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

You'll sell more if you make closing a natural part of your conversation with the customer. There comes a time in every sales conversation when you've got to "ask for the business." For many people—including those who sell for a living—closing is scary

Using smarty-pants economists and computer scientists, Yahoo analyzed historical data and says the math points to the prez taking the White House this fall. An entire industry has emerged to try to predict who will triumph in any particular political contest

How to ask for what you want -- and get it.

As you know from my last post , I am staunch proponent of open access to scientific information, especially the variety that I paid for by virtue of taxation . The Research Works Act ( HR3699 ) being proposed now will lock away taxpayer funded research from the hands of those whose hard-earned wages funded the research. It’s really a no-brainer and the NIH compromise was generous, allowing publishers to make a profit from research works for a whole year, during the crucial access time for new articles

These 15 easy rules will help you ensure that negotiations work to your advantage, and also benefit your customers. Even after you've closed a deal , there's often an all-important last step: negotiating the final terms. With a simple purchase, it's a formality, but when it comes to something complex, like a real-life solution to a complex problem, the negotiating can sometimes be the longest step in the sales cycle.

By Jeff Jones and Andrew Quinn CALGARY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The decision on the controversial Canada-to-Texas Keystone pipeline could slip into next year, a U.S.

Oops, I said my last post on the

How Terra Nova executive producer Brannon Braga realized Steven Spielberg’s vision, managed the most expensive TV budget ever, and survived all those friggin’ dinosaurs without losing his mind. Being in charge of an epic, Steven Spielberg-backed, eco-themed, sci-fi time-travel tale with digital dinosaurs and a reported $15 million pilot is pressure enough. Now add a revolving door of writers, mounting executive producers, debate over pilot length, rain-deluged sets in an Australian rainforest, insufficient footage, visual effects delays, and a circling vulture press and it’s amazing Terra Nova executive producer Brannon Braga wasn’t carried off in a straightjacket.

The Solheim Cup team members are focusing on Alabama before heading to Ireland.

By Ayesha Rascoe and Anna Driver WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Poor management and critical mistakes by BP and its contractors led to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, according to the final report of the largest U.S. government probe into last year's massive Gulf oil spill

Top-ranked Yani Tseng successfully defended her title in the LPGA Tour's NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday, beating Amy Yang with a 4-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.

ABERDEEN, Scotland (AP) -Britain & Ireland won four straight singles matches to hold off a comeback by the United States and take a 7-5 lead going into the final day of the Walker Cup.

Johnny Miller and Dan Hicks look at the leaderboard for the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, giving a slight edge to Bubba Watson and Luke Donald. (NBC Sports)

Leader Bubba Watson says the big challenge in the final round will be mental, not physical. (NBC Sports)

The space shuttle era is finished, its vehicles museum-bound . The deep-space forays of Apollo astronauts are long gone, their final moon voyage nearly 40 years in the past