While central banks debate the merits of a purely electronic, cashless society, a near-800 year old ceremony to test Britain's coinage is taking place in a quiet corner of London.

It might sound like something out of Harry Potter, but the Trial of the Pyx is real and has been conducted in London yearly since the late 13th century.

The ceremony, conducted in Goldsmiths' Hall, puts the Royal Mint on trial. Around 96,000 coins are scrutinised over a four month period.

The coins are "assayed" or tested for imperfections and impurities in the metals used to make them, to confirm their value.

A sample of all the coins made by the Royal Mint are tried in this way – from a £1,000 pound commemorative coin made from a kilo of solid gold, down to the lowly 20p piece.

The opening of this year's trial was on February 2nd was full of pomp and circumstance. It's carried out by the Queen's Remembrancer, a judge, who swears in the 16-strong jury who have the job of counting the coins sent for testing by the Royal Mint.

While it's mostly ceremonial, the Trial of the Pyx has an important message – merchants, not the state or the monarchy, must have power over the country's currency. To allow the state to have power over the currency, risks eroding its credibility. 

Permission for the City of London to test the coins produced by the Royal Mint was granted by the Crown in the 13th century. Before that, the reigning monarch had a monopoly on producing and testing Britain's coinage and would periodically alter the standards for the coins to finance wars. 

"There was the inherent danger of inflation and currency corruption," the Queen's Remembrancer, Barbara Fontaine, said in her speech to open proceedings. The Trial was "a key stage of development of the international trust in our coinage."

Here's how it all looks.

The ceremony takes place in the opulent Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London. Members of the public and invited dignitaries are sat on one side of the room.

These are the Pyx, reinforced boxes of currency ready to be assayed or tested. The word Pyx comes from the Greek for wooden box. In them are hundreds of envelopes containing thousands of coins.

The Queen's Remembrancer sat at the head of the table to give her address. She isn't actually present when the trial or counting process happens.

Super Bowl 50 is fast-approaching and some brands have already released teasers about the ads they will be airing during the big game on February 7.

The average cost of a 30-second slot during the Super Bowl has soared to $5 million this year — up 11% on the highest price last year's broadcaster NBC banked for its Super Bowl commercials. This year's broadcaster, CBS, has hinted that the last available ad space could even fetch as much as $6 million.

Here's everything we know so far about which brands are advertising during the Super Bowl and what they've got planned.

We've organized the brands in alphabetical order for ease of navigation. We'll keep updating this post right up until February 7, when you can follow our live coverage.

Acura

The automaker's ad will air during the first quarter and will serve to launch the new $156,000 NSX supercar — the most expensive car ever advertised in a Super bowl ad, according to I4U News. 

The ad is set to Van Halen's hit "Runnin' With the Devil." Here's the spot:

Acura last featured in the Super Bowl in 2012, with a 60-second spot starring Jerry Seinfeld. Here's that ad:

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Amazon

Amazon is making its Super Bowl ad debut this year, with a spot starring actor Alec Baldwin and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.

A teaser video released on January 27 — created by Leo Burnett, the agency behind the campaign — showed the pair using the Amazon Echo voice-activated wireless speaker to help them organize a Super Bowl party. 

The final teaser before the big game is here:

Apartments.com

Jeff Goldblum is continuing his job as brand ambassador for Apartments.com, reprising his role from its previous ads as eccentric Silicon Valley exec "Brad Bellflower,"The WSJ reported. Lil Wayne also stars.

The 60-second spot, entitled "MovinOnUp," has been created by ad agency RPA. It will air in the second commercial break of the game.

Here's the ad:

Instagram, the popular photo sharing app owned by Facebook, recently announced it had over 400 million users who share tens of millions of photos per day. 

The app is based around a chronological feed of photos with individuals profiles that display every photo a user has posted. 

Popular accounts include National Geographic, Victoria's Secret, and rapper Drake. 

The company recently introduced a new way to view photos within user profiles, but didn't make a big deal out of the update. 

Here's how it works: 

Step 1: Open the Instagram app.

Step 2: Select a profile. This works best if the account posts really good photos, like National Geographic.

Step 3: Choose a photo and long press on it.

For Mark Zuckerberg, a product isn't a real business until it has a billion users.

"This may sound a little ridiculous to say, but for us, products don't really get that interesting to turn into businesses until they have about 1 billion people using them,"he said during Facebook's third-quarter earnings call in 2014.

On Monday, one of the social network's sister apps just got "interesting"— WhatsApp passed the 1,000,000,000-user mark.

It's a coveted milestone that very few apps and platforms ever reach.

Here are the members of the three-comma club:

WhatsApp: Used by one-seventh of the earth's population.

On Monday, the Facebook-owned messaging app announced it had a billion active users, nearly one-seventh of the world's population.

WhatsApp's big news, interestingly, came out right after Google's parent company, Alphabet, announced quarterly earnings — which beat analysts' expectations and sent the stock soaring.

"But now, it's back to work," WhatsApp said in a blog post, "because we still have another 6 billion people to get on WhatsApp, and a long way left to go."

Facebook Groups: The billion-user app that's still a bit of a secret.

Facebook Groups is another Facebook product with more than a billion users. It announced it had passed that milestone in late January 2016. It's available as a standalone app and is also accessible via the main website.

Gmail: Probably the best all-around email product, ever.

Google's incredibly popular email service passed the billion-user mark recently. The search giant announced the news on its earning call earlier this week.

Russia's economy and the price of oil are inextricably linked.

The country relies hugely on the oil and gas industries, with more than 50% of total government revenues coming from the sector.

That means that since the price of oil started to crash in mid- 2014, Russia's economy — which is also feeling the squeeze from Western sanctions— has been in the midst of a battle for survival.

The price of of oil doesn't look to be going anywhere soon, despite chatter last week that OPEC and Russia may be considering a production cut sending prices soaring briefly. At the time, Russia's biggest oil company Rosneft, described a rally in the oil price as "idiotic".

Continuing low oil prices can only mean one thing for Russia — more pain.

In the latest of a series of notes on the oil crash in non-OPEC nations, analysts from Bernstein Research — led by Dr. Oswald Clint — have shed light on just how much trouble the current oil price crash is causing the Russian government, with a heap of great charts to illustrate that point.

The note argues that the government's finances are in their worst position in more than a decade, which is quite some feat given that the country underwent one of the most severe recessions in its history, only six years ago.

Things look so bad that Bernstein describes the country's finances right now as "going off a cliff" adding (emphasis ours):

It is unlikely that this situation will reverse itself unless there is a significant increase in oil prices or a removal of sanctions which lets the country access international debt markets openly again. None of these scenarios look likely anytime soon.

Check out the charts showing Russia's pain below.

Russian GDP will continue in negative territory through 2016, just about returning to growth next year, and passing 1% growth by 2018.

The amount of money the Russian government can bring in is hugely dependent on the price of oil. As Bernstein puts it: "In Russia, government receipts remain very sensitive to oil prices."

Russia spent in excess of $150 billion of its currency reserves in 2014, before the reserve rates stabilised last year. However, Bernstein predicts that the continuing decline in oil and the ruble, will force the government to spend more of its foreign cash.

When Wall Street titan Morgan Stanley hires people, it's looking for "exceptional individuals."

That's according to a blog post on the global-investment bank's website.

In other words, if you're a student planning to meet with the firm's recruiters, you need to show your exceptional ability — and your individuality.

The bank ran through some essential interview prep in the blog post, and it's applicable for students interviewing with any major Wall Street firm.

The takeaway? "Don't be afraid to show the real you."

Read more on Morgan Stanley's website.

SEE ALSO: Want to intern at a Wall Street bank? Here's the first thing they'll look for on your résumé

Get your story straight.

"Think about how to best tell your story," Morgan Stanley says.

That means knowing your own résumé like the back of your hand, and being able to talk about it comfortably without taking a glance.

It also means being honest when you answer questions in the interview — it shows how you work through a scenario.

"Be prepared to talk about past experiences that demonstrate why you would be an ideal candidate," the firm wrote. "Present a diverse background of experiences by highlighting relevant jobs, projects, coursework, and extracurricular activities."

Develop your brand.

"We all have a personal brand. What makes you unique? Envision the impression you want to make," the firm wrote.

That means presenting yourself professionally, calmly, and being conscious of your body language.

"It may seem excessive, but it helps to practice interviewing, whether in front of a mirror or with another person," the firm added. "Get comfortable speaking about yourself, but avoid sounding too rehearsed."

Don't just state your interests — show why they are relevant to the firm.

"Have a compelling reason for why you want to work in this industry, our firm, and the division you're interested in," Morgan Stanley says.

So when you talk about your own interests, show how they align with the position you are applying to. That means talking about your experiences and the knowledge you've gained from those interests — and how you can bring what you've gained to the firm.

It also means asking relevant questions, rather than generic ones, to demonstrate your interest in the position.

"How will you enrich our culture?" the firm wrote.

More than 4 million people have fled Syria since the start of its civil war in 2011. Many of them are living in refugee camps around Europe and the Middle East as conflict ravages the home they left behind. 

Umit Bektas, a Turkey-based photographer for Reuters, has spent years documenting the lives of those who have been pushed into exile. His most recent project saw him visit refugee camps and ask children to draw their memories of home and their hopes for the future. 

He visited the Yayladagi camp, which is home to 2,400 refugees and sits on the Turkish side of the border with Syria. It's a growing community and has a school, a rehabilitation centre for kids, and a small clinic.

Bektas told Business Insider that while he was photographing the children, explosions from Russian airstrikes could be heard just miles away on the other side of the border.  

This is 11-year-old Islem Halife posing with a drawing of her home in Syria. Bektas says that the children are often happy, but the civil war is a perpetually underlying concern.

Even children as young as 6-year-old Gays Cardak have a lot to say about the conflict, but, according to Bektas, they remain hopeful that one day they'll return to Syria.

Thousands of people live in Yayladagi Refugee Camp, and an increasing number of them are children.

Most of us spend a majority of our waking hours at work, so it's only natural that we want to enjoy our time in the office as much as we can. And perks help — a lot.

According to career site Glassdoor, more than half (57%) of all workers say perks and benefits are among the top things they consider when deciding whether to accept a job, and almost 80% of employees say they would prefer new benefits – like health insurance or paid time off — over a pay raise.

That's why some employers are raising the bar and going beyond free food, on-site gyms, and 401(k)s to attract new talent. Companies like Airbnb and Facebook are offering unique and surprising perks like travel stipends and "Baby Cash," according to Glassdoor's new list of the "Top 20 Employee Benefits and Perks."

"Benefits and perks matter because they're an added piece of the total compensation puzzle," says Scott Dobroski, Glassdoor's career trends analyst. "Job seekers should understand what benefits and perks an employer may be offering, and do their research ahead of time to find companies that offer benefits that matter most to them."

Glassdoor's list is based on the hundreds of thousands of benefits reviews shared on Glassdoor by employees.

Through research and surveys, Glassdoor has found that benefits and perks affect recruiting efforts "in that they certainly help get prospective talent interested in a company and through the door," Dobroski explains. "However, once people are hired, our research shows culture and values, career opportunities and senior leadership, not perks, are the leading factors that impact employee satisfaction, which directly affects a company's talent retention rates."

Here are 20 of the most incredible perks companies are offering right now:

SEE ALSO: Here's how to respond to weird interview questions you may hear from major companies like Google and Apple

Netflix: year-long paid parental leave

Netflix offers one paid year of maternity and paternity leave to new parents. The company also allows parents to return part-time or full-time and take time off as needed throughout the year.

Overall benefits rating: 3.7 / 5

REI: 'Yay Days'

REI encourages its employees to get outside by offering two paid days off each year, called "Yay Days," to enjoy their favorite outside activity.

Overall benefits rating: 4.0 / 5

Salesforce: PTO for volunteering and money for donation

Salesforce employees receive six days of paid volunteer time off a year, as well as $1,000 a year to donate to a charity of their choice.

Overall benefits rating: 4.5 / 5

For all the unremarkable buildings that go up each year, there are always a handful of head-turners.

The most beautiful new buildings in the world — "new" referring to roughly the last three years in the architecture world — cater to all aspects of life.

There are buildings meant specifically for worship, office work, daily living, and education. Each one seems to redefine what buildings can or should look like.

Here are the ones that stuck with us.

Opened in late 2014 in South Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia, Lady Cilento Children's Hospital catches passersby with its slatted green facade and boxy exterior.

Visitors get an entirely new experience just by looking up: Faux trees jut out into the main atrium with each floor you go up.

Actual foliage lives on the roof, providing a sunny place to walk or sit.

The wealthiest 50 people in the world control a staggering portion of the world economy: $1.46 trillion — more than the annual GDP of Australia, Spain, or Mexico.

That's according to new data provided to Business Insider by Wealth-X, which conducts research on the super-wealthy. Wealth-X maintains a database of dossiers on more than 110,000 ultra-high-net-worth people, using a proprietary valuation model that takes into account each person's assets, then adjusts estimated net worth to account for currency-exchange rates, local taxes, savings rates, investment performance, and other factors.

Its latest ranking of the world's billionaires found that 29 of the top 50 hail from the US and nearly a quarter made their fortunes in tech. To crack this list, you'd need to have a net worth of at least $14.3 billion. And for the most part these people weren't born with a silver spoon. More than two-thirds are completely self-made, having built some of the most powerful companies, including Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Nike, and Oracle.

From tech moguls and retail giants to heirs and heiresses, here are the billionaires with the deepest pockets around the globe.

SEE ALSO: The 20 most generous people in the world

DON'T MISS: The wealthiest people in the world under 35

49. TIE: Aliko Dangote

Net worth:$14.3 billion

Age: 58

Country: Nigeria

Industry: Diversified investments

Source of wealth: Self-made; Dangote Group

At 20, Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote borrowed money from his uncle to start a business that dealt in commodities trading, cement, and building materials. He quickly expanded to import cars during the country's economic boom. Four years later, in 1981, he formed Dangote Group, an international conglomerate that now holds diversified interests that include food and beverages, plastics manufacturing, real estate, logistics, telecommunications, steel, oil, and gas. At $14.3 billion, Dangote's fortune is the largest in Africa and equal to 2.5% of Nigeria's GDP.

The majority of Dangote's wealth stems from his stake in Dangote Cement, which is publicly traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. He owns cement plants in Zambia, Senegal, Tanzania, and South Africa, and in 2011 invested $4 billion to build a facility on the Ivory Coast. Dangote bought back a majority stake in Dangote Flour Mills — which had grown unprofitable after he sold a large stake to South African food company Tiger Brands three years ago for $190 million — in December for just $1. He is also chairman of The Dangote Foundation, which focuses on education and health initiatives, including a $12,000-per-day feeding program.

49. TIE: James Simons

Net worth:$14.3 billion

Age: 77

Country: US

Industry: Hedge funds

Source of wealth: Self-made; Renaissance Technologies

Before revolutionizing the hedge fund industry with his mathematics-based approach, "Quant King" James Simons worked as a code breaker for the US Department of Defense during the Vietnam War, but was fired after criticizing the war in the press. He chaired the math department at Stony Brook University for a decade until leaving in 1978 to start a quantitative-trading firm. That firm, now called Renaissance Technologies, has more than $65 billion in assets under management among its many funds.

Simons has always dreamed big. About 10 years ago, he announced that he was starting a fund that he claimed would be able to handle $100 billion, about 10% of all assets managed by hedge funds at the time. That fund, Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, never quite reached his aspirations — it currently handles about $10.5 billion— but his flagship Medallion fund is among the best-performing ever: It has generated a nearly 80% annualized return before fees since its inception in 1988.

In October, Renaissance shut down a $1 billion fund — one of its smaller ones — "due to a lack of investor interest." The firm's other funds, however, have been up and climbing. Simons retired in 2009, but remains chairman of the company.

47. TIE: Laurene Powell Jobs

Net worth:$14.4 billion

Age: 52

Country: US

Industry: Media

Source of wealth: Inheritance; Disney

The widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs inherited his wealth and assets, which included 5.5 million shares of Apple stock and a 7.3% stake in The Walt Disney Co., upon his death. Jobs' stake in Disney — which has nearly tripled in value since her husband's death in 2011 and comprises more than $12 billion of her net worth — makes her the company's largest individual shareholder.

Though she's best recognized through her iconic husband, Jobs has had a career of her own. She worked on Wall Street for Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs before earning her MBA at Stanford in 1991, after which she married her late husband and started organic-foods company Terravera. But she's been primarily preoccupied with philanthropic ventures, with a particular focus on education. In 1997, she founded College Track, an after-school program that helps low-income students prepare for and enroll in college, and in September she committed $50 million to a new project called XQ: The Super School Project, which aims to revamp the high-school curriculum and experience.

Last October, Jobs spoke out against "Steve Jobs," Aaron Sorkin's movie about her late husband that portrays him in a harsh light, calling it "fiction." Jobs had been against the project from the get-go, reportedly calling Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale to ask them to decline roles in the film.

When Elon Musk was 17, he lived off a dollar a day for a month to see if he had what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

He explained the experiment to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in an episode of Tyson's StarTalk Radio podcast:

In America it's pretty easy to keep yourself alive. So my threshold for existing was pretty low. I figured I could be in some dingy apartment with my computer and be okay, and not starve.

In fact, when I first came to North America — I was in Canada when I was 17 — and just to sort of see what it takes to live, I tried to live on $1 a day, which I was able to do. You sort of just buy food in bulk at the supermarket ... I was like, "Oh, okay. If I can live for a dollar a day — at least from a food-cost standpoint — it's pretty easy to earn $30 dollars in a month, so I'll probably be okay.

I decided to replicate the challenge this past month. I adjusted for inflation — $1 in 1988, when Musk was 17, is the equivalent $2 today — and set aside $62 for the 31-day month of January.

Musk lived off mostly hot dogs and oranges, occasionally mixing in pasta and jarred tomato sauce. I bought mostly bananas, pasta, and peanut butter and would switch it up with the occasional fried egg or sweet potato.

I reached out to Musk after completing the challenge. "That's great, although I would not encourage anyone to live on $1 a day," he wrote me in an email. "That would not be super fun. Also, I did this back in 1990, so a dollar went a lot further back then. Would be much harder to do that today."

(Yes, I realize he just said 1990, but I did the entire month based on the value of a 1988 dollar, and I'm not about to re-do it ... so bear with me. The point still stands.)

Thirty-one days, 14 bags of pasta, six jars of peanut butter, and too many bananas to count later, I completed the "Elon Musk Challenge" with $1.07 to spare. Here's what it was like:

SEE ALSO: I spent only $4 a day on food for a week — and it was grueling

I set aside exactly $62 the evening of December 31 and established a few guidelines for the month-long challenge:

1. No office snacks. If I'm emulating the lifestyle of a struggling entrepreneur, I probably cannot rely on an office stocked with snacks.

2. No "rollover" food. I decided not to eat any food that I bought prior to January 2016.

3. I CAN accept food from other people or any freebies. I wouldn't be actively seeking out free food or asking friends and family to buy me anything — the point of the challenge was not to see how much free food I could accumulate in a month — but if I came across free samples or if someone (outside of my office) offered me a snack or meal, it was fair game.

4. I can spend more than the allotted $2 on any given day. I just can't exceed the $62 over the course of the month. Some days I would spend $8 at the grocery store for supplies that would last several days, while other days, I spent nothing.

5. One cup of coffee per day. For productivity reasons, I did allow myself one cup of coffee from the office Keurig machine each morning. After struggling with caffeine headaches while completing the food-stamp challenge last year, I learned that a cup of coffee would be essential if I wanted a chance at being productive during the work day.

My "strategy" the first couple of days was simply to buy the cheapest food I knew of — pasta and oats — and eat my supplies as I got hungry.

Pictured above are the groceries from my first shopping trip at Trader Joe's.

In terms of flavor, for the first couple of days, there was none. I had accepted at the beginning of the challenge that everything was going to be considerably bland, and I assumed I wouldn't be able to afford much more than pasta and oats.

It only took one traumatizing treadmill run and a series of leg cramps to realize I would need a more concrete plan (and protein) if I had any chance of completing the challenge.

I started by adding a good source of protein — peanut butter — to my pile of loot, tortilla to accompany the peanut butter, and bananas for a bit of potassium.

Military heroes aren’t all the spit-and-polish types like Gen. Robert E. Lee or Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz. These five men were great leaders who also knew how to party with the best of them:

SEE ALSO: Here's how the bazooka became an iconic weapon of World War II

1. Fleet Adm. Ernest J. King

Fleet Adm. Ernest J. King was the man who took over the US Navy on Dec. 23, 1941, just a few weeks after the Pacific fleet was crippled at Pearl Harbor and while the Atlantic fleet was hard-pressed fighting against Nazi subs. King was the Navy’s Dwight D. Eisenhower, carefully selecting strategies, technologies, and commanders to win the war at sea.

But King’s reputation wasn’t nearly as clean as his land-based counterpart. King was known for visiting other officers’ wives before and during the war as well as being the “d-mnest party man” in an illegal drinking club at the Navy’s flight school during Prohibition in 1927.

2. Gen. George Washington

We’ve previously discussed Gen. George Washington’s hard-partying habits, including his epic birthday bash at Valley Forge. He had refused a $15,000 annual salary for his services in the war, asking instead that Congress simply pick up his costs. Then he racked up $450,000 in expenses, a fair portion of which was rich food and booze.

But when a general wins a war against one of the world’s most powerful empires, things like Congress-funded parties tend to get swept under the rug. Congress readily paid the bill Washington racked up, and then begged him to please serve as president. But when he took that position, Congress gave him a salary and told him to pay for his parties on his own dime.

3. Maj. Gen. Ethan Allen

Maj. Gen. Ethan Allen was a huge part of America’s survival early in the Revolutionary War. He and his troops captured Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, allowing America to limit British movement in New York and prevent an invasion from Loyalist Canada.

But Allen’s route to heroism was an odd one. As a young man, he was kicked out of two communities, one in Connecticut and another in Massachusetts, for his hard drinking and profanity. He then settled into the Green Mountains and started a militia, the Green Mountain Boys, who knew him as much for his legendary binges as for his military leadership.

Fast food is a guilty pleasure many Americans find impossible to avoid. But Amy's Drive Thru is a first-of-its-kind restaurant serving up organic, local, vegetarian, and non-GMO fare — and they're doing it well. 

Amy's has been an established food brand for over 27 years, stocking sections of Whole Foods and other grocery stores.

"Over the years we felt we’ve been part of changing frozen food," Operations Director Paul Schiefer told Tech Insider. "And we had customers and partners saying ‘Hey I wonder if you can do the same thing for fast food.’"

Their pioneer location opened in Rohnert Park, California in July 2015 — just an hour drive north of San Francisco. We decided to see for ourselves how the meatless fare stacks up to established fast food eateries.

Scroll down to learn more.

When you think Amy's, you probably think frozen lunches or organic soup. Their products are sold in chain grocery stores nationwide.

But this is their first foray into fast food. They chose to open the flagship in Sonoma County, the home to their national headquarters and food packaging plant.

We arrived at Amy's Drive Thru — 58 Golf Course Drive West, Rohnert Park, CA — on a dreary winter day. I was struck by the barn-like design that felt modern with the help of a bright turquoise logo.

Apple introduced the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in 2015 but didn't refresh the iPhone 5c, its cheaper — and cheerfully coloured — iPhone.

Rumours have started appearing about an iPhone 6c/5se that would take what made the iPhone 5c great (namely price and size) and update it for 2016. 

The new device — which has not been officially announced by Apple — would offer a cheaper, more accessible iPhone. 

Here's everything we know so far about it:

It could be called the 5se.

The most recent cheap(er) iPhone was called the 5c, and its successor will most likely be called the 6c. 

However, a report from Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac suggested that the phone could also be called the 5se, an entirely new name for an iPhone. 

Whichever name Apple chooses will work to differentiate the phone from the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which are set to launch in October.

It will probably launch in early 2016.

Reports — from both supply chains, which manufacture devices, and analysts — have suggested that the iPhone 5se will launch in March or April.

According to 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman, Apple is planning an event around that time of year that will see the introduction of an updated Apple Watch. A new iPhone would fit in perfectly.

Launching the device in early 2016 also keeps it away from the iPhone 7, which is set for October. This means the new, flashy iPhone won't immediately overshadow the 6c/5se. 

The screen may be 4 inches.

Reports have suggested that the iPhone 5se will feature a 4-inch screen, down from the iPhone 6s' 4.7-inch display and the iPhone 6s Plus' 5.5-inch display. 

The iPhone 5se will appeal to people with smaller hands who find it hard to use the bigger iPhones and emerging markets, which are traditionally price conscious. 

Ohlala, the German app that sets up men with women for "paid dates," is coming to the US, starting with New York City.

Ohlala has been described as an "Uber for escorts," but the company denies this, claiming it "is not an escort service."

So how does it work?

"Ohlala is all about connecting real women to men as quickly as possible to lead to an in-person interaction," the company says. "Men post to the platform with what type of date they’d like to go on and what the price range will be. Female users can then sort through and choose which requests they’d like to respond to. Once the woman initiates conversation, her profile becomes available to the date seeker, but stays completely anonymous up until that point."

Whether Ohlala is an escort service or not seems to be a matter of perspective, and Ohlala's CEO isn't shying away from the sexual component.

“Whatever those two people want to do — may it be to give company at a dinner or end up in bed together — is a private matter and should be agreed upon in the chat before meeting,” CEO Pia Poppenreiter told TechCrunch. “It’s simple: We match people for paid dates immediately. It actually solves problems in this marketplace that dating sites and most escort sites don’t solve: We match expectations, on-demand.”

Since August, 2015, Ohlala says it has "arranged" over 25,000 paid dates in its four pilot cities: Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, and Hamburg. The company announced Wednesday that it had raised a $1.7 million seed round of funding.

Here are some screenshots of what the app will look like: 

There are $ ratings depending on how much you are willing to spend.

You can swipe through potential dates.

The chat function looks similar to other dating apps. What you talk about might be slightly different.

What are we going to do with our lives?

That's the question Bert and John Jacobs were trying to answer when they decided to take a seven-week road trip from California to Boston in 1988.

The brothers — 20 and 23 at the time — say that the trip forever changed their lives.

John tells Business Insider that it was during this time that he and Bert decided to pursue a new — and less traditional — career path: They began selling T-shirts.

They named their company Jacob's Gallery, and tirelessly traveled up and down the East Coast selling shirts to college kids out of their used Plymouth Voyager. But the business struggled, and at one point the brothers has just $78 in the bank.

But everything changed when they added an optimistic message to their shirts in 1994. 

"We were searching for so many years for, 'What do we stand for?'" John says. "Then when we put out this new design, the response was so immediate. It was exactly what we had hoped for."

They rebranded and relaunched their company under the name Life Is Good, and within three years, they broke $1 million in sales. Now they're up to $100 million — selling their products in about 4,500 retail stores.

Here's the story of how these brothers went from running a struggling business to a successful one:

SEE ALSO: Brothers who cofounded a $100 million company say this question their mom asked every night at dinner is what inspired their business

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The early years

John and Bert Jacobs grew up as the youngest of six children in the Boston suburb of Needham, Massachusetts. They describe their childhood as "perfectly imperfect" in their new book, "Life Is Good."

The second floor of their $15,000, 720-square-foot house had no heating because, according to their father, a World War II and Korean War veteran, "heat rises, and you kids hang out mostly downstairs in the winter."

After playing outside all day, they would run to the dinner table, where their mother would say something that later inspired their business: "Tell me something good that happened today."

"Rather than complaining about the day, commiserating about struggles or opening up the possibility of a fight, she focused everyone on the positive," the brothers write.

This optimism was especially important for the boys in elementary school, when their parents were in a near-death car accident from which their mother managed to escape with just a few broken bones — but their father lost the use of his right hand.

The stress and frustration from his physical therapy caused him to develop a harsh temper.

"He did a lot of yelling when we were in grade school," John says.

But even when difficult things were happening around the house, their mother would still be singing, telling stories, and acting out children's books for them.

"That optimism was something that our family always had, even when we had little else," they write.

Lululemon has been poised for a comeback; Wells Fargo analysts have stated that Lululemon has been improving its design, production, and supply chain.

But the company faces steep competition.

Over the past few years, the athleisure market has become incredibly popular. Everyone is trying to cash on it, from Dick's Sporting Goods to Nike.

And Lululemon still has its troubled history; customers were furious when founder Chip Wilson commented in 2013 that his pants didn't work for everyone.

These companies could make it harder for the company to hold such a large portion of the market share.

Some companies, like Gap's Athleta and Nike, are huge. Others are more niche brands that can be ordered online. 

Under Armour

Under Armour is arguably Lululemon's biggest threat. The company has explicitly stated that it wants to focus on growing its women's business. CEO Kevin Plank said that he wanted to make its women's business bigger than its men's, which would thereby make the company completely usurp Lululemon's stronghold on women's athletic apparel.

Under Armour also has the added benefit of having supermodel Gisele Bundchen and star ballerina Misty Copeland as faces of the brand.

Nike

Nike has been making huge efforts to boost its women's business. Its #BetterForIt campaign has been paying off.

With its ubiquitous store presence and its status as the biggest apparel retailer in the United States, Nike has the opportunity to hook customers who Lululemon can't even reach yet. 

Yogasmoga

Yogasmoga was founded by brother-sister pair Rishi and Tapasya Bali. Although the company's clothes have high price points similar to Lululemon's, the company prides itself on being a more authentic yoga apparel company.

"While other companies use Yoga as a marketing tool, we are yoga company that makes things for life, and this difference in philosophy makes us operate at a much higher level than any of our competition and have a deeper connection with our customer," Bali told Business Insider's Maya Kosoff in April. "Our authentic connection to yoga helps us understand the needs of our customers and make a very luxurious product that stands up to the demands of the consumer."

Valentine's Day is a chance to show our loved ones that we care ... and perhaps gift them a token or two of our affection.

Whether your Valentine is a friend, family member, new date, or treasured spouse, check out 37 gifts under $50 that will make them smile. 

We didn't include chocolate or flowers, because: duh.

And remember —  a homemade, heartfelt card is usually just as appreciated. 

SEE ALSO: 50 fantastic holiday gifts for $50 or less

Charm your favorite person with a heat-changing heart mug.

The heart turns red as you fill the mug, for another boost of affection with every cup of tea.

Price: $7

Make your office a little more festive with heart cookie cutters.

Bake and decorate cookies with your Valentine, then enjoy them with your cubicle-mates.

Price: $10

Keep bits and bobs safe with a tiny ring dish.

It might be made for rings, but there's no rule it can't hold earrings, cuff links, or keys.

Price: $10

Most Americans say that they want to eat healthier. It's a beautiful — and fairly new — thing.

The problem is that most of us don't know how.

But the next time you take a stroll down your grocery's "health food" aisle, take note: Most of what you're looking at likely doesn't belong there.

Here are some of the most egregiously unhealthy products we've been tricked into buying:

SEE ALSO: 17 'healthy habits' you're better off giving up

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Peanut butter and jelly

The problem: The PB&J is a ubiquitous lunch item among American kids — there's a song about it, folks — but it's actually a less-healthy alternative to sandwiches made with hummus or lean meats.

Peanut butter is high in fat; jelly is high in sugar. Slap those ingredients between two slices of white bread and you've got a sandwich that packs 20 grams of sugar, 14 grams fat (3.5 grams saturated), and 400 calories.

Marketing origins: World War I rations officers, Welch's — which came out with Grapelade — and peanut companies that latched onto it.

How it happened: The Great Depression popularized peanut butter on bread as a cheaper-than-meat substitute for protein. When it was combined with Welch's Grapelade— one of the first iterations of jelly — in the rations of WWI soldiers in the US, the PB&J became an official hit.

Fruit smoothies

The problem: Just because they pack lots of fruit, bottled smoothies and those sold at places like Jamba Juice are not necessarily healthy. But most are also incredibly high in sugar and calories. A 15-ounce bottle of Mighty Mango-flavored Naked Juice has 290 calories, 68 grams of carbs, and a whopping 57 grams of sugar — a 16-ounce bottle of Coke has 44 grams of sugar.

Marketing origins: Bottled juice and smoothie companies that capitalize on consumers' desire for fresh, healthy foods.

How it happened: The first blender was invented in the late 1930s, and Steve Kuhnau, who was reportedly experimenting with blending fruits and veggies to combat some of his own allergies and health problems, founded the first Smoothie King restaurant in Louisiana in 1973.

Cereal

The problem: Bowls of sugar-laden empty carbs got swapped for protein-rich components of the "balanced breakfast." A cup of Reese's Puffs, for example, has 160 calories, 4 grams of fat (1 gram saturated), 13 grams of sugar, 29 grams of carbs and more than 3 grams of protein. A high-sugar, low-protein diet can increase hunger pangs and mood swings and leave you with low energy. Not exactly the best way to start the school day.

Marketing origins: Cereal companies.

How it happened: As Jaya Saxena writes for Serious Eats, "Cereal's position as America's default breakfast food is a remarkable feat, not of flavor or culture, but of marketing and packaging design."

It all started, Saxena writes, with Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, manager of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a Seventh-day Adventist health resort advertised as a place where upper-middle-class Americans could go for a health tune-up.

Kellogg, a vegetarian, advocated turning away from meat in favor of yogurt, nuts, and grains. Then, in 1895, C.W. Post, a former Battle Creek patient, founded his own cereal company with Postum, a "cereal beverage intended to replace coffee," as its poster product.

They ain't afraid of no ghosts!

The all-woman remake of the 1980s classic "Ghostbusters" just relaunched its official site with a bunch of new photos and info on the cast. The summer movie is a reboot, not a sequel, and stars a new squad of Ghostbusters making their debut.

Director Paul Feig recently talked to Empire about the connection between the reboot and original films, saying, "We're not recreating the old movie but we want to do just enough fun nods that the fans will go, 'Oh, okay, they're acknowledging that the other movie existed.'"

Feig teased that a trailer will be coming later this month. Until then, we've got the info on the new team, plus a surprising addition to the cast.

Check it out below:

Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) is described as a paranormal researcher, supernatural scientist, and entity trapper.

Abby Yates co-authored a book with Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) about ghosts being real. While Erin left to pursue academia, Abby continued to research ghosts with her new partner. When ghosts invade and threaten New York, however, the two reunite to fight them.

Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) is a "nuclear engineer, munitions expert, and proton wrangler."

Jillian Holtzmann is Abby Yates' (Melissa McCarthy) new partner. When her original partner, Erin Gilbert (Kristin Wiig), left supernatural research to pursue traditional academia, Holtzmann joined with Abby. The three women team up to fight crime as ghosts cross over into our world and try to take over.

Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) is listed as a ghost tracker, municipal historian, and metaphysical commando.

Patty Tolan is the rookie member of the team. She doesn't have a background in the supernatural, but her character has experience as a subway worker. Since she's listed as a 
"municipal historian," it's possible her knowledge of New York City and its history will play an important role in the film.