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

In 1977, 22-year-old Steve Jobs introduced the world to one of the first self-contained personal computers, the Apple II.

Retailers cashed in on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, but experts caution against any premature victory dances. In the aftermath of the nation's biggest shopping weekend, storeowners and retailers have plenty to be thankful for: voracious consumers blasted through modest sales projections this past weekend, spending some $52 billion from Thursday to Sunday, and about a billion more on Cyber Monday. Though the numbers certainly seem to indicate a strong holiday sales season, experts suggest that with nearly four weeks left until Christmas, it's hardly time to celebrate.

On the next important front of The Great Tech War, 2012.

British firm Gamma International was found hawking spyware to foreign intelligence services that installed onto users' computers via an iTunes security hole. The breach has been fixed, but documents indicate that the exploit was used to snoop on the email, Skype, and social media activities of users worldwide

Per square foot, Apple outsells most other retailers, but it didn't happen overnight. Here are three things the company got right that you can steal. Ask a seasoned entrepreneur how to increase sales and you'll likely hear such terms as up-sell and cross-sell

See why adopting big business branding tactics could actually sink your business. In a recent post, I pointed out that a brand (and it’s ability to drive buying behavior) is mostly based upon the customer’s experience product rather than the marketing activities surrounding it. Predictably, a number of readers – most of whom appear to work in marketing -- countered by citing the handful of huge consumer companies that have highly-recognizable brand names

One junior high schooler and his mobile game totally changed the fate of this app development platform. The circumstances may differ, but for successful startups there’s always a tipping point

Once an unlikely rival for HP and Apple, Chinese computer maker Lenovo has grown and adapted as quickly as its homeland. Now, with a savvy blend of East and West, it's poised to be China's first global brand. Leading the PC maker's pursuit of new markets, CEO Yang Yuanqing believes in "replaying the chess board" to keep improving

Robots and automation can drive down costs and increase efficiency. But they could make your business too high tech for its own good

We are living in a new age of austerity . Environmentalism is no longer just a crunchy cause, but also a corporate mandate .

Members of the Millennial generation say they're ready to start companies, but the soft economy is stopping them. Bad excuse

Sean Parker, the Napster co-founder and Facebook president, says early-stage investors will fund almost anything these days. That's not good. The normally party-happy but press-shy tech entrepreneur Sean Parker was a bit of a buzzkill on the subject of Silicon Valley Tuesday

Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day. NYPD Clears OWS Camp In Zuccotti Park . New York police cleared the makeshift Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park last night displacing the assembled protestors at what was the heart of the global Occupy protests

Meet the thermostat directly inspired by the iPod. Courtesy of Nest Labs Tony Fadell developed the first iPod (and 17 subsequent versions) and departed Apple in 2009. Now he's selling a thermostat--but not, of course, just any thermostat.

Meet the thermostat directly inspired by the iPod. Courtesy of Nest Labs Tony Fadell developed the first iPod (and 17 subsequent versions) and departed Apple in 2009. Now he's selling a thermostat--but not, of course, just any thermostat.