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

Next time you're shopping online , be prepared for a chat. As live chat technology evolves, e-commerce sites are finding that virtual clerks are becoming crucial to customer support and sales systems. Earlier this year, Bold Software, a live chat and click-to-call service based in Wichita, Kansas, polled 200 of their customers—mostly online merchants who use the software to interact with customers browsing their sites—to see just how effective live chats really were

Picture an old-fashioned covered wagon . Now, imagine your job is to pull that wagon. The wagon carries all of the concerns and goals of your business; understandably, this is a pretty heavy wagon, so you consider finding someone to help you pull it.

When we hear the word "inventor," we think of people like Thomas Edison or the Wright Brothers. Some of the coolest inventors, though, are people you probably don't know. They didn't invent planes or light bulbs; these people created products used so often, you probably didn't even realize they were inventions

Admit it, you’ve Googled yourself to see what pops up. When I Google myself, what comes up on the first page is my company’s website, Inc.com, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, my book, my Twitter feed, and an article about my book.

According to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly half of all 12-year-olds in the U.S. are using social network sites, despite not meeting the minimum age requirements for sites like Facebook

A weekend security breach caused 748 lines of sensitive information to be exposed to the public.

Show vote results ;Inc.'s 20 Awesome Facebook Fan Pages Bare Escentuals Bonobos Brendan's Irish Pub Burt's Bees Candles Off Main Clarisonic Community Coffee eCycler Fresh Brothers Johnny Cupcakes Mabel's Labels Old Spice Red Mango Skullcandy SmartPak Stella & Dot Steve Spangler Science Threadless Tiny Prints Zappos Slideshow 20 Best Company Facebook Pages These 20 companies demonstrate Facebook done right. With active discussions, lively photos and videos, and custom content—these pages convert loyal fans into buying customers

Earthquakes, fires, mold, asbestos, employee hacker—there's any number of calamities that can shutter the doors of your business. When disasters happen—man-made or natural—you want to be able to rebuild when the time comes.

You've finally decided to start a business of your own. Or maybe you have been running one as a sole proprietor, even moonlighting on the side, and have decided you need to protect your personal assets from those involved with your growing business. You might even decide there could be a tax break in it for you

Minimalist is the answer for Bare Escentuals. Fans completely drive the conversation on wall updates, discussion boards and with pictures.Bare Escentuals adopts a "hands-off" Facebook strategy, letting unsolicited testimonials from its nearly 200,000 fans drive traffic to Bare Escentuals boutiques and resellers. Customer feedback on Facebook even led to a redesign of the firm's product packaging, says chief marketing officer Simon Cowell: "We sell loose minerals, so customers wanted something more portable

Humorist and TED speaker Ze Frank tells FastCompany how his new startup can help save us from living our entire online lives in blue and white. Ze Frank, the performer and humorist who once won a Webby for his personal website, is a guy who is plainly awed at the oddity of human beings on the Internet. He says the blue-and-white sterility of our popular social networks--Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare--is threatening to choke out the messy, weird home-made kitsch once typified by MySpace pages and message boards