Legend
- Giant-size TV. Based on the designs already available, this one has a super-bright screen for daylight viewing and stereo sound system.
- Electronic video movie camera, requires no film, just a spool of tape. Within ten years video cameras like this could be replaced by 3-D holographic recorders.
- Flat screen TV. No longer a bulky box, TV has shrunk to a thickness of less than five centimetres. This one is used to order shopping via a computerised shopping centre a few kilometres away. The system takes orders and indicates if any items are not in stock.
- Video disc player used for recording off the TV and for replaying favourite films.
- Domestic robot rolls in with drinks. One robot, the Quasar, is already on sale in the USA. Reports indicate that it may be little more than a toy however, so it will be a few years before 'Star Wars' robots tramp through our homes.
- Mail slot. By 1990, most mail will be sent in electronic form. Posting a letter will consist of placing it in front of a copier in your home or at the post office. The electronic read-out will be flashed up to a satellite, to be beamed to its destination. Like many other electronic ideas, the savings in time and energy could be enormous.
Funny how we predicted videophones, then nobody wanted one. Then we got cell phones and video sharing. Most don't like it, some do. Then we got Zoom (and Skype and Teams, etc.) for business phones and meetings, and most everyone is on screen.
So despite being totally unwanted at first, we've come full circle.
At least part of it was the extra cost of data for early cell phones, and the UI clunkiness of sending a video. But now everyone has GB plans and the UI is simplified.