Your 20s see you through from your awkward teenage years to your transformation into a full-fledged adult. The decade is all about experiencing new things, taking on new challenges, making mistakes and learning from them, and working towards becoming the person you're meant to be.

For those reasons, there's no better time than your 20s to ditch bad health habits and get on to being that better you.

Habits form from routine behaviors, and they're most easily broken while you're still growing and malleable. While you're in your 20s figuring out just what kind of life you want to lead — from big career decisions to relationships to yourself — it's a good time to establish the kind of behavior you'll want to follow for the rest of your life.

While you may be feeling young, wild, and free, your decisions today directly impact your life down the road. No one's perfect and it's good to be open to change, but when it comes to your health, there are certain things you just can't argue with. Science proves that certain behaviors are linked to well-being and longevity, while others affect you negatively, causing suffering now and even later in life.

All it takes to ensure you're giving yourself the best chance at a long, happy life, is breaking some bad health habits we're all inclined to give in to. Simple choices you make today will set you up for future success, tomorrow and beyond. Here are the habits you need to ditch, and how to break them.

SEE ALSO: 15 signs that you're emotionally intelligent, even if it doesn't feel like it

1. Not getting enough sleep

One of the biggest bad health habits plaguing twenty somethings is not getting enough sleep. Eight hours of shut-eye is said to be the healthy ideal, but between late nights at high-pressure jobs and staying out super late on weekends to blow off steam, many in their 20s are not meeting this quota.

It's proven that lack of sleep affects you throughout the day and undesirablethings happen to your body when you sleep poorly. Sleep deprivation affects your body's immune system, hormone levels, mood, and decreases your ability to focus.

Still, sleep, let alone good sleep, is hard to come by. Unhealthy bedtime habits and bad habits keeping you up at night can be blamed for making things worse.

Break the habit:

You need to be proactive about making an effort to get more sleep. It is recommended to avoid caffeine for eight hours before bedtime and to remove distractions as you wind down for the evening.

Watching your favorite show at the end of a workday might seem ideal, but you're apt to fall asleep with your laptop in your bed much later than planned and your quality of sleep will suffer for it.

Have an evening routine that signals to your body that it's time to catch some Zs, like a hot shower and taking a few minutes to stretch. Block out excess light and sound from your bedroom as much as possible.

2. Forgoing sunscreen

It's well known that scary things happen when you don't wear sunscreen, yet it's one of the simplest health habits that we still get wrong all too regularly. From not using sunscreen correctly to not wearing it at all, twenty somethings put themselves at risk for a lot of sun damage that is actually avoidable.

Sunscreen is important for more than just cosmetic reasons, but your future self will thank you later for protecting yourself from sun spots, broken blood vessels, and wrinkles.

Break the habit:

Train yourself to wear sunscreen daily, even when it's overcast. If you wear makeup, chances are your foundation has sunscreen built in. Otherwise, check out these non-greasy sunscreens you can wear under your makeup.

If you lather up before sun exposure but still find yourself getting burned, you may be applying sunscreen wrong. Study up on these sunscreen mistakes everyone makes to improve your sunscreen game in the future.

3. Not drinking enough water

Chances are you're not drinking enough water. If you relate to any of thesesigns you're dehydrated or are experiencing any of these things happening to your skin, it's time to drink up. Staying hydrated has tons of immediate benefits to your wellbeing.

It helps to clean toxins from your body via your kidneys, keeps your muscles and joints working better, and helps keep you motivated and your memory sharp. The ways drinking enough water changes your body are hugely positive and definitely worth the extra effort to get in a few more glasses each day.

With a new "Star Wars" movie opening Friday, it's time for that perennial question: How do you rank all the "Star Wars" movies? And where does the latest fit in?

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" may be the first standalone movie from the franchise, but it's steeped in the mythology that the other seven movies revolve around.

Like all "Star Wars" movies after "Force Awakens,""Rogue One" has tremendous pressure not just to make a killing at the box office but to leave a lasting impression on the saga's huge fan base.

So how does "Rogue One" compare with the previous seven "Star Wars" movies? Here's how I rank them.

SEE ALSO: 'Rogue One' is the most original modern 'Star Wars' movie — and one of the most thrilling

8. "The Phantom Menace" (1999)

George Lucas has said from the beginning that "Star Wars" was made for kids, and he really took that to heart when he unveiled "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," 16 years after finishing the groundbreaking original trilogy. Introducing us to Anakin Skywalker at the age of 9 as he's plucked by Qui-Gon Jinn as the "chosen one" who will bring balance to the Force, the first prequel gives us a lot of tame action and unlikely scenarios for Anakin to be in, even in a galaxy far, far away.

Sadly, the best part of the movie is its villain, Darth Maul, who has an incredible duel with the Jedi at the end of the movie. It's one of the only goose-bump moments in the whole movie — heightened by John Williams' score — and you have to wait over an hour to get to it. And at this point, the less said about Jar Jar Binks, the better.

7. "Revenge of the Sith" (2005)

The conclusion of the prequel trilogy is one of the saga's darkest. A grown Anakin is seduced by the dark side of the Force and wipes out the Jedi, including the younglings (!). Padmé Amidala dies, but not before giving birth to their twins, Luke and Leia.

But the most agonizing thing to sit through is Hayden Christensen's performance as Skywalker conflicted with the dark side — more a sniveling 20-something than a disillusioned "chosen one." We wouldn't get a good performance of that pull to the dark side until Adam Driver came along to play Kylo Ren in "The Force Awakens." Though we can only partly blame Christensen: Lucas was never big on giving actors instructions, which proved here to be costly.

6. "Return of the Jedi" (1983)

The final film in the original trilogy accomplishes what we needed it to. It closes that chapter of the saga by answering many of the questions that were floating around for years. But as a standalone, years later, it doesn't have the same effect that "Episode IV" and "Episode V" have. That mostly has to do with the introduction of the Ewoks, which makes for deflating sequences in the movie. And it's still a bummer to see Boba Fett die in the first 20 minutes.

For years, Chris Place rarely packed lunches at home. It was too cumbersome to think about what to make, and lunch was never fun to prepare. So he and his friend Will Matters decided to create the Prepd Pack, a fancy-looking bento box that comes with a handy app to help people prepare satisfying and healthy lunches.

Featuring 140 recipes by Prepd Pack's chefs, the app suggests lunch recipes and syncs their nutritional values with the health app included in your phone.

Place and Matters launched the Prepd Pack on Kickstarter and Indiegogo in early 2016.

Nearly a year later, it has garnered approximately 40,000 preorders and crowd-funded over $4.2 million, says Place, who worked on the lunchbox while at Y Combinator. 

Prepd Packs were originally supposed to ship to donors in June, but it has been delayed several months due to manufacturing issues, according to Place.

It's ready to be shipped, and we got one of the first boxes to test. Here's what happened.

SEE ALSO: This giant tubular glass treehouse is a childhood dream come true

This is the Prepd Pack, a bamboo and BPA-free plastic bento box that snaps together using magnets. It comes with one large container, two small containers, and chopsticks. You can purchase more containers or a fork, knife, and spoon at an extra cost.

Once I got my box, I downloaded the free Prepd Pack app on my phone. It asked me which health goals I'd like to prioritize. I chose five.

The next screen suggested 58 recipes, like the one below, based on those preferences. I could select one to see its calorie count and expected prep time.

As the holidays approach, it's typical to have questions: What should you get your cousin Katie? Where can you find the perfect sweater for your college roommate's ugly sweater party?

And perhaps most importantly, how much should you tip?

"The holidays are the traditional time to show appreciation for the people who make our lives more pleasant throughout the year," says etiquette expert Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick of The Etiquette School of New York. "Always show your gratitude in some form, whether it's a monetary gift or a handwritten thank you note."

Here are a few best practices when it comes to holiday tipping, according to Napier-Fitzpatrick:

• If you're going to give cash, it's better to give earlier in the month than later, if possible. The recipients will be using those tips to buy gifts for their own families.
• You don't want to give less than you did last year, unless you truly can't afford to.
• If you have a personal relationship with a service provider, such as your regular hairdresser or housekeeper, you might want to give a more personalized gift in addition to a cash tip.
• If you live in an apartment building and are tipping the building staff, the amount you give depends on how long you've lived there, whether you rent or own, how large your apartment is, and how much you use their services. For instance, if you work from home and get a lot of deliveries, you might want to tip more.

Below, she helped Business Insider outline the appropriate tip amounts for everyone in your life. If you don't see a specific service provider you want to appreciate, a rule of thumb is to tip the cost of one extra service.

Megan Willett contributed to an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: Here's how to split the restaurant bill in any situation

DON'T MISS: 21 do's and don'ts of holiday shopping

Deciding which cocktails to serve at a Christmas party can be tricky, but knowing which are the most popular can help.

Back in January, Drinks International released a list of the best-selling cocktails around the world.

The website surveyed 100 bars globally, asking their bartenders which were the most ordered drinks throughout the year.

While the best-selling tipples used a variety of spirits, the most popular liquors on the list were whiskey and gin.

From daiquiris to dry martinis, here are the 30 best-selling cocktails in the world in 2016.

30. The Amaretto Sour — made with two shots of amaretto, lemon juice, egg white and optional angostura bitters — is just one of the classic sour cocktails to make it into this year's ranking. It was the most-ordered classic drink among a third of the bars polled by Drinks International.

29. Pimm’s Cups are synonymous with British summers. There are lots of components, but the recipe is simple — one part Pimms to three parts lemonade, topped off with ice, mint, and plenty of summer fruits like cucumber, strawberries, oranges and apples.

28. The Tom Collins has moved down two places in this year's ranking, but still makes it into the top 30. It is a simple mix of gin, lemon juice, and sugar. Cocktail purists say a Tom Collins must be made with Old Tom gin, which is slightly sweeter than more common London Dry gins.

We all have them — habits we think are healthy because we heard them somewhere on the news or from a health-conscious friend. And no matter how much we hate them, we just keep doing them because we think they're good for us.

Take using BMI to tell whether you're a healthy weight. Is it really the best measure of fitness?

Or taking a daily multivitamin. Healthy habit or a little bit of nonsense?

The answers to these questions might surprise you.

SEE ALSO: Most vitamins are useless, but here are the ones you should take

DON'T MISS: One of the most popular ways of telling if you're a healthy weight is bogus — here's what you should do instead

Using a standing desk

A recent long-term study looking at data on nearly 4,000 US adults found no benefit in terms of overall risk of dying from standing as opposed to sitting.

In the short term, however, standing does burn more calories per minute; so if losing weight is all you're worried about, stand on!

Using toilet-seat liners

Viruses like HIV and herpes are fragile, meaning they don't survive very well outside a nice, warm human body. By the time you sit down on a public toilet seat — even one that was recently used by someone else — most harmful pathogens probably won't be able to infect you.

Plus, your skin is an effective block against any microbes. (Unless, of course, you have a cut or open wound there, which could allow the bacteria to get in.)

Eating only low-fat foods

According to recommendations from the USDA in the 1990s, millions of Americans seeking to lose weight opted for a low-fat, high-starch diet. They chose margarine over butter and "fat-free" instead of "regular," and they curbed their indulgence on rich, creamy foods. But it didn't work. 

An eight-year trial involving almost 50,000 women, roughly half of whom went on a low-fat diet, found that those on the low-fat plan didn't lower their risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or heart disease. Plus, they didn't lose much weight, if any. New recommendations show that healthy fats, like those from nuts, fish, and avocados, are actually good for you in moderation! So add them back into your diet if you haven't already.

Editorial note: Business Insider just named its 2016 Car of the Year, the Acura NSX. There were 15 contenders for the award, and that was narrowed to six. We named five runners-up, but we also tested dozens of vehicles this year, not all of which we could consider for COTY. But some of them certainly made a lasting impression. So each member of the BI Transportation team is revisiting the car they couldn't get out of their head. For transportation reporter Benjamin Zhang, it was the 2016 Volvo V60 Polestar — a Swedish station wagon with the soul of a racer.

There are few cars that represent middle-class suburbia better than a midsize Volvo station wagon. For decades, the boxy Swedish wagons have offered dependable, no-frills transportation for the masses. But while its more mundane siblings were on school-run duty, some Volvo wagons were getting the performance treatment.

Over the past 20 years, Volvo's high-powered wagons have earned the company great critical acclaim. (One was even raced in the British Touring Car Championships.) For its latest hot wagon, Volvo turned to the specialists at Polestar Racing — the same people responsible for the company's racing program. As expected, Polestar took the standard V60 wagon and turned it into a full-on performance machine. The partnership worked so well that Volvo purchased Polestar's tuning division in 2015.

Earlier this year, Volvo dropped off a black V60 Polestar wagon for Business Insider to check out. Our $61,600 test car came clad in onyx black metallic paint. Here's a closer look.

Photos by Hollis Johnson unless otherwise credited.

SEE ALSO: 2016 Car of the Year runner-up: The high-tech Audi A4

The 2016 Volvo V60 Polestar is the latest in series of hot wagons dating to the mid-1990s.

The 850 T5 R kicked off the series with its turbocharged, 2.3-liter, inline-five-cylinder engine.

The 240-horsepower wagon was good for a 0-60 run of just seven seconds.

We shouldn't have to worry that our simplest household products will let us down.

But plenty of them do — on a daily basis.

For every perfectly crafted Dixon-Ticonderoga pencil, there's a shampoo bottle that will never get completely empty.

Here are the everyday products we've been using for decades that — somehow — have withstood innovation.

SEE ALSO: 21 objects that are perfectly designed and can't be improved any further

Umbrellas have existed since the 1st century AD, but the common collapsible variety is awfully flimsy when the going gets rough. Many turn inside-out or simply fall apart during heavy rainstorms.

Even if you're meticulous about squeezing a tube of toothpaste from bottom to top, you'll still end up with a maddening bit at the end that you just can't use. The person who solves this problem should earn a Nobel Prize.

Same goes for soap and shampoo bottles, which use compressed air to dispense their contents. That mechanism fails miserably once the bottle gets too low, and you're left with wasted soap every time.

If you're anything like Business Insider's tech team, the Pixel phone and the NES Classic top your holiday wish list this year.

The two products, which both debuted in 2016, are among the hardest to get and most exciting gadgets of the year, along with Snap's Spectacles.

But the year's hottest new products aren't the only gadgets topping our lists this year. Headphones, Bluetooth speakers, and novelty items — an iPhone case made of real fur! — are also among the most-wanted items.

Below, we've compiled the holiday wish lists of BI's tech teams in San Francisco, Colorado, and New York. Here's what we're asking for this holiday season.

SEE ALSO: Here's how to use Houseparty, the live video app that teens are going crazy for

Ben Gilbert, senior correspondent: Not that I'm asking anyone for $400 presents, but if you really wanna go wild, then I'd love a PlayStation VR headset.

Gilbert: I suppose I'd accept a Mega Man Pixel Pal, but you should know that I'll take it as a sign that we're just acquaintances. Good acquaintances! But acquaintances nonetheless.

Jeff Dunn: Google Pixel. Not the XL one — the normal, 5-inch one. Or "normal," because nobody makes genuinely powerful phones that you can reasonably use ​with one hand. Truly unhindered Android is tops, too, and the camera is the single best I've ever used.

The Apple Watch may be the stepchild of the tech giant's product suite.

While iPhones seem ubiquitous in cities like San Francisco and New York City, their sibling, the Apple Watch, never took off outside Apple fanboys and girls and startup employees. It's essentially a mini computer strapped across your wrist, which leaves some consumers asking, "Why do I need a device that does things my phone can do — just not as well?"

The company sold 1.1 million Apple Watches in the third quarter of 2016, down from 3.9 million a year earlier, and its lion's share of the smartwatch market is starting to slip.

I got an Apple Watch Series 2 soon after it was released in September. Here's what my experience has been like.

SEE ALSO: I just tried the iPhone 7 Plus on the California coast and will never take a high-end camera on vacation again

I've worn an Apple Watch Series 2 nearly every day for three months.

Overall, I love it.

The Apple Watch Series 2 packs processing power, clean design, and elegance.

It looks and feels like an Apple product.

For me, the biggest plus of owning an Apple Watch is the notification feature.

I am someone who puts her phone away at dinnertime and doesn't panic if she forgets it at home. Owning an Apple Watch allows me to loosen the leash even more.

From Enron to Bernie Madoff, there seem to be countless cases of once-successful people ending up on the wrong side of the law. 

So what causes smart, successful people to get wrapped up in illegal activities and unethical behavior? Dr. Muel Kaptein of the Rotterdam School of Management tackled this question in a paper about why good people do bad things.

These major crimes usually escalate from smaller offenses or lapses in judgment that are rationalized by a slew of psychological justifications. 

Business Insider previously collected insights from Kaptein that explain a few of the various reasons why good people lie, cheat, and steal— but that was just the beginning. Below, find 13 more reasons good people do bad things.

This is an update of a story originally reported by Max Nisen and Aimee Groth. 

SEE ALSO: 13 bizarre sleeping habits of super-successful people

DON'T MISS: 8 ways to make your money work for you

Self-serving bias

Few people believe they're average; most think they're smarter and more ethical than those around them. 

That can lead to feelings of injustice. If somebody else gets a promotion, it's not down to their performance and capacity, it must be something else. Those feelings, and overestimation of other's biases can lead to unethical behavior.  

Source: Muel Kaptein

Conspicuous consumption

Extreme wealth, or environments that reflect it, can lead to unethical behavior. For employees, seeing others receive excessive bonuses or perks may create feelings of injustice and jealousy, which may lead them to unethical behavior.

Research by Kathleen Vohs shows that the mere presence of money makes people more selfish, since they focus on success and individual needs over other factors. 

Source: Muel Kaptein

Obedience to authority

Obedience to authority is ingrained in our culture and workplace. When someone in a position of authority asks an employee to do something unethical or illegal, they can find it difficult to say no. 

It's easier to justify bad behavior, and when people see themselves as an instrument of another's wishes, they feel less responsible. 

Source: Muel Kaptein

The INSIDER Summary:

• Consider investing in a color corrector.
• Apply your concealer to the inner corner of the eye and continue onto the eyelid.

If you wake up every morning with some major smudges underneath your eyes, then you'll be happy to know there are easy and surefire ways to hide your tired bags. There are all sorts of concealer tricks to hide dark circles out there that will turn around even your most exhausted of mornings. No longer will you have to put spoons in the freezer or try to stay still as cucumbers soothe your eyes. After all, who has that kind of time when you're rushing around the house, trying to get out the door on time? Instead, what you need are some easy makeup hacks that will wipe away any tired purple from underneath your eyes.

If you're anything like me, then you and your concealer might have been losing that war for awhile now. If your tired bags persist no matter how much concealer and foundation you glob on, then it might not be the product, but your technique.

To get the low down on what we've been doing wrong, below are 9 tips and tricks from makeup artist experts on how to wipe those sleepy bags away first thing in the morning, letting you step outside of your apartment looking fresh and flawless.

1. Skip The Serums And Miracle Creams

Rather than spending your money on under eye repairing creams, put those dollars towards an excellent concealer instead.

"Often times, dark circles are hereditary. In this case, no amount of Vitamin C serums or heavy night creams are going to completely erase them. They are also sometimes caused by lack of sleep and dehydration. Get your beauty sleep and carry a refillable water bottle with you everywhere instead," Erin Thomas, a MAC makeup artistwith four years experience, shares with Bustle.

2. Create An Under Eye Arsenal That Isn't Just One Product

"If you need an express solution, there are some full coverage concealers on the market that really work wonders for covering dark circles in one step. Some of my favorites are It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye, Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer, and MAC Studio Finish Concealer," Thomas shares. Creaseless concealers are great to make sure the lines underneath your eyes don't get amplified, and the finishing concealer will keep it matte and smooth.

3. Make Sure The Color Is Right

"When trying to hide dark circles, color is the most important thing," Sarah Coffin, a NARS Stylist with nine years of experience, tells Bustle in an email. "There's a common misconception that you should use a concealer that is one to two shades lighter than your skin. This is almost always untrue, and will likely leave your under eye looking grey and tired. Make sure your concealer is a bang on match to your skin."

The way most Americans build wealth is no secret: Save, invest, repeat. How average people keep their wealth, though, gets a lot less attention.

It boils down to how they handle risk. It's hard to accumulate wealth without taking some risks, but there are perils that "next-door millionaires" seem to avoid.

Next-door millionaires weren't born into wealth. They haven't invented killer apps or won the lottery, exercised a pile of stock options or played professional sports.

They're the majority of millionaires, and they include teachers, small business owners and professionals who accumulate wealth gradually over time. They're often in their 50s or 60s before their net worth ticks over to seven digits.

Research into how they think and act can give other regular folks some good insights. Here are some rules of thumb you might consider applying to your own finances.

SEE ALSO: I'm worth $1.5 million, and here's my best advice about getting rich

1. Follow the 'One house, one spouse' rule

Marriage can really benefit your financial life. People who get and stay married tend to be much wealthier than never-married singles, according to research by Jay Zagorsky at Ohio State University. By retirement age, married people have nearly 10 times the financial assets of singles, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

But divorce can dramatically shrink your wealth. Zagorsky found that people who split up experience an average wealth drop of 77 percent. So while the uber-rich may be able to divorce and remarry with relative impunity, dividing assets can be wickedly costly for everyone else.

Sticking with one house can pay off, too. Every time you sell a house and buy another, you're giving up a chunk of your wealth to commissions and moving costs. Trading up also means staying in debt longer if you take on a new, 30-year mortgage with each purchase. If your home has appreciated substantially, you also may owe capital gains taxes on the sale. (The first $250,000 of home sale profit is exempt for singles, or $500,000 for a couple.)

If instead you keep the house and bequeath it to your heirs, it gets an updated value for tax purposes, and that gain is income-tax free. Paying off a single mortgage over time, or refinancing only to shorter-term loans, can leave you with a ton of equity that you can borrow against in an emergency or use to help finance your retirement.

2. Take risks, but don't gamble

"Safe" investments don't get you anywhere. The returns on Treasury bills and bank accounts insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. don't even keep up with inflation, so you're actually losing wealth over time. But next-door millionaires aren't speculators, either. Millionaire portfolios tend to be widely diversified, with investments in stock funds, bonds, cash and real estate.

The most popular investment choice? Low-cost Vanguard index funds, according to the 2014 CNBC Millionaire Survey.

3. Teach your children well

Some people question the value of a college education, but in wealthy families, it's usually a given, says Myra Salzer, an inheritance coach and founder of the Wealth Conservancy in Boulder, Colorado.

Nine out of 10 millionaires surveyed by BMO Private Bank in 2013 had a college degree and over half had a professional or graduate degree. (For comparison, just 36 percent of people ages 25 to 29 had college degrees in 2015 and only 9 percent had graduate degrees, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.)

Eight out of 10 millionaires told the 2014 CNBC Millionaire Survey that wealth inequality was due at least in part to wealthier families' greater access to education. Encouraging your kids to go to college, and helping to pay for it if possible, could help your kids get on the right side of the have versus have not divide.

The world is still full of mysterious and fascinating creatures.

While many of us might think we've seen most of what's alive on this planet — or at least on land — the majority of global species are still unknown and uncategorized.

In 2015 alone, at least 163 new species were discovered in the biodiversity hotspot of the Greater Mekong region, a part of Southeast Asia that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a report released by the World Wildlife Fund today. This biological treasure trove includes a "rainbow-headed snake, a dragon-like lizard, and a newt that looks like a Klingon from Star Trek,"according to the report.

Unfortunately, many of these species are threatened by both the unprecedented pressure for development in the region and by the illegal wildlife trade, one of the largest criminal enterprises on the planet.

With WWF's permission, we've published some of our favorite photos of these strange and recently discovered species here — a glimpse into what we're finding now and the sorts of things that still remain completely undiscovered out there.

SEE ALSO: The most incredible nature photos of 2016

This Phuket Horned Tree Agamid (Acanthosaura phuketensis) looks kind of like a mini-dragon.

This little gekko (Gekko bonkowskii) hides inside remote karst cliffs in Laos.

The crew at the WWF believes this rainbow-headed snake's (Parafimbrios lao) shiny head bears a resemblance to Ziggy Stardust.

Macs and PCs have been locked in an epic battle for many years. 

This holiday season, that battle gets a new front: Microsoft's first-ever desktop PC, the Surface Studio, is going up against Apple's refreshed MacBook Pro line, which sport the new Touch Bar controls.

We put together some of the key differences between Macs and PCs to help you out.

This is an update of articles originally written by Lisa Eadicicco and Kevin Smith.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's Surface Book beats the new MacBook Pro — here's why

Apple prides itself on design...

Apple spends years working on how its products look. The company is all about the details, even the internals of its computers are beautifully constructed. 

... but Microsoft is catching up.

Microsoft's Surface Studio PC (above) is winning a lot of acclaim for its innovative design. And Microsoft's excellent Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book laptop are both pretty easy on the eyes, too. 

Plus, a lot of manufacturers like Dell and Asus have taken their design cues from Microsoft and generally upped their game, releasing Windows laptops and tablets that are at least a little easier on the eyes. 

There are still plenty of ugly Windows PCs out there, depending on the make and model. But finally, some real options are starting to emerge.

Macs are usually more expensive than Windows PCs.

On average, Macs tend to be noticeably more expensive than their Windows PC counterparts, even for comparable specifications. Windows superfans call this the "Apple tax."

Exceptions like the Surface Book or high-end gaming PCs aside, an average Windows laptop costs around $500. For comparison, the lightweight MacBook Air laptop is currently Apple's cheapest, starting at $999.

Meanwhile, you can get a Windows 10 laptop for as cheap as $150, which is a fraction of what you would pay for a Mac. 

We're closing in on the end of 2016, and that means it's rankings time.

Yes, Wall Street banks care a lot about where they stack up against their rivals. They tout where they placed in each business line at the top of their earnings statement, and their ranking appears in just about every pitch book they hand out.

And in the M&A business, there's one clear winner. It's not even close. Goldman Sachs dominated the competition, and is on course to finish 2016 at the top of the volume and fee rankings globally, in the US, in Europe, and in Asia Pacific (ex Japan), according to Dealogic. 

Global M&A stands at $3.69 trillion in the year to December 16, down from the 2015 full year total of $4.66 trillion, but still one of the most active years on record. Goldman Sachs worked on $919.7 billion of deal activity, good for a 25% market share, according to Dealogic. 

The performance is especially striking, as Goldman missed out on the two biggest deals of the year: the $108 billion AT&T deal for Time Warner, and Bayer's $66.3 billion deal for Monsanto. Still, it landed a role on six of the remaining eight biggest deals.

Here are the rankings from Dealogic:

Goldman tops the rankings for global deal volumes, with a 25% market share

Goldman is No.1 in the US

And Europe

The retail industry is on the cusp of a fundamental transformation driven by digital technologies. And as retailers adapt to the digital age, the line between physical and digital commerce is becoming increasingly blurred.

BI Intelligence has created a slide deck exploring the most disruptive trends in e-commerce.  Access the full deck now for free by clicking here.

Some of the topics covered include:

• The size of the retail and e-commerce markets.
• The breakdown of e-commerce sales by product category.
• How legacy retailers are adapting to digital.
• Which e-commerce companies are leading the way.
• What omnichannel strategies retail companies are adopting.
• And much more.

The companies mentioned in this year's presentation include:  Sports Authority, Amazon, Best Buy, Apple, Wayfair, Target, Dollar Shave Club, Instacart, Walmart, CVS, and Sam's Club.

Below are 8 sample slides from the 65-page deck.  Want the full deck? Access it here for FREE >>

Want the full 65-page slide deck?  Access it Here - FREE >>

Want the full 65-page slide deck?  Access it Here - FREE >>

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The best-of-the-best in the US and Russian militaries look eerily similar to each other both in appearance and in tactics.

The US Army Special Forces has some of the smartest and most lethal fighters in the world, which could explain why Russia has increasingly modeled its own Special Forces — or Spetsnaz — off its American counterparts.

Those Russian Special Forces most recently infiltrated and took over Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and they are now operating on the ground in Syria. And according to a US military official who spoke with The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, they are practically indistinguishable on the battlefield.

That's not an accident. According to the Journal, Russia's military chief used a meeting with US Special Operations Command to learn more about how the US operates, in order to more closely mirror his force in Russia. Moscow has also benefited from a framework of understanding signed between the two nations that offered military-to-military exchanges and operational events, orientation at the West Point military academy for Russian cadets, and sharing of ideas among both countries' combined arms academies.

We decided to look at photos of Spetsnaz in action, along with US Special Forces. It's sometimes hard to spot the difference.

SEE ALSO: The elite Russian special forces who took over Crimea are doing the same thing in Aleppo

After US Army soldiers finish their roughly year-long training to become Special Forces-qualified, they don the distinctive green beret for the first time.

Their counterparts in Russia do much the same, though their head gear is crimson. Russia's Spetsnaz unit modeled their competition for the crimson beret from the US, after a former commander read a book by a former US special forces soldier.

Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines

The resemblance between the two nations' special forces don't stop there. This US Special Forces soldier looks pretty similar ...

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Thanks to the rising popularity of online subscription services, you can get almost anything delivered straight to your door.

These services cover everything from clothes to vinyl records to razors — if you think you might need it delivered once a month, chances are that there’s a company ready to accommodate you.

Subscription boxes are great for personal use. They also make fantastic gifts around the holidays.

The phrase "a gift that keeps on giving" is thrown around a lot, but few things better fulfill that promise than subscription boxes. Instead of one moment of surprise after unwrapping something under the tree, you can send someone you love a present that continues to delight when it arrives month after month.

Below, we’ve collected some of our favorite subscription services that'll also make great gifts this season. Take a look and see if any bring someone to mind who you have yet to cross off your shopping list. That person might still be thanking you come June 2017.

Having trouble figuring out what to get people for the holidays? You can check out all of Insider Picks' 2016 gift guides here.

SEE ALSO: 20 tech gifts under $100 for everyone in your life

READ MORE: 12 perfect gifts for the music lover in your life

DON'T MISS: 21 do's and don'ts of holiday shopping

Wine Awesomeness

Wine! Everyone loves a good glass of wine, especially when enveloped in the strange combination of stress and joy that is the holiday season. But as you probably know, wine is also great year round, and Wine Awesomeness is just the company to help you give the gift of drinking all through 2017.

For $45 a month, Wine Awesomeness will send three curated bottles of wine the doorstep of you or your friend, giving you the chance to try new bottles from new parts of the world while never leaving the comfort of your own home. You also have the option to gift just one box to a friend, if you think three bottles a month might be a bit too much to throw at them.

The perfect gift for:Anyone who enjoys trying out new wines and wants to diversify their palete

What it costs: $45/box

Best way to give: You can gift someone a subscription or just a single box.

Learn more here

Vinebox

If three bottles a month is a bit too much for the friend you have in mind (trust me, it is a good amount of wine), Vinebox is a similar service that delivers wine to your door monthly, but by the glass rather than the bottle. It’s a great way to expand your palate to a bunch of new wines, without committing to finishing a bottle when you only feel like a sip.

The perfect gift for:Anyone who wants to diversify their wine palete without committing to whole bottles

What it costs: $27/month

Best way to gift: You can gift a subscription of three, six, or 12 boxes.

Learn more here

Book of the Month

Exactly what it sounds like, Book of the Month is a great subscription for your bookish friends and family members who are always looking for something new to read. After becoming a member, they'll get to select between five books chosen by acclaimed literary judges on the site each month and get that hardcover delivered to their door. After that, they can choose to participate in ongoing conversations held on the site, or simply read in peace and wait for next month's selections. 

The perfect gift for: Anyone who never leaves home without a book

What it costs: $15/month

Best way to give:You can gift a subscription of three, six, or 12 months worth of membership.

Learn more here

On Sunday, the San Antonio Spurs officially ended an era by retiring Tim Duncan's No. 21 jersey.

Duncan, who retired in July, was the last player remaining from the 1997 draft class, and easily the best, as he'll go down as one of the best big men to play the game.

But what happened to the rest of the 1997 class? 

It was a solid draft that produced several All-Stars, a few renowned role players, and, of course, a few busts.

Check out where they are today.

The Spurs took Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick, setting up a 19-year run of dominance.

Duncan retired after 19 years and five championships with the Spurs, going down as one of the best players in NBA history.

The 76ers took Keith Van Horn with the second overall pick.