Two Sites: Lots of Product for Little Money

We're all always looking for great things for cheap on the web, right? Well, if you haven't heard of them let me tell you about 37signals and CoffeeCup Software.

I've actually been using Coffee Cup for about a year now on Foxtrot's site. Here's a sample of their nifty form builder product at work. It doesn't take long to get working, and it does work. I've also purchased the RSS news program, though it stopped working on our site due to a change to a PHP setting at our host (working on that!). Their whole philosophy is so simple: 1) sell decent software cheaply ($20-30 for most titles), 2) provide prompt e-mail support, and 3) never require customers to pay for an upgrade of a product they've already purchased. When you buy the product, you get access to a download site where they control which programs your login is able to retrieve, but you're always able to retrieve the latest of the ones you've purchased.

37signals is a site I'm still exploring. I've delved a little into basecamp, the online project management and collaboration site, as well as backpack, a nifty little online organizer. Ever wanted a quick web whiteboard to communicate something to a person in another location? How about 37signals' writeboard? Now that's providing value!! They've also got a book out, and some blogs that I'll probably subscribe to.

Chime in if there are sites that you find interesting . . .

Intel's Built-in PC Remote Control

It's been out on the market for a while now, but it seems Intel's vPro technology might finally be appearing on more businesses' radar screens.

Short summary of the technology: it's an embedded technology on select Intel motherboards. It requires Intel's new Q35 chipset, a Core 2 Duo Processor and Intel 10/100/1000 Networking (though the LAN does not need to be running Gigabit). It allows BIOS-level remote access - basically KVM via IP. Unlike most other protocols (MS Terminal Services, VNC, etc.), it does not require a functional OS.

Here are four of my favorite features about the technology:

1) Remote diagnostic and control for failing system. Since vPro does not require a functional OS, RAM and hard drive failures can still be diagnosed remotely. This is very handy for Foxtrot, as we have several customers for whom we do on-site hardware support . . . so it allows us to know what to bring before we even move our wheels to go on-site.

2) Remote wake-up. Remote control capability is great - except when they're off!! vPro provides a slick interface for sending a wake-on-LAN signal to start a computer up. It'll be a nice energy saver to let end users turn their computers off at the end of the day, knowing that the computer can be woken up for updates, patches and other middle-of-the-night maintenance . . . and then shut back down.

3) OS Agnostic. Because it runs at the BIOS level, it does not matter whether the system is running Windows, Linux, or whatever. The software just sends whatever's on the screen, regardless of the bits on the back-end.

4) Remote image deployment. vPro can be used to deploy an image from an image repository to a desktop that may have become corrupted or needed to have its hard drive replaced. It's kind of like old PXE boot, but with the ability to control and execute the boot from a remote location.

We have a reasonably-priced vPro-compatible config posted and ready for purchase. And of course we'll help with the vPro setup for those who require assistance. Call or e-mail for more info.