• 2 min read
The Clapper still echoes as a smart home cult hit
The Verge’s Version History looks back at The Clapper, a famously finicky gadget that became a smash thanks to unforgettable ads.
Image: The Verge
Clap on. Clap off. The slogan stuck, even if the product often didn’t. The Clapper, the sound-activated switch that promised hands-free control of lamps and appliances, became a breakout consumer gadget despite being unreliable and, as The Verge puts it, potentially capable of frying the devices plugged into it.
In the latest episode of Version History, David Pierce and Victoria Song revisit the device’s strange rise, tracing it from its earlier form, The Great American Turn-On, to the ad campaign that turned it into a household name. They’re joined by Allison Marsh, a writer and professor at The University of South Carolina, to examine both the product’s history and its legacy.
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At the center of the episode is a simple question: was The Clapper actually a good gadget, or just one of the best-marketed ones? The Verge frames it as a classic case of a product whose cultural impact far outlasted its technical performance.
This installment is the sixth and final episode of the fourth season of Version History. The Verge also points listeners to earlier episodes on the Harmony remote, Roomba vacuum, Nest thermostat, Keurig coffee maker, and Philips Hue smart lights. The show is taking a short break before the next batch of episodes arrives.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via The Verge
