There's nothing worse than being caught off guard during a job interview.

Luckily, with the help of Glassdoor's Interview Questions & Reviews section, you can experience the strangest possible interview questions of the past year — all from the safety of your chair.

This year's weirdest questions come courtesy of Apple, Twitter, Goldman Sachs, Google, Amazon, and a few others.

Trust us, none of these questions would be a breeze to answer.

"If you were given a box of pencils, list 10 things you could do with them that are not their traditional use."

Job: Google Administrative Assistant

"How would you solve problems if you were from Mars?"

Job: Senior Recruiting Manager at Amazon

"What's the most creative way you can break a clock?"

Job: Apple Intern

Oscar-winning producer, actor, and director Ron Howard and his wife Cheryl have officially sold their gorgeous mansion in Westchester County for its $27.5 million asking price, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the real estate agents representing the sale, that makes this the priciest home sale on record in Westchester County. The buyer remains under wraps.

The estate has more than 32 acres of property, including a lake, nature trails, and even a stargazing observatory with a professional-grade Meade telescope.

The main home has six bedrooms, a two-story library, a 14-seat movie theatre, indoor saltwater pool, gym, and yoga studio. There’s also a 2,500-square foot guest house with two more bedrooms, an indoor regulation size tennis court, and basketball half court.

The estate is located in the exclusive enclave of Conyers Farm, which straddles both Greenwich, Conn., and the hamlet of Armonk in Westchester, New York.

“We moved 3,000 miles away from the hub of Los Angeles, to raise our family here,” Ron Howard said when the home hit the market in May. “Whether we’re watching films in our theatre, walking the trails throughout our property, star gazing in our observatory, or just relaxing with friends and loved ones by the lake, Cheryl and I feel we’ve accomplished the goals we set when we began work on this place.”

The Howards have owned the estate for 20 years, but have decided to move to a different home now that their children are adults.

Howard is an acclaimed actor, director, and producer, famous for winning an Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture for "A Beautiful Mind," and playing Opie on "The Andy Griffith Show" and Richie Cunningham in "Happy Days." 

The home is located in the enclave of Conyers Farm, straddling Westchester and Connecticut.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

It sits on over 32 acres of land with a lake, nature trails, and extensive gardens.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

The main home has 17,200 square feet of space with lakefront views.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

This is it: the most important charts in the world.

We asked dozens of our favorite analysts, economists, strategists, and portfolio managers on Wall Street and around the world to send us their most important charts.

And the picture these charts paint about the state of investing around the world is fascinating.

Some themes that arise are continued questions about the housing and credit markets in China, volatility — or the lack thereof — in global markets, and how we can get a sense of what happens when the Fed makes its next move.

But three themes don’t adequately capture the array of topics covered in this collection.

Jeff Gundlach, DoubleLine

Emad Mostaque, strategist

Aswath Damodaran, Stern School of Business at NYU

MBA students at top-tier business schools learn the critical accounting, marketing, and management skills required to run a successful business.

One of the main ways they learn these skills is through case studies, a teaching method borrowed from the sciences and first applied to corporate analysis by Harvard Business School.

Students are presented with some of the most difficult business situations in corporate history and then discuss how a company either triumphed spectacularly or failed miserably.

We asked several professors from top business schools — including Laurence Capron of INSEAD, Tim Vogus of Vanderbilt University, Aaron Chatterji of Duke University, and Gautam Ahuja of the University of Michigan — to share the most important case studies they teach their students. We've highlighted the main takeaway from each.

Why Apple changed its name

Case:Apple Inc., 2008

Key takeaway: Sometimes you can't take a rival head on.

What happened: Apple changed its name from "Apple Computers" to "Apple Inc." in 2007. That reflected a fundamental shift in its business, away from its iconic Mac computers and toward new lines like the iPod and new iPhone, which then made up more than half of the company's revenue.

While computers were an important part of the company, Apple's success came through its digital devices business rather than by beating Windows and Intel for share of the personal computer market. It successfully reinvented itself.

How bad communication nearly ruined a manager's career

Case:Erik Peterson

Key takeaway: Playing politics can be unavoidable.

What happened: The case, which has several fictionalized variations to hide identities, follows Erik Peterson, a recent MBA graduate who is the general manager at a subsidiary of a large scientific materials company in the mid-2000s. Peterson's group is developing an innovative piece of surgical equipment but is behind schedule. He offers a plan to meet a revised target, to be reviewed by headquarters.

Though hardworking, highly educated, and competent, Peterson has trouble playing office politics and struggles dealing with his manager. He does not know whom exactly he needs to report to, and personnel problems accumulate amid the confusion. Peterson tries isolating himself from the chaos and works harder and harder on his own — while his team falls apart.

Eventually, the company gets restructured, and Peterson gets the boot. 

How USA Today reinvented itself

Case:USA Today: Pursuing The Network Strategy

Key takeaway: Sometimes the old guard can't handle a new reality.

What happened: Facing falling circulation of the daily newspaper and the rise of digital news, USA Today CEO Tom Curley saw the need to better integrate his businesses. He wanted to leverage and share content across the company's online, television, and print platforms.

His management team and staff were resistant, claiming insurmountable divides in culture and work style. Curley had to make the case that this was essential for the future of the business, and he eventually replaced five of his seven senior managers as part of the change.

Before the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, pollution and litter plagued America. 

Despite the obvious problems, architect Michael Reynolds saw an opportunity — making houses out of what he calls "garbage."

"These materials are indigenous to the entire planet," he tells Business Insider. "Everywhere you go, they're present." 

Click here see how Reynolds built his unique homes »

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1969, Reynolds became a proponent of "radically sustainable" living. In '72, he built his first house, made almost entirely from beer and pop cans. 

Using a process Reynolds calls "earthship biotecture," a two-bedroom home, requiring about 70,000 cans, would cost $25,000 to $30,000 — 20% less expensive than traditional building at the time.

"The beer can houses kind of started everything," he recalls. Reynolds now runs Earthship Biotecture, a global architecture firm focused on creating self-sustaining homes.

Documerica, a photo project in the 1970s from the newly established EPA, captured Reynolds' humble beginnings in Taos, New Mexico, the location of the first beer can houses.

In 1975, Reynolds stood smiling in the New Mexico sun.

He and his team built the Thumb House in Taos, New Mexico. Shown below, it's the first structure made almost entirely out of beer and pop cans. The curved walls allow the cans to support more weight, resulting in pie-shaped rooms.

"The beer can idea started in the early '70s when they first started doing TV [broadcasts] about old steel cans being thrown all over the streets and highways," Reynolds says.

Dreaming of a wee dram of Scotch? There's no better place to drink the uisge beatha (Gaelic for "water of life") than in its birthplace. Travelers with a taste for single malts can take in spectacular, emerald-green scenery; mysterious peat bogs; and mist-capped mountains as they discover distilleries scattered from the Highlands to the Lowlands, from Glasgow to the ruggedly beautiful island of Islay. Get ready to bust out your tartan—we're taking you on a tour of Scotland's 10 best places to enjoy Scotch whisky.

Click here to see the Scotch >

More from Fodor's:

• 20 Best Day Trips In The US
• 6 Must-See Spots In Glasgow
• Wine Lover's Guide To South Africa

Auchentoshan Distillery

Where: Clydebank

No matter what's in your pocketbook, Scotch lovers can design a trip to suit their sipping needs at Auchentoshan Distillery. Just half an hour by car from Glasgow, Auchentoshan is the only Scotch producer in the country that employs a triple distillation method to remove impurities, which explains the spirit's lively, but smooth character. The modern visitors' center teaches guests about the Scotch-making process with informative tour guides and placards, and the one-hour "Classic Tour" includes a dram of the nutty, light Auchentoshan Single Malt 12-Year-Old Whisky for just £6.

Insider Tip: For those ready to splurge, try filling your own bottle for £100; it's an experience usually reserved for master blenders that you won't soon forget.

Blythswood Square Hotel

Where: Glasgow

Overnight in Glasgow at the modern, five-star, Scotch-centric Blythswood Square Hotel. In addition to the plush environs (think bespoke marble bathrooms, Egyptian linens, and a 24/7 concierge), you'll find impeccable cocktails at the hotel's Restaurant at Blythswood Square (try the Scotch-based Penicillin). It's made with Black Bottle Whisky (a blended Scotch featuring whiskies from nearly all of the distilleries on Islay), honey and ginger syrup, lemon, and Ardbeg Spray. Prefer your pour neat? There are 140 Scotches at the hotel's Salon bar that range in price from £3.90 to £200, including many rare varietals, like the Dalmore Constellation Vintage 1991.

Insider Tip: Thirsty for more? Take a cab to Òran Mór and Bon Accord, two bars that give travellers hundreds of Scotches to choose from (Bon Accord has 350 selections alone) in spirited tavern environments.

The Famous Grouse

Where: Perthshire

Positioned two miles northwest of Crieff (a little over an hour by car from Glasgow), the Glenturret Distillery houses The Famous Grouse experience, the oldest and purportedly most-visited distillation site in Scotland. Established in 1775, the Glenturret is a working distillery, and its single malt is one of the main whiskies used in The Famous Grouse's blend. A range of guided tours help visitors to sip their way through the whisky making process, including the milling and mashing.

Insider Tip: The site also presents an interactive show, where guests can virtually fly above Scotland, viewing the countryside through the eyes of the brand's red grouse, Scotland's national game bird.

Maybe it was almost socially acceptable to behave like a bro when you were caressing a keg and singing Cornell's fight song ... maybe.

But now it's time to grow up.

Lucky for you, Business Insider is here to help you by turning your smartphone into an even more useful sidekick.

Covering everything from getting organized to buying liquor, we've put together a list of the 17 apps that every gentleman needs in 2014. 

Hotel Tonight

A few years ago, finding a last-minute hotel meant driving up to the nearest Motel 5 with your fingers crossed, hoping they had a room.

Now, you don't need to settle for leftovers. Hotel Tonight helps you select last-minute rooms in hotels sorted by categories such as hip, luxe, solid, basic, or charming. You'll be able to find something last minute that is catered to your style.

You can download Hotel Tonight here.

Sunrise Calendar

Yeah, we're not huge fans of standard phone calendars either. So to make life easier we recommend the Sunrise Calendar, which can sync loads of apps together (such as Google Calendar and Facebook).

Plus, you can add your own interesting features like sports team calendars, holidays, the stock exchange, and even the moon phases.

Download Sunrise Calendar for Apple or Android.

Evernote

It's 2014 — time for every gentleman to get organized professionally in a digital fashion.

Evernote is here to save the day for even the most disorganized. This app can sync all your notes across multiple devices and computers, plus helps you scan business cards and search for anything. It even comes with little check-able check boxes for to-do lists when you're feeling particularly unmotivated.

Download Evernote here.

We use our phones for nearly everything, which is why the slightest bug or glitch can feel unbearable.

If your iPhone feels like it's running a bit slow, there's usually a problem that can be easily solved. 

Two years of everyday use can take a toll on your iPhone, but these tips and tricks should be able to hold you over until your next upgrade. 

Get rid of old photos

Deleting unnecessary files is another great way to speed up your phone. If you've got hundreds of photos on your iPhone, try syncing them to iPhoto on your desktop or backing them up through iCloud and erasing them from your phone. 

Delete apps that take up a lot of space.

The more bloated your iPhone is, the slower it's going to run. To see how much space a single app is occupying, head over to Settings>General>Usage. 

Erase old text message threads

Back in 2004, I remember consistently being frustrated with my Motorola Razr for its agonizingly slow performance. As it turns out, the problem was my own fault. I never deleted any text messages, so it literally weighed down the phone's software. Today's smartphones have come a long way since then, but deleting your old text message threads is still important to keep your phone as speedy as possible. 

Even though the third-generation Apple TV is over two years old, it keeps getting better.

Apple has added a bunch of new channels to Apple TV over the years like HBO GO, Hulu, Disney, and a lot more.

But that's not all the Apple TV can do.

We put together 12 tips for your Apple TV that will open it up to more content, stream video more reliably, and let you control it all with your phone.

Ditch the Apple TV remote and use your iPhone or iPad instead.

The Apple TV remote is pretty lame. It's small, the buttons are too close together, and it's difficult to input text for searches in Netflix and other on-screen menus.

With the latest version of Apple's Remote app for iPhone and iPad, you can control your Apple TV over your home's WiFi network with a higher degree of control. Plus, search is a snap because you can type stuff on your device's keyboard. The free app is available for iPhone and iPad.

Download it here.

Put that HBO and ESPN subscription to good use.

Already subscribing to either HBO or ESPN? Apple TV's addition of HBO GO gives you access to every season of every HBO show, available on demand, along with HBO movies and specials. Watch ESPN allows you to stream live ESPN straight to your Apple TV.

You'll need to make sure you have an HBO GO account or ESPN subscription. Just sign in with your cable provider's credentials.

Jailbreak it and install extra apps

There's currently no Jailbreak for the third-generation Apple TV. But if you have a first or second generation Apple TV, it's worth it. In fact, second-generation Apple TVs are selling for more than double the price of a brand new third generation Apple TV because of this.

A jailbroken Apple TV will let you run other kinds of apps and streaming services that aren't normally allowed by Apple.

If you have a compatible Apple TV model, it's a relatively simple process to jailbreak it if you have a Mac. Lifehacker has a great tutorial to get you started. 

We've all heard the saying "Everything's bigger in Texas"— and we're here to show you that it's true.

The Lone Star State is home to nearly 26.5 million people, or 8.4% of the total U.S. population. Most of this population is concentrated around cities including Houston, Dallas, and Austin.

Texas contains a major portion of the U.S. economy. Its total gross domestic product is $1.43 trillion, which is approximately 8.5% of the entire U.S. GDP.

Although Texas is primarily known for its oil, it is also the leader in wind power development, and has a large aerospace and aviation industry. Fifty-two Fortune 500 companies including ExxonMobil, AT&T, and American Airlines are headquartered in Texas.

Texas has enough crude oil reserves to fill up almost 1459 Empire State Buildings.

Texas has 9.614 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, which is 403.788 billion gallons. This is 31.5% of the U.S.' reserves.

The Empire State Building's volume is 37 million cubic feet, which is 276,779,000 gallons.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Association

There are enough registered machine guns in Texas to arm every undergraduate enrolled at UCLA.

There are 28,690 registered machine guns in Texas.

There were 28,674 enrolled undergraduates at UCLA in the Fall 2013 semester.

Source: My San Antonio

Texas' total area is twice the size of Germany.

Texas is the largest state in the contiguous United States with an area of 268,820 square miles. This is 7.4% of the total U.S.

Germany's area is 137,847 square miles.

Source: About Geography

U.S. oil production remains at its highest level since the mid-80s, and it's all thanks to incredible developments in hydraulic fracturing.

Marathon Oil has a great animation on the basics of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."  We found it thanks to Mark Perry's blog.

Intended for novices, it explains how horizontal drilling works and explains the roles of water and sand.

Not surprisingly, the video doesn't spend much time on the controversies surrounding the environmental risks.  That discussion is for another time.

For now, check out these key points from the animation that will help any novice speak more intelligently about fracking.

Note: Ben Duronio, who no longer works at Business Insider, contributed to an earlier version of this.

Fracking is used to extract oil and gas from shale reservoirs more than a mile below the surface. The first step involves drilling down into the hydrocarbon reservoir.

When the drill reaches the reservoir, a specialized drillbit is used to allow the wellbore to shift horizontally. This allows for access to multiple wells from one drilling pad.

Once the drilling is finished and concrete casing has been installed, a perforating gun is installed that fires through the casings and into the reservoir.

A wave of innovation is driving a dramatic shift in the way we make payments.

In this presentation, we highlight the most important trends fueling the changes: the rise of payment apps, mobile registers, e-commerce, and the decline of cash and checks. We also show where the payments industry is headed. Many of the slides are based on charts exclusive to BI Intelligence. 

BI Intelligence is a research and analysis service focused on mobile computing, digital media, payments, and e-commerce. Only subscribers can download the individual charts and datasets in Excel, along with the PowerPoint and PDF versions of this deck. Please sign up for a free trial here.

What's on your smartphone home screen says a lot about you: How you spend your time online, how you get stuff done, and how you like to have fun.

We asked a mix of CEOs, VCs, and entrepreneurs to share what's on their home screens.

Yext CEO Howard Lerman loaded his screen up with other apps he's involved with — private messaging app Confide and Yo competitor AHOY. He also loves Dropbox so he can pull out financial plans whenever he needs to.

Google Ventures partner MG Siegler is doing an experiment where he replaces one app on his home screen with something new every few days. He's currently using Taptalk, a photo messaging app.

New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo says he doesn't believe in the home screen. Instead, he uses Spotlight search to find the app he wants. He's also way behind on email.

It's not just to drink any more.

Instead of getting wasted, a company called Bevshots is using alcohol to do something amazing: They're crystalizing your favorite beer, wine, cocktails, and liquor and putting the results under a microscope. Booze never looked so beautiful.

The drinks were crystallized on a slide and photographed under a polarized light microscope. The light refracts through the drink's crystals and the results speak for themselves.

Tequila looks almost like glass. The artist says this is a good example of the fact that they are shooting microscopic photos of crystals because you can see the individual formations.

Piña Colada looks extremely exotic. The artist says many customers liken this image to peacock feathers.

There's something about this photo of scotch that reminds us of Vincent Van Gogh's, "The Starry Night."

The European sports stadiums built in recent years have been much more adventurous than their American counterparts.

Looking at some of the newest soccer arenas in Europe, you see bright colors, goofy architectural quirks, and retractable roofs that fold into oblivion.

You simply don't see these features in the newest American stadiums.

1. Allianz Riviera (Nice, France) — OGC Nice

It's meant to be transparent, with a see-through membrane that makes it seem entirely outdoors.

Source: Wilmotte

2. Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany) — Bayern Munich, 1860 Munich

Bill Gates' personal net worth — an estimated $80 billion— rivals the GDP of Ecuador and tops Croatia's.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, which he and his wife set up in 1997, gives away nearly $4 billion a year. 

The Financial Times wrote that "through the stroke of pen on cheque book, Gates probably now has the power to affect the lives and well-being of a larger number of his fellow humans than any other private individual in history." 

How did the world's wealthiest man get to where he is today? Gathered from 20 years of interviews, these quotes show how Gates grew from startup nerd to software titan to history-shifting activist. 

On the journey thus far

"It's pretty amazing to go from a world where computers were unheard of and very complex to where they're a tool of everyday life. That was the dream that I wanted to make come true, and in a large part it's unfolded as I'd expected. You can argue about advertising business models or which networking protocol would catch on or which screen sizes would be used for which things. There are less robots now than I would have guessed."

[Rolling Stone, March 13, 2014]

On why Microsoft succeeded

"Most of our competitors were one-product wonders ... They would do their one product, but never get their engineering sorted out.

"They did not think about software in this broad way. They did not think about tools or efficiency. They would therefore do one product, but would not renew it to get it to the next generation."

[BBC, June 19, 2008]

On collaborating with Apple early on

"We had really bet our future on the Macintosh being successful, and then, hopefully, graphics interfaces in general being successful, but first and foremost, the thing that would popularize that being the Macintosh.

"So we were working together. The schedules were uncertain. The quality was uncertain. The price. When Steve first came up, it was going to be a lot cheaper computer than it ended up being, but that was fine."

[AllThingsD, May 31, 2007]

A 21,750-square-foot home in Indian Creek has sold for $28 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Leroy Schecter, chairman of steel manufacturing company Marino/Ware Industries, has had the house on the market since 2008, with the price set as high as $45 million in 2012.

Listing agent Nelson Gonzalez of EWM Realty International said that New York-based Schecter is selling because he "just wasn't using the house," and plans donate the $28 million in proceeds to charity. 

The home features seven bedrooms, 12.5 bathrooms, an elevator, a lower level with a 7-car garage, a billiards room, a gym, and a wine cellar.

Meredith Galante contributed to this post.

Welcome to Indian Creek Drive, a street filled with luxury homes.

The home is really open, with plenty of light.

The dining room has a classic elegance to it.

Ryan Parillo is regarded as a prodigy when it comes to his work behind the camera lens. 

The 15-year-old (yep, born in 1998) first picked up a camera at age 7, taking photos of random things around his house. He didn't have any technical skill, of course, but by trial and error he would figure out what worked and what didn't based on the outcome of his snapping.

A few years later, his parents surprised him with a Canon DSLR, but it was too overwhelming to learn. His parents told him that unless he took the camera seriously and really learned how to use it, he couldn't bring it out of the house. Discouraged, Parillo's interest in photography began to fade.

Until the day his sister got an iPod Touch and with it, an app called Instagram.

He soon made an account for himself (@Novess on Instagram) and fell right back in love with photography again. He learned how to use the Canon, and joined a community of Instagrammers in New York, building his following as he posted his photos, some taken with his Canon and some taken on the app. 

Parillo uses Instagram as a platform to promote his website, where he sells prints of his stunning photos, mostly of urban backdrops. 

You can visit his site and purchase his work here at NovessPhoto and see his awesome Instagram feed here.

Parillo says ultimately, he'd like to study photography in college, and then build a consulting business where he works with brands to promote them on Instagram. 

Ryan Parillo is only 15-years-old.

But he has had an eye for what makes a good photo...

...ever since he picked up a camera when he was 7-years-old.

San Diego Comic-Con kicked off Thursday and is well underway.

The four-day convention is sold out with more than 130,000 people expected to attend the event at the San Diego Convention Center.

While many fans head for the panels where news and trailers for upcoming films and TV series are shown, there is plenty to look at and do at the pop culture celebration.

From a giant zipline to recreations of some of your favorite television sets, see what everyone's talking about at Comic-Con.

A giant statue of Godzilla looms over the Convention Center.

Fans can run through an obstacle course set up by Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed" video game.

ABC's "Wipeout" doesn't have anything on this.

Apple is known for the hit products it has released in the last decade: the iPod, the iPhone, and most recently the iPad. But the company hasn't always been a synonym for success.

Some of of its products, particularly in the 80s and 90s, were huge flops.

From the PowerPC to the Pippin game console, we recount the ill-fated products Apple probably wishes you forgot about permanently. 

The iPod Hi-Fi was built with Apple's sleek design aesthetic but ultimately failed to deliver the sound quality that 3rd party competitors could offer.

Apple's hockey puck mouse came out with the first iMac, but its shape proved very uncomfortable for users and forced Apple to reconsider its peripheral ergonomics.

Before the Apple TV was even a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye, Apple released the Macintosh TV in 1993. It was incapable of displaying TV on the desktop and sold only 10,000 units.