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File this under "why I still love Magic Johnson." Legendary NBA star for the Lakers and—what's more germaine to this posting—Michigan State alum, Earvin "Magic" Johnson has announced he has joined a tech start-up VC group, Detroit Venture Partners, and will be infusing millions of his own personal dollars into Detroit-based tech start-ups. Detroit Venture Partners (which was co-founded by Josh Linkner, another Inc.com columnist ) primarily incubates and funds early-stage companies working on mobile apps, cloud computing, and social networking

When most entrepreneurs think of growing the revenues of their businesses, they think of ways to increase sales. That's not the case with Rick Haig of Haig Service Corp

Etsy's CTO, Chad Dickerson, is taking the lead role at the online handmade and vintage marketplace from its 30-year-old founder.

Rather than get stuck trying to come up with the next great innovation, consider these nine reasons why you might be better off imitating and improving upon an existing idea.

Meetup is a trend I get. It's easy to see how the Internet plus mobile can be leveraged to enhance the experiences you have in the real world.

In the new book The Innovator's DNA, authors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen discuss the three things that set companies steeped innovation apart from the thousands of other companies doing business. Drawing on a sample of companies that lead both lists, we dove deeply into the practices of some of the world's most innovative companies

You can't dump on this idea: A new $40 million initiative by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will help develop futuristic toilets that transform human waste into usable electricity and fuel. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Tuesday that they are giving away more than $42 million to develop new, innovative toilets for use in the world's poorest regions

A friend of mine received an anonymous offer for $120, via GoDaddy, for a domain he had owned for years called FuzzWire.com. He did not know the nature of the offer--that is, whether it was from a well-financed startup--but he at least knew that since it came from GoDaddy, and was not just some personalized plea sent by email, that he should test the offers limits.

The mayor of Santa Cruz is also co-founder of a coworking startup, which he created to bring individual jobs to his city after major companies turned him down. It's no surprise that the mayor of Santa Cruz, California--just a short ride over the mountains to Silicon Valley--is also a budding entrepreneur.

Monster.com's new semantic search platform SeeMore uses algorithms and analytics to hone in on the best human capital.

Tying a traditional loyalty program to social and location-based check-ins can be an easy way for businesses to attract customers and make money. Heres how to determine whether its worth it for your business and then how to pull it off

But not all banks will offer them, and if you choose one, watch for hidden fees.

A social media background search firm, hackers targeting small businesses, entrepreneurs as artists, and more. Credit check, background check, and now social media check. A California-based start-up offers a unique service to businesses: they'll scrape "the Internet for everything prospective employees may have said or done online in the past seven years," reports The New York Times .

Financial reports that

A new app allows first responders to issue alerts to citizens, and for users to make reports about accidents and even find each other after a disaster.