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Forget the teenagers, this gorgeous Tennessee grandmother is YouTube's next big star

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beauty vlogging grandmother melissa55

If you're looking for a change from the typical 20-something beauty vlogger, look no further than the YouTube channel of Melissa55.

Sounding like a mix between Dolly Parton and Bethany Mota, Melissa55 tells viewers how to "grow older gracefully and beautifully," as the Daily Mail reports.

She's 60 but looks much younger. She was highlighted on Jezebel this weekend after a friend brought the "mega-babe's" channel to the attention of writer Tracy Moore. She's got 8,185 subscribers and has been on YouTube since February 2011.

Read on for some of Melissa55's best tips.

Melissa is from a small town in Tennessee and lives with her husband in a Victorian house from 1886.

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Her videos are charmingly edited, often with jaunty background music.

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Melissa is candid about her life. In this one, before listing 25 facts about herself, she goes into detail about a kidney infection that's been plaguing her.

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See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Everything we know so far about the 2 new Android phones Google is making

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google nexus lg leaked photo indonesia

Google appears to be gearing up to launch its newest smartphones for the fall.

Google typically launches just one device in its Nexus line each year, but things could be different this time. According to several rumors, we'll get two Nexus models in two different sizes this year.

The release of two new smartphones would be a first for Google's Nexus line, but many of the biggest smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung are offering differently sized premium smartphones for different tastes.

Nexus devices are Google's own brand of smartphone that run pure versions of the Android operating system. Google commissions third-party smartphone manufacturers like LG to build the phone for it. 

Here's what the internet thinks it knows about the new Nexus devices.

The newest leak shows the supposedly smaller Nexus smartphone. The small red symbol on the sticker on the bottom left of the device shows an LG symbol, which strengthens claims that it'll be made by LG. Many are calling it the 2015 Nexus 5, saying that it is a revamped model of the popular 2013 Nexus 5 that was also made by LG.

Source: Google+



The back's design and the location of the camera/flash/sensor in this 3D rendering is consistent with the picture above. From the image, it also looks like it'll have an all-plastic build, like the Nexus 5, but the source of the leak apparently claimed that it'll have metal borders.

Source: USwitch



Some say the circle beneath the camera is merely a dimple where your index finger can rest while holding the phone, like the Moto X and Moto G have. Others say it could be a fingerprint scanner.

Source: Google+



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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This ultra-rare supercar just sold for $13.75 million

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McLaren F1 LM

Over the weekend at Pebble Beach, Sotheby's auctioned off an ultra-rare 1998 McLaren F1 LM hypercar for a reported $13.75 million

The final sale price falls within Sotheby's $12 million-$15 million projected value

The McLaren is the crown jewel of a collection of 65 cars an anonymous collector put up for auction this summer.

The Sotheby's car is one of 106 McLaren F1 vehicles ever built and just one of a handful in the "LM" specification. 

"The F1 is a technological tour de force and a real triumph in terms of packaging and design," McLaren Automotive executive chairman Ron Dennis said in a statement in 2010.

"Whether endurance racing or on road, it is supremely fast, agile, and yet comfortable. Its styling is enduring and will never fade."

Here's a closer look at the amazing McLaren F1.

SEE ALSO: 25 amazing cars cheaper than the back seat of a Bentley Mulsanne Speed

McLaren automotive was born from the racing team founded by legendary driver Bruce McLaren.



The team has dominated Formula One racing — winning 182 races and eight World Championships.



In 1988, McLaren obliterated the competition by winning 15 of the 16 races on the F1 schedule. Afterward, the team decided it was time to use its talents to build the ultimate road car.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

14 incredible perks for new parents beyond paid parental leave

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Cute baby mom parentEarlier this month, Netflix announced its new mom and dad employees can take off as much time as they want during the first year after their child's birth or adoption.

Microsoft followed suit by announcing it will provide 20 weeks of fully-paid maternity leave and 12 weeks for new fathers come November, and similarly Adobe will soon offer 26 weeks of paid maternity leave and 16 weeks of paid paternity leave for both birth and adoptive parents.

But these radical paid parental leave policies aren't the only way companies can help new moms and dads through their transition to parenthood.  

Here's how other employers are making life for new parents that much better with generous and unique perks:

 

SEE ALSO: Netflix, Google, Facebook, and 13 other companies with extremely generous parental leave policies in America

On-site childcare

A Google spokesperson tells Business Insider the company has four childcare centers near its Mountain View, California, headquarters, while Cisco boasts it offers two centers on its San Jose, California, campus.

Only about 7% of companies offer on-site childcare, Fortune reported.



Subsidized childcare

A Yahoo spokesperson tells Business Insider the company offers priority access to open slots at Children's Creative Learning Center in Sunnyvale, California, and a free premium Care.com membership to help employees find babysitters and nannies.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the company offers two programs to help employees pay for child care: one that offers employee discounts at many daycares across the country and another that subsidizes child care with several national child care providers.

Microsoft also offers subsidized back-up care for children, adults, and elders when there is an unexpected disruption in regular care and employees need to work.

With so many new children joining the Google family each year, a spokesperson says the company offers other caregiving benefits including one-on-one consultations to help parents in their child care search, discounts for nanny placement agencies, five free back-up child care days, priority access at Bright Horizons child care centers, and free premium membership to Care.com.

Other companies like Facebook and Intel also subsidize daycare costs.



Flexible work arrangements

Many top companies understand that family needs come first. Facebook and other companies confirm they encourage their employees to get home in time for dinner by allowing for flexible work arrangements, and big companies like Microsoft say they allow telecommuting.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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23 introverts who became extremely successful

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JK Rowling

There are a lot of misconceptions regarding introverts.

Some people look at those they consider introverted and toss out all kinds of hyperbole, such as, "they are so shy they would not being able to deliver a speech in a public," or "she is so shy and introverted she does not like people all."

However, these almost prejudicial overstatements are rarely the case.

After all, introverts have been responsible for some of the greatest achievements in the history of mankind, as well as being some of the most successful business and political leaders in the world.

Here are 23 of the most successful introverts in history:

SEE ALSO: What 17 successful people read before bed

Albert Einstein

As one of the world's most recognized and revered physicists of all-time, Einstein has often been quoted as saying, “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” Einstein received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 and is best remembered as the founding father of the theory of relativity … and so much more.



Rosa Parks

Parks became one of the most important Civil Rights-era figures in 1955 after refusing to give her bus seat up to a white man. In the introduction of her book Quiet: The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain states:

I had always imagined Rosa Parks as a stately woman with a bold temperament, someone who could easily stand up to a busload of glowering passengers. But when she died in 2005 at the age of 92, the flood of obituaries recalled her as soft-spoken, sweet, and small in stature. They said she was ‘timid and shy’ but had ‘the courage of a lion.’ They were full of phrases like ‘radical humility’ and ‘quiet fortitude.’



Bill Gates

The founder of Microsoft, philanthropist, and world's richest person, was once asked how to succeed in a predominantly extroverted world.

“Well, I think introverts can do quite well. If you're clever you can learn to get the benefits of being an introvert, which might be, say, being willing to go off for a few days and think about a tough problem, read everything you can, push yourself very hard to think out on the edge of that area. Then, if you come up with something, if you want to hire people, get them excited, build a company around that idea, you better learn what extroverts do, you better hire some extroverts, like Steve Ballmer I would claim as an extrovert, and tap into both sets of skills in order to have a company that thrives both as in deep thinking and building teams and going out into the world to sell those ideas.”



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The 8 smartest things to do with your money in your 30s

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businessman cell phone

After a decade of experimenting, failing, learning from those failures, and "figuring things out," you might find yourself in a more secure financial position once you hit your 30s.

What do you do with excess money when you're no longer living paycheck to paycheck? And how do you prepare for big expenses you're bound to face in your 30s?

We spoke to Michael Solari, a certified financial planner at Solari Financial Planning, about the smartest things 30-somethings can do with their money to set themselves up for a prosperous future.

Here are eight smart places to start:

SEE ALSO: The 11 worst money mistakes to make in your 30s

1. Increase your 401(k) contributions.

"In your 30s, the most important thing that you have is time, and the more money you can save now is going to pay huge dividends down the road," says Solari.

You should already be contributing towards your employer's 401(k) retirement account, but if you get a pay raise, increase that contribution, Solari says.

Also, get in the habit of upping your contribution at the end of each year, even if it's just 0.5%, he advises. Check online to see if you can set up "auto-increase," which will automatically increase your contributions every year.



2. Make a contribution to a Roth IRA.

If you're maxing out your 401(k) plan, the next step is to put money towards a Roth IRA, a retirement savings vehicle that offers tax benefits and is particularly well-suited to younger people who earn less than the income cap ($116,000 a year or less for individuals; $183,000 or less for married couples filing jointly).

Contributions to this type of fund are taxed when they're made, so you can withdraw the contributions and earnings tax-free once you reach age 59 1/2.

Solari recommends directing your tax refund, bonuses, or any other extra money to a Roth IRA.



3. Contribute to a dependent care flexible spending account.

This applies to those with younger children looking to save on child care. Typically, larger companies will offer a slew of benefits, one of them being dependent care flexible spending accounts (also known as FSAs) into which you can put pre-tax money. In some cases, you'll receive a debit card from the company to use towards services such as daycare and summer camp. If you're paying a nanny or babysitter, you can pay them with cash and then apply for reimbursement from the FSA. 

"If you have children in daycare and your company offers a flexible spending account, contribute to it," Solari says. "The tax deduction will give you a 15 to 30% discount on your daycare. It's a great way to save money."

Check with your human resources department to see if you're offered this benefit.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Amazing, never-before-seen WWII photographs

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ww2 world war 2 wwii M-10 tank

Argunners will be publishing a series of amazing WWII photographs recently uncovered from the archives of General Charles Day Palmer, who was a four-star General.

Most of the photographs were confidential photographs taken by the U.S. Signal Corps not fit for publication, Brig. Gen. was allowed to have them for private use after censoring (names of places etc.).

Charles Day Palmer was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 20, 1902. After graduating from Washington High School in Washington, D.C., he entered the United States Military Academy, where he graduated in 1924.

During World War II, he worked in the British West Indies to establish military bases and ran projects on anti-submarine warfare.

In 1944, he became the Chief-of-Staff of the 2nd Armored Division, nicknamed "Hell on Wheels", participating in the Invasion of Normandy, break-out from Saint-Lo and the crossing of the Siegfried Line. In October, he was transferred as Chief-of-Staff to the VI Corps, where he received a battlefield promotion to Brigadier-General.

After World War II, Palmer took part in the Korean War. During his career, he received various valor and service awards such as the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit and the Bronze and Silver Star. He passed away on June 7, 1999 in Washington, D.C. The photographs were shared by his grandson, Daniel Palmer, honoring the memories and service of his grandfather.

SEE ALSO: The B-17 Flying Fortress debuted exactly 80 years ago — here's its legacy

U.S. Soldier examines the grave of an unknown U.S. soldier, who was buried by the enemy before retreating. The first American soldier that noticed the grave, decorated it with mortar shells and ferns.



Dead American and German soldiers at a cemetery before burial, place unknown. Each body is placed in a mattress cover. German prisoners are doing the work of digging the graves and placing the bodies in them.



M-10 Tank Destroyer from the 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion supporting the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Division in Rohrwiller, 4 February 1945. You can see the town's church damaged by shell blasts.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

How 20-year-old Cameron Dallas became the hottest guy on Vine

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Thank you all so much for voting every single day. Excited to see what else we can achieve together. This award goes out to all of you. Thanks @teenchoicefox

A photo posted by Cameron Dallas (@camerondallas) on Aug 16, 2015 at 8:22pm PDT on

On Sunday night, 20-year-old Cameron Dallas won the Teen Choice Award for Best Viner as well as the male Choice Web Star.

It’s an enviable title that also went to YouTube sensation Bethany Mota in the female Choice Web Star category and that pits social media stars with millions of followers against each other.

This win was not a surprise to fans of Dallas who have been watching him grow from an early Vine sensation in 2013 to a budding actor with movies like “Expelled” and the upcoming “The Outfield." 

With 5.26 million Twitter followers, 7.3 million Instagram fans, and 8.2 million followers on Vine, Dallas has the mass-appeal that could translate into movie stardom one day and is definitely one to watch.

Keep reading to see the best Cameron Dallas Vines and learn what makes him tick.

Cameron Dallas is a 20-year-old from Chino, California who started on Vine back in 2013 making videos of his family, friends, and daily life.

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Originally, he took Vines off the cuff around his house and with friends. But after starting to gain traction on the platform, he began editing, writing, and thinking seriously about his videos by September 2013.

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Suddenly, Dallas found himself with a massive following. A video of him being chased in the New York subway and running away from screaming fans shows just how popular he had become.

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BMW paid homage to one of its greatest race cars by building this gorgeous concept

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In 1975, BMW arrived on American shores and immediately went racing in the ultra-competitive IMSA racing series.  They didn't just compete, they won. Early and often. The car responsible for this incredible turn of performance is the BMW 3.0 CSL.  In just its the first year of IMSA competition, the 3.0 CSL took home the 1975 constructors championship for the German automaker.

To commemorate its stellar rookie season and 40 years of selling cars in the US, BMW has unveiled a modern interpretation of the legendary racer — the aptly-named 3.0 CSL Hommage R.

"Motor racing is all about the ability of cars to mesmerize, about the unbridled joy of driving,"BMW Group Design senior vice president Adrian van Hooydonk said in a statement. "And as such it represents the heartbeat of BMW."

"Back in 1975, as today, winning races came down to how man and machine could work together. Technical innovations have taken the effectiveness of this partnership to ever great heights," van Hooydonk said. "And with the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R we’re aiming to show how much closer the driver and car can grow in the future."

SEE ALSO: 25 amazing cars cheaper than the back seat of a Bentley Mulsanne Speed

The BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R is — you guessed it — an homage to the original 3.0 CSL from the 1970s.



The exterior design of the Hommage strikes a balance between conveying the spirit of 1970s racing royalty and modern aerodynamics.



"All the details from the BMW 3.0 CSL are present in the Hommage model," BMW design chief Karim Habib said in a statement. "And they are all there to be discovered in their original form. It’s a bow to the 1975 car."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Everything you need to know about the cast of 'Rogue One,' the first 'Star Wars' spin-off movie

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Rogue One Cast

"Rogue One" is going to be a different kind of "Star Wars" film. 

The first of three planned spin-off movies to be released in the years between Episodes VII-IX, they're an opportunity to tell stories in the "Star Wars" universe with a different sort of feel than the grand space opera fans know and love.

"Rogue One" takes place before "Episode IV: A New Hope" and tells the story of a group of resistance fighters and their mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. At this summer's recent D23 expo, the movie's cast was unveiled — and though we don't know the name of their characters or what roles they'll be playing, it's a pretty exciting bunch. 

Get to know the cast of "Rogue One":

Felicity Jones finally gets a big role after getting nominated for an Oscar last year.

More than any other cast member in this movie, there's some heavy speculation about who Jones will be playing in this movie. The favorite rumor right now is that she's the daughter of Boba Fett — but that's one to take with an enormous grain of salt given that Boba Fett is a name that is always thrown around by speculators whenever there's a "Star Wars" mystery to solve. 

While Jones has been acting since the late '90s — she's appeared on shows like "Doctor Who" and had a minor role in "Amazing Spider-Man 2" that would have ostensibly led to a bigger part in the now-scrapped series — she received much acclaim (and an Oscar nomination) for playing Jane Hawking opposite Eddie Redmayne in the Stephen Hawking bio pic "The Theory of Everything."



Ben Mendelsohn will likely play an intense villain.

A character actor with a penchant for playing villainous people in the States and a longtime leading man in his native Australia, Ben Mendelsohn is an actor you've almost certainly seen (most likely as Dagget in "The Dark Knight Rises") but whose face you'll likely recognize more than his name.

Mendelsohn is an intense, unsettling performer in his best roles (like Danny Rayburn in Netflix's "Bloodline"), and given that he doesn't seem to be pictured with Felicity Jones in the released cast photo, he might be playing a villain.

He does look like he'd be a good fit for an Imperial uniform, no?



Mexican actor Diego Luna also appears to suit up with the Rogue One team.

A Mexican actor who exploded on the scene with 2001's "Y Tu Mamá También," Diego Luna spent much of his career in Spanish-language cinema, occasionally surfacing in big films like  "The Terminal" and landing a pivotal role in the Academy Award-nominated "Milk." 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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What it's like to be a hotel tester in China

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Zhuang Jing checking for hairs on bedZhuang Jing is a professional Hotel Test Sleeper in Beijing, China.

Back in 2010, she was selected as one of three final winners out of a total of 7,800 candidates to start working for online company Qunar as a hotel tester.

She has slept in countless hotels, documenting her experience with the room and staff of each to help travelers make the best choice on where to stay.

We've put together this collection of photographs from Reuters that take you through a day in her life, revealing what it is hotel testers look for when they write their reviews.

SEE ALSO: 50 incredible hotels you should sleep in during your lifetime

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Zhuang Jing will sleep at selected hotels without disclosing her job. The entire process takes place secretly so that she can objectively review the hotel without any special treatment.



Once inside, she starts her testing process. For Zhuang Jing, it's crucial to pay attention to the smallest of details. Here, she checks the quality of the room's toilet paper.



She'll also test out the products in the bathroom. Here, she samples the hotel room's body wash.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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The next version of Android will help it catch up to the iPhone (GOOG)

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Android M Marshmallow

Google announced on Monday that the upcoming version of its Android 6.0 operating system will be called Android Marshmallow. 

It's a functionality update that'll bring native Android support for fingerprint scanning for security, Android Pay for mobile payments, and support for USB-C, the new standard that will replace microUSB for charging and connecting to other devices.

Apart from the added functionality, Android users should find that Android 6.0 Marshmallow will look and feel very familiar, as not much about the interface is being changed.

The last version of Android (5.0), called Lollipop, couldn't support any of these features, which was a limiting factor for some Android phone makers who wanted to compete with Apple's iPhones, especially when it came to fingerprint scanning.

You'll find fingerprint scanning in a few Samsung phones because they incorporated it into their own layer of software, called TouchWiz, that runs on top of Android. 

Now, any Android phone with a built-in fingerprint scanner can make mobile payments and unlock with your fingerprint. That included Google's own Nexus line of smartphones and tablets, which are rumored to feature both fingerprint scanning and USB-C.

Support for USB-C will also help phone makers adopt the new standard more readily, which can charge your phone faster than microUSB, as well as connect more easily to other devices, like an HD TV.

Android Pay is almost identical to Apple Pay in that it uses near-field communication (NFC) to make mobile payments.

Join the conversation about this story »

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The first person to spend the year in space keeps taking amazing photos

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Astronaut Scott Kelly is halfway to making history.

Along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, Kelly is about six months into a year-long mission on board the International Space Station (ISS). If the men succeed, they'll be the first humans to ever spend a full year in zero gravity.

As a visual diary of his year in space, Kelly has posted a photo almost every day since arriving at the ISS in March 2015 — and the images have been incredible.

Scroll down to see some of his best work.

Every morning, astronaut Scott Kelly wakes up to a view that few people get to see.

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He'll enjoy it for awhile. Kelly (right) and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko (left) are about six months into a year-long mission aboard the space station.



Kelly posts a photo almost every day to document the journey, part of an online visual diary he calls #YearInSpace.

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27 movies you have to see this fall

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The Martian final

With summer coming to a close, it's time for all the superhero movies to exit the multiplexes and the more serious fare to enter.

From book adaptations and Matt Damon being left on Mars, to two movies about Steve Jobs, here are 27 titles you shouldn’t miss this fall.

SEE ALSO: Meet the new young Hollywood — 30 stars under 30 whose careers are blowing up

“Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine”

Release Date: September 4

Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney follows up his film on Scientology, “Going Clear,” with a look at one of the 21st century’s most important figures, Steve Jobs. In typical Gibney fashion, we get a warts-and-all look at the man, which will be eye-opening for some and disturbing for Apple fanatics.



“Dragon Blade”

Release Date: September 4

Already a box-office sensation in its native China, this action-packed epic set in 48 BC China — starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack, and Adrien Brody — is now headed to the US. In the film, Huo An (Chan) teams with a defector of the Roman army (Cusack) to take on the corrupt Roman leader Tiberius (Brody).



“The Visit”

Release Date: September 11

M. Knight Shyamalan ("Sixth Sense") directs his first feature film since the box-office disappointment of 2013's “After Earth.” In this spooky thriller he teams with the producer behind "Paranormal Activity" and "Insidious" to create a mockumentary-styled thriller of two siblings visiting their grandparents.



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5 things you shouldn't do when visiting New York City — and what to do instead

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53db22486dec627b14a1c76e_new york city tourist tipsWhen you're visiting the city that never sleeps, your first instinct may be to cram a month's worth of outings into one visit.

But this local's guide will help you make the most of your trip.

(Spoiler alert: Skip the cronut).

SEE ALSO: 10 of the greatest bars in the US, according to insiders

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Don't feel like you have to stay in Manhattan.

For many people, “New York City” is synonymous with its most famous island, so of course that’s where visitors often choose to stay.

But prices in Manhattan are still quite high—the average hotel room is around $250 per day—and unless you’re determined to sleep at a famous spot like the Waldorf-Astoria, you can get better deals off the island.



INSTEAD: Book a few nights in Brooklyn.

The borough has experienced a boutique-hotel boom in recent years, and many of the options—including Williamsburg’s chic Wythe Hotel (pictured), and the Aloft Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn—offer stylish, comfortable rooms for a lower price than their Manhattan counterparts.

Plus, both of those options are no more than 20 minutes from the city’s center (by subway, of course).



Don't take taxis everywhere.

Yellow cabs may seem like a convenient way to get around, but they’re remarkably inefficient (you will get stuck in traffic).

Plus, the city’s pilot program of green outer-borough cabs aren’t always easy to come by, and Uber will almost certainly overcharge you.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

THE AMERICAN SMART HOME MARKET: 2015 [SLIDE DECK]

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BII Smart HomeSmart home devices – like the Nest Thermostat, Canary, and Amazon Echo – are becoming more prevalent throughout the US. However, mass adoption of smart home devices will likely be slow; smart home devices' current high prices and long lifespans (which prolong the time an installed device needs to be replaced), as well as technological hurdles of the installation process, make fast widespread adoption unlikely.

BI Intelligence has developed a slide deck analyzing the US smart home market. Some of the topics in the deck include:

  • Survey results on what Americans want most in the smart home, provided to us by Icontrol Networks.
  • A breakdown of the American housing market and how many devices there could be per household.
  • A look at the tech adoption curve of the US smart home market.
  • Which smart home players are currently leading the market.
  • Forecasts of the US residential connected lighting market.

The companies mentioned include:

August, Nest, Belkin, Honeywell, Insteon, TCP Connected, GE, Xfinity, AT&T ADT, Time Warner Cable, Lowe's Phillips, Staples, Vivint, Total Connect, Smartthings, Dropcam, Alarm.com, Apple, Wemo, Canary, Icontrol Networks, Revolv, Piper and Peq. 


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 here. 







See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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UNDER THE HOOD: An extraordinary look at what's going on in the US economy right now (DIA, SPX, SPY, QQQ, IWM, TLT)

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State of the US Economy_000007

Two things are true about the US economy: It is adding jobs and growing. 

Economic growth over the last few years has been just so-so, though GDP is still growing about 2% annually. 

Meanwhile, the labor market is on fire, with the economy adding more jobs in 2014 than any year since 1999. 

But under the hood of the economy, we can see that consumer spending isn't as poor as some monthly retail data may indicate, government spending is a net negative to economic growth, and healthcare costs are just through the roof. 

On Friday, the folks over at floatingpath.com, an economics and finance blog, posted this comprehensive overview of the US economy and have allowed us to run the slides below. 

Every day of every week of every month we get a ton of data thrown at us, but take a look through these slides and you'll get a broad and complete picture of what's going on in the economy right now. 

Thanks to Nick at floatingpath.com for letting us run these slides. You can follow Nick on Twitter here »

SEE ALSO: The 5 most intense risks looming over the world economy right now

Overall employment is surging.



There are job openings everywhere.



But jobs growth data is just okay.



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How a guy nicknamed 'Piglet' became one of the best 'League of Legends' players in the world

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Piglet

Of all the players competing in August 22's North American "League of Legends" Championship Series (LCS), Team Liquid's Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin is the most well-known.

The guy's got a storied history, having moved from South Korea, where he made a name for himself with SK Telecom T1 K, to the United States so he could join Team Liquid. Controversially, he was benched for three weeks after arriving and not meshing well with his new team. 

And this is less than a year after Piglet and his former teammates won the 2013 international "League of Legends" championship, Worlds, the World Cup of "League of Legends," if you will.

But Piglet is off the bench now, helping lead Team Liquid to the North American LCS tournament this coming weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York. Will Team Liquid beat out the competition and head to the 2015 world championships in Berlin this October?

Chae "Piglet" Gwang-jin is very popular online. So popular, in fact, that he outranks the actual Piglet (from "Winnie the Pooh") in a Google search.



Piglet's namesake travels with him, as seen here in the background. He's clearly got respect for the adorable little character.



Piglet's Twitter following is nearly 100K strong – pretty impressive for a guy who speaks only basic English, despite having a largely English-speaking audience!



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After losing 'hitchBOT' to vandals, people created a religious robot to prove Philadelphia will be kind to the Pope

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Pope bot philly

Just a few weeks after a hitchhiking "robot" was vandalized by people in Philadelphia, an area radio station has created a Pope-inspired knockoff bot.

Pope Bot is a creation of the radio station 93.3 WMMR and appears to be fashioned from pool noodles, dish gloves and a cutout Pope hat. 

The radio station is apparently trying to prove that the region isn't as rough-and-tumble as the hitchBOT situation (and Philadelphia Eagles fans' reputations) would have you believe. 

WMMR posted an online introduction to the bot, but it's now showing a 404 Error. PhillyVoice.com has the background info that was previously shown on that site:

"Hello, I’m Pope Bot. Inspired by my friend, #HitchBot, who sadly met his demise in Philadelphia, I am taking a journey around the Delaware Valley. The goal of my adventure is to prove to the Vatican that this area is a safe environment for the leader of the church. Plus, there is a prize each week for one person who gives me a lift!"

The Pope is visiting Philadelphia on Sept. 26 and 27. Presumably, the Vatican has already vetted the area to figure out whether it was safe enough for the Pope to visit. It seems Pope Bot is more on a goodwill mission to make up for people's indignation over the destruction of hitchBOT.

Either way, though, Pope Bot is going to be tweeting about his journey every week leading up to the actual Pope's visit. Read on to check it out so far.

Pope Bot set out yesterday to travel around the Delaware Valley region, outside Philadelphia. This tweet seems to reference the hitchBOT calamity.

 



He got an "icy treat" in Malvern, Pa., shortly after setting out.

 



Someone needs to tell Pope Bot that a mall food court is not the optimum place for a Philly Cheese Steak.

 



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The 10 hottest zip codes in the US

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austin texas

The "hottest" zip codes in the US — where homes are selling the fastest — aren't in the areas you might expect.

The places to be right now are Melrose, Massachusetts, Worthington, Ohio, and several spots in Texas, according to Relator.com, which recently released a list of the 10 hottest zip codes out there based on listing views on Realtor.com (to assess demand) and median age of inventory (to assess supply).

"Homes in these top ten communities sell four to nine times faster than the national average, and spend 20 fewer days on the market than their respective metropolitan statistical areas," Realtor.com reports.

These communities have a few characteristics in common that make them so popular: They all boast thriving local economies, offer stable job opportunities, are affordable, and appeal to both millennials looking to start a career and family and older generations looking to grow their wealth and enjoy a varied lifestyle.

We also included median household income in these areas from the US Census Bureau, and median home prices from the National Association of Realtors and real estate sites Trulia.com and Zillow.com.

SEE ALSO: The 20 most expensive ZIP codes in America

10. 92010 | Carlsbad, California

California real estate comes at a hefty price, but there are some great options in the "Village by the Sea" for under $600,000, making it an ideal spot for first-time home buyers to break into the California market. Among Carlsbad's major attractions are Legoland California Resort, the seasonal Flower Fields, and the miles of stunning beaches along the San Diego Coast. 

Median household income: $83,900

Median home price: $547,800

Check out properties for sale in Carslbad.



9. 58103 | Fargo, North Dakota

This Midwestern city is made up of many smaller, residential neighborhoods and offers great housing options for first-time home buyers. Fargo also has the second lowest unemployment rate in the US — 2.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics— making it an attractive place to start and grow a career. 

Median household income: $45,500

Median home price: $190,300

Check out properties for sale in Fargo.



8. 78729 | Austin, Texas

Millennials are heading to Austin (they make up 23% of the population, Realtor.com reports) for its vibrant arts scene and affordably priced homes. It also has a low unemployment rate, 3.3%, and is surrounded by major tech companies including Apple, IBM, and Dell.

Median household income: $53,900

Median home sale price: $271,600

Check out properties for sale in Austin.



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