[sine -''-..-]

This dosent involve a bunch of LEDs , but its Very cool indeed.
http://www.go2mac.com/displaynews.cfm?newsid=6780

[PCTek]

This is a frivolous hack. Sure, it looks "cool", but only to a person who's currently bored with the iBook look. By removing all of the rubber, you're 1) decreasing the resale value and 2) making it more prone to injuries from slight bumps, even more so than the PowerBook.

This guy must have had an iBook to waste.

[Stogieman]

Rubber? He removed some metal panels located "inside" the iBook to give it a more translucent appearance. Now there was some debate on the page as to wether or not these panels served as shielding for the airport. But performing this hack doesn't "make it more prone to injuries from slight bumps."

The point you make about decreasing the resale value - Just wait a couple of months and sell it to some sucker on eBay. Say it's a collectors edition. Call it a "1st Aniversary iBook" or a "iBook VSE (Very Special Edition)." :-)

Just my 2 cents

[Misha]

Stogieman makes some good points... people will pay a premium for a cool looking machine because it means they don't have to risk breaking it themselves. I've seen clearly spray painted Performa 62xx series Macs go on eBay for double what they normally do. The seller clames that it may have come that way from the factor, but isn't 100% sure. Of course it didn't come that way, but as they say, there's a sucker born every second.

Now that iBook looks pretty slick to me, but you have to remember that often times just because something looks different people automatically think it looks better. Not necessarily true... I've seen this lots of times with cosmetic mods for cars. I really wanted to racing stripes on after seeing cars like mine with them, but then I realized it actually looked better without them, but since it's something that your eye isn't used to seeing, your initial reaction is "cool" (unles it's truly hideous).

[Zwilnik]

I agree with Misha, people *will* pay for the cool factor (which is one of the reasons the iBook outsold all those dull black PC bricks).
Personally, I wouldn't want to risk becoming sterile, having my neighbours lynch me and being chucked in prison by the DTI for broadcasting radio interference, but it does look cool
If only someone would start doing custom G3/G4 panels like Smart do for their cars

Imagine trying to take a nap on a airplane when the guy next to you takes one of these out and starts typing on it.

[Zwilnik]

At least you'd definitely have a sun tan when you hit the beach