Found Footage: Conan on iChat

If you're a dedicated Conan watcher, you'll know that Conan O'Brien's normal bandleader, Max Weinberg, is often out on the road playing on tour with Bruce Springsteen, and away from the show for long periods of time. Conan misses Weinberg as much as we do, apparently, and so last night he decided to get back in touch with none other than Apple's own iChat video conferencing.

Sure enough, it's not a fake -- while there are lots of audio and video cables coming off of Conan's MacBook Pro, when they show the desktop (Leopard) and later on bring in a third person, you can see that it really is iChat, running as normal -- the cables are likely just to grab the audio and video for the broadcast.

Unfortunately, this also shows off iChat's limits -- while the technology is cool, it won't necessarily make the people you call any more interested in talking. Odds are that "drummerboymax08" isn't that interested in chatting with you either.

Thanks, Sabi! Video via Macenstein

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Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA-8eDuhnQg

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Analysis / Opinion Humor Odds and ends Internet Found Footage

If you're a dedicated Conan watcher, you'll know that Conan O'Brien's normal bandleader, Max Weinberg, is often out on the road playing on...

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LexH

Yeah, Kimmel's been doing this since last year. Latest one with Brandon Hardesty from Youtube.

April 11 2008 at 2:16 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Steve

Yeah, those cables coming off of the mac were to capture audio and video. Attached were:
Apple DVI to VGA adapter (the one that comes with the computer)
Standard VGA cable (connected to a capture card on a production computer)
Audio cable
Charger
pretty standard stuff.

April 10 2008 at 6:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gareth Burleigh

How do you get iChats that clear, Ive never had a call quality that smooth. I always assumed the examples on Apples website were dolled up for illustration purposes

Gareth

April 10 2008 at 3:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Gareth Burleigh's comment

Sabi

personally im no fan of iChat only cause it constantly logs me in/out whenever i try to use it with AIM. But when i do get it workign it video chat is crisp and very high quality.

April 10 2008 at 4:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gareth Burleigh

Wonder why Jobs has forsaken me, my desktop is the new 2Ghz mini with a stand alone iSight. Notebook is original 2Ghz Macbook Pro with a 256mb X1600 so power isnt the issue and neither give what I would call a crisp clear video call regardless of where used or who the connection is with.

Not a great big deal, but thanks Sabi

Gareth

April 10 2008 at 4:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

josh

Jimmy Kimmel has been using iChat for months, he'll connect to fans during the show every so often for a segment called "Internet Talent Showcase".

If you're just watching Kimmel on YouTube... you're missing out - he's the new Dave.

April 10 2008 at 11:28 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

robogobo

yo!

April 10 2008 at 7:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Robert Nienburg

Apple should've sent them an MBA and a longer DVI cable.

April 10 2008 at 7:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ethan

This is like the reality of those vacuous conversations they have with their co-workers in the keynotes.

April 10 2008 at 5:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sabi

I'm glad to see this got posted. I am a huge Conan enthusiast. I was especially glad to see him using iChat and using a Mac. It made the night for me.

Conan O'Brien rocks.

April 09 2008 at 11:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Sabi's comment

Bryan

Yeah Tuesday!!!! :-D

Conan rocks, I was expecting a 'I expect a big bag of cash from apple for that' comment

April 10 2008 at 4:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sterno

Saw this sketch last night , and I had a feeling it wouyld be appearing on the mac blogs today. Best part for me was seeing what the username was for La Bamba when he joined the chat - rustytrombone99.

Obscure term, but maybe that was why I found it amusing.

April 09 2008 at 10:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Sterno's comment

agreed, I loved the rusty trombone name, it made me laugh and wonder how many people "got" it...

April 10 2008 at 12:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply