(2016 Update: Links are dead)

Those at the University of Calgary with laptops know that there is a public wireless network available for students. It’s unencrypted, but requires a login through a portal before internet services are provided. I found that whenever I moved between classes or left my laptop off for more than half an hour, I had to login again, which is not very efficient if you have to do it five times a day. What if you only had to do it once? What if you had a program to do it automatically for you?

Someone undoubtedly thought of this, and created Devicescape. A multi-platform application that will automatically log you into (certain) wireless networks, one of which is the UofC network. It’s simple to use, just hop over to their site and download the Devicescape client. Sign up for an account, load up your airUC credentials, and the program will do the rest. As soon as your device connects to airUC, Devicescape will login within seconds, allowing you to skip loading the login page in your browser.

One of the best parts is how well it integrates with your OS. On OS X, it sits in the menubar and notifies you when it is logged in or out. No dialogs, no preference pane, no clunky application. It also runs on most mobile devices, take a look at the list to see if yours is supported. Be sure to also check that the networks you want to connect to are supported as well.