How Roomba got stuck

The Vergecast

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Tech News, Technology

4.4 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some products are so successful they become snynonymous with their whole category — nobody asks for a facial tissue, they ask for a Kleenex, you know? Today's episode is, at least in part, about two of those products. First, The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins the show to chart the rise and fall of the Roomba, the robot vacuum that practically invented the category and yet seems to have been left behind. Can iRobot get its robot back on its feet? After that, Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn discusses the state of e-readers, what it's like to always be "the best non-Amazon option," and what we all want from devices that aren't our smartphone. Finally, The Verge's Chris Welch helps us answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11, or email [email protected]!) about which TV you should buy in 2025. It's a complicated question, but there are answers. Further reading: From CNN: The secret military technology inside the household vacuum robot iRobot announces eight new robot vacuums iRobot tells investors its future is in doubt Will iRobot’s reinvention of the Roomba be at the expense of its history of innovation? Amazon wants to map your home, so it bought iRobot The death of the Amazon deal could mean goodbye iRobot iRobot’s founder is working on a new kind of home robot Michael Tamblyn's website Kobo announces its first color e-readers The best ereader to buy right now Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of the E-ink TechSack.
0:07.0	I'm your friend David Pierce, and I am currently spending my morning going around my basement,
0:12.2	putting little tiny pieces of electrical tape on all of the glowing lights in this room.
0:17.4	So my parents were here this weekend, and there are just lights everywhere,
0:22.6	I discovered. This is the guest room where people sleep. And I realize that even when you turn
0:27.4	off all the lights in this room, there's stuff just glowing everywhere. Like, I have computer
0:32.5	speakers that have this really unnecessarily bright green light. I have the thing that I plug my mic and headphones into,
0:39.5	and it has one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
0:43.6	nine different things illuminated right now.
0:46.5	Why?
0:47.5	I have a MetaQuest three back there that I think has five lights that are on at all times.
0:52.2	My TV glows when it's off for no reason. Thank you,
0:56.4	TCL, for that terrible decision. There's just a lot of lights. And I think that is bad. And so I'm
1:02.9	going around and just putting little tiny pieces of tape on every single one that I can find,
1:07.1	and we're going to put darkness back in this room. And I'm very excited about it. And also, if you're a product maker and you find yourself at some point being like, oh, I're going to put darkness back in this room and I'm very excited about it.
1:11.2	And also, if you're a product maker and you find yourself at some point being like,
1:14.6	oh, should I have a green light on this that glows 24 hours a day?
1:18.5	The answer is no.
1:19.3	Just stop it.
1:20.5	Go find something else to do.
1:22.4	That is the only thing I have learned is that you don't need the green lights and we can
1:26.4	all move on with our lives.
	...

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