JOKE ISSUE: The Francophone Conspiracy: confuse Anglophones

When I moved to Quebec to attend McGill, I knew I would have to learn a little bit of French. I saw this challenge as an exciting opportunity to learn something new – but I never imagined it would be so phenomenally difficult. French is riddled with words that sound exactly alike, yet have completely different meanings.

The recession’s gaming revolution

As midterms finish up and with finals looming on the horizon, it’s your last chance to procrastinate. Many college students are hooked on video games, but most games aren’t friendly to a student budget. With the recession, however, the market is changing, and there are hundreds of high quality games available free of charge.

Car-puccino

Many people drink coffee to wake themselves up in the morning or stay focussed throughout their day. But a team of scientists from BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory have taken the term “running on coffee” to another extreme: they have built a car that runs on coffee rather than gasoline.

First aid for computers, old or new

You’ve probably noticed that as your computer gets older, it seems to slow down. While it is true that newer computers are faster, this is no reason for your older computer to be any slower than the first day you got it. Here are a number of steps that can keep your computer functioning like it’s brand new.

Internet protocol, proxy servers, and possible prison time

When the Internet was invented in the mid-nineties, it presented numerous new challenges to the engineering and computer science world. Never before had so many people been connected through so many links simultaneously. Today, approximately 100 terabytes of information are transferred on the Internet every second, and transmission can be complicated to understand.

Explore the Internet freely

Last week, Google was the victim of intellectual property theft at the hands of a group of sophisticated Chinese hackers. It is unclear who was responsible for the malicious attack, but Google is now considering exiting the Chinese market. Following the attack, the governments of Germany and France issued warnings to citizens to stop using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser.

10 gadgets to look for in 2010

1 USB 3.0 Ever since they were first invented in 2000, USB ports have always been basically the same. That is, until USB 3.0 drives were released. Early models include the Seagate BlackArmor PS110, which transfers data to your computer three times faster than the USB 2.

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue