iPhone timing, MythBusters style

If you’ve watched the Discovery Channel for more than a few minutes, chances are you’ve come across the show MythBusters. In at, special-effects gurus Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman — previously seen pimping Intel’s Santa Rosa chipset at an event in San Francisco in May — test popular myths and urban legends (and, in the process, shoot and explode things on a regular basis).

Macs have made several cameos on the show in the past. But in a recent episode called “Trail Blazers”, Adam whips out an iPhone (complete with what appears to be Incase’s Leather Fitted Sleeve) and uses the Stopwatch function of the Clock app to time how long it takes for a 7-foot trail of gasoline to burn from one end to the other. That’s much cooler than my last use for the Stopwatch — figuring out how long it took me to walk home.

Category: Hardware, News

Posted by Jonathan Seff on Nov 9 2007, 3:16 PM ET

Comments (7)

Did you notice that he also used the iPhone earlier in that same episode to do some calculations converting feet per second into miles per hour?

Posted by Ken | November 9, 2007 3:32 PM

You're right...I think he was just using the Calculator. And I think they added some sound effects as well.

Posted by jonseff | November 9, 2007 3:42 PM

In this week's "Water Heater Rocket" episode I noticed they used the iPhone stopwatch again to time how long the water heater was taking to explode. GREAT episode! Pretty cool to see a hot water heater launch like a rocket!

Posted by Scott | November 9, 2007 3:47 PM

Haven't seen the new one yet, but it's waiting for me in HD on my DirecTV DVR at home right now.

Posted by jonseff | November 9, 2007 3:52 PM

Funny, I just got my iphone this evening and I found this post whilst watching mythbusters.

Posted by Ben | November 9, 2007 11:40 PM

Mythbusters is the greatest show ever, and I was wondering if anyone else noticed that Adam had an iPhone. Apparently so!

Posted by wesg | November 21, 2007 3:50 PM

Last night's "Moonlight" episode included using an iPhone showing a text message.

Posted by Jonathan Thompson | November 24, 2007 4:13 PM