Postcards: Electricity Vampires and The Future of Streaming

In the basement of my parents' home is a clock that has been blinking 12:00 am for the last 21 years. Do I unplug it or see how long until someone notices that this is still a thing?

Dear Fellow Expat:

In the basement of my parent’s home is a giant wooden monstrosity that holds a newer big-screen television and older electronics. How old, you ask?

Long before there was streaming - before YouTube and Netflix - there were DVDs.

Before that… VHS.

And before that… oh my… the Betamax.

Betamax, or Beta, was Sony’s analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format. It arrived in the U.S. in 1975 and was the primary competitor to the VHS (Video Home System) format developed by JVC.