Click to viewThe sci-fi dork future has long promised a world of computer interaction and automation in which, the moment you walk into your office, your computer says, "Good morning," shakes your hand, and offers you a cup of coffee. While we haven't yet reached this glorious morning, there's actually a surprising amount of software available—especially for Macs—that offers an impressive range of task automation.


Using network and Bluetooth detection software, you can do things like mount networked drives, set default printers, enable/disable your screensaver, and launch applications based on what networks are available, what network you're connected to, and what Bluetooth devices are in range. Today I'll show you how.


Despite the proliferation of applications out there for Macs that tackle these ideas in one way or another, I'm only going to focus on two: Home Zone (the best I've seen) and previously mentioned Home and Away. (Others include MarcoPolo and Proximity.)

Using these two handy little apps, we can set our computer to do all kinds of really cool things that make our computing lives more secure, simpler, and more fun. There are a lot of different ways that you might be able to set up your computer to do your bidding with Home Zone (and to a lesser extent, Home and Away), so I'm just going to show you a couple of my favorite ways to use them: For proximity-based actions and location-based actions.


Proximity-based actions with Home Zone

What you'll need: First, be sure you've grabbed a copy of Home Zone. Second, you'll need a Bluetooth device that you carry with you—which will most likely be your mobile phone.


Open up Home Zone, which will add a new entry to your menu bar. Using your Bluetooth device, we're going to configure a set of actions that you want to occur every time you walk away from your computer and another set for every time you return to your computer. First, you need to create a new zone (which you do by clicking on the plus sign (+) next to Zones. Then name your zone (I've called mine Proximity actions).


Next head over to the Triggers section and set up a new Bluetooth trigger. Again, hit the plus sign (+) to add a new trigger, then select "Bluetooth device" from the drop-down and click the Select Bluetooth device box to select the Bluetooth device you want to use as your proximity trigger. (If you haven't already set up your Bluetooth device with your computer, you may need to do so before you can find it in the menu.)


Now it's time to have some fun. In the Actions section, you can define a set of actions you want to be performed when your Bluetooth device enters range along with another set of actions to be performed when your device leaves your computer's range. What you set up here is completely up to you, but to give you an idea of how you might be able to use it, here's how I've got it set up.

When I leave my computer, Home Zone:

Enables my screen saver password for an added layer of security

Starts my screen saver

Increases my system volume (This way I can still hear my music when I walk into another room, and if I have any alerts set up, I can hear those, too. However, if you work in a more public setting, you might want to do just the opposite—turn down or even mute your volume when you leave so your computer won't disturb others while you're gone.)


When I return to my computer, Home Zone:


Disables my screen saver password

Stops my screen saver

Decreases my system volume (Again, you might flip this depending on your work setting.)


Handy, huh? Other cool proximity actions you might want to consider include the ability to pause iTunes, lock your Keychain, open files, or synchronize data with iSync.

Location-based actions with Home Zone and Home and Away

In much the same way that you can set up your Bluetooth device to execute proximity-based actions that tether you to your computer, you can set up location-based actions that tether your computer to different networks. Setting up these actions works the same way as they work above with your Bluetooth device (except you'll want to choose a network rather than a Bluetooth device as your trigger. However, the range of actions you might want to use when you connect to a new network opens up new doors. For example, when I leave my home network, I've set Home Zone to:


Set my default printer to my PDF virtual printer (which is normally how I print away from home.)

Mute my system volume (Generally when I travel with my laptop, I prefer it's muted until I tell it otherwise.)


When I return to my home network, Home zone:

Sets my default printer to my networked printer

Unmutes my computer

Other handy actions you might want to execute include launching a file or application or even changing networks (okay, I'm not sure exactly when "change networks" might be a viable option, but there's bound to be a time).


As you can see, there's a lot of potential for how you might use these actions, and there's a lot of room for growth in terms of actions that could be useful in future releases of Home Zone (after all, it's still a beta app). The one killer feature that's still missing from Home Zone, IMHO, is the ability to mount and unmount network volumes. That's why I've also suggested previously mentioned Home and Away, which fills this gap for now by letting you automatically mount network volumes when you connect to specific networks. Fingers crossed that in the future Home Zone will incorporate this feature.

Extending your options

In my examples, I kept things very simple. However, since Home Zone allows you to combine triggers in a variety of ways, you might also consider setting up combinations of proximity- and location-based actions. For example, you may want your proximity actions to behave differently when you're in your home office versus your local coffee shop. Just create a new zone and start combining triggers and get specific.


Your computer may not hand you a cup of coffee when you walk in the door (yet), but it's better than nothing. Windows users, I'm sorry to say that your free options covering the same sort of territory are sorely limited (if available at all—the best I could find was the $30 Net Profile Switch). If you've got any other cool ideas for how you might take advantage of any of these great applications (especially Home Zone), let's hear them in the comments.

Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who patiently awaits his computer-made morning coffee every day to the same disappointing results. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.