The real Ajay Bhatt, co-inventor of the USB port

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/10/conan-obrien-talks-to-the-co-creator-of-usb-on-the-tonight-show/

by siculars • 17 years ago

73 32 17 years ago

bh23ha• 17 years ago

I have not idea why they embedded the commercial, but did not even link to hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/101471/the-tonight-show-with-conan...

chime• 17 years ago

Thanks for the hulu link. The embedded control did not work for me despite repeated refreshes. The hulu link did.

Hates_• 17 years ago

The embedding was better for me over Hulu as I'm not in the US.

nirmal• 17 years ago

The hulu version didn't exist when the original was posted. Hulu posts are delayed.

ShabbyDoo2• 17 years ago

That Conan (a) felt like Ajay would be relevant for a general audience, and (b) didn't bring him on for the sole purpose of humiliating him speaks well for the acceptance of engineering in US society. A decade ago, he would have been reduced to caricature -- "nerd" glasses and the like.

whye2• 17 years ago

What I don't understand is why Intel didn't use the real Ajay in their ads. Here's someone who they are supposedly honoring as a rock star, and yet when it comes to the ads, instead of using him, they hire an actor. How big of an Intel star can you be, if you aren't good enough to appear on TV?

tptacek• 17 years ago

How much money do you think an Intel Fellow makes over the course of their career? There are 46 of them. I'm guessing Ajay's just fine with how this played out.

ShabbyDoo2• 17 years ago

Yeah. You'd think that a day spent shooting a commercial wouldn't be a horrible inconvenience given the value. After all, CEOs often put themselves in front of the camera. Perhaps the real Ajay wasn't deemed nerdy enough?

lunchbox• 17 years ago

From a NYT article on Intel:

The real inventors are not in the ads; they are played by actors. Mr. Bell said he wanted to ensure the commercials were humorous, and avoid arguments with Intel employees over which should be featured.

"When you are required politically to cast certain people and get everyone involved, you tend to get this watered-down, feel-good campaign that works really well internally and makes the company itself feel good," but does not appeal to consumers, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/business/media/06adco.html

prat• 17 years ago

Maybe Ajay didn't want the spotlight - so what they did was the next best honor by atleast using his real name.

pmorici2• 17 years ago

The real Ajay's time is likely a lot more valuable than some random actor who does commercials. I other words he is probably too valuable to appear on TV. Think about it when it is all said and done the guy would have had to take at least a week away from his normal responsibilities when you include travel, filming time etc...

Only B list celebrities play themselves on TV.

alabut• 17 years ago

Fine, I'll say it if no one else will - the actor portraying Ajay looks funny and acts hilariously pompous, even in such a short ad.

"A decade ago, he would have been reduced to caricature" and the same thing happened now, so who knows whether the real Ajay would've been cool with it or able to pull it off. Consider all the wooden ads by sports stars that come off as stiff and rely on the recognition factor only.

dtap• 17 years ago

My dad works for Intel and can vouch for his rock star status. Intel makes money by selling chips and standardization makes adoption go through the roof. They have bankrolled many things, to then open them to all (USB, moblin, WiMAX).

USB certainly was a huge step and made them a lot of money, much of which Ajay is responsible for. This makes him a rock star.

zhyder• 17 years ago

I found it odd that he didn't share the credit with more people at Intel and its partners, and spoke negatively about Firewire[1].

[1]- Firewire lost mainly because the cheaper+slower USB1.1 became ubiquitous first, and then came the backward-compatible (in connectors/cables) and comparably-fast USB2.0.

codexon• 17 years ago

I'm surprised someone voted you down and that you are still at 1 point.

USB 1.0 seems like one of the many interfaces that will eventually end up obsolete just like ISA PCI AGP PCMIA etc...

I really don't see anything technically superior about USB (feel free to correct me). The main reason it won out over Firewire was of course Intel and Microsoft backing, and that it was in the sweet spot for the price/feature trade off.

weaksauce• 17 years ago

It was cheaper because it was not proprietary like the firewire port. I think that was the only issue really. Firewire has a smaller protocol overhead so at a given bit rate the throughput was faster. Did the original firewire spec allow for multiple devices on the same bus or was that included in a later revision?

wooby• 17 years ago

Won't every interface end up obsolete? Seems like the only interfaces with real staying power are serial and mini phonoplug.

brandnewlow• 17 years ago

My take: They didn't use the real guy because this let them create a little buzz and hold him back to give their ad campaign a second wind.

http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Interesting that a Tonight Show advertiser initiated this interview, the show said yes, and even admits this interview was prompted by a sponsor. (Also interesting that the ad-block HN crowd isn't complaining about watching sponsored content)

Intel's PR and marketing people played this one really well.

paul• 17 years ago

That seems unlikely to me.

The "submarine" essay is a good one, but it has caused people here to overestimate the cleverness of PR people. It's better to think more in terms of the press being lazy.

mustpax• 17 years ago

Almost all interview spots on late-night talk shows are pure marketing. Without fail, the interviewee always has a book or a movie coming out. Or, at most, is a former or current politician, seeking publicity for their latest cause (a foundation they set up or the upcoming election, respectively).

I think it’s quite respectable for Tonight Show to both acknowledge that this is a sponsored interview and to make light of the fact.

raheemm• 17 years ago

This monkey will dance for anyone

mooted2• 17 years ago

Dont give a fuck. Just sell things.

mooted2• 17 years ago

Does this really matter? IMHO, this is more of an ego issue to 'nerds' than selling the product in itself. The latter being the purpose of ads.

The real Ajay Bhatt, co-inventor of the USB port

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