The Clapper was a bad smart home gadget — and a viral sensation
The Clapper was a bad smart home gadget — and a viral sensation
“The Clapper”：一款糟糕的智能家居产品，却成了病毒式传播的现象级爆款
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.
“拍手开，拍手关。” 实际上，它的操作更像是：拍一下，停顿半拍（不能太久，否则它就听不到了），再拍一下（因为你等太久了），再拍得更响、更快一点，还是没反应，再多拍两下，突然：开了。The Clapper 并不总是管用——即便它真的起作用了，有时甚至还会顺带烧坏你的电器——但它最终还是成功地成为了一个大热门。
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.
在本期《Version History》播客中，我们将讲述 The Clapper 的故事，从它最初以“The Great American Turn-On”之名诞生，到它伴随着史上最伟大的广告宣传活动之一首次亮相。The Verge 的 David Pierce 和 Victoria Song 邀请了作家兼南卡罗来纳大学教授 Allison Marsh，共同挖掘这款设备的历史与遗产，并试图彻底弄清楚：这究竟是一款好产品，还是仅仅是一个伟大的广告营销案例？
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.
这是《Version History》第四季的第六集，也是本季的最后一集。如果你还没有听过关于 Harmony 遥控器、Roomba 扫地机器人、Nest 恒温器、Keurig 咖啡机或 Philips Hue 智能灯的故事，千万不要错过！我们将休息几周来筹备下一季的内容，所以你正好有时间补齐之前的节目。
Here’s how to get every episode, and all our other fun stuff, as soon as it drops: The Version History podcast feed The Version History YouTube channel Our TikTok and Instagram accounts
以下是获取每一集节目及我们其他精彩内容的渠道： 《Version History》播客订阅源 《Version History》YouTube 频道 我们的 TikTok 和 Instagram 账号
If you’re a Verge subscriber, you can also get access to Version History (and all our other podcasts) with no ads. All you have to do is visit your account settings.
如果你是 The Verge 的订阅用户，你还可以免广告收听《Version History》（以及我们所有的其他播客）。只需访问你的账户设置即可开启。
If you want to know more about The Clapper, here are some links to get you started: One of the many great Clapper commercials From IEEE Spectrum: The Cheesy Charm of the Clapper From Tedium: The Clapper History: Please Clap For Home Automation From How Stuff Works: How the Clapper Works From Technology Connections: The Clapper: Yes, that one
如果你想了解更多关于 The Clapper 的信息，以下是一些入门链接： 众多精彩的 The Clapper 广告之一 来自 IEEE Spectrum：《The Cheesy Charm of the Clapper》（The Clapper 的俗气魅力） 来自 Tedium：《The Clapper History: Please Clap For Home Automation》（The Clapper 历史：请为家庭自动化鼓掌） 来自 How Stuff Works：《How the Clapper Works》（The Clapper 的工作原理） 来自 Technology Connections：《The Clapper: Yes, that one》（The Clapper：没错，就是那个）