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.

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.

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 want to know more about The Clapper, here are some links to get you started: