Saturday, March 1, 2008 -- 4:23 p.m. -- on my couch

WANT DAILY IPTIB TEXT ALERTS? TEXT IPHONE TO 25808 

I posted a link the other day to a wildly popular YouTube video that features a college student showing what happens to the iPhone stopwatch when it reaches 1,000 hours. It's one of those seemingly silly videos that really got people talking.

Here's a link to the original post, which contains a link to the video.

And now ... ta-da! I've got an interview with him.

So without further ado, I present to you Travis Taylor ... the 1,000 hour man.

1. So you never had to reboot the phone once?
Sure didn't! I guess that's a tribute to the iPhone itself. I did not have to reboot the iPhone once in a period of time that lasted over 40 days. I'd say that's pretty impressive when you consider how complex the device is and how many things could go wrong.

2. How many times over the course of the 1,000 hours - which we know is 41.5 days -- did you look at the iPhone to watch the numbers?

Ha, it's funny you ask. This whole thing happened because at the beginning of the semester I was using my iPhone, and I began to wonder if the Stopwatch App worked while doing other tasks on the phone.

Sure enough, it did (I would expect nothing less from Apple). At that time, I just forgot that the stopwatch was even running. A few weeks later, I was messing around with my iPhone and decided to go into the stopwatch, over 500 hours were on the counter! My roommate and I laughed at that, and decided we wanted to know what would happen if the counter hit 1,000. Well, I checked the math and knew it wouldn't hit for a while, so I ignored it for quite some time. I checked it for a third time when it was beginning to approach 1,000. I figured out which day it would hit 1,000, and knew when to take the phone out of my pocket to view.

I did not have the idea for a video until the day of the occurrence, and even then I only filmed a video (via my MacBook Pro) because one user on IGNs Message Boards (cstromme, to be exact) was curious to see what would happen.

3. Did you end up with a nickname while you were doing this? 1,000 hour man, etc?
No, no one had a clue that I was doing this. The only people I told were my roommate and my girlfriend. Between the three of us, we had no idea that people would find this last-second video so amusing.

4. Did the battery run down really fast while this was all going on?
I noticed absolutely no difference in battery life. Albeit, I do charge the phone nightly.

5. Is your phone jailbroken?
Nope, I've never wanted to jailbreak the iPhone. I purchased it the day after it was released back in June of 2007, and it's been straight stock ever since. I must admit, though, I am looking forward to the SDK so we can begin seeing more apps!

6. Is your favorite feature of the iphone the stopwatch or does something else top it?
Ha! Not quite. I suppose my favorite iPhone feature would be the internet capabilities. Don't tell my professors, but it's very handy to have the ability to browse Facebook during a lecture.

7. Did you ever consider sending your video to Apple?
I haven't yet considered it, but since you asked this, I just might! Any ideas as to where to send it?

8. You kind of hinted at this above -- but what's the next project? Our suggestion was to max out the SMS -- I think it's up to 75,000 now.
Well, since this video was a spur of the moment project with no plans at all, I have no idea what my next video will be. I suppose I will wait until I have another corky idea and decide to make a last-second video about it.

One more thing I'd like to add that might be useful to you is this:

My favorite thing about this video becoming popular is undoubtedly the hateful comments on YouTube. The fact that so many people have viewed the video and taken the time out of their lives to post negative comments on the video, absolutely makes my day. From saying that I'm a tool, to believing that I was stoned (which I have never been) before filming, these comments make me laugh much harder than any YouTube video I have ever seen. It is this that allows me to remember what makes the internet so ironic and fun.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451600969e200e550a3e4f98834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference An interview with the 1,000 hours iPhone stopwatch dude:

Very useful information. :) He will go far.

SCOTT'S REPLY: LOL. People have been discovered on YouTube for a lot less.

I signed up for the daily texts the first day you announced it, I replied and got the affirmation that I will be getting the daily texts, however I still haven't recieved one and that was a few days ago. What's going on with that? I'm just curious because I really think the daily alerts is a great idea.

Thanks
nick

SCOTT'S REPLY: All is well, Nick. They start Monday. I needed some time to get the web side up and ready. They are coming and I thank you very much for signing up.

I started the stopwatch and 30 minutes later I rebooted the iPhone. After the reboot, the timer did not reset itself, but was at 32 minutes. Can anyone else repeat this? If so it kinda makes this video silly.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Soon as my iPhone is charged, I'll check. Still cool to see the iPhone reach 1000 hours. It's a milestone.

well just to tell you guys that dud did not w8 40 sumthing days! wana no how he did it?....................
yes? ok ill be nice and tell ye!
step 1 start the stopwatch!
step 2 go to settings/general/date & time/set date & time and change the date to 40 sumthing days in the future
step 2.1 exit settings and go in to clock/stopwatch
step 3 amaze your friends
step 3.1 get one of them to video you!
step 3.2 upload it to youtube
step 4 be happy because you just tricked everyone on youtube, ipodtouchfans and every other iphone/ipod touch related website on the net

its official we are all idiots (but its ok because everyone on youtube is to lol)

SCOTT'S REPLY: Personally, Bob, I believe Travis. Why would anyone want to do what you said? What's the point? To get on YouTube? I've got news for you, Bob, I could sneeze in the next 5 minutes and be popular on YouTube, so I don't think it's for notoriety. Like Travis said, it was something he did for fun with a bunch of people and it took off. Perhaps that's your sign that you should try to top it!

Bob, I am the first to admit that I am a nerd. However, I can say with 100% certainty that I had NO idea that you could change the stopwatch like that. I'm a nerd... but even I didn't try the steps that you listed...

-Travis (the guy in the video)

SCOTT'S REPLY: There you have it, Bob, straight from Mr. 1,000 himself. In all fairness, Bob, I have to ask again ... why would anyone bother doing what you said? Where's the excitement in that?

ok dud i believe you! sorry im so late position a reply! i just thought it was so funny that you waited 40 something days to do what could be don in 5 mints! i mean no disrespect man
peace
bobthehacker

SCOTT'S REPLY: Peace to you too, bob.

lol well if you can change the date why not go to 100000 or 1000000 seconds and see what happens?

SCOTT'S REPLY: He didn't actually change the date, though.

The comments to this entry are closed.