The Cybiko - A Look Back

[@Wint3rshad3]

Looking back as a kid I still don't know what it was that drew me to the Cybiko but I just knew that I had to have one so naturally I begged my parents for one for christmas and managed to get one. My excitement was quickly shattered at the realization that I lived in a rural part of my state and was probably the only person in a 100 mile radios that actually owned on these ridiculous devices making it essentially useless. I still had fun downloading and playing the games and tinkering with other features, when you're a kid you make use of what you've got haha.

[@griffensander]

Yeah, that was the problem: No one wanted to buy one until a lot of them had sold. Lol

[@ThadCastle5454]

same for me, I was the only kid who had one, i thought it would be a next level walkie talkie. I don't think i ever downloaded anything but i remember playing labyrinth a lot

[@griffensander]

Yes, The labyrinth game was one of my favorites. They actually did make a walkie-talkie expansion card for the Cybiko Extreme, I've never been able to find one on eBay though.

[@The_Mole_47]

THIS. I was this same kid, my parents didnt have a lot of money, but they still managed to get me this toy, and i as well lived in a very rural area, so it was a brick basically, and i returned it and got something else a few days after xmas, however this toy has stuck with me throughout life in my memory, and im always drawn back to it. Perhaps it was that my parents somehow made it work to get me it, or the fact that i yearned over it for months before xmas, but i dont think ill ever forget about my Cybiko.

[@tashantimothy6180]

I asked for one for Christmas and got it and didn’t know what to do with it lol

[@antione]

Me too

[@neo123321]

Haha same here! I still thought it was amazing though and it was one of the first devices that got me on track for an interest and career in tech.

[@rrittenhouse]

Same LOL

[@tashantimothy6180]

@@rrittenhouse I’m still mad because I still don’t know how it works

[@CrackIsWakk]

the Cybiko absolutely ruled. a few friends of mine and i had them in middle school. tons of fun.

[@cesarnono13]

I had one of these in middle school. The only kid in the whole school, city, county probably. BTW It's pronounced "sigh-bee-ko" there was an article when it released that the first part of the name was supposed to be pronounced like the word "Cyber"

[@BokkieXO]

I had one too! And thank you for the pronunciation correction. I thought i was crazy remembering it differently. Man, they were so expensive. It felt so cool to own one, but I only wanted it so i could talk to people in school during class, and no one else had one :(

[@chrisp5962]

I just found mine while cleaning my closet, complete with serial cable. I was actually able to use the wireless feature in middle school, because a bunch of people had them. A kid sold these out of his locker in 7th grade.

[@NHT2]

I had two of these. Hooking one up to a computer would allow you to turn it into a hotspot of sorts, allowing other cybikos to use the computers internet connection. Still very limited, suffered from the same range issues, but it felt like magic. There was also a fairly active community. I played so many third party apps that are now lost to time.

[@anjotre]

Got one when I was 11 years old. Never understood it but this brings back a lot of memories.

[@jessethabarber]

I actually just found mine. My mom is selling her house and had a big box of my stuff still there. This was in it. A yellow one. Too funny. I gotta find a power source and see if it still turns on.

[@TheBrianCalhoun]

I got two so I could rig up that internet connection feature and had wireless internet in my house way before that was normal.

[@PipByMac]

I traded this for an N64, the N64 for a PlayStation with a ton of games, and then traded the PlayStation and all of those games for...a Zippo. Looking back, I'm glad I did it. The kid I traded it to had a rough life and it might have been the one nice thing someone did for him. Love ya, Jeff.

[@griffensander]

To be fair, Zippo's are awesome. Just ask Wall-E.

[@CAPNCOCKPUNCH]

I appreciate the effort you put into making this video, good job man, keep it up.

[@MiniPainterGamerDadD20]

I saw the commercial as a kid and had to have one. Got one for Christmas and honestly I did absolutely nothing with it because no one else had one.

[@tgoddard1988]

I did own one, I got the green one, I was so excited to get it but it turned out no one I knew had one or wanted one, It was only when I was at school one day and the most unlikely guy came running over and told me he had one and didn’t realise anyone else did! Unfortunately, like you said, the range was really bad, also after about a month the battery just kept dying! At the time pretty much everyone had mobile phones with colour screens so no one could really see the point, I think what drew me to it was the size of the screen and the fact that this thing didn’t need a mobile plan or credit to send messages. I had 2 jobs while I was in school, a paper rout every day and a job in a pub kitchen on the weekends, so I bought every geek, techy toy there was and owned about 5 or 6 PDA’s! I love finding videos like these to feel nostalgic!

[@Phweemaggot]

got one of these things as a kid and somehow convinced a friend of mine to get one as well. got super focused on it despite what nonsense it was. still fondly remember hooking it up via serial and downloading a bunch of small clumsy games to try and play with it's bizarre early 00's design. the port that the power adapter plugged into came loose and i had to get the whole thing replaced, twice. what a mess.

[@EternityForest]

I had one of those. We could never get the MP3 add-on to work with the xtreme. But there was nothing like it until modern phones. Sadly I didn't know anyone else who had one.

[@iDealaeDi]

EternityForest I begged to get one for Xmas then couldn’t use it because nobody else had one lol

[@bizzzzzzle]

Someone should interview my graduating class, there was only 90 of us, but I’d say a quarter to a half us had them. We were in a small middle school in Vermont and was the perfect use case, it would have been better but our own school district pushed kids to buy Handspring Visors for “science” because you could attach water testing probes to it, and we were on the shore of Lake Champlain.

[@griffensander]

Wow, that must've been awesome! I actually used to have one of those Handspring Visors, they ran PalmOS as I recall. Did many kids actually go for the Visors? I always thought they were more for businessmen, but I think they came in a bunch of bright colors, so IDK.

[@bizzzzzzle]

@@griffensander A lot more got the Handsprings actually. If i recall, the school district subsidized a portion of the cost or got us an educational rebate if purchased through them, I believe it only cost $119 to buy a Visor through the school and that included the test probe. The fact you had science and math teachers endorsing it meant a lot of parents opted for the Visor. If i recall, i didn't buy one cause i just "borrowed" one from the schools stock. We could sign them out but i never signed the sheet i think lol.

[@smidge146]

My brother and I both got a Cybiko on christmas of 2000, was well good!

[@chinabluewho]

The Cybiko failed because the Gameboy color came out a year or two before the Cybiko did, had the Cybiko had better games it would have really taken off with that MP3 player add on but The games that it had belonged to something from the mid 80's era. Time is a cruel mistress to tech products.

[@danked6731]

THEY FUCKING MADE TINDER AND I MESSAGE WHAT THE FUCK MAN I GOT ONE IN ARGOS LIKE 15 YEARS AGO

[@JesseJordanTheSuper]

I totally had one I remember as a kid chatting to someone while at disney with it and a friend of mine in school had one but we never seemed close enough to connect lol

[@chickenscratch420ify]

I had a neon yellow one. It was cool in school that 2 other people i knew had one as well.

[@silverponycreations4514]

I did! I had the magenta one. I thought it was so cool back in 2000 when I got it lol. Has it really been 18 years already? Where does time go?

[@clintshultz7296]

Me and my sister had these as kids, i truly enjoyed it. Some of the games were really good

[@rustysqueezebox8]

I always wanted one of these as a kid. Everytime I went to target I'd play on it for like a half hour

[@alyfepoisonbunny2716]

Had one couldn't get the damn thing to work. wasted my mom's money for nothing.

[@rrittenhouse]

I know, I feel bad as hell about that now.

[@OfficialMarkZuckerberg]

I begged for one and got a blue one. They my dad bought a bulk of "broken" cybiko xtremes that just needed a charge. Those were a solid improvement, but I still totally get why they flopped

[@NepetaLeijon]

Practically half my elementary school had these things, it was wild

[@KevinEscobarCo]

its not pronounce "SIH BEE COE" its pronounced "SY BIH COE"

[@tommyplays5436]

The limited wireless is the reason why I want it.

[@antoniusmilesdale6120]

Lost in labrynth. No friends

[@griffensander]

That game used to frustrate me so much :)

[@dozer2010]

The Cybiko's did in fact work like a relay system using their inbuilt RF Transmitter/Receiver and therefor you could in theory connect with someone miles away if there were other Cybikos switched on within your range, a sort of piggy back effect. (You could also connect one to your PC/Modem and use it as a connection HUB for other Cybikos within range, this was very very clever for its day!) This was why the CyCommunity App on the device was being hyped as an actual Community, and of course assuming you had filled in your About Me section, then you wouldn't even know that your device was piggy backing other Cybikos, you would get a ping if someone had similar interest to you and was also in range, therefor setting up a bigger CyCommunity. Why this person doing this review has even bothered is way beyond me, he clearly knows nothing about the devices, seems to only be interested in trashing a rather nifty communications device for TEENAGERS, and having not even bothered to research the device, or its uses in any way. These devices were successfully trialled in a University in the USA, being used as a direct broadcast and communication device between the Lecturer and the Students, no easy task for a rubbish toy as this reviewer would have you believe. There are also many Cybiko enthusiasts out there who continue to write software for these devices, and utilise them for various RF Communication purposes. The Classic Cybiko was sold originally for £69.99 from Vodafone shops, and the Cybiko Xtreme was sold briefly for £99, the prices dropped suddenly when the Cybiko Web Site was suspended, and then eventually closed, however there are still sites where you can get all the original Apps, as well as newer ones created by enthusiasts. The batteries on the Classic can be easily replaced by new ones from ebay and the likes, while the Cybiko Xtreme needs a bit more tech knowledge to replace the battery pack, but it can be done. I actually took ten of these devices on a Villa Holiday and the six couples and a few singles used these brilliantly to play the odd game between us, and their best feature in real use was the ability to announce to every cybiko that something was going on, dinner, party, drinks etc. There were no kids on that villa holiday, but us adults all had a ball with the Xtreme versions I took. They even worked over vast distances when we all took them out with us and split up, a very good wee gadget for keeping in touch and getting back together. They were just marketed way too late in the UK and at too high a price. They could have led to a fully fledged FREE communications network, no contract, no expense beyond the price of the unit, and continued development could have seen these things being our FREE Mobile Network, not PAYG, FREE!

[@deadjoey77]

I had one of these. I remember cheating on tests with my friends using the texting. used it to take "notes" but would just play video games haha. i had better luck with the wireless than some people it seems.

[@unaffiliatedperson]

always wanted one, only one kid in my school had one

[@eishabenicht1559]

i had the blue one. literally nobody else i knew had one. i played with the virtual pet a lot and spent a lot of time on the chatrooms on the cybiko website. they even gave you an email address. i remember in the videos on the site they pronounced it like CYbiko not cyBIko which always threw me off because it didn't flow well phonetically.

[@sheepshark]

I am going to update my dating profile on my Cybiko and find my true love.

[@djprogramer973]

Never knew that it existed but I wish that I did

[@djatomc]

i had one and a friend near by. i enjoyed it.

[@griffensander]

Yes, the key to enjoying it was having a friend near by.

[@timothysanford012381]

i cant figure out how to Plug and Play an app file with c4pc. like how we open a NES file using Nestopia. i dont know any programming. On c4pc, on Console, i click SEND then pick Calc.app then on Disassembler, i click RUN then, nothing. am i doing something wrong?

[@VOAN]

Seen commercials for this thing back in 2001 and was about to go buy one but then Nintendo launch the GBA and I kinda forgot about it.

[@marccyberwiz]

I had this! I actually got really advanced with these things. In 2001 having one paired to PC in my home it was used to sign on AOL AIM and I could remotely chat with others online. This was way before home adoption of Wi-Fi!

[@robertnapiorski8416]

I had one of these! I was the only on that had one and could never find anyone else that did in the early 2000s. I just found it recently in my old bedroom at home in excellent condition. Just ordered a power adapter on ebay so I can fire it up and run through it for nostalgias sake.

[@hamshank8892]

I chatted with one person with this thing and it blew my mind

[@grantdeisig1360]

Had a blue one years ago. But just like everyone else has said... I was probably the only kid around with one. So I could never make could use of its wireless chat feature. I just used it for games and tinkering. I think more of us had TI calculators and we were more interested in making our own games on those units.

[@markplott4820]

FEW People Knew that you could set up one Cybiko as a GAME & APP server, allowing multiple users to Download & Upload to the Base Cybiko.

[@Brett323]

When I was in 6th grade, I wrote and mailed (placed in our mailbox addressed) a persuasive essay to my dad asking for $100 for a Cybiko. I remember arguing the benefits of having one, what I would use it for, etc. I ended up getting it (translucent yellow/green) but only 1 or 2 of my friends got it so it was a pretty big waste.

[@SuperSpaceGirlHDTV]

It looks so frutiga, maybe that's how people thought this was the future

[@phantomcr870]

yes, I got one back in 2001. I had a lot of fun with it to be honest...

[@griffensander]

I was a little late to the party (2010) but I had loads of fun with mine as well.

[@patio87]

I bought one when I was in middle school and to this day I remember it as the biggest waste of money(relative to my age then and now) I ever spent.

[@erikafox9651]

Yes I had one

[@LegitMan335]

I’m on a quest for a Cybiko

[@MeetJohnnyNg]

I own a cybiko back in the day.

[@carminevelvet]

mine's was blue, and yes, I was basically the only kid with one.

[@marsalispowell4224]

I begged my dad for one for Christmas. Lol I didnt know what to do so I just played that racing game all the time

[@SergioFigueroa759]

I wish I had one of that

[@Clarence_13x]

Some bully named Robert Workman smashed mine on the ground in grade 10.

[@Dawitness11]

Oh yeah!!!

[@QASIMARA]

I want that 3:22 of my time back.

[@markplott4820]

YES, the Cybiko as ahead of its time, but was made with Mature technology. I had both a Cybiko and a Sony Clie. the Cybiko was begging for a Touchscreen interface and a JOT writing language. If Cybiko had a EL backlit Touchscreen it would have been perfect. also, it needed a LION battery and a Standard Memory format like MMC/SD. I was Hoping PalmPilot would have Bought Cybiko, then incorporated its RF Tech into its PDA's. I also, had the Precursor of the Cybiko, the Casio Digital Diary, I had the Radio Shack one with the IRDA transmitter. the Palmpilots and Clie could Beam games and Messages as well , but used IR, not a Radio.

[@griffensander]

I believe Palm went with IR because it was had significantly more bandwidth than RF. IR was also a widely implemented standard across laptops and mobile devices back in the early '00s. Of coures, having BOTH would've been pretty awesome :)

[@markplott4820]

@@griffensander - Correct, IRDA is fine if you can place Both close to one another, but RF has the Benefit of Range, in the Cybiko case, it was Limited to 500 feet in the UK and America less, but modders soon were able to get 500 get as well. I also Remember SF Metrion had IRDA portals, where you could Download a Interactive MAP of the Metrion on your PalmPilot and get Updated Movie Times, Shop INFO and Dineing.

[@bizzzzzzle]

Griffen Sander Someone should interview my graduating class, there was only 90 of us, but I’d say a quarter to a half us had them. We were in a small middle school in Vermont and was the perfect use case, it would have been better but our own school district pushed kids to buy Handspring Visors for “science” because you could attach water testing probes to it, and we were on the shore of Lake Champlain.

[@CrazyTruckinS10]

I had one, and one friend had one. That's it. No one bought them. My would constantly freeze, and with a 30ft range probably just easier to yet at the person. And the "dating" app was a joke. I think in the end it was a joke

[@ExpatsOn2Wheels]

I got one for christmas but i didnt now anyone else who got one.

[@tonytrilex2555]

You are saying it wrong Sie Beh Co

[@tanyagamble1408]

I want one ! Lol