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The 20 best places to live in the South — the region that's still the best place to live in America

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charleston south carolina

  • U.S. News & World Report published its annual list of the 50 best places to live in America.
  • The South had the most entries on the list, including the No. 1 city, Austin, Texas.
  • Cities were ranked by metrics including desirability, affordability, and quality of life.


U.S. News & World Report released on Tuesday its annual list of the 50 best places to live in America, comprising the metro areas with the perfect combination of affordability, a good job market, and quality of life.

While every geographic region of the US was represented on the list, it's the South that seems to have come out on top for the third year in a row.

The U.S. Census Bureau definition of the South includes 16 states and Washington, DC (check out the specifics here). The region had 20 cities in the top 50 — more than any other — including the city that received the highest marks, Austin, Texas. 

But it wasn't just the typical Southern hotspots like Austin, Atlanta, and Nashville that put the South over the edge this year. This year also saw four new Southern cities added to the list: Huntsville, Alabama; Lexington, Kentucky; Asheville, North Carolina; and Fort Myers, Florida.

U.S. News & World Report used five criteria — job market, value, quality of life, desirability, and net migration — to definitively rank these major metro areas. You can read U.S. News' full methodology here.

Read on to see the 20 Southern cities that made the cut this year.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best places to live in America for 2018

DON'T MISS: 13 places to visit in May for every type of traveler

20. Atlanta, Georgia

Population: 5,612,777

Average annual salary: $50,720

Median home price: $192,892

Median monthly rent: $1,003

Quality of life: 5.8

Value index: 7.0

An attractive blend of big city and big country, Atlanta is attracting transplants far and wide with its award-winning restaurants, culture centers, and flourishing job market. More than a dozen Fortune 500 companies call the city home, including Delta, The Home Depot, and The Coca-Cola Company, and it's an increasingly popular spot for film productions.

In addition, "The Chattahoochee River that traverses the metro area, and Stone Mountain, the world's largest chunk of exposed granite, located just northeast of the city proper, also offer a quick escape from any urban anxiety," says one local expert.



19. Jacksonville, Florida

Population: 1,424,097

Average annual salary: $45,140

Median home price: $184,508

Median monthly rent: $984

Quality of life: 6.7

Value index: 6.3

Jacksonville's beach-adjacent location makes it ideal for outdoor activities. In addition to spending lazy days in the sand, residents can also visit the area's prime golf courses or go hiking, camping, and kayaking in the nearby parks. Jacksonville also continues to grow, with burgeoning art and music scenes, as well as new business development, according to a local expert.



18. Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Population: 654,589

Average annual salary: $44,100

Median home price: $140,633

Median monthly rent: $714

Quality of life: 6.5

Value index: 7.1

The cost of living in Winston-Salem is a bargain. The city's average housing costs remain well below the national average — renters pay about $200 less per month for a one-bedroom apartment than their counterparts around the country.

Residents can also take advantage of the city's cultural offerings with visits to the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and the Reynolda House Museum of American Art.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Awkwardness ensues as top Democratic senator asks Mark Zuckerberg if he'll reveal what hotel he stayed at last night

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mark zuckerberg congress facebook awkward

  • Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg some personal questions, like which hotel he was staying in, during Zuckerberg's hearing on Tuesday.
  • Zuckerberg was hesitant to answer — and Durbin used that to make a broader point about data privacy.

WASHINGTON — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg got into an awkward exchange with a top Democratic senator on Tuesday when the lawmaker began asking him personal questions.

During the blockbuster hearing on Capitol Hill, Sen. Dick Durbin asked Zuckerberg, "Would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night?"

"Um," Zuckerberg said before a long pause. "No."

The audience and panel of senators erupted in laughter at Zuckerberg's hesitancy to answer the question, but Durbin used it to make a point about personal privacy, which was the focus of the joint hearing between the Senate's Judiciary and Commerce committees.

"If you've messaged anybody this week, would you share with us the names of the people you've messaged?" Durbin asked.

"Senator, no, I would probably not choose to do that publicly here," Zuckerberg said.

"I think that might be what this is all about — your right to privacy, the limits of your right to privacy, and how much you'd give away in modern America," Durbin said.

Watch a clip of the exchange: 

More on Zuckerberg's blockbuster hearing:

SEE ALSO: LIVE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying to Congress

DON'T MISS: An activist group planted an army of cardboard Mark Zuckerberg clones outside the Capitol ahead of blockbuster hearing

Join the conversation about this story »

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You’ve been stirring your tea all wrong, according to a royal butler — here's how to do it right

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Miss Holland Butler Episode   Butler drinking tea

  • Drinking tea like a member of the royal family is a fraught affair, according to a former butler to Prince Charles.
  • Grant Harrold laid out a set of rules to follow to demonstrate upper-crust credentials.
  • He told Business Insider that a particular no-no is stirring tea with a circular motion: the correct way is back and forth, 'to avoid a storm in a tea cup.'
  • He also shared a host of other points of etiquette for royal-style refreshment.


The debate on how to make a perfect cup of tea will never be over — but, according to former royal butler Grant Harrold, there's a particular method to make a brew worthy of royalty.

Harrold was a member of the household of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, and still lives on their Highgrove estate, so knows something about the royal way of life.

He revealed the four steps to the perfect royal cup in BBC Three comedy series Miss Holland— and there was one step in particular that caught our eye: the stirring instructions.

calum lewis 390146 unsplashHere's Harrold's method:

  1. Pour the tea into the cup from a teapot
  2. Add milk to the cup after the tea, never before
  3. Stir back and forth — never use a circular motion and never touch the sides
  4. Sip from the cup, do not slurp!

The tea-in-first tradition dates back to the 18th century, according to Harrold, when English potter Josiah Spode decided that china tea cups ought to be made from animal bone to prevent them cracking when hot tea was added.

From then on pouring the tea first became a status symbol among royals and the upper classes — as well as an opportunity to show off their fine china.

Meanwhile, the servants downstairs would have to add milk first to stop their clay crockery from cracking under the heat.

But why shouldn't you stir the tea in a circle like most people do?

Harrold told Business Insider: "If we stir in a circular motion we can create a storm in a tea cup and see the tea coming over the sides which we should never allow.

"If the spoon touches the sides it makes a clinging sound and we don't want that at the afternoon tea table."

"I am sure the Queen enjoys her Assam or her Earl Grey the traditional way, made with tea leaves in a teapot and poured into a fine bone china teacup. She will also use a strainer," he continued.

He added that it's also a "myth" that members of the royal family stick out their pinky finger while drinking. "I have never seen that happen once," he said.

And if you happen to be enjoying cakes and sandwiches with your tea, it's worth knowing a few other etiquette rules.

Scone

"The royal way to eat a scone is to either cut it with a knife or break it with your hands and put the cream on first and then the jam.

"If her majesty was visiting Cornwall she would spread the jam on first then the cream, or in Devon, it would be cream first then jam, because that is the way they do it and she is a very diplomatic lady."

SEE ALSO: Using these words can give away your social status, according to an anthropologist — and you’ll never hear a royal say them

Join the conversation about this story »

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Inside the jet-set world of billionaire matchmaking — where dates happen on private planes and high-end clients pay up to £100,000 to find love

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Mairead

  • Business Insider met Mairead Molloy, global director of matchmaking agency Berkeley International, to get a sneak peek inside the jet-set world of elite dating.
  • Berkeley's pricing starts from £15,000 ($21,000) and goes up to £60,000 ($85,000) for private headhunting, with a year of unlimited introductions.
  • For highly tailored packages — with some very specific requests — they can charge up to £100,000, she says.
  • One of her clients even entertains his dinner dates on his own private plane.


There's something intriguing about the elite dating industry, a world in which the rich and famous spare no expense in their mission to find love.

To get a sneak peek into the jet-set world of matchmaking, Business Insider met Mairead Molloy, an Irish-born former hotelier and qualified criminal psychologist who is the global director of matchmaking and elite introductions agency Berkeley International.

When we met in central London, Molloy had a sun-kissed glow even though it was March — when she's not flying around the world playing cupid, she's based in the south of France.

Berkeley's clients are wealthy professionals — she counts millionaires, billionaires, and even celebrities on her books — who are looking for love but don't have time to find it themselves.

Her job, she explained, involves physically jumping on a plane to find the perfect matches for her clients in some cases.

Berkeley's pricing starts from £15,000 and goes up to £60,000 for private headhunting, with a year of unlimited introductions. But Molloy said she can charge up to £100,000 for highly tailored packages — with some very specific requests.

luca micheli 422053 unsplash

"It all depends on how discrete you want us to be, how much travelling you want me to do, how much of my team you need. The more tailored you want it — the more we charge. A lot of people need to be hand held and we'll look after them from start to finish."

But Molloy added that she's straight up with her clients about what she offers.

"If you think you can buy love and happiness then we can't help you," she said. "If you have the wrong mindset and you're dividing your fee into each member you meet, then you’re going to have a nervous breakdown."

The Pride and Prejudice approach

Molloy has been matchmaking for Berkeley International for 15 years. It's headquartered in London's prestigious Berkeley Square in Mayfair, but now operates in 13 locations across Europe — from Copenhagen to Cannes — as well as New York and even Melbourne.

Business, Molloy said, is booming thanks to a combination of digital dating fatigue and global uncertainty — a trend she calls the "lipstick effect."

"When times are tough people spend more on themselves and the same applies to dating and introductions," she said.

Many of her clients are tired of "anonymous" dating apps, and are after a personal touch, she says, and her team will often be on call before, during, and after a date.

"People can come in and talk to us over a glass of wine or we go to their houses," she said. "The trend for the human touch is back.

"It's all a bit Pride and Prejudice and people love it."

jonathan riley 118591 unsplash

Jet-set clientele

Many of Berkeley's well-heeled clients travel frequently for work, and are just as willing to travel to find love.

"There is no shortage of extravagance when it comes to our clients, they will go to any lengths to find love," Molloy said. "50% of our total membership travel to meet people — it is what it is."

She added that the company's "Nylon" — New York to London — service is where the company sees the most success.

"We work a lot with private jet charters to fly people back and forth," she said.

One of her clients even entertains his dates over dinner on his own private jet. "They'll land in Paris and then fly back to London — it's dinner in the sky! You don't ever get off the plane, it just touches down to land and then they fly back."

wealthy private jet

Matching expectations

Molloy said that these days her clients are less concerned about age because "we’re dying later so age is less of a thing." And don't assume her clients are all middle-aged CEOs — her youngest client is currently 19, and her father is footing the bill.

"Now a 30-year-old [woman] is happy to go out with a 50-year-old man. Woman are having kids much later so they're easier to match, too, and we get lots of women coming to us in their 40s who have already had their eggs frozen."

While people are happy to travel and less hung up on age, Molloy added that her clients are much more fussy with their wish lists than they once were.

"Expectation has increased because of the society we live in, everything is on demand, everyone wants a quicker and better service," she said, adding that millennials are her "most intolerant clients."

"When you pay money for something you have an expectation of that service, so we have a lot of pressure on our shoulders to match the person to the expectation of the other person [and] to match the fee that they have paid."

So what does £100,000 get you?

Sense of humour is one of the most sought-after qualities that Molloy's clients are looking for in a match. Being interested in art, a love of theatre, horse riding, walks in the park, and travelling are all also pretty standard requests.

Celebrities use her services, too. She said that "well known" people will say: "I want to meet that guy that was in that TV show, can you track him down?'" And off she and her team will go.

One of her highly tailored packages, which costs close to £100,000, is for one of her younger female clients — and it's being paid for by her parents.

"They want to find a husband for her who has to be of Indian-American heritage, who's from a very specific university — in this case it's Harvard — and has to live in San Francisco," she said.

Once Molloy's team has tracked down a match, it's the parents who meet them first, but if they're from the same culture, she explained, they're usually quite happy to do this.

Molloy added that she finds it fascinating putting different cultures together and seeing how they mix and evolve. Winning combinations in her experience include American/Irish, English/German, English and/Nordic, but not English/French or English/Italian.

She recently matched a Texan farmer with an Irish woman who moved over to live with him three months ago. She added that it's often "really random" matches that have the most success.

"It's all very Charlotte and Harry from Sex and the City," she laughed.

SEE ALSO: The insane job of a luxury Ibiza concierge CEO who looks after the wild demands of Saudi royals, Russian billionaires, and Hollywood stars

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's why we give better advice to our friends than we give to ourselves

The director of HBO's Andre the Giant documentary explains how he debunked some major myths and got Vince McMahon to cry

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Andre The Giant WWE

The director Jason Hehir spent over a year doing the ultimate deep dive into the life of the legendary professional wrestler Andre the Giant to separate the man from the myth for his HBO documentary, "Andre the Giant."

The journey took Hehir all over the globe and face-to-face with some of the biggest names in wrestling.

Business Insider talked to Hehir to break down some of the biggest revelations, talk  about his emotional encounter with Vince McMahon, and ask why the Samuel Beckett story isn't in the movie.

SEE ALSO: The 32 movies coming out this summer you can't miss

Finding Andre's real hometown.

Until the day "Andre the Giant" aired on HBO, the wrestler's Wikipedia page stated that he was born and raised in Grenoble, France. Like most of the world, whoever contributed that piece to his Wikipedia page thought the hometown given during his introduction to the ring was the truth. But that was just one of many inaccuracies about Andre Roussimoff.

Hehir discovered that Andre was born in Moliens, a small village of 40 people 6 miles outside Paris. The wrestling backstory of Andre's coming from Grenoble was created early in his wrestling career when he was touted by promoters as a friendly lumberjack found in the mountains.

"The most recognizable town in the Alps to a North American audience was Grenoble because they hosted the Olympics," Hehir said.

Once Andre's real hometown was discovered, Hehir and his crew traveled to Moliens with a few pictures of Andre with family friends.

"We literally went door-to-door and just walked the streets of that village showing these photos to people via a translator, because the people there spoke zero English," Hehir said.


They also found Andre's two brothers. One let Hehir and his crew into the family's home where Andre grew up, and there they found a treasure trove of old photos and wrestling memorabilia of Andre's that had never been seen by the public. They also filmed the giant chair for Andre in the kitchen, which is featured in the documentary. Andre's mother had it specifically made for him.

"Andre the Giant is a mythical character, but Andre Roussimoff is a mother's son, and she wanted him to be comfortable when he came home," Hehir said. "She had that made for him. He was still her baby though he could barely fit through the door."



Vince McMahon's emotional recollection of Andre.

One of the most shocking moments of the documentary is toward the end when the WWE owner Vince McMahon begins to choke up and hold back tears during an interview in which he discusses how much Andre meant to him and his company (despite the two having a falling out at the end of Andre's career).

Hehir said that wasn't the first time McMahon, known for his tough-guy swagger, showed a softer side in front of him.


"He got emotional when no cameras were there," Hehir said. "The first meeting I had with him I mentioned that Andre had a really close relationship with his daughter, and he got pretty emotional there."

Hehir said McMahon agreed to a 45-minute interview for the movie, with Hehir allowed to come back later in production to shoot any follow-ups. The 45-minute shoot turned into a three-hour interview.

McMahon getting emotional on camera was hard to film, Hehir said.

"Vince seemed to be trying to keep it together, and as an interviewer it's excruciating because your instinct is to turn the camera off," he said. "But you have a responsibility to the viewer to let them experience this feeling vicariously through the person who knows the subject well, so we included that in the film."



That was really Hulk Hogan's handwriting on the choreographed outline of his WrestleMania III match with Andre.

For wrestling die-hards, the recollections by Hulk Hogan of the lead-up to his match with Andre at WrestleMania III are something special. One great detail is his explaining how he wrote out the entire match on a yellow legal pad McMahon gave him when McMahon asked the wrestler how he thought the match should go down. Hogan scripted the entire match — but left how it would end empty for Andre to decide. Andre didn't reveal the ending until during the match, according to Hogan.


In the movie, while Hogan is telling the story, there are shots of yellow legal-pad sheets with handwriting on them. Hehir said that was really Hogan's handwriting of the match.


"That yellow legal pad is crucial to the telling of that story," he said. "But that has been long crumbled and thrown into the trash. Probably the night of the event. So for months I tried to get Hogan to re-create to the best of his recollection what he wrote down."

Hehir interviewed Hogan for the movie in April of last year. He said he finally got the pages from Hogan in the middle of December on the final day they could possibly get it in the movie before handing a finished version over to HBO.

"When we got it you could feel your heart beat opening the envelope," Hehir said. "I told Hogan even if he could write a few lines, we could shoot them really tight. He ended up writing all those pages you see in the shot — two single-spaced pages. And he wrote it as if he was in the moment, so if you freeze-frame it, you can see it says something like, 'Don't let Andre see this.'"

"Any of us could have written those pages and no one would know whose handwriting it was," Hehir continued. "But I just thought it would be a cool wink to people who do know this world that they would recognize Hogan's handwriting."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The most popular movie rental for Netflix subscribers from every year since 1998

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Inception wb

Netflix has increasingly focused itself on streaming and original content, but it used to be known for DVD rentals — and users can still rent physical movies from the service if they prefer.

But which movies do Netflix users love the most?

Netflix revealed its most popular movies among DVD subscribers that were released in each of the last 20 years. They range from cult classics to Oscar winners to blockbusters, with some unexpected movies in between.

The list is sorted by the film's release date rather than the number of rentals in a year. The winner for a particular year is the most-rented title (of all time) among movies came out in that year.

For instance, "The Hurt Locker" is listed as the most popular movie from 2008, even though it wasn't available on DVD until 2009. But because it premiered in 2008 at the Venice Film Festival, it is the most popular movie among Netflix DVD subscribers for titles marked as released in 2008."

Four Oscar best-picture winners topped their respective years, including "The Hurt Locker," with other Oscar darlings making it on the list, as well.

Movies with big box office showings like "Wonder Woman" and "The Hunger Games" were also popular among DVD renters, as were cult classics like "The Big Lebowski" and Christopher Nolan's "Memento."

With that in mind, movies like "The Bucket List" and "The Lincoln Lawyer" are surprise entries, but audiences must have been interested in a change of pace.

Below are the DVDs most rented from Netflix in the last 20 years:

SEE ALSO: Fans are rallying to save Netflix's 'Everything Sucks' after it was canceled

1998: "The Big Lebowski"



1999: "Office Space"



2000: "Gladiator"



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff works from a treadmill with a view of Seattle's Space Needle — take a closer look at his desk (ZG)

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Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff

  • Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff has a rather unique work desk.
  • Rascoff's treadmill desk allows him to walk and work at the same time.
  • He's also able to enjoy stunning views from his Seattle office.


Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff has a work desk that's a bit out of the ordinary.

Most office workers find themselves sitting down at work for hours at a time. But Rascoff stays in motion while working at his treadmill desk. He told Business Insider a bit about his desk when we profiled the workspaces of a number of successful CEOs.

"I like to keep moving throughout the day because it keeps me energized," he told Business Insider. "My treadmill desk helps me do that while answering emails and doing other solo tasks. I don't run on it."

Zillow employees can get in on the exercise, too — the Seattle office includes several so-called treadmill meeting rooms.

Rascoff shared photos of his desk with Business Insider:

SEE ALSO: A look at the work desks of 7 successful people

DON'T MISS: Trump's being slammed for this photo of his desk — here are past presidents' desks for comparison

Rascoff's main screen is flanked by two vertical monitors he uses for social media, especially Twitter.



But he's not just staring at technology all day. Rascoff keeps binoculars at his desk to take in the "stunning views" from his office of the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, Puget Sound, the Space Needle, Smith Tower, and Mount Rainier.



"Plus, the city is exploding with development — we've had the most cranes in the sky, around 60 in 2017, for two years in a row — so I like to check out the buildings in progress," he said.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

You can now get Hulu and Spotify Premium combined for $12.99 per month

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june and luke handmaid's tale hulu

  • Hulu and Spotify are offering a bundle for $12.99 a month. 
  • The plan will put your Spotify Premium and Hulu accounts on one bill. 
  • For the first three months, Hulu will also only charge existing Spotify Premium users $0.99 a month for the addition.
  • The package follows the success of a Spotify and Hulu bundle that became available to students in fall 2017.  

Hulu and Spotify are now offering their services as a bundle, which combines Spotify Premium and Hulu's with-ads version for $12.99 per month.

The new plan saves subscribers $4.99 a month: Hulu's "Limited Commercials" plan is $7.99 per month, and Spotify Premium is $9.99 per month. So instead of paying $17.98, you pay $12.99. This new subscription also puts both on the same bill.

How can you get this deal?

Existing Spotify Premium subscribers can upgrade their plan to an option named "Spotify Premium, now with Hulu." The offer gives users an initial three-month Hulu subscription for $0.99 cents, and then begins charging the monthly combined price of $12.99. If you don't already have a Spotify account, you can sign up through Spotify and select the "Spotify Premium, now with Hulu" option.

If you are a Hulu subscriber already (but don't have Spotify), you can are "eligible if billing is switched to Spotify." But the plan will not work with Hulu's "ad-free" version, or if you have premium add-ons (for instance, Showtime.)

This bundle is a deepening of a partnership between the two companies that began in September 2017, when Spotify and Hulu introduced a bundle that allowed college students to use both of their services for $4.99 per month.

“Based on the outstanding performance of the Spotify and Hulu student package, it’s clear that consumers love to combine their music and television experiences together,” Tim Connolly, Head of Distribution and Partnerships at Hulu, said in a statement.

The bundle is available now. 

SEE ALSO: The director of HBO's Andre the Giant documentary explains how he debunked some major myths and got Vince McMahon to cry

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What living on Earth would be like without the moon


The youngest person to travel to every country on earth has launched a 'travel Tinder' that lets people swap homes for $1 a night

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James Asquith

  • James Asquith became the youngest person to visit all 196 countries, aged 24.
  • Now, he wants to make travel easier for people around the world with his new app, Holiday Swap.
  • The app acts like Tinder to allow users to swipe through homes they're interesting in swapping with.
  • It costs $1 a night to swap homes through the app.
  • It's still in its early stages, 


The youngest man to travel to every country in the world wants to make conquering the globe easier for everyone else — and he swears it has nothing to do with making money.

29-year-old James Asquith, a London banker who had visited all 196 countries by the age of 24, recently launched Holiday Swap, an app which aims to get people to swap homes with other people when they travel.

"You have a picture of a property and you swipe," Asquith told Business Insider. "A lot of people who’ve used it said 'I feel like I’m on Tinder.'

However, unlike Tinder, Holiday Swap works on a global rather than local scale, meaning you can see properties on the more than 40 countries across six continents the app currently covers.

Asquith added that you can filter your settings "for things like 'I want a place with a good atmosphere or a young crowd,' by country, or whatever."

When someone "matches" with you, you get a notification and a "pin" added to your map, as well as the ability to chat to the user and see their availability calendar.

"Then you basically have that connection," Asquith said. "Say you're going away for a week — you might look at your map have have 30 cool places [you can go], but the people as well."

image3 (1)

It's only $1 per bed a night to swap through the app, and the users can also request a fully refundable deposit if it makes them more comfortable, money which the app protects.

"If you’re swapping a place but you want to protect against them cancelling on you or you want to protect against damage or whatever, everything is covered on home insurance, but it’s beyond that as well," he said. "We keep the deposit fee in a third party account then it’s all returned when it’s done."

The new app is now available on both iOS and Android, and Asquith says some users have already started swapping.

When Business Insider checked out the app, it was clear that a proportion of the profiles are fake:

Holiday Swap

Asquith said these are leftovers from an earlier testing process, and are being phased out.

He added that profile are manually vetted, rather than automatically with ID checking like with Airbnb. If a profile doesn't meet the site standards, the moderation team will suspend the account.

There are also some pretty nice looking properties already on the app, too, like this one:

Holiday Swap

While the company has yet to officially launch or do a marketing push, Asquith said the app is "starting to market and expand our user base largely and internationally."

A social media travel tool

While you have to have a space to list in order to register on the app, it's about more than just home swapping.

"We are aiming to become a fully integrated travel tool that reduces the cost of travel," he said. "Another way of looking at Holiday Swap is a social media travel tool, that gives real savings and new experiences to all of us, by taking out one of the largest costs of travel."

One of the ways he's aiming to do this is through MyMap, an interactive tool where users can place and browse pins of places to visit and things to do "building further on our community feel."

The company is also building a "guest blog" for travel experiences online.

The goal is to allow users to find other uses not just through the places they have listed for swapping, but also through their blog posts and travel tips.

"People may never swap," he said. "If I’ve matched with someone that looked cool in Toronto, now I know someone there. You’d link out and make that connection.

"People then might start chatting and not officially swap through the app."

He added that ultimately "we just want people to be able to use it and to have a tool to actually travel."

"We don’t want people to use it and then shelve it, we [want them to be] actually going and finding cool things and being able to have it in your map. Everyone loves the aesthetics of a map with pins you’ve travelled to and places you could go to."

Making Holiday Swap a billion-dollar company

image3 (2)

The company has already had partnership interest from "large US tech firms," according to Asquith, as well as tour companies, airlines, and potential brand ambassadors.

However, however successful the idea may be, he insists he's not doing it for the money.

"I will never ever sell this company," he said. "What probably will make it a really successful app for lots of people to use is that I’m not doing it to flip it and make a lot of money."

He added: "Airbnb is like a $40-50 billion dollar company, Booking.com is owned by Priceline and is a $120 billion dollar company. At the end of the day, Holiday Swap will be a billion dollar company, I'll make sure of it, but that'll just be on paper — it'll be irrelevant to me."

In terms of how he plans to make that happen — and afford to employ staff — Asquith said: "Because of the lean nature of our business, we keep our costs down to a minimum, and as we are trying to give more power back to travellers in terms of what they see and how they stay, we don’t have any great overhead costs.

"There will be enough money that keeps it there. Take Uber for example. Uber has never made a profit."

He added that the $1 per night fee "is enough on a global scale for us as a company to continue to invest and pioneer in travel and tech."

"We already have a decent staff force that is passionate about the brand and the mission," he said.

"Our mission is to really open up travel to more people and to more places, so all money is put right back into the company to allow us to continue to grow and offer more products to users in the future, of which we have some very exciting ideas."

SEE ALSO: Meet the 28-year-old London banker who is the youngest person to travel to all 196 countries

SEE ALSO: 10 under-the-radar destinations to visit, according to the youngest person to travel to every country in the world

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Russia is so involved in the Syrian Civil War

This falafel chain is poised to take over New York with the help of former Chipotle execs — here's what it's like to eat there

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  • New York City-based falafel chain Taïm is poised to take over Manhattan.
  • Founders Einat Admony and Stefan Nafziger have partnered with an investment group spearheaded by Chipotle veterans to plot an expansion.  
  • The chain recently opened its third location in New York, and two more are on the way.  

After more than a decade in business, beloved New York City-based falafel chain Taïm is starting to expand. 

Chef Einat Admony and Stefan Nafziger opened their first Taïm (pronounced "tah-eem," Hebrew for "tasty" or "delicious") restaurant in 2005. The fast-casual chain stays true to its founders' roots by specializing in Israeli food, serving falafel, hummus, and Israeli salad on pita or as a platter. It also serves a variety of salads, french fries, and other side dishes.

There are three Taïm restaurants operating in Manhattan, with an additional two in the works. The West Village location was the first to open, followed by outposts in Nolita and now, Midtown East, at the Urbanspace Food Hall. The Financial and Flatiron Districts will be the next neighborhoods to welcome the Israeli chain, with the Financial District location set to open in early July.

Eventually, Taïm will likely expand beyond New York and into other markets such as Washington, DC, according to Restaurant Hospitality. To aid in its expansion, the founders of Taïm have partnered with an investment group spearheaded by Chipotle vets Phil Petrilli and Bethany Strong.

We recently visited Taïm's second outpost in the Nolita neighborhood of New York City. Here's what it's like to eat there:

SEE ALSO: 'Shark Tank' investors Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran just invested $400,000 in an avocado-only restaurant — here's what it's like to eat there

The Taïm I went to was in the Nolita neighborhood in NYC. Across the street was one of its top Mediterranean-food competitors, Cava.



It was packed when I arrived just after noon.



The menu had a few types of falafel that you can order on a pita or platter. It also had salads, fries, sides, and smoothies. Everything was generally priced around $8 to $12.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An inside look at how Princess Diana went from a kindergarten teacher to an international icon

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Princess Diana

• Princess Diana was a teacher before marrying Prince Charles.

• After divorcing Charles, Diana became a world famous advocate for different causes, like better treatment for AIDS and HIV patients.

• Her sons Prince William and Prince Harry remember her as a loving and "informal" mother.



Princess Diana tragically died at the age of 36 over 20 years ago, in 1997.

She was first propelled into the national spotlight at the age of 20, when she wedded Great Britain's Prince Charles at the age of 20.

Their troubled marriage ultimately imploded, turning the couple in tabloid fodder.

However, Diana went on to become an international icon in her own right. Her sophisticated style dictated fashion trends. Her dedication to charitable causes won her admiration and accolades.

And, in the wake of her death in Paris, then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair famously referred to her as "the people's princess." The mass, global outpouring of grief that her death sparked proved it an apt observation.

Here's a look at the life of Diana, Princess of Wales:

SEE ALSO: An inside look at how J.K. Rowling, one of the most influential people alive, turned rejection into unprecedented success

DON'T MISS: Princess Diana once broke hearts by leaving hundreds of charities — and it teaches an important lesson in time management

Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961 to a British noble family. Her brother, the Earl Spencer, reminisced that she was 'incredibly brave,' even as a young girl.

Source: Royal.uk, USA Today



In school, the future princess failed all her O-levels — twice. However, Diana had a sense that she was destined for something important. "I knew that something profound was coming my way," she said in the documentary "Diana: In Her Own Words." "I was just treading water, waiting for it."

Source: The Independent, Diana: In Her Own Words



Before her marriage, Diana reportedly shared a flat with three roommates and worked as a part-time kindergarten teacher in London’s Pimlico district.

Source: People



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Shari Redstone is reportedly 'likely' to fire Les Moonves as CEO of CBS if the Viacom merger falls through

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  • Shari Redstone is likely to fire Leslie Moonves as the head of CBS if a merger between CBS and Viacom falls through, CNBC reports.
  • CBS is expected to make a new offer for the purchase of Viacom, but the bid is expected to be an insufficient price for Viacom, sources told CNBC. 
  • The Hollywood Reporter reported Wednesday that CBS' potential merger with Viacom's struggling assets is "repellent to Moonves."
  • "The industry and the marketplace know Leslie Moonves’ record and we think it speaks for itself," a CBS representative said in a statement to Business Insider. 

Shari Redstone, whose company National Amusements controls CBS and Viacom, is likely to fire Leslie Moonves as the head of CBS if a merger between CBS and Viacom falls through, CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the situation.

CBS is soon expected to make a new offer for the purchase of Viacom, but the network's bid is expected to be an insufficient price on Viacom's side of the deal, sources told CNBC.

CBS originally made a "lowball offer" of about $11.9 billion for Viacom (below market value), which was countered by Viacom with an offer of about $14.7 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In a profile of the embattled potential merger on Wednesday, THR reported that Viacom's struggling assets like MTV and Nickelodeon have made a merger plan "repellent to Moonves." CBS and Viacom were previously part of the same company from 2000 to 2006, under the ownership of National Amusements, before Viacom spun-off as a separate company in 2006.

Shari Redstone has reportedly been pushing for the merger and is "widely seen as intent on taking a hand in the running of the combined companies," according to THR. She is in the driver's seat at National Amusements because of the declining health of her 94-year-old father, mogul Sumner Redstone. The elder Redstone's health, The Wall Street Journal reported last week, had "declined so significantly that he cannot speak much beyond grunts."

CNBC reported that one roadblock to the CBS-Viacom merger deal has been a disagreement over the potential management team of the combined company. Moonves reportedly favors Joe Ianniello, COO of CBS, as his potential key lieutenant in the new company, while Redstone wants Bob Bakish, the current CEO of Viacom, as the company's second-in-command.

Moonves was believed to have previously agreed with Redstone to run the combined company for at least two years, according to CNBC.

Sources told CNBC that Redstone is also expected to replace the CBS board if a merger isn't reached between the two companies. 

"The industry and the marketplace know Leslie Moonves’ record and we think it speaks for itself," a CBS representative said in a statement to Business Insider.

Moonves, well-regarded by shareholders and the industry, was also elevated to chairman of CBS in 2016. He earned praise in February for having delivered over 5 million subscribers to the company's streaming services, CBS All Access and Showtime OTT, well ahead of expectations. 

Viacom and National Amusements were not immediately available for comment to Business Insider.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What will happen when Earth's north and south poles flip

Tour the richest zip code in America — the mysterious members-only island in Florida where millionaires pay $250,000 just to participate

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Fisher Island, Florida, is as exclusive as it gets.

The 216-acre, man-made island sitting pretty off the coast of Miami Beach is reachable only by boat — most often yacht. It's considered America's most millionaire-dense ZIP code, but less than 20% of the island's residents permanently reside there.

With its mix of condos, private homes, and hotel rooms, the lush island exists as a retreat for the ultra wealthy, who spend their days golfing, playing tennis, lounging on the beach, boating, and simply relaxing.

According to 2015 IRS data analyzed by Bloomberg, Fisher Island residents have an average annual salary of $668,900.

The illustrious Vanderbilt family were the original stewards of Fisher Island, and their penchant for opulence remains.

Below, find out how Fisher Island became America's most affluent enclave.

SEE ALSO: How many years it took the 23 richest people in the world to go from millionaire to billionaire

DON'T MISS: 14 of the best waterfront homes in the Hamptons you can buy for under $10 million

Though Fisher Island is billed as a world-class travel destination, about 650 families live in private residences on the island. More than 80% of them are seasonal residents. The median listing price of homes for sale as of February was $3.2 million, according to Zillow.

Source: Zillow, Fisher Island Club



Fisher Island maintains more than 100 boat slips for yacht-owning residents. Yacht and 24/7 public ferry are the only way to access the island.

Source: Fisher Island Club



Fisher Island has been rumored to draw celebrities in search of privacy. Oprah Winfrey owned a condo on Fisher Island for several years, but listed the property for just over $2 million in 2008. Other past residents reportedly include tennis legend Boris Becker and actor Mel Brooks.

Source:Variety, Forbes



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Scientists compared bathroom hand dryers and paper towels to see which is really cleaner — and the winner is clear

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hand dryer bacteria

  • The air in a typical public restroom can be full of drug-resistant bacteria, and open-flush toilets help it fly up into the air.
  • Hand dryers can blow more potentially-pathogenic bathroom air around, and onto our hands, a new, independently-funded study shows.
  • One Connecticut health center is trading its hand dryers for paper towels, worried patients with compromised immune systems may be more at risk of catching something dangerous if they blow-dry their hands instead of wiping them dry.


Scientists have known for a while that bathroom air isn't exactly the most pristine stuff.

Public toilets can harbor handfuls of different drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus, and scientists have also shown that restrooms are teeming with a wide variety of microbes, many from other people's pee, skin, and certain, ahem... body parts.

But when it comes to the question of whether to dry one's hands on a paper towel, or blow them dry under a hand dryer, scientists have struggled to find a definitive answer to which is better for your health. Until now. 

A new, independently-funded study of 36 men's and women's bathrooms at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine found that bathroom hand dryers blow tons of bacterial spores around. Researchers holding up test plates to hand dryer air found as many as 60 different bacterial colonies could be blown onto them during a 30-second air dry. Turns out, even though the air coming out of hand dryers is almost perfectly clean, it ends up pushing more nasty bathroom air around than a paper towel.

Lead study author Peter Setlow says his research find is not a shock.

"The more air ya move? The more bacteria stick," he told Business Insider. "And there are a lot of bacteria in bathrooms." 

In fact, other scientists have discovered that "toilet plumes" from inside the bowl of a toilet can spray aerosolized feces as high as 15 feet into the air. And blowing more of that pooey air with a dryer around could cause some serious harm, especially for vulnerable populations like the old and the sick. 

Setlow himself, a septuagenarian researcher, says he's stopped using hand dryers altogether after completing his independently-funded study. And he's not the only one. The University of Connecticut School of Medicine where the study was done has also started stocking paper towels in all its facilities.

Still, the general public may not need to be so concerned with how they dry their hands, Setlow says. 

"If I'm a person whose immune system is suppressed, I wanna minimize my exposure to bacteria," he says, stressing that his own tactic may be most important to keep in mind for seniors and people with compromised immune systems, people who might struggle bouncing back from being exposed to bacteria that, in a healthy person, might not do much harm. 

The truth is that most bacteria aren't bad for us. Microbes are essential to life on Earth. They were some of the earliest life-forms, before us oxygen-sniffing creatures even set foot on the planet. Today, they're an essential part of our own immunity. They even interact with and, at times, control our genes, feeding our brains and our nervous system. One New York City geneticist even suggests new parents roll their kids on the floor of the grimy New York subway, because there's some evidence suggesting exposure to a wide array of crawly microbes early-on helps our immune systems grow up strong and healthy. 

And besides, just because bathroom air is grosser than other air, doesn't mean you need to be more squeamish about popping a squat than you are about picking up a call. Microbiologists routinely argue that toilet seats are time and again tested and found to be much cleaner surfaces than our cell phones, office desks and restaurant menus.

Given that around 20% percent of us don't even bother to wash our hands at all after we do our business in a public restroom, hand drying may not be the most serious issue in the bathroom, anyway.

Regular, thorough handwashing, especially before eating and after using the washroom is still the number one way to ensure we stay healthy and illness-free, no matter how you may choose to dry off your mitts afterwards. 

SEE ALSO: A surprising number of animals fart besides humans — and some are worse offenders than others

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: An allergist explains the best way to keep your bathroom clean

We tried burgers from 2 companies that want to replace meat with veggie patties that 'bleed' — and the winner is clear

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  • New companies focused on creating plant-based alternatives to animal-derived meats are on the rise. They aim to re-create the meat-eating experience with veggie burgers that smell, sear, and "bleed" like beef.
  • Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are two young companies that have developed cutting-edge veggie burgers.
  • The products can now be found at a Major League Baseball stadium, at TGI Friday's, and at major grocery chains nationwide.
  • We tasted burgers from the two companies to see which was better.

Raising meat for human consumption is tough on the environment. More than one-third of all raw materials in the US are devoted to raising animals for food, according to the animal-rights group PETA, and it takes 1,847 gallons of water to produce a single pound of beef.

To combat this, new companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are exploring new ways to create sustainable meat alternatives.

While there have long been plenty of soy-based meat alternatives on the market, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods aim to be different. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods don't create "lab-grown meat" — a separate innovation that involves growing actual meat in a lab — yet their burgers still smell, sear, and "bleed" as beef does, aiming to please meat eaters by re-creating the experience of eating animal-derived meat without the ethical and environmental drawbacks.

Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio are among investors who have partnered with Beyond Meat to help propel its success. Since launching in 2016, Beyond Meat has sold more than 11 million of its Beyond Burgers, which can now be found at TGI Friday's and in grocery stores nationwide.

Impossible Foods, on the other hand, recently raised an additional $114 million in venture funding in a round led by Singapore's Temasek and Sailing Capital. Most recently, the Impossible Burger made its debut (for a limited time) at Disney's California Adventure and at the Oakland Coliseum, home of the Oakland A's.

We set out to taste both vegan burgers at Bareburger and TGI Friday's in New York City, and while both burgers are healthy and sustainable alternatives to meat, we had a clear favorite:

SEE ALSO: 13 popular fast-food menu items that are surprisingly perfect for vegans

DON'T MISS: This falafel chain is poised to take over New York with the help of former Chipotle execs — here's what it's like to eat there

First I went to a Bareburger in downtown Manhattan, one of the few locations that has the Impossible Burger on the menu.



When my food arrived, I almost thought I was delivered the wrong meal. The Impossible Burger looked exactly like a hamburger. I ordered it with vegan cheese, lettuce, and tomato on a sprout bun.



It definitely seared the way a hamburger would. The Impossible Burger relies on a plant-derived ingredient called heme for its meaty feel and look. It's made from wheat, coconut oil, and potatoes.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How you can get HBO for $5 per month

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  • Since it launched in 2016, AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming service has offered HBO as an add-on for $5 per month. 
  • This is still a great deal for cord-cutters, as the service's total base package includes 60-plus channels. 
  • Buying HBO a la carte — through HBO Now or as an add-on to Amazon Prime — will cost you $14.99 per month.

Since it launched in 2016, AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming service has offered HBO as an add-on for $5 per month. 

This $5 add-on remains a great deal for prospective cord-cutters since buying HBO a la carte, through HBO Now, would cost you $14.99. Buying an HBO add-on to Amazon Prime would also cost you $14.99 per month.

To get the offer, however, you have to subscribe to the base DirecTV Now package, which costs $35 dollars per month for 60-plus channels. But if you are looking to ditch your big cable package while retaining some live TV, this could be a good option.

DirecTV Now streams live television from networks you typically find on cable and satellite over the internet to your smartphone, tablet, computer, or set-top box like an Apple TV. The service has a bunch of competitors, but none of them have this sort of deal for HBO.

directv now

The package currently has a number of limitations, including its lack of 4k streaming and Cloud DVR (with the ability to pause live TV), but these features are expected to be added in DirecTV Now's next-generation model dropping this spring.

But if you are an HBO fan, and want to trim your cable bill, it's probably worth at least checking out DirecTV Now's 7-day free trial.

If you hunting for cheap (or free) HBO in other places, since last year, AT&T has also featured a free HBO subscription for all of its wireless customers on "unlimited" plans.

SEE ALSO: AT&T's new $35 streaming TV package is the key to ditching your $100-plus cable bill and still watching whatever you want

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Wisconsin has started recounting over 2 million votes from the presidential election

15 high-paying jobs college students can do in the summer

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  • Some of the highest-paying summer jobs are ideal for college students since they don't require a college degree.
  • To find these high-paying summer jobs for college students, FlexJobs scoured its database of part-time, flexible, and remote job listings.
  • Each of these jobs could pay double the federal minimum wage.

 

The summer vacation, while sometimes reserved for summer lovin' and fun in the sun, is also a prime time to earn some extra cash and learn valuable lessons about hard work and responsibility.

To find some of the highest-paying summer jobs college students can do, Business Insider asked FlexJobs, an online service specializing in telecommuting and remote work, to scour its site for some of the best-paying summer and seasonal job listings.

"Pinpointing these types of high-paying, flexible summer jobs does require extra effort for job seekers, which is one of the reasons FlexJobs exists — to help cut down on the time and effort it takes to uncover these flexible positions," says Brie Reynolds, senior career specialist at FlexJobs. "But the great news is that, as these jobs show, it's possible to have a seasonal summer job that pays well and doesn't require a college degree."

The following jobs offer flexible work options with either part-time schedules and flexible hours, employee or freelance work, or remote or telecommuting options. None of them require a college degree, though many do require some previous experience, and each potentially pays double the federal minimum wage:

SEE ALSO: The unglamorous summer jobs 21 successful people had before they made it big

DON'T MISS: 14 real people shared the unglamorous summer jobs that forever changed their lives

Summer camp program coordinator

PayScale pay range: $9.30 — $18.45

Sample job description: Provide assistance to camp directory and coordinator with planning and organizing summer youth classes. Must adhere to guidelines. CPR certification and high school diploma or GED required. Some college preferred. Part-time position.



Web content specialist/writer

PayScale pay range: $12.60 — $28.48

Sample job description: Perform research and create content relating to public relations for a website. Take photographs as needed. Writing/photography skills and work samples required. Part-time, temporary.



Temporary office manager

PayScale pay range: $11.02 — $20.83

Sample job description: Manage scheduling, oversee inventory, and ensure safety compliance. Computer proficiency and strong customer service skills required. Full-time, temporary position. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How to get Facebook to stop showing you creepy ads like Mark Zuckerberg promises you can do (FB)

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Zuckerberg Facebook Privacy Hearing GETTY

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg insists you can control the data Facebook shares about you with advertisers and with the world.
  • I love using Facebook and don't want to quit it. So I've taken Zuckerberg up on his promise and severely limited the ads Facebook will show me.
  • It doesn't solve the crux of the problem, but does limit the financial reward I provide to Facebook for collecting so much data about me.

In two days of public grilling, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated repeatedly that if you use Facebook, you can control the data Facebook shares about you with its advertisers and with the world.

I love Facebook and don't want to delete it. When I signed up, I made a deal with Facebook and I was OK with it: I get to use it for free and in exchange I willingly share some info about me to let Facebook serve me relevant ads. Sure, Facebook, go ahead and send me all the ads you want about things I want to buy: bicycles, skiing, fitness, fashion, travel, pets, movies, books and so on. It sounded great.

But as Facebook's data privacy scandal has embroiled the company, I've grown increasing disgusted. 

Back in 2014, Facebook began watching people as we wander across the internet. At that time, it instituted privacy controls that seemed to put me in control, to tell Facebook which people can see my posts, friends or the public.

But that's only half of the story.

Zuckerberg also repeatedly told Congress that Facebook doesn't share my info directly with advertisers, nor does it sell my data. It uses data on me to decide which ads to show to which people.

But it's harder to tell Facebook which data on me to use for its ads. And Facebook is still tracking more information about me for this purpose than I want. For instance, the Facebook Audience Network is used by mobile apps serves ads in a mobile apps and analyzes what people do with a mobile app.

Ad blocker AdGuard recently analyzed 2,556 popular apps and found 41% of them use Facebook Audience Network. That means, even if you don't use Facebook, these apps could be sharing data about you with Facebook. 

By the way, Google does this on an even bigger scale. 65% of the apps that AdGuard analyzes used one of Google's tracking services.

On top of that, if I visit a website that is using the Facebook Pixel, Facebook knows I've been to that website and can show me an ad for the company in my newsfeed. That's creepy and annoying. Pixel is a popular tool used by website owners to track and analyze what you do on their websites. 

Now, Zuckerberg insisted many times in his congressional testimony that I can control the ads I see.

It's not easy to do that, but through its Ad Preferences page,  I can opt out of seeing ads based on how Facebook is monitoring my internet use by clicking on "no" "no" and "no one" in the settings.

Facebook ad settings

I also adjusted what Facebook thinks it knows about me. This requires sifting through the list of stuff it tracks on me, one by one, and deleting.

I started with the "Your categories" setting.

Facebook Ad

Next up, I went through the "Your interests" settings: what Facebook thinks it knows about me in terms of business, hobbies, sports, travel, etc.. I had to delete them one-by-one, including the ones listed in "more."

Facebook your interests

I started to do the same for the section marked "Advertisers you've interacted with." But after 15 minutes, with no way to know how close I was to the end, I gave up for now. I will come back to it and delete more each day.

This was perhaps the most shocking section, as it involves lists shared with Facebook where my name appears, even though I have no idea who some of these companies are, or how they wound up identified with my Facebook profile. It was also filled with politicians (like Doug Robinson, below), most of whom I didn't know. 

Advertisers interacted with

But because Facebook is ad-supported, it warns that I will still see ads.

Again, I'm A-OK with that, especially ads on topics of interest to me. But I don't get to choose. The advertiser, who is paying the bill, gets to choose. 

Facebook says that, even if I limit my interests, it will still show me ads based on the following:

  • "Your age, gender or location.
  • The content in the app or website you're using.
  • Your activity off of the Facebook Companies."

That last bit, "Facebook Companies" is particularly worrisome.

In addition to the Facebook Pixel and Facebook Audience Network, Facebook owns a company, Atlas that puts a bit of code on your browser to watch what you do on the internet. Facebook also owns "Moves," a fitness tracking app that monitors your location, if you use that app. And it owns Onovo, a security app that was the subject of another privacy scandal for its policy of sharing data with Facebook. 

In other words, while you can control the ads you see, you can't really control the information that Facebook gathers on you.

So, if the nation wants more control over how our lives are being watched, we'll need to push, and probably regulate, Facebook and the whole internet ad industry.

In the meantime, for people like me, that don't want to quit Facebook, we can limit the ads Facebook shows us through its internet spying practices, limiting the financial reward it gets for such creepy behavior.

If you are an ad industry employee with information about surprising or unethical ways internet companies gather and use data, we want to hear it. jbort@businessinsider.com or DM me @Julie188 on Twitter.

SEE ALSO: Zuckerberg claims no knowledge of Palantir's involvement with the Facebook, Cambridge Analytica scandal

SEE ALSO: Facebook tracks a scary number of details about you — here's how to find out everything it knows

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's the best smartphone camera you can buy

Netflix hits back at Cannes by saying it won't screen any movies at the festival (NFLX)

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okja

  • Ted Sarandos said in an interview with Variety that no Netflix titles would be screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
  • This follows the fest's rule change last year that no movies would be allowed to screen in competition going forward if they were not released theatrically in France.
  • Netflix had two films in competition last year.


Netflix head of content Ted Sarandos is pulling Netflix completely out of the Cannes Film Festival after a long fight with movie traditionalists.

After the streaming giant caused controversy last year, when it had two films in competition at the festival, the most powerful film fest in the world made a rule change that movies without theatrical distribution in France were no longer eligible to play in competition.

Sarandos said on Wednesday, to Variety, that because of the rule change he would not be bringing any titles to Cannes, even to play out of competition.

Emma Thompson Dustin Hoffman Ben Stiller Noah Baumbach Adam Sandler The Meyerowitz Stories Getty"We want our films to be on fair ground with every other filmmaker,” Sarandos told the trade. “There’s a risk in us going in this way and having our films and filmmakers treated disrespectfully at the festival. They’ve set the tone. I don’t think it would be good for us to be there.”

At Cannes last year, Netflix had two titles playing in competition: Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories.” But because of Netflix's model of showing its movies day-and-date (meaning its titles show on its streaming service at the same time they are in theaters — if the titles get a theatrical release at all), theater owners in France were outraged over the prime position the titles received. Like US theaters, movie houses in France are against Netflix's model and want titles to play exclusively in theaters for a certain amount of time before being available to stream. This led to the rule change by Cannes.

However, Sarandos said he's not against Netflix buying one of the films in competition at Cannes this year that is seeking distribution.

Netflix has found success on the festival circuit over the years, specifically at the Sundance Film Festival, where it's premiered movies that are soon available on the site in the weeks after the festival, like "I Don't Feel at Home In This World Anymore" and "A Futile and Stupid Gesture." It's also made big acquisitions at Sundance, like "Mudbound" in 2017 for $12.5 million.

But Netflix, as well as its rival Amazon Studios, scaled back big time at Sundance this year on acquisitions. And this latest move by Sarandos may be a hint that Netflix isn't that interested in what's going on in the South of France either. 

SEE ALSO: The 32 movies coming out this summer you can't miss

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NOW WATCH: How to stop your Facebook friends from giving away your data

Why Costco charges only $4.99 for a rotisserie chicken

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Costco employee chicken

  • Costco's rotisserie chickens have cost $4.99 since 2009.
  • Costco's management says it's happy to eat the cost to keep prices down for customers.
  • But there's a clever business strategy behind the decision.

Costco would rather take a hit to its profits than raise the price of its $4.99 rotisserie chicken — but it isn't a terrible business decision.

The rotisserie-chicken boom started in the 1990s and hasn't slowed. Last year, consumers bought 625 million rotisserie chickens in US supermarkets, according to Costco and the market-research firm Nielsen. Costco sold 87 million in fiscal 2017, an increase of 36 million over fiscal 2010.

In that time, selling rotisserie chickens has become more expensive because of rising costs related to labor and preparation. But Costco hasn't budged since 2009 — even when a bird-flu outbreak years ago pushed prices higher.

"When others were raising their chicken prices from $4.99 to $5.99, we were willing to eat, if you will, $30 [million] to $40 million a year in gross margin by keeping it at $4.99," Richard Galanti, Costco's chief financial officer, said in a 2015 earnings call, according to The Seattle Times. "That's what we do for a living."

But this is neither a bad business decision nor a selfless act of kindness for Costco customers.

Costco shoppers

Costco's business strategy is built on buying in bulk, which isn't typically conducive to frequent store visits. To combat this, the retailer uses lower-priced products — including gas and food-court items— to drive foot traffic. Then, once they're in the store, customers are more likely to be drawn into purchasing these products they otherwise wouldn't have.

And it's not just Costco — other stores use this tactic with rotisserie chickens.

"If they get a chicken, a salad, and maybe they pick up a bottle of wine — now we're really talking," Don Fitzgerald, the vice president of merchandising at Mariano's, a Chicago grocery chain, recently told The Wall Street Journal.

Costco has since invested in other ways to save money while preparing its chickens, including buying larger, more efficient ovens and using containers with less plastic, The Journal reported.

It's also building a $300 million chicken-processing plant in Nebraska, which is expected to provide 2 million chickens a week for Costco and bring down supplier costs.

The retailer is just as stubborn with its chickens as with its $1.50 hot-dog-and-soda deal, which hasn't changed in price since its introduction in 1985.

In the 2009 edition of Costco Connection, the company magazine, David Fuller, the assistant vice president of publishing, explained why.

Fuller said Costco wanted to prove that "a business can operate on a fair markup and still pay all of its bills."

He continued: "Holding a price that steady for that long sends a clear message about what is possible when you decide to operate your business model on a 'cost-plus' basis instead of a 'what the market will bear' basis."

Are you a Costco employee with a story to share? Email mhanbury@businessinsider.com

SEE ALSO: Why Costco food courts have charged $1.50 for hot dogs since 1985, according to employees

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