When I first started Travel Notes we had Cyber Cafe listings on
every country page.
I later wrote an article (Internet Cafe Guide) to feature the growing
number of Internet Cafe directories; that I even used myself, when travelling.
How things have changed.
Much of what I wrote back then, with a great deal of enthusiasm, now
seems like cold coffee with three-day old cream curdling on top.
While many of us used to look for places to get our e-mail on the road
because our computer work-stations were left at home, we can now slip a small netbook in
our bag and pick up a wireless network in our hotel bedrooms before breakfast; sometimes
even for free.
There are plenty of other wireless connection possibilities available
when out and about for the day, and it's even possible to access the Internet and Google
Maps from smart phones; whether you're travelling on a train, a bus, or sitting on the
back of a donkey.
And to think that I did most of my travelling before I'd even heard
about e-mail; when the only postcards I sent were ones with stamps on them, and tweet was
something birds did.
Now telephones are put to the eye more than the ear, and looked at
more than listened to; as a new generation of flashpackers tweet and upload videos to
YouTube, faster than the old dial-up modems could crackle and gargle out their
high-pitched tones.
Looking Back
When I was first thinking about getting on the Internet to learn HTML
and inflict the world with my Web presence, I used a local Cybercafe to find out what it
was all about.
I was an Internet geek right away; looking at what webmasters were
doing by peeking at the source code. I had a new computer to play with at home, but was
not yet connected with the wide world online.
We bought Internet magazines to find out about websites we might be
interested in, and went down with our list of URLs on a Sunday morning and stayed there
until well into the afternoon.
It soon became apparent that some of the websites needed us to
register with an e-mail address. The cybercafes offered e-mail addresses, but as I hardly
expected anyone to write to me, it seemed pointless to pay for an account.
Somewhere we read about free e-mail, and got connected. With these
web-based (Yahoo) accounts we could keep the same address if we ever left the sheltered
harbour of the Cybercafe, and went into the troubled waters of ISPs ourselves.
There was still something about viruses I didn't like the sound of,
and would rather keep them away from my files and programmes.
Next step, a home on the Web. In two or three weeks we had become
Cyber Citizens, and all it costed was access charged by the hour, and a few coffees; with
two sugars.
Now it seems the Internet has taken over our lives and I find myself
looking for WiFi connections, even on the phone.
By Michel.
If You're Still Looking For Internet Cafes
Cybercafes.com:
Linked in with cities.com and worldnews.com for city information and country news.
Actually, the people behind this seem to have secured a whole range of domain names for
sport, fashion and business. Quite an amalgamated database of active server pages.
American Cyber
Cafes:
Click on the imagemap to get the returns for a state you're interested in. No messing with
cybercafe details, you get links straight to their sites.
Curious Cat
Cyber Cafe Connections:
Curious attempt at cyber copy cat.
Cyber
Cafes of Europe:
Updating of content seems to have stopped around 1999.
Cybercafe Search Engine:
Started around 1997 and needs some serious link-checking if it's still to be taken
seriously.
Ernst Larson's Internet Cafe Guide is no more, although he did write The Book.
Gnomon Publishing's Australian Internet Cafe Guide
never became the authority it aspired to be.
The Internet Cafe Database always lacked the human touch as it's fully
automated. Cybercafes listings are basic and you'll probably already have what your
looking for from one of the better rated Netcafe guides listed above.
Add a Business Listing - Add a Destination Guide - Add a Place to Stay.
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