This is another reason why I think the iPhone is a better mobile device than any other available by the collective knuckleheadery of the industry, it does a ton of cool; albeit useless, things.
iHologram works by assuming a constant viewing angle (35-45 degrees), typical for when the device is placed on a tabletop. The 3d scene's perspective is then warped using anamorphic perspective, making the animation appear in a 3D space. As David points out on his blog, this is the same technique used by 15th Century painter Hans Holbein in his painting The Ambassadors.
The animated character is from David O'Reilly, and his animated series Please Say Something, a cartoon which only leaves me with a resounding… meh. But back the iPhone. I would really like to get one, if only because of all the goofy and fun things you can do with it. With a built in accelerometer, the ability to detect ambient light changes and proximity, there are a lot of things you can do with it. All of these features are, by the way, also available in the new iPod Touch. The only two bad things I can say about the iPhone is that I cannot change the battery, and it doesn't support Flash. What Jobs decided to go on Jihad for Flash I do not know, but it seems like an idiot move to me. Take one of the most ubiquitous devices and have it ignore the most ubiquitous media player on the planet… sure that's a win-win.
There's a better version of the clip on Vimeo, if you want to view it there.