
Locale - Straubiz
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/04/locale.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AVc+%28A+VC%29&utm_content=Netvibes
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nuclear_eclipse
I've been using Locale since it was first available for my G1 over two years
ago, and it has never let me down. It's quite honestly _the_ killer app for
Android as far as I am concerned, not only because it's extremely useful, but
because it embodies everything that Android is capable of that Apple has
refused to allow in iOS.

The best part though is that you can download apps from the market that do
nothing but add _even more_ conditions and settings to Locale, such as:
headphones plugged in or not; whether the phone is on a car dock; launching
other programs; lockscreen passwords; and many more.

As an example of what it does for me:

Default settings: Wifi off, Ringer volume 85%, Media volume 70%, Password
Lockscreen on.

At home: Wifi on, Lockscreen off

At work: Wifi on, Ringer volume 0%, Vibrate on

At night (10pm-7am): Ringer volume 0%

Headphones plugged in: Media volume 20%

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nuclear_eclipse
Shameless plug: I ended up writing a full blog post about the topic, and
included more detail and some links to the Locale plugins that I use.

<http://noswap.com/blog/locale/>

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lautis
Locale sounds pretty sweet.

I wish my iPhone would be able to do this too, but it is probably a bit too
much of configuration for Steve. Also, depending on your configuration, it
could lead in breaking the semantics of the physical ringer switch.

For Mac OS X, there is an app which does pretty much what Locale does:
MarcoPolo. I found it very useful when I needed to change SMTP server based on
where I was.

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iaskwhy
Any idea about Windows? Because it seems it doesn't even let you manage
network settings by location like OSX does...

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judofyr
Llama is a great free alternative:
<https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kebab.Llama>

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bhousel
Thanks for that! I think paying $10 for Locale seems a bit much.

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larrik
How so? I'd bet if it worked for your laptop, you'd pay more and use it less
(given that your phone has the potential to ring 24/7)

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bhousel
It's just an app to toggle my wifi settings and change my ringer volume. It's
not enough of a pain point to be worth $10 to me.

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michaelcampbell
No mention of Tasker? It does some bit more than Locale, I believe, and can
even run Locale plugins. Not free, but worth it if you're into phone micro-
management.

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nuclear_eclipse
My biggest complaint with Tasker is that it has no concept of _default
settings_. I've tried Tasker on multiple occasions, and every time I come away
with two frustrations: a) it's way too complex to navigate and configure, and
b) I always end with my phone in some weird configuration state that I don't
want it in, because Tasker doesn't let me set default values.

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warwick
I wrote an OS X app to do this sort of thing a few years ago. At the time, I
just used MAC addresses of routers to determine location. I wish I could write
it for the iPhone, but it's above and beyond what's allowed by the rules.

The holy grail for a laptop was switching your SMTP settings, since a lot of
people use different ISPs at work and at home. That problem goes away with a
phone, but ringer volume seems like a similar level issue for phones. I could
also see doing things like reducing your notifications or changing your lock
settings.

(If you're interested in my software, you can find it at
<http://codehackers.net/locations/>)

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brlewis
I couldn't tell from the Locale web site whether it lets you turn photo
geocoding on/off based on location. My photo sharing site has this ability
server-side, but I've always thought it would be better built into the phone.

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nuclear_eclipse
By default it does not, but if outside applications have access to change your
camera app's settings, then it should be rather straightforward to create a
plugin for Locale that adds a new setting option to handle that.

