Early internet appliance?

May 24, 2005 2:48 PM

Does anybody remember anything about a pre-world wide web consumer product called Yak (or Yack) that was marketing in the United States around 1990? Google fails me.

As I recall, the product came bundled with a proprietary monitor and keyboard and must have been associated with a local phone company. I know it was available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As a computer novice then, I remember seeing their ads and thinking, “What a stupid idea. Writing to strangers on a computer!”

posted by punkfloyd to computers & internet (2 comments total)

Dallas was one of the sites where Time-Warner experimented with its "interactive TV" (or videotex) product QUBE; some systems remained in use as late as 1994.
posted by dhartung at 1:34 AM on May 25, 2005

There never was a national rollout in the US of any videotext service, according to this article.

Minitel, in France, on the other hand, was quite successful.
posted by WestCoaster at 9:22 PM on May 25, 2005