Conan O'Brien talks to the co-creator of USB on The Tonight Show
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Oct 10th 2009 1:30PM
posted Oct 10th 2009 1:30PM
[Thanks, Carter]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
You mean the creator of "the USB". It's right there in the commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG2MDcXVQqw
Maybe Conan should have read Engadget . . . he would've "discovered" months ago when we did.
There were many people involved in the creation of the Universal Serial Bus... Ajay is nothing more than a person amongst hundreds involved...
This didn't appear recently because Conan just discovered this. This appeared recently because Intel didn't sponsor him to create the bit until now. If Intel hadn't sponsored it, it likely wouldn't even have appeared at all.
Golden !
..shoes!
shiny!
Only Conan could make this funny for general audiences. Best late night host. Period.
That was fantastic!
IT WAS!
Worth it to see steve jobs begging like that.
Yeah man,
I loved that sketch!!!
The skit at the end was amazing.
I concur
And the drinks are on moi.
So glad Fallon wasn't doing this interview... It would have been 98% less funny and 100% more awkward.
That is actually the only thing that makes Fallon somewhat entertaining. Fallon looks like he has no clue what he is doing and his audience doesn't laugh at his jokes, so in an awkward kind of way you can laugh at him. But inside that time-slot there is absolutely no reason to watch Fallon over Craig.
Craig Ferguson is the funniest of all the late night host. Unknown but very funny.
@ishism, that's a given. It's just the fact one has to stay up that late to actually listen to him.
Optionally requires one to be high also.
Am I the only one that thought the interview was really lame? You have the co-inventor of USB, AGP and you ask him about what he does in bars? ugh
no you are not the only one....i think this interview is lame too....
Yes. Yes you are.
Ummm... if the interview was an attempt at hard-hitting tech journalism. But, ummm...have you ever watched the Tonight Show? It's about jokes and entertainment.
I agree with @kero.
It is a late night comedy talk show though.
I think @joshuatopolsky should interview Ajay for the next Engadget Show!
Conan admits to not knowing technology very well. Jimmy thinks he's a tech geek.
@anthony, even if they had the USB 3.0 to talk about it would still be unbelievably boring. Sure it's awesome, but not talk 20min about it awesome.
StareClips: Late Night with Conan O'Brien was about jokes and entertainment. I haven't been seeing much of that from the Tonight Show, though.
Yeah, I don't get this form of american humor.
I really thought the interview was wasted.
@Anthony: This is not Twitter!!!
Why did they choose actors for their commercials?? Did the real guy not wanted to co-operate, was it seen as too cheesy? Missed opportunity for Intel. Now its just an advertising campaign...and it has nothing to do with the real people behind intel.
Maybe the time of one of their senior staff was more valuable than hiring an actor? Or, more likely, the ad firm couldn't be bothered trying to get hold of him.
Good question. Maybe it cost too much to hire the actual guy? I imagine his salary is pretty good being a high level fellow. Hiring a random actor was probably way cheaper than paying the real guy.
and i suppose those "pom-pom-po-pom" people at the arent employees of intel too, maybe they are a choir hired to act as an employee.
I like how intel thinks that their customers are too stupid to tell two Indian guys apart.
@Brat: No, those are real employees.
What the hell man, Intel should have used the real Ajay Bhatt.
They tried, he turned them down saying he had more important things to do
like hang with Conan!
WANT THE SHIRT!
It's a wonder why they didn't have the real Ajay in the commercials. He would have done a better job.
That was awesome.
Ok... it might be just me. But that interview was NOT funny... like...at all.
He's so modest. Everybody knows he gets the ladies
Hot Indian chicks too.
99% of the Indian chicks are too fat, too skinny or just plain weird. Everyone knows that.
The real Ajay is a lot more photogenic than the actor, lol.
ahahaha that was krazyy
OK so that Ajay Bhatt was handpicked ACTOR??
The end was awesome but Conan was obnoxious and missed a good opportunity to discuss some great topics with this man.
Holy shit. This guy is a MARVEL
lmaooo this was awesome
Hahahaha!!!! That was so funny... And he looked like a Hindu & older Tobey Maguire.
Hey Nando... Whats with the looking like a Hindu?
The skit at the end is awesome.
I think it's funny how Connan keeps saying "USB port" instead of USB.
The amount of effort placed into making the port was nothing compared to writing the tree-like hierarchy and plug-and-play connectivity.
Its like that Monty Python sketch where the the interviewer keeps asking the famous author about his shed. The shed doesn't matter, the book is what's special.
He says "the USB port" because Intel couldn't calls it "the USB" (as I mentioned above and people voted me down for). Apparently Conan finds "the USB" awkward (and it sure is), so he says "the USB port". Since Intel paid for this bit, I presume they insisted he use the proper name.
I'm surprised Engadget is only realising that they used an actor for their ads, the last time Engadget printed a picture of him from the ad, hundreds of people left comments pointing out he was a fake.
some people don't read the comments, so i guess that was for them
what a useless guy who interviewed him ?
hardly alllowed Ajay to talk a a line ....
You may not be familiar with Conan, but he's a COMEDIAN.
If you're looking for a deep discussion on what lead to the design of USB, you should look elsewhere.
@nrb AGREED!
I guess you're not aware of the awesomeness there is of Video Editing. It's really cool, you can take a section of the video that you don't want...and remove it from the entire video. BRILLIANT!!!
Ice Cream w/ USB Sprinkles on moi!!!
Conan rocks.
I heart Conan...
Always awesome.
Am I the only one that can't see the video?
Of course it pops up immediately after I add my comment.
I had to refresh 4 times for that crappy player to show the video. But worth it.
Mine didn't play the ad (just the audio) but after a minute the video popped up.
Perfect timing because USB 3.0 is coming out soon :D
Those commercials were fucking amazing. I actually looked forward to seeing them.
video doesn't work for me. i'm seeing now for a couple of minutes that blue loading circle
I usually can't stand Conan O'Brien but that was funny!
Regards,
I take it you couldn't find a clip viewable *outside* the United States, then? For the people who *didn't* get a chance to watch it off-air.
The embedded one works fine here in northen europe
I like how this simple skit turns into a such a big deal for tech people.
It is meant to be stupid, funny, and entertaining. Period. Don't try to look into it too much. This isn't a quiz on how much you know about USB and its inventors.
The one skit that I thought was even better was when Conan went to the Intel Science Fair. You can find it on this page: http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/intel/
WIN
CONANDO! coco...
Leave it to Conan to do interviews like this and get people out of their own shells to do skits like this. I thought it was comical... which is the format of his show... late night "comedy".
Brilliant
Intel: "Our Rock Stars Aren't Like Your Rock Stars"
well, yeah, our rockstars are cool enough on to be shown on TV, Intel's rockstar are hidden on office basement and portrayed by an actor.
I don't get why they chose such a fobby-looking actor, with his big, thick mustache screaming "1st-generation Indian," rather than a clean-shaven guy who somewhat resembled the real Ajay. I guess they thought it was funnier to get a guy who looked like a stereotype. They were right (though it is SLIGHTLY annoying).
ok, that was great!!!
ROTFLOL!
That was awesome! =D
I still use FW800 over USB2 for all of my backup/media needs, as it's much, much, much faster, better power/sleep management, etc.
USB3 will most likely change that, but until it does, I'm sticking with FW800 (oh, how I long for FW3200)...
The funniest part was Conan saying how he was very close to inventing it himself.
Now THAT is how you do paid product placement
did anyone else notice the messed up corkboard grid behind ajay? I could not stop looking at it
firewire inventor on the street. lol....
This guy is amazing - if you want to actually hear him talk technology (and the future of USB) he just released a podcast, he's a brilliant man. http://bit.ly/1gqbqj
Maybe we're biased, but that's one great skit! I also wanted to thank Conan and the Tonight Show crew for their inadvertent use of the PremiumUSB.com colors for the "Co-Inventor of USB" shirt. Awesome shout out from the co-inventor of the USB to the Experts in Flash Media and USB Duplication! Ajay, you da man. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the speed increases of USB 3.0 - And you started it all! ~Rock On~