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

Welcome to another edition of Starred , where we take you deep inside the inboxes of our favorite CEOs, entrepreneurs, and VCs.

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.

The world is swiftly adapting to mobile internet solutions, and in industrialized nations the era of dumbphones and 2G tech is all but over. This represents a huge opportunity for Swedish firm Ericsson, because though you may not know it, Ericsson's technology underpins much of the hardware that makes cell phone networks actually work.

Occupy Wall Street is meant to be a leaderless movement. But that hasn't stopped some people from trying to identify leaders.

Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is back with the story of the dead vehicle's remarkable resurrection. When Who Killed the Electric Car?

Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan is is the legislative equivalent of Subway's $5 footlong campaign or Domino's 5-5-5 deal. It's sharply marketed to the fast food nation (just don't look too close at what's inside).

Though the Texas fires dominated the news this summer, they were not America's largest. NASA's fire detection satellites are useful beyond just generating pretty but painful pictures.

Don't keep your solar user in the dark.

Groupon's Valuation May Shrink To $12 Billion . Groupon may have plans to cut back its IPO to about $500 million, a drop from its original intent in June to raise $750 million

This is the quiet before the storm. I just finished off a plate of chicken marsala in an Italian restaurant, enveloped in the gentle clinking of forks and knives on china, plaid tablecloths, and bottles of olive oil. It all feels so warm and civilized, except for the luggage cars racing past the window and flashing lights of airplanes reminding me I am no longer in New York.

Students are a big contingent at Zucotti Park and other occupations.

Branson thinks that by being in space, people become more passionate about the planet. And he's planning on helping out cash-strapped NASA with its research, too. Earlier this week, Virgin Galactic --the space travel arm of the Virgin Group--debuted the first-ever spaceport in New Mexico

Rick Perry's administration has forced a report on the effects of climate change on Texas to remove all references to, well, climate change. But that doesn't change what's happening to the state's climate. Scientists associated with a major study of environmental changes in the low-lying coastal region around Galveston, Texas, have withdrawn their names from the final report after high-level officials appointed by Governor Rick Perry removed references to sea level rise and climate change from the document.

By tracking every step of the food production process, the next time people start getting sick from cantaloupes, it will be much easier to find which farms are clean, and which are responsible. Food contamination has been in the news recently, and for good reason; at this moment, people in the U.S. are still getting sick from cantaloupe tainted with listeria.

E-commerce business Shopify is pitting a bunch of bloodthirsty entrepreneurs against each other (all in the spirit of healthy competition, of course) to spur new business growth and development--with the help of three blue-chip entrepreneurs. How do you launch a slew of new companies, enable e-commerce, generate millions in sales, and help thousands of entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves and others? You might think the answer starts with venture capital, but for online store builder Shopify , the solution is: pit a bunch of bloodthirsty aspiring business owners against each other (all in the spirit of healthy competition, of course).