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LGR - The Cybiko (Patreon)

Published:
2021-05-18 22:09:57
Edited:
2021-05-21 14:27:36
Imported:
2021-07

Content

Greetings all! Hope you've had a good week or two. I've been working round the clock on the latest episode since the moment the last video went up here on Patreon, ha.

Annoying to not have a video out last week, but I really think this one was worth the extra time. It's a good ol' LGR Retrospective thing all about the Cybiko from the year 2000! These were goofy PDA-like mobile devices for tweens and teens, and the experience really is something.

https://youtu.be/38VEBOseAzM

This episode's got it all, folks. A road trip, an unboxing, a collaboration, teardown/repair, tech history, VHS-quality news footage, dumb 2000s marketing, wireless chat rooms, monochrome gaming, indoor and outdoor radio tests, Frankie Muniz, Windows 98 serial cable shenanigans, and so on. Over half an hour of my favorite kind of content to make -- and to watch!

Really hope you enjoy! I've wanted to make this video for over a decade now, ever since getting an acid yellow Cybiko practically new in box like ten years ago. But it wasn't until lockdown that I finally took the time to get it all working and dive into the whole Cybiko world, eventually acquiring many more Cybikos. And the more I used them, the more of what I found became a lot more interesting than I anticipated, so this video just grew exponentially. And yeah, this Cybiko episode has been on the literal table for like 9 months now, which is more than enough gestation in my book.

Have a good one!

Files

The Cybiko: a Year 2000 Handheld Computer for Teens

An LGR Retrospective on the Cybiko: a neon PDA-like handheld device providing wireless mobile computing for tweens and teens! This episode's got it all, folks. Tech history, monochrome gaming, a road trip, unboxing, teardown/repair, dumb 2000s marketing, wireless chat rooms, Frankie Muniz, Windows 98 serial cable shenanigans and more. CYBIKO. ● Check out Luke's channel and related video here: https://www.youtube.com/c/lukeisafinename https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ewT_G04F8 ● LGR links: https://patreon.com/LazyGameReviews https://twitter.com/LazyGameReviews https://facebook.com/LazyGameReviews ● Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com #LGR #Retro #Handheld

Comments

Asaf Sagi

I had one for a hot minute, until I realized no one else but me is going to own one in Israel, so I got a Palm m505 instead. I was essentially a businessman dork in middle school. Can't wait to watch your video tomorrow!

Mark Balcerak

I got one new and fell for the hype as a teen. Thanks for the throwback. Always wanted the free mp3 player add on for the bottom port, but never got it.

Anonymous

Woah, LGR Bro. Gonna check his channel out. Never heard of this thing though, and I was like mad into this kind of stuff right around that time. Fascinating.

Mac84

This was well worth the wait! Very comprehensive, you and your brother trying out the multi user aspect of this made the video even more amazing. I remember being so jealous of the kids who had one on my middle school. I loved my Palm IIIe, but it couldn’t do wireless chat! I have a neon green one sealed in the box, you may have tempted me to open it up. Even if it’s just to remove those batteries! I’ll just wait until I’m within 15 ft of you so you can by my Cy-friend. 😂

Anonymous

Awesome video!! Although I have to point out that WAP (in terms of the browser) means Wireless Application Protocol, not Wireless Access Point. It’s not a huge deal; I just want to point it out before the YouTube trolls go wild with the onscreen text at 29:12 😊.

mrklean

Hmm, I wonder if our modern airwaves are to blame for the terrible range numbers. Scrolling through the FCC device list for the 902-928mhz band shows all sorts of things. Ring and Wyze camera systems, metering systems for utilities, RFID readers, race timers, etc. If you want to see a retro site with a great loading icon that lists them out go here. https://fccid.io/frequency-explorer.php?lower=902&upper=928 Or maybe it really was just meant to compete with basically Gameboy link cables, hah! Great content as always, thanks.

Anonymous

This is the first time I've heard of that device. It somehow reminds me of the Motorola V101, one of the first text-oriented cell phone. Late 90s / early 2000s tech sure had a funky look...

Anonymous

Man, yet another popular device I have never heard of. I'm starting to think I'm not as news-savvy as I thought I was. Anyways, I'm going out for shopping, since I'm out of grocieries and... wait, why is everyone wearing a facemask?

Anonymous

I was older than the target demographic when I bought one of these new at 20 years old. There was nobody who had one in my community, (semi-rural Wyoming), so my mesh network daydreams didn't com to fruition. I can tell you that you didn't need to have a compatible Windows PC, as I can remember syncing mine regularly on my beige G3 AIO Macintosh (with a serial adaptor.) Good stuff, Clint. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

Anonymous

"Recessed Reset Switch" It would take me many takes to say this right.

Anonymous
>>60113575

So to sum up, this is the original MeowMeowBeenz. Also, the dream of the 90s is alive in Cybland.

Evan B

hah wow.. i was already in college by then, so this was a bit after my time, so to speak .. It definitely reminds me of the PDA craze back then though

Anonymous

In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure the "always screaming all the time" aesthetic was that cool back then either

Anonymous

I had one of these! I had a lot of fun with it at the time. I even played around programming an unfinished game for it.

Anonymous

I remember in this time a similar smaller unit that was dedicated to a game where you made a computer virus and it would battle other units as you walked around.

Anonymous

Great video! Interestingly the Cybiko website is still being operated by someone, although attempting to access it just brings up a message stating they're "repairing flash"

PiraTed

I see this as a great modding/hacking project.

Anonymous

Well done

Novel

This screams "background prop in a Disney Channel Original Movie". EDIT: I posted this before watching it all and it's nice to know I was somewhat right, since it appeared in a film with Frankie Munez which is basically on par with a DCOM.

Anonymous

your brother looks so much like you even with the masks on :D this device defo got me feeling some edgy late 90s early 00s vibe, good times

Kris Asick

I was just a little too old for these things; When they debuted I was already well into PC gaming again so the notion of a tiny black and white device with sub-par games would've never appealed to me at that time... in fact, up until around 2008 or so I didn't even know they existed. :P

Anonymous

Round about then I had a hand-me-down m105 I used at school. It was great, especially as its biz-time appearance meant teachers ignored it. I can't imagine most schools being ok with you pulling this thing out!

LazyGameReviews
>>60115108

Definitely wasn't, heh. I remember finding it a bit obnoxious, especially those loud TV commercials.

LazyGameReviews
>>60140269

Aye, I was about 14 by the time it hit store shelves, which put it right on that edge of being kinda cool but underwhelming. I was mostly intrigued by the wireless chatting and email, the games weren't very appealing. I just wanted a PDA instead!

LazyGameReviews
>>60148403

Yeah just about every other article about it back then was like, "this thing is so getting banned from schools."

PiraTed

Clint you like Barbies right? So the Mattel Radica IM Me is up your alley. Also everything eventuality comes back around. We just call it LoRa now https://hackaday.com/2020/04/25/a-lora-im-me-for-the-end-of-the-world/

Anonymous

I had a Cybiko! Still do, along with the MP3 player attachment! I used it to talk to my friend who lived across the street from me. I thought it was pretty cool for its time, and I actually enjoyed using it.

Anonymous
>>60107910

I was thinking the same thing. In the WISP world, everyone moved away from 900mhz as a distribution option because the small allocation width and other interference. The biggest culprit is smart power meters that electric companies use. They are also on 900mhz and form a mesh network, and there are a ton of them.

Anonymous

Is it possible that there is too much (modern) interference that's making the Cybiko's wireless range suck?

Anonymous

Man, this really feels like a later evolution of the Casio Secret Sender. I think I had that around 96, it was the same idea but the form factor was a slim clamshell, and the wireless was IR, and the screen was about 1/4 the size, but I did use the hell out of it in 6th grade. There was no adding apps after the fact, but there was 1:1 chat with other ones via the IR (can't recall if I ever got to try this) and a sort of standard set of apps. I mostly remember just using the notes app to keep a journal for awhile. Great video!! edit: it was this baby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K1ocyRKGdA

LazyGameReviews
>>60168589

Yep, as stated in the video! But as mentioned, I still haven't been able to get more than about 50ft of range even in a wide open park with nothing else around, so I'm not sure what would be interfering so much out there.

Joon Choi

Great video Clint - don’t remember these at all, but you’re absolutely right that they could only have existed in that very specific moment in time. 😂 Also, nice to see your bro in a video for the first time in a long while. Although now I’m wondering who the third set of hands were… 🤔

Anonymous

Aww.. the 2000s. Internet tech bubble bonanza! Yeah, this never hit us in Scandinavia. It was all Nokias and WAP stuff I'm afraid... and even that sucked hard back then. But we had CD burning, CS 1.6, Unreal, NFS3, slow Internet and DVDs... I was still pretty happy. :D

BastetFurry

Sadly newer saw one here in Germany. And if you want a modern homebrew version, here is one that should have a tad bit better range: https://hackaday.io/project/174019-lora-qwerty-messenger Only problem, you would have to order the parts yourself and get soldering.

Evan

Wow, did I ever want one of these back in the day. Another reason you didn’t touch on that this product could only exist in the narrow window around 2000 is that now a product that lets anyone drive around until they detect a kid and then chat with them would be looked upon somewhat more skeptically.

LazyGameReviews
>>60229418

Oh it was looked on skeptically back then too! All kinds of concerns were raised by parents, teachers, the media, and pearl-clutchers in general.

Adrian's Digital Basement

I somehow entirely missed that these existed. Very cool retrospective. The screaming! LOL (On the box)

Anonymous

Wait, I was a teen in 2000 and have never heard of this. You're right, it would have been awesome to have in the cafeteria at school, but I imagine these would have been quickly banned at my school.

Valora Inverse

Oh wow, that would've been rad to have back in high school, but I wager by the time I would've had one, they would have been banned. Never even heard of these before now, though.

Anonymous

I was completely distracted by the Red Hat logo at the end of the video. What was that all about?

Anonymous
>>60321748

Happened every time something interesting came out during school years 😂

LazyGameReviews
>>60325833

We were doing our Cybiko testing outside of Red Hat headquarters. Wasn't planned, just happened that way!

Anonymous

My current smartphone case is that same highlighter yellow see-through color!

Anonymous

Loved this video, Clint! There are so many interesting ideas in this device that foreshadow things we now take for granted!

Anonymous

I have never heard of this thing! In Finland (and i quess in all the nordic countries and europe) SMS messaging was common by the end of the 90's so Cybico would not have made any sense. Cool to see you review these old gadgets tho! Great vid!