We just hosted our Social Commerce Summit in New York.

To kick off the conference, our BI Intelligence team—Marcelo Ballvé, Alex Cocotas, and I—put together a deck on the current trends in e-commerce and social media.

We've posted the deck here. We hope you enjoy it.

BI Intelligence is a new research and analysis service focused on mobile computing and the Internet. Subscribers can download the entire deck as a PDF or PowerPoint, as well as any of the individual charts from the presentation. Please sign up for a free trial here.

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Are you looking to buy a new smartphone or upgrade an older one?

There are some great phones available right now no matter the carrier.

Keep reading for our picks for the best phone on every carrier.

Verizon has one of America's strongest networks. The carrier is know for providing quality cell service and having the largest LTE network.

Droid DNA: HTC's Droid DNA is our favorite Android phone available on Verizon. It's large 5-inch screen is crystal clear. It's also the first phone that can show full 1080p HD video.

Check out our full review of the Droid DNA.

Price:$199.99 with a two-year contract.

HTC 8x: The 8x is the best Windows Phone on the market. We love the simple interface, 4G LTE, and Beats Audio engine.

Check out full HTC 8x review.

Price: $99.99 with a two-year contract

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Retailers can't afford to ignore tablets any longer. They're becoming an increasingly popular part of the shopping experience.

Fiona Swerdlow, the head of research at the National Retail Federation's digital division Shop.org, gave a presentation on tablets and shopper's habits at Business Insider's Social Commerce Summit 2013 in New York City today.

"One of the most challenging things for a retail exec is where do you start?" said Swerdlow. "I think they all do believe that tablet shopping is here to stay and has a lot of growth ahead."

With technology and the behavior of consumers constantly changing, retailers have to do a lot work to get things right.

"This is not something for the faint of heart," said Swerdlow.

Swerdlow's peek into the state of tablets in shopping looked at last year's holiday season, along with what's to come in 2013.

Retailers aren't naive. They know that tablets are here to stay.

But they don't know where to start.

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Real estate is a tough business. It requires you to be completely client-focused, to think on your feet, and to maintain a large portfolio of properties you may need to show at a moment's notice. It also requires persistence, business-savvy, and lots of, well, chutzpah.

These 21 young real estate agents are the newest hotshots in real estate.

They're selling multi-million dollar homes, giving back to their communities, and reshaping the nature of the business with their innovative approaches to social media and technology. From Miami to New York to Los Angeles to Houston, these agents have the housing market covered.

Oren Alexander

Age: 25

Agency: Prudential Douglas Elliman

Location: Miami, Fla.

Oren Alexander broke records last October when he sold a $47 million estate in Indian Creek— the most expensive sale in Miami at the time.

Originally from Miami Beach, Alexander focuses on the luxury market and has listings in both New York and Miami. He lives in New York City now, but he and his partner (and brother) manage their shared listings in Miami.

He says working off commission fuels him, and that the high-risk, high-reward aspect of the job is thrilling. He's often on the road, jet-setting from New York to Miami to Argentina.

Austin Allison

Age: 27

Agency: dotloop

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Allison studied real estate development, and then corporate law, at the University of Cincinnati.

He co-founded dotloop in 2009 with the goal of making the home sales process electronic across the U.S. He describes what he does as “surrounding the company with great people and keeping us aligned around our vision and goals.” The 27-year-old President and CEO of dotloop was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Real Estate at the end of 2011.

Josh Altman

Age: 33

Agency: Hilton & Ryland Real Estate

Location: Beverly Hills, Calif.

Josh Altman deals with high-end properties and a celebrity clientele (Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton were clients of his).

He sold an astounding $200 million in 2012 alone and oversaw some record sales, including the most expensive 1-bedroom house ever sold in California for $20 million and the most expensive condo ever sold in Santa Monica for $10.5 million.

He's also a reality TV star on Bravo's TV show "Million Dollar Listing."

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If you're looking to stretch your dollar on a global scale, you should definitely consider a move to the Far East.

In the Economist's latest World Cost Of Living Index, Asian countries make up more than half of the world's 20 least expensive cities –– and six are in the top 10.

The bi-annual index ranks countries based on the prices of 160 commodities*, including food, drink, clothing,  housing, transport, utility bills, and private schools. 

These types of lists are typically used by companies to determine how much to adjust employee salaries based on where they are stationed, but we think it's a pretty fascinating snapshot of global life in and of itself. 

For one thing, half the top 10 cheapest places to live are widely known for under-performing economies, high income inequality and political unrest. 

*The index is based on the cost of living in New York City, which is fixed at a base of 100.

10. Tehran, Iran

World Cost of Living Index: 58

1 kg loaf of bread:

• Today: $1.55
• Five years ago: $0.24

A bottle of wine:

• Today: N/A
• Five years ago: N/A

A pack of cigarettes:

• Today: $2.53
• Five years ago: $1.88

1 liter of unleaded gas: 

• Today: $0.53
• Five years ago: $0.11

9. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

World Cost of Living Index: 57

1 kg loaf of bread:

• Today: $1.33
• Five years ago: $1.10

A bottle of wine:

• Today: N/A
• Five years ago: N/A

A pack of cigarettes:

• Today: $2.40
• Five years ago: $1.60

1 liter of unleaded gas:  

• Today: $0.13
• Five years ago: $0.16

8. Panama City, Panama

World Cost of Living Index: 56

1 kg loaf of bread:

• Today: $3.34
• Five years ago: $1.95

A bottle of wine:

• Today: $6.92
• Five years ago: $11.00

A pack of cigarettes:

• Today: $4.08
• Five years ago: $1.43

1 liter of unleaded gas:  

• Today: $1.15
• Five years ago: $0.83

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The US men's national team lost its first World Cup qualifier today in the most violent city in the world— San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

For a brief moment, the city officially stopped — the country declared it a national holiday — to watch its team win.

But after it was over, SPS had to deal with serious gang violence, drug trafficking, and police corruption.

San Pedro Sula is the second-largest city in Honduras with ~700,000 people

There were 159 murders per 100,000 citizens in 2011 — the highest rate in the world

Source: The Citizens Council For Public Security And Criminal Justice

So what's behind the violence?

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The National Rifle Association has come under fire once again this week, this time over its published enemies list, a bizarre lineup of more than 300 celebrities and groups who, at one time or another, have expressed opinions that differ from the pro-gun lobbying organization. 

Although there are some obvious names on the list, others — including several long-forgotten celebrities and athletes — are a complete mystery. 

Here are the strangest fights the NRA has picked. 

Beyoncé

1998 Olympic Gold Figure Skater Tara Lipinski

Motorcycle Cruiser Magazine

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Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have taken more American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan than anything else. To face this threat, a new breed of military vehicle was built that can withstand the debilitating blast and keep troops alive.

The Cougar may be the finest example of that effort and it's saved countless lives as the war drags on into its twelfth year.

Not only does it keep troops protected, it keeps them mobile. The Cougar can return to the field in a matter of hours with some simple repairs after being hit.

The Cougar was developed in response to an urgent request from the U.S. Marines for a vehicle that would fare better than a Humvee in IED strikes.

The biggest selling point was the V-shaped hull, which directs explosive blasts away from under the vehicle.

A small amount were sent overseas, but the mass order came after then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates got word in 2004 that no Marines had died in over 300 IED attacks on Cougars in Iraq.

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We totally geeked out when 'Teen Jeopardy' featured a category for the Federal Reserve on tonight's episode. 

The teens made it through the category answering all the questions.  There were a couple stumbles from two of the contestants, but overall we were impressed. 

We've included the answers in the slides that follow.

See if your Fed knowledge is on par with these Jeopardy teens. 

$400 Answer

'What is panic?'

$800 Answer

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Google is not the biggest website in the world.

It's number two.

Do you know who's number one?

Hint: It's another American company.

By the way, guess how many of the top 20 Websites in the World are Chinese.

1? 5? 10?

Just last week we posted the top websites in the US, but now it's time to take a look at the whole world.

Thanks to ComScore, which provided us data on the top most popular Web domains in the world.

Amazon.com - 163 Million Unique Visitors

What it is: The ultimate online shopping destination for electronics, apparel, sporting goods, and even food.

How it got so big: When Amazon first launched, it was nothing more than a few people packing and shipping boxes of books. But it has since grown to shipping everything from trumpets to the Kindle Fire. 

Sina.com.cn - 169 Million Unique Visitors

What it is: Chinese mobile portal for media and user-generated content.

How it got so big: In the early 2000s, Sina was known as the "Yahoo of China." Sina launched microblogging service Weibo in 2009, and has grown to more than 400 million users.

WordPress.com - 170.9 Million Unique Visitors

What it is: Blogging platform.

How it got so big: WordPress has been able to attract users by offering dead-simple tools for blogging and web publishing. Given that it's open source, WordPress has the upper hand on other platforms that require licensing fees. Back in 2004, when Movable Type changed its license, a lot of people left for WordPress. 

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In his 17th NBA season, Kobe Bryant has started saying whatever he wants.

It's refreshing.

In the last 12 months he has ripped teammates, compared himself to Moses, and talked about Pau Gasol's "big-boy pants."

He's a quote machine, and an endlessly enjoyable one at that.

Kobe reveals what he'd do if he got fouled like Blake Griffin does (April)

Source

Kobe questions the manhood of defenders who flop on charges (May)

Source

Kobe hates David Stern's plan to impose an Olympics age limit (July)

Source

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The Lunar New Year (or Spring Festival) starts on Sunday. This year will be the Year of the Snake.

Millions of Chinese people around the world will ring in the new year with reunion dinners, dumplings, fireworks and lion dances. 

Of course there are serious celebrations in China, but there are some pretty awesome parties right here in the U.S. From L.A. to New York, we've found the best places to celebrate the Chinese New Year in America. 

New York City

New York City has a thriving Chinatown in downtown Manhattan, and an even bigger unofficial Chinatown in Flushing, Queens.

There are major celebrations around the city, including a Sunday morning parade in Manhattan's Chinatown and a parade and festival in Flushing on Feb. 16th.

If parades aren't your thing, the China Institute of America is hosting a few events, including a children's celebration and a dumpling making workshop.

Meanwhile restaurants in Chinatown will be open for business — you can stop for dumplings at Joe's Shanghai or Nom Wah Tea Parlor — and several restaurants will be offering special menus for the Lunar New Year, such as Hakkasan, Buddakan, and Talde.

San Francisco

San Francisco's bustling Chinatown is one of the largest in the U.S. — and possibly anywhere outside of China.

In honor of the new year, there's a flower fair and street fair in Chinatown, along with a big parade on February 23rd, which features more than 100 floats, bands, and more. There's also a Miss Chinatown USA pageant, a Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt and a Chinese New Year 10k run.

Los Angeles

From a festival on glitzy Rodeo Drive to a flower fair in Monterey Park, Los Angeles hosts a bunch of events for the new year. 

There's an elaborate scavenger hunt (The Great Chinatown Hunt), the Firecracker 10k, and family-friendly festivals at a few city museums. Even Disneyland has a big Lunar New Year celebration.

But the biggest celebration is the Golden Dragon Parade in L.A.'s Chinatown on February 16th.

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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's chief strategy for turning around the Web giant comes down to one thing: people.

To start what she calls a "chain reaction," Yahoo must first hire talented designers and engineers, who will then build great products, which will then attract large audiences, which will then bring in advertisers.

To that end, she is buying startups on the cheap to bring in small, nimble teams and infuse Yahoo with new energy.

It is not the first time a Yahoo CEO has tried this strategy.

In the middle of the past decade, then-CEO Terry Semel and his top lieutenants bought a handful of Web 2.0 startups and also hired innovators to reboot Yahoo.

It was called the "Flickrization of Yahoo," after the famous photo-sharing site, the best-known of Yahoo's acquisitions. Yahoo would transform itself by letting its users create and share content, whether it was photos, event listings, or links. It was a bold strategy meant to counter Google's cold algorithms. 

Then there was the day when Beck played a Hack Day event at Yahoo in September 2006.

Hack Days were all-day coding events meant to generate new products quickly, in a fun, loose, open way.

"When we all got together to play, it was explosive," recalls former Yahoo executive Kakul Srivastava. "It was a really generative time ... where openness bred creativity and innovation."

Beck's surprise appearance at that Hack Day "felt like a high point," Srivastava recalled—a sign that the whole company was backing the effort to hack Yahoo into something new.

The effort failed, for a variety of reasons: from Google's unstoppable rise, to a lack of focus that former Yahoo executive Brad Garlinghouse lambasted in a famous "Peanut Butter Memo," to a lack of engineering resources, to a stifling bureaucracy.

Yahoo, having started down this road early, also missed its chances to acquire the companies that would really matter in social media—YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

But it did have talent, in spades. And they are now pursuing their potential elsewhere.

Can Mayer put together a dream team that measures up to this generation? We'll see.

Jeff Weiner was the champion

Then: EVP, Network Division, Yahoo

Now: CEO, LinkedIn

Weiner was a champion of Yahoo's social push. He left in 2008 after a time of turmoil, even though many thought he could be Yahoo's next CEO. He joined LinkedIn in 2009, and has done such a stellar job as CEO taking the company through its IPO that people still wonder what might have been had he gotten the chance to run Yahoo. (Read all about his roller-coaster career.)

Bradley Horowitz was the visionary

Then: VP, Advanced Development Group

Now: VP, Product, Google+

Horowitz spearheaded the acquisition of Flickr and oversaw in-house projects like Yahoo Pipes, a tool for easily connecting disparate Web services. His departure in 2008 for Google was a big blow. His vision of Google+ as a "social layer" throughout Google's services in some way echoes the idea of uniting a host of innovative Web startups—Flickr, Delicious, Upcoming, and others—under Yahoo's umbrella.

Chad Dickerson invented Silicon Valley's modern hacking culture

Then: Senior Director, Advanced Products, Yahoo

Now: CEO, Etsy

Besides running Yahoo's experimental Brickhouse, a corporate incubator for new products, Dickerson created Hack Days at Yahoo, a predecessor to the hackathons now popular at companies like Facebook and at startup conferences. These freewheeling coding sessions aimed to unlock creativity by forcing engineers to code and ship a working product in a single day.

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Gold may be the most controversial asset class in the global financial markets.

However, many of the conditions that were bullish for gold in the past are looking bullish today.

US Funds Frank Holmes, an expert on commodities, recently presented a monster slide deck that made the ultimate bull case for gold.

Wealth in the gold-loving emerging markets is on the rise and monetary policy continues to be extremely easy around the world. Also, the year after a presidential election is historically a good one for gold.

Holmes has charts illustrating these factors as well as many other factors that might convince you gold is on its way up.

We pulled the 28 very best charts from the 77-slide presentation.

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When the first Oscar promos premiered, Seth MacFarlane poked fun at Daniel Day-Lewis' ability to get lost in his film roles.

In each of his movies, Day-Lewis seamlessly transforms into his characters on screen, sometimes going to extreme lengths to prep for his parts and stay in character. 

And, it works. His efforts earned him two Oscar wins and another nod this year.

However, he isn't the only actor to go to extremes for his roles.  

Anne Hathaway was willing to do anything to understand the misery of her tuberculosis-ridden prostitute in "Les Misérables," while Rooney Mara and Kate Winslet found themselves taking their characters off set. 

From dropping acid to strapping their knees with belts, these actors prove they're willing do anything to play the part. 

Daniel Day-Lewis texted as Abraham Lincoln.

Day-Lewis is known to do extensive research before any and all of his roles.

He refused to leave his character's wheel chair in "My Left Foot" even after filming was finished. All of the slumping caused him to eventually break two ribs. Later, for "The Last of the Mohicans" Lewis spent six months in the wild teaching himself to build a canoe and trap and skin animals.

In his latest role as the 16th president in "Lincoln" the British actor kept his higher-pitched American accent going the entire shoot, and began signing texts "Yours, A."

His efforts have worked, because Lewis has won two Oscars and is on his way to a third.

Leonardo DiCaprio cut his hand -- and continued filming.

DiCaprio didn't let a few shards of glass in his hand slow him down.

During the filming of "Django Unchained," producer Stacy Sher told Variety the actor accidentally slammed his hand on a table so hard he broke a glass, injuring his hand in the process. Instead of stop, DiCaprio carried on and the performance made it into the final edit.

"Blood was dripping down his hand," said Sher. "He never broke character. He kept going. He was in such a zone. It was very intense. He required stitches."

Anne Hathaway actually lost 25 pounds for her role in "Les Mis."

The actress told Vogue she ate nothing but dried oatmeal paste for two weeks to lose 25 pounds for her role in "Les Misérables."

“I had to be obsessive about it — the idea was to look near death,” said Hathaway. “Looking back on the whole experience — and I don’t judge it in any way — it was definitely a little nuts. It was definitely a break with reality, but I think that’s who [my character] Fantine is anyway.”

The actress also cut off all her hair — something hair and makeup artist Lisa Westcott and director Tom Hooper tried talking her out of — to comprehend the pain of a mother willing to do anything to keep her child alive. Her dedication paid off, as Hathaway earned her second Oscar nomination for the role.

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Evan Williams and Biz Stone got rich(er) and famous for their time building short-form blogging startup Twitter.

Now building a new company: Obvious Corp.

Obvious Corp is an incubator for more ideas like Twitter and the first startup Williams created, Blogger.

The first product it's created is called Medium, which is kind of like Quora or Tumblr, but fancier.

To house all these great ideas, Obvious Corp just leased a massive, 75,000 square foot office in San Francisco's "Flatiron Building" on 760 Market street.

They did the deal with Thor Equities CEO Joseph Sitt, who is best known for his real estate New York deals, but is obviously (!) now getting it done in San Francisco, too.

This is what the address looks like on street level

Up the street, downtown San Francisco

Down the street, quieter neighborhoods.

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When we sat down with Intuit CEO Brad Smith recently and started talking about the company, he called the top maker of finance software a "30-year-old startup."

Not so fast, we told Smith: "You can't use that line. The last guy called Intuit a '20-year-old startup' 10 years ago."

That in itself speaks to Intuit's longevity, and the constant urge to reinvent itself. Because in Silicon Valley, there are plenty of people eager to do the reinventing for you.

But that last guy—Steve Bennett, a GE veteran who's now CEO of Symantec—was more concerned with having Intuit act like a grown-up company than a startup.

Shortly after he took over in 2007, Smith discovered an innovation gap: Only 4 out of 50 products introduced in the past decade had grown to $50 million or more in revenues. That's changing: In 2012, Intuit got $100 million in revenues from products that didn't even exist three years ago.

The stock has tripled since 2009, and Intuit has made smart acquisitions like Mint, a Web-based personal-finance manager, and PayCycle, an online-payroll service.

More importantly, with in-house resources, it's rolled out enchanting new products like SnapTax, an iPhone and Android app that lets you prepare and file a simple tax return without touching a computer.

Where Bennett was obsessed with "process excellence" and "operational rigor," Smith is rearchitecting Intuit for innovation—including the campus itself.

The company is getting rid of PowerPoint presentations and replacing them with whiteboards filled with customer stories.

It's also adding perks like a full-service gym, sports courts, and cafeterias that make it easier for employees to work long hours.

Eileen Fagan, Intuit's director of innovation, gave us a tour.

Like most of Silicon Valley, Intuit occupies a fairly traditional office-park setting—one that it's turning, building by building, into a friendlier, campus-like environment.

This renovated building is the new campus center.

Here's reception. It's so new, employees still need maps to figure out where to go.

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I found these astonishing images on the web and, having been to Afghanistan, knew I had to post them.

Amateur photographer, and college professor, Dr. William Podlich took a leave of absence from his job at Arizona State to work with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). He took his daughters and wife with him.

Later, son-in-law Clayton Esterson revived the imagery and put it all on the web. The response was amazing.

From a Denver Post story a few days ago:

“I have taken on the role as family archivist and when Bill Podlich gave us his extensive slide collection, I immediately recognized the historical significance of the pictures.” says Esterson. “Many Afghans have written comments [on our website]showing their appreciation for the photographs that show what their country was like before 33 years of war. This makes the effort to digitize and restore these photographs worthwhile.”

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For 41 years, Barbie has lived in her Malibu Dreamhouse, a three-story confection of faux old world charm and pink hardwood floors.

But now, as part of a new campaign for the doll, Barbie is selling her longtime beach home and moving somewhere else. She wants $25 million for the property, as listed onTrulia. The campaign contains several "real" elements — the house even has a human listing agent, for instance (it's  Josh Altman, of the TV show “Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles”).

By fall this year, Mattel will unveil a new home for Barbie, and hopefully the California real estate market will cooperate and she'll be able to move in.

But for now, feast your eyes on the inside of the most famous house in all of Malibu, Calif.

Barbie's Dreamhouse is three stories tall — which is unusual for a beach property.

The front door has Victorian features.

Note the wrought-plastic detailing.

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David Einhorn, the founder of Greenlight Capital, is one of the most closely followed hedge fund managers.

When he talks about a company, the stock is likely to move and even he knows it. 

"Apparently now I'm a verb," Einhorn jokingly told the audience at the Value Investing Congress last fall showing an article with the word "Einhorned" in the headline.

Yesterday, Einhorn made headlines after taking aim at Apple's massive cash reserves it has on its balance sheet.  Greenlight also said it's going to sue Apple in New York federal court to prevent a new proposal to prevent the issuance of preferred stock.

Now let's take the time to get to know this hedge fund hot-shot better. 

(Lisa Du contributed to this report)

The 44-year-old hedge fund hot shot is the oldest of three boys.

David Michael Einhorn, 44, was born on November 20, 1968.  

He is the son of Nancy and Stephen Einhorn.  He is also the oldest of his two brothers.

Source: New York Times

His father and grandfather ran a paint company in New Jersey. His dad got interested in M&A after he sold the business.

When the energy crisis hit in the 1970s, his father decided to sell Adelphi Paints.  

That's when his dad first became interested in M&A.  Since he wasn't able to get a job on the Street, he started an M&A shop in their home in Demarest, New Jersey.

Source: Fooling Some People All The Time 

Then his family moved from Jersey to a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

When Einhorn was 7 years old, his family moved from New Jersey to a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Einhorn's mom Nancy is originally from Milwaukee.

He grew up rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers professional baseball team. 

Source: Fooling Some People All The Time

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