We ALMOST sell flux capacitors

Today is October 21, 2015 - the day Marty McFly and Dr Emmett Brown found themselves in Back to the Future II. A vision was laid before us of flying cars, hoverboards and, er, public fax machines.

We never thought that the future would arrive so quickly, and be so different - and yet so similar - to how it was imagined. Of course, so much that we thought would change has stayed the same; flying cars, a staple on the wish-list of every futurist since HG Wells, has yet again failed to materialise. Perhaps we should finally mothball that one?

Anyway, we thought it would be fun to look at the things Rapid sells today that the movie accurately predicted, and look at the ones that got away:

Quadcopters

In Back to the Future II, robotic drones are seen walking dogs. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been common in a number of fields for several years, from the military to retail, although dog-walking is an application yet to be utilised. We sell a range of quadcopters for hobbyist use, some with integrated cameras, GPS and video glasses for that extra futuristic touch. 

Webcams 

Video calling was not a new idea in 1989, when Robert Zemeckis' movie was released. Stanley Kubrick had featured it in 2001: A Space Odyssey, made in 1968, but neither Kubrick nor Zemeckis envisioned the technology taking place on handheld screens or portable personal computers, as it does in the real 2015. Webcams that clip to laptops make it possible to Skype, not to mention making your own TV shows!

Wearable technology

While self-lacing shoes remain only at the development stage at Nike, other forms of wearable tech have become commonplace. The goggles and headsets worn at the McFly dinner table are uncannily similar to Google Glass and the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Wrist-mounted fitness monitors help runners and health fanatics keep a check on their heart rate, blood pressure and calorific burn, while kits like this one introduce people to incorporating sensors into textiles.

While the technology existed in 1989, how Zemeckis would have loved to have foreseen the incredible advances in 3D printing. The way the cost of 3D printers has plummeted in recent years, and the wide-ranging real world applications of the technology, could mean the 3D printer becoming as ubiquitous a household appliance as a TV or microwave.

And of course there is The Big One: the internet. However, no one can accuse Zemeckis of the cinematic equivalent of rejecting The Beatles - the World Wide Web having only been invented by Tim Berners-Lee the same year as the film was released. A world without email, social media and the Internet of Things now seems as ridiculous as one WITH a flying DeLorean.

And while we do not sell flux capacitors, we do sell flux core solder - and a comprehensive range of capacitors.