On Sunday, E! will premiere its "Rich Kids Of Instagram" Tumblr-inspired reality TV show "#RichKids of Beverly Hills."

The hour-long show features six friends from 90210 who drop thousands of dollars on clothes, shoes, cars, and partying like it's their job — because that's exactly what it is for some of these "funemployed" 20-somethings. 

Less than a minute into the first episode — now playing on Hulu — Instagram-obsessed cast member Morgan Stewart admits, “I’ve taken so many selfies on my cell phone today, it’s, like, embarrassing." In another scene, Morgan's friend picks up the $30,000 bill for a night out with friends.

Check out more of their ridiculous antics in the premiere episode. But don't worry, we watched it so you don't have to, and broke it down for you here.

Meet 25-year-old Dorothy Wang, who was born and raised in Beverly Hills — "The best city in the world."

Dorothy says "Growing up, my parents never talked about money. It wasn't until it was printed in Forbes that I knew how much money we had."

Dorothy is currently "funemployed and fabuluxe," but "when I grow up I want to be the Asian sensation of the world."

I used to work in the restaurant industry, so I have a lot of respect for the restaurateurs, managers, waiters, chefs, bartenders, and busboys that make the dining-out experience worthwhile.

Even so, there are still some awful practices that restaurants should banish entirely.

Not including poor service, here are 17 things restaurants do that annoy their customers.

Not Having The Wine List Or Menu Online

It's 2014: If a restaurant can't run a functional website with an up-to-date menu and wine list, that's probably not it's only problem.

Wine lists today can go on for 20 pages, featuring wines from all over the world. Restaurants should let guests see their options ahead of time, so they can make faster decisions. This helps restaurants, too: table turnover will be higher, which means more revenue and tips.

Online menus (with prices) will also help potential customers decide if they want to eat at your restaurant. When people can't find a restaurant's menu online, they're more likely to look for other dining options.

Not Picking Up The Phone

Unless a restaurant has three Michelin stars and customers booking months in advance, there is no excuse for not picking up the phone.

Missing a phone call every once in a while is understandable, but when a phone rings forever, then you've lost a customer. And what if guests are running late or need to change the reservation? Missed phone calls can become detrimental to your business.

VIP Seating Policies

There are restaurants in NYC (that will go unnamed) and around the country that practice "VIP seating policies," where they seat "undesirables" at tables in the back and leave the better, window-adjacent tables to "friends of the house," famous people, or those who seem wealthy.

If an important guest is coming, it may make sense to reserve a table. But if the entire restaurant is empty and a host refuses to seat Joe Shmoe and his mom at one of the prize tables, that's not a good policy. 

Refusing To Seat Just One Person In The Party

As a former hostess, I understand that if a restaurant is extremely busy, the impulse is to keep as many tables open as possible for other guests who are ready to be seated immediately. 

But if a customer has a reservation or if the restaurant is slow, managers and hosts know exactly where they want to put those parties. Customer comfort should come first, so just let the person sit down and have some water while they wait for everyone else to show up. 

Settling The Tab At The Bar

This annoying policy actually makes a lot of sense: Overworked bartenders are not tipped out enough by servers, and if their bills are being transferred to a table, then it's the server who is reaping the benefits from the bump in tip. 

Still, it's annoying for the customer, and the goal should be a seamless experience. Perhaps instituting a policy where bartenders are paid a higher wage or servers are required to tip them out more could be the solution.

Wobbly Tables

It's just common sense: Fix a wobbly table before customers sit down. We've had the experience of servers crawling under the table to insert a table leveler, and it can get pretty awkward. Even worse, though, is having guests suffer through an entire meal wondering if they're going to spill their water.

Drink Menus Without Prices

Sneaky, sneaky! The rationale is that people will see the delicious drinks and not be held back by the price. But unless someone has plenty of money to throw around, not seeing a price will intimidate customers out of buying drinks (or make someone in the party feel cheap for asking).

Since liquor is predominantly where restaurants make their profit, it's best the prices stay on the menu.

Confusing (Or Incomprehensible) Menus

Politics Editor Josh Barro previously broke down the two most annoying menu policies, one of which was listing ingredients rather than dish descriptions.

And while this is bad, it's made even worse when customers don't understand what certain ingredients are. As Barro wrote, "the menu also includes 'beef cheeks, parsnip bark, watercress, $25.' Is that a braise? What part of a parsnip is the 'bark'? Who knows?"

Telling Customers That Everything On The Menu Tastes Good

Servers, bartenders, managers, and eves hosts taste all of the food on the menu so they can make knowledgeable recommendations for customers. 

If waiters have a favorite dish, they should tell the guests. Saying, "It's all good" when a customer asks for a suggestion is the equivalent of saying "I don't know."

Not Allowing Any Dish Modifications

This has become a rarity, but every once in awhile you will come across a restaurant that says it does not allow dish modifications, meaning no substitutions or excluding ingredients (except for allergies).

The chef may want everyone to appreciate the dish as it was intended, but the paying customer who's eating the food should enjoy the experience. If a modification is possible, it should happen.

Not Bringing Entrées At The Same Time

It's awkward for guests to wait for everyone's meal to arrive at the table, especially if only one person is waiting on their entrée.

Working in the kitchen is extremely hard and time-sensitive work, however  kitchens should make sure a table's dishes go out at the same time (and good kitchens do).

Refilling Wine Glasses Without Asking

Waiters who refill wine glasses without asking are just trying to be courteous. The problem is they don't know who's driving, who's picking up the check, and who actually wants more wine. It also looks like they're rushing the table to try and finish faster, or order another bottle.

At the very least, ask before pouring.

When The Bill Goes To The Man

This is a sexist policy, and one that should be abolished. Some may disagree, but consider the scenario of a high-level businesswoman taking her client or male colleague out to lunch. If a waiter returns the bill to the man at the table, that undermines her authority.

Plus, many women are breadwinners and may want to pay for themselves. Just save everyone the hassle and place the bill on the table.

"Cash Only"

A friend from Los Angeles recently visited me, and was baffled by New York's "cash only" bars and restaurants. "It's like, do they know what credit cards are? People in LA would be lost," she said. 

Sure, there's an ATM on every corner, but having to pay a $2 ATM fee at the nearby bodega really sucks. Don't do this to your customers.

Refusing To Split The Bill

Some restaurants are masters at splitting the bill among the 10, 12, or 15 people sharing a brunch. Other places refuse to take multiple credit cards, or have limits on how many cards they'll take. 

Parties needing multiple checks is nothing new — give in already, and let us pay for dinner.

SEE ALSO: The Best New York Restaurant For Every Kind of Cuisine

Join the conversation about this story »

A new product called the Shakoolie lets you booze in the shower with ease. 

Unlike the typical foam beer koozie, the Shakoolie includes a "launch pad" attachment that essentially creates a cupholder for the shower. 

The adhesive-backed launchpad is made of velcro, and attaches to the shower wall. The koozie also has a velcro patch, which makes the whole thing pretty ingenious.

The product costs $9.99 and comes in fun versions, such as one that says "it's my shower, I'll booze if I want to." 

But Instagram user mck916 points out an even more diverse use for the Shakoolie: He uses it to keep his hands free while playing darts.

By this logic, you could use the Shakoolie anytime you want to enjoy a beverage while keeping your hands free. 

Get one here. 

SEE ALSO: 25 Awesome Things You Can Buy For Under $25

Join the conversation about this story »

The North American International Auto Show in Detroit opens to the public on Saturday, and there's a ton to see.

We were on hand for the press preview, and got an early look at the new sports cars, luxury rides, pickup trucks, and crazy concepts scattered throughout the Cobo Center.

For those heading to the Motor City to check out the show, we've picked out 17 cars you can't miss, including Toyota's over-the-top FT-1 concept, the new Corvette Z06, the first Cadillac ATS Coupe, and more.

Toyota blew the doors off with the surprise reveal of the FT-1. The Japanese automaker says the concept sports car "sets the pace for future design."

Porsche showed off the new 911 Targa 4 and 4S, powerful sports cars that start a bit over the $100,000 mark. Bonus points for the mesmerizing way the roof opens up.

Named for the desert, the VW Dune Beetle is made for rough riding and has a built-in ski rack. If it ever goes into production, it would be the second coming of the Baja Bug, the late 1960s Beetle modified to go off-road.

This crazy amphibious car is about to hit the market for $135,000, and it's certainly getting everyone's attention. The Panther seems equipped to handle pretty much anything, from slick city streets to rough seas. 

Ever since WaterCar inventor Dave March posted a video of the Panther's amazing capabilities in June, he's been bombarded with a flood of interested buyers, from NASCAR drivers to Silicon Valley tycoons. Even Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the crown Prince of Dubai, has gotten involved in the craze, reportedly ordering six of the cars. 

"I've got guys that are throwing money at me," March said to the Orange County Register. "It's a fun position to be in."

The Panther is a more rugged, more affordable version of an earlier model called the Python. That first car could reach a record-setting speed of 60 mph on water, though the $300,000 price tag made it inaccessible to most buyers.

The Panther is smaller, easier to maintain, and half the price. WaterCar sells the Panther as a kit, meaning that buyers must hire a third party to install the engine. The owner must also register it as both a boat and a car. 

Here's the video that started it all — watch as the Panther takes on everything from city streets to sand dunes to the water. 

SEE ALSO: Porsche Created A Mesmerizing Way To Open Up Its New 911

Join the conversation about this story »

Queens' longtime graffiti mecca 5Pointz was recently whitewashed ahead of its imminent demolition, to be replaced by luxury condos.

But street art culture is alive and well in other parts of the city. In Brooklyn, the Bushwick Collective at Troutman Street and St. Nicholas Avenue is emerging as a new destination for street artists.

Joseph Ficalora, a longtime neighborhood resident, curates the vast outdoor art gallery. He's thrilled with the transformation after seeing crime and graffiti plague the area.

Ficalora, whose family owns a steel fabrication plant in Bushwick, coordinated with other local building owners to find and provide empty walls for street artists. They have come from as far as France and Italy, as well as right here in the U.S. like the Iranian duo Icy and Sot, who moved for political asylum. 

"The place is buzzing," street art aficionado Spencer Elzey told Business Insider. "There are cycles where two or three new walls go up in a week or two."  

Elzey gave us an insider's tour of the Bushwick Collective, starting at Jefferson Street and Wyckoff Avenue.

The Bushwick Collective is just two years old, but it's already become a thriving scene for street artists. This lion was created by artist ND'A near Jefferson Street.

The area, an outdoor art gallery, is now home to dozens of murals, some by well-known artists. Buff Monster, a street artist who is featured in the Banksy movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop," painted these ice cream characters.

The street artist known as Phlegm came to Bushwick all the way from London to paint this giraffe in his signature style.

If you're like most men, you've probably been wearing clothes your entire life that are too large for you.

"Most guys are used to wearing baggy clothes," Veeral Rathod, CEO of the men's clothing e-retailer J. Hilburn, told us in a recent interview. "They want to dress properly and they want to present themselves well, but they just don't know how."

For the best-fitting menswear, you should either go to a tailor or buy your clothes from a custom clothier like J. Hilburn, which has 3,000 stylists around the country to take your measurements, he said.

But for those of you who don't want to go through the trouble of getting measured, there's an easy fit guide to live by that covers all the basics.

It's called "How Clothes Should Fit" and it's based on a popular guide book from Reddit.

Let's start with shirts:

The collar: "If turning your head causes the collar to turn with it, the collar is too tight," according to the guide. "You should be able to comfortably fit two fingers inside of your buttoned collar without it tightening against your skin."

The cuffs: Cuffs should fit a bit looser than a watch and fall two centimeters from your wrist bone.

The shoulders: The shirt's seam should sit at your shoulder bone. 

The sleeves: If you can see the details of your arms, your shirt's too tight. "But they should also not be so loose as to billow," the guide says. "When you bend your arm, your cuff should not move more than an inch up your wrist."

Now onto chinos:

Dress pants should fit similarly to chinos — comfortably close to the leg without billowing. Pleats, again, should be avoided at all costs.

Here's more information on the fit for dress pants:

If you button your suit jacket and it pulls across your abdomen, making an "X" shape in the fabric, then your suit is too small, the guide says. The same is true if there's pulling between your shoulders.

The jacket must be long enough to cover your bottom and the second button from the bottom should sit just above your belly button.

When it comes to jeans, avoid boot-cut. Straight-leg or slimmer is the way to go. Here are some more tips on the right fit for jeans:

For additional style tips, go to How Clothes Should Fit.

SEE ALSO: 5 Classic Men's Shoes For Work And Play

Join the conversation about this story »

Dyson vacuums have long been coveted for their sleek, compact design and lightweight functionality. 

Now, the British manufacturer has unveiled a new line of high-end, cordless vacuums exclusively for the North American market, and they're beautifully powerful. 

They're so powerful, in fact, that their digital V6 motors run at a stunning 110,000 RPM (for comparison, typical Formula One race cars run at a maximum of 18,000 RPM). 

According to a press release from Dyson, the V6 motor was designed in-house and has made the new vacuum 1.5 times more powerful than the previous model. The DC58 and DC59 also have three times the suction power of other cordless vacuums on the market. 

Strangely enough, the new handheld DC58 looks just like a power drill, and in a way, it performs like one, too. Fifteen cyclones create centrifugal forces and a constant air current that flows through and around the motor. 

And even with all that power, the new line is lighter and easier to maneuver than previous models. The DC59, which is basically the same as the DC58 with an attached extension, weighs less than 5 pounds and comes with a docking station that you can mount on your wall for easy storage.

The motorhead is also brand new: Carbon fiber bristles work against static build-up, while other nylon bristles trap ground-in dirt and debris. 

The entire line has sleek metal curves that make it feel exceedingly modern, plus transparent plastic lets you watch the motor at work. 

Starting Jan. 19, the DC59 will be available for a slightly staggering $499.99. 

Dyson also revealed its brand-new upright vacuum, the DC65. It has a specially-designed brush head that makes it ideal for customers with mixed flooring in their homes. According to Dyson, the brush is more gentle than competitors, meaning that it can keep spinning on hardwood floors without causing damage. 

The DC65 starts at $499.99, but adding accessories for picking up pet hair and cleaning more difficult spots may bring up the price to $649. It's also available starting Jan. 19, though it's exclusive to Best Buy until March. 

Check out this video from Dyson to see how amazing the new generation really is. 

SEE ALSO: This Bicycle Desk Generates Enough Energy To Charge Your Computer While You Work

Join the conversation about this story »

Business-school students are a pampered bunch. Scholars sipping a glass of red in the posh rooftop bar of Oxford's Saïd Business School could be forgiven for thinking they had wandered into the nearby Randolph Hotel by mistake. Stanford students can view an impressive modern-art collection housed in its own museum. Harvard Business School MBAs can book a masseuse to relieve the stress of a hard day slaving over case studies.

Life for the next generation of business students is to get even cushier. In the past few years the leading schools have been raising vast amounts to spend on new facilities. On January 9th Yale's School of Management formally opened its swanky new home, designed by Foster + Partners, Norman Foster's architecture practice. The Kellogg School of Management in Illinois will soon start work on a new headquarters (see artist's impression, above) for its MBA programme on the shores of Lake Michigan, at a cost of $200m. Stanford's business school spent $345m on its new campus, largely thanks to the largesse of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike.

The biggest project, at least in terms of cost, is under way in New York. Columbia Business School is within touching distance of raising the $600m it needs to complete a new campus in West Harlem. From Cambridge, MA, to Cambridge, UK, an arms race is under way to provide MBAs with the plushest place to study.

There are several reasons for this. One is that many business schools built campuses in a previous expansionary phase in the 1960s and 70s, and these are now ripe for regeneration. Rising expectations among prospective students also play a part. The posher the school, the more demanding its applicants. Harvard Business School's campus is the envy of all its competitors, and for good reason. Yet in a survey by The Economist in 2013, MBA students ranked its facilities (measured, admittedly, by more than just the quality of its buildings) a lowly 27th in the world, below those of institutions such as Brunel University, a modest college in Uxbridge, in west London. Since Harvard puts the total cost of taking its MBA at around $200,000, students have every right to expect perfection.

Breaking ground on expensive new facilities is not without risk. Demand for MBAs remains soft. Some schools, particularly lower down the pecking-order, may find their new state-of-the-art classrooms sparsely populated. In the 2012-13 testing year there were 238,000 entries for GMATs, the de facto business-school entrance exam. That is 50,000 fewer tests taken than the year before and the lowest number for six years.

For some schools, the risk is lower. The University of Cambridge's Judge Business School is raising £52m ($85m) for a new building that will, among other things, house its lucrative non-degree executive-education programmes. These are currently scattered around Cambridge's other colleges. Judge thinks it will recoup the outlay of bringing them together under one, expensive roof within a few years.

In any case, the money for most big schools' projects comes from wealthy alumni and sponsors, who do not expect it back. Of the $600m Columbia is raising, for example, only $100m is from university coffers. The rest will come from gifts, including donations of $100m each from two private-equity fund managers, Ronald Perelman and Henry Kravis. Kellogg says not a single tuition-fee dollar will be spent on its new building.

Indeed, one reason more schools can afford big capital projects is that they have turned philanthropy into a professional business. Nearly all the top schools now employ full-time fund-raisers. Their preferred targets tend to be former students who have made it big since graduation. Deans are often judged on just two criteria: how a school fares in rankings (including ours, at economist.com/whichmba) and how much money they have screwed out of rich alumni.

But if there is little financial risk to schools, there is a danger of obsolescence. Higher education is, many think, on the brink of being disrupted by distance-learning technology. In the future, many more students are expected to study remotely. Trophy campuses could become relics. "Our industry is about to transform itself," says Sally Blount, Kellogg's dean. "And you have to decide whether you are in or out of face-to-face education."

Being "in" means investing now in better facilities, to keep up with rivals. The best schools, Ms Blount thinks, will continue to attract students to campus; the lure of networking and securing a brand-name degree will not diminish. Yet some are hedging their bets. As Yale opened its fancy new campus, its website was plugging its "new generation of online courses".

Click here to subscribe to The Economist.

Join the conversation about this story »

The great benefit of living with, working for, or being related to people who have experienced more of life than you have is picking their brain for advice.

The most effective people learn from their own mistakes, and make a significant effort to learn from other people's errors as well. 

A recent Quora thread asked users for the best advice they've ever gotten. 

Here are a few of the greatest excerpts, lightly edited for clarity:

Never say "but."

"A very smart woman I worked with once told me that if I eliminated the word 'but' from my professional vocabulary, I'd find greater acceptance for my ideas, and greater cooperation from my team members... The word 'but' negates everything that precedes it, and you cast a negative spin on anything you say when you use it... 'But' is exclusive and isolating; 'and' is inclusive and welcoming." —Quora user Marsha Browne

You never get anything unless you ask.

"It was a professor in my university, but I believe its origin is from somebody famous: If you don't ask, the answer is always 'no'." —Quora user Joe Yasman

Think before you complain.

"Don't complain. I think it was phrased as something like, 'Do you ever listen to someone complaining and think, This is a great conversation!?' Being negative doesn't help others, and it doesn't help you." —Quora user Steve Carnagua

Time is the one thing you never get back.

"A mentor I had some years ago told me that time is the one thing that you can never get back. If you look at it as an asset, you can donate it, spend it, or waste it. Whatever you do with it, it is gone once it passes." —Quora user Karen Meyer

Attitude is more important than talent.

"I have been time and again repeatedly told that a strong positive attitude takes a man farther than his talent. There are many greats in sports, entertainment, politics, science, and art who had great talent but lost on huge counts only because of a faulty and shaky attitude. 

Attitude helps you solve problems talent cannot. Attitude helps you navigate through problem talent hides." —Quora user Vamsi Uppala

Quality is always greater than quantity.

"If you're going to do something, do it well enough to avoid doing it the second time. Going back to do something the second time is a time-waster if you knew it can be done right the first time. Even writing this post, I'm putting in my best effort into editing it, explaining it, and making it easy and enjoyable to read — to avoid going back and fixing any grammatical errors." —Quora user Dennis Do

Be reliable.

"Do what you say you're going to do." —Quora user Blake Alexander

Do the right thing.

"Advice from Charlie Munger (not proffered personally): The safest way to try to get what you want is to try to deserve what you want." —Quora user Josh Tarasoff

Slow down.

"When I was in my 20s I worked as a waiter at a very popular restaurant. I found it very difficult to keep up with the orders and, consequently, my tips were very low.

One of the very experienced servers took me aside and she said, 'Slow down and take longer steps. You'll feel more relaxed and your customers will see that and trust you.'

If you slow down, you have time to think and plan better. Taking longer steps means more than just how you move through a space. It's about looking ahead and covering more ground, encompassing more than just the task at hand." —Quora user Gordon Bennet

Everyone ends up in the same place.

"'At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.' —Italian Proverb

When you really think about this, in the end we all end up the same. You can't take your money and fame with you after you die." —Quora user Felix Wong

Time is not money. It's better.

"Always choose time over money. Contrary to what people say, time is not money. Time is much much more than money. At the end of your life, it's guaranteed you will be out of time and more than likely out of money as well, if you didn't value time." —Quora user Navin Uttam

Don't worry what other people think.

"Stop being so self-conscious because absolutely nobody is paying any attention to you anyway — they are only paying attention to themselves." —Quora user Michael Wolfe

You can't truly control anything but how well you do things.

"To find happiness in life's tasks, invest in the process (which you can control), not in the outcome (which is largely out of your control)." —Quora user Mark Hurley

Listen.

"God gave you two ears and one mouth; use them proportionally." —Quora user Derrick Mayfield

Take risks when you can.

"On deciding whether to step off my career track in my mid-20s to live abroad for a year: 'You have the rest of your life to work. You'll be working for 40 years. I don't know why we were in such a hurry when we were young.' I took the year off." —Quora user Deborah Diamond

SEE ALSO: The 17 Best Pieces Of Advice You'll Ever Hear

Join the conversation about this story »

On January 17, 1929, exactly 85 years ago, our favorite sailor man, Popeye, made his debut in Thimble Theatre, a comic strip created by E.C. Segar.

Along with the cartoon's distinctive speech and bulging forearms came the source of his machismo and near-supernatural strength — spinach, of course.

"I'm strong to finich 'cause I eats me spinach," Popeye routinely sang in the later animated cartoon. 

But the reasoning behind the sailor man's love of the leafy-green (and its subsequent commercial explosion) contains one major flaw: Spinach doesn't contain nearly as much as iron as we think.

In 1870, a German chemist named Erich von Wolf was researching the nutritional benefits of spinach. In his notes, he accidentally printed the decimal point in the vegetable's iron content one spot too far to the right, according to Samuel Arbesman's"The Half Life Of Facts," as reported by BrainPickings.

Mathematicians know what that means: Wolf accidentally increased the vegetable's iron level to 10 times the actual amount — 3.5 grams of iron suddenly became 35 grams.

"Popeye became so popular with children in the 1930s that sales of spinach spiked dramatically across the U.S.,"  wrote Michael Aushenker, a Popeye-enthusiast and editor of The Argonaut, a local newspaper in Santa Monica California, where the comic's father, Segar, lived.

In fact, the spinach growers credited Popeye with a 33 percent increase in U.S. spinach consumption and saving the spinach industry in the 1930s, according to Popeye's official website.

Then, in 1937, Crystal City, Tex., our country's purported spinach capital, erected a statute in the sailor's honor.

In 2005, GameBoy Advanced released a game called "Popeye Rush For Spinach."

Even a current brand, Allens Vegetables, still uses the cleft-chinned character to sell its canned spinach.

And the owners of the only Popeye shop and museum in the world, as well as the official fan club they run, fall under the name "Spinach Can Collectibles."

Researchers recognized the fumble in 1937 and tried to correct it, but Popeye had debuted four years earlier. The myth perpetuated in the comic clearly stuck. People started to spread the idea that spinach contained just as much iron as red meat. Even today, many doctors tell their anemic patients to bulk-up on spinach.

SEE ALSO: 5 Typos That Changed History

Join the conversation about this story »

Any discussion of Bethany Mota, 18, social media goddess and ascendant fashion icon, needs to begin with her metrics. Mota’s most popular YouTube channel has more than 4.8 million subscribers, more than Lady Gaga’s. As of this writing, upwards of 2.2 million souls follow her on Instagram, more than Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour and Cosmopolitan combined. Her twitter following is a mere 1.15 million, not great but nothing to sneeze at.

Mota, who graduated from high school last year and still lives with her parents in a quiet northern California city they’d prefer remain confidential, is a haul video superstar. In this YouTube genre, women — almost always women — go shopping and then discuss their latest “hauls” for the camera.

It’s really as simple as that. No stylists, no editors, no models stomping down the runway. Just a kid in her room with a pile of shopping bags. In one recent video that has racked up more than 600,000 views, Mota shows off a series of blouses, hair accessories, and beauty products, as well as a sunflower dress. “I love sunflowers,” she notes. “They’re one of my favorite flowers.”

Subjected to this Warholian monologue over lunch, most of us would probably ask for the check. But we’re not in the demo. Haul stars like Mota have tapped into a market, and increasingly, established fashion brands are taking notice.

Before Christmans, Aéropostale (ARO), a teen apparel fixture with its stock near a five-year low, introduced a Bethany Mota–branded clothing and jewelry line. There are Bethany Mota sweaters, Bethany Mota skirts and even a Bethany Mota sequined bustier.

While YouTube has been a launchpad for celebrities in the past (for instance, Justin Bieber), the Mota deal is perhaps the highest profile alliance to date between a public company and a celebrity whose exposure is almost completely limited to social media. Mota has had a few brushes with established media entities: she has been featured in “Teen Vogue” and contributed to chat and makeover shows on the tween-centric YouTube network AwesomenessTV. But she remains very much a phenomenon of social media: a celebrity whom Us Magazine will never have to assert is “just like us” because, for all intents and purposes, she is us. Uncoached and self-taught — she’s the strongest indication yet that what teenagers really want to watch is themselves.

See our picks for Bethany's best videos of all time.

If successful, the Aéro deal could pave the way for other social media stars to cash in on their notoriety without the institutional filter still imposed by the mainstream media. The idea behind Mota’s partnership deal, says Mota’s agent Max Stubblefield of the United Talent Agency, “was, by design, to prove the model.” If it works with consumers, get ready for a defiantly prosaic new microfame golden age that that makes reality shows like “Jersey Shore” and “The Hills,” with their trumped up feuds and pseudo-cliffhangers, seem as stylized as classical ballet.

Greeting Her Public

I arrange to meet Mota at the Westfield, a mall in San Francisco, on the Friday after Christmas. It never occurred to me we’d have company. But Mota had tweeted to her million odd followers that she’d be making an appearance, and I arrive to find her surrounded by several dozen girls.

“She’s super famous and super pretty,” Meleina McCann, 15, of Oakland, Calif. says. “She’s super sweet and so relatable. Her videos are so personal. It feels like she’s speaking to me.”

“She’s always laughing and smiling,” adds McCann’s friend Ella Philips.

Nearby, a teenager with braces and an Aéropostale “Motavator” t-shirt, mutters “Oh my god!” and fans herself as if she’s about to faint, urging a friend into the scrum while she fights off an apparent anxiety attack.

Turns out the girl has nothing to worry about. Mota, wearing a dark pink skater skirt, wedges that playfully riff on work boots, and a backless sweater from her collection, receives everyone with hugs, smiling for their selfies (or more accurately, usies) and signing autographs.

Following these brief encounters, some of Mota’s throng are too dazed even to check their phones. They wear face-cracking grins and babble as if they’ve just seen the risen Christ. After meeting her idol, the nervous young woman prances in place and graciously thanks Mota’s father for having given the world his daughter.

Once Upon a Time

As Mota tells it, she discovered the YouTube’s beauty community after a friend started bullying her online.

“I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to leave my house,” Mota tells Business Insider. YouTube “was kind of an outlet for me to be myself and not really worry about what anyone thought.”

The production values in Mota’s first video, a Mac and Sephora make-up haul from June 2009, which she made by balancing a camera on a stack of stuff because she didn’t have a tripod, don’t meet her current standards. But even at 13 the girl knew her make-up.

The angst-ridden teen found a new community online. As her viewership numbers grew, reading the comments on her videos and tweeting with her fans became a dependable pick-me-up.

Since then, Mota has starred in hundreds of videos, which she also edits. Her shopping hauls remain her primary focus, but she has created videos on DIY crafts, hair and make-up tutorials and interior decoration. In 2010, she launched a second YouTube channel, Bethanyslife, which is supposed to be more personal. It has attracted a mere 1.6 million-plus subscribers. Mota declined to comment on her earnings, but estimates by several sources familiar with YouTube advertising suggest that she’s easily pulling down $40,000 a month from her videos alone.

Some teens in her position would be embarrassing themselves on TMZ, but Mota still describes herself as a homebody. “Whenever I have free time I love to just lay in my bed and watch YouTube videos, watch movies,” she says. “Just basically do nothing.”

Still, as her renown has spread, travel videos have become a recurring theme. She has made appearances in Asia and hopes her next overseas trip will be to Paris, where she’d “probably take a lot of Instagram pictures,” she says. The cuisine could be a hurdle however. “I’m not normally very adventurous with food,” she admits, “but I would try my best.”

At home, “I always eat mac and cheese,” she adds. “That’s what I’m known for, just very simple food: sandwiches, French fries, very unhealthy but yeah that’s what I eat.”

She’s done videos on nutrition but isn’t about to abandon her favorites. “I’m not like, ‘No I can’t eat the french fries because they're full of grease,’” she says. “I do like sending out that message that girls don’t have to eat a certain way to feel confident.”

On camera, Mota is relentlessly upbeat and bouncy. She clowns around and talks in silly voices. More than anything else, she is a virtuoso of positivity. Her videos are often litanies of praise for stuff her audience might want to buy. During her recent video detailing her Christmas presents, she raves about a catalog of items, including Lady Gaga’s Fame perfume (“The packaging’s gorgeous and the scent is absolutely in-credible”), a Michael Kors watch (“I don’t even want to touch it because it’s just so gorgeous”), green tea–flavored mints (“I’m obsessed with green tea and so I’m very pumped to try these”) and a dress “that is literally me. It is perfection… When I saw this I kind of squealed.”

Mota’s videos evoke a 13-year old girl’s G-rated fantasy of life at 18. On camera, she barely touches on school, work, friends or any of the other things that probably still preoccupy recent high school grads. And sex? No way. Instead, last year’s Valentine’s Day video showcased some heavy petting with Target. Starbucks got a peck on the cheek.

Love For The Haters

Back at the galleria, far too many tweens have swarmed the Aéro store to permit a sit-down interview, so we trek to the other side of the mall with the store manager and Mota’s father, Tony. He enthuses about many aspects of his daughter’s improbable rise, from what a great role model she is to the shrimp he ate in Singapore when Bethany had an appearance there. Tony, who is dressed in a grey sweater and faded jeans, says he works in dairy service and now helps to manage Bethany’s career. Asked whether his daughter’s fame has turned into a paying gig for him, he politely declines to comment.

Eventually we find a coffee shop under the mall’s large dome, where Tony buys a slushy orange drink for Bethany and a coffee for me. I ask Mota to describe her personal style. “Definitely bohemian, so it has that laid-back kind of free-spirited vibe,” she says. “It's also girly and very comfortable. Once in a while I can be a little edgy.”

Emphasis on “a little.” While other stars of the street-style blogosphere tend to favor more unique or au courant looks, Mota shops mainly at mall stores like Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, H&M and Aéropostale, outlets her fans already know and find relatively affordable.

While her unscripted videos project energy and spontaneity, in conversation she is calm and measured. Homeschooled throughout high school and during much of her childhood, she has little to say about her friends or how they perceive her Internet celebrity. She doesn’t know if the bully who catalyzed her career is aware of her success, but she wishes her well.  

Of course, there are plenty of bullies on the Internet, too, and Mota has had to contend with her share of free-floating anonymous bile. Initially, she found that the trolls validated her online presence. “The first hate comment I got on a video, I was really excited about it,” she says. “I was like ‘Yes, I got my first hate comment!’”

The online rancor soon grew tiresome, but it taught her some things about people. “There are different reasons that people leave hate online and most of the time its not personal,” she says. “Most of the time they’re having a bad day and they could be like ‘I’m going to make this girl’s day a little bit worse.’”

A couple years ago she discovered a “constant hater, who was always saying anything negative about my video or my appearance that she could pick out.”

Mota messaged her. “I don’t know why you don’t like me,” she wrote. “I don’t know what I did to you, and I just wanted you to know that I don’t have anything negative towards you and wish you nothing but the best.”

The message resonated. “She was like, ‘I’m so sorry! I don’t know what I was thinking.’” The hater became an ally, defending Mota in the comments.

“Some of them just want attention,” Mota says. “You have to treat them nicely or don’t respond at all.”

Bethany, Inc.

Mota’s immense fanbase requires constant cultivation. "I don't want to leave my viewers hanging with no new content to watch,” she says. “Making new videos for them, always tweeting, always posting Instagram pictures, interacting with them and really getting to know them is a big priority to me. I think that's like my responsibility. Without them I wouldn't be here so I want to give them what they want to see."

She details a social strategy rigorous enough for a business school case study. In addition to being on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube “all the time,” she delights fans by calling them on camera, and she stages lavish giveaways.

In a video this holiday season she offered up three prize packages, including a MacBook Pro with a Marc Jacobs case, an Alexander Wang purse that retails for about $900 and hundreds of dollars in gift certificates. Entering the contests required giving Mota some social media juju. One, for example, required subscribing to her YouTube channels, giving the video a thumbs up and leaving the name of a favorite Christmas song in the comments, “Because I’m obsessed with Christmas music and I really want to know what your favorite song is.”

Mota insists that she pays for these gifts with her own money. “There's just something to me about actually going out and buying a prize,” she says. Surely one great delights of starring in shopping videos is all the free swag that arrives, unbidden, on one’s doorstep. But Mota is ambivalent about featuring sample products in her videos. “I think it’s important to have an open mind about it, but I’m also very picky,” she says. “What I show in my videos is what I like, bottom line.”

She says that it’s a rare event when she features a product that she received for free, and in those cases she adds a text disclaimer to the video. (This is in keeping with Federal Trade Commission guidelines for disclosure, though the agency says it does not monitor bloggers for violations.)

When the adults on team Bethany — her lawyer, father, agent and friends at Aéropostale — talk up her “authenticity,” which they do constantly, they mean, at least in part, her energetic evangelism on behalf of the brands she loves. “Fans would sniff out if she were hocking product,” says her agent, Max Stubblefield. Mota’s lawyer Jon Moonves agrees: “Those girls have a pretty good B.S. meter.”

Whether or not this is a pose, it’s certainly smart positioning. Mota is such a natural marketer, goes the implication, that she doesn’t need to be paid to stump for corporate America. Her enthusiasm is utterly genuine, and therefore more valuable.

While Mota has done a few small partnerships in the past, including with Forever 21 and JC Penney, she now plans to focus on deals that she thinks have long-term potential. “I don't want to do something unless it feels organic...true to me, who I am and what my channel represents,” she says.

A Mega-Brand Takes Notice

Aéropostale reached out to Mota last year, after her videos caught the attention of its social media and client services teams. When Christine Miller, an Aéropostale executive, first spoke to Stubblefield about a collaboration, he told her that Mota wanted her own fashion line but that he knew that inking such a deal would require a gradual courtship.

First Aéro built a Mota-curated “Bethany’s Faves” section of its Web site. And in late August Bethany appeared at the Aéro store in Times Square, drawing 1,500 fans. Mota then paid a visit to Toronto. (This astonishing footage shows her fans thronging the Eaton Centre). By her third appearance, outside Chicago, the principals were drawing up plans for a licensing deal.

Mota’s first line, which all parties say Bethany worked with the company’s design team to create, arrived in stores in early December in time for Christmas. She’ll be releasing more collections for this year, according to Aéropostale.

“I have the freedom to pick the colors, the patterns and how I want to do it,” Mota says. “They're very open to my ideas. It's not like, ‘This is what you're going to do.’ It's more of me telling them what I want.”

Despite her youth, Stubblefield insists his client has a real knack for fashion design. “Bethany has shopped more and dissected and deconstructed clothes and shoes and handbags probably more than anyone else her age,” he says. “She’s got a little savant in her.”

Mota and Aéropostale declined to comment on the terms of their deal. While licensing arrangements vary in structure, Aviva Rosenthal, a partner at Los Angeles-based Act III Licensing said one common approach would include an advance and a guaranteed payout, with the licensee collecting 10 percent on the goods’ wholesale value or about 6 percent of retail.

Licensing, Rosenthal adds, depends on “huge knowability,” which is why few Internet sensations have scored such deals. One other exception: The Internet meme Grumpy Cat,  who reportedly has movie and book deals and a beverage line in the works.

“This is starting to happen,” Rosenthal says.

The partnership does not restrict Mota’s social media activity or prevent her from endorsing other brands in her videos. “To assume that our consumer, and Bethany is a customer of ours, only shops in one place is old-school thinking,” Aéropostale CEO Thomas Johnson tells Business Insider. “We are completely comfortable with her doing what she does. It’s who she is. It feeds into her authenticity. If she was only doing a commercial for Aéropostale or Bethany Mota, her customer base would understand that quickly.”

Mota, who has not yet applied to college, plans to focus on her work for the time being. She admires the career arc of Lauren Conrad, former star of the MTV reality show “The Hills,” who has worked in fashion and created several clothing lines, including one for the retailer Kohl’s (KSS). Conrad, 27, who happens to be another client of Stubblefield’s, has also published several bestselling young-adult novels about being a young and famous reality TV star in Los Angeles, and she now has an online lifestyle portal.

As to Mota’s next step, it remains to be seen. “She’s 18,” Stubblefield says. “I think she’s still discovering what her dreams are.”

***

After Bethany drains her slushy, I suggest we head back to the Aéropostale to take a closer look at her collection. But when we arrive, dozens of fans are still there.

Crowd control becomes a concern as they surrounded her. “Bring out the stanchions,” the store manager says, and the mob of girls gradually forms a line extending out of the store and into the mall atrium. Curious passers-by begin to gather, wondering what all the fuss is about.

Amid the chaos, Mota is a picture of serenity. She stands beneath a banner printed with four pictures of herself and greets her public.

Alex Halperin is a freelance reporter living in Brooklyn. You can follow him on Twitter @alexhalperin. 

Read more of Business Insider's longform features. 

Join the conversation about this story »

Bethany Mota is your average 18-year-old, at least in some key respects. 

A recent high school graduate, she lives at home with her parents . She is more or less obsessed with fashion, beauty, friends, and One Direction. And she is totally addicted to social media.

The difference of course is that social media is also addicted to her. The effervescent YouTuber is an internet phenomenon — and increasingly, a cottage industry — with 4.8 million subscribers to her main YouTube channel and a fashion line with Aéropostale. 

Read our in-depth profile of Bethany.

Mota is beautiful, relatable, and bubbly. She's also industrious. She's made hundreds of videos and is putting up more all the time. Here, the very, very, very best of all time.

"Draw My Life | Bethany Mota": Mota narrates the story of her life — from the 1995 caesarean that brought her into the world to her recent trip to China — with dry erase markers and a good ol' fashioned whiteboard. 

"Vlog: My Hong Kong Trip!": Mota's global popularity is plain to see as she travels to China, where she tried some "awesome, cool" food, "found panda stuff," and of course, shopped til' she dropped.

"Huge Holiday Giveaway!!!": This girl really knows how to get followers. In her Christmas 2013 giveaway video, she asked fans to subscribe to her various social media accounts, all in the hopes of winning big ticket items like an Alexander Wang ($875) bag and MacBook Pro ($1,199). A Merry Christmas, indeed...

"DIY Room Decorations using water bottle & soda cans": And for her next trick, Bethany will turn empty Arizona Iced Tea contaners into decorative cameras and flower vases.

"Confidence": Mota's videos tend to stay lighthearted and upbeat, but she took it down a notch for this video about self-esteem. We defy you not to feel a little better after watching this...

"DIY Despicable Me Minion Costume + Makeup!": In her Spookbook series, Bethany shows viewers how to make their own Halloween costumes, from Wonder Woman to Nicki Minaj. After watching this adorable video, we wouldn't mind if Bethany dressed as a minion all the time.

"Guys thoughts on perfume! Feat. Eddie + Holden": If you were wondering what teenage boys think about various scents, it goes a little something like this: "not bad," "alright," and "it's sugary... like candy." Classic.

Have your own favorites? Let us know in the comments.

Join the conversation about this story »

Click here to see the original post >

Join the conversation about this story »

In the world of electric cars, luxury is defined by Tesla, with new competition coming from Cadillac (the ELR) and BMW (the i8). But those cars could soon be eclipsed by top tier offerings from Bentley and Rolls-Royce. 

In interviews with Business Insider, executives from both brands said they are seriously considering a plug-in hybrid car. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) combine the ability to run on electricity stored in a battery with an internal combustion engine. They usually offer an EV mode range of under 40 miles, with the capability to drive over 200 more miles on traditional gas power.

With high fuel prices and governments (especially in the U.S. and Europe) cracking down on gas-guzzling cars, automakers everywhere are working to crank up their miles per gallon numbers. There are more hybrid, pure battery electric, and diesel vehicles on the market than ever before. They're not good options for the two ultra-luxury players, however.

Diesel offers great fuel economy. It's widely used in the Europe, and growing in popularity in the U.S. But it's not used for passengers cars in China or the Middle East, key regions for both brands. And because each sells so few cars, there's no sense in creating totally different products for each market. 

For Chinese customers, "diesel is for trucks, end of story," Bentley Sales and Marketing Director Kevin Rose said. "It would be a brave person who comes along with a luxury diesel car for China." Torsten Müller-Ötvös, the CEO of Rolls-Royce, concurred. "It wouldn't make sense to introduce a diesel," he said. 

A purely electric car, Müller-Ötvös explained, wouldn't work either: Rolls-Royce makes heavy cars; that's part of its luxury feel. Same goes for Bentley. With the current state of battery technology, that means range and power would dramatically reduced. Rolls-Royce did built an electricity-powered Phantom and had customers test it. Many were "ambivalent," worried about slow charging times and limited range. Compounding the problem is that most of its customers live outside city centers, where short drive times make EVs useful.

But a PHEV, which combines the fuel savings and quiet feel of an electric car with the practicality of a gas-powered one, is a workable solution. "For me, the direction of plug-in hybrids is probably more the direction to go with Rolls-Royce motor cars," Müller-Ötvös said. 

Bentley is headed in the same direction. "Plug-in hybrids could be an especially good technology for us," Rose said. Research shows that customers would be interested, and the key is making it easy to use, "which is what we're working on."

The luxury brand is coming out with an SUV — "the first genuine luxury SUV" — in 2015, and it's a likely candidate for a plug-in hybrid system after its launch, Rose said.

Join the conversation about this story »

Where do millionaires in the United States live?

The Wall Street Journal's Eric Morath created a map that shows where the wealthiest individuals reside. It turns out Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey have the highest percentage of millionaires. More than 7% of their populations have assets worth that much.

California, Virginia, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire follow. About 6% of their populations are millionaires.

Here are the charts.

Join the conversation about this story »

The "Pipeline" on Hawaii's North Shore is world renowned for its incredibly large and often dangerous waves, and a new video from aerial photographer Eric Sterman shows the area in all its glory.

Sterman attached a GoPro camera to a DJI quadcopter to capture this awesome footage of surfers on the pipe, according to The Next Web.

From The Next Web:

The result is a truly breathtaking video from a perspective which used to be impossible for filmmakers to achieve without hiring a helicopter. I’ve watched a few surfing films before (Billabong Odyssey and The Endless Summer are my personal favorites) but this is by far the best footage I’ve ever seen from Pipeline.

Check it out:

SEE ALSO: The Most Surreal Landscapes On Earth

Join the conversation about this story »

The folks at Burda Media were kind enough to fly me over to Munich to give a presentation about digital storytelling at the DLD conference.

And they flew me Business Class!

That was cool, because I got to try a "fully flat bed" for the first time.

I took some pictures, so you could get a sense of it, too.

Naturally, our Lufthansa Business Class journey starts in the Business Class lounge...

They have oceans of free booze there, so we can get smashed.

There are also plenty of plugs — the lifeblood of today's digital economy.

New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz gives his tips on how to solve crossword puzzles faster. 

Produced by Justin Gmoser

Keep up with BI Video on Facebook and YouTube

SEE ALSO: 7 Optical Illusions That Will Make You Look Twice

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has just released their annual review of skyscraper construction. Overall, 2013 proved to be a year of incredible growth for the industry. 

"By all appearances, the small increase in the total number of tall-building completions from 2012 to 2013 is indicative of a return to the prevalent trend of increasing completions each year over the past decade," the report reads. "Perhaps 2012, with its small year-on-year drop in completions, was the last year to register the full effect of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, and a small sigh of relief can be let out in the tall-building industry as we begin 2014." 

According to the Council's report, 2013 was the second-best year on record in terms of completed super-tall buildings. 73 buildings more than 200 meters (656 feet) tall were completed in 2013, second only to 2011, when 81 such buildings were completed. 

Twelve of those 73 buildings even made a showing on the list of the 100 Tallest Buildings in the World. 

"We can more confidently estimate that the slight slowdown of 2012, which recorded 69 completions after 2011's record 81 – was a 'blip,' and that 2013 was more representative of the general upward trend," the report says. 

Asia had an especially dominant year in the skyscraper market, with a record-breaking 53 buildings (74% of the world's total for the year) over 650 feet completed in Asian countries. China's 37 completed skyscrapers were the most of any nation, topping the list for the sixth year in a row. Goyang, Korea also made a surprisingly strong showing, with 8 super-tall building completions. 

In terms of sheer height, however, it should come as no surprise that Dubai was, once again, a dominant force. The tallest building completed in 2013 was the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai Tower 2, topping out at 355 meters, or 1,165 feet, tall. But the JW Marriott wasn't the only super-tall building to debut in the glitzy Persian Gulf country last year. For the second year in a row, three of the top five tallest buildings to be completed were in the United Arab Emirates. 

Despite all of the media attention surrounding One World Trade Center and its spire, only one building over 650 feet was completed in the United States in 2013, New York's 1717 Broadway. Europe, on the other hand, debuted two of the year's 10 tallest buildings for the first time since 1953, including the controversial Shard building in London. 

Here's a closer look at the 2o tallest buildings completed last year. Click here for a larger version and more detailed information on each one. 

SEE ALSO: A History Of The World's Tallest Skyscrapers

Join the conversation about this story »