Cafe owner asks patrons to log off, talk: "A North Oakland cafe is trying something revolutionary this weekend. It's not fat-free croissants or half-price lattes.
The owner is asking customers to leave their laptops at home and actually speak to each other.
'When we opened this place we wanted to create a community. Instead it's just been a room full of laptops,' said Sal Bednarz, who opened Actual Cafe six weeks ago on San Pablo Avenue. 'I don't have anything against technology, but it's not the same as looking someone in the eye and pressing the flesh.'
From 8 a.m. today through 8 p.m. Sunday, patrons who flip open their laptops will be asked to unplug, sign off and log out. They'll be encouraged to sit at communal tables and chat.
Customers, when pried away from their computer screens Friday afternoon, said they were thrilled at the idea. They said they're tired of their laptops, iPods and cell phones, too.
'When I get away from the computer, it's a relief,' said Genevieve Walker, a graphic designer who often spends two or three hours in cafes tapping away on her laptop.
Dan Beyer, the only person at the cafe not with a laptop Friday, said he was looking forward to meeting his fellow cafe denizens.
'Laptops cut people off,' said Beyer, an artist. 'I think it forms a social divide. Technology's great, but there's a serious social impact.'
Actual Cafe is not alone in its disenchantment with laptops. Up the street, Nomad Cafe - which when it opened seven years ago billed itself as an 'Internet cafe' - has reduced the number of electrical outlets to one."
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