Disc cameras

Another example of The Future that remains firmly in The Past. But wait! Also an example of The Future hiding in The Past.

Film cement

The stuff you used to glue your negatives together is like tigers in the wild. Still there… but only just.

Lovefilm

Films through the post? Yes. Subscribers to the Lovefilm service rented the movies they wanted to see, which were delivered to them by post. However, Lovefilm’s owner, Amazon has decided to close the service on 31 October 2017.

Slides

The original PowerPoint was first manufactured in the seventeenth century. The magic lantern was a form of image projector that used bright light to project pictures painted on sheets of glass onto a screen, perhaps a white wall or a sheet.

Video rental stores

Back in the 1990s, there was a video rental store on every UK high street. Their shelves were full of the fresh and the classics, the obvious and the odd, and no end of titles such as Cannibal Holocaust or Zombie Flesh Eaters. You could risk little by renting something you’d never heard of; you could always bring it back the next day.