The last week and a bit has been a mixture of triumph and disaster.

I was away in Aberdeen from Friday until Wednesday, staying in a castle with no mobile phone reception so I couldn't do a great deal which was a bit of a disaster, but quite nice.

However, just before I went away, 4 of our sites got hacked and it's cost us around £3000 in lost productivity trying to pin the vulnerability down and fix the sites.  These were quite old sites using a third party extension that allowed the hackers access to change the content of files and redirect visitors to some dodgy site in Mexico.  Luckily, there was a configuration setting on the server that we could change to stop them.  This setting is turned on by default on just about every server out there and is quite obscure.  If anyone is interested then they can contact me and I'll tell them what the problem is so that they can fix it.

We're not actually using this extension any more which is why we managed to limit the damage to just 4 out of over 300 sites.

Apart from that, we've had a couple of big projects that we've managed to push forward on, despite the resources we've had to allocate to the hacking problem.  I've just taken on 3 new developers to handle the workload we have on at the moment and get projects turned round much quicker.

The last disaster happened yesterday.  I left my laptop at home and my 3 year old daughter decided to have a play.  She deleted my main work directory and then emptied the recycle bin so everything is gone.  Luckily I have it all backed up in different places but it's a big inconvenience and a valuable lesson learned about backing up.

All in all, I can't complain.  And even if I did, nobody would listen.

Rick Levine: You could become a temporary workaholic today because you want others to see how conscientious you can be in a crisis situation. But it's easy to take your good intentions too far by assuming such a heavy burden of responsibilities that you cannot do a competent job at any single task. Remember, this isn't an all-or-nothing situation; you can effectively moderate between the extremes by finding a healthy balance between work and play.

Me: No *@$£, Sherlock!

You've seen Steve talking about it and you must have heard the word on the streets. The iPad is coming! Love it or hate it, it's Apple's latest must have gadget.  I commented about it when it was first shown in Steve Jobs' presentation and my opinion, having held ours, is just the same.

The laptop was launched and everyone knew that they would use and need a portable computer that they could carry around in a laptop bag to use in Starbucks, etc.

The PDA was launched, followed by the iPhone and everyone knew that they would use and need a portable device for picking up e-mails, listening to music and even watching the odd film in the case of devices like the iPod Touch. This was a great 'emergency' device that you could even stick in your pocket.

Now the iPad is launched and the people I've spoken to are saying that they need time to work out why they'll need this... how they'll justify buying it. It's not a natural decision for people to have to make unless you're one of the people who have to have something because it's got the little apple on the back.

Here you can see our iPad on the desk and me posing with the iPad just like I'd be if I was walking down the street with one.  The manufacturing process is tricky. You have to be quick or the glue dries. We used an Asda glue stick and I can't help but think that things would have been easier if we'd taken Apple's stance on using the best components and gone for a Pritt Stick.  Also, you might notice that the time is wrong. That's just because we haven't worked out how to get into the settings yet.  So it's not intuitive. The learning curve involved is the price you pay for being an early adopter.

If you want you're own iPad then download this zip file. It contains 2 .png files that you print and cut out. Glue it together and, hey presto, you have your very own iPad that you can toss casually on the desk to be the envy of your peers!

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.

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.