5 ms·

The world’s last internet cafes

33 points by ohjeez 3y ago

llimos 3y ago
Internet cafes are thriving in areas of Israel with a large Charedi/ultra-Orthodox Jewish population. Many choose not to have internet access at home for religious reasons, and in some communities there is a certain amount of social pressure on the subject. Internet cafes provide a way to get stuff done when necessary. Generally the internet is filtered, and the screens are visible to passers-by, so this isn't a way to access verboten material - it's just for getting stuff done. It's by choice. Those who do wish to access frowned-upon-things generally find a way to do so without too much trouble.
- pessimizer 3y ago
  > Generally the internet is filtered, and the screens are visible to passers-by, so this isn't a way to access verboten material - it's just for getting stuff done. This seems like a feature for Haredim. Otherwise, being seen entering one would make people assume you were up to hanky-panky.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    Weird if you're trying to do something private like banking or taxes though..
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      I assume you mean publicly visible screens? I don't see a problem. Passers-by would know instantly if a fellow was viewing a porn video, but taxes and banking consist of a bunch of small, irrelevant numbers. If passers-by are polite, then none of them will be lingering long enough to get in one another's business. Just shoo them away.
- PrimeMcFly 3y ago
  > Many choose not to have internet access at home for religious reasons, Do they not have any electronic devices at all? Why is internet not OK but some other stuff is?
  - llimos 3y ago
    They do. The problem with the internet is not the technology, but the content. So, no internet, smartphones, TV, or even mainstream newspapers (they have their own). But there's no issue with flip-phones, modern cars (including EV[1]), e-scooters, kitchen gadgets, and so on. I should also point out that there's a continuum - in most communities internet access at home is acceptable as long as it's filtered. Smartphones are looked upon as worse than home internet access, mainly because they're easier to manage without. [1] Teslas are a particular problem, because they have a web browser and nobody has found a way to disable it yet.
pranitbauva1997 3y ago
Internet Cafes still exist in India. They now serve older people who need a person's help to navigate the web.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  Every library in these United States is an Internet cafe. Well, perhaps only a small portion serve food and drink (mine does) but they have long been the gold standard of hangouts for people who need a public computer and Internet access. Libraries often hold classes to teach basics to the elderly. They often have a tech support desk for all computer questions. They not only have public, timed terminals, but they also have great WiFi and anyone can bring in a notebook or phone instead. Mine has a few charging stations with lots of cables.
mvirts 3y ago
Albuquerque has several, gaming focused and marijuana focused. I don't know how well they are doing.
bombcar 3y ago
The laptop killed the Internet cafe - or made very cafe an Internet cafe.
- purpleflame1257 3y ago
  It wasn't the laptop. It was 3G and faster cellular internet, and cheap, fast broadband connections on Wi-Fi
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  Cheap phones killed laptops. My sister moved to a new house somewhere around 2018 and didn't bother with a new PC or a laptop, because she found what she does everything from the phone. Nephew still has a proper desktop PC because he is playing games. My mother, who were adamant on getting the nephew's old PC when he upgraded the last time, doesn't have it booted up in, I think, years. Occasionally I personally meet people who doesn't have a proper PC (be it a desktop or laptop) at home at all. People who were born in 2005 are adults now and could have the whole Internet and computer experience through the phones/tablets only.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    > People who were born in 2005 are adults now and could have the whole Internet and computer experience through the phones/tablets only. I know, I wonder how they manage to be productive though. For consuming content it's done but trying to do anything productive on a phone is a chore. Even on a tablet with keyboard.
    - justsomehnguy 3y ago
      You don't need to be productive on the phone. There are still a lot of thing what doesn't require computer for a day to day operations, at all. Everything else can be done on the smartphone with the web and apps.
      - wkat4242 3y ago
pessimizer 3y ago
Doesn't Korea still have tons of these? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_bang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_bang Not because they don't have computers and internet at home, but because they don't have overpowered gaming computers at home, and to socialize. Although I did like the picture in this article with old guys in Hong Kong playing mah-jong in gaming chairs - more of that please? Do we need computers to play games with each other in a comfortable room with refreshments? Could somebody turn the lights on?
- bitwize 3y ago
  > Not because they don't have computers and internet at home, but because they don't have overpowered gaming computers at home, and to socialize. I used to frequent one of these in Boston. The target market was primarily Asian students attending American universities, who didn't have powerful gaming PCs or who left theirs at home. I went there to try out some of the more popular games like Overwatch and League of Legends, because I didn't want to gum up my PC with whatever spyware/copy-protection malware the gaming companies saw fit to install.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    Back in the mid-90s, when Laser Tag was peak nerd entertainment, there was an arena nearby that offered MechWarrior-style LAN combat. It was super amazing, more than a typical arcade experience, because you got encased in this cabinet with all the controls your body could handle, to run a gigantic MechWarrior with/against all your closest friends. We went in a fairly large group. I don't recall the capacity of the game or the LAN, but obviously limited by number of rather expensive pods. It was exciting, but also really confusing to me: I didn't know the controls, the environment, or the object, and so I just sort of flailed and listened to my friends yelling and shouting, until time expired.
    - bitwize 3y ago
      I played one of those once! You got in this pod, I think it was called a Tesla pod. Screens surrounded you in every direction, a bit like an SGI CAVE, and you had what looked like real mech controls in front of you. It cost an arm and a leg to play, and I lost right away. But for about 30 seconds, it was amazing!
syntaxing 3y ago
Fun read but worlds last is definitely an exaggeration. These are still pretty popular in most Asian countries. Conan did a fun video about it [1]. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXWtozVNzM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXWtozVNzM
0xedb 3y ago
I remember saving my lunch money to visit the internet cafe after school. Learned so much from how the internet works to getting my first email account. There's quite a few around here in Accra, Ghana.
politelemon 3y ago
Philippines still does internet cafes. You can find them in malls. In neighborhoods, communities and slums you can find a reduced version of cafes called pisonet where you pay a small amount for a limited time of access. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisonet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisonet
dpig_ 3y ago
I went a few times to a really great internet cafe in NY, Chinatown. Full bar, coffee, 50+ very capable PCs and a bunch of different consoles. Place was packed, especially when there was a Smash Bro's event going on. Reasonably affordable price of admission if you were looking to kill a few hours.
makz 3y ago
We still have plenty of those all over Mexico. Mostly used to get printed documents for government procedures or homework, in the case of students of all ages.
DonHopkins 3y ago
Amsterdam used to have "Easy Everything" internet cafes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbBF1AI8Hg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbBF1AI8Hg easy-everything internet for next to nothing Stelios Haji-Ioannou 15June2000 Amsterdam culture and miscellaneous, gastronomy, events, parties, about what happened in Amsterdam in the Kleurnet Television Amsterdam period 1997-2001. Kleurnet was a channel of Luc Sala and the foundation Kleurnet (Farouk, Ooijens) and put its archives on YouTube. Stelios' internet cafe in Amsterdam collapsed after a short time. https://tweakers.net/nieuws/19393/easyeverything-sluit-amsterdamse-internetcafes.html https://tweakers.net/nieuws/19393/easyeverything-sluit-amste... >EasyEverything closes Amsterdam internet cafes >The website of the Automatiseringgids states that EasyEverything wants to sell various internet cafes in Europe. In addition to the branches in Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Munich and Madrid, this also includes the two branches in Amsterdam. >The company of the Greek Stelios Haji-Ionnaou, who is also the founder of EasyJet and EasyRentaCar, is looking for franchisees who want to take over the internet cafes. The reason for getting rid of the internet cafes is the economic recession. EasyEverything will keep its offices in London, New York and Paris. >Anonymous: 23081 December 1, 2001 6:55 PM >EasyEverything closes, a normal result of their policy. Own fault, big bump >The Antwerp EasyEverything is also closed. In the past, the cyber cafe was opened in Antwerp. One could always surf 4 hours for 50bef (at night even 5 hours with 50bef), the CHEAPEST method in Belgium to surf. snail modem 56k costs 45+bef per hour. So the cybercafe is ALWAYS FULL. One could 24/24 NAPSTER and burn CDs for 50bef. So for 100bef (download 5 hours + burn your CD's) you have an illegal CD. At night many young people come to surf and party, later they start throwing TFT screens, mice and keyboards were also good projectiles. >Some months later. Complete ban on MP3, NAPSTER and music CD burning. Napster was blocked by firewalls. CD burning costs 200bef excluding disc. Surfing costs 50beef for half an hour. Everyone MUST have an identity card copied and registered. Then the cyber cafe empties. Then bankrupt... >Economy has NOTHING to do with the business, only their KUT policy, as long as you stay cheap and illegal then it goes very well. >What do you expect when you INCREASE PRICE 10x and DOWNLOAD RESTRICTIONS. >}:O running is not possible, if you log off then those computers will do AUTO-RESET, then download a hard disk image from the server.
gorbypark 3y ago
Internet cafes were extremely popular in tourist destinations up until about 2010 or so. Smartphones (and free wifi) seems to have killed the market for them for the most part. I spent way too much time and money in Internet cafes in my 20s. I remember there was a coin operated kiosk in the admins office of staff housing in Lake Louise (a ski resort). I probably spent half my wages feeding in coins to mostly browse Slashdot. I also have fond memories of one internet cafe in Queenstown, NZ. All the PCs were running Debian and you could just open up the terminal and trivially reset the timer by echoing a new start time into some file. No one ever seemed to notice that I only paid for 30 minutes and sat there for hours on end!

33 points by ohjeez 3y ago

Internet cafes are thriving in areas of Israel with a large Charedi/ultra-Orthodox Jewish population. Many choose not to have internet access at home for religious reasons, and in some communities there is a certain amount of social pressure on the subject. Internet cafes provide a way to get stuff done when necessary. Generally the internet is filtered, and the screens are visible to passers-by, so this isn't a way to access verboten material - it's just for getting stuff done. It's by choice. Those who do wish to access frowned-upon-things generally find a way to do so without too much trouble.

pessimizer 3y ago
> Generally the internet is filtered, and the screens are visible to passers-by, so this isn't a way to access verboten material - it's just for getting stuff done. This seems like a feature for Haredim. Otherwise, being seen entering one would make people assume you were up to hanky-panky.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Weird if you're trying to do something private like banking or taxes though..
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    I assume you mean publicly visible screens? I don't see a problem. Passers-by would know instantly if a fellow was viewing a porn video, but taxes and banking consist of a bunch of small, irrelevant numbers. If passers-by are polite, then none of them will be lingering long enough to get in one another's business. Just shoo them away.
PrimeMcFly 3y ago
> Many choose not to have internet access at home for religious reasons, Do they not have any electronic devices at all? Why is internet not OK but some other stuff is?
- llimos 3y ago
  They do. The problem with the internet is not the technology, but the content. So, no internet, smartphones, TV, or even mainstream newspapers (they have their own). But there's no issue with flip-phones, modern cars (including EV[1]), e-scooters, kitchen gadgets, and so on. I should also point out that there's a continuum - in most communities internet access at home is acceptable as long as it's filtered. Smartphones are looked upon as worse than home internet access, mainly because they're easier to manage without. [1] Teslas are a particular problem, because they have a web browser and nobody has found a way to disable it yet.

pranitbauva1997 3y ago

Internet Cafes still exist in India. They now serve older people who need a person's help to navigate the web.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Every library in these United States is an Internet cafe. Well, perhaps only a small portion serve food and drink (mine does) but they have long been the gold standard of hangouts for people who need a public computer and Internet access. Libraries often hold classes to teach basics to the elderly. They often have a tech support desk for all computer questions. They not only have public, timed terminals, but they also have great WiFi and anyone can bring in a notebook or phone instead. Mine has a few charging stations with lots of cables.

mvirts 3y ago

Albuquerque has several, gaming focused and marijuana focused. I don't know how well they are doing.

bombcar 3y ago

The laptop killed the Internet cafe - or made very cafe an Internet cafe.

purpleflame1257 3y ago
It wasn't the laptop. It was 3G and faster cellular internet, and cheap, fast broadband connections on Wi-Fi
justsomehnguy 3y ago
Cheap phones killed laptops. My sister moved to a new house somewhere around 2018 and didn't bother with a new PC or a laptop, because she found what she does everything from the phone. Nephew still has a proper desktop PC because he is playing games. My mother, who were adamant on getting the nephew's old PC when he upgraded the last time, doesn't have it booted up in, I think, years. Occasionally I personally meet people who doesn't have a proper PC (be it a desktop or laptop) at home at all. People who were born in 2005 are adults now and could have the whole Internet and computer experience through the phones/tablets only.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  > People who were born in 2005 are adults now and could have the whole Internet and computer experience through the phones/tablets only. I know, I wonder how they manage to be productive though. For consuming content it's done but trying to do anything productive on a phone is a chore. Even on a tablet with keyboard.
  - justsomehnguy 3y ago
    You don't need to be productive on the phone. There are still a lot of thing what doesn't require computer for a day to day operations, at all. Everything else can be done on the smartphone with the web and apps.
    - wkat4242 3y ago

pessimizer 3y ago

Doesn't Korea still have tons of these? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_bang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_bang Not because they don't have computers and internet at home, but because they don't have overpowered gaming computers at home, and to socialize. Although I did like the picture in this article with old guys in Hong Kong playing mah-jong in gaming chairs - more of that please? Do we need computers to play games with each other in a comfortable room with refreshments? Could somebody turn the lights on?

bitwize 3y ago
> Not because they don't have computers and internet at home, but because they don't have overpowered gaming computers at home, and to socialize. I used to frequent one of these in Boston. The target market was primarily Asian students attending American universities, who didn't have powerful gaming PCs or who left theirs at home. I went there to try out some of the more popular games like Overwatch and League of Legends, because I didn't want to gum up my PC with whatever spyware/copy-protection malware the gaming companies saw fit to install.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  Back in the mid-90s, when Laser Tag was peak nerd entertainment, there was an arena nearby that offered MechWarrior-style LAN combat. It was super amazing, more than a typical arcade experience, because you got encased in this cabinet with all the controls your body could handle, to run a gigantic MechWarrior with/against all your closest friends. We went in a fairly large group. I don't recall the capacity of the game or the LAN, but obviously limited by number of rather expensive pods. It was exciting, but also really confusing to me: I didn't know the controls, the environment, or the object, and so I just sort of flailed and listened to my friends yelling and shouting, until time expired.
  - bitwize 3y ago
    I played one of those once! You got in this pod, I think it was called a Tesla pod. Screens surrounded you in every direction, a bit like an SGI CAVE, and you had what looked like real mech controls in front of you. It cost an arm and a leg to play, and I lost right away. But for about 30 seconds, it was amazing!

syntaxing 3y ago

Fun read but worlds last is definitely an exaggeration. These are still pretty popular in most Asian countries. Conan did a fun video about it [1]. [1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXWtozVNzM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXWtozVNzM

0xedb 3y ago

I remember saving my lunch money to visit the internet cafe after school. Learned so much from how the internet works to getting my first email account. There's quite a few around here in Accra, Ghana.

politelemon 3y ago

Philippines still does internet cafes. You can find them in malls. In neighborhoods, communities and slums you can find a reduced version of cafes called pisonet where you pay a small amount for a limited time of access. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisonet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisonet

dpig_ 3y ago

I went a few times to a really great internet cafe in NY, Chinatown. Full bar, coffee, 50+ very capable PCs and a bunch of different consoles. Place was packed, especially when there was a Smash Bro's event going on. Reasonably affordable price of admission if you were looking to kill a few hours.

makz 3y ago

We still have plenty of those all over Mexico. Mostly used to get printed documents for government procedures or homework, in the case of students of all ages.

DonHopkins 3y ago

Amsterdam used to have "Easy Everything" internet cafes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbBF1AI8Hg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbBF1AI8Hg easy-everything internet for next to nothing Stelios Haji-Ioannou 15June2000 Amsterdam culture and miscellaneous, gastronomy, events, parties, about what happened in Amsterdam in the Kleurnet Television Amsterdam period 1997-2001. Kleurnet was a channel of Luc Sala and the foundation Kleurnet (Farouk, Ooijens) and put its archives on YouTube. Stelios' internet cafe in Amsterdam collapsed after a short time. https://tweakers.net/nieuws/19393/easyeverything-sluit-amsterdamse-internetcafes.html https://tweakers.net/nieuws/19393/easyeverything-sluit-amste... >EasyEverything closes Amsterdam internet cafes >The website of the Automatiseringgids states that EasyEverything wants to sell various internet cafes in Europe. In addition to the branches in Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Munich and Madrid, this also includes the two branches in Amsterdam. >The company of the Greek Stelios Haji-Ionnaou, who is also the founder of EasyJet and EasyRentaCar, is looking for franchisees who want to take over the internet cafes. The reason for getting rid of the internet cafes is the economic recession. EasyEverything will keep its offices in London, New York and Paris. >Anonymous: 23081 December 1, 2001 6:55 PM >EasyEverything closes, a normal result of their policy. Own fault, big bump >The Antwerp EasyEverything is also closed. In the past, the cyber cafe was opened in Antwerp. One could always surf 4 hours for 50bef (at night even 5 hours with 50bef), the CHEAPEST method in Belgium to surf. snail modem 56k costs 45+bef per hour. So the cybercafe is ALWAYS FULL. One could 24/24 NAPSTER and burn CDs for 50bef. So for 100bef (download 5 hours + burn your CD's) you have an illegal CD. At night many young people come to surf and party, later they start throwing TFT screens, mice and keyboards were also good projectiles. >Some months later. Complete ban on MP3, NAPSTER and music CD burning. Napster was blocked by firewalls. CD burning costs 200bef excluding disc. Surfing costs 50beef for half an hour. Everyone MUST have an identity card copied and registered. Then the cyber cafe empties. Then bankrupt... >Economy has NOTHING to do with the business, only their KUT policy, as long as you stay cheap and illegal then it goes very well. >What do you expect when you INCREASE PRICE 10x and DOWNLOAD RESTRICTIONS. >}:O running is not possible, if you log off then those computers will do AUTO-RESET, then download a hard disk image from the server.

gorbypark 3y ago

Internet cafes were extremely popular in tourist destinations up until about 2010 or so. Smartphones (and free wifi) seems to have killed the market for them for the most part. I spent way too much time and money in Internet cafes in my 20s. I remember there was a coin operated kiosk in the admins office of staff housing in Lake Louise (a ski resort). I probably spent half my wages feeding in coins to mostly browse Slashdot. I also have fond memories of one internet cafe in Queenstown, NZ. All the PCs were running Debian and you could just open up the terminal and trivially reset the timer by echoing a new start time into some file. No one ever seemed to notice that I only paid for 30 minutes and sat there for hours on end!