Last week I visited London and brought a Lytro camera to document the experience.

Lytro is a "light field" camera that promises to let users shoot now and focus later. The technology is so innovative, Steve Jobs met with Lytro's founder before he died. He wanted to use it in iPhone cameras. Investors have given the two-year-old startup $50 million. 

For a photography novice like me, Lytro sounds great. You can have next-to-no skill and still manage to take good photos, because you can change the perspective afterward. When you take a good Lytro photo, the pictures seem to come alive. They shift focus from one object to another, pulling them forward or blurring them into the background. It can completely change the story a photo is telling. 

Skip To: Check out what Lytro's living photos really look like >

The device is sleek and narrow. It looks like a kaleidoscope. The most expensive version is red, holds 16 GB of images, and retails for $499. It allows you to store 750 photos at once. The other models retail for $399 and let you store 350 photos. They come in electric blue, graphite, moxie pink and sea glass. 

Carrying a Lytro is like wearing Google Glass – you're instantly the center of attention. I was lent the red 16 GB camera and got looks whenever I pulled it out of my pocket. While going through security in Heathrow Airport, the man behind me asked, "How long have you had your Lytro?" He was a United employee from Houston who had read about it on a tech blog.

Others actually pointed and stared. Some asked to try the camera themselves. The cameras are sold on Lytro's website, Amazon, Best Buy and Target, but it isn't currently available in London. 

I trekked all over East London with the Lytro, then over to some major attractions: Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Shard and London Bridge. The Lytro was more convenient than my company's DSLR, which is bulky, heavy, and retails for a similar price.

It's easier to take photos with, too. There are only two buttons: an on/off switch on the bottom near a hidden USB port, and a shutter button on top. The top also has a thin ridged surface. Stroking left to right will let you zoom in, right to left lets you zoom out.

Lytro's head of photography, who lent us the camera, admits the screen on the camera could be better. It's hard to see a clear image of what you've just taken because the screen is small and pixelated. And it's difficult to view in the sun. But it's a touch screen, so you can tap to zoom or trash an image, swipe to review old photos, and star your favorites. You can also switch camera modes from the default setting, which is better for distance shots, to "creative", which is better for close-ups.

Once you upload all of the photos, you can add special effects like filters, then process them. Processing photos takes a very long time. The Lytro desktop application crashed multiple times before all 150+ photos could be uploaded to my online gallery.

Once the photos are in your online gallery, you can share them to social media sites, some of which keep Lytro's instant perspective shift and refocusing features. Facebook, for example, does this. You can also embed Lytro photos in web pages because they're iframes, so others can play with the photos too.

Most of my Lytro photos ended up being a disappointment. I was warned to practice taking photos before I took London, so the blame could be mine for not learning all of Lytro's tricks. But out of the 150+ photos I took, less than five display Lytro's technology well. I'm much happier with the DSLR photos. They're at least clear, while Lytro's are blurry and don't show much depth. 

Lytro would be a better if you could apply filters to photos once they're uploaded online, so you don't have to take time editing on your desktop, then re-processing the image. It also would work best as a mobile app, like Instagram.

So while I like what Steve Jobs had in mind with Lytro and the technology has a lot of promise, the current camera isn't worth the steep price tag until a few more of the kinks are worked out. 

At least not for photography novices, like me.

Going through customs at Heathrow Airport. If you click on "UK Border" the words get a little more clear, but not much happens. Drag your mouse around the screen to shift perspective; scroll up and down to zoom.

Waiting for the Heathrow Express to take me into downtown London/Paddington. Click on the red light at the end of the tunnel to make it more clear, or the ad on the left to make it more readable.

I thought for sure this picture of my hotel's courtyard would make a great Lytro photo. It has tons of layers to click on and depth of field. But when you click around, there aren't many visible changes in focus.

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In just a few short years, cloud computing has become a tech that affects everyone's daily lives.

Our personal files are stored in the cloud. We maintain our friendships via apps in the cloud. Mobile phones and tablets run powerful apps via the cloud, giving rise to new devices like tablets, and killing off others, like the netbook and, perhaps one day, the PC.

IT departments went from distrusting the cloud to allocating billions of dollars to spend on using it. Instead of buying every app and server they need, they will rent them.

But none of this is happening on its own. It's all being figured out right now by the companies building clouds.

A word about clouds

Before we get to the list, let's define cloud computing. There are three types: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).

Cloud computing lets you rent the tech you want, paying a monthly fee for it. As this chart shows, SaaS means renting the just app. PaaS means renting everything but the app (often used by app developers). IaaS means renting just the hardware and tools to maintain the hardware (popular with startups and enterprises). Click here for a bigger version of the chart.

No. 10: SoftLayer is the key to success for two big players.

IBM and EMC are reportedly both courting cloud-computing company SoftLayer Technologies in an acquisition expected to exceed $2 billion.

SoftLayer is known as the largest privately held cloud-computing and Web-hosting service provider.

If EMC successfully buys SoftLayer that will be a boost to EMC's VMware. VMware is trying to get some new cloud-computing plans off the ground. One of VMware's biggest rivals, Citrix, is a big SoftLayer partner and customer.

IBM would prefer to nab SoftLayer's customers and data centers for itself.

No 9: Joyent offers a powerful, low cost alternative for big data centers.

Joyent competes with VMware, OpenStack and Citrix, too, with its own cloud operating system.

It's become a popular alternative for service providers needing big cloud data centers because it costs them less, Joyent cofounder Jason Hoffman told Business Insider.

Joyent says it has more than 30,000 customers, including big names like LinkedIn and its backed by Intel, Dell, EMC and and Spanish phone company Telefonica. VC Peter Thiel also invested.

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Jim Chanos gave a devastating presentation on China at Mish Shedlock's Wine Country Conference.

Chanos has been bearish on China for quite a while.  However, his new presentation is particularly fascinating because it has some pretty graphic cartoons.

"The cartoons/illustrations, gruesome/silly, as they are, are FROM Chinese sources!" said Chanos in an email to Business Insider.  "That's why we put them in-so that people know that the media inside China is becoming more skeptical itself."

Chanos has shared this presentation with the WCC and now with us for the benefit of the amazing Les Turner ALS Foundation.  Read more about it here.

Click Here To See Chanos' Presentation >

The Wine Country Conference was hosted by Mike Shedlock of Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis and Sitka Pacific Capital Management to raise funds in the fight against ALS, the disease that took Mish’s wife Joanne.  In total, Mish has raised nearly a half million dollars for the Les Turner ALS Foundation—  please consider making a donation. Please check out www.winecountryconference.com for videos of the speaker presentations and more information about the April 2014 event where Mish and John Hussman will team up to raise money for Autism research and programs.

The Chinese economic story is riddled with red flags.

The country is putting itself at risk by forcing growth.

The return on investments is starting to fall, which is a bad sign.

Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.

We love Mad Men and can’t get enough. In addition to the character development, plot twists and 1960s period costumes (which are totally back in style), we love seeing some of our favorite locations in New York City depicted on the show.

From Madison Avenue to Waverly Place, many of the locales that Don and the rest of the characters frequented are still around and just as successful as they were in the ’60s. In anticipation of Season 6, here’s our Mad Men Guide to New York City with our favorite locations featured on Seasons 1-5.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store in Sunday’s Season Premier, and add Season 6 locations to our Mad Men Guide.

The Oyster Bar at Grand Central

In Season 1, Don gets back at Roger for flirting with Betty by egging him on to eat a couple dozen oysters and drink one too many Martinis, and then having the elevator attendant say the elevator is out of service. By the time the two of them walk the twenty-three flights up to the office, Roger is so sick that he vomits at the feet of a client.

We don’t recommend overdoing it like Roger, but we do recommend stopping at the Oyster Bar for a drink before boarding a train upstairs. In fact, for an even more sophisticated period atmosphere, head downstairs to the Campbell Apartment, Grand Central’s hidden bar, famous for the Prohibition Punch. We can only hope it will be featured in Season 6. Read more on our guide to NYC’s hidden bars.

P.J. Clarke's

When Peggy successfully writes copy for the Belle Jolie campaign and gets promoted from secretary to copy writer, she invites everyone out for a drink at P.J. Clarke’s to celebrate. A New York City staple that has been around since 1884, the original P.J. Clarke’s on 55th and 3rd is still a popular spot for a happy hour drink and serves up a menu of all American classics.

You can still see mementos of the bar’s past with a broken pay phone, human leg bones over the door (apparently an Irish good luck talisman), and Skippy the taxidermied dog. It was once a haunt of Frank Sinatra, Jackie O and Elizabeth Taylor. How’s that for authentic?

Henri Bendel

It’s been suggested that Menken’s Department Store from Season 1 may be a fictionalized version of Bergdorf Goodman, but we think it more closely resembles Henri Bendel. Menken’s is portrayed as a classy, upscale but intimate department store, much like Bendel.

The flagship on Fifth Avenue is home to original Lalique windows, making it an architecturally interesting place to see even if you prefer not to shop there.

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The HTC First is a new Android phone from HTC that's the first to ship with Facebook Home out of the box. 

Facebook Home is a new Android app from Facebook that replaces your regular Android home screen with Facebook services and features. 

You can read our full review of Facebook Home and the HTC First here. Check out the gallery below for a visual tour of how it all works.

The HTC First has a simple design. It's basically just a black rectangle with rounded edges.

There's a USB charging port on the side.

It looks similar to the old iPhone 3GS.

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It's 4/20. For those not in the know, "4/20" is the unofficial holiday for pot smokers and marijuana legalization activiists around the world to celebrate by lighting up on April 20. 

The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim traced the term back to 1971. A group of California high school friends, known as the "Waldos," used "4/20" as a codeword to refer to the time of the day when they would smoke outside of school. 

The term was popularized in stoner communities, courtesy of the Grateful Dead. It eventually went mainstream, much to the dismay of police, parents, and lawmakers.   

The drug, best-know for it's "feel-good" effects and touted for its uses for multiple diseases, can also be damaging to our bodies and minds.

Marijuana comes from the cannabis sativa plant, and is the dried and shredded leaves, stems seeds and flowers. The high you get from marijuana comes from a chemical called Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. Some strains contain more or less THC — making them more or less potent.

Most of THC's effects happen in the brain, where the chemical interacts with receptors on brain cells called cannibinoid receptors. Our bodies actually make chemicals very similar to THC, which are used in normal brain function and development. THC co-opts these natural pathways to produce most of its effects.

Marijuana makes you feel good

When THC hits brain cells, it causes them to release dopamine, a feel-good brain chemical. This is a part of the brain's reward system, which makes you feel good when you do things that ensure the survival of yourself and your offspring. These things include eating and having sex.

When over-excited by drugs, the reward system creates feelings of euphoria.

.. but that's not all good

When the rewards system is overstimulated, for example with drugs of abuse like cocaine, it can go haywire and cause a dependence (and in extreme cases addiction) on whatever is providing the rewarding feeling, and also take away from how rewarding normal things, like eating, are.

This can cause apathy and dependence on the drug.

It blocks memory formation

The active ingredient in marijuana acts in the part of the brain called the hippocampus to alter the way information is processed and how memories are formed. Animal studies have shown that this is particularly true while the brain is still developing— specifically why the legal smoking age is 21 in the states that have legalized it.

This blockage of memory formation can cause cognitive impairment in adulthood if use happens during adolescence, at least for rats. It can also quicken age-related brain cell loss, though marijuana has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

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A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit a remote region in China's Sichuan province on Saturday at 8:02 a.m. in that part of the world. 

At least 156 people are dead and around 5,500 are injured, Reuters' Ben Blanchard reports. 

The death toll is expected to climb as numbers come in from different villages, according to the Los Angeles Times, citing Chinese authorities. 

This is the worst earthquake to hit that area since 2008, when a much more destructive quake killed close to 90,000 people. 

Pictures show crushed buildings, blocked roads, and people gathering outside of their homes. 

Please follow Science on Twitter and Facebook.

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Israeli photographer Natan Dvir describes the advertising in New York City as a "kaleidoscopic commercial net" that covers and brands the city.

Those larger-than-life billboards are the focus of Dvir's current exhibition, in New York, titled "Coming Soon."

What is likely to be a foreigner's first impression of billboard-plastered New York City has become a facet of the cityscape that goes "virtually unnoticed" to New Yorkers, says Dvir.

The ads in this slideshow are photographed to show their relationship to the city's residents, who are miniaturized by the sheer size of the billboards that tower above them.

"People inhabiting the space underneath are pulled, unaware, into a staged set," says Dvir. He describes it as "the only medium that cannot be turned off"— an intriguing concept for the city that never sleeps.

This massive Zara ad is the title photo of Natan Dvir's upcoming exhibit, "Coming Soon."

The series explores the relationship between New Yorkers and the larger-than-life ads that surround them every day.

Natan Zvir was surprised by the scale and pervasiveness of the "commercial net" that covers New York City.

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Whether you're the type of traveler who loves to plan ahead or someone who prefers more spontaneous adventures, knowing when to visit some of America's most iconic destinations is almost as important as where -- especially if you'd like to get the most for your money.

Simply going in the offseason isn't good enough, especially if you want to enjoy the major highlights that make a city or national park enjoyable, says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com. For example, while rates for New England's beaches are lower in the winter, many of the crab and fish shacks will be closed, she says -- so no lobster roll for you.

"You want to be able to do all the things you want to do and still get a good deal," she says. "You have to find that right combination."

Read on to get some expert tips about the best times to visit some of the country's top tourist attractions without splurging too much.

1. Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

When to go: Late May/early June

Why visit: Lighthouses, saltwater taffy and fresh sea air: When it comes to finding the perfect stretch of shoreline, it's hard to beat Massachusetts, either on Cape Cod or one of the nearby islands. Travel expert John DiScala, of JohnnyJet.com and host of the Travel Channel's "Hot Spots 2012," visits Nantucket in the early summer, before the masses arrive. "There're no traffic jams, you can get reservations at restaurants, (and) there are discounts on B&Bs and house rentals," he says.

Banas agrees:"Martha's Vineyard has great deals in May and June. Maybe the kids aren't quite out of school yet, but it can be the best time to go and have some awesome weather -- without the horrible crowds." Prices are particularly friendly before Memorial Day. If you visit during the school year, go for stays during the week instead of over the weekend.

2. Hawaii

When to go: Late spring/early fall

Why visit: On a cold winter day, who doesn't dream of the swaying palm trees, ocean beaches and a local "Aloha" that make the islands special? The price of paradise is often punishing, however. "Hawaii doesn't have a true offseason," Banas says, noting that the winter draws sun-seekers while the summer attracts honeymooners and families. "But there is a softer season." April and May, as well as September, October and November, are generally less expensive (but make sure to depart before the holidays begin).

Another tip from Banas: Instead of cramming a bunch of islands into your trip, pick just one or two, so you can "sink in and enjoy everything." On Oahu, she recommends making the drive to the North Shore. "That's where the great surfers are. It's quintessential Hawaii."

3. South Florida

When to go: Early to mid-January

Why visit: From funky art galleries in Key West and the "river of grass" that makes up the Everglades to the art deco architecture of Miami, South Florida offers "something for everyone," DiScala says.

He says that second week of January is traditionally a "dead week" for travel, and people can save big on airfare and hotels while beating the snowbird rush. "It's still freezing cold in the Northeast and Midwest. But during dead week, the hotels are cheaper. You can get reservations at restaurants."

For those who have travel fatigue after the holidays, plan a trip in late March, April or early May, when the temperatures are still pleasant and hotels drop their rates after spring break.

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12. Stop & Shop

Reader Score: 73

Location: NY, NJ, MA, RI, CT, PA

Year Founded: 1914 as Shopmate, 1947 as Stop & Shop

Despite its slogan “Great Food. Low Prices. Friendly Service,” Stop & Shop received only slightly-above average marks when it came to cleanliness, but mediocre scores on price, the quality of meat and produce, and service, which is to say, they’re not necessarily doing anything wrong, but they’re not doing much right.

11. ACME

Reader Score: 73
Location: PA, NJ, DE, MD
Year Founded: 1891

Acme’s shortcoming was on price, which received a less-than-satisfactory rating, though survey respondents were fairly satisfied with cleanliness, and neutral on food quality and service. Facing increased competition from other supermarkets, Acme laid off 900 part-time workers in 2010, and recently ended their popular “free Thanksgiving turkey” program for loyal customers to cut costs.

10. Ralph's

Reader Score: 73 
Location: Southern CA
Year Founded: 1873

Ralphs, a subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger and the oldest supermarket chain in the west, had similar marks as Stop & Shop – mediocre on everything but cleanliness, which was just above average. Ralphs had a strong presence in Northern California for years, but closed down all of their remaining northern locations in 2006.

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In honor of smoking holiday 4/20, we've rounded up 11 celebrities who have openly discussed their love of smoking weed.

Some like Snoop Dogg and Rihanna make no effort to hide their habit, but others such as Justin Bieber have gone to great lengths to try and keep it a secret -- to no avail.

Plus, a few surprise celeb smokers.

Justin Timberlake believes "Some people are just better high."

In an interview with Playboy magazine, Justin Timberlake said he "absolutely" smoked weed.

"The only thing pot does for me is it gets me to stop thinking," JT told the magazine. "Sometimes I have a brain that needs to be turned off. Some people are just better high."

Although, he did attempt to quit for a bit in 2003 after being high during the first ever episode of "Punk'd.""I actually stopped smoking pot for 9 to 10 months after that. I was so stoned."

Cameron Diaz bought weed from Snoop Dogg.

Justin Timberlake's ex-girlfriend Cameron Diaz is also no stranger to weed -- especially since she went to high school with Snoop Dogg!

"We went to high school together, [Snoop] was a year older than me," she said on "Lopez Tonight.""He was very tall and skinny and wore lots of ponytails in his hair and I'm pretty sure I got weed from him. I had to have!"

Snoop Dogg taught his son how to "properly" smoke.

Snoop Dogg confirms Cameron Diaz's comments, saying, "I might have sold her some of that white girl weed."

Meanwhile, the rapper admits he is a proud holder of what he calls "a platinum medical marijuana card."

He even taught his son how to "properly" smoke weed.

"What better way to [learn] than from the master?" Snoop tells The Hollywood Reporter, referring to photos posted on Twitter showing his son lighting a 2-foot-bong.

“My kids can do whatever the hell they want," he explains of his parenting philosophy. "For me to say otherwise would be hypocritical. A lot of motherf-----s don't have a relationship with their kids, and that's when they get on drugs and have suicidal thoughts and drive drunk. Me and my son is mellow. I'm his father, so I wanna show him the proper way because he looks up to me.”

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America is truly an exceptional nation. 

It's not because of our education system, our economy or our scientific establishment. 

No, America is really only exceptional when it comes to the number of guns, the frequency of gun murders, and the shockingly high number of annual gun deaths.

Other countries don't have the problems that the United States do. Other industrialized countries don't have tens of thousands of gun deaths per year, or regular mass shootings, or a population as armed as it is violent. 

Other countries don't have America's gun problem. 

Here, we take a look at the data that shows why America is so unlike the rest of the world when it comes to the popularity and the abuse of guns. We'll look at the role that policy makers play in the gun control debate, and we'll look at what can be done. 

It isn't pretty, but it's important. Hundreds of thousands of American lives hang in the balance. 

When Americans kill one another, they usually use a gun. In fact, Americans use guns to murder each other twice as often as they use any other murder weapons.

In 2015, it is projected that for the first time in decades more people will die by guns than by motor vehicles.

At the current rate, 339,000 Americans will die by guns over the next 10 years. That is roughly equivalent to the current population of Tampa, Florida.

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Maybe I'm a closet technophobe or maybe I'm an idealist to a fault, but there are certain apps that are slowly ruining my life.

Whether it's an effect as subtle as removing me from the present or as glaring and offensive as seeking to make your taxes impossible, these are the apps that I have beef with.

TurboTax

"But isn't TurboTax all about making your taxes as easy as possible?" I hear you saying.

Yes, but also no. Propublica recently put out a big report that digs into how Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, has actively lobbied against tax simplification, even coming out against a proposed system that would see the government doing your taxes for free.

Lift

The premise behind Lift is wonderful – throughout the day it sounds reminders to you to help you cultivate good habits. Flossing, making the bed, bringing your lunch to work, and the like.

But after two or three weeks, it's easy to fall off the horse and ignore its reminders. And then you just have an app that's reminding you of your inadequacies.

Apple Maps

What else needs to be said here? Apple Maps has already been the butt of many a joke for inaccuracies and poor execution. We swear by Google Maps and will continue to do so.

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A lot has happened on the seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and its spin-offs since the family hit the airwaves in 2006.

We've watched two weddings, one divorce, and two babies (soon to be three).

And, surprisingly, there's also been a lot of health issues — ranging from the serious to the very bizarre and even uncomfortable.

Let's examine all of the health issues we've watched the family go through over the years.

8. Kris Jenner's "pee problem" landed her an endorsement deal for Poise panty liners.

Kris refused to go see a doctor about her bladder issues until she peed her pants a little during a family meal, when Khloe wouldn't move out of the booth to let her mom rush to the bathroom. Talk about embarrassing. Finally, she got checked out and the doctor told her she had stress incontinence, a common issue for women who've had kids — and Kris has had six.

This whole ordeal ended well, especially since Kris landed an endorsement deal with Poise panty liners.

7. Kim freaked out when her doctor told her she had psoriasis.

In 2011, we found out about Kim's skin condition while she was in the midst of planning her wedding with Kris Humphries.

The dermatologist told her it wasn't ringworm, like Khloe thought, after the star spent nearly a whole episode itching her splotchy skin and crying about her ailment. "My career is doing ad campaigns and swimsuit photo shoots," she said on the show. "People don't understand the pressure I feel to feel perfect. When I gain a pound, it is in the headlines, so imagine what the tabloids will do to me when they see all these spots."

6. Rob accidentally took Viagra.

This was totally predictable: Kris put herbal Viagra in Bruce's coffee to try to stimulate their sex life, only Rob happened to down the hot beverage instead. Whoops. Let's just say he woke up rearin' to go.

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While Facebook may connect people across the globe its novelty is starting to wear off. 

Ivan Cash, a freelance interactive artist and Jeff Greenspan, BuzzFeed's chief creative officer, have dreamed dreamed up an amazing concept that builds perfectly on Facebook's ability to bring people together.

What if you could have a complete stranger draw your profile picture based on how they interpreted you?

The duo started a project called Selfless Portraits, a collaborative art initiative that takes advantage of Facebook's 1 billion user audience to bring together random people in a raw, almost vulnerable way, and that's a good thing.

Greenspan explained to Business Insider his inspiration for Selfless Portraits: 

Facebook is such a prominent part of our culture these days and we use it because we want to be more connected with our friends, our acquaintances, and our family. And yet, the reality is that sometimes it’s difficult to really make a meaningful connection with someone through the Facebook platform. It has its limitations. It encourages breath over depth.

Click here to head straight to some of Selfless Portraits most interesting photos >

Selfless Portraits has been live for just two months and its goal is to bridge the gap between technology and humanity.

After signing up, users upload their Facebook profile to be hand drawn by another Facebook user somewhere else in the world. 

But don't worry if you don't have the skills of Picasso. The community includes both amateurs and professionals. In order to receive a finished product both parties must complete and upload the drawing of their randomly-assigned subject. The assigned drawings aren't one on one, meaning you won't necessarily be paired with the same person who draws your photo.

You may be wondering why Selfless Portraits doesn't allow you to chose who you get to draw or why you can't draw your friends, Greenspan explains:

There’s something really exciting about the concept of a stranger that represents the unknown, the mysterious, but also the possibility of a connection, whereas a Facebook friend is already a known connection. While this project admittedly might have been more popular if it was people drawing their friends, there’s something much more powerful and hopefully inspiring about having strangers come together and collaborating remotely.

The response so far has been really positive, after two months they site has amassed over 20,000 drawings from over 115 countries around the world.

"We've been floored by the level of creativity," Cash said. "We thought we had a good handle on how the site was going to be used but the community has found ways of using the platform we never imagined."

For example, users have drawn a leg where an arm was supposed to be or an animals head on a human and vice versa.

The two don't see the project expanding to platforms like Instagram or Twitter for now.

"What we really like about Facebook is the profile picture aspect," Greenspan said. "It's very different from the type of images that are on Twitter or Instagram like say for instance, one's breakfast. I'm not saying there isn't something to be done with those types of images too but for now Facebook fits perfectly with what we're trying to do." 

Cash and Greenspan stressed that they could not have done this project without the help of their producer, Luis Peña, and development company Rally Interactive.

This portrait of a gentleman from California was beautifully executed by someone from Brazil. " Facebook is such a prominent part of our culture these days and we use it because we want to be more connected with our friends, our acquaintances, and our family. And yet, the reality is that sometimes it’s difficult to really make a meaningful connection with someone through the Facebook platform. It has its limitations. It encourages breath over depth," creator Jeff Greenspan shares.

"The process of drawing a portrait and staring at someone’s face is magical. It’s not just about the final outcome. There’s also something really beautiful about the interaction that takes place in the making of: The artist studying another person’s face and creatively interpreting it," Greenspan says.

This portrait of a UK native was drawn by another user in Brazil. The interpretation is spot on.

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John Hussman of Hussman Funds has maintained a bearish slant toward the market for quite a while.

"I'm  known as somewhere between permabear and prophet of doom," said Hussman as he opened his presentation during Mish Shedlock's Wine Country Conference.

"I'm actually an inordinately optimistic person who actually believes there is virtue in finance," he added.

In his thought-provoking presentation, Hussman very clearly argues that distortions in the financial markets have created an environment with very low prospective returns.

"This fragile equilibrium that we're in because of monetary policy, because of fiscal policy, and because of the combination of yield-seeking plus the apperence of yield through forward operating earnings because profit margins are elevated -- this creates an environment where stock returns prospectively are very low," he says.

"That's really the point of QE," he reiterated. "It creates discomfort as a search for yield."

Thanks to Sitka Pacific for giving us permission to feature this presentation.

Click Here To See Hussman's Presentation >

The Wine Country Conference was hosted by Mike Shedlock of Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis and Sitka Pacific Capital Management to raise funds in the fight against ALS, the disease that took Mish’s wife Joanne.  In total, Mish has raised nearly a half million dollars for the Les Turner ALS Foundation—  please consider making a donation. Please check out www.winecountryconference.com for videos of the speaker presentations and more information about the April 2014 event where Mish and John Hussman will team up to raise money for Autism research and programs.

There is stable and there is unstable equilibrium in the financial markets.

Here are the some basic insights into the equilibria listed in the previous slide.

We can't just assume that an extra dollar of reserves will create $10 of spending without considering the economic issues that matter.

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To do list apps come a dime a dozen in Apple's App Store.

The productivity apps all promise to help users get to the same end result by handling tasks differently and helping you get more things done. 

But many to do list apps get in the way and make entering task a chore.

Carrot is different.

The beautifully designed app turns getting things done into a game and it has quickly become one of our favorite to-do list apps.

Carrot encourages users to get tasks done in a timely matter and they're rewarded with points that lead to unlockable features. But if they don't accomplish tasks then the app will get angry with you. 

Carrot's creator, Brian Mueller, created the app because he wanted to use something that "wasn't cluttered or complicated."

Carrot is available for iPhone in Apple's App store. It is currently on sale for $0.99 but normally costs $1.99.

Carrot is new to do list app available for iPhone. Carrot normally costs $1.99 but there is currently a promotion going on for $0.99.

After you download it from the App Store, tap to open.

What makes Carrot unique is her personality. She's very mouthy and will berate you if you forget to get things done.

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Julia Solis is a renowned photographer whose pictures of decaying theaters will be published in her upcoming book "Stages of Decay."

The unsettling images show 100 defunct stages from around the US and Europe. The buildings range from community centers to movie theaters to hospitals, but they all show crumbling edifices that Solis manages to make hauntingly beautiful.

Some of the deteriorating spaces still exist while others have since been destroyed. But either way, Solis makes the viewer feel as though they are the last to witness what was once a grand and glorious stage.

Palace Theatre in Gary, Indiana was built in 1925 and served as a movie theater until it was abandoned in 1972 after the town's US Steel plant went into decline.

Source: Palace Theatre Gary Indiana

Detroit's Eastown Theater was built in 1931, but degenerated in the '60s and '70s into a notorious drug den and rave site. It has stood abandoned since the late 1990s.

Source: Historic Detroit

The Hubert Elementary School building in Brightmoor, Michigan was built in 1921 and shut down in 2005. This is what remains of the kids' theater.

Source: Detroiturbex.com

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With so many social media platforms to choose from, knowing which one will generate results, or even figuring out how you can use them to achieve your objectives can be difficult to figure out.

Because examples tell you more than theory ever could, we’ve rounded up 50 different resources for you to get into and help improve your business. Covering everything from Facebook to Pinterest to email marketing, you’ll find useful case studies for you to take inspiration from, regardless of which platform you use.

Brands are always talking about advertising on Facebook, but these campaigns are the ones to emulate:

- Co-create lists what it feels are the five best campaigns that appeared on Facebook,none of which required actual Facebook ads.

- How a Facebook campaign helped increase sales by 35% and get free PR worth €200,000.

- Econsultancy looks at whether Facebook promoted posts work or not.

- Cadbury’s experiments with its content saw it gain 40,000 new fans on its Facebook page and 350,000 people were actively involved in the campaign.

- Coca-Cola used face recognition technology in Israel by placing machines around theme parks. People could log in to its Facebook app using nothing but their face.

Oreo isn't the only brand to rule Twitter:

- A behind the scenes look at Oreo’s real-time Super Bowl slam dunk.
- Back in 2010, KLM used Twitter to identify customers flying with them and gave certain passengers small, but useful gifts, resulting in one million impressions on Twitter alone.
- How Optify used Twitter’s Promoted Tweets to increase engagement and generated leads by over 700%

- Four B2B marketing case studies that shows how tweets leads to business.

- Here are five creative campaigns that used Twitter in a different way.

- Social Media Today keeps it brief by showing three brands that are successful on Twitter, each one having its own unique approach.

- Being Your Brand gives three different examples of brand success that you can learn.

- AllTwitter has a handy infographic which shows how much Twitter helped five large brands in their campaigns.

And now advertisers have to start paying attention to LinkedIn:

- This case study shows you how you can grow a LinkedIn group to 35,000 members.

- How Volkswagen India used LinkedIn to get 2,700 car recommendations in four weeks.

- How you can use LinkedIn for lead generation and branding building.

- How Vestas, a wind energy company, used LinkedIn to build up business.

- LinkedIn has its own collection of case studies and research which you can view here.

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The Soviet Union was known for its intense propaganda art.

Messages varied from inspiring photos of space travel to heavy-handed warnings to potential spies.

Retronaut collected and translated a series of Soviet posters from the 1950s aimed at preventing information reaching U.S. spies inside the U.S.S.R.

1958: "Do not talk! Strictly keep the military and state secrets!"

1953: "Vigilance, our weapons!"

1954: "Gossip, gossip - the hands of the enemy!"

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