An Unsolicited Testimonial!

This was sent to us recently by a happy owner of PowerKey Pro. We thought it was such a well-written discussion of PowerKey's capabilities that we wanted to share it on our web site. Sure, it's self-congratulatory hype, but it's honest hype! :-)

Hello!

I received a PowerKey Pro 600 from you folks today, and have had such a blast with it that I wrote the following to an internal mailing list I administer. I thought you might get a kick out of it.

Cheers,
Ben

Hey all!

I just received a PowerKey Pro 600 from Sophisticated Circuits and I thought I would tell you about it. (No, I'm not affiliated with the company.)

Despite my best efforts, occasionally our web server does crash. Looking for a solution to this problem, I asked Ben Harper of Reprahduce how he solved it. (Reprahduce is a very large Mac-only web site hosting firm; among 200+ other sites, they host MacInTouch, which receives millions of hits per day.) He told me about the PowerKey Pro.

At first glance, the device looks like a power strip from the starship Enterprise. It has six standard three-prong power outlets, widely spaced to accommodate big A/C adapters. It also has two standard RJ-11 phone plugs and a special "SCI" port, which looks like an ADB port but with one extra plug. The PowerKey Pro also includes the "PowerKey Editor" software package.

To install the PowerKey, you plug your web server and related peripherals into it, plug the PowerKey into the wall (or, better still, a UPS), then attach the SCI port to your Mac's ADB port using the included Y-cable. Finally, you run the brief software installer.

This is where the fun begins. The PowerKey Editor software allows you to set up various "Events" with which to control the PowerKey and your Mac. By default, the PowerKey is set up to power on your system and peripherals when you hit the power key on your keyboard (which, by the way, it can do even if your Mac doesn't support soft power-on). It also does the reverse, automatically powering off your Mac and peripherals after a system shutdown. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though.

Events can be triggered by many different things, not just the power key on your keyboard. For example, you can define an event that's triggered by a specific time of day, day of the week, or a repeating event. Also supported are events triggered by hot keys or system idle time. With the model 600 (or 200, with the $40 "Server Restart Option"), events can even be triggered when the system crashes!

When an event is triggered, it executes the actions you've defined for it. As you'd expect, you can switch the outlets of the PowerKey on or off (individually, on the 600; the 200 has less control), but you can also restart, execute an AppleScript or QuicKey function, wait for some period of time, launch an application or file, even simulate the typing of keystrokes.

Finally, I mentioned the phone ports of the PowerKey above. Events can be triggered by the phone ringing, or even by a predefined series of telephone tones heard over the speaker. This is the best part to me, because it means I can control my Mac from any telephone, anywhere in the world! I just dial up the PowerKey and enter the appropriate code, to restart the machine, turn off the monitor, or run any AppleScript.

So, I've set up my PowerKey to monitor my server, and restart it if it crashes; monitor the phone line, answer it if it rings (the PowerKey also supports the phone company's "Distinctive Ring" option), and restart the server when it hears my secret password over the phone; even power down the monitor when the system is idle. If I wanted to, I could even use the PowerKey Editor software for non-power related things, like running a specified AppleScript when I hit Ctrl-Apple-Option-Y.

I'm really looking forward to using the PowerKey more, especially on those rare occasions when I get a panicked alpha page at 7:45 AM: "SERVER DOWN BOSS PISSED WHERE ARE YOU?!?" "No problem," I'll think, "it'll restart itself, and if it doesn't I can do it over the phone while I brush my teeth."

Combined with a remote control package like Timbuktu Pro, the PowerKey offers total, ironclad control of a remote Macintosh, even if it crashes.

If you run a Macintosh web server, I highly recommend you check out this product; see <HTTP://WWW.SOPHISTICATED.COM/> for more information. I apologize about the length of this message: I get talkative when I'm excited. ;)

Best regards,
Ben Kimball
Intranet Web Developer
Motorola CTASD, Austin, TX