Mistake #1: Chairs for booth attendants
It sends the wrong message—to the person approaching AND the folks working the booth. You don't want the potential customer to feel as if they're putting someone out to get up & take care of them. Staff will get the wrong idea about the reason they're there. Plus, it's human to get comfortable, get involved in a conversation and lose track of working the booth.

Getting a trade show booth set up is a daunting prospect. Something almost always gets forgotten, from the technical, to the trivial, to the big-picture conceptual. Quantum put together a list of things people forget when getting ready for a show, and I'm going to present them in segments, in no particular order. Here's the first 6:

You read that right...1.2 Billion, with "B" as in "buh buh buh"

Interestingly, Facebook's fastest growing area comes from its self-serve ad platform, which launched in August 2007. "We believe it accounted for about half of all ad spending on Facebook," eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. "It's really become a tremendous business for the company. We didn't account for the size of that business last year in our estimate, but we found that it's become a great tool for direct-marketing advertisers."

Who would have thought, a mere two years ago or so, when people were doubting any dot-com could ever make money, this would be happening?

AdAge has an article detailing the marketing push that's leading BUICK of all brands to drive sales at GM.

A new design and a marketing shift to a younger audience have helped U.S. sales of Buick's Enclave, Regal and LaCrosse skyrocket since last year -- and even more so in China, where it is the No. 1 brand.

To steal a line from the classic Oldsmobile campaign, this is not your (grand)father's car any more.

Enjoy your weekend! Dance if you must!

Apparently some automatic response systems that companies use on their phones are programmed to respond to the "Dirty 7" words by sending you directly to a human operator. Seems worth a shot next time you feel trapped in endless menus and spoken commands that make no sense to the computer system. I don't think it works with human operators very well though, however satisfying it sometimes may be. I would not recommend trying this tactic at the DMV or airport either.

Lifehacker has a nice piece on Google's new Chrome OS.
The release date is a somewhat vague "later this year"...that always makes me suspicious. We'll see. As long as it's all interoperable, it's fine with me.

Random neat quote:
We don't need hope to survive or success to persevere. Resistance to tyranny is a way of life.
-French WW2 Resistance motto

Wired has a nice side-by-side comparison of the current crop of smartphones. They feature the iPhone, the Pre, the G1, and the Blackberry Storm. I'm a Pre user, but I've used iPhones in the past, as well as G1's, but never a Storm. I'm getting more and more used to webOS on the Pre, and the slide-out keyboard is worth its weight in gold (I cannot stand the iPhone's touchscreen keyboard, it's the main reason I waited for the Pre). I have lots of friends who swear by their iPhones, and another friend who loves his G1. Some things just come down to taste! The lack of apps, so far, on the Pre is a major downer.

This is a clever use of simple stuff you can find around the house. Spiders are terrific at keeping insect populations low, so squishing them should be the last option...make a spider catcher instead!
I have to admit I've got a soft spot for the creepy crawlies, and underdogs of most types. Spiders are enchanting to me.

This article is fun…it's a step-by-step guide to building your own quality duct tape wallet. Instructables is an all-around great site, if you have any fun fiddling, tinkering, rebuilding and futzing, it's a must-bookmark. Browse around, there's literally hundreds of projects ranging from easy to silly, hard to serious. Enjoy!