Jeff Bezos and I have a long history, dating from my days on Wall Street and the early years of Amazon.com. Today, he's an investor in Business Insider, and I remain an Amazon shareholder. I tried not to let any of that be a factor when I interviewed him recently at our annual conference in New York City. Jeff rarely gives in-depth interviews, so I didn't hold back on asking about issues both pressing and personal. (Even Amazon's biggest investors, I learned, get only six hours of his time per year!) What follows, in text and video, are edited excerpts from my discussion with the man the Harvard Business Review called "The Best-Performing CEO in the World."

Henry Blodget: Let’s jump right in. What the hell happened with the Fire phone?

Jeff Bezos: First of all, it’s really early. We’ve had a lot of things we’ve had to iterate on at Amazon. You may remember something called Auctions that didn’t work out very well. Z Shops morphed out of that. Then we launched Marketplace, which became our third-party seller business, which now represents 40% of units sold on Amazon. That’s a great business.

If you look at our device portfolio broadly, our hardware team is doing a great job. The Kindle is now on its seventh generation. The Kindle Voyage, the new premium product, is just completely killer. Fire TV, Fire TV Stick — we’re having trouble building enough. Amazon Echo, which we just launched. So there’s a lot of activity going on in our device business. With the phone, I just ask you to stay tuned.

HB: What was the mistake with the phone? Or are you saying there is no mistake?

Jeff: I think it takes more time to analyze something like that. Again, one of my jobs is to encourage people to be bold. It’s incredibly hard.  Experiments are, by their very nature, prone to failure. A few big successes compensate for dozens and dozens of things that didn’t work. Bold bets — Amazon Web Services, Kindle, Amazon Prime, our third-party seller business — all of those things are examples of bold bets that did work, and they pay for a lot of experiments.

I’ve made billions of dollars of failures at Amazon.com. Literally billions of dollars of failures. You might remember Pets.com or Kosmo.com. It was like getting a root canal with no anesthesia. None of those things are fun. But they also don’t matter.

What really matters is, companies that don’t continue to experiment, companies that don’t embrace failure, they eventually get in a desperate position where the only thing they can do is a Hail Mary bet at the very end of their corporate existence. Whereas companies that are making bets all along, even big bets, but not bet-the-company bets, prevail. I don’t believe in bet-the-company bets. That’s when you’re desperate. That’s the last thing you can do.

HB: We should stay tuned for an evolution of the phone. For how long?

JB: Who knows? Ask me in some number of years.

Here's what happened next, when I asked Bezos, "Let's just establish this once and for all: Can Amazon make money?"

HB: You talked about what a lot of CEOs do in terms of trying to drive that stock price, selling the stock. You told me something when we we’re outside that is extraordinary, which is that you spend six hours a year on investor relations.

JB: Yes. We do a lot of unusual things there. We don’t meet with our biggest investors. We meet with investors who have low portfolio turnover. Many investment funds have very high portfolio turnover. They’re not really investors — they’re traders. There’s nothing wrong with that: It’s just a different thing. Where you are going to spend your time and your energy is one of the most important decisions you get to make in life. We all have a limited amount of time, and where you spend it and how you spend it is just an incredibly levered way to think about the world. If you’re going to spend time explaining the company, you should do it with people who are long-term investors, rather than traders. That’s our point of view.

HB: How dependent is Amazon on you these days? You famously had a terrifying experience in a helicopter. And last year you had a terrifying experience in the Galapagos.

JB: The kidney stone was just painful — I don’t recommend that. Stay hydrated ... Anyway, my opinion is that I can do some things at Amazon that would be hard for other people to do, only because of my history with the company. As the company has grown, of course my job has changed very much.

My main job today: I work hard at helping to maintain the culture. A culture of high standards of operational excellence, of inventiveness, of willingness to fail, willingness to make bold experiments. I’m the counterbalance to the institutional "no" who can say "yes." I’m not going to be here forever. Many of the traits that make Amazon unusual are now deeply ingrained in the culture. In fact, if I wanted to change them, I couldn’t. The cultures are self-reinforcing, and that’s a good thing. We sometimes have people come to the company and they find Amazon very boring, because we don’t have enough competitive zeal. With annual planning processes, some companies literally start with, "Who are our three biggest enemies? Here’s how we’re going to hold them at bay or defeat them." We don’t have such a list at Amazon. It’s not how our annual planning process works.

On the other hand, if you’re the person who gets up in the morning and says, in the shower, "What can we invent for customers? What can we do differently? How can we improve that experience?" And so on and so on. Then that is going to be a playground.

I still run into work, by the way. I took my family on a vacation to France. My wife’s whole family — there are about 20 of us. We had an unbelievably good time. Great food, everything. We were there for a week. I got back to Seattle, and I ran into the office. I'm having so much fun.

HB: Is there a succession plan?

JB: Yeah, there is a succession plan for me, and for all of our senior executives.

HB: There is somebody who would take over?

JB: Yes, absolutely.

HB: Who?

JB: Secret.

HB: Let's turn to Hachette. You just had a very famously public bitter fight with them over the price at which you were allowed to sell their books. First of all, were you surprised with the amount of animosity that was directed at Amazon?  

JB: My view is that in this incident and actually in our entire history, I think we have been treated extraordinarily well by the press and the media — certainly by customers. I have no complaints. I think we have been treated way above average over time and and I’m grateful for that. Retailers negotiating and fighting with suppliers is not a new phenomenon. Rarely does it break through into a public fight and mostly it's not. It’s an essential job of any retailer to negotiate hard on behalf of customers. It's what we do.

HB: If there was no negotiation, and you could dictate to everybody exactly what the terms were going to be, what would the future be for authors?

JB: The most important thing to observe is that books don’t just compete against books. Books compete against people reading blogs and news articles and playing video games and watching TV and going to see movies.
Books are the competitive set for leisure time. It takes many hours to read a book. It’s a big commitment. If you narrow your field of view and only think about books competing against books, you make really bad decisions. What we really have to do, if we want a healthy culture of long-form reading, is to make books more accessible.

It takes many hours to read a book. It’s a big commitment. If you only think about books competing against books, you make really bad decisions. You're competing against Candy Crush and everything else. If we want a healthy culture of long-form reading, you have to make books more accessible. Thirty dollars for a book is too expensive.

Part of that is making them less expensive. Books, in my view, are too expensive. Thirty dollars for a book is too expensive. If I'm only competing against other $30 books, then you don’t get there. If you realize that you’re really competing against Candy Crush and everything else, then you start to say, “Gosh, maybe we should really work on reducing friction on long-form reading." That’s what Kindle has been about from the very beginning.

In the internet era, almost all of the tools for reading have been reducing the friction of short-form reading. The internet is perfect for delivering three paragraphs to your smartphone. The Kindle is trying to reduce friction for reading a whole book. It’s working.

The vision for Kindle is every book, every imprint, in any language, all available in 60 seconds. That’s a multi-decade vision. We’ve been working on it for a decade now, and we’ve made huge progress. We’re making books easier to get, more affordable, more accessible. It’s a fantastic mission. The Kindle team is very dedicated to it, and they’re doing a great job. You are getting more reading.

HB: Which sounds great. Until it comes to the author who wants to write a book but can’t quit their job unless they have the nice advance from the big, rich publisher who you are quietly demolishing.

JB: No, but the facts are wrong. Publishers are having unparalleled profitability, and the book industry is in better shape than it ever has been, and it’s because of e-books. The Kindle team deserves a significant amount of credit for that, because they were early, they got ahead of it. There’s been very little piracy in e-books, unlike other digital media. This is a good-news story for publishers and for authors. It’s very difficult for incumbents who have a sweet thing to accept change. It’s just very difficult. It’s very easy, but almost always incorrect, to glamorize the past.

It’s easy to do. We all have these fake memories of how great things used to be. Right, before penicillin things were awesome. There are exceptions. But mostly things have gotten better, and we live in a world where I hope things continue to get better. Surely making reading more affordable is not going to make authors less money. Making reading more affordable is going to make authors more money.

HB: You turned 50 recently.

JB: Yes.

HB: Any changed outlook on life?

JB: No, not really. I’m still dancing into the office. I love my life. I have four kids. My wife still claims to still like me. I don’t question her aggressively on that. I do the dishes every night, and I can see that actually makes her like me. It’s a very odd thing.

HB: I do that, too.

JB: I’m pretty convinced. It’s like the sexiest thing I do. [Laughter]

HB: There was a book written about you recently, on Amazon. ["The Everything Store" by Brad Stone.] Have you read it?

JB: Yes, I read it.

HB: And?

Jeff: I’m not going to say many things, but I’ll say the first half of the book does an extraordinarily good job of capturing the culture of Amazon in the early days. Very, very good. I would also say that I get way too much credit in the book. There are a lot of people who have played huge roles in Amazon’s history, and they’re almost completely left out, or just barely mentioned. Maybe someday I’ll write that book and make sure that those people get their credit.

HB: Your wife reacted to the book with a long defense on Amazon as a comment — incredibly well written — and in it she said, “This is not my husband.” Who is right? It sucks to have stuff written about you.

JB: You don’t think I’m going to sit up here on stage and tell you my wife is wrong.

HB: Here we go.

JB: Henry, that’s … I don’t even know where you’re going.

HB: What was she objecting to?

JB: She was there in the early days. You’ve been a public figure, and you still are, but you had more public figureness in your earlier stock-analyst days. I’ve been a public figure. You get used to everything being wrong about you. Anytime you think you know a public figure from their media … You really don’t. I’ve gotten to know several public figures. You can’t tell that Bill Gates is an amazing dad. I know that. It’s very hard. Other people, like my wife, she doesn't have so much experience with this. I’m like, “It doesn’t matter.”

HB: Fair enough. What are you like as a dad?

JB: Me? Let’s see ... 

HB: Boring? Work all the time?

JB: No. I have three boys and a girl. The oldest is 14. He was the last person in his class to get a smartphone. He reminded me of this frequently. When the second-to-last person got a smartphone, he sent an email message to all of his classmates that said, “Then there was one.”

All of my kids are very, very different. It’s pretty amazing. We spend a lot of time travelling, though I don’t travel very much for work. One of the reasons I do so little of what I’m doing here today, on stage, is that I like to be at home. I like to be in the office. I feel disconnected from the office if I’m traveling a lot. I travel less than 20% of the time, maybe less than 10% of the time.

I organize my life that way, because it’s a personal preference. I told our most senior executives at Amazon: "Because you’re a senior executive, you have more control over your environment, and you should have less stress." If senior executives are stressed out, I tell them, “Look, you shouldn’t be stressed out. Figure out what's causing it. Bring someone on your team who is good at that or who likes doing it, and have them shore you up in that regard.”

I am very, very lucky. I’m lucky in so many ways. I won a lot of lotteries in life. I’m not just talking about Amazon, a certain financial lottery, for sure. I have won so many lotteries. My parents are both amazing role models. My grandfather. My mom had me when she was 17, and she says, “Don’t do that.” It’s not her "reco."[Laughter]

Her dad had to fight to keep her in high school. Having a pregnant mother in high school in the 1960s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that's a difficult situation. My dad was hardworking. He worked for Exxon for 33 years. In life, we get a lot of rolls of the dice. One of the big rolls of the dice is who are your early role models, so I try to do that for my kids.

HB: Drones. You had this amazing "commercial" on "60 Minutes" last year, about this fantastic future when drones are going to fly out and bring me my package, and it’s going to be right there. Immediately, everybody in the country, and probably around the world, was saying, “Great — when?”

JB: That’s a difficult question to answer. Technology is not going to be the long pole. The long pole is going to be regulatory. I just went and met with the primary team and saw the 10th- or 11th-generation drone flying around in the cage. It’s truly remarkable. It’s not just the physical airframe and electric motors and so on. The most interesting part of this is the autopilot and the guidance and control and the machine vision systems that make it all work. As for when, though, that is very difficult to predict. I'd bet you the ratio of lawyers to engineers on the primary team is probably the highest at Amazon.

HB: Is this a situation where everyone else in the world except Americans is going to get drone deliveries?

JB: I think it is sad but possible that the US could be late. It’s highly likely that other countries will do it first. I may be too skeptical. I hope I’m wrong.

HB: In addition to everything else we’ve talked about, you make rockets. You want to go into space. This is a proclivity that you share with fellow billionaires such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson. First of all, what is it about space that captivates you? Second, what are you doing that’s different? Third, just talk about how hard it is when you saw Richard have an accident that has set everybody back a long time. Talk about space. What’s the vision there?

JB: First of all, and most fundamentally, you don’t get to choose your passions. Your passions choose you. For whatever reason, when I was 5 years old, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. I was imprinted with this passion for space and for exploration. I think it’s important. I could come up with lots of rational reasons why it’s important, and I really do believe them.

I think it’s probably a survival skill that we’re curious and like to explore. Our ancestors, who were incurious and failed to explore, probably didn’t live as long as the ones who were looking over the next mountain range to see if there were more sources of food and better climates and so on and so on.

We are really evolved to be pioneers. For good reason. New worlds have a way of — you can’t predict how or why or when — but new worlds have a way of saving old worlds. That’s how it should be. We need the frontier. We need the people moving out into space.

My vision is, I want to see millions of people living and working in space. I think it’s important. I also just love it. I love change. I love technology. I love the engineers we have. They’re brilliant. We have about 350 people there. We’re building a vertical takeoff, vertical landing vehicle. It takes off like a regular rocket, and it lands on its tail like a Buck Rogers rocket.

The initial mission is space tourism. We’re also designing an orbital vehicle. We just won a contract to provide the new engines for the new version of the Atlas 5, which is the most successful launch vehicle in history. That’s a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture. That vehicle uses Russian engines, and because of all the things that are happening in Ukraine and so on, that supply of engines has become less certain, so they want to switch away from a Russian-made engine and they chose [us] to provide that engine. It’s a very exciting endeavor. Great team. They’re just doing a wonderful job, and it’s fun.

HB: When are you going?

JB: I don’t know. When we’re ready. I like our architecture. The vehicle can fly autonomously. Throughout the entire test program, it flies all by itself and comes and lands all by itself, so we don’t need test pilots, which is good during the development phase. The crew capsule uses a full-envelope escape architecture. If you go back in time, all rockets had escape systems, Apollo and Soyuz.

The space shuttle was really the first human-rated vehicle not to have an escape system. That was a mistake. It needed an escape system. Our vehicle has a full-envelope escape system. I like the architecture we’re building. I’m excited about it, but this is not a business where you can rush things or cut corners. Our motto is, "Gradatim Ferociter." It stands for step-by-step ferociously. One step a time.

HB: Thanks, Jeff. It's a privilege and a pleasure to talk to you. 

NOW WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW: It includes additional discussion on the criteria Amazon uses to expand into new businesses, the pay and perks of employees, and why Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post:

Join the conversation about this story »

See the photos»

Join the conversation about this story »

Theresa Roemer first made headlines last summer when her 3,000-square-foot three-story closet was featured in Neiman Marcus blog. 

But all of that publicity might not have been a good thing for Roemer since she was robbed of a reported $1 million dollars of luxury good shortly after. 

So the Houston socialite, entrepreneur, and former Mrs. Houston Texas has decided to put her mansion and beloved closet (that she spent half a million dollars building by the way) on the market for $12.9 million, reports the Houston Chronicle. 

In addition to having the “largest closet in America,” the Woodland’s home has 10-bedrooms, floor-to-ceiling glass walls, two kitchens, a wine tasting room, and a in-home spa and movie theater. All of these amenities are spread across 17,315 square feet. 

Roemer already has plans for her next closet to be twice as big, according to Curbed. 

Welcome to 47 Grand Regency Circle.

Guests are immediately greeted by a towering entryway, complete with a Swarovski Crystal chandelier.

The home is covered in 25-foot, floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

Google just released its list of the top 10 YouTube videos of the year, highlighting the clips that got the most views, shares, comments, and likes. 

The ranked selection spans from TV show clips to well-thought out pranks.   

10. The video "10 Hours Of Walking In NYC As A Woman" got people talking about street harassment

9. "Goku vs. Superman" is a particularly hilarious episode of Epic Rap Battles Of History

8. Watch people freak out over this terrifying animatronic newborn in "Devil Baby Attack"

Whether you're looking for the perfect gift or to catch up on your reading, there were plenty of blockbuster business books in 2014.

We've collected our favorites of the year — from billionaire Richard Branson's leadership insights to media mogul Arianna Huffington's thoughts on success — which are guaranteed to not only educate but entertain.

'The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership' by Richard Branson

Richard Branson is a self-made billionaire who dropped out of high school to pursue a life as an entrepreneur, and his Virgin Group conglomerate now includes airlines, a bank, and a new hotel line. Throughout all of the ups and downs in his 40-year career, Branson has never stopped remaining positive and fun-loving.

His latest book "The Virgin Way" is packed with little-known anecdotes that illustrate valuable management principles. For example, he explains why the time he called one of his companies demanding he speak with Richard Branson himself was a valuable exercise, albeit a goofy one, in stepping outside a leadership bubble and testing customer experience.

Buy it here >>

'Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future' by Peter Thiel

Billionaire Peter Thiel is as well known for being the cofounder of PayPal and first investor in Facebook as he is for being one of Silicon Valley's prominent freethinkers.

"Zero to One" is a concise, fluff-free treatise on the business philosophy he first taught in a Stanford University class, as collected by his former student Blake Masters.

Thiel explains concepts like why "monopoly" shouldn't be a bad word but rather something to strive to become, and why Silicon Valley has become mired in a culture of competitive imitation rather than true innovation.

Buy it here >>

'Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder' by Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington says that we usually measure success by two metrics: money and power.

This can get people into all sorts of trouble, like when the Huffington Post founder woke up in a pool of her own blood after collapsing from exhaustion.

She realized that well-being is an important part of success. In "Thrive," she backs up her argument with academic studies relating to mindfulness meditation and at-work performance.

"These are numbers that directly affect the bottom line," she says. "It's not just someone's idea of what a good life is."

Buy it here >>

Back in September, it was revealed that New York City’s new most expensive condo will be a $130 million triplex penthouse in the yet-to-be-completed 520 Park Avenue building.

And though the city’s real-estate community was all abuzz, there were no renderings available of what the aforementioned penthouse will look like.

Until now. BuzzBuzzHome reports that the 520 Park Avenue website is now live, giving all of us regular people a look at how the world’s billionaires will live.

This mansion in the sky will have over 12,000 square feet, a 1,257-square-foot terrace, and gorgeous views of Central Park. It will go on sale with other units beginning early next year, according to Bloomberg, and will be completed with the rest of the building in 2017.

The 54-story tower is being designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) and developed by Zeckendorf Development Co., the same firms behind the celebrity haven 15 Central Park West and 18 Gramercy Park.

It will be nearby other luxury high-rises on the so-called Billionaires' Row, sitting between 60th and 61st Street. That makes it close to all of the things wealthy New Yorkers love to visit, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Barney's.

There will be a total of seven duplexes in 520 Park Avenue, with over 9,000 square feet each and starting at $67 million. Twenty-three single-floor units will make up the rest of the building's condos and will be priced at a more modest $16.2 million with 4,600 square feet, according to the company press release.

Needless to say, the residences will have only the finest marble, wood, and appliances.

And the view will be incredible.

The building itself will also have plenty of amenities, including a swimming pool, bi-level health and fitness center, sauna, children’s playroom, and screening room.

There will also be an airy "salon" for residents to relax in, and a garden area.

Both locations will be perfect for socializing with your wealthy neighbors.

The $130 million triplex will join the Woolworth Building’s $110 million penthouse and the $118 million trio of penthouse apartments at Battery Park City’s Ritz-Carlton Residences as some of the most expensive homes ever listed in New York City.

Looks like 520 Park Avenue will fit right in.

SEE ALSO: The New Billionaires' Row — See The Incredible Transformation Of New York's 57th Street

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's Life on Facebook!

Join the conversation about this story »

Google is known for offering its employees appealing perks, great pay, and an outstanding culture — so it's no surprise that the tech behemoth landed the No. 1 spot on Glassdoor's new list of the 50 Best Places To Work In 2015.

Here's a look at the top 20 and why employees love them.

The Best Places To Work

The Glassdoor ranking is based solely on the input of employees who provided feedback about their job, work environment, and company via Glassdoor's company review survey. Employees were asked to use a five-point scale to rate how satisfied they were with their company overall and how they felt their CEO was leading the company, as well as key workplace attributes like career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, senior management, and work-life balance. They were also asked whether they would recommend their employer to a friend and for their opinion on the company's business outlook in the next six months.

Continue reading to see the top 20.

20. Stryker

Average rating: 4.0

Headquarters: Kalamazoo, Michigan 

"I have never met individuals from in-house to the sales force that are more passionate about what they do. Beyond the personnel, Stryker does a fantastic job of funneling dollars back into R&D to push the market/technologies forward and continue to develop Best-in-Class products."— Stryker Sales Representative (location n/a)

19. MathWorks

Average rating: 4.1

Headquarters: Natick, Massachusetts

"Very friendly and supportive coworkers. Awesome perks. Company really cares about employees. Lot of opportunities for leadership roles. Easy switch to different teams." — MathWorks Applications Support Engineer (Natick, Massachusetts)  

The holidays are here. 

And that means going home and visiting the family. Which of course leads to opening up the photo album and seeing some blasts from the past.

In honor of that nostalgic feeling, we're taking a look back at our favorite gadgets from the 1990s, the decade when the World Wide Web started changing our lives. Back then, our flannel was loose, our jeans were high-waisted, and our tech gadgets were cool.

After watching "Home Alone 2," everyone wanted a Talkboy. This little gadget let you record and playback whatever you wanted, plus speed up or slow down recordings to make yourself sound ridiculous.

Check out this old Talkboy commercial. 

The Sega Genesis, which came bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog, was technically released in the U.S. in 1988 but didn't start really winning our hearts until the '90s.

It didn't matter that your Sony Discman would skip despite its anti-shock protection, you loved it all the same.

See the dates»

Join the conversation about this story »

Whether you're on vacation or out on business in a faraway land, you'll definitely be in need of a fine drink - but why not take the experience a little further? From the depths of the Maldives to pre-war Berlin, here's a list of bars across the world that will whisk you away from your comfort zone. Click through for our favorite international hot spots you need to see to believe.

Zulunkhuni River Lodge–Malawi

This piece of paradise is about as remote as it gets, and can only be reached by private boat. Located near the small fishing village Ruarwe on the northern shore of Africa's Malawi lake, this eco-lodge is surrounded by cascading waterfalls, mango trees, and jungle canopies. Their restaurant and bar lies within the granite boulders of an ancient waterfall and is lush with vegetarian snacks as well as a myriad of fresh fruit alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

Zulunkhuni River Lodge

Between Nkhata Bay and Chitimba, Boghoyo, Malawi

Orphanage Cocktail Emporium–South Africa

Over the last ten years, Capetown has been carefully crafting itself into one of South Africa's hippest cities. However, given South Africa's rich and devastating history this beautiful bar has a story to tell. The name celebrates the St. Paul's Church that took in groups of children orphaned by a giant flu epidemic in the 1900s. Thriving on tomfoolery with its Oliver Twist theme, the Orphanage Cocktail Emporium is a magical laboratory serving up artisan cocktails, potions, and elixirs. Private dining is available and reservations are strongly encouraged.

Orphanage Cocktail Emporium

227 Bree Street, Cape Town 8000, South Africa

Le Comptoir General–France

Known as the "Ghetto Museum," this Parisian gem is full of funk and soul. With it's somewhat dingy yet tropical Williamsburg kitchen vibes, Jaws poster, and various events from hair braiding to all-night dance parties, Le Comptoir is a cultural immersion. Feel free to sit down and have a beer, or rum with fresh juice. They even offer a delicious buffet brunch. Entry is by donation.

Le Comptoir General

80 quai de Jemmapes, 75010 Paris, France

If you're trying to decide between and Android phone and an iPhone, there are a few things to consider.

Take a look at some of the extra goodies you get when you pick Android over iPhone.

Android phones sync better with Google services like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Calendar. You also get the best features from those services before iPhone users.

Many Android phones let you replace the battery. That's good because batteries degrade over time.

A lot of Android phones let you add an SD card for extra storage.

'Tis the season for gift giving...and stressing out over what to get for your employees.

We know that shopping for people in the office can be difficult, so we've put together a list of 22 great gifts for bosses to get their employees.

If you have an employee who always works with headphones on, they might appreciate a subscription to Spotify Premium.

The service, which Spotify sells in 1, 3, 6, and 12-month subscriptions, allows people to stream music from most popular artists on their mobile phones and without interruption from advertisers.

Price: $10.00 per month

Spruce up your employee’s desk with this cute dinosaur memo holder.

The plastic dinosaur holds post-it notes and has storage space for pencils and pens.

Price: $9.56

Show your employees you care by hosting them at your house for dinner one night.

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy (think pasta or pizza). Bringing the team together for an evening of casual conversation can be a great way of helping everyone bond.

Price: The cost of supplies.

Lots of companies have a deeply religious background, even if you don't realize it. 

Forever 21 and George Foreman Cooking are just the start. Read on to see other big companies that are extremely religious.

This is an update of an article written by Kim Bhasin.

Marriott International Hotels

Bill Marriott was CEO of Marriott International Hotels for 40 years, stepping down from the CEO role in 2012.

Throughout that time, he was an active member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. 

Thus the need to balance his beliefs with his guests' desires.

"I've always been concerned about (pornographic) movies in rooms,"he told the Associated Press in 2012. "In the next three or four years, we won't have any more of those. That's something we've had a real problem with because the Church is very, very opposed to pornography, as it should be, and we are for families. But the owners of our hotels were making a lot of money. In fact, the only movies that make any money are pornography."

ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster owns domestic brands like Terminix, American Home Shield, and Merry Maids. 

It was founded in 1929 by Marion E. Wade.

"Wade had a strong personal faith and a desire to honor God in all he did,"the company's website reads. "Translating this into the marketplace, he viewed each individual employee and customer as being made in God's image — worthy of dignity and respect." 

Theodore Malloch, author of "Spiritual Enterprise: Doing Virtuous Business," says that ServiceMaster is an example of "servant leadership." 

What does that mean? "Think of the picture of Christ washing the feet of his disciples,"he tells CNN.

George Foreman Cooking

After leaving behind a successful boxing career, George Foreman gained new-found fame as the boisterous hawker of low-fat cooking grills.

Foreman discussed his own religious reawakening in an interview with Success Magazine, and said that his personal integrity guides his business decisions. For example, he won't invest in products or sellers that promote alcohol consumption. 

Foreman also spent years as a Christian preacher— developing the charisma he'd use to sell grills.

Welcome to the end of 2014!

We're looking back at the biggest failures in tech. What does it take to be on this list? There's nothing set in stone, but for the most part, it's a bad product, or a big stumble from a company during the year.

Flops are not the worst thing in the world. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently said, "Companies that don't embrace failure, they get in the desperate position where the only kind of thing they can do is make a hail mary bet at the very end of their corporate existence."

Another way to look at it: If you everything you do is working, then you're not being bold enough. 

With that said... let's see the flops!

15. Microsoft's Band

Microsoft unexpectedly released a fitness tracking gadget. The snap reaction was to applaud Microsoft for quietly releasing a new fitness gadget. It was a very un-Microsoft move to quickly, quietly release a new product. But that only counts for so much. The product itself was thoroughly trashed by critics. CNET said, "It has mediocre battery life; it's not swim-friendly; Bluetooth syncing and pairing can be buggy; the Microsoft Health app isn't that easy to use, and learned insights seem few and far between. Heart-rate accuracy seems to be a little inconsistent, too."

14. Swing Copters

One of the biggest successes this year was Flappy Bird, a primitive, frustrating iPhone game that went viral. The game's developer pulled the game because it was so successful. He was just one guy and the popularity of the app overwhelmed him. The decision to pull the game only enhanced interest and hype. When he returned with Swing Copters as a follow up, people were expecting a second hit. Alas, it wasn't to be. Swing Copters never really caught on like Flappy Bird.

13. Rupert Murdoch buying Time Warner

In the middle of July, Rupert Murdoch dropped a grenade in the media world — He was offering to buy Time Warner for $80 billion. By August, he gave up on the deal, and hasn't turned back. It was a strange, brief episode. 

The US isn't called "America the Beautiful" for nothing.

Each year, millions of tourists come from home and abroad to see the country's majestic landscape and iconic sites, from the Grand Canyon to Mount Rushmore.

But there are also cool, quirky attractions, like Vermont's Ben & Jerry's Factory and Tennessee's Graceland, the former home of Rock and Roll King Elvis Presley.

From California to New York and everywhere in between, the country is chock-full of incredible attractions that keep luring in visitors. Here are the best tourist attractions in every state.

Did we get your state right? Let us know your picks in the comments. 

Jennifer Polland and Paige Cooperstein contributed to this story.

ALABAMA: Play a round at one of the 11 courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a collection of championship-level golf courses around the state that bring in more than half a million golfers annually.

ALASKA: Visit Denali National Park to see a stunning array of wildlife and gaze at Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain peak in North America, with an elevation of 20,237 feet.

ARIZONA: Hike, kayak, raft, or horseback ride through the Grand Canyon, an epic 277-mile long canyon that's up to 18 miles wide and over a mile deep.

With finals and big end-of-year work projects approaching, students are breaking out the study pills — and they aren't the only ones.

Both legal and illegal uses of prescription stimulants like Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, and Vyvanse continue to rise for everyone from young children to adults in the workplace.

For people with ADHD, these drugs can be lifesavers.

But before you jump on the bandwagon, here are some facts about Adderall and other stimulants you should know.

First of all, you should and legally have to talk to your doctor before getting Adderall.

Adderall, Ritalin, and similar medications are Schedule II drugs, which have medical uses but also have a high potential for abuse that can potentially lead to psychological and physical dependence — they should really be taken only after a consultation with a doctor.

They are generally prescribed only to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The way your body responds to the drug may depend on whether you actually have ADHD, according to some research.

However, there isn't a simple test that determines whether a person definitely has ADHD. For someone who does, these stimulants can help relieve symptoms that include distractability and inability to focus.

To make that diagnosis, your doctor or mental health provider will ask questions to see whether you have six or more of the 18 ADHD symptoms listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) — they may check for just five symptoms for people of certain ages. A doctor who decides that those symptoms aren't caused by something else may prescribe a stimulant like Adderall to see whether that helps.

Still curious? Continue on to see 21 things you should consider before taking a prescription drug like Adderall or Ritalin.

If you like the feeling of Adderall or Ritalin, you may be less likely to have ADHD.

A recent study had the surprising finding that people who were genetically predisposed to feel euphoria when on stimulants were also less likely to have genes that predisposed them to ADHD and schizophrenia.

This might explain why some people who don't have ADHD may be especially likely to abuse stimulants — it makes them feel particularly good.

More and more adults are getting prescriptions for ADHD medication.

Between 2007 and 2012, the number of adults with ADHD prescriptions roughly tripled.

In 2007, there were 5.6 million monthly ADHD prescriptions for people aged 20 to 39. By 2012, that number approached 16 million.

The number of adults who have an ADHD prescription is now rising much faster than the number of children getting the same drugs. In the case of adults, a lot of that rapid growth is driven by women who are getting a prescription for adult ADHD.

Dec. 24 is the 46th anniversary of Apollo 8's lunar orbit — the first manned mission to travel to the moon and back.

Although NASA was full of men at the time, there was one woman in the mix: Frances "Poppy" Northcutt, who was an integral part of the engineering team on the Apollo missions.

Northcutt's experience with working on the Apollo 8 mission is detailed in the PBS documentary, "MAKERS: Women in Space," the third film in a series of six documentaries about women pioneers.

Northcutt was born in Manny, Louisiana in 1943 but grew up in Luling, Texas. She attended the University of Texas where she studied mathematics.

Source: "MAKERS: Women in Space."

She chose mathematics because it was a degree with which she could get “a man’s job … there were advantages to doing things where you could get paid more and avoiding women’s work,” she told Jane Ely in a 2008 interview for the Houston Oral History Project.

Source: Houston Oral History Project.

In three-and-a-half years, Northcutt graduated. Shortly afterward, she went to work for an aerospace contractor, TRW Systems, who collaborated with NASA on the Apollo Program. TRW designed and built the descent engine for the Apollo lunar lander, among other projects. Northcutt immediately began working on “Apollo stuff” as she puts it.

Source: "MAKERS: Women in Space."

If you're going to get anywhere in business, you need people to take you seriously.

According to the research, you can increase your credibility with the right presentation, knowledge, and people skills.

Let people talk about themselves.

Here's a secret to making a good impression: Let people talk about themselves.

According to Harvard research, talking about yourself stimulates the same brain regions as sex or a good meal. 

"Activation of this system when discussing the self suggests that self-disclosure ... may be inherently pleasurable,"Scientific American reports. 

And when people talk about their experiences, they become more vulnerable to one another, and when they become more vulnerable to one another, they form social bonds and coinvest in one another's welfare. 

Dress the part.

"Appearance is our first filter," says Sylvia Ann Hewlett, author of the book "Executive Presence.""And it's happening all the time."

Princeton researchers have found that it takes about 100 milliseconds to register a first impression, or as long as a hummingbird flaps its wings. 

"The really good news here is that it's about polish, grooming, and being put together," Hewlett says. "It's not about the precise shape of your body, texture of your hair, or the designer you wear."

You don't have to wear a gray suit all the time, she says. Instead, pay attention to how the best-dressed people in your organization and industry put themselves together, then pattern after them. 

Master the handshake.

A strong handshake isn't a matter of squeezing somebody's paw. 

It's a matter of presence.

Esquire's Tom Chiarella details how to exude it: 

On the street, in the lobby, square your shoulders to people you meet. Make a handshake matter — eye contact, good grip, elbow erring toward a right angle. Do not pump the hand, unless the other person is insistent on just that. Then pump the hell out of their hand. Smile. If you can't smile, you can't be gracious. You aren't some dopey English butler. You are you.

A handshake like that shows that you're paying respect to the person you're talking to, and as science has confirmed, giving respect gets respect. 

Admit it, of all the year's holidays and celebrations, your birthday is the most important.

If you're lucky enough to have your bash in one of the most exciting cities in the world, a small-scale get together just won't cut it.

From gilded bars to glamorous restaurants, click through for the top 10 spots to go all out for your birthday in NYC.

Sugar Factory

Somewhat new to the city, the Sugar Factory opened a little more than a year ago. This is the perfect place to celebrate your birthday if you have a sweet tooth. The Sugar Factory features outstanding drinks such as signature goblets that have 60 ounces of liquefied lollipop drink and cocktails such as the Cotton Candy Cosmopolitan. Not only does it serve desert, but it's also open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so you can celebrate your birthday anytime of the day. This unique spot is one that will definitely make your birthday sweet.

Sugar Factory, 46 Gansevoort Street

GoldBar

Party like a true rock star for your birthday at GoldBar. The décor of this place screams glitz and glam, with bling everywhere you turn. The walls are covered in gold skulls and the ceilings and chandeliers are fabulously ornate. You can drink cocktails such as the Gold Rush, while dancing the night away to the sounds of one of their top resident DJs.

GoldBar, 339 Broome Street

Beauty And Essex

When you enter Beauty and Essex do not be alarmed that the entrance is an antique shop. As you continue on, you will soon be surprised by the glass-ceiling dining room. This is the perfect place to host a birthday dinner because of the intimate dining room upstairs. Not to mention that the ladies room is equipped with free pink champagne.

Beauty and Essex, 146 Essex Street

We're at Business Insider's Ignition event to hear from business leaders and notable folks in the tech space, who are sharing their thoughts on where the future of digital business is heading.

To kick off today's events, Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget delivered the following presentation put together with the help of the BI Intelligence team.

BI Intelligence is a new research and analysis service focused on mobile computing and the Internet. 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 trial membership here.