Version History

In 1997, David Hampton and Caleb Chung took one look at a Tamagotchi and decided they could bring the virtual pet craze into the real world. Their robotic companion, Furby, packed a bunch of advanced technology into a small, adorable, often annoying package. But for all the irritation it caused (Furby famously had no on-off switch) there was a surprising amount of thoughtful philosophy in its design. The Verge’s Vee Song, Sean Hollister and host David Pierce are joined by Coco the Furby to discuss the lore behind the hottest toy of 1998.

Geocities chat with Furby co-inventor David Hampton

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We're working on season 3 of Version History, and we want to hear from you! Our planned episodes are:

1984 Macintosh

Amazon Echo

Furby

The vocoder

The Western Electric 500 desk phone

Clubhouse

If you have a memory, a story, a question, a comment, or juicy insider information on any of those topics, get in touch! Email [email protected] or call 866-VERGE-11.

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Best remote ever? Best remote ever. When TiVo first debuted, it felt like magic: You could pause live TV! You could rewind it! The concept immediately became a phenomenon — even though TiVo itself was never as big a hit as you might think. On this episode of Version History, David Pierce, Nilay Patel, and author and journalist Emily Nussbaum tell the story of TiVo’s technological and cultural revolution, why the company never managed to be as successful as its brand, and how it changed TV for good.

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Flappy Bird was a mean game. It was extremely simple and yet punishingly difficult; if you could get 10 points, that meant you were pretty good! For a few weeks, the game became an absolute global phenomenon — and in the process, both made its creator a ton of money and kind of ruined his life. On this episode of Version History, David Pierce, Jake Kastrenakes, and Game File’s Stephen Totilo explain the wild rise of Flappy Bird, the enormous backlash to this very simple game, and how it changed our relationship to games, and game makers, forever.

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We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11.
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In the mid-1980s, Nintendo pretty much ruled the video game industry. And somehow, a few toymakers and inventors convinced Nintendo that the controller of the future was… this big, clunky thing you wore on your right arm. (Sorry, lefties.) It wasn’t very good, but people loved it anyway. And while the Power Glove wasn’t exactly the future of anything, you could argue it helped start a revolution in virtual reality and motion controls. On this episode of Version History, David Pierce, Chris Grant, and Game File’s Stephen Totilo do just that.

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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