If you're in the market for a new phone right now, you have a tough choice to make: Apple's iPhone XR, or the Google Pixel 3?

The two phones have a lot in common. They both come in fun colors, have standout cameras, pack a ton of impressive features in a somewhat affordable package (or, at least, more affordable than some other options), and are both available to buy in stores now.

In fact, the devices are so similar, the biggest question for most people will be not about the hardware, but about the operating system software: Apple's iOS vs. Google's Android. 

We can't help you make that decision, but we can help you parse out the major similarities and differences between the two phones. 

Here's how the iPhone XR compares to the Pixel 3:

SEE ALSO: Here's how Google's new $800 Pixel 3 compares to the iPhone XS

The iPhone XR is slightly cheaper than the Pixel 3: it starts at $749, while the Pixel 3 starts at $799.

The Pixel 3 started shipping October 18, while the iPhone XR started shipping October 26. 

The iPhone XR comes in more colors than the Pixel 3.

The iPhone XR comes in six colors: black, white, yellow, coral, blue, and red. 

The Pixel 3 comes in three colors, which Google has given quirky names: Just Black, Clearly White, and Not Pink. 

The iPhone XR comes in more storage options than the Pixel 3.

You can get an iPhone XR in three storage sizes: 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB. 

The Pixel 3 comes in similar sizes, but there are only two to choose from — 64 GB and 128 GB. 

You probably don't think about it every time you crack open a cold one, but beer is one of the oldest bedrocks of human civilization, brewed all over the world for longer than recorded history.

From the Agricultural Revolution to the American Revolution, beer has been around to quench the thirsts of virtually all classes of all societies. Here are some facts you may not have known about the history of beer.

Beer dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, and held an important dietary role.

Archaeologists have dated the practice of beer brewing as far back as 3500 to 3100 BCE, in what is today Iran.

It's believed to have been safer to drink than water, because harmful microorganisms were boiled out, and it contained nutrients absent from other drinks, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia.

Brewing was also a religious practice, related to the Sumerian goddess Ninkasi.

Ninkasi was worshipped as the goddess of beer, and the "Hymn to Ninkasi" was a worship song-slash-beer recipe thought to be passed down orally.

In recent years, modern scholars have recreated the ancient brewing process based on a clay tablet that recorded the hymn – and apparently, it wasn't half bad.

AlphaBeta head brewer Michaela Charles who, along with beer and wine expert Susan Boyle, has spent the last six months trying to brew an accurate recreation of Ancient Egyptian beer told Vice's Munchies that "The Ancient Egyptian method is: you have grain in cold water. You have grain in hot water. You heat up the one in hot water. You mix the two together. You rinse into a vessel, and you ferment it." he continued. "There's no boiling, there's no sterilizing. You're really flying blind with the Egyptian process."

The straw was invented by the Sumerians for drinking beer.

As sophisticated as ancient brewing practices were, there was still a chance for sediment to end up in a drinker's pint, so Sumerians, Babylonians, and Egyptians were known to drink beer with straws made of reeds or gold, depending upon one's social class, according to Mercury News.

Disney around the holidays is even more amazing than it is year-round.

From the rides that get a spooky makeover during Halloween to "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party," Disney goes all out with its holiday celebrations.

Keep scrolling to see the magical makeovers Disney gets between Halloween and New Year's Eve.

Disney gets a complete makeover for the holidays.

The first "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" didn't take place until 1995.

They have incredible Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's celebrations.

"Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" began in 1983, and was the first big holiday that Disney World celebrated.

During Halloween, the entire park is transformed at night.

The whole park gets covered in pumpkins, spooky projections and festive lights.

• Studies have shown that cannabidiol (CBD) can reduce anxiety in people with generalized social anxiety disorder.
• Here’s author Jennifer Still’s experience of trying out various CBD products to help with her anxiety.

Generalized anxiety disorder affects more than 6.8 million people in the US, and one in six Americans are on prescribed psychiatric drugs to treat the condition or another mental health issue.

While I’ve never been officially diagnosed with anxiety, working in a high-stress job and being an anxiety-prone person means I have flare-ups that can leave me feeling tense, irritable, and generally unwell.

Thankfully, I don’t experience these episodes enough to warrant pharmaceutical intervention, but I did want to find a natural way to manage my anxiety when it does crop up.

After hearing positive things about cannabidiol (CBD) oil’s effect on our ability to relax and de-stress for those with generalized social anxiety disorder, I decided to give it a go. Here’s my experience.

SEE ALSO: 10 ways changing jobs made my life harder that I never saw coming

I spent a lot of time searching online for a high-quality product.

I decided to start taking CBD oil while staying in the UK, which meant that I was looking for a product made and sold in this country to purchase. It’s a legal cannabinoid in the UK, which means it’s pretty readily available online and in health shops such as Holland & Barrett.

I eventually went with a brand called LoveHemp. To start, I chose to take CBD in oil form with a 10% concentration. This is pretty middle of the road in terms of dosage, with products available in as low as 2% and as high as 40% concentrations online.

It didn’t make me spaced out, and I didn’t feel ‘high.’

A lot of people get CBD, or cannabidiol, confused with THC, the latter of which is the psychoactive element in marijuana that gets you high. They’re definitely not the same.

CBD is a separate substance which contains no THC, so you won’t get high when taking CBD as a supplement. Instead, CBD contains compounds which have shown promise for medical uses, including relief from epilepsy, arthritis, diabetes, and anxiety.

One caveat: Many of these studies have involved marijuana strains that contain both CBD and THC. That means further research on CBD alone is needed.

After my first and any subsequent dosages, it didn’t change my state of mind at all. I wasn’t groggy, wired, excitable, or “high.” I felt just like myself.

I experienced a subtle but noticeable difference in my anxiety levels.

While it wasn’t like I was 100% stress-free overnight, I did notice within a week or so of taking CBD oil — roughly six to eight drops under the tongue, held for 90 seconds and then swallowed, twice a day — that I felt less anxious and tense. Things that usually bothered me, like unanswered emails or things going wrong with work, were easier to take in stride.

It also helped that I was sleeping better at night. I hadn’t cut out caffeine or changed anything else about my lifestyle, so I can only attribute the improved ability to fall and stay asleep to the CBD oil.

However, studies have shown that CBD oil has no significant clinical effect on sleep patterns. Maybe it was a placebo effect.

As Netflix looks to increase its awards chances, the streaming giant and industry disrupter has butted heads with Hollywood traditionalists and film festivals. But it has also reeled in some of the biggest filmmakers working today, many of whom have won film's top prize: an Oscar.

Netflix's only Oscar win so far came this year for Best Documentary for "Icarus," but its chances are higher than ever entering the 2018-19 awards season. Acclaimed filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, who won a directing Oscar in 2014 for "Gravity" and is also known for "Children of Men," directed what is expected to be one of Netflix's biggest theatrical releases ever: "Roma."

But not every establishment figure has embraced the streamer. Netflix premiered six movies at this year's Venice Film Festival after pulling out of Cannes because of a new rule that disqualified any film without a theatrical distribution in France. It has also faced the ire of respected filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, who said the streamer only belongs at the Emmys.

Still, Netflix hasn't let the controversy get in its way. It has worked with "The Social Network" and "Gone Girl" director David Fincher on its original series "House of Cards" and "Mindhunter." Paul Greengrass, director of "Jason Bourne" and "United 93," directed the real-life drama "22 July," which is on Netflix now. And Netflix acquired Andy Serkis' "Jungle Book" reimagining, "Mowgli," in July.

Big filmmakers aren't afraid to do business with Netflix — and those aren't even the Oscar winners.

Below are 7 Oscar-winning directors who are bringing their talents to Netflix:

SEE ALSO: Disney is reportedly trying to reboot 'Pirates of the Caribbean' — and this chart shows why

Damien Chazelle

Oscar win: Best Director — 2017 ("La La Land")

Netflix project: Chazelle will executive produce and direct two episodes of a Netflix musical drama series called "The Eddy," which will be his first TV project. 

Description:"A jazz club in the heart of multicultural Paris faces danger in this musical drama series from 'La La Land' director Damien Chazelle."

Joel and Ethan Coen

Oscar wins: Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay — 2008 ("No Country for Old Men"); Best Original Screenplay — 1997 ("Fargo")

Netflix project: The Coens debuted "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" at this year's Venice Film Festival. Originally a Netflix series, it became an anthology film with six stories. It comes to Netflix November 16.

Description: "Saddle up for six tales about the American frontier from the unique minds of Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote and directed this anthology."

Alfonso Cuarón

Oscar wins: Best Director and Film Editing — 2014 ("Gravity")

Netflix project: Netflix's best chance at entering the Oscar race, "Roma," will arrive on the streaming service and on over 100 screens worldwide later this year. It's one of Netflix's biggest pushes yet for theatrical distribution as it tries to raise its Oscar chances.

Description: "A story that chronicles a tumultuous year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s."

Amazon on Thursday posted third-quarter earnings that beat on profits but missed on sales. Shares are now under pressure, as investors worry about its softer-than-anticipated revenue forecast for the coming holiday season.

The tech giant earned $5.75 a share, well above the $3.11 expected by Wall Street analysts. But the company's $56.6 billion sales fell short of the $57.1 billion that was anticipated.

More disappointingly, the retailer said it will generate $3 to $5.54 earnings per share on $66.5 billion to $72.5 billion sales. Analysts were expecting $5.79 profits per share out of $73.8 billion revenues. 

The retailer remains confident in its business.

“We’re not slowing down – Amazon Business is adding customers rapidly, including large educational institutions, local governments, and more than half of the Fortune 100," said CEO Jeff Bezos in a press release. He added that surging profits from its North American retail and Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing businesses helped boost its bottom line.

Nearly every analyst across Wall Street was impressed by Amazon's solid margins across all segments and reiterated bullish views on the stock.

Here's what Wall Street is saying about the quarter:

Jefferies — 'Every rockstar needs a break'

Price target: $2300 (from $2260)

Rating: Buy

RBC Capital Markets — 'Amazon remains an Internet staple'

Price target: $2300 (from $2100)

Rating: Outperform

Morgan Stanley — 'Revenue may be slowing but profitability is improving'

Price target: $2400 

Rating: Overweight

"Amazon revenue may be slowing but profitability is improving even through investment for re-acceleration," said Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak.

"We see any share price weakness as an issue of timing (in a tough tape for growth stocks) as we wait for Amazon to further penetrate these new markets to accelerate growth."

• On Wednesday, Consumer Reports released its annual list ranking auto brands by reliability.
• Volvo ranked last with an average reliability score of 22 out of a possible 100, and Cadillac ranked second-to-last with a reliability score of 32.
• American brands accounted for nine of the 10 least reliable brands.

On Wednesday, Consumer Reports released its annual list ranking auto brands by reliability. The publication created the list by analyzing survey responses on over 500,000 vehicles, and this year's list included 29 brands.

Volvo and Cadillac found themselves at the bottom of the list. Volvo ranked last with an average reliability score of 22 out of a possible 100, and Cadillac ranked second-to-last with a reliability score of 32. Last year, Volvo finished 23rd and Cadillac was 27th.

Consumer Reports said multiple Volvo vehicles, like the X60 SUV, XC90 SUV, and S90 sedan were reported to have issues with their display screens and infotainment systems, including freezes and a failure to display. The publication said the X60 also had reported issues with its climate system and rattles inside its cabin, while the S90 also experienced reported problems relating to engine knocking or pinging. Of the three Volvo models it analyzed, Consumer Reports rated the X60 as Volvo's most reliable vehicle and the S90 as the brand's least reliable vehicle.

"The infotainment systems on most models are not very intuitive," the publication said. "Reliability remains a concern."

Consumer Reports said that, of the six Cadillac models it analyzed, only one — the XTS sedan — received an above-average rating. The other five earned below-average ratings. The publication said the CT6 sedan and Escalade SUV were reported to have rough shifting, while respondents noted issues with the in-vehicle electronics in other models.

"GM's luxury brand remains troubled," the publication said.

Buick experienced the largest decrease from last year to this year, falling 11 spots to a 19th-place ranking.

American brands accounted for nine of the 10 least reliable brands. The highest-rated American brand was Ford, which ranked 18th.

These are the 14 least reliable car brands and their average reliability scores.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most reliable car brands of 2018

14. Volkswagen — 47

Least reliable model: Atlas 

13. Mercedes-Benz — 47

Least reliable model: E-Class

12. Ford — 45

Least reliable model: Mustang

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.

Going to a different store for every item on your holiday shopping list can be a huge headache, so it's important to start with stores that have a wide selection of gifts.

Target is a one-stop-shop year-round, so it's a super convenient destination during this time of year. On top of that, the retailer is offering free two-day shipping when you spend $35 or more or use your REDcard. After November 1, you won't need to reach the minimum to take advantage. 

To help you shop, we rounded up 30 awesome gifts to buy at Target. With everything from bikes and toys to tech to smart home gadgets, and even kitchen appliances and beauty products, you'll be sure to find something for everyone on your list, regardless of your budget.

Shop at Target now, or keep reading for our top picks.

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here.

An instant film camera

Fujifilm Instax Mini 9, $69.99

The Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 is a modern take on an old-school way to capture life's moments instantly. Instead of using Instagram, this pocket-sized film camera will print your photos on demand as a fun alternative.

An electronic ice cream maker

Cuisinart Electronic Ice Cream Maker, $119.99

Since ice cream makers aren't a kitchen essential, there's a good chance the foodie or chef on your shopping list doesn't own one yet. The Cuisinart Electronic Ice Cream Maker can be used to make up to two quarts of frozen yogurt, ice cream, gelato, and sorbet in minutes.

A Nintendo Super NES Classic Edition for throwback gaming

Nintendo Super NES Classic Edition, $79.99

Loaded with 21 classic Super NES games, this console will bring a nostalgic feeling to any gamer from the '80s and '90s.

Going out to eat is one of life's great pleasures. However, your dining experience might be dampened by a poor menu choice. Ordering the wrong thing at a restaurant can result in everything from a disappointing dish to a bad case of food poisoning.

Here are a few foods you should never order at restaurants, according to experts.

Raw sprouts might be packed with vitamins, but they could also be brimming with bacteria.

Raw sprouts sound pretty healthy – these tender greens are crunchy, fresh, and full of nutrients. However, they might also be crawling with dangerous pathogens.

According to HuffPost, raw sproutscarry a higher risk of foodborne illness because they are grown indoors in warm, moist conditions in large quantities. One germy sprout can easily contaminate an entire batch, and rinsing them before eating won't kill bacteria that have penetrated into the sprout seed itself.

In fact,one study found dangerous bacteria on 57% of tested commercially sold alfalfa, mung bean, and wheat seeds.

You're basically throwing money away when you order truffle fries, experts say.

Sorry to disappoint you, but it turns out that truffle oilisn't even made from actual truffles.

According to Serious Eats, the truffle oil that restaurants drizzle on dishes is actually made using a chemical called 2,4-Dithiapentane, which is either derived naturally or extracted from petroleum. That compound is mixed with olive oil to produce an oil that smells similar to truffles but doesn't actually contain any.

If you're looking for a taste of the real thing, you're better off opting for dishes that contain whole or slivered truffles and skipping the imitation oil.

A drink with a fancy garnish might lead to a bout of food poisoning.

If you love an eye-catching cocktail sporting an extravagant garnish, you might be more at risk of catching something nasty.

"Most of the time, [garnishes] are kept at room temperature and are being handled continually by multiple individuals, including patrons if they are sitting at the bar," microbiologist Jason Tetro told Global News.

Tetro warned that garnishes can carry everything from gastrointestinal diseases to mumps and that you should avoid putting them in your mouth.

Distressingly,one study found that ice and lemon slices frequently harbored E. coli. To be on the safe side, ask that your drink is left un-garnished.

The federal government's ranking of which volcanoes pose the most threat to the US has been more updated for the first time since 2005.

Each one gets two scores: an overall threat score and an aviation threat score.

The overall threat score looks at 24 factors including how often it erupts, how powerful its eruptions are, the nearby population size, and how many people have been killed or evacuated before.

The aviation threat score is similar but focuses on factors like how close a volcano is to airports, and which flight paths go nearby.

Here are the 20 volcanoes that post the biggest risk:

19: Iliamna Volcano, Alaska. Threat Score: 115. Aviation Threat: 34.

Avalanches are common on the volcano.

19: Mount Okmok, Alaska. Threat Score: 117. Aviation Threat: 47.

The USGS calls Mount Okmok"formidable."

18: Long Valley Caldera, California. Threat Score: 129. Aviation Threat: 29.

"Since volcanic unrest can escalate to an eruption quickly — in a few weeks, days, or less —USGS scientists are monitoring the activity closely,"the USGS said.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. 

Khashoggi, who wrote for The Washington Post and was often critical of the Saudi government, went to the consulate to obtain documents to marry his Turkish fiancée. But he never came out. 

The Saudi government's narrative on what happened to Khashoggi has taken many twists and turns since he went missing in early October.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is widely suspected of orchestrating the killing, but the Saudis have moved to distance him from the incident. 

Here's how the Saudi's story on Khashoggi's fate has shifted over time: 

SEE ALSO: Here's everything we know about the troubling disappearance and death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

The Saudis initially claimed that Khashoggi safely departed the consulate and vehemently denied allegations of harming or killing him.

The Saudis provided no proof that Khashoggi departed the consulate as they continued to issue denials for nearly three weeks.

"Mr. Khashoggi visited the consulate to request paperwork related to his marital status and exited shortly thereafter," an unnamed Saudi official told The New York Times earlier this month.

Source: The New York Times

There's a small section of land on Google Earth that wasn't updated for eight years. 

From afar, the area looks relatively insignificant. There are a few dry lake beds, scattered in an otherwise empty Nevada desert. But those lake beds are located just a few miles from the Tonopah Test Range, located within the Nellis Test and Training Range and controlled by the Department of Energy and Air Force. The land is used by the government to test highly-secretive weapons and technology.

But only one section of the Nellis Range wasn't included in Google Earth between 2008 and 2016 — this small series of lakebeds in Toonopah. The omission caught the eye of Brendan Byrne and Dhruv Mehrotra, who wrote in Motherboard about their experience trying to obtain satellite imagery of the location, and their search for an answer as to why it took eight years for the location to be updated on Google Earth.

Eventually, they were able purchase a recent satellite image of the location for $1,984.50, but were unable to share the image online due to the contract they signed with the satellite company. But on Thursday night, the pair invited those interested — including yours truly — to Brooklyn for a chance to see the satellite image up close and in person.

Here's what it was like.

First, the important context about the surrounding location: This is the Tonopah Test Range, located a few miles from the dry lake beds.

Google relies on a mixture of third-party satellite images and aerial photography for its Earth service — the company purchases the rights to use satellite and aerial images, and then stitches them together in Google Earth.

When aerial photographs can't be taken because of restricted airspace, Google buys satellite images that meet their requirements: a proper resolution, no clouds blocking the view, and correct colors. Byrne and Mehrotra found one of those-third party sellers, Apollo Mapping, and discovered and purchased images from the omitted time period that seemed to meet these requirements. 

At this point, the pair became suspicious. It almost certainly wasn't a coincidence that a United States Air Force base was the one location on Google Earth that went the longest without an update. What they weren't sure of, however, was how that happened. At the event in Brooklyn, the pair said it's not clear if the government contacted Google and requested the images to be omitted.

However, the purchase of those satellite images came with some stipulations.

Throughout the legalese that accompanied them, the pair kept coming across the phrase "For internal use only." Essentially, that meant the images could only be viewed by employees of Eyebeam, a Brooklyn art collective and co-op that Mehrotra is a resident of.  

The pair decided that they wanted to display what they had discovered, but they also didn't want to get sued. So they chose to host a showing of the images at Eyebeam, accompanied by artist renditions of the satellite images by Sebastian Gladstone, poetry by Marvin Mayfield, and discussions with Yahoo News DC bureau chief Sharon Weinberger and Mark Bradford, who owns a law firm that specializes in copyright law. 

• Melissa McCarthy begins her daily routine at 4:30 a.m., according to a New York Times profile.
• As one of Hollywood's highest-paid women, McCarthy is busy, but her daily routine is a little more normal than one might expect.
• She makes time for TV, reading, baths, and her family — but she doesn't make a whole lot of time for technology.

Melissa McCarthy is living the life — beginning at 4:30 a.m every day.

That's what time McCarthy, who made $12 million in 2018, wakes up every day to begin her "carefully curated" routine, according to a recent New York Times profile by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

As a celebrity and one of the highest-paid women in Hollywood, McCarthy's daily routine doesn't look like the everyday person's, but it's actually more normal than one might expect. Although she's often on-the-go and on set, she begins her day with TV reruns and ends it with a nightly bath. On the weekends, she spends time with her husband, Ben Falcone.

One thing McCarthy doesn't have a lot of time for? Technology. While she indulges in some reading and browsing on her iPad, she often disconnects from her phone and never makes time for emails. 

From reading the newspaper to working out, see how the 47-year-old fits it all in.

SEE ALSO: Melissa McCarthy makes $12 million a year, wakes up at 4:30 a.m., and doesn't use her phone on the weekends

DON'T MISS: A day in the life of billionaire Richard Branson, who wakes up at 5 a.m., despises ties, and drinks up to 20 cups of tea a day

McCarthy's days are "carefully curated," as well as "carefully organized" so she can take her children to school and gymnastics.

Source:New York Times, Good Housekeeping

Whether she's in her Los Angeles or Atlanta home, McCarthy rises at 4:30 a.m. That may be early, but she eases into her mornings.

Source:New York Times

If she wakes up too early, she'll watch HGTV, which she calls "mind-blowingly relaxing."

Source:Good Housekeeping

Danica Patrick is one of the most recognizable women in sports: she had a successful racing career, both in IndyCar and NASCAR, and her sponsorship with GoDaddy helped her become a household name. 

Working in a male-dominated field like racing, Patrick struggled for acceptance. But she now holds multiple records, like becoming the first and only woman to win an IndyCar race. 

Now, Patrick will be speaking at Business Insider's Ignition conference in early December. As a former racer and current entrepreneur, she'll likely have plenty to talk about. 

Here's a look at Patrick's life and career up to this point:

SEE ALSO: The 15 hottest tech jobs for Gen Z workers right now

Patrick got an early start with racing: she began go-karting at the age of 10. During her first drive, she crashed into a wall at 20 mph and caught her jacket on fire.

She wasn't scared away from the sport, however, and she continued to go-kart throughout her teenage years. She set a track record during her first year, and won multiple titles soon after beginning her racing career. 

Source: American Profile. 

When she was 16, Patrick decided to advance her racing career. She quit high school and moved to England to receive training for open-wheel racing.

She trained and raced there for three years, before eventually returning to the United States and getting signed to the Rahal Letterman Racing team. It was the start of her professional racing career in the United States.

Source: Rockford Register Star 

Patrick very quickly made a name for herself in the racing world: she was named one of TIME magazine’s Most Influential People in 2010, and became the only woman to win an IndyCar race in 2008 in Motegi, Japan.

Patrick was also the first woman to ever lead laps at both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 races.

• On Wednesday, Consumer Reports released its annual list of the 10 most reliable cars.
• The publication created the list by analyzing survey responses on more than 500,000 vehicles, and used the responses to predict which cars will create the fewest problems for their owners.
• Toyota placed seven vehicles on the list, more than any other automaker, and took the top spot with its Lexus GX SUV.
• No cars from American automakers made the list, as the other three spots were taken by Mazda, Kia, and Honda.

On Wednesday, Consumer Reports released its annual list of the 10 most reliable cars. The publication created the list by analyzing survey responses on more than 500,000 vehicles, and used the responses to predict which cars will create the fewest problems for their owners.

Toyota placed seven vehicles on the list, more than any other automaker, and took the top spot with its Lexus GX SUV. Consumer Reports said the GX was fast and quiet for an SUV, offering a smooth ride and a comfortable cabin.

Toyota and Lexus were also the top two brands on Consumer Reports' list of the most reliable car brands for the sixth consecutive year. Lexus took the top spot with an average reliability score of 78 out of 100, and Toyota ranked second with a reliability score of 76.

"Lexus is an excellent example of how technologically advanced luxury vehicles can also be very reliable," Consumer Reports said.

No vehicles from American automakers made the most reliable cars list, as the other three spots were taken by Mazda, Kia, and Honda. American automakers took six of the 10 spots on Consumer Reports' list of the least reliable cars, reflecting the poor performance of American automakers on the publication's list of the most reliable brands. American automakers accounted for nine of the 10 least reliable brands, and none placed in the top 15.

These are the 10 most reliable cars, according to Consumer Reports.

SEE ALSO: The 15 most reliable car brands of 2018

SEE ALSO: The 14 least reliable car brands of 2018

10. Toyota Highlander

9. Kia Sedona

8. Honda Fit

Long before its opening in August, the Salesforce Transit Center was a major source of controversy in San Francisco.

In the eight years since breaking ground, the center has been embroiled in a number of legal battles, including a longstanding feud with Millennium Tower, a 58-story luxury skyscraper that opened in 2009. The tower is now sinking and tilting, and its developers say the transit center is to blame. 

Meanwhile, the Salesforce Center has seen its own structural flaws: In late September, the terminal was closed due to a cracked beam on the third floor deck, generating concerns about the building's safety. 

This reality is a far cry from what developers envisioned more than a decade ago. As the Bay Area's main bus terminal, the center was once touted as the "Grand Central of the West," a place where travelers and locals could dine and shop before heading off to their next destination. 

In addition to its 100,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, the center features a 5-acre rooftop park with an 800-seat amphitheater, jogging track, and space for exercise classes and cultural events. Officials are also putting the finishing touches on a public gondola, which would transport people from the street level to the rooftop. Even the fountain is impressive, with jets that are programmed to shoot water every time a bus passes by. 

Now San Francisco supervisors worry that the project is hemorrhaging funds, while officials remain silent on when the terminal will reopen. 

Here's a timeline of everything that's gone wrong since the project's inception. 

In 1989, an earthquake damaged the old Transbay Terminal, prompting plans for reconstruction.

The building opened in 1939 as a hub for commuter and railway trains, but was converted into a bus terminal in 1958. 

Demolition began in 2010 and was completed less than a year later.

The new structure — then known as the Transbay Transit Center — was expected to open in late 2016.

Tesla on Wednesday posted a surprise third-quarter profit thanks to strong revenue generated by its Model 3 sedan.

The electric-car maker earned $2.90 a share, well above the $0.15 loss expected by Wall Street analysts. It generated $6.8 billion in sales, beating the $6.3 billion that was anticipated.

The Model 3 sedan was a huge driver for the quarter.

"Q3 2018 was a truly historic quarter for Tesla,"the company said in a press release. "Model 3 was the best-selling car in the US in terms of revenue and the 5th best-selling car in terms of volume."

The high price of the Model 3 helped increase Tesla's gross automotive margin, which resulted in an $881 million free cash flow and $3 billion cash in total for the quarter, the carmaker said. Tesla acknowledged that its Model 3 weekly average production fell short of its target.

Nearly every analyst was impressed by Tesla's ability to generate a profit, but they have mixed opinions about Tesla's sustainability in the long term.

Here's what Wall Street is saying about the quarter:

Goldman Sachs

Price target: $225

Rating: Sell

Morgan Stanley

Price target: $291

Rating: Equal weight

"While we acknowledge the significance of Tesla's very strong 3Q result, we do not believe investors will assume the company is fully self-sufficient without a more sustained period of execution," the Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said.

"The confluence of economic, competitive, regulatory, political, and technological forces may potentially challenge Tesla's status as a stand-alone entity. Whether this results in a positive or negative outcome for existing shareholders vs. the current share price is much harder to determine at this time."

JPMorgan

Price target: $225 (from $195)

Rating: Underweight

"We expect a strong positive reaction to Tesla's materially better than expected 3Q results reported Wednesday after the close, with revenue, gross margin, EPS, and — most importantly, in our view — free cash flow all tracking better than was expected," the JPMorgan analyst Ryan Brinkman said.

"Although both technology and execution risk seem substantially less than was once feared, expansion into higher-volume segments with lower price points seems fraught with greater risk relative to demand, execution, and competition. Meanwhile, valuation appears to be pricing in upside related to expansion into mass-market segments well beyond our volume forecasts for the Model 3."

Warren Buffett is the most famous value investor around.

His approach requires investors to look past the news and instead focus on the fundamentals of a company when deciding where to put their money. Simply put, value investing is the practice of investing in a company that is trading at less than its intrinsic worth and then holding onto shares until the price catches up, under the belief all companies will eventually be fairly valued.

In his 2014 letter to shareholders, Buffett laid out six criteria he applied to measure a company's fundamentals. He said he was normally interested in big companies with at least $75 million of pretax earnings; companies that could demonstrate consistent earning power and were not in need of a turnaround; companies that earned good returns on equity while using little or no debt; companies with strong management already in place; companies with simple business models, rather than those with lots of technologies that are hard to understand; and companies offer clear asking price to be acquired.

While most people don't have the wealth to acquire a whole company, they can still consider Buffett's suggestions when investing in equity markets by buying stocks that are being undervalued by the market.

Inspired by Buffett, Well Fargo analyst Colleen Hansen listed seven indicators and filtered nine stocks whose fundamentals may look attractive to Buffett.

Here are the seven indicators:

• Five-year average return on equity (ROE) greater than 15%;
• Five-year average return on invested capital (ROIC) greater than 15%;
• Debt-to-equity (D/E) less than or equal to 80% of the industry average;
• Five-year average pretax profit margin (PM) 20% higher than the industry average;
• Current price-to-earning ratios(P/E) below ten-year historical and industry average P/E ratios(by consensus);
• Current price-to-book value multiples(P/B) below historical and industry multiples;
• Current price-to-cash flow (P/CF) ratios below the industry average

And here are nine companies that Hansen thinks Buffett could target:

Altria

Ticker: (MO)

Sector: Tobacco

5-Year Average ROE: 139.8%

5-Year Average ROIC: 37.6%

D/E versus Industry D/E: 82.5% vs. 184.4%

5-year average pretax PM versus 5-year average industry PM: 57.8% vs. 30%

Current P/E versus Industry P/E: 15 vs. 18.5 

Foot Locker

5-Year Average ROE: 19.2%

5-Year Average ROIC: 18.2%

D/E versus Industry D/E: 5% vs. 19.5%

5-year average pretax PM versus 5-year average industry PM: 10.6% vs. 6.1%

Current P/E versus Industry P/E: 11 vs. 18.6

Micron Technology

5-Year Average ROE: 28.4%

5-Year Average ROIC: 19%

D/E versus Industry D/E:  11.7% vs. 43.9%

5-year average pretax PM versus 5-year average industry PM: 15.1% vs. 9.6%

Current P/E versus Industry P/E:  4.0 vs. 22.2

• The $750 million Powerball jackpot is the fourth largest prize in US history.
• Six numbers were drawn on Wednesday, but no winner was announced.
• Business Insider talked to psychologists to learn why people think they have a shot at winning, despite the near-impossible odds.

Millions of people lost out on the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot on Wednesday, with only one winning ticket sold in South Carolina. Now they're intent on trying their hand again with the $750 million Powerball jackpot, whose winner has yet to be announced. 

Those who enter have about a 1 in 292 million chance of taking home the prize, which is the fourth largest in US history.

While it may seem silly to think that we could actually win the lottery, Americans are quite fond of throwing their hat in the ring. According to CNN, the country spent around $73.5 billion on traditional lottery tickets last year— a number that climbs to $80 billion when we consider electronic lottery games.

It's not just that we're curious. Many of us actually think we have a shot. Here are a few psychological explanations as to why.

SEE ALSO: How winning the lottery affects happiness, according to psychology research

We'd rather bet on a good risk than prepare for a bad one.

When it comes to gambling, humans tend to be more optimistic than practical.  We're more inclined to take a risk if there are high earnings involved, Hans Breiter, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Northwestern, said in a statement to Business Insider. 

The lower the odds, the more important it seems.

The human mind "tends to place more importance on events that probably never will happen, such as winning a lottery," Breiter said. "In parallel, we tend to place less importance on events that absolutely will happen, such as needing medical insurance for health problems associated with aging."

"There's something intrinsically appealing about not being sure [about the odds],"Mike Robinson, an assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior at Wesleyan, told Business Insider. 

Even when we lose, we think we're "just short" of winning.

Let's say you didn't win the lottery, but you got half the numbers right. Does that mean you're any closer to winning the next time? 

Not at all. According to economists, past results have no influence on future outcomes. Those who fall prey to the "gambler's fallacy" that they're due for a win sometime soon could wind up losing a lot of money. 

• You might think you know what slang words teens are using these days, but there's a good chance those are already out of fashion.
• "YOLO,""swag," and "bae" are out, teens told Business Insider.
• Here's how to use the slang that Gen Z is actually using without looking completely silly. 

In May, Subway Canada ran a poll imploring Twitter users to vote on their favorite bread. Or, as they put it, their "bread bae."

No one voted on it. Subway Canada has 135,000 followers.

To be fair, some theorized that the poll, which ultimately racked up 13,000 retweets, was fake and simply a PR scheme to troll for tweets. Either way, the internet wasn't having it, with many saying that the use of "bread bae" sounded more like it was aggressively concocted by an out-of-touch marketing employee.

Tons of other brands have tried and failed to pander to teens by using their vernacular. Gen Z slang has appeared in various marketing ads over the years, often drawing the ire of the very consumer base these companies are trying to attract.

In a recent Business Insider survey of 104 teens nationwide, Generation Zs shared insight about how they communicate today. Here are 11 words that make them cringe, and what they're opting to use instead.

SEE ALSO: 104 Generation Zs reveal what it's like to be a teen in 2018

DON'T MISS: Generation Zs reveal their 100 favorite brands

"Swag" describes a person who is cool or enviable, or someone can "have swag." But it hasn't been trendy since 2012, teens say.

Source: Urban Dictionary, Business Insider survey

Now, teens are more likely to express something that's cool as "lit." It's slightly different than swag in that it's not typically used to describe a person; a situation or thing is more likely to be described as "lit."

Source: Urban Dictionary, Business Insider survey

"Bae" comes from the African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) pronunciation of "babe." It used to be the ultra-popular way to refer to your significant other, but teens say it's now overused.

Source: Urban Dictionary, Business Insider survey