Talent is the most important asset in any company, and the most successful leaders know it.

In a new LinkedIn series titled "How I Hire," more than 80 top executives — including billionaire Richard Branson, former Bank of America exec Sally Krawcheck, and Warby Parker's Neil Blumenthal — break down the core of their hiring philosophies. 

Although these entrepreneurs and business leaders have stepped outside of the day-to-day process of hiring, they still spend a lot of time thinking about the sort of people they want on board.

A common theme? Resumes and qualifications are less important than they seem. These leaders also look for passion, and seek people with unusual experience that can add something new. In other words, you can have the wrong resume, but still be right for a job.

Virgin Chairman Richard Branson: Hire for personality first, and look at qualifications last.

Branson writes:

Personality is the key. It is not something that always comes out in interview – people can be shy. But you have to trust your judgement. If you have got a slightly introverted person with a great personality, use your experience to pull it out of them. It is easier with an extrovert, but be wary of people becoming overexcited in the pressure of interviews.

You can learn most jobs extremely quickly once you are thrown in the deep end. Within three months you can usually know the ins and outs of a role. If you are satisfied with the personality, then look at experience and expertise. Find people with transferable skills – you need team players who can pitch in and try their hand at all sorts of different jobs. While specialists are sometimes necessary, versatility should not be underestimated.

Some managers get hung up on qualifications. I only look at them after everything else. If somebody has five degrees and more A grades than you can fit on one side of paper, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are the right person for the job. Great grades count for nothing if they aren’t partnered with broad-ranging experience and a winning personality.

Read the full post at LinkedIn

Sallie Krawcheck: Look for people who make you somewhat uncomfortable.

Krawcheck writes:

I don’t look to put the best person in the job. Instead I look to put the best team together ... and that can be a very different exercise.

.... Greater diversity of thought, perspective and background has been shown to lead to greater innovation and superior financial results. So, when I hire for a management team, I try to avoid hiring all point guards.

This means that I look for people who make me somewhat uncomfortable. I look for people who are different from me, who hold different views than I do, who have different areas of expertise than I do. I look for people from whom I learn in the interview. I look for people with qualities and backgrounds that are additive to — rather than the same as — the rest of the team. Hiring in this way may make the workplace less “comfortable” for the team, but that is exactly the point.

Read the full post at LinkedIn

Executive Recruiter Jim Citrin: If your company is in trouble, go with an outsider at the top.

Citrin writes:

When companies are in a crisis or need of a fundamental strategic shift, outsiders turn out to have a greater likelihood of achieving top performance than insiders. This too makes sense as outsiders by definition represent change, are not beholden to a culture or strategy that led to trouble in the first place, can question assumptions that have long been taken as givens, can bring sorely needed new skills, and can act as a catalyst for ambitious change.

As Microsoft and other companies consider their leadership succession, they would do well to keep the following two principles in mind:

1. The same person can be a raging success in one situation and an abject failure in another. Therefore the most important consideration in hiring is diagnosing the situation, assessing what is required for success, and then finding the best match for the circumstances.

2. If the situation calls for a leader from the outside, understand that the best executives will require some combination of “push” and “pull” to make the move. 

Read the full post at LinkedIn

For investors  looking to get into the real estate market, one factor should be considered above all others: location, location, location. 

RealtyTrac has combed the country to find 25 "hidden gem" markets — areas that are little-known, aren't swarming with big institutional investors, and boast sizeable yields.

The firm based its study on a combination of five factors: median home value (single-family, three-bedroom home), unemployment, median rental value, institutional investor sales, and gross yield.

In the markets that made up the cream of the crop, institutional investor purchases accounted for 5% or less of all residential sales (the less competition from Big Players, the better for average investors) in the three-month period ending in July, and the unemployment rate was 7.5% or lower.

“Buying single family homes as rentals still yields solid returns in many markets across the nation, but it is difficult for individual investors and even small-to medium-sized institutional investors to find reasonably priced inventory in markets dominated by the 800-pound gorillas in the single family rental space,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “With this analysis we’ve identified the top overlooked markets where single family rentals still make good financial sense but where there is little to no competition from the big players."

25. Shelby County, Ala.: Gross yield for real estate investors is 9.1%.

Investor sales: 1.9%
Unemployment: 4.5%
Median home value: $157,000
Median rent value: $1194

Gross yield: 9.1%

24. Madison County, Ala.: Gross real estate investor yield totals 9.2%.

Investor sales: 4.3%
Unemployment: 6.0%
Median home value: $126,000
Median rent value: $961

Gross yield: 9.2%

23. Waukesha, Wisc.: Gross yield for real estate investors is 9.2%.

Investor sales: 1.0%
Unemployment: 6.3%
Median home value: $208,000
Median rent value: $1595

Gross yield: 9.2%

This week, Airbus published its latest 20-year outlook report, predicting the world will need 29,000 new commercial planes by 2032.

Single-aisle planes — like the Airbus A320, Boeing 737, and newcomer Bombardier CSeries— will account for 71% of those deliveries.

This year alone, airlines have ordered 382 A320 family jets.

Part of the challenge, then, is building the planes as quickly as possible to meet demand.

In that arena, Airbus has pulled ahead. It cranks out 42 A320s per month (that includes A318, A319, and A320, and A321 planes) — which it says is the highest commercial aircraft monthly production rate ever.

This summer, we visited Toulouse, the French city where Airbus is headquartered and assembles many of its planes, to take a first-hand look at how it achieves that rate.

The Airbus factory is enormous.

The plant (circled in yellow) is actually in Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse (circled in yellow).

It covers 2,000 acres, and the 20,000 people who work there generate on-site traffic jams at lunch time. It has its own bike share program. (Finished planes are weighed and tested in these buildings.)

Musician Kid Rock is selling his Malibu, Calif. compound for $13.45 million, according to celebrity real estate blog The Real Estalker.

Rock (née Robert James Ritchie) bought the Point Dume property — which is described by the listing at CaliforniaMoves.com as a "Balinese oasis"— in October 2006 for $11.6 million.

The home has just over 8,000 square feet of space with an open floor plan and huge, stunning rooms. The master bedroom even has his-and-hers walk-in closets.

The five-bedroom mansion sits on 1.54 acres of property, with a pool in the backyard, as well as a mini guest house.

According to real estate blog Trulia, Rock still has plenty of homes left in his real estate portfolio. He also owns a 6,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Detroit; an ocean front home Jupiter Inlet Colony, FL; a condo in Nashville, TN; and two adjoining estates northwest of Detroit.

Welcome to Kid Rock's "ultimate Balinese oasis" in Malibu.

Source: CaliforniaMoves.com

The zen-themed mansion has over 8,000 square feet of space.

Source: CaliforniaMoves.com

The floor plan is open, with tall ceilings and arched hallways connecting the rooms.

Source: CaliforniaMoves.com

We recently took a look at the highest-paid players in the NFL. Now let's look at the highest-paid player on each team.

Of the 32 NFL teams, six (19%) will pay their quarterback the largest base salary this season. For five teams, a wide receiver is the highest-paid and only two teams have a running back atop their list.

However, we also see that teams are nearly split on whether the player with the highest salary plays offense (17 teams) or defense (15 teams).

#32 Carolina Panthers: Steve Smith — $3.8 million

TEAM: Carolina Panthers

POSITION: Wide Receiver

SALARY: $3.8 million

CAP HIT*: $5.8 million

*Base salary plus bonuses plus signing bonus prorated over the life of the contract

Data via spotrac.com

#31 Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford — $4.0 million

TEAM: Detroit Lions

POSITION: Quarterback

SALARY: $4.0 million

CAP HIT*: $17.8 million

*Base salary plus bonuses plus signing bonus prorated over the life of the contract

Data via spotrac.com

#30 Arizona Cardinals: Larry Fitzgerald — $5.0 million

TEAM: Arizona Cardinals

POSITION: Wide Receiver

SALARY: $5.0 million

CAP HIT*: $10.3 million

*Base salary plus bonuses plus signing bonus prorated over the life of the contract

Data via spotrac.com

One of our favorite things about the startup world is how focused it is on talent and potential.

Skip directly to the list of the world's top teen tech entrepreneurs >

This focus means that those with good ideas and drive can do extremely well for themselves — no matter what age they happen to be.

While many young tech entrepreneurs are fresh college graduates, a number of rising stars in Silicon Valley aren't even 20.

Considering how difficult it is to succeed with the advantages of a college degree and the connections made in school, it's even more impressive that teenagers manage to successfully start companies that bring in thousands of users and real revenue.

We've ranked the most impressive teen tech entrepreneurs based on both their circumstances and successes. It should be noted that many are Thiel Fellows, which means that they have been given $100,000 to work on their ideas and receive top-tier mentorship for two years.

8. Sean McElrath is 17 years old and has already launched a startup with the help of venture capital.

Sean is a co-founder of Hallway (the landing page currently goes by "Kickask").

Aimed at high school students, Hallway "makes peer-peer collaboration simple, social, and global. On Hallway, students can ask questions, post notes, study with their friends, and collaborate on assignments," according to its description on the Fortify Ventures portfolio page.

7. Diwank Singh Tomer keeps busy by working on a range of ideas. His site lets you see a selection of his pitches and vote on which ones you think are good ideas.

Click here to see some of Diwank's startup pitches.

You can also check out his portfolio site. While it still has the link, it seems he has changed his Twitter handle from "meetdagod."

6. William LeGate began developing apps at 13. Now 19, he's hoping to "revolutionize the way we discover and use apps" with his new startup, Synapps.

Read more about William on his CrunchBase profile or follow him on Twitter to get a Thiel Fellow's take on trends in the tech industry.

For the last month or so, we've had a photo app called Frontback on our radar. Despite the over-saturation of the photo-sharing space, it seems to be catching fire. It's had 200,000 downloads recently. Why?

Maybe because it takes the embarrassment — or at least reduces the egomania — out of snapping a selfie. 

The idea is simple: You take a picture of whatever you're looking at with the back camera of your phone and then get yourself in on the fun by snapping a selfie with the front camera. The app automatically stitches the two together, one on top of the other. So, "Thing," followed by your reaction to said "Thing." Your selfies become more meaningful because a Frontback image will show people what inspired the selfie in the first place.

We decided to try it out.

Like most social media sites, you have to create a username and register before getting started.

As a new user, you're encouraged to find your friends who are already using Frontback, or invite them to join.

You can see potential friends via your contact list, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Morgan Stanley is out with a new report on "secular growth" stocks. That is, 40 stocks that are expected to grow independent of the fluctuations of the business cycle.

Tech stocks make up 40% of the list, playing into "Cloud, Social, Mobile, and Big Data themes." The next most common stock is retail at 18% featuring restaurants, online retailers, and performance apparel.

21st Century Fox

Ticker: FOXA

EPS growth: 13.4%

PE 2013: 21.6

PEG ratio: 1.6

Source: Morgan Stanley

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Ticker: ALXN

EPS growth: 34.6%

PE 2013: 37.7

PEG ratio: 1.1

Source: Morgan Stanley

Amazon.com

Ticker: AMZN

EPS growth: NM

PE 2013: 662.7

PEG ratio: NA

"We expect Amazon to benefit from the continued shift of consumer spending to online/mobile from traditional brick-and-mortar retail," writes Morgan Stanley's Scott Devitt.

Source: Morgan Stanley

Michelin's 2014 New York City restaurant guide comes out next week, but the guide has already released its annual list of "Bib Gourmands," the best, most affordable restaurants in the city.

To qualify for the list, establishments must serve two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less (tax and gratuity not included).

This year's New York City list has 138 restaurants, compared to last year's 126, with 31 different types of cuisine from gastropub fare to Chinese food.

Michelin describes the Bib Gourmand list as "restaurants that Michelin’s esteemed inspectors would frequent themselves." Check out the full list of restaurants and their locations below:

SEE ALSO: Top Food Critics Say These Are The 20 Best Restaurants In America

Join the conversation about this story »

"The Yahoo! weather app is really pretty, but Texas weather changes too quickly for it to be useful here. I still want to see meteorological radar," Austin, Texas's David Barnard told Business Insider recently.

Barnard is the brain behind Contrast, an independent development studio that's all too happy to skip Silicon Valley and operate out of the capital of the Lone Star State. His latest release is a weather app called Perfect Weather.

It was only after being disappointed in his search for a worthwhile app, he set out to build his own. It's a creative process that's served him well in the past, if not commercially, then personally: "I just build the stuff I want. I made a timer app that hasn't been especially successful but I use it every day," he said.

Don't be dismayed if there's no brand-name recognition with Contrast like there would be for Google or Yahoo. Barnard's company has put out a multipurpose weather tool that's as good if not better than other weather apps designed by companies with far more resources. Perfect Weather is multipurpose, easy easy to use, visually appealing, and offers exactly what Barnard needed: weather radar that works well enough to help him navigate the fickle rains of Austin.

Perfect Weather costs $2.99 and has so far launched to very positive reviews. Let's see what the fuss is all about.

Tap the icon to start the app.

Right away we're shown weather data for our present location. Austin and Cupertino weather is just a tap away too.

Here's the weather in Austin. We can pull down that tab to get a really detailed forecast.

Bowdoin College — which traditionally sees its graduating seniors off with a lobster bake — has the best food of any college in the country, according to the Daily Meal.

For the second year, the Daily Meal released its list of the "Best Colleges for Food in America," ranking colleges' food on healthiness, sustainability, service, nutritional education, and the "X Factor"— something unique that the school does to differentiate themselves.

Some things that may have helped schools rank on the list include bringing in local food, running educational events, or having an on-campus hibachi restaurant.

You can check out the full list here, but these are the top 20 colleges where it pays to invest in a meal plan.

#20 Stanford University gets students involved by hiring dining ambassadors who encourage wellness, sustainability, and healthy eating.

#19 Princeton University just implemented a 'Lunch-to-Go' program, where students can order bagged lunches to be picked up wherever on campus.

#18 Columbia University has completely eliminated trans fat from their food, following the model set by surrounding New York City.

Behind every successful leader is an executive team of select aides working around the clock to make them and the company look good. 

Inspired by our latest list of the Sexiest CEOs Alive, we took a look at some hot CEOs-in-waiting who are rising stars of the business world. It's not all about looks. These execs are on fire, having sprinted up the ranks, often at young ages, to take on massive responsibility. And they've managed it with style. 

All incredibly influential, both inside and outside of their companies, if these 10 stars don't make it to the top where they are today, we expect they will somewhere else. 

Mark Fields

Chief Operating Officer at Ford

COOs are typically heir apparents at auto companies, and when Fields was elevated to the position in December of last year, it was even more evident that he could eventually replace 67-year-old CEO Alan Mulally.

Fields has an excellent pedigree and is best known for helping lead the firm's North American operations from record losses four years ago to record profits this year. Now, the firm's North American division is its most profitable, keeping the whole company in the green even as it loses money abroad. 

Padmasree Warrior

Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at Cisco

Before coming to Cisco, Warrior spent 23 years at Motorola, where she served as CTO. Cisco CEO John Chambers has already named her as a possible successor and has given her a huge role, helping define the company's technology and innovation strategies.

She's also passionate about helping women in tech. A fervent advocate on their behalf, she speaks frequently on the topic and actively interacts with more than a million Twitter followers.

Mauro Porcini

Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo

Porcini was a long-time employee at 3M, rising from a 26-year-old designer to the company's first Chief Design Officer in just 10 years. He was known for bringing some flair to a company with a sometimes stodgy image. 

He was brought in at Pepsi to help infuse design into all of the company's processes, change its culture, and help update its massive and iconic brands.

There are some CEOs that can make running a company look ridiculously easy. 

Then there are some who can do it with, well, a certain je ne sais quoi.

We've scoured the world to find the sexiest Chief Executives on the planet.

Sexiness, we will remind you, is a subjective measure — and it's not just about looks. It's also about success, power, ambition, charisma, altruism, fashion sense, and style. 

For this ranking, we have also only included CEOs of companies with at least 100 employees. If you're looking for the Sexiest Startup CEOs, just check back in a while...

#50 Julie Smolyansky

Company: Lifeway Foods

Age: 38

As a kid, Smolyansky served as her parents' "guinea pig," tasting new flavors of their company's kefir yogurt. At 27, she became the youngest female CEO of a publicly held firm.

In addition to running a major company, the certified dairy queen also runs marathons and a non-profit organization called Test 400k, which aims to resolve the backlog of 400,000 untested rape kits in the U.S. and end violence against women.

#49 Stephan Winkelmann

Company: Lamborghini

Age: 48

This Berlin-born exec is an expert in luxury. He studied political science in Rome, served as a paratrooper in the German army, and dresses like a model in his company's catalogue.

Winkelmann jacked up production at Lamborghini when he took charge in 2005, with two-thirds of the brand's entire sales made in the last 10 years alone.

#48 Bob Iger

Company: Disney

Age: 62

Having been at the Mouse House since 1996, Iger drives creative and financial success at the world’s preeminent entertainment company. He's rolling in $40.2 million, as of the last fiscal year.

The Ithaca College grad will focus on the integration of Lucasfilm and the development of Shanghai Disney Resort during the remainder of his tenure (his contract was just extended to summer 2016).

The Weirdest Things About America, a collection of casual observations of the USA by an Indian exchange student, is a hilarious and insightful critique of American life. It is twice as entertaining to those who know India.

Nellie Thompson, my girlfriend and co-author, and I both lived in Mumbai as working professionals--she for six months and I for the better part of a year. Here we offer our own casual observations on what we, as Americans, found amusing, thought-provoking, and downright strange about life in India.

We lived in Mumbai's Bandra neighborhood in an area called Pali Hill--a leafy, historically Christian enclave best known for its heavy expat presence and its close proximity to Bollywood. Though we travelled quite a bit within the country and explored Mumbai extensively, we merely scratched the surface of what India has to offer. We do not claim to be authorities on India, but we did walk away with a profound love for the country.

In that spirit, we wanted to share our anecdotal (and completely subjective) observations from our time there. We invite readers to share their own experiences, as well.

Click here to get the low down on life in India>

----

About the authors: Nicholas Kapur heads products and development for SumZero, a collaborative research platform for investment funds. In India, Nick managed business development projects for a US-based financial services firm.

Nellie Thompson is a public health nutritionist and an Indian food enthusiast. She consults for HealthxDesign, a Brooklyn-based organization that promotes community health through urban design. She also does branding and marketing for doublehighfive bk. In India, she was a research fellow for the strategic philanthropy firm, Dasra.

Gym Memberships Are Status Symbols

In a country where per capita annual income is $1,200, fitness club fees tend to run about $100 per month. For context, on a per capita income basis in the US, that would be like paying around $3,500 per month for a gym. Like many things in India, that price can be negotiated, but it’s a luxury nonetheless. Once inside, men love to lift weights, while women either stand around talking or walk aggressively on the treadmill (See #28: Powerwalking). You’re hard-pressed to witness a vigorous workout by a woman. Aside from the elite colonial-style country clubs, which are a different beast altogether, Gold's Gym is probably the most exclusive chain brand name in the game. Yup. That’s right. Gold's Gym.

“Yes” Doesn’t Mean Yes and You Rarely Hear “No”

When someone says “Yes” to you in India, this does not confer actual agreement. Instead, “Yes” often translates to: "I have heard what you said and I'll consider it." You may also find yourself confused when you discover that few people ever directly say “No.” Americans, in general, are an extremely blunt breed. “Yes” tends to mean yes and “No” tends to mean no. Many Indians, in an attempt to keep harmony in a conversation, replace our version of “No” (a.k.a “there’s no way in hell”) with “Yes, I see” or “I will consider it.”

Offices Are Like Families

The life of the average white collar worker in India is a lot different. Personal and professional lines are blurred. First, when you interview for a position, you are asked about your marital status and family history--a strict no-no here in the US. Once you’re in, you’ll find that the entire staff eats lunch together everyday. Managers closely monitor hourly activity, interpersonal interactions, and the personal lives of employees. There are even 'Office Moms' responsible for staff health and well-being.

Braintree is an e-commerce startup that processes payments that was just bought by eBay for $800 million, bolstering its existing PayPal business.

Braintree handles $5 billion in transactions annually for more than 3,000 marketers including Uber, Fab.com, AirBnB, LivingSocial and Rovio's Angry Birds.

Last year, the company moved offices into a new space in Chicago’s West Loop, and the company shared these photos of its new HQ with us.

The standout feature is the office's indoor treehouse, complete with hammocks and tree stumps.

Welcome to Braintree! This is founder Bryan Johnson.

Like a lot of startups, the company has gone with the open-plan, refurbished warehouse look.

Here's the kitchen. A lot of attention has been paid to the interior design.

Illicit drugs are most popular on the West Coast, Colorado, and the Northeast according to 2010-2011 surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Other regions of the country have their own vices, too, as the South has the most smokers and the Midwest has the most binge drinkers. 

We've mapped the data (which can be seen in numerical form here) to identify these and other trends in U.S. drug use.

Below is a map of illicit drug use by state, with the highest rates found in the West, Northeast, and Colorado. Vermont is the druggiest state, with 15.29% saying they have used illicit drugs in the past month compared to only 4.29% in Utah.

Marijuana use follows a similar pattern. Vermont takes the lead again with 13.12% using in the past month.

Marijuana is even more popular among Vermont teenagers, 14.04% of whom have smoked in the past month.

Many of the states that smoke the most marijuana have the lowest perception of risk. Nealy half (41.82%) of people in Mississippi think smoking weed is a huge risk.

Washington D.C. takes the lead for coke use, with 3.04 percent of residents using in the past year. Other users tend to come from the West, Northeast, and Colorado.

Illegal pain pill use is even more widespread than cocaine. Oregon takes the lead here, with 6.37% of residents making nonmedical use of pain relievers in the past year. Iowa had the lowest rate at 3.62%.

Utah is a stark outlier when it comes to alcohol use, holding up the Mormon stereotype. The state also has some of the strictest alcohol laws in the country. The state with the highest rate of drinkers is Massachusetts, where 63% of residents over the age of 12 consumed alcohol in the past month.

North Dakota and South Dakota rank low compared to other states for drug use, but binge drinking is especially common there.

The part of the country that binge drinks the most also has the lowest perception of risk associated with drinking.

Tobacco use is most common in southern states. West Virginia has the highest tobacco use, with 38.46% of residents using in the past month.

The same goes for cigarettes.

Awareness of the risks associated with smoking is pretty high overall, especially in California, New York, and Florida.

Alcohol abuse and addiction is most common in the western half of the country, with the exception of Utah.

Illicit drug abuse and addiction is also most common in the West, with Vermont also ranking high.

Illicit drug addiction among teenagers is fairly low overall. Every state falls between 2% and 3.6%, with New Mexico, Arizona, and New England ranking higher than other states.

Do drugs and you may end up behind bars: 9 maps that show how Americans commit crime

Join the conversation about this story »

George Soros' ex-wife, Susan, is selling her five bedroom apartment on New York's Upper West Side for $39 million, says the Wall Street Journal.

In addition to 6,000-square-feet and a view of Central Park, the apartment comes with an 800-square-foot guest apartment three floors down (the 16th floor). Then there are the 9.5 foot high ceilings, the meditation room, the five bathrooms, the two terraces.

You get the picture, this place is beyond nice.

Patty LaRocco of Town Residential has the listing.

First off, this view is to die for. The Majestic is on Central Park West, of course.

There's a lot of common space in the apartment.

Like this modern living room.

It's hard to believe, but it's been 30 years since Microsoft first showed off Windows to the world.

It's changed an awful lot in that time.

Thanks to better hardware, the rise of the Internet, and competition from long-time rival (and occasional ally) Apple, Microsoft has managed to stay relevant by releasing updates that meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people all around the world.

Windows 1.0 was released in November 1985, two years after Bill Gates first showed it off to the public. Essentially a graphical user interface layered on top of MS-DOS, it was immediately adopted by the companies that made MS-DOS computers.

That was nearly two years after Mac System Software came out in January 1984, with its unique folder setup and a complete lack of command line. It didn't have basic multitasking without a few workarounds.

Windows 2.0's release in December 1987 brought with it overlapping windows, advanced keyboard shortcuts, and the concepts of "maximizing" and "minimizing" windows.

The big complaint about Google Glass is, why would anyone want to wear them? Your phone has more functions. They don't look great. Even people who need glasses often prefer contact lenses — or at least something stylish customized to their face.

Skip straight to Trey Ratcliff's Google Glass photos >

But after looking at the Google Glass photos of Trey Ratcliff, a New Zealand-based travel photographer, you might be convinced that Glass could revolutionize photography just as thoroughly as smartphones have.

It's hard to remember now, but back in the 1990s taking a decent picture required skill. Only dedicated hobbyists or professionals reliably produced images worth looking at. Now there are several phones with cameras that take pictures almost perfectly most of the time, even when used by amateurs.

What Glass does is allow hands-free photos to be taken — thus removing all the shake and wobble of hand-held photography. It's probably one of the defining advances Glass will make in photography: Humans can hold their heads almost perfectly still while taking a picture; we can't do that with our hands.

Ratcliff says the Google Glass camera is still fairly primitive. The device is in its early days and will doubtless improve over time. But look at how awesome the images are that you can already get from it.

This is the view from the top of CN Tower in Toronto. Note that Ratcliff is using his hands to hold on safely.

Ratcliff made this discovery later: "Google's servers automatically made a panorama out of a bunch of Glass photos I took atop that tower in Toronto... I did not expect that, cool! And it looks like it did a pretty good job too."

It's "very handy in the streets when my hands are full," Ratcliff says. Think about how many shots you miss simply because you didn't have time to reach into your pocket.

Russell Wilson shot up our QB rankings this week, and he's about to get three starting offensive linemen back.

Colin Kaepernick and Cam Newton, on the other hand, fell after their slugfest in San Francisco.

Our rating is a composite of three advanced stats: defense-adjusted yards (DYAR), total QB rating (QBR), and win probability added (WPA). Each stat accounts for one-third of the rating.

UNRANKED: Scott Tolzien, Green Bay Packers*

Team record: 5-4

Thing to know: Green Bay just signed Matt Flynn, so this could be a one-week tryout.

*Not enough data to create a ranking.

UNRANKED: Josh McCown, Chicago Bears*

Team record: 5-4

Thing to know: He's back after Jay Cutler tried to return from injury too early.

*Not enough data to create a ranking.

30. Terrelle Pryor, Oakland Raiders (previously 27th)

Team record: 3-6

DYAR: 42nd

QBR: 36th

WPA: 37th

Thing to know: He has a knee injury, and it's possible he'll miss time.