After five years of trying to sell ads on television using the automated buying system that works so well for its signature search ads, Google has finally given up.

FORBES: Google Shuts Off TV Ads Business

Orville Pierson, a former senior vice president at outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison and author of The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search, who is now an independent consultant, agrees with me that Signature does not appear to be a great deal.

FORBES: TheLadders Guarantees A Job Offer Or Your Money Back

Sullivan argues that "knols"--Google's name for the individual pages in the new content network--will take high spots in Google's search results because people will create more links to pages that have a Google signature.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Any feathers the bird had grown at a particular breeding ground would reflect the area's "signature" in their isotope ratios (the relationship between different types of the same atom), narrowing the search area for researchers.

BBC: Slender-billed curlew, WWW