The "Edge Split" modifier added at 2:50 doesn't seem to have any effect on the sphere. The panels were already there after the "Bevel" modifier and better defined after the "Subsurf" modifier.
Hmm, yeah I don't think it's needed any longer. One way that it used to be used was for setting sharp edges (notice the difference if you , but now we can do that with Auto Smooth. When this was recorded I don't think that was possible.
