Milenia

As far as blending ideas go, internet cafs rank somewhere up there with peanut butter & jelly and waterbeds. After all, who doesn’t enjoy spending a relaxing hour or two browsing the internet while enjoying delicious food?The first instance of internet cafs was the SFnet Coffeehouse Network, started in July 1991 by Wayne Gregori of San Francisco. Computers were installed in 25 coffeehouses around San Francisco, and access was available for only a few quarters. Users on the public computers could converse with those with home computers, which often led to face-to-face meetings known as Net-Gets.Ivan Pope created the first caf with full internet access during a 1994 Institute of Contemporary Arts weekend in London. He arranged several Mac computers around caf tables and developed the term cybercaf. The installation was part of a presentation coined as “Toward the Aesthetics of Future.” Also in 1994, the Binary Caf had the honor of being the first internet caf in Canada.As technology continues to improve, so do internet cafs. Internet access at the cafs is now faster than ever, and users can choose from a variety of menu items that make the trip equally worthwhile. Today, some internet cafes experiment with alternative energy, including solar energy, while others are geared toward a specific audience (such as “PC bangs,” online gaming centers that sprouted up in South Korea after the release of 1997′s Starcraft). While most internet cafs offer internet access for a fee, Starbucks has recently made headlines by offering free wireless internet in all of its locationshowever, users still have to bring their own computers.

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