Where’s the Tech?
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Safety
If you just got a new laptop or a new phone, you’ll probably want to keep it safe. First thing you do is: Never! Ever! Leave your belongings unattended! This includes relatively safe-seeming public areas like quiet cafés, and insane madhouses like Concordia’s libraries during exams. It’s not uncommon to hear of people who have had their laptops pulled right out of their bags as they were drinking coffee, none the wiser. If you want to take the extra step and spend a few bucks to protect your gear, there are a ton of things you can do. Cable locks are an easy and basic solution for all laptops, but if you’d prefer something more discrete, there are devilishly handy apps like Prey (preyproject.com) that can track down your lost/stolen smartphone or laptop.
Free Public Wi-Fi
Don’t feel like writing your paper in your bedroom? There are plenty of places on and around campus that will get you access to some free, delicious wireless internet. First off, every Concordia building has Wi-Fi for students, and now that we’re in the 21st century, every Second Cup, Café Depot and Starbucks (You can’t drop your knapsack around here without hitting one of these) does too. A brand-new worldwide service named Eduroam also allows you to have internet access on the campus of other universities around town. Participating Montreal schools include Concordia, McGill, Université de Montréal, École Polytechnique and HEC Montreal. Eduroam allows you to connect to their Networks the same way you would at Concordia.
Computers
If you’re in need of a computer, you can head to the IITS Computer Labs, located at both the downtown (Hall Building, ninth floor) and Loyola (Central Building, second floor) campuses. If you’re a Fine Arts student, you can also pay the CDA lab fee and gain access to their fancy computer labs. Here, you get server space with which to store things, and you can host websites on it too. If you’re a gamer and you’re looking for a quick StarCraft 2 fix between classes—and the school connection is preventing you from
playing a game without disconnecting—you can head over to Neo Internet Café (1839 Ste. Catherine St. W., Suite 110) or Le Net (1684 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.).
*Apps
If you have an iPhone or Android phone and you’re looking from some sweet apps to help you get around town or just do your work, here are six crucial apps that’ll run you under six crucial dollars between the lot of them:
Epic Win by Supermono Limited, is an app that turns your daily to-do list into an adventure game! You gain video-game-esque experience points for completing otherwise-mundane tasks. Buying toilet paper has never been so exhilarating. ($2.99. Available for iPhone).
Drink Owl gives you a daily listing of the bar specials in Montreal (or any other major city), so you can get your drink on in the most technologically enhanced, cash-efficient manner possible. One caveat, though: it will not tell you about the high skeeviness level of a given bar’s average patrons. (Free. Available for iPhone and Android.)
Dictionary.com’s Dictionary & Thesaurus app is, well… It’s a dictionary. For all those tip-of-your-tongue moments, or when you want to figure out whether you’re being insulted or complimented by the guy in the back of your class in the beret and black turtleneck. (Free. Available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry.)
The Societé de Transport de Montréal’s official app, STM Mobile, allows you to check the bus or metro schedule from your phone. Which is nice to have when it’s February, 20 below, and you’re at a stop whose schedule has been vandalized beyond readability. ($0.99 Available for iPhone.)
The mighty WolframAlpha app combines knowledge with computational powers to give you solutions to virtually any math problem that could ever exist, ever. Highly recommended if you need answers fast. ($1.99 Available for iPhone and Android.)
Allrecipes.com’s Dinner Spinner is the app you need if you a) have a kitchen, and b) are willing/brave enough to cook more than just Ramen noodles. (Free. Available for iPhone and Android.)
