Dude, Where's My Car?

When my family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, last year, one of the biggest adjustments was dealing with city parking. While we usually remember what side of the mall we parked on, there was a time downtown that I couldn't remember what parking garage we used, much less what level or spot. Thankfully, I had the parking ticket in my pocket, which included the address for the particular parking lot we used. Although we had to walk up 15 levels one by one to find the car, at least we knew it was there somewhere!

If you've ever walked around a parking lot wondering if you were the victim of theft, or possibly going senile, Valet is the perfect app for you. It not only remembers the GPS location of your parked car, but it also has a timer to remind you of parking meter timing. Plus, if your car has Bluetooth connectivity, Valet will record where you left your car without any interaction on your part. It just marks the location where Bluetooth disconnected, and it happily guides you back when you've finished spending your paycheck at Teavana in the mall. (Maybe that's just me.)

In fact, Valet fills such a simple yet helpful purpose, it's earned this month's Editors' Choice award. Its automatic tracking based on vehicle Bluetooth is really the feature that puts it over the top for me. It's the best $0.99 I've spent in a while. You can find it at the Google Play store, or check out the Web site: http://valetapp.co.

Shawn is Associate Editor here at Linux Journal, and has been around Linux since the beginning. He has a passion for open source, and he loves to teach. He also drinks too much coffee, which often shows in his writing.

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