Cybercafé
𐑕𐑲𐑚𐑼𐑒𐑨𐑓𐑱
Cyberia, London, 1996 (Photo: Sarchi)
A cybercafé was a café where you could pay to use an Internet-connected beige box for a short amount of time.
In the mid 1990s, home Internet access was limited to dialup connections using landlines. Cybercafés were a simple way to try out browsing the Web without having to first buy a modem, subscribe to an Internet service provider, or install any software.
As a teenager, I myself visited Cyberia in London, downloaded some webpages to 3½″ floppy disk, and examined their source code to teach myself HTML.
Cybercafés have since evolved into gaming cafés with much slicker hardware.
The Internet: Cybercafé | IRC guide
