Clap on. Clap off. Well, more like, Clap, pause for half a beat but no longer because otherwise it’ll stop hearing you, clap again because you waited too long, clap louder and faster, that didn’t work, clap two more times, and suddenly: on. The Clapper didn’t always work — and even when it did, it might fry your gadgets in the process — but it managed to become a big hit anyway.
The Clapper was a bad smart home gadget — and a viral sensation
On Version History: How a gadget that didn’t really work became a big hit anyway.
On Version History: How a gadget that didn’t really work became a big hit anyway.
is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
On this episode of Version History, we tell the story of The Clapper, from its beginnings as The Great American Turn-On to its debut alongside one of the great advertising campaigns of all time. The Verge’s David Pierce and Victoria Song are joined by Allison Marsh, a writer and professor at The University of South Carolina, to dig into the device’s history and legacy, and to try and figure out once and for all whether this was a good product or just a great commercial.
This is the sixth and final episode of the fourth season of Version History. If you haven’t yet checked out the story of the Harmony remote, the Roomba vacuum, the Nest thermostat, the Keurig coffee maker, or the Philips Hue smart lights, don’t miss out! We’re taking a few weeks off to get the next batch of episodes ready, so you’ve got time to catch up. Here’s how to get every episode, and all our other fun stuff, as soon as it drops:
If you’re a Verge subscriber, you can also get access to Version History (and all our other podcasts) with no ads. All you have to do is visit your account settings.
If you want to know more about The Clapper, here are some links to get you started:
- One of the many great Clapper commercials
- From IEEE Spectrum: The Cheesy Charm of the Clapper
- From Tedium: The Clapper History: Please Clap For Home Automation
- From How Stuff Works: How the Clapper Works
- From Technology Connections: The Clapper: Yes, that one
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