Ready, Aye, Ready

Link: http://www.iogear.com/product/GCN1000/

Every now and again you see a piece of kit and think "Oh, cool"; and then when you read the real specifications you find that it's just not going to work for what you had in mind.

A good example is the IOGear PCPortal. The idea is an excellent one: create a ethernet aware gadget that can act as a relay for the screen and input devices so that a computer can be completely run remotely. There are some things that cannot be done via programs like VNC or RemoteDesktop such as BIOS settings, maintaining operating systems that lack them or even troubleshooting a system that refuses to boot properly. This little box can do that.

However, the big downside is this: it has to be a desktop with an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. Integrated systems like laptops or iMacs don't get to apply: no external connections and there's nothing for this little tool to work with. Alas, pretty much all the people I know who could benefit from this little gizmo use those types of devices, rendering it useless.

Sniff.

(Via Gizmodo)