wifi shorts out. What we can equate this to is the machine falling asleep – this holds true when you see the backlit key lights dim when the magnet passes over the area on the MacBook Pro near the headphone jack again.
If you have a new generation MacBook Air/Pro, you can also test this. Basically, we are talking about a functionality similar to that of closing the MacBook's cover, i.e. putting it into sleep mode.
Therefore we can conclude that the technology Apple uses to turn your display off and on is run by magnets, and that the new iPad Smart Cover is and will be using the same or similar technology to turn off and on the iPad as it moves across its surface. Have a peek at the video above to see us working with the MacBooks and magnets, and below at the iPad Smart Cover video to see some cuteness!
