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

Gina Bianchini stepped down as CEO of Ning in 2010.

Author David Weinberger's latest ponders how knowledge-"previously a finite body of expert opinion and accepted fact-"is now unbound, thanks to the Internet. The book: Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room, by David Weinberger; Basic Books.

The best way to avoid bickering over family ownership of a company is to put everything in writing early on. Dear Norm, My sister had a great idea for a product and started a business. I joined her and put in long hours, without compensation, for two years

How can you retain a great company culture when forcing an ownership transition? Dear Norm, In 2002, my wife and I sold the automotive-repair business that we had owned for 15 years. We were fine for a while, but things have gotten very tough

Even in tough times, entrepreneurs are incurable optimists. But too much optimism can blind you to the obstacles ahead.

Every end-of-year gesture says something different. Last year, I chose to give a gift that honors the craft of tool building.

Entrepreneurship, for all its challenges, can bestow on families unexpected benefits beyond the obvious financial ones. Although my husband, Gary, is CEO of Stonyfield Farm, his name doesn't appear in the company's phone directory. So after-hours calls often land in the voice-mail box of the only Hirshberg listed: his sister Nancy, who has worked at the company for decades.

A safe, reliable, and affordable way to store energy using sodium rather than lithium, by Aquion Energy. Power grab To make the most of solar and wind power, utilities need an affordable way to store energy for later use

Check out these four second-generation touchscreen desktops, and find out which one is right for you. When all-in-one touchscreen desktops debuted a couple of years ago, they were criticized for being sluggish and not responding well to gestures. These second-generation machines, all of which run on the Windows 7 operating system, come with faster processors and more responsive screens.

Tablets like the iPad are great for frequent travelers, but youll want the right headset for making Skype calls and watching movies. Tablet computers can be great for making Skype calls, watching movies, and listening to music, especially during business trips.

Skimlinks founder and CEO Alicia Navarro explains how she uses the Web-based hiring service called Resumator. My company sells a conten t monetization platform for online publishers.

Looking for ways to stand out in a sea of e-mail promotions? Check out this cool tool

Tech Trends columnist John Brandon reviews Siri, the voice-command system built into Apples iPhone 4S. I got a lot of work done during a recent road trip, thanks to my new assistant. As I drove, she added some meetings to my calendar, took an e-mail dictation, and found some restaurant options for dinner

After 11 months and $550,000, they had gotten nowhere. Could they really gamble what was left on a hunch? Josh Levy and Ross Cohen left the offices of Beyond.com, a hiring website based outside Philadelphia, feeling like fools.

Gifford's ice cream has been a New England institution for decades. Will its super-vivid new packaging help it go national or alienate existing customers? Gifford's ice cream has been a New England institution since the family-owned creamery, based in Skowhegan, Maine, opened its first ice cream stand, in 1980.