My 6 year old daughter is doing a project at school about planets and the solar system so I decided to do a bit of reading up on it. Most people will have heard about Polaris or the Pole Star and know that it's the easiest way to find North on a clear night without  compass. But would you know where to look?  I didn't but now I do.

If you know how to find Ursa Major (The Plough, Big Dipper, Saucepan, etc) then it's easy to find North by looking for Polaris.

Have a look at the image below and you'll see.

Don't get me wrong: I love apple.  We've got 2 Mac laptops, and oldish G5, 2 iMacs, iPod Touch and an iPod 80gb.  Oh, and there's an eMac in the loft which I can't bear to get rid of as it was my first Mac and the one that converted me and WILL get converted into a Maquarium when I've got the time.  When my phone contract ends I'll be getting an iPhone.

You get the picture.  I like Macs.

But... I have to say that I'm not sure about the iPad.  I'm not sure about Apple's argument about netbooks. They're saying that they are a poor 3rd option between laptops and small handheld mobile devices.  Yes, they are.  But I'm not convinced that the iPad is going to do any better.  My feeling is that people either want small, discreet devices like iPod Touches, iPhones and other PDA type devices, or they want a laptop.  I don't think there is room for anything in the middle.  Apple say that netbooks don't do anything well.  I say it's the concept that doesn't do anything well.  The best thing for the iPad would be a couple of USB sockets to connect a keyboard and mouse. Wait a minute, then we have a badly conceived laptop with a small screen that won't stand up.

It just doesn't stack up for me as far as useability is concerned.  Also, mouseover the image below:

Steve Jobs with the iPad

That was the first thing I thought when I saw Steve holding it up like that.  I know it's not a phone but the iPhone is SO iconic and this looks too much like it for my money.  I could be very wrong. I said that no search engine would ever steal the market share from Alta Vista.  Google?  What sort of a name is that!

 

Shopping in Tesco today for the office coffee (review to follow!), I went to the self-service checkouts as I only had 3 items.  So, there are 2 checkouts on the left and 2 on the right separated by a desk with a woman who watches the progress of the 4 checkouts in case something goes wrong.

I got in the queue for the left hand pair and a woman and a man were queing on the right hand side. Not between the 2 pairs, definitely for the right hand pair.

Woman: Excuse me, the queue's here!

Me: Sorry, I thought you were queing for the ones on that side.

Woman: No, you get in the queue for whichever one's free first.

So I did, as I didn't want to cause a scene.

I thought "I know where you spend most of your time queing: McDonalds".  Whoever heard of queing like that in a supermarket?  WITCH!

Anyway, even waiting behind here and the other bloke I still beat them both through.

Kenya AA Roast and Ground Coffee - Tesco Finest Range

What they say:

This light, full-boddied aromatic coffee is made from 100% Arabica beans originating from Kenya. It has a fruity aroma and a zesty tang from its citrus flavours

Kenyan coffee is grown above 6000 feet in Nyeri which is located east of the Rift Valley close to Mount Kenya. This high elevation ensures Kenya produces relatively small amounts of coffee which makes it famous for its quality and consistency.

Strength Rating: 2

What we found:

Right from the start we new we were onto a winner.  It wasn't expensive and we were expecting something a little bitter from this own brand filter coffee.  The smell isn't as strong as you get with some filter coffees but the taste is fantastic. It is really smooth with no bitterness at all, even when left brewing for the recommended 10 minutes. It has quite a light, sweet flavour and, as one who takes sugar, I found it was also very good just with a dash of milk.

We were using 1 heaped tablespoon per person, warning the pot and using water 10 or 20 seconds after it had boiled. We then left it for 10 minutes before pushing the plunger down and then giving it a further 2 or 3 minutes.  You get a perfect cup, just right for drinking.

It's the end of the day here and nothing really of note has passed today so I thought I would just  give a brief list of the things that I've done today...

1.  Completed building the navigation for one website after Claire did the content last week

2.  Reinstalled the support ticket system for www.contractshopper.co.uk

3.  Plenty of phonecalls and e-mails replied to

4.  Setup the hosting and installed the CMS along with appropriate modules for a new site that we're doing.

Looking at the schedule for this week, it's all looking quite good.  I'm certainly getting on top of everything and, more importantly, I'm still managing to keep to the resolutions I made at the beginning of the year.  This means we're seeing big improvements to customer service and the way that we handle projects which is the main goal for 2010.  We know that we're good at design, we know we're good at development and we know we're good at building complete solutions for businesses. We're very good at everything we have to offer; it's just the processes we follow that we want to get perfect now.  We're getting there!

I had a meeting with a couple of guys this morning, one is an entrepreneur who has an idea, the other is working with him as a consultant/business advisor. The entrepreneur has come up with an idea that is chucking the gauntlet down at the feet of a big internet player.  I can't go into detail as I have to respect his confidentially.

My gut feeling is that he's backing a horse that hasn't arrived at the track when the race is already half way finished.  It could be a very nice project but I don't know if I'm convinced enough to take his money and still be able to sleep at night.

The niggling voice in my mind remembers when Alta Vista had a larger market share as a percentage than Google have today and people said that they'd never get overtaken.  I can also remember developing a site as a personal project to allow people and estate agents to advertise property to rent or let.  It was called Homes From Home and it worked brilliantly. The problem was that there was a site called UK Property Gold that were ahead of me in the game and I thought they couldn't be beaten.  Along came Asserta who stole the market and had TV adverts and all sorts.  I slapped myself and thought that they would have the market forever.  Enter Rightmove.

The internet's short history is littered with the bodies of these outfits who may just have become complacent and then suffered for it.

The question in my mind is can the likes of Google, Ebay, Facebook, Twitter, etc, ever be reeled in and overtaken?

The problem nowadays is that people forget that most of these sites were started by one person working in their bedroom for nothing and it's taken years to get to the point where they are today.  Years of 1 man becoming 2, 2 becoming 4 and so on. These sites have evolved. How much manpower would you need to duplicate something like Ebay down to the last detail?  Not through evolution but by starting with a completely blank sheet of paper.  And then to be able to market it with sufficient force to get people to swap their loyalty from Ebay to Fbay.  Could it be done?  The internet might not be completely mature but it's certainly gone through puberty and the spots are starting to clear up as people habits become more entrenched.

Now even if you had a completely original idea that was a cast iron guarantee for success I'd think you'd struggle unless you had a massive budget. If your idea was that good then someone big, like Google, would pounce on the idea as soon as you went live and throw enough resources at it to sink you with something bigger and better than you could ever afford to.  Then they'd market it to the billions of people that use them every day and it would cost them nothing.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic about the whole thing.  Maybe I've seen so many crazy ideas that I can't see a good idea when it comes along. Whichever it is, I think this guy will go ahead with the idea and he has the energy to make a good fist of it, I think.

My day yesterday started at 5.30 when I left home to drive to a potential client in North London.  It was the second meeting to get the project under way.  It was a hellish drive up there in the pouring rain.  Then it dawned on me that the positive thing to think was that at least the rain was washing the snow away!

Anyway, I got there at 7.45am and had a meeting for a couple of hours.  We went through several sites that they liked in detail which was the best move to getting things going.

At the end of the meeting the deal was done!

So I'm happy to say that I've won 2 new projects this week that will make a great contribution to this month's target; over 50% in fact.

I spent the afternoon briefing Claire about the design ideas that they wanted and making sure that we're on schedule with the work that we have on for next week.  Things are very busy at the moment and the only way I feel I can keep on top of it is to make frequent, small adjustments to our course.  I think this is the way forward for us as a business at the moment.  We're running very lean, staff wise, and there's no slack in our resources to allow a project to move forward unless it's bang on track.

This is how I feel about 2010 at the moment after a week of changing some of the procedures we use and the policies I have for business:

• We entered 2010 carrying the same baggage as we left 2009 with
• We can now say that we had problems LAST year
• There is a lot that I can't change or that will take time to change
• The one thing that I can change immediately and affect my business is my attitude

There's a guy I know who once told me that he'd rather stay at home and do nothing that work a day for less than he thought he was worth. You have to be brave to do that but it makes an enormous amount of sense when you think about it!

Another very spooky day for my stars today as this pretty much says exactly what I was planning to do when I was going through some projects last night.

Being creative may be quite exciting now, especially if you establish a work flow that you can sustain. Although your head may be filled with good ideas today, you aren't very interested in making a one-time splash. Save the showy presentation for another day; instead, be satisfied with impressing others by demonstrating your determination to complete what you begin.

2 out of 2 for Justin Levine who does the stars for Google. I don't usually bother with this sort of thing but they've been so close the last 2 days that it got me interested:

Focus on what is right in front of you today instead of worrying about what's coming up next. It's challenging for you to ignore the larger view, yet trying to map out the next month or so only leads to frustration. Take a leap of faith and trust that you'll have a better chance of reaching your goals if you narrow your thinking now and concentrate your efforts on the present moment.

Today has been a day of preparation and planning.  It's a new year and I'm putting in new procedures and policies about the way that we work and the type of projects we undertake.

I've seen a few companies buckle under the weight of the recession and disappear leaving small businesses in the lurch for hosting and e-mail. It can be terrifying for a small business that relies on e-mail and has very little technical knowledge when their web company goes bust and they have to arrange to get their site and e-mail working with another provider.  We've taken on a few of these in the last year and I find it hard to appreciate, sometimes, that not everyone can set up a website and hosting when they need to move quickly.

I have to be honest and say that 2009 wasn't a great year for us either.  We peaked at 12 members of staff and have had to make cuts.  BUT... the most important thing is that we're still here and we're in a very stable position.  What it's done for me is focus me on the type of projects that I want to undertake and how best to deal with them.

Content Management System based websites that just allow people to have a well designed site with the control to edit it themselves is our core business and we can do it with our eyes closed.  Anything from this up to a relatively complex e-commerce is the type of thing we can do week in and week out.  With jobs like this we can provide a fantastic service and this is the type of work we want for 2010.

So, new year, new site and also some new project management software that is integrated with the content management system on our website.  I've just been getting to grips with it today and entering all the outstanding work that we have at the moment as we still have quite a hill to climb to complete some of the legacy projects which are left from last year.

Still, all in all, I'd rather be here with a busy month ahead than not be here at all!