MyKiosk internet terminal review

The idea behind MyKiosk isn’t all that complicated, nor is it all that new; internet cafés have been around for quite a while now, and if you’re familiar with how those operate, you’ll already have a pretty good idea of how these terminals will work.

The difference is, of course, that these internet stations are completely self-service, and make use of per-minute, pre-paid billing.

In theory, these kiosks are primed to be set up in public spaces such as airports, shopping malls and places of learning – where public users will be provided access to the internet for browsing, e-mail, Instant Messaging and video streaming.

MyKiosk

In theory, this sounds like a really good idea: providing an access point to the online world in areas where the internet isn’t readily available, or where you’re hurriedly making your way to a destination and pulling out your laptop and 3G modem isn’t a viable option.

In theory, the potential for some pretty cool ventures is right here.

In reality, there is still a lot of work to be done to establish a concrete direction for this project, because the demo model we were given to play around with didn’t feature any of the “potentials” we were told about.

How it works

The kiosks are connected to the MyKiosk network via an ADSL line feeding into the machine, or via 3G connection; from there they communicate with the central servers which control access and keep tabs on the status of each terminal.

Access to the kiosk works on a pre-paid system – you feed bank notes into the machine (with it accepting a minimum of R10) and it provides you with the equivalent value in access time at a rate of R1 per minute. There is also an option to pay with your credit card. R30 is the minimum payment.

Once the machine has processed your money, it gives you a unique access code, which will allow you to log back into the service if you log out or let your session expire due to inactivity without using up all of your access time.

And that’s it – you then have access to the internet and almost everything that comes with it.

MyKiosk

Design and functionality

The metal terminal frames a 17-inch monitor and is designed to take up very little space.

Granted, standing in the MyBroadband office it’s entirely noticeable and invasive – but in public spaces it would be less intrusive than, say, a telephone booth.

The entire thing feels pretty sturdy and allows for the terminal to be bolted down to the spot, wherever it’s placed. The money box into which you feed cash has a special design feature where, we’re told, even if you pry open the front of the machine, the cash is inaccessible.

We didn’t have a crowbar on-hand to test that out.

MyKiosk

The metal keyboard is durable and functional, but not very graceful – with typing and navigation not exactly feeling “smooth” at all – again comparable with the metal number pads on public phones.

Then there’s the scrolling ball, which replaces a conventional mouse (which would naturally be subject to thievery and abuse on a public terminal) with a large metal ball to control the cursor on screen.

Everything about the physical design is built to last and survive through heavy traffic use; which makes sense as these are public terminals. MyKiosk is built for functionality, not luxury.

MyKiosk

Using MyKiosk

When it comes to reviewing something like MyKiosk, the idea goes beyond just looking at the hardware, though – we also have to put the software to good use.

So naturally, we tried to break it.

Running MyBroadband’s speed tests, the kiosk’s 3G connection clocked in local download speeds of 3.41mbps and international speeds of 3.01mbps, with uploads failing intermittently – sometimes they went through, other times not.

Even though the guys at MyKiosk assured us that the protection software on the demo model was running; simply typing “porn” into Google and clicking on the first 5 links on the results page gave us full, unblocked access to all the smut one could ever need.

Whether this was an oversight on the part of MyKiosk, or the Open-DNS they are currently testing, we cannot say; but because of this, we couldn’t test what the final status of those preventative measures would be.

The demo model had downloads blocked, which really worked in its favour. Considering the inability to block adult material, I’m pretty certain that, were we able to, we would have been able to download and run a plethora of damaging files.

The final version, we are told, will allow for temporary downloads. Whether this ends up being exploitable by malicious users or not, we’re unable to say.

As it stands, though, we were unsuccessful in our attempts to break the software – which is a good thing.

MyKiosk

Potential

The biggest point about the kiosks is that they are full of “potential” – which is an unquantifiable entity that we can’t actually review.

Each possible addition to the machine could “potentially” fix exploits – such as effective IP control to protect users from harmful content; or they could “potentially” open up entirely new ones – such as adding a USB port allowing users to upload and execute potentially harmful programs.

Even gripes like standing uncomfortably, hunched over a terminal for 20 minutes at a time, can be “potentially” rebutted and appended with the addition of a simple seat.

In the end, we can only review what we were given – and at the core, the MyKiosk terminal does what it sets out to do.

The hardware is functional, and if you’re on the move and want to check e-mail, send a friend an IM or simply kill 10 minutes and R10 by streaming a YouTube clip, then this is where you could do it.

As for the “potential” – well that’s an entirely different discussion altogether.

MyKiosk