The Talk Show: Live From WWDC
7:00pm Tuesday • California Theatre
Tickets Available • Fun Will Be Had

Linked List: March 28, 2007

Wednesday, 28 March 2007

Now with support for Windows Vista.

Artist Says iPhone Ad Was a Rip-Off ★

A sequence from Christian Marclay’s 1995 film Telephones comprises a montage of actors in famous films answering the phone. Apple’s “Hello” ad, which debuted during the Oscars, has a near-identical feel, though it features different footage. (The similarity was first noted here.)

Marclay, who has not commented on the matter until now, confirms it was no coincidence. “They approached us [about using Telephones] and I said no, and then they just went ahead,” he says. “The way they dealt with the whole thing is pretty sleazy.”

I don’t consider this a rip-off. Apple asked to use (and presumably pay for) the original, then made their own after he refused, using different clips. Using the same basic idea is not the same thing as copying an original piece of work.

But it does bring to mind the brouhaha over Apple’s “The Intel Chip” ad and The Postal Services’s “Such Great Heights” video.

Xbox 360 Elite ★

Kotaku:

The Xbox 360 Elite will come with a 120GB hard drive, an HDMI port, a HDMI cable, both component and composite cables, an audio adapter for use with HDMI and a black finish for the console, wireless controller and Xbox Live headset. It will not have, despite rumors to the contrary, the smaller 65 nanometer chips, built in IPTV support or a built-in HD-DVD drive.

$480, slated to hit stores at the end of April.

Mike Pinkerton’s Google Tech Talk on Camino ★

Video of Camino lead developer Mike Pinkerton’s discussion about Camino and Mozilla.

Why to Not Not Start a Startup ★

Paul Graham:

Frightening as it seemed to them, it’s now the default with us to live by our wits. So if it seems risky to you to start a startup, think how risky it once seemed to your ancestors to live as we do now. Oddly enough, the people who know this best are the very ones trying to get you to stick to the old model. How can Larry and Sergey say you should come work as their employee, when they didn’t get jobs themselves?