Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Internet Vending Machine

Internet Vending Machine
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Basically, this is a vending machine with a build in computer, seat, keyboard and trackball that let's you connect to the internet, it has usb ports so you can save and upload files via flash drives, it accepts cash and credit cards to buy time for using the internet.

if the time is about the expire it well let you know via and small alarm and a message on the scree, if the time expires the machine would block any keyboard, trackball and usb input, and if the user doesn't put any money in the machine after a minute, the machine would delete all the cookies in case if the user was logged on a website.

appdirect, Dec 12 2010

//vending machines hooked up to the internet// http://www.cs.cmu.e...ke/history_long.txt
[mouseposture, Dec 12 2010]

[link]






       Airports often have these, except for the built-in seat, and I'm not sure about the flash drive.
jutta, Dec 12 2010
  

       Yeah, I've seen these in several places. They're becoming less common now that more places provide their Fi by Wi.   

       I did think, fleetingly, that this was going to be a vending machine which you could use remotely, for example to give a cup of coffee to a random person a train station, or to pay for a dose of polio vaccine and have it dispensed directly into the hands of a needy child.
MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 12 2010
  

       Yeah, I've seen these in a couple of airports (Heathrow was one) and in a science center in Kansas City. They didn't work well, as I recall, even at the time. They seemed old and out of date, and that was over six years ago.   

       Nowadays, folks who want to compute ususally carry a laptop with wireless. Or a smartphone.   

       If you are in a strange town in America and need internet computing, toddle on over to a public library and get it free (and the setup is much as described in this idea). Or in any country find an internet cafe and pay for it.   

       I recall reading that one of the early oddities of the internet was that there were some vending machines hooked up to the internet. Apparently there was a soft-drink machine you could access, and, if you worked fast after some poor schlub put his money in, choose the drink flavor to be dispensed.
baconbrain, Dec 12 2010
  

       [baconbrain] see <link>
mouseposture, Dec 12 2010
  

       Thanks, [mouseposture]. It is good to get my story straight.
baconbrain, Dec 12 2010
  
      
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