Version History

For decades, practically every classroom in the United States had one thing in common: a big, bright overhead projector at the front of the class. How it got there is a story that takes hundreds of years, and a war or two, to explain. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes and Stanford professor Antero Garcia to learn about where projectors came from, how they took over education, and why they eventually faded out.

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 For multiple years, the hottest toy in the United States was a book. But not just any book: a smart book, which could play sounds and respond to taps and help kids learn to read. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Andru Marino and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy to explain how the LeapPad worked, why it was so enticing to both kids and adults, and why the company that made it could never quite follow it up.

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Google didn’t even call the first Chromebook a “Chromebook.” The CR-48 had no interesting design and no bright logos – it wasn’t even designed to be a product you could buy. Instead, it was a portal to a big new idea about computers. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Nilay Patel and MKBHD’s Marques Brownlee to explain the history of ChromeOS and Chromebooks, and figure out whether Google’s approach to computer hardware was the right one.

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The idea was big, exciting, and inspiring: What if we could get every kid in the world access to a computer? For a bunch of thinkers and executives in Silicon Valley, it felt like the way to fix everything. But the One Laptop Per Child initiative, and the XO-1 laptop designed to be given away, were both more complicated than anyone expected. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Adi Robertson and tech journalist David Imel to figure out why OLPC didn’t work, whether there’s anything to learn from the XO-1’s innovative design, and whether this kind of computer giveaway could ever actually succeed.

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The same calculator has been on most kids’ back to school shopping list since the early 2000s. And the dominance of Texas Instruments’ calculator division goes back even farther. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Nilay Patel and Victoria Song to tell the story of the calculator, and how one company managed to take over the market and never let it go.

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Whether you played it in the back of your classroom or on your computer at home, if you were a kid in the last 30 years you almost certainly grew up playing Oregon Trail. David Pierce is joined by gaming journalist Chris Grant and Philip Bouchard, the designer and team leader of the game’s most iconic version, to talk about the academic origins of Oregon Trail, the game’s complicated legacy, and whether anyone ever really died of dysentery.

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From The Vergecast, this episode takes a look back at one of the earliest chapters in the history of AI.

Before Alexa and Siri, there was ELIZA. The first chatbot ever was the creation of a man named Joseph Weizenbaum, who built the bot almost as a magic trick — and then couldn't believe how many people fell for it. David Berry and Mark Marino, two members of a team dedicated to restoring and understanding ELIZA, explain how Weizenbaum created the virtual conversant, why he came to regret it, and what ELIZA can teach us about life in the AI age.

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Clap on. Clap off. The Clapper may not have been a very good product, but it came with one of the all-time great marketing campaigns. And it might have even been a great, ahead of its time idea. The Verge's David Pierce and Victoria Song are joined by Allison Marsh, a writer and professor at The University of South Carolina, to talk through the Clapper's whole history. It involves lawsuits, broken gadgets, and a pioneering idea about laziness and the smart home.

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The humble light bulb might be the ultimate success story in the smart home. Our connected, adaptable homes are supposed to be customizable, connected to everything, and incredibly easy to use, and nothing has made that work quite like Philips Hue lights. In this episode, The Verge's David Pierce and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy are joined by smart home journalist and expert Richard Gunther to tell the Hue's story. We trace the product's history from its origins in the smartphone revolution, try to figure out how Philips managed to turn a staggeringly expensive lightbulb into a must-have gadget, and look at whether there's even more invention left in the future of lighting.

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The Keurig is a simple idea – what if it was really easy to make pretty good coffee, one cup at a time? — with a wildly complicated history. David Pierce is joined by Eater editor Melissa McCart and champion barista and author Morgan Eckroth to discuss the whole history of Keurig, from its creation in a Boston apartment to its invasion of seemingly every house, doctor's office and conference room in the US. Keurig was certainly a success, but was it a good thing? For coffee, for the world? That's more complicated.

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Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.

We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.

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