Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Sure, "mobile marketing" sounds intimidating. But check out these easy ways to get your feet wet.

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day. Zynga Buys OMGPOP

The entrepreneur turned VC warns that there is too much money chasing too few marketable ideas. The crash, he says, is coming next year.

ClearGears, a performance-review startup, has chlorinated beginnings... It began, as so many great ideas for startups must, with being thrown in a swimming pool. Arshad Chowdhury, the founder of ClearGears , which powers real-time performance reviews for business, explains.

People aren't so gung-ho about smart meters, but they are about electric vehicles. But when they realize that combining the two can lead to huge savings, things might change. With so many promised benefits to the adoption of smart grid solutions, I have been conducting a lot of research lately on why it has taken so long to get the smart grid on track in North America.

This post is one in a series introducing my new book, The End of Business as Usual . The state of social media is no insignificant affair. Nor is it a conversation relegated to a niche contingent of experts and gurus

Kim Kardashian knows how to stay on message, to amplify that message through partners, and to make everything look beautiful. Here are 10 lessons from her communications juggernaut that managers should adopt to make their initiatives succeed

The general public has no idea how much they pay for electricity or how to use less, undermining the central premise of smart meters and hindering their adoption. Smart power meters are, in theory, supposed to help with everything from electric vehicle adoption (low electricity rates encourage people to charge up at specific times) to bringing more renewable energy on the grid (pricing will vary based on when it is available). But smart meter implementation hinges on the idea that consumers actually understand their electricity use.

In the past months, Skype's launched a massive upgrade on Android; a brand-spanking-new iPad app; unveiled a massive partnership with Facebook; and announced its acquisition to Microsoft for $8.5 billion. Is it enough to win against Google's and Apple's competitors? "When I started, we were on a pretty slow product release," says Neil Stevens, VP of products at Skype

In the past months, Skype's launched a massive upgrade on Android; a brand-spanking-new iPad app; unveiled a massive partnership with Facebook; and announced its acquisition to Microsoft for $8.5 billion. Is it enough to win against Google's and Apple's competitors? "When I started, we were on a pretty slow product release," says Neil Stevens, VP of products at Skype.

Esses are everywhere. From economic trends, population growth, the spread of cancer, or the adoption of new technology, certain patterns inevitably seem to emerge. A new technology, for example, begins with slow acceptance, followed by explosive growth, only to level off before "hitting the wall."

Whom do bold thinkers look to for inspiration?

Zipcar Inc., the short-term car-rental service based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, launched its IPO this morning. Bloomberg reports that the IPO raised over $174 million, selling 9.7 million shares priced at $18—well above an initial proposal that pegged the share prices at $14 to $16. The most recent SEC filing can be viewed here