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Laserdisc
“An early optical video disc format the size of a vinyl record, offering sharper picture quality than VHS but never becoming mainstream.”
Betamax tape
“Sony's videotape format that lost the format war to VHS despite arguably better picture quality, now a symbol of the wrong horse to bet on.”
TV Guide magazine
“A weekly pocket-sized magazine listing every channel's programming, essential before onscreen guides existed and often left open on the coffee table.”
Camcorder
“A shoulder-mounted or handheld video camera that recorded straight to tape, responsible for hours of shaky home movies and birthday party footage.”
Walkman
“A portable cassette player with foam headphones that let you take your music collection anywhere, one AA battery at a time.”
Discman
“A portable CD player known for skipping if you so much as jogged with it, eventually solved by "anti-skip" buffering technology.”
Super 8 film reel
“A small reel of home-movie film shot on a Super 8 camera, projected onto a bedsheet or wall for family movie nights.”
Reel-to-reel tape recorder
“An open-reel magnetic tape recorder that threaded tape between two spinning reels, used for high-fidelity home audio recording before cassettes simplified things.”
Slide projector carousel
“A rotating tray of 35mm photo slides loaded into a projector for family slideshow nights, complete with the click-whir sound of advancing to the next slide.”
Overalls
“Denim overalls worn with one strap deliberately unclipped and dangling, a defining 90s look from playgrounds to boy bands.”
Cargo pants
“Loose-fitting pants with oversized pockets down each leg, worn baggy and stuffed with everything a kid could carry.”
Suspenders
“Elastic straps clipped to the waistband and worn over the shoulders, alternately preppy or punk depending on what else you paired them with.”
Poodle skirt
“A wide felt circle skirt appliqued with a poodle design, synonymous with 1950s soda-shop style and sock hops.”
Saddle shoes
“Two-tone lace-up shoes with a contrasting "saddle" panel across the middle, a preppy staple of 1950s school style.”
Slide rule
“An analog calculating tool with sliding logarithmic scales, used by students and engineers to multiply, divide, and find roots before calculators existed.”
Abacus
“A frame of sliding beads on rods used to teach basic arithmetic, one of the oldest counting tools still found in classrooms.”
Overhead projector
“A boxy machine that projected handwritten or printed transparencies onto a screen, the centerpiece of countless classroom lessons before digital projectors.”
Blackboard eraser
“A felt-covered wooden block used to wipe chalk off the blackboard, famously banged together outside to clear out a cloud of chalk dust.”
Classroom globe
“A spinning model of the Earth mounted on a stand, used to teach geography long before digital maps took over.”
Typewriter
“A mechanical writing machine with a keyboard that stamped ink onto paper through physical type bars, once standard equipment for typing class.”
Magnifying glass
“A handheld lens used in science class for close-up observation, from inspecting leaves to catching sunlight in a very inadvisable way.”
Electric pencil sharpener
“A motorized desktop sharpener that ground a pencil to a point with the push of a button, replacing the hand-crank sharpener in most classrooms.”
Trucker hat
“A mesh-backed cap with a curved foam front panel, worn flat-brimmed or curved, that went from farm-supply freebie to genuine fashion statement.”
Combat boots
“Chunky lace-up boots borrowed from military surplus and worn with everything from band t-shirts to babydoll dresses.”