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An insane-looking new PlayStation 4 game pits a tiny hero against massive beasts

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When the original "Shadow of the Colossus" launched on the PlayStation 2 back in 2005, it became a near-instant cult classic. It's easy to understand why: It's a game about conquering huge monsters, and nothing else.

In 2017, "Shadow of the Colossus" is back — a "rebuilt" version of the original game, with gorgeous new graphics.

Shadow of the Colossus (PlayStation 4)

The unique, gorgeous game is expected to launch in 2018 on the PlayStation 4, but Sony offered an early look recently. Here's what we know!

SEE ALSO: The new 'Assassin's Creed' looks like the series' best entry in years

"Shadow of the Colossus" is a straightforward game with a surprisingly nuanced story.



You're a man with a sword and a horse.



And you're in a massive open world, empty of other people but rife with the ruins of a civilization.



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The best type of sunglasses for every face shape — and how to figure out which one you are

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BI Graphics_Best sunglasses for your face shape 4x3

Everyone wants a pair of sunglasses they'll look cool in — but not everyone knows how to go about buying one.

There's lots of confusing information out there about face shapes and frames. We took the six most common face shapes and gave our professional recommendation for each one. 

Most faces will fit one of these shapes, so figuring out which one is most like yours should be easy with the help of this graphic.

SEE ALSO: 17 things every guy needs in his closet for summer







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These are the most powerful puppies in tech

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Mark Zuckerberg dog beast

With company cultures that celebrate—and even encourage—employees bringing their dogs to work, it's no wonder that many of tech's biggest players are also parents to the cutest creatures known to man. 

From Google to Salesforce, dogs have taken over the hearts and Instagrams of the industry's most powerful leaders. Sure these people are setting the agenda for global business and politics, but even billionaires need a little TLC (tender loving cuddles). 

And did we mention these dogs are darn cute? Here's a round up of some of the tech industry's most powerful dogs.

SEE ALSO: HubSpot is going to give one lucky person $100,000 to start his or her dream business

This is Beast, Mark Zuckerberg's excessively woolly Puli

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan adopted Beast in 2010. Their daughter Max, who was born in 2015, has grown quite attached to the pup.



This is Teddy, step-dog to Evan Spiegel, the co-founder of Snapchat.

When Spiegel married model Miranda Kerr, he became stepdad to her son — and to her cuddly pup, Teddy. Spiegel is rarely seen in public with the dog, but it's rumored that Teddy made an appearance in Spiegel's L'Uomo Vogue photo shoot. You be the judge.



If you follow Lyft's former chief marketing officer on Instagram, then you know her dog well

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Kira Wampler, the CEO of Art.com and former CMO of Lyft, keeps her followers up-to-date on her dog's hilarious sleeping positions. You can't say Wampler doesn't know art when she sees it.



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A German grocery chain that's invading America is already dominating Walmart on prices — here's why it's so cheap

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Lidl   6 of 71

The European grocery chain Lidl has arrived in the US and bargain hunters should be excited.

A recent price check on a basket of 20 items by Jefferies analysts found that Lidl was about 9% cheaper than Walmart, the largest grocer in the US. Lidl claims to offer products for as much as 50% less than rival stores. 

So far, Lidl has opened 10 stores along the East Coast and plans to open 80 by the middle of next year. 

Lidl has already upended the grocery-store market in the UK, sending some of the largest supermarket chains into vicious price wars. Analysts are now expecting it to do the same in the US. 

How does the grocery chain manage to keep prices so low?

SEE ALSO: A German grocery chain with the power to crush Whole Foods and Trader Joe's has officially invaded America — here's what it's like

1. Most of its products are private-label brands

Around 90% of the products in Lidl stores are private label brands. These are products manufactured specifically for Lidl. 

The benefits of selling these brands are two-fold. Lidl cuts out the middleman, which eliminates any additional costs from a supplier. The company also has greater control over manufacturing costs and can set its own prices. In turn, this means that products can be sold for higher margins than national brands as the initial costs are much lower. 

 

 



2. It has a limited selection of products

"There is a lot of volume through a limited number of items," retail analyst Scott Mushkin of Wolfe Research told Business Insider. For instance, according to Mushkin, the store might only stock two types of mustard: its own brand and a national brand. This limited variety gives Lidl more buying power with its suppliers as it is ordering larger quantities of fewer products. 

Doug Koontz, head of content at research firm Planet Retail RNG, told Business Insider that Lidl has around 2,000 different products in its store. This is considerably less than the 20,000 unique products stocked at equivalent grocery stores or the 60,000 unique products typically stocked at a supercenter, he said.

 



3. It stocks "fast-moving items"

Lidl favors everyday items that shoppers buy often, Mike Puglia, director of retail insights firm Kantar Retail, told Business Insider. 

"The assortment is limited to the fastest moving items, which drives gross profit dollars," he said. "Higher velocity items mean less money tied up in inventory."

In a visit to one of the new stores, Puglia noticed that the focus was on everyday items such as cereal, juice, and produce, rather than niche or specific products. 

 



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This $70 Moto phone is the best ultra-affordable smartphone you can buy

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Moto E4

The beautiful thing about smartphones becoming ubiquitous is that smartphone quality has become democratized.

As the highest-end phones improve, the standard set for everything beneath them rises. And as smartphones in general become increasingly commodified, the line between “the best” and “good enough” shrinks.

It all keeps trickling down and blurring together until we hit the point where the many people who don’t obsess over specs and display bezels can now pay less to get a phone that’s not a trash fire.

Which brings us to the Moto E4. The latest ultra-budget phone from Lenovo-owned Motorola goes for $130 unlocked, but can be had for as low as $70 with a Verizon prepaid plan (which start at $40 a month). That is very affordable! And it makes what would be another ho-hum Android device into a wonderful value.

 

SEE ALSO: Sony made an $800 phone with extravagant features you won't find in any iPhone or Galaxy phone — here's what it's like

To be clear, this is still very much a budget phone. Many of the the Moto E4's features can't hold a candle to what you'd get with a pricier device. To give you an idea:

• Its 5-inch, 720p display isn’t as sharp as that of an iPhone or those of most top Android phones. That’s manageable, though. The bigger issue is that its colors aren’t totally accurate. Black tones aren’t very deep, white tones have a slightly reddish hue to them, and everything in between is a tad dull.

• Its Snapdragon 425 chip and 2 GB of RAM can, at times, make the E4 feel underpowered. Compared to a good mid-range phone like Moto’s own G5 Plus, it takes a few seconds longer for apps to load, and webpages with bad ads take more of a toll. It’s not uncommon to see little stutters when Chrome suggests a URL, for instance. And graphics-heavy games like “Lara Croft Go” make the whole thing chug.

• Its camera is decidedly mediocre. It’s the usual deal: If the sun is out and everything is well-lit, it’s possible to take some Facebook-ready shots with decent colors and little noise. But even then it can struggle. 

Sometimes the pictures will come out overexposed, with the camera blowing out what light is there. Other times they'll come out blurry, since the camera lacks optical image stabilization. And if you use the camera in darker settings, the resulting pictures will typically be overly grainy, with lacking details and muted colors. You can see some sample photos below.



And there are other little annoyances beyond that.

• The Moto E4 only includes 16 GB of storage. And on my Verizon-issued model, only about 10 GB are usable out of the box. That's just too little. Thankfully, you can pop in a microSD card if and when you need more space.

• It uses a microUSB port, which is slower at both charging the phone and transferring data than a newer USB-C port would be.

• Motorola hasn’t been especially fast about issuing Android software updates since being acquired by Lenovo, so there’s reason to doubt it will be speedy here. My test unit was also a month behind on Google’s monthly security patches; it’s not alone in that, but it puts the phone at risk either way.

• The speakers are weak.



It should be no shock to hear that a cheap phone has compromises, though. This isn’t a device for people who are passionate about smartphones; it’s for middle schoolers, bargain hunters, my mother, or anyone who just can’t afford to drop hundreds on something swanky. For that, the Moto E4 is beyond competent:

• The display, while not the most accurate, can get impressively bright, and doesn’t totally wash out text when viewed from the side.

• The textured plastic back doesn’t feel expensive, but it’s tightly fused together. The device is supremely lightweight (150 g), and the relatively small 5-inch screen means it’s not impossible to use with one hand.

• There’s a fingerprint scanner. It’s a bit too sensitive to accidental presses, but the fact that it’s there and functional is a bonus for something this affordable.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

19 photos show what life is like in the world's most crowded cities

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dhaka

Urbanization is taking over the world.

By the year 2050, 70% of the world will live in cities, according to the Population Reference Bureau.

One of the most striking ways to see this growth is through the lens of population density, or the way statisticians measure congestion.

The densest cities grapple with unique challenges. They fight for resources, like housing and personal space, and they put infrastructure to the test.

Here's just a taste of what life is like.

SEE ALSO: Manila is the most crowded city in the world — here’s what life is like

This is New York City, the densest city in the US. One square mile contains more than 27,000 people. Claustrophobic as it may seem, it barely stacks up against the world's most crowded cities.

Source: NYC Population



Consider Manila. With a population density of 107,000 people per square mile, it's the most crowded city in the world.



Manila's fertility rate is 3.1 children per woman. Experts predict the population will double by 2025, despite fears the city's infrastructure can't sustain the boom.

Source: World Population Review



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How the electric car became the future of transportation

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Tesla Model X

The potential of electric cars is greater now than ever before.

Traditional automakers including General Motors, Volkswagen, Daimler AG, and others are all investing heavily in electric vehicles. And Tesla, of course, has built an entire business on battery-powered cars.

But electric automobiles are nothing new. They actually have a rich history in the US and, at one point, were even the dominant type of car.

Here's a look at how battery-powered cars evolved over time.

SEE ALSO: How Tesla emerged from the brink of bankruptcy to become America's coolest car company

The electric car burst onto the scene in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 1899 and 1900, electric vehicles outsold all other types of cars. In fact, 28 percent of all 4,192 cars produced in the US in 1900 were electric, according to the American Census. And the total value of electric cars sold was more than gasoline and steam powered cars combined that year. 

 



It even had key advantages over gasoline- and steam-powered cars in the early 1900s. Yes, that's right — cars once ran on steam.

While the early electric cars were basically horseless carriages powered by batteries, they did have some perks.

For one, they didn’t have the smell, noise, or vibration that steam or gasoline cars had. The were also a lot easier to operate. Gasoline cars had to be manually cranked to start, and the vehicles required the driver to change gears while driving, which was very difficult.

Steam-powered cars didn’t require manual gear shifting, but they could take a while to start and had less range than electric cars.



But by 1935, electric cars were no longer popular. The internal-combustion engine had won and would rule the automotive world for decades.

While electric car makers experienced some success into the 1920s, production peaked in 1912.

By this time, Henry Ford’s mass production of internal-combustion engines made gas-powered cars significantly cheaper than electric cars. For example, in 1912 an electric roadster priced at about $1,750, whereas a gas-powered car cost only $650.

Next-generation gasoline cars also packed a number of improvements, including an electric starter, that made them a lot easier to operate. By 1935, electric cars were sparse. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This is the car that will lead Ferrari into the future — here's what it was like to drive (RACE)

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Ferrari Race 2015

A couple of years back, my son, James, and I drove up to Watkins Glen International, a storied racetrack, to watch a Ferrari race. We did not, however, make the drive in a Ferrari.

In 2015, Ferrari kindly lent us a California T, the company's "entry-level" car — its base price is $198,000 — to make a return visit. The Cali T is an important vehicle for the prancing stallion now that it's a public company and needs to grow beyond its traditional 7,000-cars-per-year in sales.

At the New York Stock Exchange when Ferrari, ticker symbol RACE, began trading, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO and Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne said that many of the 9,000 cars the Italian sports car maker plans to sell in 2019 will be Cali Ts.

Thus far, since Ferrari's 2015 IPO, the spun-off exotics automaker has performed admirably; shares are up al ost 60% since then — and more than 100% over the past 12 months, making Ferrari the best investment in the auto sector of late (better even than Tesla). 

The first time James and I went up to the Glen, we watched a Ferrari Challenge race, where amateurs and pros are on the track at the same time, exclusively in Ferraris. In 2015, we attended the Six Hours of the Glen, an endurance race featuring teams from a variety of automakers — Porches, BMW, Aston Martin, Mazda, Corvette — alongside Ferraris.

It was an interesting weekend with a long drive in a cool car and a race that was heavily affected by the weather. Mixed in was a jaunt around the original Watkins Glen road course, where after World War II racers battled it out and before the now famous raceway was built.

We had a lot of fun — check it out.

A few years back, James and I checked out a race series organized by Ferrari and featuring teams running only Ferrari cars.



James had a blast ...



... because for a (then) 8-year-old what's cooler than Ferraris? (He's 11 now.)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The 10 most expensive beach towns in the US — where you have to be a millionaire to buy a home

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manhattan beach california

Beach season is upon us. If you're in the market for an affordable summer home within spitting distance of the ocean spray, there are some under-the-radar places across the US where you can nab a beach house for less than $250,000

In other places, you'd better be a millionaire or billionaire if you want to get a showing.

In ritzy summer vacation spots like the Hamptons, Malibu, or Nantucket, for instance, the median price for property currently exceeds $3 million, according to a report from Realtor.com. 

Realtor.com dug through its database to find the most expensive beachfront locales in America. It limited its scope to beach cities with populations between 1,000 to 100,000 and that had at least 30 properties on the market. And to ensure some geographic diversity, Realtor.com capped its list to two towns per state separated by at least 30 miles. 

In Malibu, the most expensive beach town in the US, one neighborhood along the surf has earned the moniker "Billionaire's Beach." Music mogul David Geffen reportedly sold his home there last year for $85 million.

Read on for the rest of the 10 most expensive beach towns to buy a home — each of which has a median home price over $1.4 million.

SEE ALSO: The salary you need to earn to buy a home right now in 19 of the most expensive housing markets in America

DON'T MISS: The 10 most affordable places to buy a beach home in the US

10. Anna Maria, Florida

Population: 1,626

Median home price: $1.4 million



9. Avalon, New Jersey

Population: 1,297

Median home price: $1.46 million



8. Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (Martha's Vineyard)

Population:2,114

Median home price: $1.5 million



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The 12 major US cities with the best public transportation

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 new york subway crowdedNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared Thursday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the New Jersey Transit, Long Island Rail Road, and the NYC subways, was in a "state of emergency." NYC's transit is long over-due repairs and suffers from over-crowding due to the city's ever-growing population.

But are the city's subways and buses really that horrendous compared to other cities? 

Two nonprofit research institutes, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and TransitCenter Center for Neighborhood Technology, designed an objective "transit score" to answer just that.

The institutes created a metric called the AllTransit Performance Score for subways, light rails, bike shares, and buses in US cities and towns. Using open data from 7,236 cities, researchers looked at factors like affordability, access to jobs, frequency of service, quality, and number of stops. The goal is to encourage policymakers to improve public transportation.

The researchers compiled an ultimate ranking of public transportation in all of these cities and towns. On the site, you can filter by zip code and population.

Here are the top cities with at least 250,000 residents.

SEE ALSO: This mesmerizing map shows the world's cars, buses, and subways moving in real-time

12. St. Louis, Missouri

There are 232,106 jobs located within a half-mile of transit in St. Louis.



11. Miami, Florida

Over 176,592 of Miami residents (99% of all commuters) live within a half-mile of public transit.



10. Seattle, Washington

Seattle has over 420,000 jobs accessible with a commute of less than 30 minutes.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

10 books to read if you want to get rich

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reading bookstoreBillionaire Warren Buffet spends 80 percent of his day reading. Bill Gates reads 50 books a year, which is about a book every week. When Elon Musk is asked how he learned to build rockets, he says, "I read books."

There is no denying that successful entrepreneurs read books.

From real estate investing to how the largest wealth managers impact the global market, this list of books deals with all the most prominent aspects of finance and investing, which are extremely beneficial for entrepreneurs (and anyone else, really) to master.

Whether you are an expert in this field already, or if you're interested in educating yourself regarding investing and wealth building, these ten books are a great addition to your must-read list.

SEE ALSO: HEDGE FUND READING LIST: Hundreds of investors say these 10 finance books are must-reads

DON'T MISS: The 15 best business books to read this summer

1. "Capital without Borders: Wealth Managers and the One Percent" by Brooke Harrington

An associate professor of economic sociology in Copenhagen, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington is a prolific writer. Her articles on sociology, finance and economy are constantly featured by popular magazines such as The Guardian, and she spent her fifteen years researching the gray eminences that pull the strings of the global market.

In her latest book, "Capital without Borders: Wealth Managers and the One Percent," Harrington digs deep in the secret techniques used by the word's elites to manipulate governments worldwide to free themselves from taxation. Her clever analysis focuses on the real actors of this global play and includes 65 interviews with practitioners in 18 countries.



2. "How to Flip Houses With Little or No Money" by Cody Sperber

Cody Sperber is the founder and CEO of Clever Investor LLC, a source of real estate investing education. A Navy veteran and real estate expert, Sperber has flipped more than 1,000 properties as a real estate investor. With the most-followed real estate account on Instagram, he has amassed nearly 1 million social media followers.

Sperber's latest book, "How to Flip Houses With Little or No Money," will help you understand the fundamentals of successful house flipping, with limited funds.



3. "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness" by Dave Ramsey

Dave Ramsey is one of the most popular American radio hosts. On The Dave Ramsey Show, which runs on more than 500 radio stations across the United States and Canada, Ramsey chats with callers about finance, economics and how to reduce one's debt.

He is the author of five New York Times-bestselling books and has been featured on shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes. In his book, "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness," Ramsey explains how to master your personal and household finances.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This company makes the perfect summer shoes, and you never have to break them in

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The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

download 2Summer usually means I spend 75% of my time knocking around the city in Chuck Taylor converse. They're easy to get, are completely ubiquitous and unoffensive to almost any outfit, and they mean I can transition from walking 40 blocks in the heat to happy hour drinks with friends easier than flats allow. 

However, even given their long-held spot as my summer MVPs, the extremely comfortable and stylish Soludos smoking slippers might unseat them from that #1 pick.

My first interaction with them was surprise — though incredibly lightweight and breathable, they didn't feel flimsy. I'm sure by nature of their canvas-like construction that they'll show wear and tear, but for $75 that's not a lot to replace a pair of shoes I wear at least twice a week.

Speaking of breathability, I never really thought about how much I minded being stuck in hot cotton socks in 80 degree weather until I experienced that situation in heavy New York City humidity in my Soludos. Squinting into the sun trying to figure out after four hours of walking where to take my visiting friends next could have felt more cloying and gross than it did, and I was incredibly thankful for shoes that mean your feet can breath, especially since so much heat escapes (or becomes trapped) from extremities like your feet and head. 

The Lemon Embroidered Platform Smoking Slipper that I have features a cute and somewhat quirky design like most of the Soludos slippers do, combining a minimalist shoe with playful embroidery and addictively breathable, soft material. I've started opting for them simply because they tend to dress up everything I wear without any comfort lost.

If I manage to work this pair down to threadbare platforms, I can pretty much guarantee I'll be buying myself a couple more just to get through the warmer months. Given how much I use them, I'll pay back what I spent in the first month I have them.

Two other Insider Picks members tried out the surprisingly great Soludos smoking slippers, and you can find their specific thoughts on each of their respective picks below. 

DON'T MISS: This is one of the most versatile and stylish weekend bags I’ve ever used

Mara Leighton, commerce reporter: Lemon Embroidered Platform Smoking Slipper, $75

The Lemon Embroidered Platform Smoking Slipper that I have features a cute and somewhat quirky design like most of the Soludos slippers do, combining a minimalist shoe with playful embroidery and addictively breathable, soft material. I've started opting for them simply because they tend to dress up everything I wear without any comfort lost.

If I manage to work this pair down to threadbare platforms, I can pretty much guarantee I'll be buying myself a couple more just to get through the warmer months. Given how much I use them, I'll pay back what I spent in the first month I have them.

Women's Lemon Embroidered Platform Smoking Slipper, $75



Ellen Hoffman, commerce editor: Leather Zebra Jute Platform Smoking Slipper, $75

There are few pairs of shoes that have impressed me as much as Soludos' espadrilles right off the bat. They're amazingly comfortable — my pair had no break-in period at all (the first time I wore them I was heading to the airport, which could have been a terrible choice, but worked out so much better than I ever expected) — and lightweight enough that you'll want to wear them all summer.

Soludos also has so many fun designs that you’ll probably have trouble deciding on just one pair. I went with the Leather Zebra Jute Platform Smoking Slipper; since it’s a neutral color with a simple pattern, it goes with a wide variety of looks, from jeans to shorts to sundresses.

My pair is on sale right now, and I’m seriously debating whether to buy a second pair so I have it on hand when I eventually need to replace my current one.

Women's Leather Zebra Jute Platform Smoking Slipper, $75



Brandt Ranj, associate commerce editor: Anchor Embroidered Smoking Slipper, $65

I’ve disliked laced shoes since childhood and find every opportunity I can to wear adult-appropriate slip-ons. Soludos’ smoking slippers have a slightly casual look, but they’re well constructed and didn’t look out of place the dozen or so times I’ve worn them to the office. They may be called slippers, but they’re more like canvas boat shoes, and I plan on wearing them during a majority of the weekends I spend outdoors this summer.

Men's Anchor Embroidered Smoking Slipper, $65



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How the 'perfect body' for men went from chubby to skinny to muscular over the last 150 years

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perfect male hero pose

Our concept of "the perfect body" is constantly changing. 

Factors like the physical requirements of jobs, availability of food, and cultural trends have influenced our perceptions of humans' physical form. And in the future, journeys into space or the merging of humans with machines might change what we think of as ideal.

Artist Nickolay Lamm has done a significant amount of work on how understandings of an "ideal" female body differ from reality. He wanted to take a look at how Americans' standards for the ideal male body have changed over time as well, so he started collecting photos that depicted that body from the 1870s to today. Then he created models to show how that shape changed over time.

These generalizations don't represent everyone's preferences, of course. And this particular project was focused on body shape and didn't take into account other physical characteristics like skin tone, facial features, or hair color. But these illustrations help show how what we think of as the "ideal male" has changed significantly over the past 150 years.

SEE ALSO: 17 things that people driven to take extreme risks have in common

1870s: In the late 19th century, being overweight was a sign of wealth, since it suggested one had the means to feast.



This photo shows the members of a "Fat Man's Club" in Connecticut in 1894. The club was founded in 1866, and members had to weigh at least 200 pounds. The idea became popular and spread across the US.



1930s: By this time, excess weight started to get associated with lower classes. Hollywood actors — who had to be fairly fit to look good on camera — started to represent a new ideal.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The strange and ingenious evolution of JAY-Z's approach to selling albums

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jay z

"I'm not a businessman. I'm a business, man."

When JAY-Z made that famous boast on a Kanye West song in 2005, he was in the midst of his "retirement" from rapping and had shifted his focus to the strictly corporate side of music and popular culture.

In his three-year hiatus from music after the release of 2003's "The Black Album," JAY-Z had become the CEO and president of Def Jam Recordings. He had also expanded on the entrepreneurial projects — including his clothing line, Rocawear, and several other ventures — that would go on to make him one of the wealthiest artists in the music industry today.

Jay's experimentation in the business world would soon carry over into his evolving, risk-taking approach to the business of selling albums.

After the traditional release of his commercially successful 2006 comeback album, "Kingdom Come," Jay flipped the script for his 2007 LP "American Gangster" by keeping the album off of the iTunes store

The move foreshadowed more radical album-release strategies to come from the rap mogul — many of which have focused on exclusivity and increasing profit, both in partnerships with various companies and through his streaming service, Tidal, as we will explore.

Jay's 13th studio album, "4:44," is out Friday as a Tidal and Sprint exclusive. 

SEE ALSO: The 25 best songs of 2017 so far, ranked

2007: Removing "American Gangster" from iTunes

JAY-Z's decision to keep his 2007 album based on the Denzel Washington film "American Gangster" off of the iTunes store was founded in his distaste for single track sales diluting the importance of the album format in the digital era.

"As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles," Jay explained in 2007

Of course, keeping the album off of iTunes also meant that the artist didn't have to pay Apple 30% of the album's sales. The album went on to become his tenth No. 1 album and has sold over a million copies



2011: Staggering the digital and physical releases of "Watch The Throne"

JAY-Z's collaborative album with Kanye West, "Watch The Throne," became the first major album of the internet age to completely avoid leaking before its release date, thanks to the duo's innovative, industry-shifting release strategy. 

Jay and Kanye staggered the digital and physical releases of "Watch The Throne" by a week and made iTunes the first, exclusive purveyor of the LP to ensure that the album wouldn't leak from CD manufacturers.

The strategy instantly became the standard mode of operation for labels to prevent leaks of their high-profile albums. Frank Ocean's 2012 album "Channel Orange" adopted the same staggered release, for instance. 

 



2013: Giving a million free copies of "Magna Carta Holy Grail" to Samsung users

As part of a $20 million deal between Samsung and JAY-Z's Roc Nation label in 2013, Samsung users were able to claim a million free copies of Jay's album "Magna Carta Holy Grail" through an app, three days before the album saw its wide release. 

The exclusive, Samsung-bought copies did not end up counting toward the album's first week sales total due to Billboard's existing rules on the matter. 

JAY-Z took to Twitter to joke about the sales discrepancy upon the album's release, writing, "If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesn't report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules#magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII."

Nonetheless, "Magna Carta" went on to become Jay's 13th consecutive No. 1 album, and it is currently certified double platinum by RIAA. 



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The most insidious type of cheating isn't physical — here are 9 signs your partner could be guilty

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An "emotional affair" is hard to define — it can be tricky to know if you're having one, and perhaps even trickier to figure out if your partner is.

That said, there are a few red flags to look out for if you suspect that your partner has romantic feelings for someone else, even if they haven't acted on them physically. In her 2012 book, "Chatting or Cheating," licensed marriage and family therapist Sheri Meyers outlines some key indicators that your partner might be involved in an emotional affair.

Below, Business Insider has rounded up nine of those warning signs. Remember: Just because you recognize some of these behaviors in your partner doesn't necessarily mean they've been unfaithful.

But if you're really starting to get worried, it's a good idea to articulate your concerns to your partner and give them a chance to explain themselves.

SEE ALSO: The most insidious type of cheating isn't physical — here are 8 signs it could be happening to you

Your partner is spending more time on the computer and/or phone

A sudden strong attachment to digital devices could be a red flag.

Meyers writes: "Your partner may 'stiffen' when you enter the room, or put the phone away suddenly. They may have increased activity or text messaging but are more difficult to get  ahold of when out of the house."



Your partner wants more space and time to themselves

If your partner really is having an emotional affair, they may try to distance themselves from you.

"They want to do their own thing more often and become indifferent to doing things together and offer excuses about not planning or committing to future trips, vacations, and family visits," Meyers writes.



When you argue, your partner's fallback position is about your relationship ending

During conflicts, your partner may say something like, "What would you do if our relationship ended?" or perhaps something even more alarming like, "If anything ever happened to us, I would always love you like a friend."

"In general," Meyers writes, "they seem overtly negative about your relationship," as opposed to interested in trying to repair it.



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A look inside the daily life of Oracle's billionaire founder Larry Ellison, who owns almost an entire island and will do whatever it takes to win

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Larry Ellison kissing trophy sailing Oracle

Larry Ellison likes to win — and he's good at it.

According to Forbes, the tech mogul recently got $5 billion richer over the course of just two days.

Ellison came from a poor background and dropped out of college twice. In what proved to be a true "rags to riches" story, the billionaire cofounded software company Oracle in 1977 and acquired a reputation as Silicon Valley's bad boy in the ensuing decades.

But what does Ellison — whom Forbes estimated is worth $61.5 billion— get up to every day since stepping down as Oracle's CEO in 2014? Make no mistake, the tech mogul isn't retired — he's still the company's chief technology officer and chairman.

Here's a look at the daily life of Oracle founder Larry Ellison:

SEE ALSO: Vladimir Putin's hard-core daily routine includes hours of swimming, late nights, and no alcohol

DON'T MISS: A look at the demanding schedule of Elon Musk, who works in 5-minute slots, skips breakfast, and largely avoids emails

The 72-year-old billionaire is no stranger to controversy. Ellison acquired a reputation for hyper-competitive behavior when he ran Oracle.

Sources: Business Insider, Complex



This included hiring investigators to search through garbage from the office of his rival, Bill Gates.

Sources: Business Insider, Complex



"It's absolutely true we set out to expose Microsoft's covert activities… I feel very good about what we did … Maybe our investigation organization may have done things unsavory, but it's not illegal. We got the truth out," Ellison said.

Sources: Business Insider, Complex



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America is hooked on credit cards — and it's pretty clear why (JPM, TSYS)

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Americans have racked up $1.01 trillion in revolving debt — primarily credit card debt — according to the Federal Reserve. That's the highest tally since the financial crisis in 2008. 

The credit card is now the preferred method of payment among Americans, edging out debit cards and cash, according to the 2016 US Payment Study by payment processing company Total Systems Services, or TSYS.

It's the first time credit cards claimed the top spot in the six years TSYS has been conducting the study, which surveys 1,000 consumers who hold at least one debt card and one credit card (you can read more about their methodology on page four of the study).

Why have credit cards grown more popular? The study offers some insights as to why: 

Forty percent of respondents from the TSYS study picked credit cards as their favorite form of payment, followed by debit cards (35%), and cash (11%). Credit cards have been gaining on debit cards for several years now.



TSYS found that credit cards aren't universally loved, currying the most favor from older millennials.



Credit card love also skewed toward high-income households. The more money a household earns, the more they prefer credit cards.



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The 15 best '80s songs from Netflix's new show 'GLOW'

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With its authentic look at all things 1980s, the new Netflix series "GLOW" has become our latest binge obsession. And then there's its incredible soundtrack.

Following the creation of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion, which really became a hit TV show in the late 1980s, the Netflix comedy starring Alison Brie and breakout star Betty Glipin pays homage to the era with loud outfits, teased hair, and some of the best music of the era.

Here we highlight the 15 best songs from the show:

Warning: Minor spoilers revealed if you haven't seen the entire first season.

SEE ALSO: The biggest hit song of the year you were born

1. "The Warrior" by Patty Smyth

The first episode of the show kicks off with this classic anthem.

Listen to the song.



2. "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey

When Debbie (Egan) finally learns that Ruth (Brie) has been sleeping with her husband, Mark (Rich Sommer), she confronts her at the wrestling gym. With both ladies in the ring, G.L.O.W. director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) has a vision of what could be. Cue this classic Journey song.

Listen to the song.



3. "Stir It Up" by Patti LaBelle

The song in the first episode's end credits is a track best known for being on the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack, which, at the time the show is set in, would have been a huge hit on the radio.

Listen to the song.



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12 signs your coworkers don't respect you

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Disrespect can manifest itself in all sorts of ways in the office.

It can be obvious or dangerously subtle. It can stem from the organizational culture, or just some bad eggs in the workplace. You can bring it upon yourself with unprofessional behavior, or be subjected to it due to no fault of your own.

No matter what, it's important to recognize these tell-tale signs of disrespect if and when they crop up. If your coworkers are disrespecting you, you're going to have to recognize it before you stop it.

SEE ALSO: 17 signs your coworkers secretly hate you

DON'T MISS: 27 unprofessional habits that make everyone at work hate you

You're the subject of gossip

Okay, gossip is a part of pretty much every office. That's just life.

However, if you're constantly getting grinded through the workplace rumor mill, that's an issue. Whether your colleagues are talking about your personal or professional life, it's a sign that you're not getting the respect you deserve.



You're ignored

This is a sneaky form of disrespect. Things seem fine with your coworkers, but you feel like you're just not being heard. No one listens to your pitches at meetings. Your office-wide emails go unread. Your concerns are brushed off at the water cooler.

J.T. O'Donnell wrote on LinkedIn that this "cold shoulder technique" could indicate that you don't "add perceived value to the conversation" or you "make the conversation awkward, uncomfortable, or depressing."

Whether you actually need to change or you're just dealing with rude coworkers, it's important not to kid yourself. People who don't listen to you don't take you seriously.



Your ideas are stolen

There's nothing more frustrating than having a colleague take credit for your work or steal your great idea. Sometimes, in a fast-paced workplace, this can happen without an malicious underlying motives. However, if this becomes a pattern, it's a key sign that you're being disrespected in the workplace.

Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Amy Gallo advises that people seek outside help to remedy the situation: "It can be uncomfortable to toot your own horn, so find a third person who understands your contributions and can speak on your behalf in a meeting or when the project comes up in conversation."

Standing up for yourself is the only way to fight back against this particular form of disrespect.



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13 energy-efficient home upgrades that pay for themselves over time

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There are very good reasons why our collective consciousness has turned to being more energy-savvy.

Energy costs are an expensive necessity that only seem to be getting pricier, and most of the population has come around to the fact that decades of burning fossil fuels has negatively impacted the environment, making weather more volatile and endangering our future as humans living on this planet.

Whether it’s the here and now of a high energy bill or the daunting concerns of tomorrow, millions of people are turning their attention to decreasing their own footprint.

One of the best ways to do this is by swapping some of the energy-suckers in your house for more efficient options. You don’t have to throw yourself into the Dark Ages and rely on candles or the light coming off a burning woodpile to survive (save that for later); you can enjoy all the regular things you love but at a fraction of the energy footprint, and it’s cheaper than you’d think.

If you want to take a look at the energy used by each appliance in your house, there’s a free calculator online here.

Something as ubiquitous as lighting makes up about 10% of home energy costs, so if you replace all those standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents, you can save up to 75% of that energy — keeping more money in your pocket without forgoing anything you need or skipping a beat.

Some of the efficiency fixes are simple: turn off the lights if you’re not in the room, insulate your windows, wash the dishes by hand if you can, don’t do a load of laundry for a pair of socks, and unplug your devices when you’re not using them (they're likely still using a substantial amount of energy). Some fixes like smart thermostats are more expensive upfront but make up for that by how much they save both you and the planet in the long run.

Below are 13 things that might help you cut down on your energy footprint, making your bill and environmental impact smaller without losing any convenience.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best purchases I've made to save space in my small apartment

An energy-saving power switch

This energy-saving power switch draws zero energy when the switch is flipped off. Plus, it declutters the kitchen from the wandering cords of unplugged devices. 

Belkin Conserve Energy Saving Power Switch, $9.95

 



An LED night light

Lunara is UL approved and rated to last 40,000 hours. So, according to Lunara, if you use the night light for 10 hours a day, it'll last more than 10 years.

LEDs are around 10x more energy-efficient than typical incandescent lights, so the company estimates the cost of the Lunara at $0.25 to operate.

Lunara LED Night Light with Smart Light Sensor, Pack of 2, $14.99



Bright, energy-efficient light bulbs

These Philips' light bulbs are bright and energy-saving alternatives to traditional 100W incandescent bulbs that use more energy. The company estimates you'll save $336 in energy costs. The bulb should last a little over nine years (based on three hours per day on).

These GE 13-Watt bulbs are also a great option.

Philips 433557 23W 100-watt T2 Twister 6500K CFL Light Bulb, Pack of 4, $9.94

 



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