The sign is often the first thing people see when they come to your place of business. The important question to ask is what does your sign say about you? I have seen signs that appear to be thrown together with sticky lettering and cheap wood. This is the kind of impression you do not want to make with your customers. As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

On the other hand, if you walk into an office, store or other business and see a brushed metal, machine cut logo with spiffy lettering, you will think to yourself "these guys mean business".   If you really want to get it done right, Impact Signs are professional corporate signage specialists a with professional installation and service and no-nonsense quote process. If you are after bronze / metal lettering or custom designs, the turnaround is fast, so you can get back to the business of running your business.

If you want a professionally made sign, Impact Signs is a member of the the American Marketing Association and provide creative, professional solutions to your signage needs.

As you shop, browse and scour the web, have you ever wondered who is profiling your browsing habits?

Once, when searching for a yoga mat and book on Amazon, I became alarmed when I started to see ads appearing on blogs featuring "yoga mats" and "yoga books".  Tick one for Amazon, they profile your shopping habits and then try to tailor suggestions based on your previous choices.  Some of us find this useful but others will be thinking "what else are they finding out about me?"

Most of us know that Facebook profiles its users.  Recently, it has come to light that Facebook is profiling you even when you are logged out of the Facebook homepage.  It seems people need to start enabling "Private Browsing" in Firefox, deleting cookies and blocking certain third party applications in Twitter, Facebook and every other social network or shopping site.

But there may actually be a rather ingenious way to ferret these profilers out.

You could try browsing for things you would never normally search for.

As an experiment, this morning I visited the KKK website, looked up Hitler and S.S. Halloween costumes, checked out white power memorabilia and Nazi uniform collectibles.

Why, you may ask? Have I gone all white supremacist / racist / nuts?

No, I was just researching an article for "Inappropriate and Bad Halloween Costumes" for one of my other blogs, "Halloween Holidays".

However, now that I have surfed for these outrageous topics, it will be glaringly obvious if someone has used this information to "profile" my browsing habits.

If I start seeing ads for "Grand Dragon Costumes" or "SS Uniforms" it will be clear that this information has been recorded and used for advertising purposes.

The emergence of Google's new +1 network has raised some important questions relating to privacy.  If you have a profile in a social network (Google +1), and then use a search engine (Google) to browse, it is possible that this information will be used in some way to market to you in the future.  Worse still, your profile can be linked to certain interests, which may make some a little nervous for those who have done research on offensive and inappropriate topics.

technorati tags: privacy, google, google 1, profile, browsing habits, facebook, social networking,

I am a geek.  There.  I said it.  Sometimes it's important to get these things out in the open so we can grow and move on.  So I love anything geeky, be it sci-fi related, gadgety or gizmo-y.  Geeky Gadgets is a nifty site with links to gadgets, geeky things and coupons for the online acquisition of gadgets (an important pastime, and a personal fave of mine).  There are some fun posts on such wonders of the sacred tomes to nerd wisdom:

I of course have bought, cataloged, memorized and translated this book into 7 different languages, including Klingon.  It contains references to Yoda, who has shaped my philosophy much more than any religious organization could manage.  It was Yoda who equated fear with anger, and espoused the Ghandi-esque path of non-aggression and zen fighting.  After all, if you are an evil angry dude, what do you do when the other dude refuses to fight, or puts down their weapon.  Yoda taught the most important lesson of resolving conflict - mess with the other dude's head.  A lot.

This wacky site provides all things required by a man who shuns fresh air, the sun, vegetables, eats too much junk food and lives in his mother's basement.

I'm looking at you, Warlock.