About a week ago, someone asked me if iConsole would support VPN. I paused and answered flatly that yes, it would in an upcoming release… but the pause wasn’t to come up with an answer.

The real question that came to my mind wasn’t “will iConsole support VPN?” Instead, I read that question as “how should we implement VPN to make sure it isn’t three cryptic letters, that the ordinary consumer doesn’t understand?”

VPN is a great example of a technology that shouldn’t be limited to the tech savvy. It can do a lot of amazing stuff that the Web 2.0 groupies simply can’t handle. But even explaining the notion of a VPN tunnel, spanning across the information superhighway, is something that the ordinary end-user simply doesn’t grasp. That’s okay, they shouldn’t have to.

So yes, iConsole will handle VPN. But, the tough question is how to deliver VPN in a way that wows the tech-savvy, and gives the ordinary consumer a tool that they can add to their life that improves their tech world. That’s what we’ll be working on after we ship iConsole for HTPC Alpha 1.

Until then, I’d love to hear what you like about VPN, and what exciting things you’d like to see iConsole do with it.

I want to get one thing out of the way, yes, we are testing the waters with car news. And, we will be testing the waters by rocking the boat on Pontiac. Hey, if we can make Sony Ericsson sell 10,000 T608 phones, pushing for 50,000 cars annually shouldn’t be too hard, right?

We’ve got the car people, we’ve got the tech people, and we know how to make bad decisions sting enough to reverse them.

First, after being told by great leaders that GM wouldn’t be managed by the government, then it was. Then government started telling GM how to act. GM wanted to keep Pontiac a niche brand, and the government said it wasn’t eco-friendly-small-car-ish enough for “New GM.”

No, I’m not holding a grudge, can’t speak for the rest of the staff though. But, we are going to circle the wagons and get Pontiac customers to stay in the GM fold. GM is a good company, it shouldn’t fall apart because of some really bad decisions in the past. Do we expect Pontiac to come back tomorrow? Nope. But, we do expect to get enough customers backing GM through the rough patch. When GM gets back on its feet, we expect them to sell what their customers want to buy.

Case-in-point, even six months after being killed off, interest in the Pontiac G8 continues to spike past the Chevy Camaro (per Google Trends). Granted this was after Bob Lutz commented that the G8 has a chance yet again of becoming a Chevy Caprice. But, it shows that America’s lone sport car brand needs to fit somewhere in the GM landscape.

To be honest, I don’t care too much how GM makes it work, and that’s a sentiment around the office. The public has come up with a lot of ideas over the past six months that GM hasn’t answered… tactily admitting they didn’t/couldn’t/were-prohibited from thinking these ideas through. From offering Pontiac as a sport-tuned option, to selling them as a sub-brand of Buick, there are lots of choices there.

Finally, look at Holden. They’re selling $1,000 Pontiac options left and right on three of their most popular models. That’s $1,000 customers in America, the home of Pontiac, would be willing to pony up. The company that invented E-REV technology will, at some point, have to give up on hiding behind fuel economy regulations, and give sport car buyers what they want.

And we’ll be doing what we do best; informing while organizing the community to get what customers want.

ETA? After iConsole Alpha 1.

This is a great case study in explaining new technology to new users.

Apple’s glass trackpad makes a lot of sense to people that have been using trackpads for years. Whenever I hand someone a MacBook with one… they take a look at it and are perplexed… sometimes scared.

But then I tell them to just “click the trackpad” and they instantly get it. So, here’s the problem: what happens if you’ve never “clicked the trackpad”. What if you’re a new user to computers completely? Yes, new people are coming into the world every day, and I would hate to be someone young encountering Apple’s glass trackpad.

Here’s why. When I was five years old, I was playing around with Macintosh Basics. This was a Macromedia Shockwave app (yes, I’m dating myself) that Apple included with later-model Macintosh II models. Basically, it taught you how to use a computer for the first time… right down to mouse basics. I still want to feed the goldfish again (at the time, clicking a fish food icon and having it give an animation of feeding a fish on the screen was really exciting).

The glass trackpad though works as if you’ve been using a non-glass trackpad for years. The gestures act as if there’s an invisible line across the lower third of the trackpad’s surface.

Don’t believe me? Try it. Take two fingers and use them in a scrolling motion on the top of the surface. Then, take a third finger and click the top of the trackpad. Notice, right-click commands fail unless you apply the third finger on the lower third of the trackpad… where the button used to be.

I know, you’re probably thinking… who cares. Well, Apple prides itself in being “human”. They’re the company that made multi-touch after all. I think this is an indication that Apple wants to move away from the trackpad altogether.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple wants to move the Mac OS X experience in the next version, to a multi-touch gesture oriented approach. I would be more surprised if the next version of Mac OS X didn’t make the mouse, trackpad, and keyboard a completely optional experience.

It seems like a good year since we unveiled Project Full Circle… back in September.

Since then, a lot has happened, but today marks the first day that you can sign up to tap into all that R&D that we’ve been brewing up over the past couple of years.

So, without further ado, head on over to iConsole.vg and sign up for the iConsole for HTPC alpha release. First come, first served when we start seeding it next month to users.

And, as usual, I love to hear what you think about every step of the way. Post back what you think about iConsole.vg and the signup process!

Semi-cross post from MechaWorks.com…

We’re taking the wraps off of iConsole.vg ahead of the alpha signup wave that will start on January 20th. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

A funny thing happened at Sprint’s CES invite-only event tonight. Online media after online media were conveniently left off the list… after receiving personal invitations.

It’s pretty clear what happened here. Dan Hesse was there, and someone realized that online journalists and bloggers would ask tough questions. PhoneNews.com has lost count of the number of times we’ve asked for interviews with Mr. Hesse. We’ve even gone as far as to ask repeatedly starting several months before an event.

At tonight’s debacle, we provided our PhoneNews.com and Newsroom Network credentials. I even showed them the emails where we RSVPed (in two separate emails, no less). But, to no avail. After wasting an hour (yes, a full 60 minutes in transit, walking, and waiting) of our time, they decided to hold a “separate but equal” event for the online media, sans all the stuff they didn’t want us to have access to.

Anyone who can recall what happened to the African American community, knows how separate but equal fails miserably. We won’t be going. Back in 2008, the CEA tried to relegate CES online media as merely “bloggers”, but backed down after just one year, letting journalists choice their identities and accommodations.

Now, in the past, Newsroom Network had a “morons of the show” award. And, technically, we still do. But, instead, I’m going to try something different this year.

Instead of aborting all coverage of Sprint at CES, we’re going to cover them. But, we’re also asking for them and Stanton Communications (the people that managed this debacle) for a formal apology.

We don’t really care where it’s posted, say the @Sprint twitter feed, or on Stanton’s or Sprint’s PR web sites. Doesn’t really matter… we’re not asking for grandstanding, simply a note that they dropped the ball and won’t do it again.

And we’ll keep reminding them of this, slowly posting this from one site, to twitter feed, to the next. Even on places where it doesn’t quite make sense… spreading the word until it clicks in people’s minds.

Because, that’s our job at Newsroom Network, to inform so companies improve. Other members of the media just take it… we don’t. It’s why we report and advocate to the consumer, and when companies waste hour(s) of our time… we have to hold them to account, no different from when they waste your time.

… When it doesn’t work.

While reinventing CentralGadget.com as TechNews.biz (yeah, that’s the new name for the site), I found that the categories on the site had been screwed up.

This is part of the problem with delegation at times. The old adage, if you want something done right, do it yourself, is impossible at a startup. It just doesn’t work all of the time, because you want to do everything yourself, and that’s impossible… there’s too much work to do.

But, when you do assign the task back to the person that screwed it up, it can wind up taking more time. Worse, the person that did the work (in this case) was a flakey freelancer that bolted long ago.

In short, this is one of the problems with a startup, more than it is with delegating in and of itself. Even when you have working sites, and profits coming in, you still wind up having to do stuff that you wish you could delegate away with confidence. Unfortunately, the people that you have placed confidence in, usually have their plates full… it falls back on you to do it.

This past week I’ve run into quite a few people looking to start their own startups. I try to personalize what I wrote above to them, because most of the time you can tell instantly that they just don’t have what it takes. Part of being an effective delegator in a startup, means being able to pour every waking moment into getting the job done, until it is done. It doesn’t matter who screwed it up, your team has to be willing to do that… or they probably shouldn’t be working at a startup, and especially not leading one.

I’m starting to get really sick and tired of the Ad Council. I know for decades they did nothing but good… but they keep spreading misinformation in their modern ads. It’s time to put my foot down.

Their latest “credit fairy” ads argue that you can best improve your credit by “only opening new (lines of credit) when you need them.”

This actually is totally incorrect in the modern world of credit. Congress has banned universal default, which means that your credit scores (such as FICO) will improve by opening new lines of credit. Your debt to credit ratio decreases, and thus, your credit score increases.

With credit card companies closing cards left and right, be proactive. Don’t listen to the Ad Council, and find a new credit card with no annual fee. Listen to a real consumer advocate, and take some initiatve to improve your score.

Note that opening new lines of credit does cause a short term (and minor) reduction in scores like FICO, however, the long term benefit of having more available credit typically offsets (and overshadows) that within mere weeks. For example, opening a new credit card will usually increase your FICO score more than the ding for a credit check.

Hi everyone, another week long blogging break with-a-purpose. I’m happy to announce that as of midnight, Newsroom Network is formally spun-off from MechaWorks.

Now, there’s still a lot of work to do, from removing MechaWorks logos and names, to setting up Newsroom Network’s new homepage. Because of the looming CES and related events, much of that work may take up to a month or possibly longer to complete.

Until then, I’ll be posting most announcements for Newsroom Network on my own blog. I’m staying on as network president, so that shouldn’t be much of a change for everyone.

I’ve seen at least a dozen companies within the past month lock down their Facebook walls.

As if Facebook didn’t need any more issues, after their latest privacy meltdown… here comes something else. In case you were living under a rock, Facebook decided to capitalize on everyone’s profile on search engines. They did so by presenting users with a Privacy Wizard. Users that “skipped” the wizard, unknowingly unlocked all privacy options, putting their entire profile up for view.

Well, here’s the new debacle. Companies (a key revenue generator for Facebook) are locking down their walls. Ordinary fans can continue to post comments (hidden replies that require multiple clicks to appear). But, fans can’t make new threads on the company’s wall.

Two big culprits that I’ve seen are General Motors and Sega. However, there are many, many more. I suspect this was the call of a couple of social media companies that manage dozens… if not hundreds of company blogs.

Facebook needs to step in here and explain that this won’t work in the long run. It turns off fans from interacting with the company’s wall, and thus, Facebook in general.

I know Facebook has taken pride in giving more control over access to people’s walls, but this is just going to hurt Facebook, and if they can’t force companies to have open walls… they can at least work to head off such lockdowns. If I were Facebook, I’d be calling some social media managers right now.