Do you have it in you to cut the cord?

If you have an iPad, at least most of the work is done for you. With help from a few subscription services and accessories, you may never feel like having cable again.

All you need to get started is a television with an HDMI port.

Get a Hulu Plus subscription.

If you're most concerned with making sure you have access to current television shows, you need Hulu Plus. It costs $7.99 per month and you can sign up right here.

Netflix, of course.

One of the go-to names in streaming media, Netflix has loads of movies and television ready and waiting for you to stream to your iPad and mirror onto your television. Unlimited streaming costs $7.99 per month.

Your favorite media player app.

You can load up your iPad with movie files and play them on your television via any number of media-player apps. We recommend GoodPlayer, which is available here for $2.99.

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Britain's Mammal Society recently announced the winners of its animal photo competition. 

The purpose is to bring attention to mammals that are often overlooked or under-appreciated, like rats, squirrels and foxes.  

A perfectly timed image of a brown rat jumping into the air took first place. A fox licking a window nabbed second.

Leaping dolphins, laughing grey seals and deer were featured in the other finalists' photographs.  

Harry Martin/Weasel chasing sparrows

Joel Walley/Play-fighting stoats

Austin Thomas/Leaping squirrel

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Chinese netizens have become obsessed with a Weibo account that appears to show the absurdly fabulous life of a young woman in Shenzhen, which we first read about on ChinaSmack.

"King" Zhang Jiale's luxury lifestyle has sparked strong criticism in a country where the new found wealth of elder generations is widely seen to have created a younger generation that is overly materialistic.

But is it really so bad?

Zhang has over 46,000 followers on Weibo.

Many appeared surprised, however, to discover she was a tom-girl.

Her age has alternatively been listed as 16, and 22.

Netease says 16, but the Telegraph says 22.

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Here's the deal: Summer internships on Wall Street are harder to get than ever right now.

Banks are still figuring out their post-financial crisis business model, and that means they're are still trying to figure out how many employees they can really support.

For that reason, getting hired after your internship is even harder than ever as well.

So if you're lucky enough to havean internship this summer, you had better kill it.

Fortunately, Wall Street veteran Andy Kessler, the author of "Wall Street Meat," released a really useful e-book called "How To Kick Ass On Wall Street" explaining how you can do that.

Kessler, a former analyst, investment banker, venture capitalist and hedge fund manager, has detailed his own top ten steps for kicking ass on Wall Street.

We won't tell you what they all are (we can't steal all of his thunder), BUT we can impart some of the wisdom we got from the book.

Don't just sit there and do what you're told when you get to Wall Street. Find a way to stand out.

"If you sit on your ass and do all the things your hemorrhoid-annoyed boss tells you to do, you’ll end up a doormat and stepped on and replaced when the newer, prettier version comes along. You’ve got to make a name for yourself. Stand out. Become indispensable." 

Source: How To Kick Ass On Wall Street

Get the right clothes: Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, Kenneth Cole to name a few.

"Men, find the most middle of the road suits you can find. Don’t show up in a Canali or Armani suit. Bad impression. But also don’t show up in a J Ferrar suit you just picked up at JC Penney. Hickey Freeman is safe. You won’t embarrass yourself with Calvin Klein, Joseph Abboud, Perry Ellis, Kenneth Cole. Navy Blue. Charcoal Gray. No taupe, please." 

Source: How To Kick Ass On Wall Street

Figure out how to explain the dumb reason you were arrested, because you'll be asked (and drug tested).

"It may take hours to get through human resources. They’ll take your fingerprints and sent them to the FBI. You can’t work on Wall Street if you’ve ever been arrested for forgery. Makes sense, kinda, from the days of handling stock and bond certificates. So they still do it. Be ready to explain any old embarrassing arrest records (I had to!). You may also have to take a drug test. Stick with Southern Comfort for the month before you start."

Source: How To Kick Ass On Wall Street

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The Bronx High School of Science, one of New York's top public schools, has come under scrutiny recently for a hazing scandal on its successful track team.

So far, three student athletes have been arrested and charged with misdemeanor for forcible touching and assault as well as second-degree hazing and harassment, according to The New York Times.

Witnesses allege that older runners were intimidating younger students on the team, and that the abuse would quickly escalate to inappropriate touching and threats of rape.

But perhaps the most disturbing detail to come to light is that Marion Dietrich, the school's athletic director, not only knew about the incidents but that they had been going on for years, according to an email sent out by Dietrich and published today by the Daily News.

The email, sent to the school's coaches in March of 2012, alludes to an earlier "incident" that took place two years prior.

"The principal found out about it last Friday and is very concerned," an excerpt from the memo states. "A student's genitals were touched from an athlete on the track team, when the athletes were already changing."

Dietrich was suspended from the school this Tuesday along with two other track coaches.

Read the rest of the email over at The NY Daily News.

DON'T MISS: Oberlin Cancels Class After A String Of 'Hate-Related Incidents' On Campus

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Google jobs are some of the most sought after positions in the entire tech industry.

Employees who work for the search giant don't have to worry about much besides their work. Google says, "the array of benefits of perks aim to ensure that Googlers remain happy and healthy in all aspects of their lives."

Google provides its workers with a lot of perks, most are unheard of at the average 9-5 gig. Some former Googlers and a few that are still with the company listed their favorite benefits on answers site Quora.

Employees have access to free rental cars if they need to run an errand, free gyms on campus, and some offices even offer on-site daycare.

The rest of the perks are sure to make you rethink just how good your company's perks are.

The free gourmet food and snacks are never-ending:

Googlers love their jobs at the search giant because they are well fed. Employees get free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are also coffee and juice bars scattered throughout campuses.

One Googler commented that they loved the food perk because, "it saves me time and money, and helps me build relationships with my colleagues."

Here's what a former employee said about the food perks at Google:

While providing free food and drinks is getting more "normal" for start-ups these days, it was definitely my favorite and most-used perk at Google. I would start my morning at one building that had a coffee bar with full-time barista who would make whatever drink requested, for free. I would then head over to the building I worked in for free breakfast and take it to my desk. Lunchtime would come around and I'd head to one of Googles 25+ cafes for food. At Google you're never further than 150 ft. (or so) away from food, so micro kitchens with coffee, drinks and snacks are close by. If you stay to work late, you can grab dinner at Google too. Because Google's campus is not close to many restaurants, having food saves their employees lots of time while still providing plenty of variety and options.

Working at Google you're exposed to amazing people and great thinkers:

One Googler said that the company is a great place to "see, listen to and meet with people who I grew up reading about."

Another Googler had only great things to say about his co-workers:

We are surrounded by smart, driven people who provide the best environment for learning I've ever experienced. I don't mean through tech talks and formal training programs, I mean through working with awesome colleagues -- even the non-famous ones.

I've worked at several other .coms and have never been more challenged and energized professionally from my colleagues than at Google. People are generally happy to work there, they come from diverse backgrounds, and almost always have an interesting story to share.

Besides being exposed to tech leaders, there are often talks with celebrities and other thought leaders.

Googlers feel like they are really living in the future:

Because Google is one of the top technology companies in the world it no surprise that employees are at the forefront of technology.

Googlers get to use the company's products to get work done, "including those that have not yet been released to the public," an employee shared.

"Chrome was my primary browser before it was announced. I've used phones, tablets, and Chromebooks before they went on sale. It's fun. I get a sneak peek at the future, and if I give good feedback or get even more involved, I can shape it as well," he said.

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Jeff Gundlach, the brains behind DoubleLine Funds, has been right about most things lately.

He has been spot on about Apple, Japan, natural gas, and interest rates among other things.

And he's probably right about the value of a college educations.

In his presentation last night, he reiterated his point that the college education system is a broken model. 

In four charts, he showed how tuition costs are exploding higher and delinquencies are surging.

And not only have wages not increased commensurate with inflation, wages have actually been falling.

"What have all these soaring tuition costs got you?" asked Gundlach rhetorically.

College tuition inflation is outrageous.

Student loan delinquencies are now worse than credit card delinquencies.

And the rate of student loans going into delinquency is surging.

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It is that time of year, March March Madness is coming.

Conferences tournaments are starting and large conferences are playing their final regular season games.

And over the course of the next 11 days, some teams will make a move and get into the NCAA tournament and some will have their bubbles burst.

Outside of winning a conference championship, these are the 14 teams with the most to gain or lose as we gear up for March Madness.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Conference (conference RPI rank): SEC (8)

Record (conference record): 19-11 (11-6)

RPI Rank: 59

BPI Rank: 68

Versus BPI Top 50: 1-5

In or out? Alabama's biggest win was at home against Kentucky, another team on the bubble. Bama probably needs a deep run in the SEC tourney to get into the big dance. OUT

Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Conference (conference RPI rank): Conference USA (11)

Record (conference record): 22-8 (11-4)

RPI Rank: 46

BPI Rank: 64

Versus BPI Top 50: 0-4

In or out? Does Conference USA deserve an at-large bid? Southern Miss is 0-4 against the BPI top 50 teams, but it is hard to believe the committee is going to keep a team ranked 34th in the RPI out of the tournament. The loss to Marshall certainly hurts, but if they get to their conference title game, they are probably in. IN

Baylor Bears

Conference (conference RPI rank): Big 12 (5)

Record (conference record): 17-13 (8-9)

RPI Rank: 67

BPI Rank: 50

Versus BPI Top 50: 2-10

In or out? Baylor has played a quality schedule with 12 games against BPI top 50 teams, but they only won two of those. Their win against Oklahoma St. was their best of the season, but losing to Charleston at home, and dropping five of the last six is going to be too much to overcome. OUT

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Despite advancements in scouting and player development, there are still athletes who fall through the cracks.

We pulled out 16 of the most famous examples of this phenomenon.

They were all either undrafted or went to tiny colleges that pro scouts have never heard of.

After some luck and hard work, they rose up from the bottom and are now big names.

Houston Rockets player Jeremy Lin went to Harvard and played in the D-League

Cowboys QB Tony Romo wasn't even drafted out of Eastern Illinois

Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri once played for the Amsterdam Admirals in the Netherlands

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Mich Matthews, a former Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft, is selling her sick 4 bedroom waterfront home in Washington for $9.3 million, says the WSJ.

The coolest thing about this property, aside from the waterfront obviously, is that it has a pool house. Not a pool house where you keep pool things and house guests. It's a separate house with a pool inside of it.

It even has a dryer with a special bathing suit spinner in it so that everything is drier, faster.

The main house is pretty big too, at 10,040 square feet.

Larry Williams of John L. Scott Real Estate has the listing.

4444 95TH AVE NE

4444 95TH AVE NE

4444 95TH AVE NE

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Admit it, we've all thought about committing the perfect heist: that one smooth score where a bit of planning and guts delivers more money than most people make in a lifetime.

Some people though, they actually go through with their plan — stealing a load of diamonds, speeding on Bonnie and Clyde car chases, or military customs clerks smuggling millions home from war.

The following heists proceed from those requiring the least amount of chutzpah to the one requiring more guts than we can imagine.

Chinese banker steals money, buys lottery tickets, loses money.

No kidding.

Called the Agriculture Bank Heist, a banker stole a few hundred thousand at first, intending to buy lottery tickets and replace the money. Unbelievably, his logic worked out the first time.

Not the second or the third try, which totaled to about $7 million.

He was arrested and thrown in jail, along with his accomplice.

Robbers plan massive shootout and speedboat chase for Millennium Dome raid, but ...

Police had them monitored from almost start to finish.

Immediately they set upon a well fortified display case with nail guns and sledge hammers. Just as they were about to gain entry to the  "Millennium Star," a 203-carat diamond worth a quarter billion, agents pounced.

No shots fired, everyone arrested — "12 inches from payday," as the robbers would describe later, "It would have been a blinding Christmas."

Con men take art from the Gardner Museum.

A couple fellows dressed as Boston police officers gained entry, against museum rules, to the Gardner Museum after hours in 1990.

They subdued the guards, tied them up, and promptly headed for the priceless paintings.

They stole Rembrandt, Manet, and Vermeer pieces of art. The statute of limitation for robbery is up, yet no one has admitted the crime.

It remains one of the more mysterious crimes in history, and frames where the artwork was still sit empty on the wall.

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The 2013 Iditarod started last weekend in Alaska.

The race requires one rider ("musher") and a team of 16 dogs to navigate a sled through 1,000 miles of Alaskan Wilderness from Anchorage to Nome.

The race always produces some incredible photos that capture not only the harshness of the environment, but the enduring spirit that the dogs and humans both embody.

Also, the dogs are cute, if cold.

A musher handler hugs a dog before she starts the long journey

A dog remains upbeat on the second day of the race

A dog plays in the snow before setting out on Day 2

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Everyone knows investment bankers, traders and hedge funder work extremely long hours. 

So when they're not chained to their desks all day, where can you find them?

We asked some of our finance friends for the best places to meet a Wall Streeter in New York City.

We've included some of our own suggestions too in our round up of hot-spots for meeting finance folks.  Some are obvious, while others are a little more creative. 

SoulCycle

Location(s): They're located throughout NYC and Greenwich, CT (a.k.a. hedge fund land).

About: SoulCycle is a forty-five minute indoor cycling routine incorporating arm exercises and a core workout to high energy music.  

Tip: An investment bank analyst told us that they're all "a bunch of closet SoulCyclers."

Equinox

Location: All over NYC

About: It's a high end gym with memberships starting at $156 per month. 

Tip: A lot of hedge fund guys use the Columbus Circle location, we're told. There's also one located on Wall Street.  

The Whole Foods in TriBeCa

Location: 270 Greenwich Street

About: The Whole Foods in TriBeCa is located conveniently across the street from Goldman Sachs and the World Financial Center.

Tip: Go right after work. It's swarming with finance guys and gals. 

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We know the layout of Monica's kitchen on "Friends" and the exact color of Homer's sofa on "The Simpsons."

But did you ever wonder what the other parts of their homes looked like?

Artist Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde has created amazingly complete floor plans for some of our favorite shows over the years, and was kind enough to share them with us (they're also available on Etsy).

Get to know your favorite TV characters in a whole new light.

Ted Mosby is in the eighth season of explaining to his kids how he met their mother. Here's Ted's NYC apartment, which he shared with a rotation of other characters on the show.

HBO's "Sex and the City" was loosely based on a book by Candace Bushnell. Carrie Bradshaw lived in this spacious one-bedroom on the Upper East Side, although it must have been tough to afford on a writer's salary.

Monica and Rachel shared this fantastic apartment on "Friends." Monica supposedly inherited it from her grandmother; otherwise we can't imagine how she would have been able to afford it.

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New York City is on a mission to build a better payphone for the digital age. 

A few months ago, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a design challenge with the Reinvent Payphones initiative. The goal: crowdsource ways to revitalize and upgrade the city's 11,000 payphones. 

Just last night, the city announced the six winning prototypes. Some of the submissions imagined payphone kiosks with air pollution sensors, solar-powered cell phone chargers, and screens controlled by hand gestures and voice commands. 

The city judged the prototypes based on connectivity, creativity, visual design, functionality, and community impact. 

New York City's contracts for its payphones expire in October 2014. The winners of the Reinvent Payphone Design Challenge aren't guaranteed contracts, but the city will take those designs into consideration when determining what to do with New York's payphones. 

Already, the city has converted some payphones into Wi-Fi hotspots. And in November 2012, it replaced 10 booths in Union Square with touchscreens for maps, public service announcements, and entertainment listings. 

NYFi's prototype serves more as a public information kiosk than an actual payphone

The NYFi would consolidate a bunch of city apps and services into one kiosk. For example, we could buy metro cards, access information about local businesses, and use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot.

NYFi won the award for connectivity. 

NYC Loop created a way to morph a traditional payphone into a multi-functional kiosk

NYC Loop's prototype walked away with the Best in Creativity award.

On one side of the kiosk, an interactive image projector could display information and even art on a sidewalk. On the other side, the team envisions an electric car charging station, a bench and garden, or even bicycle parking. 

Inside, people would be able to make phone calls without much interruption, as it features sound harmonizing technology to block out some of the outside noise.

Here's another look at Loop's reinvented payphone

Here, it highlights the booth's Wi-Fi capabilities. Additionally, it envisions piezoelectric pressure plates to convert kinetic energy into electric energy, effectively powering the Loop.

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Google Glass, the search giant's internet-connected glasses prototype, is one of the most exciting products to come around in a while.

That's because the implications are huge. 

Glass will bring everyday activities closer to our senses, and enhance our interactions with our surroundings. We'll be more connected to the Internet than we ever have before and we'll be able to see useful images and data overlaid onto the real world.

Granted, Glass is still in its early days. It doesn't yet have its own cellular radio, so it has to sync up with mobile phones via Bluetooth to access Wi-Fi and 3G or 4G data connections. 

As of now, Google Glass can do things like record video, send text messages, provide translations, and give directions.

But Google has been holding hackathons for developers to come up with more ways to use Glass. The search giant also recently held a competition to give everyday people a chance to get their hands on Glass and its API. Anyone who wanted Glass had to write on either Twitter or Google+ what they would do with Glass and include the hashtag #ifihadglass.

Glass does raise some privacy concerns. And before it really takes off, Google will need to find a way to make it appeal to the masses. As of now, Glass seems to appeal more to men than women, according to a TechCrunch analysis of #ifihadglass tweets and Google+ posts. It's also pretty expensive at $1,500.

Still, Google Glass has the potential to disrupt a lot of industries, from Hollywood to air travel.

Here are a few of them.

GPS

Conventional GPS is essentially already dead because so many people have the same service on their phones. But since many states ban the use of cell phones while driving, Google Glass will be a great alternative. Sure, you could pull up the directions before you start driving and even receive voice-based turn-by-turn directions. But people still like to see where they're going — and Glass does that. 

Hollywood

Google Glass will open up the doors to more creative types of videography.

Already, there seems to be a push toward shooting movies on iPhones and creating new ways for people to consume and immerse themselves in video. With Glass, we'll be able to record video from an entirely new, first-person perspective. 

When Google first announced Glass, for example, Google co-founder Sergey Brin used skydivers to demonstrate how people can now capture video from anywhere, without needing to physically hold a device.

Glass will likely be another nail in the coffin of traditional film.

Air travel

JetBlue recently highlighted what it would do with Google Glass. If JetBlue had Glass, it "would continue to help the world view air travel through a whole new lens," the airline company wrote on Google+. 

A few of the possibilities: real-time notifications for your flight status, a map for available outlets in the boarding area, taxi fare estimates for when you're leaving the airport, real-time garage capacity information, and directions to the baggage claim area.

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Big box stores are dying. 

JCPenney, Sears, Best Buy, and more are shuttering stores and recasting their strategies.

“They were hit by a perfect storm of competition from the Internet and supermarkets,” Steve Brazier, CEO of market research firm Canalys, said in a report last year. 

Even mighty Walmart, once indispensable, recently admitted that sales were suffering. 

Yet Costco has remained strong throughout the recession. The company has continued to grow and see sales increase. 

Costco's founder Jim Sinegal credits the company's unusual business strategy with its success. 

Sinegal, whose company has been called the "anti-Walmart," invests in employees and limits the items he sells. 

Costco sells a limited number of items.

Despite Costco's large store volume, it only sells four toothpaste brands. Walmart sells 60. Selling fewer items increases sales volume and helps drive discounts.
 

Costco relies on customers purchasing high volumes.

People go to Costco to buy in bulk. Buying large amounts of products helps keep costs down for Costco.

Costco has customers pay for memberships.

Costco shoppers pay in order to buy merchandise at the store. This up-front investment increases the likelihood that customers will return and be loyal to Costco.
 

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Each year, Stifel Nicolaus ETF Trading Director Dave Lutz publishes a “Spring Break Reading” survey of all books his buy-side clients recommend reading.

They send in their picks, and then he sends back out the whole list.

The list is incredibly instructive for gauging the Street's current mindset.

"I would ask you to do your own homework, to determine if the material is appropriate...I plan on buying dozens of these listed – some sound really great," Lutz writes in his note accompanying the list.

We put together the titles that had three-or-more recommendations.

The numbers in parentheses represent how many respondents listed that book.

A Confederacy of Dunces

Author: John Kennedy Toole

Description: The Pulitzer Prize-winning swan song from Toole, who committed suicide in 1969, "Dunces" is the story of Ignatius J. Reilly, the voluble Dr. Faustus of New Orleans' French Quarter. 

No. of recs: 3

Buy it on Amazon >

The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports and Investing

Author: Michael J. Mauboussin

Amazon Description: In this provocative book, Michael Mauboussin helps to untangle these intricate strands to offer the structure needed to analyze the relative importance of skill and luck. He offers concrete suggestions for making these insights work to your advantage. Once we understand the extent to which skill and luck contribute to our achievements, we can learn to deal with them in making decisions

No. of recs: 3 

Buy it on Amazon >

11/22/63

Author: Stephen King 

Amazon Description:"Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away . . . but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful."

No. of recs: 3

Buy it on Amazon >

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Art is meant to push boundaries, make people think, and evoke a reaction. A great work of art leaves a lasting impression that people continue to buzz about for years to come.

We asked gallerists, curators, and experts in the art field, such as the folks from Art.sy, to select the best new works of art that have shown in galleries, auction houses, or art shows within the last year or so.

These are the most buzzed about new works of art, just in time for Armory Arts Week, the major contemporary art event that kicks off in New York City today.

"House" (2013), by Julie Cockburn, is a found photograph that the artist hand-embroidered over. The piece will show at the Armory Show in New York.

Source: Artsy; Julie Cockburn, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

"Perimeter Studies" (Icosahedron; 2012) by artist Conrad Shawcross is made of four aluminum sculptures that are 50 x 50 x 50 cm each. The sculptures, which seem to reference science, will show at the Armory Show in New York.

Source: Artsy

When artist Paul Emsley unveiled his official portrait of Kate Middleton, it generated a lot of controversy and criticism, but became one of the most talked-about works of art this year.

Source: Business Insider 

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NFL free agency opens next Tuesday.

Right now there are 16 teams with enough salary cap room to sign any player they want.

These will be the teams that will be making noise in the next week or so.

Using data from Over The Top, we ranked them by cap space, along with the players they are rumored to be targeting.

16. St. Louis Rams — $11.9 million

2012 record: 5-11

Rumored targets: Their own player Danny Amendola (wide receiver)

Source: NFL.com

15. Kansas City Chiefs — $16.9 million

2012 record: 2-14

Rumored targets: Unknown, but they're making all kinds of wild moves.

14. Seattle Seahawks — $17.1 million

2012 record: 11-5

Rumored targets: Unknown.

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer

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