The hottest toy of 1998 was kind of cute and annoying. It couldn’t do much – couldn’t anything Really—but it can look at you, it can say some inane phrases, and it seems unusually aware of the world around it. That’s all it took for Furby to take over the world.
Furby’s story is full of technological breakthroughs. The fact that the cute little guy worked at all was a surprise to many involved. But the Furby also represents a different way of thinking about our relationship with technology, a different idea of human-computer interaction, and even a path worth following for AI companies everywhere.
On this episode of Version date, We tell the story of Furby, from his roots in an off-grid home in California to the top of the toy pile. David Pearce, Victoria Song, and Sean Hollister look back at the early ideas behind the toy, try and figure out how it became the next big thing before most people even touched it, and the unusual approach to programming and personality that made it work. It might be hard to remember now, but folks loved Their Furby friends. We have some thoughts on what this could mean for the future.
This is the first episode of the third season. version date, Which means we’ll have five more episodes for you over the next five Sundays. Here’s how to catch every episode, and all our other fun stuff, as soon as it drops:
If you want to learn more about the history of the Furby, and the remarkable tech inside this strange gremlin, here are some links to get you started:
