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Inc.com SlideShows showcase some of the business strategies and ideas from related Inc. articles. These interactive packages are filled with images and information that bring Inc. editorial to life in an easy-to-digest format. SlideShows will be added to this page as they are developed by the Inc.com team -- be sure to check back often for the latest one.

You changed the light bulbs and lowered the thermostat and for a long time, that was enough. Reducing energy use was traditionally for environmental crusaders. But energy costs have been rising in recent years and new taxes are on the horizon, so every business has a reason to become more efficient. Here's how.

Talent may be cheap right now, but if your dazzling new hire proves successful, don't expect the bargain to last. That's because salaries rise, often steeply, as employees gain experience--human resources experts call it the maturity curve. Inc. asked PayScale, the Seattle-based salary and compensation data provider, to calculate the maturity curves for 20 jobs found at most growing companies.

"As the head of a startup with no money, I use as many free tools as possible," says Chadd Bennett, founder of RetroRazor, a Seattle-based company that sells old-fashioned safety razors. Here are 10 free or inexpensive web-based tools that Bennett uses to save time, cut costs, and boost sales.

Archos, 9PCTABLET

The computer mouse is nearing extinction, thanks to Microsoft's new touchscreen-friendly Windows 7 operating system. Since its release, hardware companies are racing to create the best touchscreen computers. Here are our favorites.

As a new market for electric cars emerges, the automobile industry will change in several fundamental ways. Here are six key areas of opportunity in the electric car system in which entrepreneurs are taking an interest.

Today’s biotech entrepreneurs are confronting medical conditions head-on with innovative technologies -- some changing the way new procedures are marketed, others looking to drive down health care costs altogether. From head to toe, here are some promising companies who are transforming the human body -- one organ at a time.

Want to encourage competition through a company contest? Here's how to get the most out of an internal rivalry–and make sure it doesn't get ugly.

A toy rhinocerous

Ponoko is bridging physical reality and digital efficiency with a global, distributed manufacturing network that takes as much inspiration from Flickr as it does from a machine shop.

Austin Branson, Peter Smathers

The honorees on this year's 30 Under 30 list are perhaps our most
dynamic group yet -- building successful companies online, overseas,
and in the skies above us (literally). Meet America's coolest young
entrepreneurs.

Some of the biggest names in business got their start before their 30th birthday.

Do you fantasize about doodling on your office walls? Want to host your own live TV show online? Are you craving truffle oil popcorn? The companies on this year's 30 Under 30 list might have just what you're looking for.

Blow-drying a finished haircut at Birds.

Birds Barbershop has tapped into the energy of Austin, Texas to build a $2 million business with four locations in just three years.

Tony Hsieh of Zappos at the Inc. 500 conference

The speakers at the 2009 Inc. 500 conference, held in National Harbor, Maryland, share their tips and advice on how to run a fast-growing company. Among them: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, BET founder Robert L. Johnson, Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith, Tastefully Simple founder Jill Blashack Strahan, and author Jim Collins.

We asked the honorees on our 30 Under 30 list for the best business advice they had to offer other prospective entrepreneurs. Here's what they had to say.

Aaron Patzer launched Mint.com as a user-friendly alternative to Quicken and other personal-finance software out there. Little did he know that just two years later, Intuit, which makes Quicken, would fork over $170 million for his website. So how'd he do it?