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

How do great managers cultivate excellent performances so consistently? Sometimes it's about moving a star into a supporting role. We continue our Leadership Hall of Fame series, a year-long look at the top business books and authors, with an excerpt from First, Break All the Rules (1999) by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

I've tried it all: caulking cracks, blowing in insulation, replacing drafty windows and--I'm especially proud of this one--installing a mail-slot cover so airtight it could be used in a space shuttle docking module . Yet my home heating bill remains an object of fear and loathing

Once upon a time, people didn't camp outside the local Apple Store just to sneak a peek at a jumbo iPhone (we're talking about you, iPad).

Walk into any bank in the country and ask for a loan to start a business and the knee jerk reaction of the banker behind the desk will be to ask you to write a business plan—even though they themselves have likely never written one and will not base their lending decision on its content. The problem with writing a business plan as a start-up is that it will be based on one assumption on top of another. If your first assumption is flawed, then the whole thing is useless.

Smartphones, MP3 players, tablets, laptops, netbooks--modern consumers never leave the house without more electronics than Robocop. We're addicted to using and spending money on mobile devices, which might explain why automakers lately can't stop trying to capture some of that trillion-dollar market for themselves. To wit: Today Microsoft and Toyota announced a strategic partnership to build the "ultimate 'mobile device.'" Touted as a 1 billion yen investment in Toyota Media Service (a lot more catchy than saying $12 million), the partnership will have both companies team up to build a global cloud platform to support next-gen telematics in Toyota's hybrid and plug-in vehicles

In 2003, Laura Ching left a marketing job at Walmart.com to co-found Tiny Prints , a Sunnyvale, California, business that sells invitations, announcements, and other customized stationery online. The business is a perfect fit for Ching, a stickler for proper etiquette. Here are two of her favorite things.

When my wife and I saw the ad for a small, lemon-yellow cottage, we immediately knew we wanted that house. It was in Toronto's Beaches community. Newly married and without kids, we envisioned going for long walks on the beach and then retreating to our cottage abode

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today. Microsoft co-founder speaks up

Funding for projects like Data.gov and mobile apps for agencies is in danger of being almost fully slashed. The Obama administration swept into Washington in 2008 with promises of both increased transparency and increased use of modern technologies, two things our political system desperatley needed. And while both promises somewhat fell victim to standard Washington infighting and inertia, some of the results were impressive, especially the high-profile Data.gov , which aggregates all government data sets, and USASpending.gov , where you can see how much money government contracts are worth.

The home of the future will be bedecked with smart sensors that send their data to the cloud so you can manage the house from afar--yes, this is a story we've heard before. But now Microsoft has joined a plan to build a smart city jammed with exactly these smart homes in Portugal. Living PlanIT , which calls itself "one of the world's leading smart city and urban development technology providers" has been working on a plan for a smart city in northern Portugal for quite a while--currently a 2013 unveiling looks likely

Wallace "J" Nichols is crowdsourcing his life's work. And saving his home in the process. It's difficult to make it as an independent scientist.

I was at lunch at Japango with some of my Foundry Group gang yesterday. When I went to my house in Alaska last July, I took a Mac with me but left my PC at home. Ross bet me $100 that before the month was out I'd beg him to fedex my PC to me.

Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today

In what would position Netflix as an even bigger threat to the major cable players, the company might soon offer original programming, according to Deadline Hollywood . The streaming TV and movie powerhouse has reportedly outbid networks from HBO to AMC for the rights to the David Fincher and Kevin Spacey series House of Cards. Nellie Andreeva calls it "probably the biggest gamble" in the company's history, and reports that while negotiations are still ongoing, Netflix has offered to commit to two seasons of the drama series in a deal that could be worth more than $100 million.

Small announcements by online video players Rovi and Vimeo are harbingers of seismic shifts in the way we find TV shows we like. Here's a peek at the new plumbing pumping life into web TV recommendations