With its army of computer engineers, Google is an icon of the Silicon Valley tech world.

But it's also one of the most powerful players in the entertainment and media industry, thanks to an impressive catalog of products and services that spans digital music, videos, gaming and sports.

YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing hub, is the No. 2 most visited site on the web and one of the world's top sources of music.

But YouTube is just one part of Google's sprawling entertainment empire:

• Google Play, which serves as the digital store for Android and its more than 2 billion active users across the globe, moves tons of music, movies, TV shows and games. 
• YouTube TV, the internet-based multi-channel TV service, is not yet two years old but is already enticing customers away from the much-maligned traditional cable players.  
• And then there's the world of emerging media like virtual reality and smart speakers. 

To make its mark in the industry, Google has enlisted an impressive stable of entertainment industry veterans and tech-savvy innovators, dispatching them to outposts in Los Angeles, New York and other key entertainment hotspots. 

The team helping Google expand its entertainment empire includes dealmakers, creatives and techies. Here are some of the key must-know players on the team:

SEE ALSO: Music honcho Lyor Cohen played hardball with YouTube for years, then shocked everyone by joining the enemy. Here's how he stayed on top and why he says it's time haters 'liberate' themselves.

SEE ALSO: Apple should look at YouTube TV and be embarrassed that it didn't come up with the idea first, analysts say

Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music

He's a rap aficionado, turned label chief, turned digital-music exec.

During a 30-year career as a record producer and music exec, Lyor Cohen worked with or helped develop such acts as Jay-Z, The Killers, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, and Kanye West.  

Then he switched sides. 

YouTube scored a major coup when it hired Cohen in 2016. Among his old label pals, the move was unpopular. For a variety of reasons, many once saw Google as a threat. The main knock is that YouTube doesn't pay enough for the music videos that helped turn the site into an entertainment juggernaut. 

But Cohen, the former CEO of Recorded Music at Warner Music Group, has done much to patch up the relationship. Cary Sherman, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, the labels top lobbyist, complimented the job Cohen's done.

"I think Lyor Cohen is doing a very good job of persuading the people at YouTube that they need to be partners with the music industry,"Sherman told Business Insider in a recent interview.

Meanwhile, YouTube remains one of world's the largest music distributors. And to counter a challenge from Apple Music and Spotify, Cohen recently helped launch YouTube's new subscription music service. 

Susanne Daniels, Global Head of Original Content at YouTube

Susanne Daniels is one of the people responsible for bringing the series "Cobra Kai," to YouTube Premium. 

If you're from a certain generation, the show's title is instantly recognizable and may remind you that you once tried fighting your brother while standing on one leg.

The series, which has met with glowing reviews, is based on "The Karate Kid" films, and reprises the lives of two main characters, played by Ralph Macchio and William Zabka.     

YouTube Premium, formerly known as as YouTube Red, offers ad-free streaming of all of YouTube's user-generated video. In addition, Premium also offers high-production quality film and TV fare from A-list directors. And that's where Daniels comes in. 

She oversees development, programming and production of all of Premium's films and shows. Before Google, Daniels worked on such shows as such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, and Gilmore Girls at places like MTV, Fox, LifeTime TV and The WB.

Jonathan Zepp, leads media & entertainment for Android & Google Play

This week, for the first time in eight years, an aircraft landed on a British aircraft carrier.

The plane was an F-35B, the Marine Corps' variant of the Joint Strike Fighter that is capable of vertical take offs and landings, and the ship was the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UK's largest warship.

Neither is entirely new — the UK got its first F-35 six years ago, and the carrier took to sea in 2017 — but bringing them together has been touted as a new era for British military power.

"The largest warship in British history is joining forces with the most advanced fighter jets on the planet. This marks a rebirth of our power to strike decisively from the seas anywhere in the world," British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said in a release. "It is also a statement of Britain’s determination to promote peace and prevent war."

Below, you can see the two F-35s working in tandem with crews on the Queen Elizabeth.

SEE ALSO: The US Navy's next supercarrier is 50% complete — watch the latest 1,000-ton chunk drop into place

The first landings took place on September 25. The Queen Elizabeth is able to hold up to 24 of the jets, and more than 1,400 sailors, flight crew members, and Marines have been working aboard the carrier during this deployment.

The F-35's first landing ever on a British carrier is "a tremendous step forward in reestablishing the UK's carrier strike capability," said Commodore Andrew Betton, commander of the UK carrier strike group.

The Queen Elizabeth left Portsmouth in August, heading to the Atlantic, where the trials are taking place. Royal navy Cmdr. Nathan Gray became the first British pilot to land an F-35 on the carrier, followed by Royal air force squadron leader Andy Edgell. Afterward, Gray became the first pilot to take off on the ship's ski-ramp.

Simon Duffy was in Whole Foods in New York when he realised that men were underserved by the skincare industry.

"I went to Whole Foods to get a particular moisturiser for my girlfriend. It was a really cold wintery day in New York and so I thought, 'I'm going get some moisturiser too,' but there was just nothing there for men," he told Business Insider.

In 2005, he decided to launch his own skincare brand — Bulldog— with men in mind. It's now available in 26 countries around the world, and controls around 20% of the market share in the UK.

While his background was in business rather than dermatology, as a consumer himself, Duffy has since learned plenty about men's skincare routines — and has plenty of insights into the mistakes many men continue to make.

According to Bulldog's website, most men still aren't moisturising daily — but that's the least of their issues.

Scroll down to see the skincare mistakes you may be guilty of, and what you should be doing instead, according to Duffy.

SEE ALSO: 5 grooming products every guy should own, according to the cofounder of a major skincare brand

You don't cleanse and moisturise.

Cleansing and moisturising is the bread and butter of your skincare routine — if you don't think you have time to do both of these in the morning, you're wrong.

"I actually think you can do the whole thing in about a minute," Duffy says.

He adds that this stage is particularly important if you work in a city.

"The scientific community around skincare is increasingly finding that... city pollution is being shown to have quite a dramatic impact on how quickly we age," he says.

Duffy recommends cleansing and moisturising again in the evening if you're a city worker. "That will — over the course of a 40-year career in the city — pay back dividends."

You don't change your razor blades often enough.

"Men are shaving less but when they do shave I think men are tempted to stretch out how long they take between changing their razor blades," Duffy says.

He adds that nobody should be shaving with a cheap razor: "If you are going to shave, make sure you're using proper equipment."

Failure to change your blades regularly will result in blunt blades and an uncomfortable, hair-wrenching shave.

You don't wash your beard.

If you do grow out your beard, it's important to keep it clean and well-maintained.

"Beard's just get so dirty," Duffy says. "If you think about how much you're running your fingers through your beard throughout the day, anything you get on your fingers is going in your beard."

In 2015, a swab analysis conducted by ABC-affiliated station KOAT found that some beards had levels of bacteria" comparable to toilets."

To tackle this, Duffy advises using a proper beard shampoo whenever you wash the rest of your hair.

On a recent trip to Sri Lanka, I had the opportunity to take in the country's stunning national parks.

While it doesn't boast Africa's famous Big Five, Sri Lanka's Big Four (leopards, elephants, sloth bears, and blue whales) are becoming an increasing draw for nature tourists from around the world.

In the last year alone, travel search engine Kayak told Business Insider it has seen a 30% increase in searches for Sri Lanka.

The country's capital, Colombo, has also been pipped for a $1.4 billion renovation, which would put it on the scale of Dubai or Hong Kong.

After going on a river safari in Gal Oya National Park and a jeep drive through Kumana National Park, I'm convinced that Sri Lanka is going to be Asia's next big leisure destination.

While the experience I had was better than I could have hoped, there were a number of things I wish I'd known before going on safari for the first time.

Scroll down to see the mistakes I made — so you don't have to.

SEE ALSO: Sri Lanka is building a $15 billion metropolis meant to rival cities like Hong Kong and Dubai

1. You'll need binoculars.

My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to see a leopard from a few feet away, but you're unlikely to see everything you want from this distance.

While your safari company will probably have binoculars you can borrow — ours, Jetwing Surf, luckily did — it's worth checking with your tour operator beforehand so you're not left squinting into the distance.

2. You have to watch out for elephants on the road.

You don't have to be on the safari trail to see elephants in Sri Lanka.

In fact, the closest you get to these grey giants might just be on the highways, where they're often seen interrupting traffic.

Our guide told us that smaller vehicles wait for the animals to pass as they're unpredictable and sometimes cause accidents on the country's roads.

3. It gets really, really hot.

Sri Lanka is a land of microclimates.

You might be chilling in 60-degree heat in the country's central highlands one day, then a three-hour drive to the east coast the next will take you into temperatures topping 100.

Make sure to pack plenty of sunscreen, especially if you're considering a river safari like we did with Gal Oya Lodge, where there's no escape from the oppressive sun.

The trials and tribulations of Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand, Goop, have been well-documented.

Just this month, Paltrow's company made headlines for settling a $145,000 lawsuit over claims that its vaginal eggs could balance hormones, admitting that some of its magazine's outlandish health advice may not work, and for selling $30 repellent for "psychic vampires."

Despite the controversies, Goop seems to be going from strength to strength. A source recently told The New York Times that the company was worth $250 million and they just opened a pop-up in London's affluent Notting Hill.

With the lure of vaginal eggs and vampire repellent impossible to resist, Business Insider's London bureau decided to drop in on Goop's new outpost to check out its most outrageous wares.

Scroll down to see what we found.

Goop's London pop-up is located on Westbourne Grove in leafy, affluent Notting Hill — a neighbourhood made famous by Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. It will be open until January 24, 2019. Here are the most bizarre things you can buy there.

1. The Elvie pelvic floor trainer, £169 ($223) and Fur pubic hair oil, £45 ($59).

I was immediately drawn to a bright turquoise box encasing an indefinable gadget. Closer examination revealed that the gadget was a pelvic floor trainer retailing at £169 ($223). Apparently, the device is inserted like a tampon and can improve bladder control and orgasms, according to the Goop website.

I almost missed the oil that the pelvic trainer was placed next to, which turned out to be designed for pubic hair. Made with grapeseed and jojoba oils, Fur is "for those who prefer to go au naturel in the bikini area," according to the website.

2. Amethyst bottle, £78 ($103).

Above the pubic oil and pelvic trainers was a collection of water bottles with a notable addition — an obelisk-like amethyst crystal rising from the bottom like a luminous stalagmite.

For those unsatisfied by regular water, Goop's amethyst bottles claim to infuse your water with positive energy and even "enhance existing psychic abilities."

Freedom means different things to different people.

But Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that releases an annual report on freedom around the world, measures it in terms of civil liberties and political rights. 

Their annual report, Freedom in the World, "operates from the assumption that freedom for all people is best achieved in liberal democratic societies."

In 2018, more than 130 in-house and external analysts and advisers from academia, think tanks, and human rights institutions created the report by collecting data from media, research articles, government documents, and other sources. 

That data was then used to score a country's political rights on a scale of 0-40 and its civil liberties on a scale of 0-60.

Freedom House measured political rights by the degree with which a country's elections are free and fair, as well as by how much political pluralism and participation there is. Civil liberties, on the other hand, were measured by how free and independent the media is and how much freedom of expression and assembly there is.

In the ranking below, countries with a shared freedom rating were listed by alphabetical order, except for the three countries that received the top score.

Check out the 27 countries with the most freedom below:

SEE ALSO: FBI data reveals some of the most violent cities in nearly every state

27. United Kingdom

Freedom Score: 94

The United Kingdom received a score of 95 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing five civil liberties points in the freedom of expression and belief, rule of law, and individual rights categories.

26. Tuvalu

Freedom Score: 94

Tuvalu also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report. 

25. Spain

Freedom score: 94

Spain also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two political rights points under the functioning of government category, and four civil liberties points under the freedom of expression, rule of law, individual rights, and associational and organizational categories.

Are you up for a ride?

September is not an obvious time for the bicycle industry to trot out its latest, greatest offerings. Casual cyclists have usually hung up their bikes in preparation for the turn to colder weather. But Interbike is not for casual cyclists.

As the largest trade show of its kind in the western hemisphere, this year’s edition of Interbike saw some 15,000 bicycle professionals flock to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in Reno, Nevada. This was a big change, as the show had been hosted in Las Vegas for the previous 16 years, but attendees seemed undeterred. The sundry crowd included shop owners, gear manufacturers, and bike devotees of all stripes. Packed into 650,000 square feet of convention floor, Interbike once again granted attendees the opportunity to see what their fellow cycling nuts are up to in different corners of the industry.

We attended three days of the week-long show and got to know the convention floor rather well. Here are the coolest gadgets and cycling gear we saw at Interbike 2018.

CBD sports supplements were a major theme of the show.

“CBD” is shorthand for cannabidiol, the non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana linked to pain relief and post-workout recovery. One of the more popular companies in the space is Floyd's of Leadville, which sells powders that are meant to be added to water as an easy means to get CBD in your system.

The company is backed by Floyd Landis, the former professional cyclist at the center of the 2006 doping scandal that cost him a Tour de France victory. Now Landis is selling “drugs” to cyclists and other athletes in search of legal, natural pain relief.

The other dominant theme of the show was electric bicycles, and German company Riese & Muller makes some of the sharpest-looking models out there.

Their components come from all over the world, but everything is assembled in Germany to the company’s exacting standards.

They offer a number of different form factors for different cycling needs. This pedal-assisted electric cargo bike could carry two small children as easily as it could a load of groceries.

A rainforest is thriving in one of the most unlikely places: Amazon's campus in downtown Seattle. 

It's called the Spheres, and it's a trio of massive glass domes that sit amid Amazon's business center. The Spheres are intended to serve as a space for Amazon employees to work and collaborate with their colleagues, all while relaxing among flora and fauna from across the globe. 

The Spheres officially opened earlier this year and are part of the $4 billion construction of Amazon's Seattle headquarters. 

Business Insider got a chance to wander around the Spheres during a recent visit to Seattle. Here's what they're like inside. 

SEE ALSO: Amazon's latest onslaught of hardware proves it won't stop until it reaches every aspect of your life

The Spheres sit adjacent to Amazon's Day 1 tower, a 521-foot-tall skyscraper in the heart of downtown Seattle. There are technically three spheres, although they're all fused together.

The largest sphere, the one in the middle, is 90 feet high and 130 feet wide. Amazon used 620 tons of steel, 12 million pounds of concrete, and 2,642 glass panes to build the Spheres.

Source: Business Insider

Amazon broke ground on the building in June 2015, and it took nearly two and a half years to complete.

Source: Amazon

• Business Insider spoke to Will Corby, Head of Coffee at Pact, to find out what bad habits we're keeping.
• He said people should treat coffee like vegetables and bread rather than a long-term product.
• He also explained why cheap instant coffee should be a red flag.

Whether it's choosing the wrong glass for your wine or abiding by old-school whisky rules, we make mistakes every day when it comes to how we eat and drink.

And buying and making coffee is no exception.

To find out what we're doing wrong when we buy, order, and drink it, Business Insider spoke to Will Corby, head of coffee at Pact Coffee, a London startup that delivers freshly roasted and ground coffee by post.

Corby has been working in the coffee industry for 12 years, has won and judged global barista awards, ran his own coffee shops, and also has experience roasting.

"For the past 12 years, I've specialised in the absolute pinnacle of coffee quality and optimising the process of growing it, shipping it, importing it, brewing it," he said. 

He's also been a head judge — appointed by the Colombian government — for the Colombian National Quality Competition for the past two years.

Now at Pact Coffee, he works on relationships with coffee founders to "develop practices, and increase quality and production in a sustainable manner," he said.

"We want to show the coffee in the best light we can, brew the coffee in the best possible way, [and] provide it to [people] in a way that makes it easy."

However, he said there's a lot of steps that go into making sure people have a good cup of coffee every day — and there are plenty of things you can do to make sure you're getting the most out of your java.

SEE ALSO: The biggest mistake people make when drinking wine is choosing the wrong glass — here's exactly how to drink Bordeaux, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and pinot noir

SEE ALSO: The 3 mistakes people make when buying, ordering, and drinking whisky — and what to do instead

1. Not buying it fresh like you would vegetables or bread...

"If you walk into a supermarket in the UK, coffee is treated like a dried fruit," Cory said. "You find it in an aisle with cereal, dried peas, long-life things."

However, he explained, coffee isn’t really a long-life product.

"One of the key things to explore is to drink your coffee really fresh," he said. "Think about it like fresh bread or vegetables."

One of the ways to do this is through a service like Pact, which sends out the coffee the day after it's been roasted, or from a local coffee shop or roaster.

2. ...Then keeping it for longer than a month

Coffee in the UK tends to be sold in 250g bags, according to Corby, which typically makes 13, 14, or 15 cups of coffee.

"That's about two-week supply if you drink it every day," he said, the ideal timeframe.

"You could be drinking it up to a month after it's been ground, but you’ll notice a drop off in the quality," he said. "After a month, it will begin to taste stale."

He added that every time you open and close the bag, you’re "allowing the aromatics to escape," meaning your coffee is losing its flavour.

3. Not making sure your grind size is consistent

You can usually buy whole beans or ground coffee suited for a cafetiere, drip, or a stove-top.

While this means you can successfully brew coffee in any of these methods, he said getting a consistent grind size is the real way to get a "really good brew" out of any method.

"Relatively small particles are going to over-extract, and make coffee taste more bitter than it should," he said.

Meanwhile, he added that large particles "add a [taste] that feels like acidity, which isn’t very pleasant."

A "mish-mash" of both will provide "an astringent flavour," according to Corby.

"You need to buy coffee that is ground quite specifically for the brew method you’re going to use to do it," he said.  "Once you have particles your own size, brew the coffee."

No matter where in the world you live, it's easy to assume that Michelin-starred dining should be reserved for splurge-worthy special occasions only — and that even then, it may drain your savings.

However, this is no longer the case, and there are actually some affordable options if you know where and when to go.

Booking platform Traveloka conducted research into the 50 cheapest Michelin-starred meals in the world— and it found that there are reasonable options all over the planet, starting from just $2.20.

In order to produce the list, the site used the official Michelin website for each country covered by the guide in order to find the cheapest one and two-star restaurants. It then ranked them by the price of an individual meal, whether it was an the cheapest main à la carte dish available or a set menu.

According to Traveloka, a meal at the world's most expensive restaurant — Ibiza's Sublimation — would cost the same as a meal in all 50 of the restaurants on this list combined.

Scroll down to see the 50 most affordable Michelin-starred restaurants on the planet, ranked by price of the cheapest à la carte dish or set menu, from most expensive to cheapest.

Note: All meal options and local prices are accurate as of June 2018, while all exchange rates are accurate as of August 2018.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best restaurants in the world in 2018

50. Dill, Reykjavík, Iceland — $109.50

The most expensive meal on the list comes from Iceland's Dill — and it's a set menu for 11,900 Icelandic króna ($109.50).

49. Galt, Oslo, Norway — $103.90

This set menu is rather high-end, but in the city of Oslo, 865 Norwegian krone ($103.90) is as good as it's going to get for Michelin-starred dining.

48. Mathias Dahlgren-Matbaren, Stockholm, Sweden — $87.50

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A modern Nordic à la carte dish from this Stockholm restaurant will cost you 795 Swedish krona, or $87.50.

Week 5 of the college football season is here, and that means another Saturday of non-stop action.

Like most weekends in the fall, there is no shortage of games to choose from. But even though it is still early in the season, we already have a sense of which teams are in the playoff hunt and which games are the most important.

This week we have four head-t0-head matchups of Top-25 teams, one ranked team on the road, and two contenders that need to make a statement. All the games have playoff implications.

Here are the can't-miss college football games to watch this weekend.

Syracuse @ (3) Clemson

Network and Time: ABC, 12:00 p.m. ET

Records: Both teams are 4-0

CFB Playoff Power Rankings: Clemson (3)

Why it is important: Clemson made a change at quarterback and freshman Trevor Lawrence will be making his first start. Lawrence has been the better quarterback this season, but now that senior Kelly Bryant intends to redshirt and transfer after the season, there is no more room for error or injury.

(12) West Virginia @ (25) Texas Tech

Network and Time: ESPN, 12:00 p.m. ET

Records: West Virginia (3-0), Texas Tech (3-1)

CFB Playoff Power Rankings: West Virginia (13), Texas Tech (20)

Why it is important: Texas Tech thumped Oklahoma State on the road a week ago to get into the Big 12 title race. Now they have to do it again. The loser of this game is likely out of the playoff picture. 

Baylor @ (6) Oklahoma

Network and Time: ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET

Records: Baylor (3-1), Oklahoma (4-0)

CFB Playoff Power Rankings: Oklahoma (5)

Why it is important: The Sooners needed overtime to beat Army. Luckily for the Sooners, hardly anybody saw the game with the only broadcast on pay-per-view. People still saw the score, and now OU needs to show once again that they are the class of the Big 12.

• Recently, Americans have been moving to warmer climates, more affordable areas, and better job opportunities.
• Because of those long-term patterns, as well as the recent period of economic recovery, cities in some parts of the country have lost tens of thousands of residents.
• These are the 50 US cities that have had the largest net decline in population in the last decade.

Each year, roughly 40 million Americans, or about 14% of the US population, move at least once. Much of that movement includes younger people relocating within cities, but it is trends of Americans moving to warmer climates, more affordable areas, and better job opportunities that have largely determined migration patterns in recent decades.

Because of those long-term patterns, as well as the recent period of economic recovery, cities in some parts of the country have lost tens of thousands of residents.

To find the 50 US metropolitan areas that have had the largest net decline in population as a result of migration between 2010 and 2017, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed population figures from the US Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program.

The 50 cities where the most people are moving away from can primarily be found in the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast, particularly in states like Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and New York. Among the cities where people are leaving in droves are places such as Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, New York, and Los Angeles.

William Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy research group, explained that these cities that have been losing thousands of residents due to migration are part of the long-term trend of movement from the Northeast and the Midwest to warmer climates, a trend that has increased in recent years.

"The story of the broader migration pattern in the US is from Snow Belt to Sun Belt," Frey said. "That migration has slowed a little bit in the early part of the decade, when we were still dealing with the aftermath of the recession, but it's coming back."

SEE ALSO: These are the most popular dog breeds in the US, according to the American Kennel Club

SEE ALSO: 7 Companies That Changed Names To Save Their Brand

SEE ALSO: 8 Companies That Were Ruined By Their Founders

50. Fairbanks, Alaska

Population decrease due to migration, 2010-2017: -7,011
Population change, 2010-2017: +2.2% (97,585 to 99,703)
Natural growth, 2010-2017: 12,364 births, 3,417 deaths
Median home value: $226,900

49. Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Population decrease due to migration, 2010-2017: -7,070
Population change, 2010-2017: -7.4% (143,674 to 133,054)
Natural growth, 2010-2017: 9,624 births, 13,203 deaths
Median home value: $93,400

48. Hinesville, Georgia

Population decrease due to migration, 2010-2017: -7,171
Population change, 2010-2017: +3.2% (77,919 to 80,400)
Natural growth, 2010-2017: 12,218 births, 3,030 deaths
Median home value: $133,600

President Donald Trump enacted tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports Monday, prompting Beijing to follow through with retaliatory taxes on $60 billion worth of American items. The two countries had already placed tariffs on $50 billion worth of each other's products. 

The move was part of a broader effort by the Trump administration, which has also imposed duties on Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, to reform trade practices perceived as unfair. In a statement, Trump asserted tariffs will ultimately help protect Americans from Chinese actions that "plainly constitute a grave threat to the long-term health and prosperity of the United States economy."

But economists and public officials warn import taxes will cause financial strain for American companies and consumers, pushing up costs and reducing access to foreign markets. The US Chamber of Commerce, a private lobbying group, said in a report that 14 states could suffer "extremely significant damage" after the latest round of tariffs. Here are their results, drawn from US Department of Commerce data.

SEE ALSO: THE BIG ONE: Trump slams China with tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods, taking the trade war to the next level

Hawaii

Total exports threatened by trade war: $94 million

Total exports to China targeted by retaliatory tariffs: $93 million (98.9%)

Total jobs supported by global trade: 205,800

3 hardest hit exports to China: Petroleum oil, hydrocarbon mixtures, light oils

South Dakota

Total exports threatened by trade war: $129 million

Total exports to China targeted by retaliatory tariffs: $14 million (10.9%)

Total jobs supported by global trade: 130,000

3 hardest hit exports to China: Whey, offal, milk and cream

Idaho

Total exports threatened by trade war: $192 million

Total exports to China targeted by retaliatory tariffs: $43 million (22.4%)

Total jobs supported by global trade: 202,200

3 hardest hit exports to China: Whey, peas, products of natural milk constituents

• Costco membership can go to some people's heads, according to workers.
• Business Insider reached out to 49 Costco employees to find out what they wish they could tell shoppers but can't.
• Common requests were to control your kids, hang up your phone, and help unload the cart.

Costco membership comes with some obvious perks — namely, access to the retail chain and its food court.

But according to dozens of Costco workers who spoke with Business Insider, being a member doesn't entitle you to do whatever you want.

While Costco made Glassdoor's list of best places to work in 2017, employees still had several complaints about shoppers' rude and inconvenient behavior.

Business Insider spoke to 49 Costco employees about the things they want to tell members but can't. Some of their responses focused on obvious problems, like members being mean and inconsiderate. But some of the tips were more instructive.

Here's what they had to say.

SEE ALSO: 8 Costco food court menu items employees swear by

DON'T MISS: Costco employees share the 7 best parts of working at the retail chain with a cult-like following

SEE ALSO: Costco employees pick the 11 most surprising items the wholesale retailer sells

Have your membership card ready at the door

"Concentrate on handing me your membership card instead of telling me a story," a Costco employee in Minnesota told Business Insider. "I can listen to your story as I do whatever you need me to do, but I can't do that until I have your membership card."

Don't trash the warehouse

A Costco employee from Arizona told Business Insider that they wanted to tell members to stop leaving "sample cups all over the floor.""Don't be rude," the employee said. "Clean after yourself."

Put back items you've picked up

"Please put back that item that you just threw there," a Costco worker from California told Business Insider. "It doesn't belong there."

Eight other Costco employees also told Business Insider that they judged members who left products strewn about the store.

• As Business Insider's international correspondent, I've spent the past six months traveling through Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Greece, Israel, and Russia, among other places.
• Most countries these days have homegrown apps that are specifically tailored to the needs of the people who live there.
• Knowing which apps are most used when visiting a country can make your trip more efficient and seamless. I decided it would be fun to reveal the homegrown apps I used in each country I visited.
• Among the many, many apps I used were WeChat, KakaoTalk, Naver Maps, Go-Jek, and Grab.

SEE ALSO: I've been traveling the world for 6 months, and these are the apps I can't live without

Anywhere: ExpressVPN ($12.95/month)

If you plan on traveling to China, Russia, or any other country with a limited internet, plan on getting ExpressVPN. VPNs, or virtual private networks, create a secure internet tunnel connecting where you are with some other place on the network, like the US. If you want to get over China's Great Firewall, VPNs are the way to do it.

ExpressVPN is not the cheapest VPN around but, in my experience, it's the fastest and most reliable.

Download ExpressVPN »

Anywhere: Google Translate (free)

Yes, Google Translate can teach you how to say "Nǐ hǎo"— but did you know you can download entire languages for offline translation, or hold it up to signs or menus for instant translation?

Download Google Translate »

Hong Kong: OpenRice (free)

The quality of restaurant and other small business recommendations in any place you visit depends entirely on having an active community for a particular app. OpenRice doesn't have the best interface in the world, but it is what Hong Kongers use most to find that perfect bowl of noodles.

• Oprah Winfrey's net worth is $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.
• She spends her fortune on property across the globe, a private jet, vacations for her friends and staff, and investments in health and wellness-oriented companies.
• Winfrey also donates time and money to a variety of philanthropic causes.

Oprah Winfrey came from humble beginnings— now she's worth $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

So what exactly does she do with all that cash?

We took a look at Winfrey's spending habits over the last few decades, and learned that she's got property across the globe and a private jet — but she also supports a range of philanthropic causes. And she's been known to take her friends and staff on lavish vacations, including "glamping" in Yosemite and a 10-day cruise.

Find out more about how Winfrey spends her money:

SEE ALSO: The life and career of Oprah Winfrey, who was nominated for an Oscar and lives in a $52 million estate nicknamed 'The Promised Land'

Oprah Winfrey is a media mogul, a philanthropist, and an actress.

Her current net worth is $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

Source: Forbes

Winfrey spends her fortune many ways, purchasing real estate across the globe, investing in businesses, and supporting philanthropic causes.

• To find the best places to visit in November 2018, Business Insider looked at climate data, cultural calendars, and peak travel times.
• November is outside peak tourism season for most destinations, meaning you can save a bundle on airfare and hotels and won't have to battle throngs of tourists.
• The best places to visit in November include the home of the breathtaking Lantern Festival in Thailand, foliage-rich Boston, and a "strange and alien landscape" in Namibia.

November is firmly outside of peak tourism season for many of the top destinations in the world.

But that's exactly it's the right time for an end-of-year vacation. Between the thinning crowds and the cash you'll save on hotels and airfare, there are plenty of reasons why you should be looking at a November getaway.

We looked at airfare trends, climate data, and cultural calendars to select 13 vacation spots that are some of the best places to visit in November. They include the home of a spiritual lantern festival in Thailand, a city where you can catch the end of New England's foliage season, and a "strange and alien landscape" in Southern Africa that has to be seen to be believed.

SEE ALSO: The 13 best places to visit in October for every type of traveler

DON'T MISS: The 13 best places to visit in September for every type of traveler

Boston, Massachusetts

Visit Boston in November and you'll catch the tail end of fall foliage season. Boston Common and the adjacent Public Garden are two especially popular places to see the stunning reds, yellows, and oranges.

If you can withstand the crisp New England temperatures, November is the perfect time to take a stroll around this hotbed of American history. And the weekend before Thanksgiving, there's no better place to visit than nearby Plymouth, the birthplace of the holiday, for its annual America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration.

San Diego, California

San Diego is by no means a summer-only destination.

In fact, November may be the one of the best months to visit this laid-back California city — the weather remains in the 60s and 70s, you'll save a bundle on hotels and airfare, and the summertime crowds will have long departed.

It may be a tad too breezy for a day at the beach, but if events like San Diego Beer Week, the San Diego Jazz Fest, and the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival are more your speed, then November is the month for you.

Kauai, Hawaii

November is one of the cheapest times of the year to fly to Hawaii (although February takes top honors in that department).

Like the rest of Hawaii, Kauai's climate barely changes from month to month, with highs in the mid-70s Fahrenheit. 

What sets Kauai apart is its lush scenery and serene beauty. You won't find too many mega-resorts or throngs of tourists here, just stunning wildlife, friendly people, and good vibes.

Do you remember the stunning photographs from U-2 Dragon Lady pilot and friend Ross Franquemont we published a few days ago?

Few days after we published those incredible shots, Ross deployed for an overseas mission. Although we don’t know anything about the purpose of the mission, we know that he saw the Northern Lights: indeed, the amazing images you can find in this post were taken by Ross during his mission from the UK.

“I had no idea how fast the aurora moved and changed. It danced around, changing shape several times a second. That made it a challenge for the photographer in a spacesuit sitting in shaking metal can moving 500 mph,” Ross commented after shooting these shots.

Check them out below:

SEE ALSO: An Air Force pilot took a U-2 spy plane to the edge of space — and the photos are incredible

You can see the ring of the Aurora as it sweeps around the magnetic pole.

The Northern Lights appear to be extremely bright in this shot.

The Dragon Lady’s left wing and Aurora Borealis.

Anderson Cooper of CNN, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, and Sean Hannity of Fox News are three of the biggest primetime anchors in media today.

Each anchor and their respective cable news network takes a unique and different angle on the news of the day during primetime programming. As a result, their audiences can come away with different perspectives on what's happening in the US today.

Because of the role and platform that each host has, all three are able to shape and influence what viewers believe is the most important news in the world.

For a week, we watched all of their shows to compare what news each led their program off with. Here's how the three primetime cable news anchors opened up their shows every night from September 10-14.

SEE ALSO: Newspaper front pages from where Trump held his rally one night perfectly illustrate how Americans see the news differently

DON'T MISS: 11 iconic newspaper front pages from world-famous events

Monday, September 10: Anderson Cooper, CNN

Cooper, who frequently opens his 8 p.m. ET show with his "Keeping Them Honest" segment, led off his show discussing the White House's response to the anonymous op-ed in the New York Times and its search to find out who wrote it.

He also talked about Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear: Trump in the White House", and how President Donald Trump and his administration were responding to the book.

Monday, September 10: Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Maddow, who comes on the air on MSNBC at 9 p.m. ET, opened up her show discussing the developments on Hurricane Florence. She was the first of the three anchors sampled to discuss the hurricane at the top of her show, and the only one to discuss the storm at the top of the show all five nights that week.

She also talked about: the Republican attempt to set up a confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh later in the week, the Democrats' attempts to delay the vote, the court proceedings surrounding Russian agent Maria Butina, the White House's response to Woodward's forthcoming book, former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos being sentenced to prison for 14 days, and Trump's expected declassification of Justice Department surveillance documents.

Monday, September 10: Sean Hannity, Fox News

Hannity, who comes on at 9 p.m. ET on Fox News, led off his show with his well-known "Opening Monologue" discussing the Democrats' desire to impeach Trump if they win back the House of Representatives in the midterm elections this fall.

He also addressed policies Democratic candidates would support if elected to Congress, the impact the midterm elections could have on the Trump agenda, and the alleged bias and corruption of the "deep state" in the Justice Department and FBI toward Trump.

"If it's in the game, it's in the game." 

For more than two decades, video game studio EA Sports seared this slogan, which plays in the opening credits of nearly every one of its games, into the hearts and mind of millions of fans. With each new season it seems more true; sports games reflect everything fans expect from their favorite sports, no matter how small the detail.

Unfortunately, that also includes advertisements.

Sports games have adopted the same penchant for aggressive advertising as their real-world counterparts. As the games have grown more complex, so have the ads. 

Here's how sports video games have become a vehicle for sponsors:

This social media-style replay from 'NBA Live 19' not-so-subtly features the Jordan Jumpman in the background.

In trying to build a product that feels identical to the real thing, sports video games have fully embraced the sponsorship culture of professional sports. Basketball games feel like the worst perpetrators.

Take-Two Interactive's "NBA 2K19" and EA's "NBA Live 19" each include extensive sponsorships from Nike and its Jordan brand. Both games feature Jordan and Nike clothing worn by the virtual players, and Jumpman logos are emblazoned across arenas and backgrounds.

As part of its career mode, "NBA Live 19" even has players compete in virtual versions of real-life Jordan-branded events, such as Quai 54, a Parisian streetball tournament.

You can't miss the Gatorade coolers during 60-second timeouts.

As in live sports, most of the ads in sports games are in the background. But it feels different seeing them in a video game. In a video-game context, it's difficult to ignore that the Gatorade-sponsored timeout happens to feature a pair of Gatorade coolers right behind your team, with the logos facing the camera.

Even during the story mode cut scenes in "NBA 2K19," I found myself distracted by the large brand logos on my character's clothes.

Jumpman even leaped into my in-game text messages.

If the games restricted the ads to just the same places you'd find them in actual sports events, they wouldn't be so annoying. But they don't.

The games also throw in lots of branded apparel, such as designer sneakers and clothing. So, regardless of how you choose to play, the ads are omnipresent.