Free Wi-Fi has become a useful tool for cafes looking to compete with Starbucks, as a story in the Trib notes. The Grind cafe in Lincoln Square offers a free hook-up (you really should buy something if you’re going to sit there for a while) while the mega-coffee chain across the street has a service plan that charges between $10 and $30 (?!?). Is that right, they really charge that much? Not sure how that works, but good for The Grind, we need more of them than Starbucks.

Another great place with free Wi-Fi is Cafe De Luca in Bucktown, where I spent yesterday morning drinking coffee and laptopping. Support these local cafes and keep the chains from homogenizing every last piece of real estate in Chicago!