• Your flights from LAX just got an upgrade with thePrivate Suite experience for VIP travelers.
• As members of the Private Suite LAX, travelers are escorted to a hotel-style room where couches and refreshments await and their TSA screening is done in private — no lines, baggage check or walking across terminals.
• LAX announced partnerships with Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, and Montage Beverly Hills to enhance Private Suite accommodations.

If you’ve ever dreamt of an airport terminal with a quiet place to read while you wait to board your flight, or if you’ve ever desperately wanted to take a shower the moment you land, there’s a secluded place that can happen at LAX. As long as you’re willing to dish out $4,500 a year for annual membership, a private bathroom (with shower) is on the horizon.

LAX launched The Private Suite last spring, promising a VIP experience: free of long lines and for higher-profile individuals, no paparazzi. This month, the members-only service announced partnerships with Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, and Montage Beverly Hills offering packages for VIP travelers that include complimentary use of the Private Suite.

Members of The Private Suite never have to step foot in the main terminal — the company claims it takes precisely 70 steps from car to aircraft. Check-in, baggage, customs, and TSA screening are processed discreetly, while clients sit back in their hotel-style rooms and watch planes take off from their windows. A team of eight is assigned to each traveler, escorting clients from the moment they enter the gated compound to the time they board their flights.

Gavin de Becker and Associates owns and operates The Private Suite, which means the same national security services that have protected US government officials, business executives, and prominent families oversee these exclusive accommodations at LAX, one of the country’s busiest airports.

Here's an inside look at the what it’s like to be a member of The Private Suite:

SEE ALSO: The best airports in the world have movie theaters, spas, and mini golf — see the full list

VIP members of the Private Suite are escorted to a gated compound upon their arrival at LAX.

Each suite is like a private hotel room...

...with a stocked pantry, sitting area...

• Facebook bans most photos with female nipples in for "safety" reasons, an exec has said.
• Campaigners have called on the social network to "free the nipple" and allow topless photos of women like it does photos of men.
• But it's difficult to tell if a woman has consented to having a photo shared, so the company errs on the side of safety, executive Monika Bickert said.

On a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg remarked: "It's easier to build an AI system to detect a nipple than what is hate speech."

The 33-year-old executive was discussing content moderation, and alluding to how Facebook — in most situations — doesn't allow photos that show womens' nipples.

But why does Facebook ban female nipples in the first place?

On a call with reporters the week before, Facebook's head of global policy management Monika Bickert shed some light on how the social network views the situation: It's all about safety and consent.

How tech companies — and broader society — view the female nipple has long been a contentious issue. Men's bare chests are considered socially acceptable, but womens' are sexualized and generally taboo in public, while photos are largely banned online. Campaigners rallying under the slogan "Free The Nipple" have called on tech firms like Facebook (which also owns Instagram) to end this double standard, and push for greater social acceptance of female bodies.

On April 24, Facebook released its full internal guidelines for its content moderators for the first time. While it does allow photos showing female nipples in some circumstances, like breast-feeding photos and political protests, they remain mostly banned.

The reason for this, Bickert said, was that the company is prioritizing keeping women safe from exploitation.

"Fundamentally our nudity standards are about safety. It's very hard for us to determine the age of a person depicted in a nude image. It's also very hard for us to determine consent. So even if it's pretty clear the person consented to the image being taken, it's very hard to tell if the person consented to the image being shared," she said.

"We have always wanted to be able to carve out situations where we know consent and age are not an issue. We therefore have allowed for years breastfeeding photos. We have now made more carve-outs. So we allow, for instance, nude images that are about cancer awareness or post-surgery photos. We allow female nipples in political protest."

In other words: Facebook is arguing that it doesn't exist in a cultural vacuum. Even if it decided to be permissive of female nipples, the broader societal taboo wouldn't lift overnight — and Facebook's actions could result in images being shared against their subjects' will. 

SEE ALSO: Facebook shredded Wall Street's Cambridge Analytica worries with a giant Q1 and its stock is soarin

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Google, Apple, and Amazon are in a war that no one will win

If you can't keep up with the times, your hairstyle might quickly become outdated.

Let's ensure that doesn't happen. We've illustrated below the prevailing trendy haircuts, according to our friends at Men's Hairstyles Now and their infographic on cool hairstyles for men in 2018.

Whether you go with the trendy fringe or the close-cropped style of the fade, one of these 10 hairstyles is sure to fit your personality.

SEE ALSO: Costco is a men's underwear paradise

The fade

Source: Men's Hairstyles Now

Comb over

Source: Men's Hairstyles Now

Spiky

Source: Men's Hairstyles Now

• McDonald's employees know all about how things are run at the fast-food giant.
• Customers might miss out on some secrets that are obvious to employees.
• Here's a look at some insider facts from employees that you should know if you're planning to go a Big Mac run.

McDonald's jobs are abundant.

About 375,000 people work at the fast-food chain, according to a 2016 McDonald's filing. But if you include franchise employees, as Forbes did in 2015, the number jumps to 1.9 million, making McDonald's one of the largest employers in the world.

Whether they work for franchise locations or corporate stores, McDonald's employees gain a keen insight into the inner workings of the fast-food giant.

McDonald's employees can tell you all about the most annoying customer requests and the consequences of working around french fries all day.

Here are a few things only McDonald's employees know.

SEE ALSO: Walmart employees share 8 insider facts about shopping at the big box store

DON'T MISS: Costco employees share the 20 things they wish shoppers would stop doing

READ MORE: The secret history of McDonald's Filet-O-Fish, which was almost killed from the menu before becoming Trump's staple sandwich

People can get pretty invested in their food

"I was amazed at how furious people could get over food," a person who says they worked at McDonald's wrote on Reddit. "I was a swing manager for a while, and one time I took a call from an angry guy ... Seems that even though he asked for no mustard on his burgers, he got mustard."

The Reddit user said the man claimed to have a spreadsheet on which he recorded every time a McDonald's employee made a mistake with his food. He yelled and kept demanding to speak to the store owner.

The Reddit user said the owner ended up taking a call from the man and promptly hung up after telling him to find "somewhere else to eat in the future."

There's a trick to getting a fresh egg on your breakfast sandwich

Mackenzie Shelton, whose Quora bio says she's a McDonald's employee, offered a hack for getting a fresh-from-the-carton egg on your breakfast sandwich.

Request a "round egg," she said. "It's the best egg we have (and definitely real!)."

The website Serious Eats confirmed that the request could swap out "your folded egg patty with a real egg, free of charge."

Chuck Chan, who says he worked at McDonald's, wrote on Quora that you'd get the same type of egg used in McMuffins.

Employees sometimes get some unusual requests

Sometimes customers come up with some rather unusual requests for McDonald's employees to tackle.

Mike Bowerbank, who said he worked at McDonald's, said on Quora that a woman once asked for a "McDLT" with no meat.

A McDLT is a discontinued McDonald's sandwich that consisted of a cheeseburger split in two and placed on different sides of a specialized container. One half had a bun with a patty and cheese (the hot side), while the other had a bun with vegetables and sauce (the cold side).

"For some odd reason, this seemed to be the funniest thing the girl behind the counter had ever heard and she started laughing," Bowerbank wrote. "And she couldn't stop. The assistant manager had to step in, apologize, and put in the order for her."

Ganesh Satyanarayana said on Quora that while he was working the closing shift at a McDonald's in the UK, he encountered a customer he described as "visibly pregnant."

"She quietly asks me: 'Are you still open? Because I'm craving a sandwich and none of the other McDonald’s were open,'" Satyanarayana wrote. "My heart immediately melted and I let them in and told them that it would take a while as I had already finished cleaning the oil vats and the grill. She said: 'Oh, I don't want any meat on my sandwich, I just want pickles on a toasted bun.' I swear to God, I thought she was joking."

And not all of the strange requests involve food. Arthur Adams, who says he worked at a McDonald's in the 1980s, said on Quora that customers would ask him to tell a joke or sell his McDonald's hat.

• The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced the name of their third child: Louis Arthur Charles.
• The royal baby was born on Monday morning in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London.
• The baby is fifth in line to the throne, bumping Prince Harry to sixth place.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced the name of their newborn baby boy as Louis Arthur Charles.

Kensington Palace announced the name in a tweet on Friday.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles. The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge."

Kate Middleton gave birth to the baby boy weighing 8lbs, 7oz at 11.01 a.m. on Monday April at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London.

The couple took time to show off their newborn royal to photographers outside the hospital as they made their exit later on Monday before heading back to Kensington Palace.

Middleton looked radiant in a red dress from British designer Jenny Packham.

Kensington Palace tweeted a thanks on behalf of Their Royal Highnesses to all of the staff at the hospital "for the care and treatment they received."

Their first two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, were born in the same hospital.

Here's the moment they arrived at St Mary’s to meet their little brother.

The new baby is fifth in line to the throne, bumping Prince Harry to sixth place. His title will be HRH Prince of Cambridge. The baby is also Queen Elizabeth II's sixth great-grandchild.

Bookies' favourites for the new royal's name had included Alexander, Arthur, James, Philip, and Albert.

SEE ALSO: Kate Middleton has given birth to a baby boy

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This incredible animation shows how humans evolved from early life

• The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have called their third child Louis Arthur Charles — and royal experts say it's a nod to relatives, past and present.
• One obvious link is with Prince Louis' grandfather, Prince Charles, while the name may also be a tribute to Louis Mountbatten, Prince Philip's uncle and mentor.
• The baby is fifth in line to the throne, bumping Prince Harry into sixth place.

Prince William and Kate Middleton have called their third child Louis Arthur Charles — and it is likely to be a nod to the young Prince's relatives, past and present.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge revealed the name on Friday and it didn't take long for royal observers, including at The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, to identify its lineage.

One obvious link is with Prince Louis' grandfather, Prince Charles, while the name may also be a tribute to Louis Mountbatten.

Mountbatten was Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip's uncle and mentor. He encouraged his nephew to marry Queen Elizabeth, and was considered an "honorary grandfather" by Prince Charles, according to the MailOnline. Mountbatten was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.

Louis is also the middle name of both Prince William and his eldest son Prince George. Their full names are William Arthur Philip Louis and George Alexander Louis respectively.

Here's a graphic of the royal baby name origins. 

Kate Middleton gave birth to the baby boy weighing 8lbs, 7oz, at 11.01 a.m. on Monday April at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London.

SEE ALSO: The royal baby has been named — meet Louis Arthur Charles

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How a tiny camera startup is taking on Amazon and Google

• Taking a break from Facebook for five days could reduce your stress levels, according to a new study.
• But leaving the social network for too long can make you feel cut off from friends, with participants in the study reporting lower life satisfaction.
• That's one reason why people inevitably return to Facebook when they've been off it a while.

Deleting Facebook may have been quite tempting amid the Cambridge Analytica scandal, when users realised their data had been scraped and used in ways they weren't happy with.

But according to some research, deleting Facebook might not be the best idea in the long run — especially if you rely on it for keeping up with your friends.

A Facebook holiday, however, could be quite beneficial, says research spotted by BPS Digest. According to the study, published in The Journal of Social Psychology, giving up Facebook for a few days could lower your cortisol levels — the stress hormone.

Researchers at the University of Queensland recruited 138 active Facebook users, who spend an average of 2.8 hours a day on the app. They completed a questionnaire about their Facebook use, life-satisfaction, stress, mood and loneliness, and also gave saliva samples so the researchers could measure the amount of cortisol in their bodies.

Half of the participants were asked to give up Facebook for five days, while the other group used it as normal. Before the break, all the participants wrote what they thought the next five days would be like. Then, after five days, they returned to complete another questionnaire and provide another sample of saliva.

All of those who took Facebook hiatus assumed it would be terrible. And results did show that they reported lower life satisfaction at the end of the five days compared to those who were allowed to use Facebook.

However, their cortisol levels were also lower, suggesting they felt less stressed over the Facebook break than those who were using the site as normal. The Facebook holidayers didn't report feeling less stressed though, perhaps because they weren't aware their stress levels had gone down, the researchers said.

"We don't think that this is necessarily unique to Facebook, as people's stress levels will probably reduce anytime they take a break from their favourite social media platforms," said Eric Vanman, a psychologist at the University of Queensland, who led the research.

He added that when he told his colleagues about "Facebook vacations," many people admitted to trying it when they found Facebook too stressful or overwhelming. But most people always come back.

One student kept herself off Facebook by having her friend change her password. But she eventually caved after about two months.

"Facebook has become an essential social tool for millions of users and it obviously provides many benefits. Yet, because it conveys so much social information about a large network of people, it can also be taxing," Vanman said.

"It seems that people take a break because they're too stressed, but return to Facebook whenever they feel unhappy because they have been cut off from their friends. It then becomes stressful again after a while, so they take another break. And so on."

SEE ALSO: Deleting Facebook could be bad for you — here's why

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: You're probably bending over all wrong — here's the right way to do it

• Kate Middleton just gave birth to a baby boy — her third child with Prince William.
• The new baby, who is named Louis Arthur Charles, is fifth in line for the throne.
• Here's a look at some of the parenting strategies Will and Kate have used while raising their first two children, George and Charlotte.

Royal baby number three is here.

Kate Middleton — whose official styling is now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge — just gave birth to a son. The baby is her third child with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. 

The new royal's name is Louis Arthur Charles. The baby is fifth in line to the British throne, behind his grandfather Prince Charles of Wales, his father Prince William, his brother Prince George of Cambridge, and his sister Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. He is ahead of his uncle, Prince Harry.

For a royal couple, Will and Kate have been quite vocal about some of the strategies they use to parent their kids. 

Vogue reported that, while advocating for a mental health campaign, Prince William said that he and his wife want their children "to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings."

Here's a look into what royal parenthood has been like for Will and Kate:

SEE ALSO: Kate Middleton has given birth to a baby boy

The Duke and Duchess became parents on July 22, 2013, when Kate gave birth to the couple's first child, George Alexander Louis.

Source: The Guardian

The couple broke royal tradition by releasing an informal portrait of the family taken by the Duchess' father at the Middleton family's property in Bucklebury, England — complete with their dog, Lupo.

Source: TODAY

The new royal couple brought George along on a tour around Australia and New Zealand in 2014. George didn't just meet with heads of state on the trip — Kate brought her son along on a group play date, to allow him to interact with his peers.

Source: TVNZ

• Kate Middleton and Prince William's newborn son is named Louis Arthur Charles.
• He will be referred to as Prince Louis of Cambridge.
• Like his siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince George, his name holds a lot of meaning for the royal family.

Kate Middleton and Prince William's new baby officially has a name.

The royal family is welcoming Louis Arthur Charles to their family.

Prince Louis is the third child of Kate Middleton — whose official styling is now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge — and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. The new baby is fifth in line to the British throne, behind his grandfather Prince Charles of Wales, his father Prince William, his brother, Prince George of Cambridge, and his sister, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.

Like the names of his siblings, Louis' name is chock full of meaning for the royal family.

There hasn't ever been a King Louis of England — unless you count King Louis VIII's short stint back in 1216. It's a name more popularly associated with the French monarchy. But it is a Windsor family name. Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was the uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and also the queen's second cousin. He was killed in a 1979 bombing.

Arthur was the middle name of Queen Elizabeth's father King George VI, and also the name of the legendary medieval king. And Charles is, of course, the name of Prince William's father — as well as two previous English kings.

Prince George, whose first name comes from Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI, shares the middle name Louis with his baby brother, as well as the middle name Alexander, a masculine version of his great grandmother, Queen Elizabeth's, middle name.

Princess Charlotte gets her first name from two places: It's her aunt Pippa Middleton's middle name, and it's the feminine version of her grandfather, Prince Charles', first name. Her middle names, Elizabeth and Diana, have straightforward sources: her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth, and her late grandmother Princess Diana, Prince William's mother.

SEE ALSO: Queen Elizabeth has a fortune worth over $500 million — here's how much the British royal family is worth

DON'T MISS: 15 iconic photos of Prince William and Kate Middleton as parents

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Betting odds predict the most popular names for Prince William and Kate's new baby

• Target store employees know a lot about the chain's inner workings.
• Employees have taken to the web to share all sorts of interesting secrets about the brand.
• Here's a look at some insider insights that could be helpful to customers, courtesy of Target employees.

Target store employees know all about the retail giant's inside operations.

And there are plenty of current and former employees out there. Today, Target has 1,829 stores in the US. It also employs a massive workforce, with over 350,000 global team members.

Some of those workers have taken to the web to share information on what it's like to work at the chain. Some also shared tips and suggestions on how to make the most of your shopping experience and how to snag the best deals.

So if you're planning on going on a Target run anytime soon, consider going in prepared with this insider information.

Here's a look at some surprising facts about the retail chain, courtesy of current and former Target employees:

SEE ALSO: Costco employees share the 20 things they wish shoppers would stop doing

DON'T MISS: Walmart employees share 8 insider facts about shopping at the big box store

SEE ALSO: Costco employees explain why they don't buy produce there

Target has a state-of-the-art forensics program to catch shoplifters, among other things.

Apparently "CSI: Target" is a thing.

The retail chain runs two forensic labs, one in Minneapolis and the other in Las Vegas. On its website, Target said its investigators solve cases through "video and image analysis, latent fingerprint and computer forensics."

In a 2008 article profiling the Target Forensic Services team, Forbes reported that 70% of the lab's time is spent looking into fraud, theft, and personal cases.

But Target investigators have also assisted law-enforcement agencies on a number of armed robbery, kidnapping, and homicide cases, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

People who said they've worked at Target before took to Reddit to say that the stores tend to have state-of-the-art camera surveillance.

"The resolution on those things was insane," one Reddit poster wrote.

"I worked at Target in the early nineties and it was insane then," another Reddit user added. "Twenty years later and I wouldn't be surprised if they weigh me as I enter and as I leave to determine if I'm shoplifting."

One Target employee told Business Insider that the surveillance system doesn't ensure that all shoplifters get busted immediately, however.

"Stores will often let shoplifters go until they steal an amount that will be counted as a felony — sending them straight to jail," the Target employee told Business Insider.

Be nice to employees — it might pay off.

Sometimes, it pays to be nice.

Business Insider's Kate Taylor previously reported on a viral blog started by Target employee Tom Grennell.

He wrote about working during a special sale when his Target store was giving out a 10% discount on all purchases. The only catch? Shoppers had to ask for the discount.

"I have a coupon to scan if anyone asks for it. I scan it if people don't ask for it if they're nice to me," Grennell wrote. "I don't scan it if they're rude. Power is a new sensation. Power is a good sensation."

You can't necessarily spot a clearance item by its price tag.

The website Truth or Fiction threw cold water on the idea that prices ending in certain numbers indicate clearance items at Target.

"The ending digit of a clearance price is determined by several factors including the original retail price and the applied percentage discount," former Target PR representative Evan Lapiska told Truth or Fiction. "It is not possible to determine the final markdown or timing of the price change from the item's current price."

The website also debunked the idea that Target's mark downs run on a weekly schedule.

• Serena Williams is one of the greatest tennis players in history, with 23 Grand Slam singles titles under her belt and two "Serena Slams."
• She and her sister Venus trained long and hard to earn their fame and success.
• Williams recently had a baby with new husband Alexis Ohanion, co-founder of Reddit. 

With a new baby, a new husband, 23 Grand Slam singles titles, and a net worth of $27 million, the world is Serena Williams' oyster.

The tennis player has undoubtedly earned her charmed life, thanks to decades of relentless training and unwavering discipline.

But she's not satisfied with resting on her laurels. The 36-year-old is currently trying to mount a comeback after childbirth and emergency surgery.

Here, we take a look at Williams' remarkable career and the fabulous life she has earned for herself on the court.

SEE ALSO: This is everything tennis champion Serena Williams eats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Williams was born in 1981, the youngest of Richard and Oracene Williams' five daughters.

She was born in Saginaw, Michigan, but her family soon relocated to the Compton area of Los Angeles.

Of course, one of her sisters is the equally legendary tennis champ Venus Williams.

Their father was formerly a Louisiana sharecropper and wanted his daughters to have a better life than he did. So he began training Serena and Venus in tennis at a very young age, based on information he’d gathered from videos and books.

By 1991, Serena Williams was ranked No. 1 in the 10-and-under division on the junior United States Tennis Association tour.

Although Serena and Venus were doing well, Richard relocated his family to Florida so that his girls could get better instruction and rise to the professional level.

• A new McDonald's restaurant opened on Wednesday at the site of its new corporate headquarters in Chicago. 
• The McDonald's is an Experience Of The Future restaurant with self-order kiosks, table service, McDelivery, and mobile order and pay.
• The menu will feature a rotating selection of global McDonald's menu items, a Latin American style dessert center, and an Australian McCafé.

A McDonald's restaurant opened on Wednesday at the site of its new corporate headquarters in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, and its rotating menu features McDonald's favorites from around the world. 

Though the new corporate headquarters isn't opening until later this spring, the restaurant itself is open and features a rotating menu of global McDonald's favorites from countries like France, Brazil, and Australia, as well as traditional McDonald's menu items like the Big Mac and Chicken McNuggets. The restaurant is one of McDonald's Experience Of The Future restaurants, featuring self-order kiosks, table service, McDelivery, and mobile order and pay.

In addition to the globally inspired menu, the 6,000 square foot restaurant will also feature a Latin American style dessert center, offering desserts primarily from that region, and an Australian McCafé area.

See what's being served in the first menu rotation: 

SEE ALSO: We compared White Castle's original slider with its new game-changing burger — and the winner is clear

The Mighty Angus Burger from Canada is a 1/3 lb. burger topped with lettuce, onion, cheese, bacon, and smoky angus sauce on a poppy and sesame seed bun.

The burger costs $5.79.

From Hong Kong, the menu will feature the McSpicy Chicken Sandwich — a breaded, marinated, and fried chicken breast served on a sesame seed bun with lettuce.

The McSpicy Chicken Sandwich costs $3.00.

Cheese and bacon loaded fries from Australia are traditional McDonald's fries topped with melted cheese and crispy bacon bits.

An order of the Australian fries costs $3.29.

• "Science fiction and fantasy" became the most popular genre of Netflix original show among subscribers in Q1 of 2018, according to data compiled by the analytics firm Ampere Analysis.
• Netflix has been able to "anticipate" an increase in demand for the genre by rapidly expanding its production of original sci-fi and fantasy shows and movies, according to Ampere.
• More than one quarter (29%) of upcoming Netflix originals are in the sci-fi and fantasy category, higher than any other genre.

Science fiction and fantasy are dominating Netflix, and subscribers can expect a lot more of it in the coming months.

"Sci-fi and fantasy" became the most popular genre of Netflix original show in Q1 of 2018, and the streaming service has been able to "anticipate" an increase in demand for the genre by rapidly expanding its production of original sci-fi and fantasy shows and movies, according to the analytics firm Ampere Analysis. 

The genre overtook comedy as the most popular Netflix original category, with 12% of subscribers choosing it as their favorite genre of show, according to Ampere.

In Q1 of 2017, comedy was the most popular genre, with 14% of subscribers calling it their favorite category on the service. Comedy dropped to a second-place 11% in Q1 of 2018, and it's currently followed by action and adventure in third place.

To meet this change in customer preference, more than one quarter (29%) of Netflix's upcoming original content fits into the sci-fi and fantasy category, Ampere said.

This follows the continued success of Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things," which released its second season in October 2017 after debuting in July 2016.

Netflix has followed "Stranger Things" with sci-fi series like "The OA," "Altered Carbon," and a new reboot of the 1960s series "Lost in Space." On Thursday, Netflix ordered another sci-fi series, "Another Life," which centers on an alien mission and stars "Battlestar Galactica" actress Katee Sackhoff.

The company has also released a number of sci-fi films, like "The Cloverfield Paradox," and it handled international distribution for the Natalie Portman-led film "Annihilation" this year.

Netflix's push comes as its competitors are also pursuing high-cost series in the genre.

Following the success of its fantasy series "Game of Thrones," HBO is now on its second season of the sci-fi series "Westworld," which costs an estimated $8 million to $8.3 million per episode. Netflix's streaming rival, Amazon, in pursuit of its own "Game of Thrones," will reportedly be spending $1 billion on a "Lord of the Rings" series.

"Netflix uses sophisticated customer analytics to rapidly respond to changes in subscriber taste, so as demand for Sci-Fi and Fantasy grows, so does the amount of commissioned content," Ampere analysts wrote, adding the following chart to depict the corresponding shifts:

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Apple makes it so hard to get a new iPhone battery

• Former "Today Show" cohost Ann Curry told The Washington Post this week that she warned NBC executives about sexual harassment from Matt Lauer in 2012.
• Curry told The Post that she complained to two NBC executives after a female "Today Show" staff member told her that Lauer "sexually harassed her, physically."
• An NBC spokesman told The Post that the network had no record of Curry's warning.

Former "Today Show" cohost Ann Curry told The Washington Post this week that she warned NBC executives about sexual harassment from Matt Lauer in 2012, five years before he was fired in November for alleged misconduct.

Curry told The Post that she complained to two NBC executives, whom she didn't name, after a female "Today Show" staff member told her that Lauer "sexually harassed her, physically."

"A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her," Curry said. "She was afraid of losing her job."

Curry said she didn't reveal the woman's name to NBC's management at the woman's request. "I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women," she said.

The NBC staffer confirmed to The Post that she went to Curry with her complaint, but asked that the publication not reveal her name.

An NBC spokesman told The Post that the network had no record of Curry's warning. NBC did not respond immediately to a request for further comment from Business Insider.

In January, Curry said on "CBS This Morning" that she was "not surprised by the allegations" that resulted in Lauer's firing, but she had not spoken publicly about what she specifically knew about Lauer's misconduct until she spoke to The Post this week.

Lauer responded for the first time to the allegations that resulted in his firing last year in the same Post article published Thursday.

"I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC," Lauer said. "However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false." 

SEE ALSO: NBC host Matt Lauer fired for 'inappropriate sexual behavior' at work

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Inside Cook Out, the South's most underrated restaurant

• Robert Rodriguez and producer Jon Landau ("Avatar") talked to Business Insider at CinemaCon about the evolution of bringing "Alita: Battle Angel" to the screen.
• It was originally a project James Cameron was to make, after he discovered the manga around 2000. However, the success of "Avatar" changed everything.
• Rodriguez has resurrected the project, and explained how it will still feel like a Cameron movie, and why it won't make the mistakes of recent manga release, "Ghost in the Shell."

Before James Cameron made “Avatar” and broke all box-office records, he was planning on making the big-screen adaptation of “Battle Angel Alita,” the famous manga series created by Yukito Kishiro.

In fact, Cameron's deep dive around 2000 into the rich material about a cyborg named Alita (played in the movie by Rose Salazar) who tries to rediscover her past after being found in a garbage heap by a cybernetics doctor, wasn’t just going to be a single movie but a franchise.

However, Cameron had to put the project on hold as the success of “Avatar” has now led to him making multiple sequels of the movie (at the same time). Luckily, he’s found a worthy filmmaker to take on the “Battle Angel” material.

Robert Rodriguez, who is known for his wide range of titles (“Desperado,” “Machete,” “Sin City”) took Cameron’s material and crafted it into a stunning 3D movie (opening December 21).

After showing footage of “Alita: Battle Angel” at CinemaCon on Thursday, Rodriguez and producer Jon Landau (“Avatar” movies) sat down with Business Insider to talk about the evolution of the project and why this manga won’t end up like the big-screen version of “Ghost in the Shell.”

Jason Guerrasio: Jon you said on stage that Robert came in and "edited" Cameron's material to make the movie. Robert, what did that entail?

Rodriguez: Jim was writing “Alita” for himself to make. So he had already taken the 30-plus books and found which stories to focus on and created a story that was a movie story. He even wrote his first draft, which was long but he would have gotten there if he kept on it. But he got busy on “Avatar” so it was just left. So I asked him at this one meeting, "What are you going to do if you're now doing 'Avatar?' If you're only doing 'Avatars' what happens to 'Battle Angel?'" He said, "I won't have a chance to make it, but hey, if you can figure it out you can go and make it." And I was like, sh-- that's what I'm doing this summer. I took his 600 pages of notes home with me and I figured out what I needed to fill in.

When I read it I could tell this doesn't need a rewrite, it just needed to be cut down. So being an editor I just pretended it was already shot and I just edited it down to length and I suggested some additional photography and dialogue to patch the holes. That's it. And he went, "That sounds good, let's go make it." That was the main work, taking the vision that he already had and like I made “Sin City” in the style of Frank Miller, I made this like it would fee like a Jim Cameron film that I always wanted to see. 

Landau: And Robert did that on his own. He didn't say, "Put a deal in place for me to be the director." He just went and did it. And that speaks volumes. And we read what he did with Jim's 180-page script, and nothing was missing. And that told us that he understood what was important thematically. A lot of people talk about plot, Robert held onto the themes that were so important. 

Rodriguez: In fact, Jim told me he would play a game with himself while reading the script. He would be coming up on a part of the movie that he liked and would say to himself, I bet that's cut out, and he would love that it wasn't cut. The stuff that I thought he would miss the most, I made sure to keep in there. 

Landau: Honestly, Robert wasn't the first director we came to for this, but we never found the right fit to give up something that we believed in. I mean, Jim put in the time commitment to write it. 

Guerrasio: I know that “Battle Angle” is a very different manga than “Ghost in the Shell,” but seeing the disappointing result critically and financially for that movie, can you see the potholes you need to navigate around?

Landau: I think the pothole to avoid is what Jim did in the script. This is a movie that is about her. This movie is about emotion. One of my favorite shots in the movie is when Alita cries. That's a human thing. I think oftentimes other movies are made based on mangas that don't access that human quality. So to us she's just a character. And that's why I said on stage, "She's not a superhero, she's a hero." Just a regular girl who comes into this world and I think everyone can identify with her. 

Rodriguez: Also, Kishiro didn't write a movie that was particularly Asian. It was actually set in Kansas City. But we set it in South America because Jim's scientific mind made him believe that a space elevator would work better near the equator. So I was excited to make a Latin-based movie with a diverse cast that was organic to the story. This is set in the last city that's left in existence so people from all over are there. That helps you avoid the pitfalls of something that's particular to a society, like “Ghost in the Shell.” 

Guerrasio: Robert, you've taken risks on your movies all the way back to your first one, “El Mariachi.” What makes this different from those?

Rodriguez: It was risky in this sense: You'd seen "Planet of the Apes," but that's an ape, we were making for the first time a really human face. We've seen it in the "Star Wars" movies but that's just a few scenes. Here is a real character that we're creating and it has to be as human as the characters around them. We don't shoot hardly any green screen in this. Just to extend sets. Real sets, real actors, and there are a couple of characters that are completely CG and they have got to stand up skin for skin, eye to eye with anyone else. No one had done that. So we're pushing the envelope with that. But my risk level was lower because Jim had gone through this already on "Avatar." 

Guerrasio: Jon, compare and contrast Robert's style to James'.

Landau: The interesting thing about both of them is they are true auteurs. They both write, direct, edit — cinematographers when they want to. What I have found is Jim has his way of doing things. Robert is a student of filmmaking and he's adapted his style to making a Jim Cameron movie. A commitment he made. He understood he had to leave the world he was familiar with and approach it differently. Jim does that through always using different technology. 

Rodriguez: Here's an example how we're different. We're both into 3D, and he invited me to the making of the 'Terminator 2" 3D ride that he shot for Universal Studios. I'm such a fan and I try to impress him by telling him that I was taking a 3-day steadycam course because I was going to operate steadycam on my own on "Desperado" because I couldn't afford a steadycam operator. And he said, "I bought a steadycam, but not to operate it, I'm going to take it apart and design a better one." [Laughs.] That's the difference between me and Jim. I'm just a mortal trying to figure things out, he's designing a whole new system. 

Guerrasio: I need to bring up "Avatar," Jon, what are the challenges of shooting two movies at the same time?

Landau: Well, we are doing a little more than two. 

Guerrasio: Oh, I thought you were shooting just two right now simultaneously.

Landau: Two and a little more. 

Guerrasio: Ah, ok. 

Landau: I think what we had to get our heads around is the first “Avatar” was a marathon. Now we're running a triathlon. We have to gauge ourselves and our crew to handle that long-term thing. But when you break it down, what we are really doing here is a miniseries on a super scale. There are segments of that miniseries that need to come to completion for the story arc. And then you build upon that. Once we got our heads around that we're really telling one big story, we were able to figure out how to plan it and schedule it. The cast is there and they are doing scenes from movie two today, movie three tomorrow. But we explained to them it's not different than doing just one movie. You do the end scene on day five and another scene another day. It's just communicating that to people. 

Guerrasio: Robert, you are always directing or producing, one project that I want to know that’s always talked about is “Machete Kills Again... In Space.”

Rodriguez: [Laughs.]

Guerrasio: Is that a real movie?

Rodriguez: Danny [Trejo] and I always say we're making that. The joke was that “Machete” 2 and 3 were together because you have a fake trailer for 3 [in “Machete Kills”]. The idea is we got to kind of make it already because there's the phantom trailer floating around. But you never know, we might make it. People have always expressed interest. There might be a way to do it.

Guerrasio: I feel you can make those movies with Danny for years and people would watch them. 

Rodriguez: It's crazy, I met Danny on the set of “Desperado” and I told him about "Machete." "You are going to play a character called Machete some day," and it became his most iconic character.

SEE ALSO: "Equalizer 2" director Antoine Fuqua talks about getting Denzel Washington to do his first sequel ever — and teases a "Scarface" reboot

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Apple makes it so hard to get a new iPhone battery

• Marriage is a lifelong dream for many — I can't say the same for me.
• Though I've had my fair share of long-term relationships, there's many reasons why I'd rather not get married— like my independence and polyamorous relationship style.
• Here's why I'll never get married.

A walk down the aisle has never been part of my agenda. I never bought into the whole "happily ever after after" scenario. To me, the concept of marriage is akin to being buried alive. Ditto for baby making.

That said, I know I'm in the minority — marriage and parenting are life goals for a lot of people.

An editor at a major wedding magazine once told me, when critiquing one of my articles, "I don’t think you're marriage-minded enough to contribute to our magazine." I wore that feedback like a badge of honor for ages.

I've done the long-term coupling thing, so I'm certainly not a commitment-phobe (most recently I was in a relationship that lasted 11 years). In every relationship, I've always had the same agreement with my partners: I want the both of us to show up on a daily basis because we actively choose to — not because we're bonded by a piece of paper and a promise.

And if/when we reach the point when either of our hearts or minds are no longer in it, we agree to have that conversation and go from there. In my experience, this arrangement has led to civilized splits — plus it's much easier than negotiating a divorce. I'm a low-key person who doesn't like drama — this relationship style works well for me.

Here's are few more reasons I'm never going to get married:

SEE ALSO: Why taxes, kids, and commitment aren’t strong enough reasons to get married

1. I'm in no way religious

There’s no almighty power I feel the need to declare my true love before. Sure, I can see the sentimental value of gathering friends and families to seal the sacred bonds of matrimony, but it’s never been a priority for me. I don’t have a lot of family, and I host festive events for my friends at every opportunity. I don’t need a lavish event to celebrate love.

2. Weddings can be pricey

As much as I love a good party, I can think of 101 things I’d rather spend money on than a wedding celebration. The average wedding cost in the United States is $33,391. That’s a whole lot of travel, and I have serious wanderlust.

I’ve joked with partners over the years that the only way I’d consider tying the knot was if I could get a killer set of kitchen knives. Which is kind of silly, given I’m at a point in life where I can afford any wedding gift registry item I want on my own.

3. I'm independent — and not just financially

That said, I am financially independent; my very own "knight in shining armor," if you will. I don’t need a spouse to support me, and in every relationship, I've kept a separate bank account.

I also need a lot of alone time and space. I've cohabitated with partners in the past, but have maintained a long streak of solo living. I can't imagine swapping my solace for shacking up with significant other anytime soon.

• South Korea's youth unemployment is nearing "catastrophic" levels, a Korean finance minister said in March.
• To secure a job, many young people in South Korea feel that their application, which must include a photo ID, has to be perfect.
• Being a flight attendants is an especially enviable job in South Korea with plenty of competition. As a result, many aspiring flight attendants are turning to plastic surgery to increase their odds of securing the job.
• Some plastic surgery clinics in South Korea are even making special packages for aspiring flight attendants, encouraging those women to slim their faces, widen their eyes, and upturn their mouths.

It was only 1993 when United flight attendants reported that they were fasting, purging, and taking laxatives to keep their figure — and their jobs. If the crew members weighed more than 11 pounds over the maximum, they would receive 10 days of unpaid temporary leave, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.

Such rules have since been softened or outright banned in much of the world. But flight attendant hopefuls in South Korea still report significant pressure to look a certain way — and it's leading them to take drastic measures.

Leading Korean airlines in South Korea like Asiana Airlines and Korean Air dropped their height stipulation and softened their language requirements for aspiring flight attendants in 2015, local media reported.

But in practice, thanks to a combination of factors including the job application process and Korean standards of beauty, flight attendant hopefuls have reported feeling pressured by an unspoken requirement "to be more beautiful," The Korea Herald reported.

"The flight attendants are actually the representative of the airline," Sojin Lim, a 25-year-old Seoul resident who worked for a domestic Korean airline, told Business Insider. "How they look will affect the image of it, so they have to always look formal and neat."

SEE ALSO: Flight attendants share 15 of their favorite travel hacks

DON'T MISS: Inside the intensive, two-month training all Delta flight attendants must attend that's harder to get into than Harvard

It's typical for job applications in South Korea to require an ID photo. Because of that, many job applicants in South Korea say they feel the pressure to appear good-looking, whether it's to be a flight attendant, an engineer, or a cashier.

Source:LA Times

In fact, a 2016 survey by Saramin, a Korean online job portal, found that more than 60% of human resources personnel feel an applicant's appearance affects his or her candidacy.

Source:Saramin

The Korean government is seeking to overturn the résumé photo requirement in sweeping regulations that would also ban employers from asking applicants their height, weight, family background, and hometown.

Source:Quartz

Weight Watchers has long assigned a point system to foods for dieters.

The idea is to encourage people to stay away from less healthy foods, like a slice of cake, by making those items account for more of a person's daily food-intake total. Foods that are perfectly healthy to eat in abundance, on the other hand, get a low point value.

According to the the weight-loss giant's rubric, some vegetables have always counted for zero points. But now Weight Watchers says dieters need not count points anymore when it comes to many other fruits, veggies, and nutrient-rich proteins. In December, Weight Watchers released an updated list of more than 200 zero-point foodsthat followers of the diet plan can eat in unlimited quantities.

That idea might seem counterintuitive, since many people assume that letting dieters eat as much as they want of certain foods could lead to overeating.

"These foods form the basis of a healthy eating pattern,"Gary Foster, Weight Watchers' chief scientific officer and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school, told Business Insider. The list of zero-points items even includes things like eggs and fish.

"Very few people come to Weight Watchers because they've had a problem overdoing it on salmon, legumes, beans, and chicken," Foster said.

In other words, people just don't tend to binge on satiating, healthful foods. And Weight Watchers doesn't want any feelings of guilt to be associated with eating an extra dose of salad or another bite of fish.

The no-points-list includes apples, mushroom caps, scallions, and tangerines. Here are some of the most surprising entries on it, and the nutrition research that led them to be included.

SEE ALSO: You're probably putting on sunscreen all wrong — here's how to apply it the right way, according to a dermatologist

Whole eggs, including the cholesterol-heavy yokes.

Recent research has shown that for most healthy adults, eggs don't have a huge effect on blood cholesterol levels. And if you like your breakfast eggs topped with a little red salsa, go wild. That's a points-free food now too.

Many kinds of beans, including black, butter, navy, white, and fat-free refried beans

Beans and legumes are a categorically low-fat, high-protein source of fuel that give you lots of potassium, magnesium and filling fiber. If you're not a bean lover, lentils are point-free too.

Caviar and shellfish

If your wallet can handle it, you can have as much caviar as you like. In fact, most fish and shellfish — like crab and lobster — are fine to eat with abandon.

According to Weight Watchers, people just don't tend to overeat seafood, so it's simply not worth measuring out into gram-specific servings. They'd rather have clients eat these types of proteins until they feel satisfied, then stop.

• Facebook Messenger Kids is getting "sleep mode," which lets parents choose which times their children can use the app.
• Messenger Kids has been met with backlash since it was introduced last year, with heath experts calling on the social media giant to shut the app down completely.

Messenger Kids, Facebook's messaging app aimed at children between the ages of six-12, is getting a major parental control feature.

The company announced Friday that parents will now be able to activate "sleep mode," which prevents children from using the app at certain times. A parent could, for example, choose put the app in "sleep mode" during bedtime, dinner, or homework time.

Messenger Kids already lets parents see their child's messages and control their contact list, but Tarunya Govindarajan, a Facebook product manager, wrote in a blog post that parents had been asking for more control. The app itself only lets children send messages, photos and videos. It doesn't have many of the features of a regular Facebook account, such as a News Feed, a "like" button, or advertising.

Since Facebook introduced the app in December last year, it has been met with backlash from health experts and child advocates, who have called on the app to be shut down completely. In a letter to Facebook in January, a group of more than 100 organizations and health professionals warned that children under 13 using the app could "undermine children’s healthy development."

SEE ALSO: San Francisco officials are outraged that scooter startups steered around them to try to pass a state law

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How a tiny camera startup is taking on Amazon and Google

• NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw on Friday responded to allegations of sexual misconduct against him, in an email sent to NBC News colleagues and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. 
• Brokaw's former colleague Linda Vester told Variety and The Washington Post that Brokaw harassed and groped her in the 1990s. Brokaw, through NBC, issued a denial to the allegations.
• Brokaw wrote in the obtained email, "I am angry, hurt and unmoored from what I thought would be the final passage of my life and career."
• In the email, he described Vester as a "former colleague who left NBC News angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom."

NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw hit back at allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by Linda Vester, a former war correspondent for NBC News, in an email sent to his NBC News colleagues and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.

Vester alleged to Variety and The Washington Post that Brokaw harassed and groped her in the 1990s. She said that, at the time, she didn't bring a complaint to NBC. A second, anonymous woman The Post talked to also accused Brokaw of acting inappropriately. Brokaw, through NBC, issued a denial to the allegations and said of Vester that he "made no romantic overtures towards her at that time or any other.”

In the email to his colleagues obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Brokaw was more forceful in defense of his conduct and in his criticism of Vester.

"I was ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety as an avatar of male misogyny, taken to the guillotine and stripped of any honor and achievement I had earned in more than a half century of journalism and citizenship," Brokaw wrote in the email.

"I am angry, hurt and unmoored from what I thought would be the final passage of my life and career, a mix of written and broadcast journalism, philanthropy and participation in environmental and social causes that have always given extra meaning to my life," he continued.

Brokaw, 78, called Vester in the email a "former colleague who left NBC News angry that she had failed in her pursuit of stardom," with a "reputation as a colleague who had trouble with the truth."

Representatives for Brokaw did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Vester told Variety that Brokaw tried to force her to kiss him on two occasions and groped her in an NBC News conference room.

"He grabbed me behind my neck and tried to force me to kiss him," Vester said of the first alleged incident in January 1994, when she was 28 years old. "I was shocked to feel the amount of force and his full strength on me. I could smell alcohol on his breath, but he was totally sober. He spoke clearly. He was in control of his faculties." In the email, Brokaw said he kissed her on the cheek.

Vester also told Variety that when she asked what Brokaw wanted of her, he replied, “An affair of more than passing affection.” A year later, Vester said Brokaw again tried her to kiss him and that, when she pulled away, he asked, "Can you walk me to a taxi?"

"I emphatically did not verbally and physically attack her and suggest an affair in language right out of pulp fiction," Brokaw wrote in the email. He called the allegations a "drive by shooting by Vester, the Washington Post and Variety."

"My client stands by the allegations which speak for themselves,” Ari Wilkenfeld, Vester's lawyer, said in a statement to Business Insider.

In an email to staff, NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack wrote, "As you have all seen now in reports from last night, there are allegations against Tom Brokaw, made by a former NBC News journalist, which Tom emphatically denies. As we’ve shown, we take allegations such as these very seriously, and act on them quickly and decisively when the facts dictate."

Read Brokaw's full email at The Hollywood Reporter.

SEE ALSO: Former NBC newsman Tom Brokaw accused of sexual misconduct

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why you should never release your pet goldfish into the wild