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Cybersmith logs off for the last
time
By Patti Hartigan, Globe Staff, 03/19/99
It opened with fanfare and hype. The media genuflected in admiration,
tossing out descriptives like elite and cyberchic. Crowds lined up around the
block, eager to part with fistfuls of cash to experience the Latest New Thing.
We're talking about Cybersmith, the cafe cum computer center that opened in
Harvard Square in February 1995.
The story that began with hellzapoppin' hoopla ended quietly two weeks ago
-- in Chapter 11. The Church Street cafe closed with nary a whisper; it's
shuttered with a metal gate, another short-lived craze doomed to the fate of
the pet rock, the pogo stick, and, that bane of the '70s, Studio 54.
Guess what? Nobody even noticed.
After all, in a world where millions of people have free Web access at
work, school, or the local library, who would pay $10 an hour to surf the Net
or shell out $5 for five minutes of virtual reality? We took that question to
the Someday Cafe, a funky coffeehouse in Davis Square. It's listed as one of
338 cybercafes in the United States at the Web site,
http://www.netcafeguide.com. Despite the listing, Someday is simply a bustling
cafe with a dusty computer in a corner.
Pay to surf? ''Never,'' said Emily Gasoi, a teacher at the Mission Hill
School in Roxbury who was sitting in a corner reading files on her own laptop
the other day at the cafe. ''No, no, no,'' echoed Tufts University graduate
student Karina Assiter, who was typing away on her portable Toshiba. The
Somerville coffeehouse provides free electrical outlets for patrons who want
to blend bits and bytes with their java, and Assiter won't patronize cafes
that don't offer free electrical juice.
Four years ago, the concept of a cybercafe made sense: Almost no one had
even heard of an Internet stock, and a browser was someone who liked to look.
Everyone was buzzing about this mysterious new medium, and digerati wannabes
were eager to experience the strange world of cyberspace in the presence of
other newbies. But there's something inherently incompatible about designer
coffee and computers.
''Using a computer is a personal thing,'' said Mark Hardie, senior analyst
at the Cambridge-based Forrester Research. ''My kids at home want their own
computer, and they're 4 and 1. So it becomes a problem when the computer is
your draw for entertainment, because it really isn't a multiperson
entertainment vehicle.''
Here's what people do at cafes. They gossip, they argue, they linger, and
listen to music. At Someday Cafe, for instance, you're more likely to hear
Dylan on the sound system than to spot someone searching his discography on
the Internet.
The times, after all, are a-changin'; four years is an eon in the computer
industry. The number of households using the Web has jumped from 10 million in
1996 to 26 million today, according to the Framingham-based technology
research firm, International Data Corp. Decent personal computers, which cost
about $2,000 four years ago, now retail for as low as $400.
Cybersmith tried and tried, long after the fair was over. It held on-line
wine tastings, sponsored book readings, and on-line chats with such folks as
Laurie Anderson and Kevin Meaney. But the last waltz is over. That's all too
clear to Marshall Smith, the entrepreneur (and founder of Booksmith,
Videosmith, and Learningsmith) who launched Cybersmith.
''It's always sad when stores close,'' Smith said, adding that he sold most
of his interest in the operation a few years ago and would rather not say
anything more.
James Burnham, Cybersmith's chief financial officer, allowed that the
''economic model'' no longer worked and that the company had filed for
bankruptcy protection. The Faneuil Hall Marketplace cafe closed a year ago,
and two out-of-state franchises are also shut. The new model, he said, would
aim to establish computer centers that serve as trade shows for the public at
shopping malls, where folks can try the latest products for nominal fees.
''The boom in the business seems to be over in the richest countries, where
home and office use of Internet has become more normal than not having
Internet,'' said Ernst Larsen, the Norwegian Web master who started the Net
cafe guide site in 1996.
''Cafes with a little extra touch seem to be able to stay in business,
though.'' Not to mention cheap access and good coffee.
The trend is fading here, but alive elsewhere. ''In underdeveloped
countries, they seem to be very important for the common man's use of the
Net,'' Larson said. His site lists 22 cafes in China and 22 in Indonesia (none
in Java, though.)
But the party is over for Cyber-smith, where ''chic'' and ''elite'' always
seemed like odd descriptions for a place that catered to the chaotic,
democratic Internet. The place that trumpeted high technology announced its
closing in the most low-tech way: a handwritten notice posted on the door.
(Burnham said consumers with prepaid Cybersmith cards can send a letter,
along with contact information, to Cybersmith, Inc., 90 Williams St., Suite
1500, New York, NY 10038. It's not clear if, or when, refunds will be issued.)
Speaking of the chic and the elite (as well as the talented and the
talent-free, the glamorous and the tacky), it's time for the Academy Awards,
which will be more interactive than ever this year. The official site,
http://www.oscar.com, is offering the kind of gushing self-promotion you might
expect, with some of it in real time. The site is offering simultaneous Net
coverage that complements the broadcast, which is set for Sunday night. Watch
the red carpet arrivals in streaming video! Peek at the backstage interviews!
Take the ''Know-It-All Challenge!''
Better yet, for those who have been at home playing on their computers and
missed all the nominated films, the site offers streaming video clips
(limited, but better than nothing) of the top performances. It also features
fashion photos from years past, but for more cutting commentary, check out the
photo gallery at http://www.mrshowbiz.go.com; there's a distinct difference
between the descriptions of the getups, er, gowns.
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