AWB Chapter 176 Silicon Valley Spark Internet Cafe
Chapter 176 Silicon Valley Spark Internet Cafe
The bell on the glass door rang once as it was pushed open.
Jason was the first to come in. He was carrying a black backpack, and his hair was a bit messy, clearly indicating he had stayed up all night. He stood at the door, stunned for three seconds.
Inside the internet cafe, fifty computers were arranged in five rows. Each monitor was a 17-inch CRT, and the black side panels of the computer cases were transparent, allowing you to see the blue-glowing cooling fans inside.
The keyboard is silver-gray with engravings on the keycaps. The mouse is even more distinctive—it's entirely black with a red breathing light at the rear that changes brightness in sync with the computer's startup.
"What kind of mouse is this?" Jason asked the receptionist standing at the door.
The receptionist was an Asian girl wearing a black T-shirt with the "Spark" logo printed on it.
"The optical mouse was designed by ourselves."
"photoelectric?"
"No need for a rolling ball, use an optical sensor." The girl took a sample from under the counter and turned it over to show him the bottom. There was no rolling ball there, only a small red light.
Jason took the mouse and moved it across the counter. The touch under his fingers was smooth, and the clicks were crisp.
"Can I give it a try?"
"Four dollars per hour, with discounts for top-ups."
Jason took out his wallet. He chose a window seat in the third row and turned on his phone.
The screen lit up, but it wasn't the Windows startup screen. Against a blue starry background, a line of text appeared: Star System, Version 1.2.
He moved the mouse. The cursor moved across the screen without any frame skipping or lag. He opened his browser—it was Star Browser, with a very simple interface. He instinctively tried to find the IE icon, but couldn't.
"New here?" The guy in the next seat was a chubby guy wearing headphones, staring at the screen playing a game. The game was Doom; the graphics were gory, and gunshots leaked out through his headphones.
"This is my first time here," Jason said.
"Try this mouse," the fat man said, his eyes never leaving the screen. "It can increase your headshot rate by twenty percent when playing FPS games."
Jason looked at the fat man's hand. The black mouse moved rapidly, stopped abruptly, and clicked in his hand. The crosshair on the screen precisely locked onto the monster, fired, and headshot.
"I want to buy one," Jason said.
"They sell them at the counter. The mouse is $69, and the keyboard is $89. I bought both."
Jason looked at the keyboard in front of him again. The key travel was just right, and the rebound was strong; it was much better than the ten-dollar membrane keyboard in his dorm room.
He opened a webpage and started browsing. The browser was very responsive, and the page scrolled smoothly. He noticed a small icon in the upper right corner of the browser, which looked like a cloud. He hovered the mouse over it, and a prompt appeared: Log in to sync your data.
He clicked on it and registered an account.
Ten minutes later, the internet cafe was packed. A line formed at the door, and the girl at the counter was busy collecting money and handing out computer cards. One customer, impatient, asked directly, "Are mice sold separately? I need one now."
The girl took a package from under the counter. It was a black cardboard box with a rendering of a mouse on the front and specifications printed on the side: 800 DPI, 1500 scans per second, and a USB interface.
"Sixty-nine dollars."
The customer took out his money, unpacked the mouse, and immediately replaced it with his own. He threw the old mouse into his backpack and started using the new one. Five minutes later, he stood up and walked to the counter.
"I'd like a keyboard too."
Within two hours of opening, the counter sold seventeen mice and eleven keyboards.
At 3 PM, a few people who looked like programmers arrived. They didn't rush to turn on the computer, but instead walked around it, looking at the case, the monitor, and finally squatting down to examine the cable management under the table.
"The cabling is professional," one of the men wearing glasses said. "All the cables run through PVC conduits; you can't see a single cable on the desktop."
"The system is self-developed." Another one was already powered on and typing commands in the command line. "The kernel is Unix-like, but the desktop environment is custom-written."
"How's the smoothness?"
"Faster than Windows 95. Memory management is excellent; it doesn't lag even with ten tabs open."
As they were discussing, a man in a plaid shirt walked in. He looked to be in his forties, with thinning hair, and was carrying a notebook.
He went straight to the front desk.
"I'm a reporter from Wired magazine," he said, showing his press pass. "May I interview the shop owner?"
The receptionist pointed upstairs: "The boss is in his office on the second floor."
The reporter went upstairs. The stairs were made of steel and made a slight echo when stepped on.
The second floor was an open space, half of which was offices and the other half a rest area. Ling Yun was talking to two people, with circuit diagrams spread out on the table.
The reporter walked over.
"Excuse me, this is Kevin Miller from Wired. Did you assemble those computers downstairs yourselves?"
"Yes," Ling Yun said.
"Where's the system?"
"Our own self-developed Star System."
"Mouse and keyboard?"
"We design it ourselves and manufacture it in China."
Kevin quickly took notes in his notebook.
"May I take a picture?"
"Please go ahead."
Kevin went downstairs and took more than a dozen photos of the computer, mouse, keyboard, and wiring. He also interviewed a few guests.
"Why did you buy this mouse?" he asked the fat man.
"Playing games is so much fun!" The fat guy's eyes were still glued to the screen. "Look at that sudden stop, look at that tracking shot. A ball mouse can't do that kind of precision."
"Where's the keyboard?"
"It feels good. And look," the fat man pointed to the upper right corner of the keyboard, "there's a USB expansion port here, so you don't have to bend down to find it on the computer case to plug in a USB drive."
Kevin then interviewed a client who appeared to be a programmer.
"What do you think of this system?"
"It has great potential," the programmer said. "The kernel is well optimized, and driver support is comprehensive. Most importantly, it's open source. I downloaded the source code from the official website, and some of the design ideas are ingenious."
"Would you use it to replace Windows?"
"I still need to use Windows for work, but I can consider a personal computer."
When Kevin returned to the first floor, the line at the entrance was even longer. There were students, office workers, and people who looked like housewives. A mother was with her son, who was pointing at a mouse in the display case.
"Mom, I want this for my birthday present."
The mother looked at the price.
"Too expensive. You can buy three regular mice for sixty-nine dollars."
"But this one works well!" her son exclaimed, tugging at her arm. "All my classmates have ball mice, but this one has a light, and it even has a glow!"
The mother hesitated for a moment, then opened her wallet.
The receptionist sold another mouse.
At 5 PM, the stock was running low. There were only three mice left and five keyboards. The girl called the warehouse to request restocking.
At six o'clock, the evening rush hour began. Every computer in the internet cafe was occupied, and there were also people waiting at the door. Some people couldn't wait, so they bought a mouse and keyboard and left.
At seven o'clock, a man wearing a Microsoft T-shirt walked in. He looked to be in his thirties and had a serious expression. He turned on his computer, which took ten minutes, and then went to the counter.
"How compatible is your system with Windows?"
"It can run some Windows programs through the compatibility layer," the girl replied. "Game support is still being improved."
"What about Office?"
"We have our own office suite, which can also be used online."
The man didn't say anything, and went back and spent another half hour. When he left, he bought a mouse.
At eight o'clock, Lingyun went downstairs. The internet cafe was packed with people, the air thick with the smells of pizza (the rest area offered light meals), sweat, and the heat from electronic devices. The keyboards clattered and clicked, the mice clicked crisply and frequently, and occasionally someone would shout, "Headshot!" or "We won!"
He walked to the counter, and the girl handed him today's sales report.
Mouse: 142 sold, $9798.
Keyboards: 128 sold, $11392.
Earnings from playing the game: $1276.
Member top-up: $3400.
Ling Yun was quite happy. The promotion of Xinghuo Internet Cafe had been very effective. Selling peripherals was far more profitable than providing internet cafe services. They also planned to sell Alienware desktop computers later.
"Many people ask when we'll open a second store," the girl said.
"I'm looking at the location," Ling Yun said.
He walked out of the internet cafe. The Silicon Valley night was cool, the streetlights were on, and the traffic flowed steadily.
Through the glass window, you can see that there are people sitting in front of each computer, and the red light on the bottom of each mouse is blinking as if breathing.