10 years ago Cyberia represented a new period in technology. Cyber Cafes integrated Starbucks-style coffee culture and sparked a new revolution � like the intellectuals that used to congregate in coffee houses to put the world to rights in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, cyber cafes represented changing times. Instead of being a place where you could meet your friends and relax, you could - for �1 an hour and an optional latte � connect with friends from all over the world via email and messenger technology, research, entertain, have an online presence. If you couldn�t afford a connection at home or couldn�t access the sites you wanted to at work it didn�t matter � Cyber Cafes were pay as you go. 

The implications of Cyber Cafes were endless � you could easily imagine Internet terminals in supermarkets, in banks, in doctor�s waiting rooms and hairdressers, and it was like something from the future. By walking into a shop cunningly disguised as a cafe you could enter a virtual world � it was like a sped up version of Mr Benn, where coffees appeared as if by magic. As well as having specific places in which to go online, you could imagine the technology in other areas of your life. Cyberia showed that the Internet wasn�t just for work or for home, but for leisure, too. It told us that the Internet was accessible for all � just as long as you weren�t too intimidated to walk into the shop and act like you knew what you were doing.

However, 10 years on and what Cyberia did is definitely a thing of the past. As wi-fi hotspots increase and mobile technology takes over, Cyber Cafes may become a dying breed � we won�t need to have to find a coffee shop with a connection if we can access the Internet on our phones. We can sit in the park with our laptops rather than having to sit indoors, and although the Suffolk Internet Bench didn�t work out (it had Internet terminals in the arms that you could plug laptops into, but of course, it was vandalised) you could see the merits in being connected outside.

The last 10 years saw the Internet become mainstream, and Cyberia was an important part of that. But the next 10 years will see us being connected everywhere, all the time. If you�re rushing to a meeting but can�t remember the name of the road you�re meant to be heading to you can access your email, real time, and get that information. And then you can look on an Internet streetmap to see where it is, and also use GPRS technology to find your way. What we take for granted now was only a distant dream when Cyberia opened its doors � but without it, and the development of cafes all over the UK in its wake - the Internet may not have touched so many lives so quickly.