I spent hours playing "Super Mario Bros." as a kid. 

My favorite memory is of me and my friends trying so hard to get unlimited lives at the end of World 3-1. 

But that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to awesome cheats in the game.

Of course, some of these gems are more glitches than actual cheats. But that doesn't make them any less awesome. 

Shoot fire balls as small Mario.

At the end of any level, try to get hit by Bowser while also touching the ax at the same time. In the next level, you'll get a mushroom instead of a fire flower, which will make you small. The next time you find a fire flower, you'll stay small, but you'll have fire power! 

(Via Cheat-Database)

Keep playing after the "Game Over" screen.

If you die and want to keep playing, but don't want to start all the way back at World 1-1, you're in luck. When you get back to the Player 1 or 2 screen after Game Over, hold the A button and hit Start. You'll then be taken back to the beginning of the world you died in. So if you die in World 3-3, you'll be taken back to World 3-1. 

Minus world.

There's a glitch at the end of World 1-2 that takes you to what people lovingly refer to as "Minus World." At the end of the level, when you get to the pipe and bricks, stand on the edge of the pipe while ducking and facing the left. Jump to the right and try not to break the block that's directly next to the pipe. If you do it correctly, you'll slide right through the bricks and end up in a Warp Zone level. Go into the first pipe you see, and you'll be ferried away to World -1. 

There's nothing really to do in the level but swim around (it's a water level). Once you get to the end, you go through a pipe that takes you back to the beginning.

As Transmission Zero points out, the level isn't really called -1. It's actually World 36-1, but the 36 doesn't actually show up. Also, the level is identical to World 7-2. A strange glitch indeed!

If any company could lead us into digital nirvana, it's Apple.

But next to no one knows what that future looks like.

We recently talked about Apple's future with a former employee, and he pointed us to this video by Corning. (Corning makes the glass used in iPhones and iPads.)

Corning may make glass and ceramics, but its conceptual videos paint a vivid picture of what an Apple-dominated future might look like.

If anything is clear from Corning's video, it's that tech consumers have a lot to look forward to. Smart devices have only begun to enter our cars and homes.

And that's just the beginning of what the future has in store.

First you'll wake up to a greeting from your smart TV.

You'll be able to interact with your TV just as you already can with your phone.

Your apps will follow you around your home while you get ready for work.

Warren Buffett has been incredibly successful, and he's extremely wealthy. Warren Buffett's wealth jumped by around $12.7 billion in 2013 alone. But how much is $12.7 billion anyway?

And how good an investor is Warren Buffett really? We've put together some facts that really put him in perspective.

99% of Buffett's wealth was earned after his 50th birthday.

Buffett made $62.7 billion of his $63.3 billion net worth after his 50th birthday.

$60 billion — nearly 95% — is from after his 60th birthday.

Talk about long-term investment strategies.

Source: Fool

Berkshire's Book Value beat the S&P 500 in 43 out of 44 years on a five-year rolling average basis.

From 2008 to 2013, the S&P 500 returned 128%, while Berkshire (based on book value per Class A share) returned 80%. 

Source: Berkshire Hathaway, Business Insider

Among legends, Buffett has the longest track record for beating the market.

That chart compares investors with the S&P 500 over time. You can see the longevity of Buffett's outperformance is greater than that of other great investors.

Source: Business Insider

Burt's Bees is marketed as a homespun natural brand from Durham, N.C.

Of course, the brand downplays that it was sold in 2007 for nearly $1 billion to mega-corporation Clorox.

Brands like Burt's Bees attract environmentally conscious consumers. They rely on being marketed as local and natural, but many people have no clue that these brands are part of globe-spanning corporations.

Quality often drops as a result. 

"It's very common that when an organic food brand is acquired, that the new parent corporation reduces its commitment to organic ingredients and seeks out cheaper substitutes,"says Michigan State University professor Philip Howard, who studies the food system. 

We found 19 brands that you think are small-scale artisans — but are really the latest in corporate crunchiness.

Reporting by Kim Bhasin and Patricia Laya, with additional reporting by Alison Griswold.

Mars bought Seeds of Change for an undisclosed amount in 1997.

Seeds of Change was founded as an agriculture company specializing in rare and organically grown seeds back in 1989. After candy giant Mars bought the company in 1997, Seeds of Change was allowed to keep running mostly as it did before.

As part of its green-friendly mission, Seeds of Change operates a research farm near El Guique, New Mexico, along the river valley flood plain of the Rio Grande. Originally located by the Gila Wilderness in the southwestern part of the state, the company relocated after purchasing its new property in 1996.

Hain Celestial bought Garden of Eatin' in 1998.

Garden of Eatin' makes some of the most delicious chips around — the spicy-savory crunch of the Red Hot Blues is without comparison. 

"Our all natural chips and snacks are bursting with the highest quality corn, seeds, and spices,"the company says. "Best of all they're as hearty as they are uniquely original."

Organic conglomerate Hain Celestial couldn't resist the crunch, nabbing the company back in 1998. 

General Mills bought Cascadian Farm for an undisclosed amount in 1999.

Cascadian Farm used to be famous for its cereals with "no added sugar." A few years ago, this label disappeared from its boxes.

A Cascadian Farm customer said her children noticed a funny new taste in their Purely O's. It turned out the cereal had tripled its sugar count to 3 grams from 1 gram in 2009.

The move was condemned by Cascadian Farm customers, who felt duped and complained the new cereal tasted "dreadful" and looked "disgusting." Some time later, the company posted a note on the back of Purely O's boxes saying it had returned to a recipe with just 1 gram of sugar.

So you want to buy a 3D printer.

The appeals are obvious: Manufacture anything you want out of plastic, right on your desktop. There's no cause to go to the store to buy something that was made in China, put on a boat, loaded onto a truck, and placed on a shelf.

3D printers can make nearly any object you can dream up by laying down small layers of plastic on top of each other. People around the world use them to make everything from artwork to practical everyday items.

3D print a fork. 3D print a whistle. You're limited only by your imagination, and you can get started by printing innumerable things people have already designed and uploaded for you to experiment with.

But before you can do any of that, you need to figure out which printer is right for you.

SEE ALSO: The Most Interesting, Non-Obvious Things You Can Make At Home On A 3D Printer

New Matter MOD-t — $279

Easily the most affordable 3D printer for consumers out there, the MOD-t features a reimagined design to reduce the number of parts it needs to function. The company behind it, New Matter, ran its pre-orders through IndieGogo, and those who got in at the ground floor were able to scoop them up at a surprisingly low $200.

Pre-orders have since ended, so you'll have to spend a little more money to get your hands on one, but this printer is perfect for those who want to dip their toes in the 3D printing pond without breaking the bank. It performs at a level comparable to much pricier 3D printers.

Check it out here »

MakerBot Replicator —$2,899

MakerBot is easily credited with being one of the first companies to mainstream the idea of consumer 3D printing. It's made a number of 3D printers available over the years and its Replicator is from the company's fifth generation of products, so you know it's been tweaked and refined many times over.

The MakerBot community is especially strong — users frequently upload and share the digital files necessary for others to create 3D models at home on their own devices by way of a site called Thingiverse. (And you don't even necessarily need to own a MakerBot product to take advantage of it!)

Check it out here »

Printrbot Simple — $349

You'll have to put it together from parts, but that's why this one's so affordable (and is arguably why it's appealing to those who want to get their hands dirty and learn their printer from the inside out).

Considering its low price point and the fact that you have to assemble it yourself, this might just be the perfect printer for someone who wants to know everything about 3D printing.

Check it out here »

In Japan, cat cafes have become old news. Right now, owl cafes are all the rage.

This summer, I visited Fukuro no Mise, a shop that lets you drink coffee while petting over a dozen live owls.

The cafe launched in 2012, and its bizarre concept became so popular that more have opened up. Today, there are two owl cafes in Tokyo (Tori no Iru and Fukurou Sabou), and two in Osaka (Owl Family and Crew), all run by different owners.

Go straight to the cafe >

I recommend arriving at least an hour before doors open to make a reservation, since the spaces fill up quickly and can’t be booked in advance. I arrived at Fukuro’s exact opening time, which changes depending on the date, and the earliest availability was three hours later.

At the designated time, the staff let me in along with ten other customers. I saw fluffy owls staring at me from every corner. Some were smaller than my hand, others were larger than my head.

All the birds are tame, and have a leg attached to the perch by string. I had an hour to enjoy their company and sip a drink that is included with the cover charge. The café doesn’t serve food, so I didn’t have to worry about beaks pecking at my plate.

The staff gave a short introduction in Japanese — if you don’t know the language, there’s an English speaker on Fridays — and then it was owl-cuddling time. I pointed at a horned one, and the staff helped me put her on my shoulder, hand or head. The birds are calm and I felt comfortable holding them. Up close, I sensed the power of their talons and bright eyes, such majestic creatures.

The shop allows non-flash photography so bring your camera, and take a selfie with an owl on your wrist. Before the hour is up, don’t forget to browse the owl-themed memorabilia for sale.

To get to Fukuro no Mise, ride the subway to Tsukishima station (it takes about 40 minutes from Shinjuku). Walk out of Gate 10, and the café is a few blocks ahead. Entry is 2000 yen ($19.50), which includes a drink and gift book. 

Owl cafes are unique to Japan. Customers get to see these intelligent creatures up close, and interact with them for an hour.

Fukuro no Mise houses a variety of different owl species. I was amazed at how tame they were, sitting quietly together.

The staff gave common sense instructions such as “Don’t make sudden movements. Only touch the birds gently on the head or upper back.”

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) rakes in over $1 million a day and commands"a volume of resources and territory unmatched in the history of extremist organizations," according to Janine Davidson and Emerson Brookings of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Al Qaeda splinter group has massacred members of Iraq's Yazidi religious minority and broadcast the murder of an American journalist on YouTube. 

Now the target of a sustained campaign of American airstrikes, ISIS has previously declared the establishment of a caliphate and changed its name to simply the Islamic State, underscoring its ambition to become a permanent feature on the map of the Middle East.

ISIS wouldn't have been able to carve out such a vast domain, or present itself as a state-like entity capable of controlling territory and ruling over a population of millions, if it hadn't been armed to the hilt, partly from its seizure of military equipment from fleeing Iraqi soldiers and plundered Syrian military bases.

When ISIS overran Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in June, it captured weaponry that allowed the group to arm itself like a conventional army, rather than a ragtag insurgency. 

"You lost approximately three divisions worth of equipment and probably at least three depots in that area," Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Wall Street Journal. 

More recently, ISIS captured anti-aircraft weaponry from an air force base in eastern Syria, including rockets capable of bringing down planes flying at 16,000 feet.

A large quantity of the weapons that ISIS has seized were supplied by the U.S. to the Iraqi Army. ISIS also fields weapons produced in Russia, China, the Balkans, and Iran. 

T-55 Tanks

The T-55 tank series is a Soviet tank line that was produced from the end of World War II through the 1980s. It is estimated that ISIS has about 30 of these tanks, although it is unknown how well the organization can maintain and operate them. 

Despite the tanks' age, they remain operational in up to 50 armies around the world. The tanks feature heavy armor, along with a 100-mm rifled gun and a secondary 7.62-mm machine gun. 

T-72 Tanks

The T-72 tank is the second-generation Soviet battle tank. These tanks first entered production in 1971, and they are still rolling off the assembly line. ISIS has an estimated five to 10 T-72 tanks, although it is unknown whether they will be able to keep the vehicles in working order. 

The T-72 is heavily armored and features a 125-mm main gun. It is also armed with a secondary machine gun and an antiaircraft gun.

Humvees

ISIS acquired U.S.-built Humvees when it stormed Mosul. The U.S. had provided these same Humvees to the Iraqi Army. The vehicles allow for quick and effective movement across rough terrain.

The Humvee's heavy armor also protects forces against small-arms fire as well as against collateral damage from indirect explosions. The vehicles offer little protection against land mines or buried IEDs. 

They say the early bird catches the worm, and nowhere is this old adage more true than in business.

Waking up early allows executives like AOL's Tim Armstrong and Pepsi's Indra Nooyi to get a head start on the day, knocking out tasks before the rest of the world is out of bed.

The extra time also gives people the chance to work out and do some of their most valuable creative thinking.

Whether they use the time to catch up on email or take their kids to school, these executives all make the most of their mornings.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong

The former Google executive told The Guardian that he was "not a big sleeper" and wakes up at 5 or 5:15 every morning to work out, read, tinker with AOL's products, and answer emails. Armstrong has a driver who takes him to work every day, allowing him to get things done throughout his hour-long commute.

Apple CEO Tim Cook

The tech titan is known for getting up early. He starts sending out company emails around 4:30 a.m., according to Gawker's Ryan Tate. By 5, he can be found in the gym.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra

Like her predecessor Daniel Akerson, GM's current chief executive is an early riser. According to a New York Times profile, she was regularly at the office by 6 a.m., and that was before she even became CEO.

Many people may be astonished when they hear about a startup being acquired for billions of dollars, pointing to a "tech bubble" and questioning the value of these companies. But a couple millions pales in comparison to these massive tech acquisitions.

Granted the acquired companies tend to be a little bigger than the average startup, but these guys sure got a lot of money.

We've rounded up some of the most expensive tech acquisitions of all time to give a glimpse into the massive amount of money being thrown around in the tech industry.

Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012.

Facebook bought Instagram for a mere $1 billion to amp up its photo-sharing capabilities. The app has only grown in popularity in the past two years, with users posting everything from their gourmet home-cooked meals to celebrity selfies.

Accounting for inflation, the deal was worth $1.04 billion.

Yahoo acquired Tumblr in 2013.

Yahoo bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion, leaving David Karp as CEO, and bringing a big, young audience over to Yahoo along with Tumblr's expertise in mobile. This was Marissa Mayer's first big acquisition since becoming CEO.

Accounting for inflation, the deal was worth $1.12 billion.

Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014.

Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion to develop a platform that goes beyond gaming into other virtual reality experiences. In a conference call following the announcement, Mark Zuckerberg said that he believes virtual reality will be the next big computing platform after smartphones and tablets.

A gorgeous private island owned by Seattle-based telecommunications billionaire Craig McCaw is on the market for a jaw-dropping $75 million. 

With such luxurious amenities as a private harbor, spa, and Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, it's an amazing private retreat fit for a billionaire.

Though the island has a history of manufacturing dating back to the early 1900s, McCaw's J.I. Properties first purchased the island for $19 million in 1994.

James Island is located just off the southeast corner of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada.

The island is a total of 780 acres, with wooded land, private docks, and even an 18-hole golf course.

The course was designed by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus.

Certified life and executive coach Megan Walls has noticed a recurring weak spot among the otherwise intelligent, capable professionals she works with: money.

"For some reason or another, these clients aren't as mindful or deliberate as they'd like to be. Some are business owners, lawyers, or in education," Walls tells Business Insider.

When these clients started asking Walls to help them master their finances, she got right down to their core beliefs about money.

"A belief is a thought you think over and over again," she says. "And then that belief gets buried in your subconscious, and causes an emotion — anything from contentment to fear — which then causes you to take action and produce some sort of result. That's the chain: emotion, action, result."

If these core beliefs are self-sabotaging, you can imagine how that chain progresses.

Here, Walls shares some of the more damaging financial thought patterns she's observed in her practice, among the most impressive professionals.

'Money magically appears.'

Walls remembers a client who inherited money while in grad school and thought he'd be set for years.

Instead, he ran out halfway through school — and later in life he ran out of funds again. After some discussion, they found that his core belief was that money magically appears.

"As a kid, whenever he needed money, he'd ask his dad, who would hold out a $10 or a $20 bill," Walls says.

"We had him replace that money thought with a new one, something to the effect of 'I am in control of my money and can make good financial decisions for me and my family,'" she says. "He started meeting with a financial advisor and using Quicken to track his spending."

'Credit card debt is normal and acceptable.'

The average American household owes over $7,000 on their credit cards, and among indebted households, it's an average of nearly $15,500. It's no wonder we think debt is a normal part of life.

Walls says that while consumers know they have to pay the credit-card companies back, there's a lack of fear or immediacy surrounding the debt. Especially among younger cardholders, she finds, the need for immediate gratification outweighs any reservations about spending money on the cards. 

'Spending will make me feel better.'

"I think what's surfacing is people operating with these beliefs about money are spending in unhealthy emotional states," muses Walls.

"They're saying, 'I'm going to go buy something to avoid feeling sorry for myself; I'm going to buy whatever I want,' when they don't really have the budget for it," she explains. "When the bill comes, they're absolutely panicked."

Brandon Stanton is the photographer behind Humans of New York, the wildly popular photography blog that currently has more likes on Facebook than the entire population of New York City itself. Stanton was recently tapped by the United Nations to go on a nearly 2-month-long "world tour" to bring his signature style to various countries around the globe.

Stanton's method involves high-quality portraits of people he meets on the street paired with illuminating quotes from them. The blog has been documenting people in and around New York City (and various other select cities) since 2010, and was the subject of a best-selling book released last year.

Currently, Stanton is shooting in Uganda. Before that, he traveled to Kenya, Jordan, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Next up are India and Vietnam, according to The Atlantic. The trip was created to build awareness for the UN's Millennium Development Goals project, by attaching human faces to the project's written objectives.

While Stanton's travels have just begun, he's already got some great shots in the bag. Click through our slideshow to see some of the best ones. You can see more on his site, which is updated regularly.

I asked the mother for a photo, but she said the decision was up to her son. So I asked the boy. He stood up, walked over, looked me up and down, and said: "Prove to me you’re not a terrorist."(Kampala, Uganda)

"I clean the streets. I used to work as a lifeguard at a fancy hotel on the Dead Sea, but I lost my job. I brought some of the mud from the beach to my cousin because it is good for your skin. My manager said: ‘Hey! We can sell that! You’re stealing!’" (Amman, Jordan)

"We were engaged for six months, but her parents made her marry a richer man.""What’s the last thing you said to her?""I told her: ‘I’ve done all that I can do. I wish you happiness in your life.’" (Petra, Jordan)

After suffering two horrific air tragedies this year, Malaysia Airlines is having trouble filling its flights. 

Photos on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites are showing nearly empty flights, waiting areas, and check-in lines for the embattled airline. 

Leanne Marotta, who flew Malaysia from Melbourne, Australia to Kuala Lumpur on August 14th, posted the above photo. She says there were approximately 60 people aboard the flight.

 According to Howard University professor Oliver McGee, the airline is losing $1.6 million per day on its operations and burning through its cash reserves at nearly $2.16 million per day.

Malaysia Airlines has tried to fix the problem — in Australia, at least — by doubling the commission it gives to travel agents from 6% to 11%.

It is also offering extremely discounted fares for some flights. A round trip flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing is selling for $238, according to Mashable, while comparable flights on other airlines are going for more than $500.

That doesn't apply to all flights however. Our own fare checks have found Malaysia Airlines flights from New York to Kuala Lumpur to be equally or more expensive than most other air carriers.

In light of the current troubles, it appears that the airline will soon be taken private, paving the way for a complete overhaul. While the dual disasters have wrecked the brand, Malaysia Airlines has been struggling for years as budget airlines in Asia and the Middle East have upped the competition and squeezed profit margins.

While its not definitive what shape the overhaul may take, the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the airline could cut 3,000-4,000 jobs, replace its CEO, and cut numerous routes. Between its cost-cutting efforts and a possible rebranding as a "premium airline," instead of a full-service airline, Malaysia is trying everything to avoid going under.

Here are a couple more photos:

We've reached out to the airline for additional information on customer traffic, and will update when we hear back.

Join the conversation about this story »

1984. It's a year synonymous with George Orwell's novel about a dystopian society ruled by omnipresent government surveillance.

The real 1984 was a far cry from that. While today, we do have scary government surveillance, that's largely thanks to email, social media, smartphones, and cloud computing. Those things didn't exist in 1984.

In fact, 1984 was 10 years before the World Wide Web (commonly called the internet) was born. It was the year Ronald Reagan was re-elected as president; the telephone monopoly Bell System was officially dismantled and AT&T launched; and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was born.

Apple's famous 1984 Macintosh commercial aired during the Super Bowl ...

Two days later, Steve Jobs officially launched the Macintosh PC.

In 1984, Dell Computer launched. This is what Michael Dell looked like.

Harvard University is one of the most prestigious and well-known schools in the world.

Its undergraduate program had an acceptance rate of just 6% last year, while its Business School was ranked No. 1 in the country.

Not surprisingly, Harvard has produced some of today’s most successful tech entrepreneurs. From social media to smartphones, Harvard grads (and dropouts) are everywhere in today’s tech landscape.

We put together some of the top tech rock stars who went to Harvard, and the list is quite remarkable.

Bill Gates

Gates is the cofounder and former chairman of Microsoft.

He got into Harvard in 1973, and majored in applied mathematics, before deciding to drop out in 1975. That year, he started Microsoft with cofounder Paul Allen.

In 2007, he was able to earn an honorary degree from Harvard, when he delivered the school’s commencement speech.

Gates has been the richest man in the world for 15 out of the last 20 years according to Forbes. He has an estimated net worth of $80.6 billion.

Paul Graham

Graham is one of the most prominent computer programmers/tech investors in the world. He earned his master’s (1988) and doctorate (1990) in philosophy at Harvard.

In 1995, he founded Viaweb, the first software as a service company that allows you to build online stores, and sold it to Yahoo in 1998 for roughly $49 million.

He went on to start Y Combinator in 2005, which has become one of the earliest and biggest startup incubators in the world. So far, Y Combinator has invested in more than 450 startups, including Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe, and Justin.tv (which later became Twitch). 

Tony Hsieh

Hsieh is best known for his role as CEO of Zappos, the online shoe and clothing store.

After earning his computer science degree at Harvard, Hsieh got a job at Oracle. But only after five months, he quit his job and launched his own ad network startup called LinkExchange.

Hsieh had originally made an early investment in Zappos through his own investment firm, Venture Frogs. But two months after the investment, he became CEO of Zappos.

Amazon acquired Zappos in 2009 for $1.2 billion. 

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.

This deck is downloadable as a PPT for BI Intelligence members. Click below for a free trial.

Please sign up for your free 14-day trial by clicking here.

We like to think we're rational human beings. 

In fact, we are prone to hundreds of proven biases that cause us to think and act irrationally, and even thinking we're rational despite evidence of irrationality in others is known as blind spot bias.

The study of how often human beings do irrational things was enough for psychologists Daniel Kahneman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, and it opened the rapidly expanding field of behavioral economics. Similar insights are also reshaping everything from marketing to criminology.

Hoping to clue you — and ourselves — into the biases that frame our decisions, we've collected a long list of the most notable ones.

Affect heuristic

The way you feel filters the way you interpret the world. 

Take, for instance, if the words rake, take, and cake flew across a computer screen blinked on a computer screen for 1/30 of a second. 

Which would you recognize? 

If you're hungry, research suggests that all you see is cake.

Anchoring bias

People are overreliant on the first piece of information they hear. 

In a salary negotiation, for instance, whoever makes the first offer establishes a range of reasonable possibilities in each person's mind. Any counteroffer will naturally react to or be anchored by that opening offer. 

"Most people come with the very strong belief they should never make an opening offer,"says Leigh Thompson, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "Our research and lots of corroborating research shows that's completely backwards. The guy or gal who makes a first offer is better off." 

Confirmation bias

We tend to listen only to the information that confirms our preconceptions— one of the many reasons it's so hard to have an intelligent conversation about climate change.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Waves up to about 20 feet (6 meters) high crashed along the Southern California coast on Wednesday, as heavy and potentially dangerous surf from a Pacific cyclone drew crowds of surfers and spectators to Los Angeles-area beaches, officials said.

Large swells generated by Hurricane Marie began hitting the Southern California shore on Tuesday, causing coastal flooding in the Orange County town of Seal Beach after dark that inundated garages of 30 coastal homes.

Marie was downgraded on Wednesday to a tropical storm as it moved north some 900 miles off Mexico's Baja Peninsula, veering away from the West Coast but still causing extreme surf, National Weather Service weather specialist Stuart Ceto said.

Waves from the storm were the largest seen in Southern California since a pair of hurricanes swept through the Pacific within weeks of each other in 1997, he said.

At Will Rogers State Beach just south of Malibu, parking spots were filled as surfers scrambled out of their cars and paddled out into the ocean to brave the tall waves.

"If you don't know what you're doing, you can very easily get messed up very quickly," said surfer Luis Abrishamian, 32.

Meteorologists said some of the biggest swells were hitting the Wedge, a popular body-boarding spot in Newport Beach that was seeing a steady onslaught of 10-foot-tall (3-meter) waves, with some breakers reaching as high as 20 feet (6 meters).

Several thousand spectators gathered near the Wedge to watch the large waves, town spokeswoman Tara Finnegan said.

One body surfer who suffered a minor injury there on Wednesday had to be rescued by lifeguards in a boat, and inexperienced swimmers and surfers have been advised to stay out of the water, she said.

Los Angeles County lifeguards issued the same warnings and ordered curiosity seekers to stay off jetties and breakwaters. Farther north at Port Hueneme in Ventura County, waves crested at 15 feet (4.5 meters), and breakers the same height were likely occurring along beaches elsewhere in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, Ceto said.

Large waves from Marie were likely to reach their peak on Wednesday, though the unusually large surf was expected to continue into Friday, he said.

The storm also disrupted ferry service between Los Angeles-area ports and the picturesque resort island of Santa Catalina, forcing the Catalina Express to cancel 10 departures on Wednesday after the island's main dock was closed due to high surf, ferry company executive Elaine Vaughan said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Sandra Maler)

Join the conversation about this story »

The competitive nature of playing a sport has helped a lot of folks succeed on Wall Street.

And tennis is one of the most popular sports in finance today. 

Wall Street is littered with top tennis players.  Many of them were top ranked junior players. Some were All-Americans in college. A few played professionally and were ranked globally. Hedge fund titans Bill Ackman (Pershing Square), Philippe Laffont (Coatue), Ricky Sandler (Eminence) and Barry Sternlicht (Starwood Capital) are also all active in this community.

People have been able to do business around their forehands and backhands. That's because many of the tennis players on Wall Street know each other very well and feel comfortable doing business together.

What's more, a bunch of the younger players met their employers on the court, and certain firms just love tennis players in general. We noticed in our list that Wexford Capital, ISI and Taconic Capital had a bunch of players. 

In short, the tennis court is great place for networking in general.

One big player joked that Bill Ackman seems to fill his 7:30 a.m. Saturday court with aspiring junior hedge fund analysts who happen to be stellar players.  Ackman actually met former Pershing Square analyst Mariusz Adamski playing tennis. Wexford Capital's Jason Pinsky is a frequent doubles partner for Ackman.

Since the U.S. Open is happening right now, we thought it would be a perfect time to introduce you to some of the biggest players on Wall Street.

Please note, this list is not a ranking. These names are not in any particular order. If you feel like we're missing someone, shoot an email to jlaroche@businessinsider.com. Please include why they should be on the list and include a photo. Thanks! 

Former pro tennis player Richey Reneberg now works at Taconic Capital Advisors.

Finance Job: Taconic Capital Advisors

Education: Southern Methodist University (c/o 1987)

Tennis Highlights: During college, Renenberg was a three-time All-American (1985, 1986 and 1987).  He was the No. 1 college player in the U.S. in 1987.  He played on the professional tour for 13 years.  He was a ten-time member of the prestigious U.S. David Cup team.  He played in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.  He earned three career singles titles and 19 career doubles titles, including the 1992 U.S. Open and the 1995 Australian Open. He has wins over Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe and Michael Chang. In 1991, he had an ATP ranking of No. 20 in the world for singles.

Source: ATP World Tour

Alex O'Brien, who was ranked No. 1 in the world for doubles, is the president of Bank of Commerce in Texas.

Finance Job: He's the president of Bank of Commerce in Texas.

Education: Stanford University 

Tennis Highlights: He was ranked No. 1 in the world for doubles and No. 30 for singles. During undergrad, he was a four-time All-American. He also represented the U.S. during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. 

John Ross, the chairman of Fidus Partners, played professionally and was ranked in the top 100 in the world.

Finance Job: Chairman of Fidus Partners 

Education: Southern Methodist University 

Tennis Highlights: He played on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour and was ranked as high as No. 92 in the world in 1988. Ross was a three-time All-American while at SMU.  He was also a member of the USTA Junior Davis Cup team from 1984 to 1985. 

Apple will announce the new iPhone at a press event on September 9.

What can you expect?

We've combed the web for leaked photos, rumors, and gossip and rounded them all up here in one place.

The iPhone 6 will be unveiled on Sept. 9

Apple will hold its press event to introduce the iPhone 6 on Sept. 9, according to Re/code, which has a strong track record when it comes to reporting accurate Apple news. Apple could also unveil its first wearable device, presumably the iWatch, on that day too. 

The iPhone 6 will probably have a larger screen.

The most prominent rumor surrounding the iPhone 6 is that Apple will bump the screen size up to 4.7 inches. It all started when Reuters reported that Apple was testing 4.7-inch smartphone displays last June. Since then, other reports have been consistent. 

There have also been reports Apple will release a 5.5-inch model of the phone.

Apple may also release an even larger "phablet" version of the iPhone.

If 4.7 inches isn't big enough for you, Apple may release a giant 5.5-inch iPhone as well. Initial rumors suggested that both versions would launch together, but multiple reports have also said that Apple was experiencing production issues with the larger model.  

Newer reports, however, have claimed to show leaked components from both the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the larger model, hinting they could be released at the same time.