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

Forty-eight hours into an attempt to muscle a gusher of oil back into the deep-sea well from which it spewed, the flow of petroleum and gas refused to slow. Screen after screen in a special room at BP's headquarters in Houston showed the oil gushing undiminished, silently witnessed underwater by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)

Fifty years ago, in the same farewell speech in which he warned about the "unwarranted influence" of the "military-industrial complex" on American politics, President Dwight Eisenhower also deplored the growing dependence of scientists on federal funding. "The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by federal employment, project allocations and the power of money is ever present--and is gravely to be regarded." Eisenhower's speech comes to mind as I gravely regard the latest example of the militarization of science, a $125 million collaboration between psychologists and the U.S. Army called "Comprehensive Soldier Fitness," or CSF

One location, for a growing business, is typically not enough. With enough personnel and capital, many businesses prefer to set up multiple offices to attract different regions of customers. With separate offices how can your business install a network so all the locations can work, communicate, and share information easily, instantaneously, and effectively?

DETROIT (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's goal of having 1 million plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015 is on its way to being met, a Department of Energy official said on Wednesday. "It's looking good," said Assistant Energy Secretary David Sandalow when asked by reporters on the chances of meeting the goal set by Obama.

Urgent efforts to avert a government shutdown at midnight faltered yesterday over Republican initiatives to freeze climate rules, a challenge to the president's environmental priorities at the outset of his re-election bid. Controversial policy provisions meant to defund U.S

1. As if to remind us that the world of TV is changing incredibly fast, Netflix has signed a deal with Lions Gate Entertainment to bring all the Mad Men archive shows to the digital online channel. The show is highly acclaimed and Netflix is reported to be paying around $1 million per episode--meaning it fully expects to recoup more than that from subscriptions and ads (curiously fitting given the show's setting!).

By Adam Mann of Nature magazine NASA should be revitalized "not just with dollars, but with clear aims and a larger purpose," US President Barack Obama said last April, after cancelling the previous administration's under-resourced Constellation programme of rockets and capsules for human space flight. [More]

When I sat down with Jack Tretton, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment America, it was the third time in as many years that we got together to discuss the state of the gaming industry and the strategies behind PlayStation.

Social Media has forced businesses to reassess the definition of influence. Influencers are telling us what to do on a regular basis across the social sphere, but who is listening and how does it affect our behavior and buying decisions

On the 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, Bill Plante profiles 70-year-old Jim Brady, a man whose life was never the same after that day.

In April 2010, amid mounting criticism that his space plan lacked direction, President Barack Obama gave a speech in Florida to lay out a few ambitious goals he had in mind for NASA. The details of how those targets would be met remain somewhat sketchy even today, but the goals themselves were clear--sometime around 2025, the U.S. would perform an unprecedented feat.

The President works on his Libya speech with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon during a conference call on Air Force One, via The White House on Flickr The President's speech last night was primarily billed as his chance to plead his case to the nation for the ongoing military intervention in Libya. But slipped into his remarks was a primer on 21st century leadership in a time of change, a topic Life in Beta is particularly interested in. Here were Mr

In a world that is obsessed with preventing errors and perfection, perhaps it's ironic that despite 11 straight blockbuster movies, Pixar cofounder and President Ed Catmull describes Pixar's creative process as "going from suck to nonsuck." That's because Catmull and Pixar's directors think it's better to fix problems than to prevent errors. "My strategy has always been: be wrong as fast as we can," says Andrew Stanton, Director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, "Which basically means, we're gonna screw up, let's just admit that. Let's not be afraid of that." We can all work this way more often

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.

Remember the swine flu?