We’ve been working on a new show for the last few months, called Version History, and the first episode is now live! It’s called “Hoverboards: so hot right now,” and it’s an hour-long tour of the biggest rideable gadget of the 2010s. Hidden inside the history of this weird two-wheeled scooter is a crucial inflection point in Chinese tech manufacturing, some hugely influential social media stars, a referendum on self-driving cars, and so much more. This episode is hosted by David Pierce, Andy Hawkins, and Sean O’Kane. We had a blast making it, and we think you’ll enjoy it too.
Now that the show is live, there are a few ways you can find Version History when episodes drop every Sunday:
We tried hard to make a show that works in both audio and video forms, but honestly, the best experience of Version History is probably on video. We brought all the old gadgets into the studio and got to play with them with new perspective, and there’s something delightful about getting to see them all come alive again. However you want to get your Version History, though, we think it’ll work great!
We like to think of Version History as a rewatch podcast for technology. We all love podcasts like The Always Sunny Podcast or Office Ladies — any time a TV show’s creators or stars go back through the show, episode by episode, to both discuss the show’s content and tell stories about its making, we’ll be there. We also love things like What Went Wrong and The Rewatchables, which tell stories and litigate the legacies of culture. And, of course, we love a good history show, whether it’s The Rest is History or Stuff You Missed in History Class or Revolutions. Somewhere in the mash of all those shows and The Verge, you’ll hopefully find Version History.
Our goal, in every episode, is to tell something close to a product’s complete story. Cover tech long enough, and you learn that the thing that ultimately lands on shelves or in app stores is only one small part of the journey. Every product is actually the result of a bunch of executives fighting for their priorities; a lot of complicated questions about the state of technology, culture, and politics; and ultimately the taste of a surprisingly small number of people. Nothing in tech is ever inevitable, no matter what some marketing departments want you to think. Our goal is to figure out why tech turns out the way it does, and what it means for all of us.
Also? We just really like talking about tech. The good stuff, the bad stuff, the stuff that barely missed, the stuff that never had a chance. There are so many fascinating inflection points in tech history, where something hit or didn’t and seemingly changed the course of our lives as a result. We’ve had a great time going back to the things we covered years ago, to the things we grew up with, to the things that predate us by decades, and talking about how they all shaped the tech we use now.
We’ve already recorded eight episodes of the show, and over the next seven weeks we’re diving deep into everything from BBM to the Zune to LimeWire. We’re already getting started on the next set of shows, too, but we’d love to hear from you: what products deserve their own episode? What should we add to or replace in the Version History Questions? Can you figure out what the Version History Hall of Fame criteria should be (because we certainly can’t)? Nothing about the show is set in stone, and we want to have more of your input in there all the time.
As for this episode, there’s an awful lot to cover about hoverboards. But if you want to dive in for yourself, here are a few links to get you started:
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