New York real estate is soaring, and there's no better proof than One57.

One of the penthouses in the 1,004-foot-tall residence has officially closed for $100.5 million, making it the most expensive apartment ever sold in NYC and the first to surpass $100 million.

Located on the 89th and 90th floors, the penthouse has 11,000 square feet, six bedrooms, a steam room, a library, and an indoor movie theater. 

Residents will also have access to the amenities in the Park Hyatt hotel, which takes up the first 39 floors of the building. But if they don't want to mix with the commoners, One57 owners can also use their own 20,000-square-foot amenities floor, complete with a pool, gym, library, and theater.

And though $100 million may seem like a lot, New York's priciest penthouse will most likely prove to be a savvy investment as more expensive homes continue to go on sale. Already, a tower on 520 Park Avenue has a penthouse on the market for $130 million, and prices are only expected to climb.

The buyer of the megaproperty remains a mystery, as do many of the owners in One57. Of the 26 units sold so far, over half of them are owned by limited-liability corporations and trusts to maintain the owners' privacy.

One57 was designed by starchitect Christian de Portzamparc to look like a cascading waterfall. It rises 1,004 feet and 90 stories above 57th Street.

Of the 26 units sold so far, only half of the buyers are known. They include head of BDO Unicon Group Andrey Dubinsky and president of Swanson Health Products Leland Swanson.

The Park Hyatt hotel will occupy the first 39 floors of the building, and the 95 condos of One57 will fill the rest of the space.

On Wednesday, Microsoft will give the world its first comprehensive look at Windows 10, the next version of its most famous product.

It's expected to be a step back from the radical changes in Windows 8, and to smooth out the differences between Windows on a PC, tablet, and phone.

So how did we get here? The story begins a long time ago — in 1985...

Windows 1.0: 1985

The first version of Windows was basically a simple layer on top of MS-DOS, the character based operating system that ran most PCs then. It was not widely used.

Windows 2.0: 1987

This was the first operating system to run Microsoft Word and Excel. It also caused Apple to file  a "look and feel" lawsuit against Microsoft for ripping off some elements of the Macintosh and Lisa. Apple did not win that case.

Windows 3.0: 1990

Windows 3.0 did a lot more to hide the underlying MS-DOS guts with graphical icons like the Program Manager. Not surprisingly, it became the first really popular version of Windows. 

Although fewer young people are getting married today than ever before, research suggests that getting and staying married is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

As the New York Times recently concluded, "being married makes people happier and more satisfied with their lives than those who remain single — particularly during the most stressful periods, like midlife crises."

If you wait until you're 23 to commit, you're less likely to get divorced.

A 2014 University of Pennsylvania study found that Americans who cohabitate or get married at age 18 have a 60% divorce rage. 

But people who waited until 23 to make either of those commitments had a divorce rate around 30%.

"All of the literature explained that the reason people who married younger were more likely to divorce was because they were not mature enough to pick appropriate partners," the Atlantic reports.

The 'in love' phase lasts about a year.

The honeymoon phase with its "high levels of passionate love" and "intense feelings of attraction and ecstasy, as well as an idealization of one's partner," doesn't last forever. 

According to a 2005 study by the University of Pavia in Italy, it lasts about a year. 

Eventually you realize that you're not one person.

Once you start living together, you realize that you have different priorities and tolerances — like, for instance, what does or doesn't consitute a mess. 

"People have to come to terms with the reality that 'we really are different people,'"says couples therapist Ellyn Bader. "'You are different from who I thought you were or wanted you to be. We have different ideas, different feelings, different interests.'"

It's a stressful — and necessary — evolution. 

We use our phones for nearly everything, which is why accessories can be incredibly important.

They can protect our phones from getting scratched after a tough fall, but they can also help you get more out of your device.

From portable chargers to clip-on camera lenses, here's a look at some of the best iPhone 6 accessories worth checking out so far in 2015. 

Olloclip's 4-in-1 lens for the iPhone 6/6 Plus lets you shoot wide angle and macro shots with your iPhone.

There are quite a few camera accessories for the iPhone out there, but Olloclip's are among the best. The company's newest lens is made to fit the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and allows you to take macro, wide angle, and fisheye shots. The pack comes with three colored plastic clips and a lanyard so that you don't lose the tiny lens attachments. The lenses work with both the front and rear cameras on your iPhone.

Price:$80

Apple's two-meter long Lightning cable is a life saver if you use your iPhone before bed.

If you're like me, you glance at your Twitter feed or catch up on some TV with Netflix before falling sleep. Apple's two-meter long Lightning cable can make this much easier you find yourself struggling with a charging cable that's too short to reach from under your nightstand up to your bed.

Price:$32

There's also a 10 ft. certified cable available here for $18.99.

The mPact Extreme Glass Screen Protector will make sure your iPhone 6 doesn't get scratched up.

If you need a heavy-duty screen protector, check out this glass one for the iPhone 6 Plus. ZDNet gave it a positive review, saying that it was easy to install and didn't leave any awkward bubbles over the display like screen protectors sometimes do. The glass cover protects most of your phone, but leaves some room around the edges so that you can easily put a case on it.

Price:$35

The Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is one of the world's most prestigious and expensive conferences.

One might expect, therefore, that the conference swag would be similarly unparalleled.

And it is!

But in a different way than you might think.

Here it is ... the 2015 Davos swag bag.

As with previous Davos swag bags, this year's swag bag proudly displays the mission statement of the World Economic Forum: "Committed to improving the state of the world."

This year's version is a svelte satchel with shoulder strap, slimmed down from those of prior years. It also comes in an appealing blue.

The Walkie-Talkie building in London's financial district, which became infamous last summer for melting cars, opened its top-floor sky garden to the public at the start of January.

Business Insider got a sneak peak of the new attraction (free tours are already fully booked until early April), which boasts three restaurants and offers some of the best rooftop views of the capital. 

The Walkie-Talkie building is located at 20 Fenchurch Street. Let's head to the top.

The Sky Garden sits about 150 metres above the city, giving you unique views like this one.

The terrace is 35 floors above street level, which looks impressively far away from up here.

TripAdvisor has just released the results of its 2015 annual Travelers' Choice awards, which rank hotels around the globe based on reviews submitted by millions of the website's members.

The best hotel in America is not a grand old historic hotel in the south, nor a luxe resort in Hawaii. Instead, the number one hotel is a sleek new Chicago property that opened just over a year ago.

Here are the top 20 hotels in the US.

20. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka'upulehu, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Average rooms cost $845 per night >

19. Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Rooms from $340 per night >

18. The Nantucket Hotel & Resort, Nantucket, Massachusetts

Rooms from $217 per night >

Old subway cars used to go to scrap metal, but since 2001 as many as 2,580 retired cars have gone to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

This is part of an effort to build an artificial reef off the East Coast to create habitats for marine life and recreational fishing. The MTA steam-cleans the cars and strips them of components that float and decompose before dumping them in the ocean.

Photographer Stephen Mallon spent two years after the start of the artificial-reef program documenting the disposal of subway cars. He granted us permission to publish his gallery here, also courtesy of The Front Room.

The NYC Transit spent millions on removing asbestos from retired subway cars to prep them for scrap metal.

Courtesy of Stephen Mallon and The Front Room.

In 2001, the MTA signed up to participate in a program to build artificial reefs off East Coast states.

Courtesy of Stephen Mallon and The Front Room.

The old subway cars have to be stripped off any floating materials (oils, solids) and steam-cleaned before going underwater.

Courtesy of Stephen Mallon and The Front Room.

High-speed rail is finally becoming a reality in America.

Well, it's getting closer to becoming a reality, as California has begun constructing a line that will connect San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Until the project is complete, American rail travelers will have to settle for Acela trains, which hit 150 mph.

While impressive compared to highway speeds, that's nothing next to what real high speed rail can do. Among the fastest in the world, these trains regularly top 200 mph and even crack the 300 mph mark.

[An earlier version of this story was written by Alex Davies and Travis Okulski.]

11. Belgium's HSL-1 has been in service since 1997. The 186 mph top speed means it takes less than 90 minutes to get from Paris to Brussels.

Source: www.tiptoptens.com

10. With a top speed of 190 mph, the Italian ETR 500 goes from Milan to Bologna in an hour.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

9. The Eurostar connects London and Paris, traveling under the English Channel as fast as 199 mph.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

New yachts are coming out of shipyards all the time. But few have inspired as much lust in recent memory as the the Columbus Sport 130-ft. Hybrid.

The Columbus was constructed by Palumbo Shipyards of Italy, with the intention is to have as small an impact on the environment as possible.

On the outside, this yacht is beautiful. 

But the real innovations are within, including a very unique marine hybrid system.

[An earlier version of this story was written by Travis Okulski.]

Under the sleek exterior, the Columbus Hybrid has some clever tech.

So how is a hybrid system achieved in a ship? It cannot utilize regenerative braking like in a car.

Instead, hybrid means something a little different here. The ship can turn off its main engines and run solely on generators.

The 45th annual World Economic Forum began Wednesday, and world leaders, billionaires, celebrities, and CEOs are flocking to Davos, Switzerland, where the conference is taking place. 

The mountainous snowy town is known for its ski resorts and beautiful countryside.

But during the conference, Davos welcomes world-famous leaders, including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, as well as about 40 world leaders.

The conference will end on January 24th.

Viewed from above, Davos seems like a quintessential Swiss mountain town.

At over 5,100 feet, Davos is the highest city in Switzerland.

Normally it is fairly sleepy.

I’ve decided to start a series called "100 Things You Should Know about People."

As in: 100 things you should know if you are going to design an effective and persuasive website, web application or software application.

Or maybe just 100 things that everyone should know about humans!

The order that I’ll present these 100 things is going to be pretty random.

So the fact that this first one is first doesn’t mean that’s it’s the most important ... just that it came to mind first.

Editor's note: We've published 100 Mind-Blowing Psychological Facts You Should Know About Yourself, courtesy of Dr. Susan Weinschenk, a behavioral scientist. Check out The Brain Lady Blog for more insight into how the human brain works.

You Have “Inattention Blindness”

First let’s start with a little test for you to take. Watch the video below:

This is an example of what is called “inattention blindness” or “change blindness.” The idea is that people often miss large changes in their visual field. This has been shown in many experiments.

So what does this mean if you are designing a website or something on a computer screen? It means that you can’t assume that just because something is on the screen that people see it. This is especially true when you refresh a screen and make one change on it. People may not realize they are even looking at a different screen. Remember, just because something happens in the visual field doesn’t mean that people are consciously aware of it.

Here is a change blindness experiment that was recently conducted:

You Read Faster With A Longer Line Length But Prefer Shorter

Have you ever had to decide how wide a column of text you should use on a screen? Should you use a wide column with 100 characters per line? or a narrow column with 50 characters per line?

It turns out that the answer depends on whether you want people to read faster or whether you want them to like the page!

Research (see reference below) demonstrates that 100 characters per line is the optimal length for on-screen reading speed; but it’s not what people prefer. People read faster with longer line lengths (100 characters per line), but they prefer a short or medium line length (45 to 72 characters per line). In the example above from the New York Times Reader, the line length averages 39 characters per line.

The research also shows that people can read one single wide column faster than multiple columns, but they prefer multiple columns (like the now-defunct New York Times Reader above).

So if you ask people which they prefer they will say multiple columns with short line lengths. Interestingly, if you ask them which they read faster, they will insist it is also the multiple columns with short line lengths, even though the data shows otherwise.

It’s a quandary: Do you give people what they prefer or go against their own preference and intuition, knowing that they will read faster if you use a longer line length and one column?

What would you do?

You Can Only Remember 3 To 4 Things At A Time

7 +/- 2???

3 or 4???

Those of you who have been in the field of usability or user experience for a few years have probably heard the phrase “The Magic Number 7 Plus Or Minus 2″. This refers, actually, to what I would call an urban legend. Here’s the legend part:

Legend: “A guy named Miller did research and wrote a paper showing that people can remember from 5 to 9 (7 plus or minus 2) things, and that people can process 7 plus or minus 2 pieces of information at a time. So you should only put 5 to 9 items on a menu, or have 5 to 9 tabs on a screen”.

Have you heard this? If you’ve been reading about usability for a while I’m sure you have. Well, it’s not quite accurate. Another guy named Baddeley questioned all this urban legend. Baddeley dug up Miller’s paper and discovered that it wasn’t a research paper, it was a talk that Miller gave at a professional meeting. And it was basically Miller thinking out loud about whether there is some kind of inherent limit to the amount of information that people can process at a time.

Baddeley conducted a long series of studies on human memory and information processing. And what he concluded is that the number is 3 to 4, not 5 to 9.

You can remember about 3-4 things (for about 20 seconds) and then they will disappear from memory unless you repeat them over and over. For example, let’s say you are driving in your car and talking on your cell phone (ok, you shouldn’t be doing that) and someone gives you a number to call. But you don’t have a pen handy, and anyway you are driving.

So you try to memorize the number long enough to hang up from one call and dial the new number. What do you do? You repeat the number over and over (putting it back into short term memory each time, which buys you another 20 seconds). The interesting thing about phone numbers is that they are more than 3 or 4 numbers long. So they are hard to remember for more than 20 seconds.

We also tend to chunk information into groups that have 3-4 items in them. So a phone number in the US is: 712-569-4532. Three chunks, with 3-4 items in each chunk. If you know the area code “by heart” (i.e., it’s stored in long term memory), then you don’t have to remember that, so one whole chunk went away.

Phone numbers used to be easier to remember because you mainly called people in your area code, so you had the area code memorized (plus you didn’t even have to “dial” the area code at all). And then if you were calling people in your town each town had the same “exchange” — that is the 569 part of the phone number above.

So all you had to remember was the last four numbers. No problem! I know I’m “dating” myself here by telling you how it used to be back in the old days. (I live in a small town in Wisconsin, and people here still give their number out as the last four digits only).

But that’s not all! Researchers working in the field of decision-making tell us that people can’t effectively choose between more than three to four items at a time.

So, what does all this mean? Can you really only have four items on a navigation bar? Or four tabs on a screen, or four items on a product detail page at an e-commerce web site? No, not really. You can have more, as long as you group and chunk.

Here’s an example: At the Upton Tea site they have lots of tabs, but the tabs are not chunked into groups of three or four.

So people will tend to do a partial scan and not even look at or read all the tabs. (I love their teas, by the way.. just wish they would do some work on the layout and emotional aspects of their site, but that’s probably another blog!).

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has been voted the best coach in the NFL for years on end.

You can see why when you look at how he's outfoxed his opponents — again and again. 

2000: Drafting Tom Brady with the 199th pick.

Belichick has earned a reputation as a brilliant talent scout.

That includes what might be the greatest draft pick in history: taking Michigan quarterback Tom Brady in the sixth round in 2000. 

"The thing with Brady was really the traits: his work ethic, his intelligence, his decision-making,"Belichick said in an interview."I think a lot of the draft process is [about] not where the player is right now, but where the player will be a year from now. I don't think I've ever seen a player improve as much as Tom did. That's certainly a big credit to his work ethic and his determination."

It paid off: Brady has two MVP awards, three Super Bowl wins, and 10 Pro Bowl selections.

2003: Giving up points — to get more in return.

Flash back to November 2003. The Broncos are up 24-23 on the Patriots with 2 minutes 51 seconds left in the game. The Pats are in the perilous position of 4th and 10 from their own 1-yard line. 

Belichick's solution? 

"Belichick was unwilling to give the Broncos strong field position, so he ordered his long snapper to air one over his punter's head, giving the Broncos two points on the safety and possession," John McTigue reports for ESPN. 

It worked. 

The Patriots forced the Broncos to go three-and-out, and Brady had over two minutes to come back and score the winning touchdown. 

2008: Waging the information war — even with the injury report.

Belichick listed Brady on the Patriots' injury report for three years straight. 

During that time, Brady played 127 straight games. 

Crazy, right? Anything to confuse opponents. 

It had an effect on how the league operates. 

"The NFL has altered the format for the injury report, in part because of the Patriots,"the Boston Globe reported. 

Google is eating the world. 

It dominates several key tech industries and dwarfs competitors in each of these markets:

• 1. Digital advertising
• 2. Desktop and mobile search
• 3. Digital video
• 4. Smartphone platforms

Google's success has also allowed it to explore new ventures like self-driving cars, health tech, and drones. 

As part of Business Insider's Ignition event, Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget broke down the numbers driving Google's massive growth and global dominance. 

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.

All over the United States, the arrival of the circus is an anticipated yearly event, met with excitement by people of all ages, and forgotten once the tent is dismantled and the act leaves town.

But for the performers — the ones who wow us with their daring feats and make us laugh with their slapstick humor — the circus is more than just a fleeting spectacle to see once a year. For them, the circus is a family, a career, and a way of life.

In mid-January, one of the most acclaimed circuses on earth, the Big Apple Circus, took down its tents at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, ending another successful run of shows. Before they headed off to do it all again in Bridgewater, New Jersey, we met with a few of the star performers to see what circus life is like behind the big top.

Every year for the past 38 years, New York's historic Big Apple Circus has performed over 300 shows in five different venues on the East Coast. During its Manhattan run, which ended last week, circus performers put on 135 shows and entertained over 162,000 fans in a one-ring tent behind Lincoln Center.

For its performers, the circus is a way of life and a career path. We had the chance to go behind the curtain of Big Apple Circus three days before it departed for New Jersey, to chat with the cast.

Traveling 10 to 11 months out of the year, life on the road can be lonely and unstable. Fortunately, troupe members become surrogate families.

The teams have been decided, and the Super Bowl is quickly approaching. 

But if you're planning on making a trip to Phoenix for the game, don't assume you'll be able to get a hotel room. Officials expect a whopping 100,000 fans to visit the area for the game on Feb. 1, and average daily hotel rates have risen by 89%. 

Lots of Seahawks and Patriots fans are turning to Airbnb as an alternative — according to Airbnb data, nearly two and a half times as many people as usual are making reservations in the Phoenix area. 

The earliest Airbnb reservations for Super Bowl weekend were made a year ago, in January 2014. But even if you didn't plan that far ahead, there are still some amazing rentals available in the area.

Sleep just 15 minutes away from the stadium in this lakefront home.

After the big game is over, wind down with some fishing off the private dock in the back.

Cost during the Super Bowl: $3,500/night

Usual cost: $3,500/night

Accommodates: 8

Neighborhood: Arrowhead Lakes, Glendale

Sleep in a shipping container that's been restored to include modern plumbing and electricity.

If you want to explore downtown Phoenix before the game, feel free to take out one of the bikes provided by the owners.

Cost during the Super Bowl: $800/night

Usual cost: $51/night

Accommodates: 2

Neighborhood: Downtown Phoenix

Enjoy a private room and a swimming pool at this midcentury modern home.

Guests are free to use the living room, pool, patio, and swinging hammocks.

Cost during the Super Bowl: $300/night

Usual cost: $70/night

Accommodates: 2

Neighborhood: Paradise Gardens

In 2014, 72.2 million international visitors came to the US, according to US Travel Association, and that number is expected to hit 88.3 million in four years.

A huge portion of that growth will come from China, which is expected to send 3.1 million visitors to the States in 2019, a 172% increase over 2013 figures. That will put China behind only Mexico and Canada in terms of the number of visitors it sends, according to the US Department of Commerce.

This is good news for the US economy — last year, 1.8 million Chinese tourists visited America and spent a whopping $21.1 billion. That number could top $80 billion by 2021, writes Avery Booker at China Luxury Advisors.

The projected growth is thanks in part to the new extended US-China visa agreement signed at the APEC summit last November, which is encouraging an increase in Chinese business travelers and tourists to the US.

The new B-category non-immigrant visa can now be issued for up to 10 years for business or tourist travel for either US citizens going to China or Chinese travelers coming to America. 

That’s significantly more than the length of time permitted by student visas, which only allow students and exchange visitors to have entry visas valid for up to five years or the length of the program.

The new visa also makes it cheaper to travel to the US since previously Chinese business travelers and tourists had to apply annually for visas which could cost as much as $160 to process. It also extends student and exchange visas from one to five years.

“I think America is a top destination for many different reasons,” Hansi Men, an investment immigration lawyer at Streit & Su law firm, told Business Insider. “Most people in China still think America is number one. Many Chinese parents also take their children to America to show them top schools like Yale and Harvard," he added. 

Canada currently sends the most tourists to the US, followed by Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Japan. China ranks seventh (but is expected to rise four spots by 2019).

DON'T MISS: China Now Has A Lengthy Rulebook Telling Its Citizens How To Behave When They Travel Abroad

SEE ALSO: 23 Places You Should Visit In 2015

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

Join the conversation about this story »

Last year, on American television, Jon Stewart shredded the goings-on at the World Economic Forum here in Davos as "an orgy of self-congratulatory excess."

That was a funny and fair characterization—at least the orgy part. But no one here was watching. Because we were too busy getting smashed.

You see, nighttime in Davos is when the real schmoozing begins.

First, there are the cocktail parties.

Then there are the dinner parties (with cocktails).

Then there are the after-dinner parties (with cocktails).

Then there are the after after-dinner parties (with cocktails).

Then there's the piano bar at the Hotel Europe (with cocktails) where, a couple of years ago, Mark Zuckerberg's sister Randi got up and started singing (watch video here).

The epicenter of all this partying is the Hotel Belvedere. The following pictures and story are actually from a few years ago, but I went to a party at the Belvedere two nights ago, and it was just the same.

Across the street from the Congress Center in Davos is this big white building, the Belvedere hotel. The Belvedere is ground-zero for corporate schmoozing. Most of the winter, it looks like this.

During the conference, however, it gets a complete makeover. For starters, this sort of black space-ship thing is constructed on top of it. Why? To make room for more schmoozing and sponsorships.

Those photos were taken in the morning. In the evening, the entrance to the Belvedere looks like this. Your walk up the stairs is sponsored by KPMG.

Guten morgen!*

It's 7AM Davos time, and that means it's time to get up and get to the Congress Center.

(Still on US time? Stayed out until 3am at the DLD party last night? Tough!)

It's time to put on your suit, down some muesli and cappuccino, and get going. The fun has already started...

I took these pictures of the Davos morning routine a few years ago, but it was the same deal this morning. Oh, and we're in Switzerland, so it's actually "guete morge."

You'll probably be staying at some ski lodge in town, like the "Club Hotel." That's good news and bad news. Good news: You're in Davos, instead of the other ski town nearby. Bad news, you're far enough from the Congress Center that you have to catch a bus...

And it's COLD this morning. But the bus stop is filled with people, and chances are, you'll know some of them.

Sure enough! There's Loic LeMeur, Geraldine LeMeur, and Robert Scoble, along with a bunch of skiers and schoolkids.

Zoola Fix is a startup new to London that connects tourists and locals looking for a good time with "Fixers,"the platform's name for "well-connected partygoers" who know the city's hottest nightspots and how to get inside.

We met owner Richard Walker-Smith at a speakeasy cocktail bar in Soho last weekend to see what the service is about. After a few rounds, he took us out on the town. Things got interesting. 

Let's kick things off by introducing our companions for the evening. On the right is Zoola Fix owner Richard, pictured with our friend Charlie.

Zoola Fix tailors nights for you: You tell the company what you're in to, be that cocktails, Champagne-filled bars, or crazy night clubs. We wanted it all. The three of us met at the Experimental Cocktail Club in Soho. Together, we took a taxi to the next venue that Richard had planned for us.

To use the service, users simply book a "Fixer" local to a city, which costs about £100. The fee is for their expertise and ability to jump queues and skip entry prices. There's the possibility of a free drink somewhere, but mainly everything else you've got to pay for. After Soho, Richard took us to a Mayfair hangout called Sketch. We rolled straight in.