VH Version History

Podcast

Version History

Version History is a show about the best gadgets ever. And the worst ones. And the ones that might have changed the world, if they ever actually shipped. Every week, your favorite people from The Verge and beyond hang out to tell and debate the story of a gadget, app, website, or any other tech product, and try to determine the item’s true legacy. Because not every product is a hit, but every product has a story. And the ones that really matter aren’t always the ones you think. From the Verge and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Website ↗ Last published 18 October 2026 34 posts collected by Sputnik

Said on Version History

“You didn't have to update its software, right? You didn't have to worry about annual agreements around it, right?… Textbooks are literally software. And as a result, textbooks are constantly changing… The kind of beautiful nature of the overhead projector is it functioned exactly as you needed it to… The thing that you have displayed next to you worked exactly how it did 60 years ago.” — Antero Garcia, Version History
Antero Garcia · 18 Oct 2026 Listen →
“Anything people can do to make teachers' lives a little bit easier turns out to be very powerful and very hard to walk away from because teachers are so overwhelmed, so overloaded, have too much to do all the time. And if you can just find a way to make a teacher's life a little easier, you can almost always worm your way into a classroom for better or for worse.” — David Pierce, Version History
David Pierce · 18 Oct 2026 Listen →
“It costs $100. That ends up being really important. They sell a few million of them. It definitely counts as a hit. But then the most interesting thing happens, which is everybody who bought an iPad buys a new iPad and they give their old iPad to their kid. And that absolutely kills the LeapPad.” — David Pierce, Version History
David Pierce · 11 Oct 2026 Listen →
“Google was absolutely right that they would take over, in particular, the Windows app model. They just crushed it. It's gone. Like we do not talk about native Windows apps ever.” — Nilay Patel, Version History
Nilay Patel · 4 Oct 2026 Listen →
“There's a set of people who believe that everyone on earth is one ChatGPT login away from being the best versions of themselves. And it's like, buddies, that's not how this works. And it wasn't how it worked then either.” — David Pierce, Version History
David Pierce · 27 Sep 2026 Listen →
“I don't think you get to monopoly your way into this unless you're monopolying your way with a good product. Like if you have a really good product and then you do a bunch of shady shit, I can get past it. So the iPhone. But if you make this, and it's fine, and then you essentially don't touch it for 40 years, and you spend all of your actual energy on making sure that no one else can defeat you, I don't think you belong in the Hall of Fame.” — Nilay Patel, Version History
Nilay Patel · 20 Sep 2026 Listen →

Hosts

Version History is hosted by David Pierce and Nilay Patel .

Recent Episodes

  1. 18 Oct 2026

    Overhead projectors: Turn around

    With Antero Garcia

  2. 11 Oct 2026

    LeapPad: Book smarts

    With Andru Marino and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

  3. 4 Oct 2026

    Google Chromebook CR-48: Black box

    With Marques Brownlee

  4. 27 Sep 2026

    OLPC XO-1: The price of free

    With David Imel and Adi Robertson

  5. 20 Sep 2026

    TI-84: Monopoly math

    With Victoria Song

  6. 13 Sep 2026

    Oregon Trail: Saddle up

    With Philip Bouchard and Chris Grant

  7. 12 Aug 2026

    Vergecast: ELIZA, the world's first chatbot

    With David Berry and Mark Marino

  8. 19 Jul 2026

    The Clapper: Light work

    With Allison Marsh and Victoria Song

  9. 12 Jul 2026

    Philips Hue: The smart home’s light bulb moment

    With Jennifer Pattison Tuohy and Richard Gunther

  10. 5 Jul 2026

    Keurig: The K-Cup invasion

    With Melissa McCart and Morgan Eckroth

  11. 28 Jun 2026

    Nest: The iPod of thermostats

    With Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

  12. 21 Jun 2026

    Roomba: Rise of the robovac

    With Jennifer Pattison Tuohy and Colin Angle

Guests

Victoria Song (6 episodes), Jennifer Pattison Tuohy (4 episodes), Chris Grant (3 episodes), David Imel (2 episodes), Allison Johnson (2 episodes), Stephen Totilo (2 episodes), Sean O'Kane (2 episodes), Sarah Jeong (2 episodes), Melissa McCart , Sean Hollister , Antero Garcia , Mia Sato , and 24 more.