Just saying what I believe and what I do.  Not saying that it is "right".

I don't want to call images from another domain.   I want google to see me as the source for all of my content.

I also don't want to rely on the manufacturer's server.  My sites are on fast, dedicated servers on a host that has almost zero downtime... only moments of downtime in the past decade.   Don't bet that delivery will be faster from the manufacturer.  Bet on yourself.

Manufacturers often have idiots running their websites.  They can put HUGE image files out there that download slowly.  Manufacturer's web team might move images around their server and not notify you.  They might also upload new images without telling you.   It can take you a while to realize that the images are missing or switched and in the meantime their idiots are making your website look like crap.  After they change or move images try to sort out that mess.  You will waste a lot more time than it would have taken to download the images and put them on your own server.

I think that we can produce better images here.   I want BIG images that are often not available from the manufacturers, I want multiple or different views that are not available from the manufacturer.   I want optimized images that download quickly and look nice.

So, in short, if I have a choice between betting on me or betting on the manufacturer, I am putting my money on me.

....it mentioned never to externally link in the footer. Is this an all around statement?

If you go to Amazon.com you can see that it is not an all around statement.  They have 30+ links to external domains in the footer.  They are Amazon properties and linked with branded anchor.... but if those links are passing any juice then I think that they should be whacked for it.

Almost all the web design companies I work with do the same thing.  Is this going to help me or hurt me?

If that is required of all clients then there will be some clients who will not hire you because they don't want links to external sites in their footer.   Some don't want them because they worry that google might not like them and some just don't want advertising in their footer.

Recently it seems Google has started tweaking page titles with one apparent intention: to promote branding.

That article makes a really strong point.   It seems that google does like the brand in the title tag.  They are doing it to a lot of my title tags and I have to say I don't really like it.

I think that this makes the point that google "knows" who is a brand without reading it in their title tag.. but google wants the brand in the title tag badly enough that they are willing to overwrite the carefully crafted marketing message in my title tag to get it there.

In some cases, google might improve the message, but if they are using a one-size-fits all algo they are not going to improve things every time.  If google thinks that I deserve my brand in the title I am flattered, but I'd rather bet on my marketing message than on how their algo will slap a brand name over it in the SERPs.

I  have always felt that having your brand name in every title tag though-out your website when your URL is your brand name is a waste.

I agree.

The space your brand name takes up could be used for more valuable non-branded keywords. If your brand name is unique,

I agree.

If your brand name is unique, the URL (and content optimized with your brand name) should be enough to have you rank #1 across the board in search results.

If it doesn't you are in some type of trouble with Google... or you really have a weak site.

Though I beleive this I still think it is valuable placing your brand name in the back of your homepage title tag.

Here's what I think... with a few example title tags...

<tltle>MyBigAssCompany:  Golden Widgets - Over 500 Varieties  (these guys think that their ass weighs a ton...  their company name is more important than their message)</tltle>

<tltle>Golden Widgets - Over 500 Varieties | MyBigAssCompany  (OK... at least they are not stinking up the message with their brand name)</tltle>

<tltle>Golden Widgets - Over 500 Varieties  (BAM!   This nails it in my opinion.  Short.  Sweet.  Really, people don't give a damn about MyBigAssCompany... and if they think that the company is really important they are going to see my URL in the SERPs, right below the title)</tltle>

If my company had enormous recognition then I might use the name in the title tag... but I would rather add "free shipping" or some other value proposition than add my brand name to the title.

This is a subject where you are going to get a lot of disagreement and I think that the guy who insists on having HisBigAssCompany on the front end of the title tag will argue a lot louder and longer than I do. 

I think that the decision to use a search bar depends upon the size of your site and the type of information / products that you offer.

I have a small retail site (under 100 pages) and nobody used the search box even though I had it big and obvious in the upper right corner of the design.  When I say "nobody" that is not an exaggeration.  NOBODY.  I removed the search box.

I have a large information site (thousands of pages) that has a well-used search box at the top right of every page.  This is a google search box and adsense displays on the search results page.      Here is some data....

* Site-wide about 4% of the people who arrive at the site use the search.

* About 6% of the people who view the homepage use search.

* About 4% of my Adsense revenue comes from the search page.

* Using CrazyEgg's "Time to Click" feature I can tell that a lot of people who use search on our homepage  immediately click the search box - in under five seconds.  This suggests that these people are using the search box to navigate the site.

* The most valuable thing about the search box is the query data.  I use Clicky analytics and it captures the query strings. If I look at them I see lots of people searching for topics that I do not have on my site and topics that I do not address with a dedicated page (hundreds of searches per month for some queries - this is on a site that gets 100K  visitor per day and has thousands of content pages).  I am using this query data to inform content development.  Very valuable.

* In addition to the search box at the top of every page, we also have a second search box that appears at the bottom of every article.  It is used by about 1% of visitors.  When they finish reading an article the search for something.

So, although I removed search from the small retail site I am keeping it on the information site because it is used by some visitors to navigate, I find the query data to be valuable and we derive 4% of our ad revenue from search.

Finally... if somebody is on my site.  I don't want them leaving to search somewhere else.  I want them to use my site search where the content of MY site is the only thing that they will see in the search results.