Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone
NCIS features an oddly full-featured iPhone
People on TV really are different from you and me. Already we know that with the power of bionic hearing, they can use their iPhones upside-down; now apparently they've got special iPhones with mil-spec video capabilities as well. Evidence: last week's "Designated Target" episode of CBS's NCIS. You can watch for yourself on CBS's innerTube player or purchase the episode in iTunes.
Shortly after the opening credits, as the team analyzes the brutal dual murder of a Pentagon official and a cabdriver, one of the NCIS agents (Sean Murray's "Tim McGee") analyzes the video captured from the cab's onboard camera -- by plugging the camera into his iPhone with what appears to be a combination RJ-45/iPod docking cable. Lo and behold, this frankencable allows the iPhone to display the cab video in strikingly high-res black and white. Perhaps Erica has been consulting for the Pentagon?
If you see further examples of such blatant iPhone abuse, by all means send them in.
Thanks Heidi
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Adriel Kloppenburg said 6:23PM on 11-21-2007
Hey have a look at this, I saw it the other day:
http://myskitch.com/adriel/picture_1-20071112-221359.jpg
It looks like the Myth Busters use the iPhone to :)
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Leonard Nimrod said 6:28PM on 11-21-2007
On the new shw Journeyman, the protagonist also used an iPhone upside down.
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Chuck B. said 6:29PM on 11-21-2007
CBS is having a lovely day with the iPhone, in a recent Numb3rs episode Amita uses the iPhone to play a MMORPG with a real world component, she uses her iPhone to scan for "clues" using the camera.
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Leonard Nimrod said 6:36PM on 11-21-2007
As for the "NCIS" character Tim McGee, he has the most wherewithal in TV Land to hack the iPhone. In other words, when you consider what the character has done throughout the series hacking the iPhone would be a cakewalk for Tim McGee.
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David Chartier said 6:37PM on 11-21-2007
Dude, the Pentagon reads TUAW and tapped Erica for espionage hacks.
Consider yourselves all under surveillance. ;)
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Dave said 6:50PM on 11-21-2007
All in the name of entertainment... I'm still amazed at some of the stuff Jack Bauer's Treo can do. :)
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AlexJ said 6:56PM on 11-21-2007
Latest episode of "Two and a Half Men" has Charlie Sheen using the iPhone upside down in the car even though it's been in the show before. Also, Barney from "How I Met Your Mother" uses an iPhone.
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Adico said 7:01PM on 11-21-2007
a picture with Charlie: http://www.universulapple.ro/2007/11/21/cum-se-vorbeste-la-iphone/
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dvd1970 said 7:07PM on 11-21-2007
Moonlight actually uses a real working iPhone. You even see one of the main character loading Photos and zooming in on a picture.
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Adriel Kloppenburg said 7:17PM on 11-21-2007
Higher quality snapshot of the picture in the article:
http://myskitch.com/adriel/ncis_s05_e08.avi-20071122-131319.jpg
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Buddy said 7:19PM on 11-21-2007
Yeah, because EVERYTHING you see on TV is real...
Take the f**king blue pill Neo, there is a lot of stuff on TV that is made up.
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Mike Schramm said 7:21PM on 11-21-2007
Plugging it in was just for show-- he was actually watching that video on Youtube.
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Sam Weiss said 7:36PM on 11-21-2007
Next thing you know, they'll be talking into ipod touches (upside down), using them for phones!
Re: ncis video... I'm betting they put a green screen on the device, and merge another video clip in during editing. Its the best way to get the quality they want, and they can mess with lighting in the editing room, instead of trying to capture the image on the phone.
But why the heck would they talk into them upside down?? Granted the top end is shinier than the bottom (which is I bet the reason), but god that picture makes the person look really stupid. They'd be better off painting the bottom part silver. It would make more sense.
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Mike Buettner said 7:48PM on 11-21-2007
That video was laid in on top of the iPhone in post production.
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The Chad said 8:08PM on 11-21-2007
Christian on Nip/Tuck was using his several times last night--to time a woman who was freezing herself, so he could funk her back to life.
what a quality show
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goodie said 8:26PM on 11-21-2007
Myth busters uses an iphone as a stop watch numerous times.
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fh said 8:29PM on 11-21-2007
Somehow... there's Wifi signal out there in the distinct scene, and surprisingly full bar of signals both Wifi and AT&T. The Wifi icon is way over to the right as it supposed to be.
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DG said 9:20PM on 11-21-2007
Anyone got a youtube clip, sorry am in the UK.
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thethirdmoose said 11:30PM on 11-21-2007
Eh... My Archos 605 can do this.
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starkruzr said 1:02AM on 11-22-2007
The fun thing is that there's no reason the iPhone shouldn't be able to do any of these things... maybe the shows take place 5 months in the future ;)
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