This is part of a multi-part series on custom stickers. Part one is Custom Stickers For Your Business, part two is A Guide to Buying Custom Stickers and part three is Types of Sticker Printing.

If you're like most small businesses, or even if your business is a large one, you most likely need to advertise without going over a marketing budget. When you're marketing budget is pretty limited, you may not want to spend it all on radio and television advertising and print advertising is expensive as well. So, it goes without saying, that stickers are relatively inexpensive to print and they can be a great way to advertise.

Stickers incorporate one of the best forms of advertising there is – word of mouth. When placed in strategic places, or even in the most common of places, stickers are able to generate great interest. Historically, stickers have been well suited on car bumpers, but today you'll find them literally everywhere. From laptops to backpacks to windshields to storefront doors and windows, stickers can be stuck anywhere and everywhere. No matter where they are stuck, someone is bound to see them and your business will be recognized.

Stickers can be likened to miniature moving billboards...

This is part of a multi-part series on custom stickers. Part one is Custom Stickers For Your Business and part two is A Guide to Buying Custom Stickers.

Sticker printing has evolved greatly over the past several decades. While a black marker and white paper were once the tools of the trade, today's stickers are available in wide variety of stocks as well as a wide variety of color options.

Screen-printing is the oldest, but the most common technique of sticker printing. As the name implies, the process utilized silk, although today synthetic screens are now used. Screen-printing is the most basic form of printing stickers and is typically limited to very small amounts.

For screen-printing, ultra-violet cured pigment colors are used and the desired image is cut out onto a stencil. The stencil is then placed on the sticker stock. The screen is then laid over the top and ink poured on to the screen and pressed into place using a squeegee. If more than one color is required, the process must be done for each color and only after the last has dried. The process must only be completed once for one-color items.

I just got a MacBook Air and have been enjoying having the world's lightest laptop. It's an amazing piece of engineering and while it appears to have some critical features missing (like a DVD drive or Ethernet port) the fact is that I never used those features on my older MacBook Pro laptop either so it's not anything I miss.

Frankly, with my Corsair 8GB flash drive, it's just a super-modern version of "sneakernet" and was a breeze to jump onto the new device and use it full-time.

Even better, it gave me an opportunity to really pay attention to what I change on a stock Mac laptop to make it work for me. And that's what this article is about. Let's call it Dave's Guide to Critical Mac Software...

This is part of a multi-part series on custom stickers. Part one is Custom Stickers For Your Business...

If you have decided to purchase custom stickers for your business, you need to do a bit of planning. A little bit of knowledge can go a long way in saving you money and time. Taking the time to learn a bit about the process can help you navigate this process with no hassle.

First thing that all custom sticker buyers need to consider is how these stickers are going to be used. If your sticker is intended to be stuck on things that will last and that are outside, the sticker needs to be a vinyl sticker of some sort. If your sticker is temporary, for packaging, nametags, correspondence, or presentations, you can opt for a paper sticker.

Vinyl stickers cost slightly more than paper stickers but are much more durable. When they are laminated with a thin film over the ink, they are even more durable. This stock is called "Laminated White Vinyl." Vinyl comes in gloss white, a frosty clear, a clear static cling and a yellow stock. Laminated white vinyl is the most common material for stickers that are meant to last.

Paper stickers can be very inexpensive, yet are really meant for indoor or temporary use. The selection of paper stocks is much larger than vinyl. Gloss, Matte and smudge-proof paper stocks are the three most popular paper stocks. Fluorescent stocks are available in many colors and are popular for packaging and attention grabbing applications. Metallically coated stocks come in gold and silver and can serve as a classy touch to correspondence and packaging...

In the town where I live there are many businesses that use stickers to promote their presence in the community. Oskar Blues is a restaurant, music club and brewery about ten miles from my house and it is one of my family's favorite destinations. Oskar Blues gives away black and white oval stickers that have the letters OB and a website address at the bottom. These stickers are everywhere, mostly on the vehicles of my friends and neighbors. A trip to the local ski area is further evidence that the OB stickers have become a part of the local visual experience.

The question is: how do they create those stickers? That's what this series will address...

One of the features added to the latest revision of the Apple iPhone operating system that's garnered quite a bit of attention is the ability to save Web page bookmark icons directly on the main screen of the phone. Experimentation reveals that some sites have cool icons while most are just miniature representations of the Web site. What's the difference? Read on and find out, including step-by-step directions on how you can easily ensure your own site (or blog!) has a custom iPhone icon too.

I inherited an older Sony color TV from my folks, a really good Trinitron, and it works pretty well with the rabbit ears I've hooked up, but I'm anxious that it's going to become obsolete when TV signals go all-digital. Legitimate worry, or will my TV work just fine over the next few years until it dies?

As you might well know, I'm happy to be a faculty member at Stompernet, a completely new idea in the world of Internet Marketing, a consortium of top marketers pooling their knowledge and expertise to create a single place where you can learn about search engine optimization, search engine marketing, ecommerce, keyword research, proven techniques to improve your PPC campaigns and close rates on your sales pages, leveraging blogs and podcasts for marketing, and even discuss and compare notes about such mundane topics as shopping carts, web hosting companies, designers, and copywriters...

Are you paranoid about the security of your data, and finding that the software-based solutions out there really aren't as seamless and transparent as you'd hope? Whether you're working for the Department of Homeland Security or lead programmer for a hot startup, there are good reasons for you to be aware of - and perhaps even paranoid - about your data security.

Add the complication of a laptop and now things get even more tricky, because if you are aware of the incidence of laptop theft at airports and on the road, now you have to think about all your email, all your documents, business memos, letters, spreadsheets, presentations, and related material all being delivered directly to your competitors, foreign nationals, or worse.

Fortunately, there are hardware-level encryption solutions available that, if you're ready to absolutely trust them with your digital life, can ensure that your system and/or laptop are completely secure and unbreakable.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to talk with some of the engineers at High Density Devices, makers of SecureD, a system that, as they describe, is characterized by "all data being encrypted in real-time: SecureD utilizes the strongest real-time encryption algorithms available and does not require user interaction or maintenance."

Please read on for our discussion...

Dave, I know that identity theft is a problem, but someone told me the other day that there are five major kinds of Identity theft. Then they got busy with something, and it left me confused. Isn’t identity theft just identity theft?

Hey Dave. When it comes to tech stuff, even in the names that I read in product reviews on your blog, there are all of these companies I’ve never heard of. How do I know if what they’re making is any good?

With the rise of higher speed wireless networking technologies, from 802.11g high-speed wifi to the pervasiveness of bluetooth and its kin with short-range wireless communications, it's becoming more and more difficult to determine whether it makes any sense to pay to have Ethernet "cat 5" wire installed in a home or office. There are more considerations than just cost, however, including security and future flexibility. Making this decision yourself? Then read on...

It was about four months ago that my 4GB Apple iPhone showed up and, after an initial scare that it was broken from dropping it - screen down - on a hard tile floor, connected to the network, replacing my Blackberry Pearl. I got the $100 credit for the Apple store after having watched the price drop $200 a month after I bought it, and I've gone through a number of cases already (!) and have a stack of different ones from the folks at Marware that I'm using now.

But after months of having it in my pocket, plugged into my car, on lunch tables with colleagues, and in various cities and states throughout the United States, what's my opinion of the phone now? What do I really love about it, and what drives me batty?

Read on...

Somewhat inadvertantly, I have been thrust into the world of the latest Mac OS X system, Leopard. Some months ago, I bought a top-of-the-line Apple MacBook Pro from my friend and colleague Jeff Walker (thanks Jeff!) and have subsequently had a variety of hardware problems with the unit. The first problem was the power switch, which ended up slightly akilter inside the unit and would stick. Not good. But quickly fixed.

This time, however, the power switch went a bit wonky again and the latch switch also became sticky. To top it off, a few keys on my two month old keyboard were already losing their letters / details, so when I took the unit in this time, I asked them to fix everything. They did. I have a new keyboard, new lower chassis, new power switch assembly and, yes, a new latch switch. Very cool.

Unfortunately the Apple techs went above and beyond and did one more thing while they had my laptop, something that caused me to lose 130GB of data...

It was less than a year ago that I bought a 256MB thumb drive and thought "man, lots of space, that'll be handy". In fact, I added my keys and made it my keychain. Then I decided it was too small and upgraded to a Lexar "Jump Drive" with an impressive 512MB of space coupled with some encryption software that would ensure that if I lost the drive, I wouldn't be out of luck.

Problem is, unless you have incredible personal discipline, it becomes quickly obvious that it's useful to have more space, not less, and just like modern housebuying, while it's impossible to have too much space, it certainly is possible to have too little.

As a result, when Corsair contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in looking at their 8GB "Survivor" flash drive, I quickly assented: 8GB sounded like enough space that it could actually be useful.

After using it for a few months, I am pleased to report that it's a great little flash drive with a rugged (and amusing) form factor.

When I bought a new television (a splendid Sony Bravia KDL-40V3000 40" LCD) I decided that it was time to update the sound system hooked up to the TV too, and after much research, I decided not to get a five speaker surround sound and clutter up the room with wires. Instead, I read lots of reviews and opted to buy the Philips Ambisound HTS8100 Home Theater Surround Bar.

The specs are awesome for this all-in-one stereo system, iPod dock, and DVD player that can upscale the movie being played to 1080p, the reference scanrate of high def video (1080 scan lines, progressive). Heck, the sound of the unit is terrific too.

Except for one problem: less than a month after I purchased it I have had to take it in for service, and it's been there for ten days now, with no resolution in sight...

It's impossible not to have heard about the many different social networks online nowadays. Seems like a new one pops up every week and indeed the single most popular site on the Internet is a social network (MySpace). I know because I am part of at least a dozen different social networks, ranging from focused professional venues to chaotic amalgamations of various ideas without any rhyme or reason. You can figure out which is which. :-)

One of my favorites has always remained LinkedIn and since I just this morning needed to track down one of the executives at web hosting company Dreamhost, I thought it would be useful to demonstrate exactly how I used LinkedIn for this task.

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Leslie Brooks Suzukamo, Telecom, Technology and Energy Reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Our topic of discussion? Whether the new Apple iPhone is going to be a good business phone or not. He quoted various industry sources and so-called pundits who predicted that it wouldn't and that it's designed exclusively for consumers. But he -- and they -- are so terribly wrong...

In the early days of the Internet, back when we called it a "dirt road" and were delighted when email bounced from UUCP connection to UUCP connection as is slowly wound its way from one end of the topological jungle to the other, email mailing lists were quite the cool thing.

Years have passed and we now have sophisticated web-based discussion boards, blogs and many other venues for interpersonal interaction, but email remains, to me, the killer application, and it's on my mailing lists that I encounter the freshest thinking and most valuable information.

I can remember when there were two main places to find mailing lists too (other than the List of Lists and other short-lived directories), Topica and Yahoo Groups. Google's added its own collection -- of course -- with Google Groups too, but in many ways, Yahoo Groups was always my favorite place to look for people with similar interests.

Which is why it's so distressing to see that it's become an absolute safe haven for porn and spammers in ways that were unanticipated when Web-based lists were first envisioned...

This is a user-contributed article.

TV has evolved in the last 5 years and can be difficult to understand. There are many technologies out there in the marketplace that are worth being conscious of as you go and buy an HDTV. Today's HDTV's also come with a variety of resolutions. You may see 720p, 1080p, 1080i etc. We are going through a changing of the guard, and it's all gotten rather complicated when you want to purchase a replacement set!

The first generation of HDTV's had maximum resolution or lines of 1080i/720p but today's TVs have a maximum resolution of 1080p. When buying a TV you'll find these 1080p sets to be more expensive than those that have a maximum resolution of 1080i/720p. This is because these 'true' HD TV sets are not only newer but they can accommodate optimal resolution on blu-ray and HD-DVD players without having to scale the image. The i/p behind the number indicates whether the resolution is interlaced (an older method of scaling images that results in the image having to be put back together and the signal to degrade) or progressive scan (a newer, superior method that results in no signal degradation).

Can you learn how to relax, achieve a meditative state and control your own brain waves with a computer game? That was the premise of the biofeedback-based series of games from the Wild Divine Project, and when the company gave me a copy of their flagship title The Journey to Wild Divine: The Passage, I was eager to check it out.

And y'know what? It's extraordinarily cool. It's unlike any computer game you've ever played and even though I am not a fan of children playing computer games, I was happy to watch my children learn how to explore the lush interactive world of Wild Divine and overcome the various challenges and obstacles that are the heart of the game.

It's one of the most common questions that I hear as a writer, and just about every group of writers endlessly debates the topic: what's the purpose of an agent? Different agents have different views of what they do, and certainly authors vary in their ability to work with an agent or agency, but fundamentally, it can be a tricky business to pin down exactly how an agent should be helping a writer succeed.

This debate came up again on a popular writer's mailing list and with the permission of all parties involved, I am reproducing the original question and the thoughtful and informative answers. The discussion took place on a list sponsored by an agency, but I believe that these are candid answers and comments, not influenced by the sponsor in any way. I have also deliberately not associated individual authors with their comments to protect their views.

Already installed Apple's slick Boot Camp system so you can dual boot your Intel-based Mac into Microsoft Windows in addition to Mac OS X? Perhaps you even used my popular tutorial on How to install Windows XP in Apple Boot Camp to get it all working? Either way, you should be aware that Apple just released an update to Boot Camp that, among other things, will let you install the new Windows Vista in the Boot Camp partition.

Other features of this new 1.2 beta release include:

• Updated drivers, including the trackpad, AppleTime (sync), audio, graphics, modem, and the iSight camera
• Support for the Apple Remote
• Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp
• Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian
• Improved Windows driver installation experience
• Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows
• Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista)

Buying a television has never been more complicated than today, with four primary television technologies -- plasma, projection, LCD or CRT -- and a variety of different scan rates and resolutions, including HD, which has different meanings for different vendors.

More televised and DVD content is becoming available in High Definition (HD), digital broadcasting is becoming a requirement for terrestrial broadcasters, and more TVs are coming on the market to take advantage of these technologies. The result? It's getting more difficult to stick with your old CRT TV, but hard to know which new technology will work best.

In which we get the hottest video game system from Christmas 2006 and turn it into a Linux box? You bet!

If you’re still thinking about video game systems as being just a wee bit more technologically advanced than an old Coleco or Atari 800, you’ve got quite a surprise coming the first time you crack open the proverbial hood. While the new Nintendo Wii (pronounced “we”, oddly enough) has some slick hardware, as does the Microsoft Xbox 360 device, the real winner in the technology race is the rather amazing Sony Playstation 3 system.

Built around an IBM Cell Broadband Engine processor, the PS3 includes a high def Blu-ray drive, four USB 2.0 ports, an Nvidia graphics processor with 256MB of separate video RAM, support for Compact Flash, SD and Memory Stick devices, Ethernet, built-in 802.11b and g, Bluetooth, an HDMI port and support for all the video resolutions you can imagine, including 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i and the holy grail, 1080p. Sounds like a computer, not a video game system, doesn’t it?

[This is a reader-contributed article]

For the longest time my wife has wanted a hands free system in her car so that she did not have to use a headset or handle the phone while driving. Her description always included a cradle setup, but she did not know where to put the cradle in the car (a 2002 Audi A6).

For her birthday this year I finally took the initiative and did some research. I found that there are some very good bluetooth solutions out there. My wife's Treo 700p is -- mostly -- bluetooth capable, but more on that later.

For various reasons, including good reviews, reputation (Motorola seems to know a thing or two about voice communications), features and price I went with the Motorola IHF1000 Car Kit.

There really didn't seem to be much to the kit when it came in the mail, though: an interface (they call it a UIM for "User Interface Module"), a control module (a rectangular black box), a 5W speaker, a microphone and a wiring harness. I thought the speaker was redundant since I had planned to use the car's audio system for receiving calls, but that plan changed as installation progressed...

Technology has changed dramatically in the last decade, but perhaps nowhere more than with cellular phone technology. From being a device for dialing numbers cellphones have evolved to where they're a portable entertainment and media device, with music players, Web access, and even the ability to play videos and television content.

Some companies are pushing this set of capabilities further, and I was intriguied when Cellfire sent me a Sony-Ericsson phone with its coupon system pre-installed. I tested it out and was surprised by what I found...

Just before Christmas, Polk Audio sent me one of their new I-Sonic all-in-one entertainment system to review, and it has been in my office ever since, giving me a chance to experience XM Radio and HD Radio, among other things. Does it sound nice? Most definitely. Is it worth $599? Well... let's talk about the pro's and con's of the unit before I answer that question.

After having spent the last year learning everything about the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), is there really a better device for watching movies away from your television? To find out, we bought a Creative Labs Zen Vision:W video player and were surprised and pleased to find out that it's a far, far superior portable media player than the PSP in just about every way.

I was recently interviewed by a magazine about search engine marketing and search engine optimization, specifically whether big companies are missing the boat and whether smaller companies are paying too much attention to SEO or not. Their questions and my answers follow.

It's something that companies have been trying to perfect for years now, a digital book. A device that has all the physical characteristics and benefits of a book while also having the benefits of a digital device, including vast storage, annotation capabilities, networking, animations, and much more. So far, every launch has failed, but in the last few months Sony has come out with its Sony Reader, the PRS-500, and this might just have what it takes...

If you hop from PC to PC, do you really trust that they don't have spyware, malware or viruses installed, hiding in the operating system? What if you could carry a cheap little keychain pendant that not only offered you storage, but also included effective, easy-to-use anti-virus and anti-spyware applications with which you can quickly scan that suspicious PC and make sure it really is safe for you to use? These devices are just coming out and I had a chance to put one through its paces...

I'm pleased to announce that Ask Dave Taylor has made it into the finals of the 2006 Weblog Awards! I have some tough competition though, including slashdot, Engadget, Gizmodo and TechCrunch.

But you can help! Click and vote for AskDaveTaylor:

Here's what's a bit weird about how it's structured, though: you can vote once every 25 hours, so if you really want to hep me stand a chance against these excellent competitors, I ask that you vote for me as many times as you can until the voting period ends on the 17th.

Kinda like classic Chicago polls, vote early, vote often!

And, thanks!!

[This is the second part of a series of high tech buyer's guides we're releasing here at Ask Dave Taylor to help address many of the questions that we receive about confusing new technologies and gadgets. The first article addressed a core HD question: HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. This second article looks at the rapidly evolving world of personal media players and other ways you can enjoy video on the go. We hope you find this valuable!]

Much the same way the iPod changed the landscape in portable audio, videos frontier has forever been expanded thanks to these tiny devices.

It seems everything in technology is about getting smaller, however some industry expects didn’t believe there was a future for a mini-video player. Boy they were wrong. Portable Video has exploded in a big way in the last year, apparently small is just right.

Sony’s Playstation Portable (PSP) was the first video capable device to hit the market in Japan in December of 2004. While its primary function was a gaming medium, the PSP set the market as far as movies on mini go. Sony’s UMD format was, and still is a big hit with consumers.

This is the first part of a series of high tech buyer's guides we're releasing here at Ask Dave Taylor to help address many of the questions that we receive about confusing new technologies and gadgets. This first article addresses a core HD question: HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Both are amazing, but pick the wrong one, and you can pour thousands down a hole. I hope this is helpful, and encourage you to add comments at the end with your own experiences buying HD consumer electronics, whether they're Playstation 3 / Nintendo Wii / Xbox 360 video systems, DVD players, or televisions.

The battle for your entertainment dollar took a big turn towards your living room in the early 1990s with the debut of the DVD. Replacing an obsolete analog tape format (VHS) with a crystal clear digital picture gave you a far better viewing experience and also allowed the movie studios another way to get your dollars in their pockets.

Today we are on the verge of another revolution in home movie viewing experience. High Definition is here and boy it sure looks good!

Of course, what would a new technology be without a format war, leaving us consumers confused and angry? The contenders in this battle are the two major High Definition DVD formats: Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

While both formats are very similar, there are a few subtle differences that are critically important to understand before you spend a dollar on your next consumer electronics device.

Giving a loved one a laptop can be a great experience. As with any gift, the impulse comes from generosity and a wish to improve someone's life; but unfortunately, there are times when any well-intentioned gift can go badly wrong. With laptops, in particular, it is easy to make a small mistake that can be remedied only by outright exchanging the laptop; and that can mean some hassles at best, and at worst it might cost you a big restocking fee. Follow these ten tips and you can be sure that your gift will be the hit of the Holidays this year!

What's the history of the alcoholic spirit gin? Is it really a medicinal drink, and is this a good reason to have a gin martini every afternoon?