Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140114
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAMBRIDGE, MASS. LENGTH: Medium
The tables at Cybersmith are covered with computers.
This is a place where people can have a cup of cappuccino and try all the computer tools and toys they've been hearing about.
``It's a lot easier than I thought,'' said John Barbieri, pointing and clicking his way to Impressionist paintings and sports schedules on the Internet.
Cybersmith, in a part of town crowded with coffee shops and bookstores frequented by students and professors at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other schools, is not the first cafe to go online.
Seven or eight have opened in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco with a computer terminal or two in the back so customers can log on to the Internet.But Cybersmith has 48 work stations and a smorgasbord of technology: the latest multimedia titles, online services, virtual reality and video games. It opened Friday after a $1 million investment.
``The underlying concept is to take whatever the new technology is as it comes out and say to the public, `Come on in; check it out','' said its founder, Marshall Smith, a Boston-area entrepreneur who also built the Paperback Booksmith and Videosmith chains.
The cafe offers lunch. To order your sticky bun, click on Smitty's On-Line Cafe on one of the terminals. Along with the waiters and waitresses is a staff of technical support people to explain how to use the machines.
Customers must pay a $1 membership fee. After that, most machines cost 17.5 cents a minute to use. The virtual reality station costs $5 for about five minutes.
by CNB