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Trump says 'ISIS is defeated' — the Pentagon says not quite


23 tips and tricks to get the most out of your Apple Watch (AAPL)

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Apple Watch Series 4

The Apple Watch packs a surprising amount of tools into a tiny package.

From messaging to productivity to advanced fitness tracking, the Apple Watch has something for everyone.

But not every Apple Watch feature is obvious from the get-go. Apple has filled the watch — which is now on its fifth iteration, the Apple Watch Series 4— with neat tricks and helpful tools to make using the watch a lot easier. And now that the latest version of Apple's smartwatch operating system, WatchOS 5, has arrived, there are even more cool tricks (as long as you have an Apple Watch Series 1 or newer). 

So whether you're new to Apple Watch or a longtime user, here are 23 tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Apple Watch. 

SEE ALSO: 11 reasons you should buy an Apple Watch instead of Fitbit's new $200 smartwatch

1. You can use your Apple Watch to find your iPhone if it gets lost.

The Apple Watch can send out a pinging noise to help you find your iPhone if you misplace it. To access that feature, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap the button that looks like a ringing phone. 

If you need a little extra help finding your device, press and hold the button to make your phone's flash go off. 



2. You can customize your Apple Watch's face.

Apple makes it easy to customize your watch face. Once you find a face you like, press and hold in the center of it — Apple calls this Force Touch. You should then see a button that says "Customize."

You'll then be able to change the color of the face, or add different widgets like weather, your calendar, music, or workouts. 



3. You can set your watch to turn off Do Not Disturb when you leave a specific location.

If you have to head to an important meeting and don't want to be annoyed by your wrist constantly buzzing, Apple's "Do Not Disturb" feature is incredibly handy.

In WatchOS 5, Apple did you one better: You can now set your watch to turn off "Do Not Disturb" as soon as it sense you've left a specific location. 

To do this, swipe up from the bottom to access the Control Center. Then, scroll down until you see the crescent moon that signifies the "Do Not Disturb" feature. Tap on that, and scroll down until you see the option for "On until I leave." 



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This doctor left Oscar to start a co-working space for therapists — we got a sneak peek at the stylish offices

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Alma Harry Ritter

Non-invasive, simple, and personal. That's how Alma wants to remake the experience of going to see a therapist. 

Stepping out of the elevator on the 21st floor at 515 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, you might just think you're headed into a meeting at any other office space housing startups of various sizes.

Inside, however, the floor is home to Alma, a co-working space geared specifically toward therapists looking for a place to meet with their patients. Alma, which has raised $4.5 million in seed funding, opened its first location on October 10. 

Therapists who become Alma members can use the space to hold individual therapy meetings and group sessions. 

Before starting Alma, CEO Harry Ritter was vice president of care delivery at health insurer Oscar Health. There, he helped create 'the doctor's office of the future.' Oscar had worked to bring mental health professionals into the space, but Ritter, a physician by training, noticed that they faced key challenges: the therapists often practiced on their own and space to meet with patients was hard to find and secure for therapists with patchwork schedules.

So he created Alma to fix that. So far, Alma's signed on about 30 therapists, and it has the capacity to support around 115 providers.

Take a look inside the practice, where succulents and calming spaces abound. 

SEE ALSO: Take a look inside Johnson & Johnson's new startup incubator in NYC's SoHo neighborhood, that feels more like a rustic-chic coffee shop with jewel-toned couches

Alma is a membership-based community for mental health providers, which include therapists as well as nutritionists and acupuncturists. Through a monthly membership fee, Alma provides the physical space they might need, but therapists can set their own rates for patients. Getting off the elevator, there are plants and wood paneling to greet you before entering the practice.



Patients are given a card from Alma, and they can show that to the doorman to avoid the sometimes intimidating process of having to check in with an ID card. Once they get up to the 21st floor, they can ring the doorbell to be let in.



Walking in, the first thing you come across is a waiting area for clients. There are mugs for tea, couches, and bookshelves in this space. The couches were designed to face in the same direction to bypass any uncomfortable feelings patients might have encountering other people while waiting for their appointment to begin.



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How fintechs are upending the mortgage space and creating opportunities for retail banks

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provider swtiching UKThis is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

Mortgages are valuable for retail banks, but they're also complex products. In the UK alone, mortgages account for almost 60% of retail banks' profits. But mortgage lending can be a complicated process — it involves estate agents, appraisers, and conveyance agents.

This complexity has resulted in major consumer pain points, like a lack of understanding of mortgages, inconvenient access channels, and difficulty switching providers. In an increasingly digital landscape, tech-savvy consumers are starting to demand simpler ways to take out mortgages, and legacy providers are suffering. In the US, the top three incumbent lenders together captured about 45% of the overall mortgage market in 2011; they hold just 24% in 2017.

But a new class of mortgage-focused startups have developed a range of business models to help incumbents update this valuable product for the digital age. Their strategies vary between geographies: In countries like the US and UK, where homeownership is culturally important, they help incumbents keep consumers interested in taking out home loans.

Meanwhile, in countries like Germany and Switzerland, where people prefer renting, they help incumbents attract new mortgage customers. Some incumbents are already partnering with these players, while others have opted to launch in-house initiatives. Each strategy has its pros and cons, but incumbents must adopt an approach to avoid losing relevancy and market share.

There are still some fundamental problems in the insurance market that present obstacles to innovation — for both startups and incumbents. But there are ways to overcome them while making mortgages more attractive for consumers and improving returns for lenders.

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence looks at the fundamental problems dogging the current mortgage process and examines why these flaws are becoming impossible for incumbent mortgage providers to ignore. It also outlines the types of fintechs stepping in to drive innovation in the mortgage space, some current efforts by incumbent banks, and hurdles still standing in the way of large-scale change in the mortgage industry, as well as what can be done about them.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report: 

  • Mortgages are among retail banks' most profitable products, but these lenders have been slow to adapt mortgages to a digital economy. This has created pain points in the customer journey, like inconvenient access channels, and difficulty switching providers.
  • Ignoring these pain points is no longer an option for incumbents. The rise of alternative, digital-only mortgage firms is putting them under increasing pressure to make mortgages more attractive.
  • Fintech startups have detected an opportunity in incumbents’ slowness to innovate, and have developed several strategies to help them, like broadening their distribution channels, improving customer relationships, providing attractive front-ends, and making their back-ends more efficient.
  • Some incumbents have instead chosen to innovate their mortgage processes in-house. There are pros and cons to both strategies, which incumbents should weigh in order to add the most value for customers and their own businesses. 

In full, the report:

  • Examines the flaws in the mortgage status quo that are upsetting consumers and dampening returns for lenders.
  • Discusses why incumbent lenders can't afford to delay innovating any longer around this product.
  • Outlines different ways mortgage fintechs are breathing new life into this product, including by helping incumbents.
  • Looks at some mortgage efforts already underway by incumbent lenders, and some considerations that should guide their projects.
  • Gives an overview of hurdles still standing in the way of large-scale change in the mortgage space, and how they can be overcome.

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Everyone wants to work at Google — but we found out how 15 ex-Googlers knew it was time to quit

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  • Google is a dream job for many workers in the tech industry.
  • We spoke to former Google employees to find out why they decided to leave the company.
  • Their answers ranged from frustration with company politics to a desire to take the next step in their career, whether that's learning new skills, building a new company, or becoming a social-media influencer.

Google is routinely rated one of the best places to work in the US.

It's no surprise that with a median salary over $160,000, generous benefits packages, and perks like free gourmet food, massages, and music lessons, Google is considered a dream job by so many people in the tech industry.

So why would anyone ever want to leave?

We spoke to several former Googlers to find out why they left the company, compiling their responses with those of other former employees who have written about their departures publicly.

Their reasons include everything from frustration with company politics to simply wanting to feel more freedom at a smaller company. One former Googler even quit to become a social-media influencer.

Read on to see the reasons 15 former Googlers gave for leaving the company.

SEE ALSO: 3 former Google execs explain why they left a company where just about everyone wants to work

DON'T MISS: A millennial who left her 6-figure job at Google to be a full-time social media influencer explains why she was willing to take the risk

Liz Wessel, cofounder and CEO of WayUp

Former position at Google: Product marketing manager

Why she left: Wessel told Business Insider she knew it was time to leave Google when she couldn't stop thinking about her next career move.

"If you can't do a good job at your job anymore because you're spending all of your time thinking about another job opportunity, that's probably a good sign," she said.



Tyler Breisacher, software engineer at Hustle

Former position at Google: Software developer

Why he left: Breisacher was one of about a dozen Googlers who left the company in April to protest Google's controversial collaboration in which it provides the US Department of Defense with artificial-intelligence technology.

After thousands of employees signed a petition, Google announced it would cease work on the project next year.

"This is obviously a big deal, and it's very encouraging, but this only happened after months and months of people signing petitions and [internal debate] and people quitting," Breisacher told Business Insider.

Breisacher said his decision to leave was also influenced by Google's sponsorship of a conservative political conference and its failure to act decisively after YouTube videos related to LGBT issues were flagged as inappropriate on the site.

"When I started, Google had a reputation as a pro-gay, pro-trans company," Breisacher, who is gay, told Business Insider. "I guess I'm disillusioned. I know that Google is a for-profit company and you shouldn't expect it to do things purely for the good of the world. But in the past, we would expect leaders to listen to the employees and to think carefully about issues and not to cross certain lines.

"Things have changed at Google."



Krystal Bick, social-media influencer

Former position at Google: Product marketing manager

Why she left: Bick left her six-figure job at Google in 2015 to pursue her side hustle: being a social-media influencer.

She knew it was time to leave after she recognized that influencer marketing was seeing an influx of advertising dollars. Now, she earns as much as four figures for a single sponsored post and five figures for brand ambassadorships.

More importantly, she said, being an entrepreneur is liberating.

"There's 90% certainty, and there's 10% of 'this could really fail miserably, and then I don't know what I'm going to do,'"Bick told Business Insider. "But I think I was comfortable enough with the fact that even if I fall flat on my face, at least I tried it, and I tried it at a moment where I feel like it really was an opportunity to try it."



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The CEO of Silicon Valley DNA testing startup 23andMe shares the health product she hopes to sell next

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23andMe Co-Founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 at Pier 48 on September 19, 2017 in San Francisco, California.

  • Anne Wojcicki, the CEO and founder of Silicon Valley's most popular genetics testing startup, 23andMe, said this week that she hopes the company expands its current health offering lineup.
  • 23andMe, which made headlines recently on the heels of a new $300-million partnership with drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, currently offers health screenings for some of the genes involved in breast cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.
  • On Tuesday, Wojcicki said she hopes to add a new health offering that looks at how you process  medications including those for depression.
  • Albertsons pharmacies and gene testing startup Color Genomics currently offer that kind of test for $250-$750, but many scientists say it's not worth the money.

Anne Wojcicki, the CEO and founder of popular Silicon Valley gene testing company 23andMe, doesn't feel like the company is currently offering what she called a "complete product."

That's because the current gene testing kit — which includes health screenings for some of the genes involved in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and breast cancer — does not include a test that looks at how you process medications including those for depression.

Those DNA tests, which assess genes involved in the break down of antidepressants in the body, are currently being offered by psychiatrists and Albertsons pharmacists in three major cities at a hefty price tag of $750. Just last month, another Silicon Valley genetics testing startup called Color Genomics began offering the test as part of its $250 kits. 

And on Tuesday at a conference organized by Rock Health, one of Silicon Valley's premier health-tech funding groups, Wojcicki said she hoped her company could include that kind of test in its product lineup soon.

But many scientists feel the tests don't offer a clear benefit to people and in some cases are not worth the money. Among other issues, the tests may give conflicting results to the same patient for the same medication and don't tell providers which specific medication is best, according to experts.

'When we can bring pharmacogenomics back, then we have a complete product back'

23andMe kitIn the early days of 23andMe, the company included a test for depression medications in its lineup of health offerings, Wojcicki said. But in 2013, the Food and Drug Administration forced the company to stop selling those products and get federal approval on the grounds that the tests could be misinterpreted as health advice. The company was allowed to continue selling the genealogy component of its kit, which looks at ancestry.

Last year, the FDA gave the company the green light to again sell some of its health screenings. On the heels of that decision, 23andMe rolled out a limited selection of some of its original products. The most recent addition, unveiled in March, is a test for some of the genes involved in the risk of developing breast cancer, also known as BRCA genes.

Now, the company is only missing one of those original health products, Wojcicki said: a test for depression medications, also called pharmacogenomics.

"The only one we don’t have back yet is pharmacogenomics. We used to have that and we’d like to have that one come back," Wojcicki said on Tuesday at a panel discussion at the Rock Health Summit in San Francisco.

“When we can bring pharmacogenomics back, then we have a complete product back," she said.

It remains to be seen how the company would roll out such a test. Because 23andMe sells its tests directly to people (they can be purchased online and at a selection of drug stores), it would need to get FDA approval before selling an additional health product. The test could be incorporated into the existing health lineup, which currently includes tests for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and breast cancer for $199, or it could be sold as a stand-alone test.

Color Genomics chose to incorporate its new pharmacogenomics product into its existing $250 test. Unlike 23andMe, which sells its services directly to consumers, Color requires people to order their tests through a medical provider. In addition, the company mandates talking with a professional genetics counselor and a clinical pharmacist to avoid potentially dangerous misinterpretations of the results.

Genomind and Assurex, the two companies who offer a standalone pharmacogenomics product, sell the test through psychiatrists and some pharmacists for $750.

Wojcicki did not provide further details on how much the test — should the company ultimately choose to offer it — would cost or when it would be available. A company representative also declined to offer Business Insider more information about the test. But Wojcicki said she saw the pharmacogenomics service as part of the company's overall mission to help empower customers with more data about themselves and prevent negative health outcomes when possible.

"I think one thing genetics can do is help prevent a lot of early deaths," Wojcicki said.

SEE ALSO: DNA tests that cost as much as $750 claim to tell you which antidepressant is best for you, but scientists say they're not worth the money

DON'T MISS: DNA-testing company 23andMe has signed a $300 million deal with a drug giant. Here's how to delete your data if that freaks you out.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Never eat the 'clean' part of moldy bread

A former Googler and Facebook exec says a simple shift in mindset can help you land the raise you want

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libby leffler

  • Libby Leffler, a former Facebook executive and Google employee, is now the vice president of membership at SoFi.
  • Leffler recommends that, before you ask your boss for a raise, you put yourself in their shoes. What are they going to be thinking and feeling when you start negotiating?
  • She also reminds people that they can negotiate for things other than a salary bump, like benefits.

"Being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes is really important."

This is true of life in general, but it's especially true when you're asking your boss for a raise.

According to Libby Leffler, who is the vice president of membership at personal finance company SoFi as well as a former Googler and Facebook executive, the first thing to do when you're planning to petition your manager for a salary bump is to "consider where you're coming from and where they're coming from."

For example: Are they trying to manage an already-tight budget for the division? Are they under strict orders only to grant raises for knock-it-out-of-the-park performance? Once you understand their goals and constraints, you can adjust your pitch accordingly.

Leffler's advice recalls insights from Daniel Shapiro, founder and director of the Harvard International Negotiation Program, and author of "Negotiating the Nonnegotiable." Shapiro previously told Business Insider that it can be helpful to play the role of your boss while a friend or colleague plays you.

The idea is to think and feel how your boss might be thinking and feeling — and to then tailor your strategy so it really resonates with them.

Remember, too, Leffler said: You can negotiate for outcomes other than financial ones. "Compensation is whatever these things mean to you," Leffler said. It can be flexible hours, extra vacation time, equity, or bonus pay. Figure out what exactly you want (and what your boss might be most likely to concede).

Leffler's most important piece of wisdom? "Practice, practice, practice your pitch before walking in." She'd never advocate going in cold.

Leffler said, "You want to take all these steps in advance to really set yourself up for success."

SEE ALSO: A former exec at Google and Facebook doesn't just expect job candidates to negotiate their offer — she hopes they will

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for a week like a Navy SEAL

The Saudi government reportedly targeted and punished several dissidents after McKinsey identified them in a report

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Mohammed bin Salman

  • The Saudi government targeted and punished several dissidents after the American consultancy firm McKinsey & Company identified them in a report as critics, The New York Times reported.
  • McKinsey reportedly created a nine-page report gauging public response to Saudi austerity measures announced in 2015, and found that three dissidents had a major influence over negative coverage on Twitter.
  • One of the dissidents was arrested, another was hacked and had two brothers arrested, and a third, anonymous user's account was shut down, The Times reported.

Several dissidents were targeted by the Saudi government after a report from the American consultancy firm McKinsey & Company identified them as having a heavy influence over social-media criticisms of Saudi austerity measures, according to The New York Times.

McKinsey reportedly created a nine-page report measuring the public's response to austerity measures announced in 2015, and found that there was twice as much coverage of the measures on Twitter than on other news platforms, and that the coverage was overwhelmingly negative.

The McKinsey report, obtained by The Times, found that three people were particularly influential on Twitter, including Khalid al-Alkami, a writer; Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi critic who lives in Canada; and an anonymous user identified as Ahmad.

Following McKinsey's report, Alkami was reportedly arrested; two of Abdulaziz's brothers were arrested, and the government hacked Abdulaziz's phone; and the Ahmad account was shuttered.

A McKinsey spokesman said in a statement to Business Insider that the report was not created for the Saudi government, used publicly available information, and was intended primarily for an "internal" audience.

"We were never commissioned by any authority in Saudi Arabia to prepare a report of any kind or in any form to identify critics. In our work with governments, McKinsey has not and never would engage in any work that seeks to target individuals based on their views," the spokesman said.

He continued: "We are horrified by the possibility, however remote, that it could have been misused in any way. At this point, we have seen no evidence to suggest that it was misused, but we are urgently investigating how and with whom the document was shared."

The news comes amid international uproar over the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom the Saudi government acknowledged Friday was killed in a consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi had frequently criticized the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in his columns.

Khashoggi's death, which the Saudis have said occurred after a physical altercation, has highlighted the Saudi government's attempts to quash dissent and silence critics, and shone a spotlight on the companies and governments who have aided the regime.

SEE ALSO: Here's everything we know about the troubling disappearance and death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Inside the Trump 'MAGA' hat factory


I've traveled to more than 30 countries, and here are the dumbest mistakes I made on the road that I'll never make again

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mistake fall

  • In March, I left New York to travel around the world as Business Insider's international correspondent. In total, in my life, I've traveled to 30-plus countries.
  • While traveling I've made tons of dumb mistakes that I'd like to avoid in the future. Everything from getting pickpocketed in the Mexico City metro to getting tricked by a fake taxi. 
  • Learn from my mistakes and save yourself some aggravation.

The idea that travel is an adventure is one of the oldest clichès in the book. But, it's a clichè because it's true. And, on adventures, things go wrong. Often.

I've made so many mistakes while on the road that it would be impossible for me to recount them all. I've worn the wrong footwear on hikes and ended up with blisters as big as my heel.  I've been pickpocketed not once, but twice. I've taken a metro in the wrong direction a dozen times. The mistakes never end.

But that's also what I love about travel: the constant sense of exploration, of trial and error, of sketching out new terrain on your mental map.

Below, I've collected as many of the mistakes as I can remember that I've made while traveling. There are a lot. Perhaps you'll learn from my mistakes and save yourself some aggravation. 

SEE ALSO: I traveled the world for 6 months, and here's the single best piece of advice I can give you for any trip you take

DON'T MISS: I've been traveling the world for 6 months, and I've found real life doesn't always live up to the hype. These are the most disappointing places I've been.

1. I forgot to print out my boarding pass before getting on a budget airline. I had to pay $34 to print out my boarding pass at airport check-in.

I've been traveling the world for 6 months, and I still made an expensive budget airline mistake that should serve as a warning to anyone»



2. In Bali, I made the mistake of wearing flip-flops while driving a scooter bike. When my hand slipped on the throttle with my foot on the ground, it dragged and I ended up with a nasty cut.



3. On my last night in Tokyo, I decided it was a good idea to spend the night out drinking at an izakaya and singing karaoke. I woke up in a stupor, barely made my 8 a.m. flight, and was nauseous for the entire 13-hour flight to New York.

A little-known travel app that is Airbnb-meets-Tinder helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise»

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Investors including Andreessen Horowitz just made a $300 million bet that a startup can take on healthcare giants at caring for elderly Americans

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Todd Park

  • Devoted Health, a startup that wants to reinvent how we care for aging Americans, just raised $300 million ahead of its launch of health plans for 2019 in parts of Florida. 
  • Devoted's founders have tons of healthcare experience, but the company will have to compete for customers with some of the biggest health insurers in the US.
  • The funding will be used to fuel the plans through 2019, as well as help Devoted build up its technology. "Now we can sprint," DJ Patil, Devoted's head of technology told Business Insider.  

A startup that wants to reinvent the way we take care of seniors in America just raised hundreds of millions as it gears up to launch its new plans in 2019. 

Devoted Health on Tuesday said that it had raised $300 million in a series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its total funding to $369 million in funding. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, but it'll initially offer Medicare Advantage plans in parts of Florida, starting next year.

Devoted is the latest firm to enter Medicare Advantage, the private side of the government-funded Medicare program for seniors. It'll have to compete for customers immediately with big, entrenched rivals like Humana, UnitedHealth Group and soon-to-be-merged CVS Health and Aetna. UnitedHealth on Tuesday said that it covers 4.9 million Medicare Advantage members, 12 percent more than a year earlier. About 19 million people were covered by Medicare Advantage last year.

Oscar Health, known for its individual plans on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges, said in August that it plans to move into the Medicare Advantage market after raising $375 million from Alphabet. Clover Health, which was founded in 2014, has been offering insurance plans in four states, with plans to expand into three more in 2019

Devoted was founded in 2017 by brothers Ed and Todd Park. Prior to Devoted, Todd co-founded health IT company Athenahealth and served as chief technology officer of the US during the Obama administration. Ed, who serves as Devoted’s CEO, was formerly chief technology officer and later chief operating officer at Athenahealth.

The company's plans might look a bit different from traditional insurance in that Devoted plans to do more than pay for visits to doctors and hospitals. It's also hiring nurses and other employees aimed at keeping seniors healthier and out of the hospital.

Because health insurers are in charge of paying for healthcare, the companies tend to know what's going on with a particular patient: have they been in for a check-up, or have they had a recent trip to the emergency room? Knowing that, the insurer — in this case Devoted — can clue in the other parts of the system so that the primary care doctor knows when his or her patient has been in the hospital and can follow up with them, for example. 

To do that however, the Devoted team had to build out its own technology to process claims as well as build out its networks of doctors that it can work with. The latest funding round is being used to build out the technology to help them do that. 

"Now we can sprint," DJ Patil, Devoted's head of technology told Business Insider. 

A growing Medicare Advantage market

Medicare Advantage, the private version of the government health insurance program for the elderly and some disabled people, has been steadily growing. As of 2017, 33% of people on Medicare were in one of these plans. Individuals can typically choose to enroll in either Traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans.

Medicare Advantage works like private insurance does for those under 65. It's designed to allow people to shop around and choose among different plans, which may restrict which doctors and hospitals individuals can use. The US government in turn pays the insurers a certain amount for each person who is covered, creating an incentive for the insurer to try to keep that person healthy and out of the hospital. If the insurer does a good job of caring for its customer at a low cost, it can keep the extra funds as profits.

"Medicare Advantage is today the simplest way to align financial incentives across the various parties in the system," Venrock partner Bryan Roberts, who's an investor and board member at Devoted told Business Insider. "Therefore, you can drive better efficiency in the healthcare system." 

Vijay Pande, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said a key reason his firm led Devoted's fundraising was because of the implications plans like Devoted's could have beyond Florida, and even beyond just Americans 65 and older. 

"The future could look like Medicare Advantage for all," Pande said. 

See also: 

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NOW WATCH: 3 surprising ways humans are still evolving

Police found the remains of 63 more infants and fetuses at a second funeral home in Detroit

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detroit police chief james craig

  • Detroit police found 63 remains of infants and fetuses at a funeral home — just days after discovering the remains of 11 babies at a separate funeral home.
  • Police Chief James Craig told reporters he couldn't say with certainty that the incident was isolated to just two funeral homes. "This is much larger than we might know," he said.
  • Investigators originally found the remains of 11 stillborn babies concealed in a funeral home's "false ceiling," after they received an anonymous letter tipping them off.

Detroit police on Friday announced they had found dozens more remains at a funeral home just days after uncovering the corpses of 11 infants concealed in the ceiling of a separate, defunct funeral home.

Authorities said they found remains of 63 infants and fetuses at the Perry Funeral Home, 36 of which were found in boxes and 27 in freezers.

"This is deeply disturbing," Police Chief James Craig told reporters at a press conference. "I am committed to get to the truth. I'm committed to following the evidence."

Craig said the police department's phone was "ringing off the hook" since the original discovery of 11 remains last week, adding that it's possible there are more remains at different establishments yet to be found.

"I would like to look at you and tell you I hope not," Craig told one reported. "I hope that it is isolated to these two. I can't say that with certainty. So this is much larger than we might know."

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs said Friday it suspended the mortuary science licenses of Perry Funeral Home and its director, The Detroit News reported.

The original discovery of 11 corpses came after authorities received an anonymous letter tipping them off about the Cantrell Funeral Home, which had been closed for months due to "deplorable conditions,"according to The Detroit News.

Investigators then reportedly found the remains of 11 stillborn babies concealed in a "false ceiling" between the first and second floors of the building. Nine of those infants' bodies were in cardboard boxes, and two were inside a trash bag, which in turn was inside a infant-sized casket.

Craig said Friday that the investigation into the second funeral home came after authorities received a second tip from a parent who had heard a media report of the first discovery of remains.

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Hands on with Huawei's brand new smartphone, the Mate 20 Pro

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Huawei Mate 20

Huawei's Mate 20 Pro is here. It's a high-end flagship phone to go up against the Google Pixel 3 XL and the iPhone XS Max, with a price tag of €1049 (priced at £899 in the UK and equivalent to $1,220).

The Chinese phone maker is a huge deal, even if it doesn't quite boast the brand recognition of Samsung or Apple. It is the second biggest smartphone maker in the world, behind Samsung, and has put major spend into crafting beautiful flagship devices.

You might already be familiar with Huawei's P series, an impressive range of Android phones updated earlier this year. Now there's the year-end Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro.

Here are the coolest new features on the Mate 20 Pro:

  • Qi-compatible phone-to-phone wireless charging which, in plain English, means you could wirelessly charge an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone by placing it against a Mate 20 Pro.
  • Huawei lets you unlock your phone with your face through a facial recognition feature, similar to an iPhone.
  • There's also on-screen fingerprint recognition, which works smoothly on a first run.
  • A Leica-powered triple-lens camera intelligently tracks the subject of photos, has real-time video filters, and lets you take beautiful ultra-wide and close-up shots.
  • It launches with Android 9 Pie out of the box.
  • It's than the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

Business Insider spent a few days with the Mate 20 Pro. Here's what we took away from a first look.

The Mate 20 Pro is a jumbo phone with a curved, OLED, 6.39-inch screen.

We're firmly into phablet territory with this supersized phone. It isn't even the biggest of the updated range: Huawei, as its "one last thing," unexpectedly announced the Huawei Mate 20 X, a shameless copycat of the iPhone X branding and basically a tablet at 7.2 inches.

To someone who owns a comparatively modest 5.8-inch iPhone X (and happens to have an injured hand tendon), the size felt a little unwieldy. But if you spend your commutes glued to Netflix, the size, the screen's curved edges, and popping colours make this an excellent device.



Yes, there's a notch, but it's optional.

2018 is the year of the notch. Screens without big black borders are becoming a common design feature on flagship phones, but phone makers haven't quite worked out how to achieve a full-screen display and house a front-facing camera. Hence the notch.

For anyone especially displeased by the notch on the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei lets you switch it off. That feature keeps the bezel running evenly across the top of the phone.



An advanced chipset and interface update means the phone boasts impressive speed boosts.

Huawei is promising super speedy performance, thanks to its Kirin 980 chipset, which also packs a neural processing unit (NPU) for clever artificial intelligence features.

There's also an upgrade to EMUI 9, Huawei's homegrown interface. The company said users should be able to open apps much faster and navigate around the phone quicker.

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

A high-ranking Orthodox priest in Turkey landed a blow against Putin by invoking an obscure and ancient power from 451 AD

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putin patriarch bartholomew

  • A powerful Orthodox priest activated a 1,567-year-old power to elevate the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and make it on par with its Russian counterpart.
  • Previously, Russia had power over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and the move damages its international prestige.
  • The Russian Orthodox Church severed ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as a result.
  • Bartholomew's decision is likely a big blow to Vladimir Putin, who has close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church and has asserted Russia's religious dominance over Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin faced a major blow to his power when a powerful Orthodox priest used an ancient and obscure power to undermine Russia's religious influence in Ukraine.

On October 11 the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople — an Istanbul-based religious body that oversees Orthodoxy Christianity — recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which had previously been subservient to Russia.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the head of the church, elevated the statuses of two bishops in Ukrainian churches and gave them power to set up an independent church on the same footing as their Russian counterpart.

In doing so, Bartholomew relied on an authority granted to his office in the early days of Christianity, established at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. The power has hardly ever been used, and took many be surprise.

The Russian Orthodox Church — with whom Putin has warm relations — responded to the slight by cutting ties with the rest of the Orthodox church.

The split has been described as the biggest schism in Orthodox Christianity since the Orthodox church became independent from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054, the BBC reported.

poroshenko filaret orthodox

The new religious order effectively undermines Russia's religious power in Ukraine.

Shortly after Bartholomew's decision was announced, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said according to the BBC: "It's an issue of Ukrainian national security. It's an issue of Ukrainian statehood."

Relations between Moscow and Kiev deteriorated after Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, and were strained further when a Soviet-made missile shot down a Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over an area in Ukraine that was controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

Moscow has also repeatedly claimed to be spiritually inseparable from Ukraine, a claim undermined by the Orthodox church's decision to make Ukraine independent.

"In people's hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia," Putin said in a speech to the nation in March 2014, when the annexation was ongoing.

Ukraine Avdiivka Russia

Putin hits back

The Russian church on Monday said that it could no longer continue being in "Eucharistic communion" with the Istanbul religious body. This means that Russian Orthodox believers can no longer take communion with people from other branches of the church.

Metropolitan Hilarion, a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Church, said that the recognition of the Ukraine church went "against historical truth," according to the BBC.

The Orthodox Church commands a huge presence and power in Russia. It is the largest religion in the country and boasts tens of millions of followers.

putin kirill shoigu

Putin cozy with the Orthodox Church

Its head, Patriarch Kirill — who was reportedly an informant for the the KGB, the Soviet spy agency for which Putin worked, during the Cold War — is closely aligned to Putin and his policies, and in 2012 called Putin's rule a "miracle of God."

Putin also relies on the Russian Orthodox Church to endorse many of his polices, such as his opposition to feminism and same-sex marriage, according to Foreign Policy.

Putin's popularity at home hit a record low this year when he broke a 13-year-old promise not to hike the country's national retirement age, which could mean that many Russians will miss out on a pension altogether.

Russia and its military also suffered a series of embarrassing blunders over the past few weeks as Western investigators claimed that the GRU, the country's military intelligence service, was behind a nerve agent poisoning in England and an attempted hack into the global chemical weapons watchdog in the Netherlands this spring.

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Meet the 'High Priest of Hollywood Tattoo Artists,' who started out illegally tattooing bike gangs and now calls Johnny Depp 'brother'

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Mark Mahoney

  • Business Insider recently sat down with the "High Priest of Hollywood Tattoo Artists" Mark Mahoney.
  • The tattooer recently finished a residency at The Mandrake hotel in London's West End.
  • He told us stories of the old days when he used to tattoo Boston's bike gangs — when it was illegal at the time.
  • He also talked about the celebrity clientele he now surrounds himself with, including David Beckham, Johnny Depp, and Lana Del Rey.
  • Mahoney might just be the most interesting tattoo artist in the world.

Mark Mahoney is a man who has seen it all.

The legendary so-called "High Priest of Hollywood Tattoo Artists" started out tattooing drunk Hell's Angels in his native Boston, Massachusetts, and now counts the likes of Johnny Depp and David Beckham as friends. It's been a hell of a transition for him.

I'm catching up with Mahoney during his residency at The Mandrake hotel in London's West End, where he's hosting a £500-a-ticket charity dinner and tattooed VIP clients in the lobby.

I open Mahoney's hotel room door to find his own piercing blue eyes, which have been immortalized by Lana Del Ray, staring back at me. He's holding a can of Monster energy and wearing his trademark stand-up collar shirt and a pair of outrageous, purple, crocodile-skin monkstrap shoes.

His voice honestly has to be heard to be believed— it's like it's been specifically engineered for an Al Pacino gangster flick.

Mark Mahoney

As he sits down, Mahoney tells me that he recently recovered from throat cancer, which may have something to do with why he sounds like Ray Liotta after a heavy night out.

In the tattoo world, Mahoney is known as the founding father of black-n-grey single needle art, which was born out of jailhouse tattooing as prisoners often only had access to one needle (instead of the traditional five or seven needle cluster) and no colours.

"When I was a kid I'd get a box of crayons," Mark tells me, "and a couple days later the black one would be half an inch long and the colours would be untouched.

"So, the black and grey single needle style was more the way my aesthetic — the way I drew — worked."

He started tattooing in his native Boston when he was just 15, back when doing it was still illegal. His patrons weren't exactly law-abiding types anyway, mostly Hells Angels bikers.

I get a lot of calls from prison, yeah.

He got out of the east coast just in time, he tells me, as the tattooers he left behind were either getting arrested by the police or hit up by the mafia who wanted a slice of their action.

Now that every teen boy band and their mums are covered in ink, I ask Mahoney if tattoos have lost some of the outlaw appeal that once made them so enticing.

"I never thought it would be this big or this socially accepted," he says. "[Back in the day] it kind of symbolised... bikers and gangsters — those were all the people I got in the business to be around."

Mahoney still gets some of his old clientele coming into the shop, though, apparently: "I get a lot of calls from prison, yeah."

Kanye West, Designer Giuseppe Zanotti and Tattoo artist Mark Mahoney attend the Giuseppe Zanotti Design Beverly Hills Store Opening cocktail reception held on February 4, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California.

You would have thought painfully etching indelible ink into the backs, sides, arms, and faces of America's hardened criminals would be a daunting task, but Mahoney says he always knew it was where he was meant to be.

He tells me about a time he was setting up a tattoo for a rival biker gang's president — "He had just gotten out of jail and the club that I was working for was offering my services to this guy to kind of suck up to him."

It's winter in Boston and Mark's equipment is ice cold, he says. "I go to spray his back to prepare the thing and it's freezing so he rears up; knocks me on my a--; the whole table falls over with all my stuff.

"I'm staring up at the ceiling with the huge swastika flag [on the ceiling] and this six-foot-eight behemoth that I have to tattoo and it occurred to me like an outer body experience that, 'you could be nervous now, you should be nervous now.'

"But somehow I knew I'd always be nervous, you know, and I just wanted to be a tattooer and a good one so bad that it didn't affect me."

Mahoney's come a long way from the swastika-covered clubhouses of Massachusetts' most-feared bikers.

He moved to Long Beach, California in 1980 and lived in the same tattoo parlour that he worked in — an experience that he called "colourful, to say the least."

Mark Mahoney

Since then he's opened his own place on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, the Shamrock Social Club, which attracts clients including David Beckham, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Rihanna, Adele, One Direction — the list literally goes on forever and is like a who's who of Hollywood A-listers. He also has a story about every single one.

Mahoney tells me that David Beckham is "the ultimate tattoo customer"— "he picks good stuff, he's got great skin, he feels absolutely no pain."

His relationship with the soccer legend eventually led him to tattoo his eldest son, Brooklyn, an experience which he called "a real honour."

David Beckham comes to mind as the ultimate tattoo customer.

"I know at 18 I was trying to do the opposite of what my dad was up to. So, I was really happy and proud to be a part of that," he said.

His closest celebrity client, though, is Johnny Depp.

Depp told The Hollywood Reporter last year that Mahoney "is amongst the finest tattoo artists to have ever plied the trade."

"I've known him since forever and I've got the ink to prove it. He's my brother," Depp said.

"We talk while he works. He once worked on my back for seven hours straight and that don't feel too good. I couldn't see a thing he was doing, but I trust him with everything I got."

While Depp was playing Irish hoodlum James "Whitey" Bulger in the 2015 film "Black Mass," Mahoney says he came into his shop on an unusually regular basis. "I think he was kind of studying my Boston accent," he says. "He got an inordinate number of tattoos that year."

Mahoney also played a small part in the film himself.

Mark Mahoney and Nicole Mahoney attend the 'Black Mass' Boston special screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on September 15, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Celebrities don't always come to his shop, though — sometimes he gets flown out to them.

Mahoney recalls tattooing Suge Knight in 1996, the former rap mogul who famously drove the car in which rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in, when he suddenly got invited on an impromptu trip to Chicago.

"He looked like Paul Newman in 'Hud,' but he had a huge bite mark — uppers and lowers — on his face and you could see individual teeth."

"He [Knight] was like, 'Mark go pack your stuff up and come with me to Chicago,' and I was like, 'OK!' So I packed my stuff up and then me and 20 people are on a Learjet eating catfish 20 minutes later, it was great!"

Mahoney doesn't strike me as a man who's ever been afraid to take a risk, which is reinforced by another anecdote he tells me about a handsome Texan.

Apparently, the man was going from shop to shop asking for a tattoo on his face, but no one would do it. "He looked like Paul Newman in 'Hud,'" Mark says, "but he had a huge bite mark — uppers and lowers — on his face and you could see individual teeth.

"He wanted a kiss in between it — some kind of Texas bar room, comedy and tragedy — and everybody had said no.

"I was like, 'S--- that's a great idea! I'd love to do that, what's the matter with you?"

Speaking to Mahoney, it's easy to see why he's captured the imagination of so many fellow artists — he's the spellbinding character that actors try to replicate; the rogue that musicians make their muse. He's just really cool.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the magician David Blaine, who once received a tattoo across his back from Mahoney over the course of 24 hours, said: "When Mark tattoos, you are not actually aware of the needle; instead you are entranced by the piercing of his eyes, which is always complemented by an incredible conversation."

In this sense, Mahoney may be the perfect tattoo artist: Here is a man so intensely interesting, who has lived so many lives and met so many people, that you don't actually realise you're being inked at all.

SEE ALSO: David Beckham 'feels absolutely no pain,' according to his tattoo artist

NOW READ: There's one red flag you should watch out for before getting a tattoo, according to Johnny Depp's tattoo artist

ALSO: The 4 biggest mistakes people make before getting a tattoo, according to the 'High Priest of Hollywood tattoo artists'

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The secret weapon that's kept stocks afloat for the past decade is vanishing — and it's leaving the market vulnerable to the next big crash

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Chinese stock trader

  • Throughout the nearly decade-long bull market, stocks have relied on a secret weapon of sorts to keep chugging higher following periods of weakness.
  • One Wall Street expert warns that this ace in the hole is getting less effective, and breaks down what's causing the shift.
  • If the secret weapon does ultimately end up vanishing, it could send stocks plummeting.

For the past decade, the Federal Reserve has had the stock market's back.

If equities experienced a sharp downturn, the central bank could be relied upon to ease monetary conditions. That righted the ship, and the market sailed higher. There's no coincidence the stock bull market became the longest on record amid these conditions.

That's because investors have been fully aware of this dynamic the whole time. It emboldened them to add to positions during tough times, and it served as a secret weapon of sorts. They even created a fun nickname for it: the "Fed put."

But what if the Fed put vanished? To Vincent Deluard, a macro strategist at INTL FCStone, it's a scary prospect — one that could send US stocks crashing.

"It is rational for investors to buy every dip in the US stock market and cut losses on non-US markets as soon as the going gets tough," he wrote in a client note. "However, US stocks lose this extraordinary appeal the moment that investors question the Fed put."

The chart below shows what happens when the Fed put disappears. In the period between 2004 and 2006 — when the central bank was engaged in monetary tightening — Treasuries didn't rise when stocks sold off.

And since a sustained Treasury rally is needed for investors to get back into equities — since the associated decline in yields makes stocks more attractive by comparison — the premium of US equities over their international counterparts was depleted. 

Screen Shot 2018 10 18 at 2.19.58 PM

Deluard argues that we're risking a similar situation right now. In fact, we got a taste of how such a meltdown might unfold over the past few weeks, which saw the benchmark S&P 500 fall in nine of 11 days. The skid totaled 7% at its darkest depths.

The reason is two-fold. First, stocks and bonds have been selling off simultaneously — something that hasn't happened much in recent history— which has decreased the willingness of investors to step in and buy the dip following spells of weakness.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, is the guidance being provided by newly appointed Fed chair Jerome Powell. Deluard notes that while his predecessors were supportive of the Fed put, Powell's "simplicity and straight talk paradoxically confuse investors."

"Markets did not need to test the Fed put in the golden age of Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen," added Deluard. "On the other hand, Jerome Powell is still a wild card."

Perhaps as a result of these two elements, the Fed put has gone into effect more slowly this year than it did following prior sell-offs. Deluard highlights the 10% correction that rocked stocks in early February as the most recent and glaring example of this.

He notes that Treasuries remained under pressure through the end of February before rallying. That helped save the day for stocks — and validated the Fed put — but it was a long time coming, at least relative to past occurrences.

Screen Shot 2018 10 19 at 11.23.13 AM

Deluard worries that without a sustained rally in Treasury prices, the efficacy of the Fed put could be destroyed. After all, the entire crux of modern portfolio theory is that stock market risk can be diversified with long-term Treasuries.

If traders are unable to rotate in and out of both asset classes as their risk appetite fluctuates, it could challenge the core principles that have kept this market cycle going for so long. As it stands right now, Deluard is acutely aware of how rising inflation will hinder the ability of Treasuries to rebound.

"If long-term Treasuries do not rally in the next two months, investors should start considering the horrifying hypothesis that the Fed put may have expired," he said. "Accelerating inflation would eventually remove the Fed’s ability to save the day."

SEE ALSO: A hidden threat that's been haunting the market for years is flaring up — and it could mean the meltdown in stocks is just getting started

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9 reasons you should buy the iPhone XS instead of an iPhone XR (AAPL)

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iPhone XR

Apple has a new iPhone coming out next week.

The iPhone XR was announced in September alongside the iPhone XS and XS Max. The latter two phones were released to the public on September 21, but folks had to wait a month for the more affordable iPhone XR. It's currently available to pre-order, but goes on sale October 26.

The iPhone XR costs $749 to start, while the iPhone XS costs $999 to start. Still, there are several reasons to consider the more expensive phone, if you're on the fence.

Here are nine reasons you should buy an iPhone XS instead of the iPhone XR:

SEE ALSO: Here's how to decide between the red, blue, yellow, white, black, and 'coral' versions of the iPhone XR

SEE ALSO: The iPhone XR is coming soon: Here are 9 reasons you should buy it instead of an iPhone XS or XS Max

1. The iPhone XS is available in more sizes than the iPhone XR.

If you like the look and feel of the iPhone XR, you can only get it in one size, with its 6.1-inch display.

If you like the iPhone XS, however, you have two size options to choose from: you can get the 5.8-inch model, or the 6.5-inch "Max" size, which costs $100 more than the standard iPhone XS.



2. The iPhone XS display looks significantly better than the iPhone XR display.

Your phone screen is important. It's the main window for all of your content: your files, documents, photos, videos, and more.

The iPhone XS features a "Super Retina" OLED display, while the iPhone XR features a "Liquid Crystal" LCD display.

OLED displays, in general, are brighter, show more accurate colors, and can achieve far better contrast than LCD displays; the 1,400:1 contrast ratio of the iPhone XR display doesn't come close to the 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio in the iPhone XS. Since OLED displays can actually turn their pixels off, instead of just dim them like LCD displays, black actually looks like black on the iPhone XS, and images look much more vivid.

The iPhone XR has one of the best LCD displays in a smartphone, but it still doesn't come close to the iPhone XS display, which, thanks to HDR support, is the better way to view high-definition photos and videos. The iPhone XR screen is also a little less great since the bezel, or border around the edge of the display, is thicker than it is on the iPhone XS.



3. The iPhone XR is available in six beautiful colors, but if you want silver or gold, those are only options with the iPhone XS.

The iPhone XR is available in red, blue, yellow, black, white, and coral, which is kind of like orange-meets-pink.

The iPhone XS is also available in black, along with "silver" instead of white (they're pretty similar), as well as a new exclusive gold option.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

As unicorn valuations become the norm, more venture capitalists are relying on this legal tactic used by Square's investors to protect from down-round IPOs (SQ, CSCO)

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Jack Dorsey Square IPO

  • IPO downside protections are growing in popularity as more startups raise venture capital at unicorn valuations.
  • A new report, published by the tech law firm Fenwick & West, found that 48% of unicorn fundraising rounds in the first half of 2018 included these legal protections for investors.

As $1 billion-plus valuations become more common in Silicon Valley, so do some key legal protections that keep venture capitalists from utter destruction should one of their investments turn sour.

The percentage of unicorn financing deals that use safeguards, known as IPO downside protections, rose sharply in 2017 and the first half of 2018, according to a new report published Thursday by the technology law firm Fenwick & West.

Fenwick looked at the deal terms for 83 private funding rounds which valued US-based startups at $1 billion or higher in 2017 and the first half of 2018. 

The firm found that downside protections were present in 46% of financing rounds in 2017 and 48% in the first half 2018. This is up considerably from 34% in 2014, 32% in 2015 and 26% in 2016.

"There seems to be focus on this now because some of these private financing rounds have been done at such high valuations, there is a chance that the IPO could be priced at a lower valuation," said Cynthia Clarfield Hess, co-chair of Fenwick’s Startup and Venture Capital Group.

Blocking and ratcheting

The two most common investor protections are known as blocking rights and ratcheting, though the latter is used less frequently, according to the paper.

Blocking rights require companies to price in an IPO at least as high as the company was priced in its unicorn funding round. In some cases, blocking rights require a premium on the valuation. These rights were included in 30% of deals done in 2017 and 36% done in the first half of 2018.

Less common are ratchet provisions, the more strict protection of the two, which were included in 16% of deals done in 2017 and 12% done in the first half of 2018.

Ratchet provisions say that an investor must receive additional shares of the company if the IPO prices less than the unicorn funding round valuation, or in some cases, the valuation plus a premium. So if a company does have a down round when it goes public, those investors' will dilute the founders' shares until they hold an amount at least equal to their initial investment.

Mark Leahy, co-chair of Fenwick’s Startup and Venture Capital Group, said these provisions aren't entirely new. He told Business Insider that he had a client 15 years ago with similar protections in its IPO, though they didn't end up going into effect since the company priced above its valuations.

But the provisions have played a more prominent role in the last few years.

AppDynamic's 2016 planned IPO had investor downside protections, and they likely would have gone into effect had Cisco not swooped in to acquire the company for more than twice its listing price on the eve of the IPO.

And the ratchet was tripped in 2015, when Square went public at a $2.95 billion valuation. The company had raised three rounds at a valuation higher than its IPO price — the largest being $6 billion — but only the last round had provisions to protect its investors from a down round. 

Those investors were guaranteed at least $18.55 per share, according to Square's S-1, so when the IPO priced at $9, the protection went into effect and those Series E investors got more shares than they initially held. 

SEE ALSO: Square insiders and investors were blindsided by the departure of their 'beloved' CFO — and no one can agree on how bad it is for the $28 billion company's future

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Here's why you should never put vodka in the freezer, according to the creator of Grey Goose

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Vodka and ice

  • Putting your vodka in the freezer is a big mistake, according to the creator of Grey Goose, Francois Thibault.
  • Thibault stipulated that keeping cheap vodka in the freezer would hide any "aggressive, burning notes."
  • However, with a premium vodka, keeping it at a low temperature will block the more sophisticated aromas and flavours.
  • He recommended storing Grey Goose at 0-4 degrees Celsius (32-39 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • Thibault added that even good vodkas kept at room temperature might be a little too aggressive, though.

It turns out storing your vodka in the freezer might not be such a great idea after all — depending on how good your tipple is.

Business Insider recently spoke to Grey Goose vodka creator, Francois Thibault, who shared some spirits wisdom.

Thibault told us that one of the biggest mistakes people make is putting their vodka in the freezer.

It may seem like an appealing idea to keep your vodka ice cold as, thanks to its ethanol content, it won't freeze to a solid block unless temperatures hit -27 degrees Celsius.

If the vodka you're drinking is cheap and low-quality then keeping it at such low temperatures will hide any "aggressive, burning notes," Thibault says.

However, premium vodkas like Grey Goose should be naturally soft and not aggressive, which means that you'll actually be hiding the more sophisticated aromas and flavours when storing it at a really low temperature.

grey goose summer martini

"The best temperature for Grey Goose is 0-4 degrees Celsius," Thibault says, "which is the temperature of a slight dilution with ice in a mixing glass."

He added that at room temperature, even Grey Goose vodka would be a little aggressive.

Basically, putting your vodka in the freezer will subdue any flavours within the liquid, which is great if your vodka is cheap and unrefined but not so much if you've bought something nice.

For any vodka beginners, Thibault recommends learning to make a dry Martini, as it's "the perfect cocktail to compare different vodkas."

You can check out his recipe, in full, here.

SEE ALSO: The creator of Grey Goose vodka has revealed whether the perfect martini should be shaken or stirred

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Why you should be aware of something called the 'drama triangle' — a manipulative tactic narcissists use to keep you on your toes

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drama

  • Narcissists mess with people's heads, psychologist Perpetua Neo explained to INSIDER.
  • They like to have all the attention on them, which is why they cut their victims off from their friends and family.
  • Often, they will flip between being a victim, being abusive, and being the hero.
  • This keeps everyone around them on their toes because it is so erratic and confusing.
  • It's called the "drama triangle."

One of a narcissist's favourite games is creating havoc for others. They get a kick out of seeing other people struggle, while they can sit back and revel in the destruction and feel superior. They want to control and manipulate other people to get this sense of supremacy, whether it's at work, in a romantic relationship, or within a family.

Narcissists simultaneously loathe others and crave their attention. How much attention they want depends on what type of narcissist they are: exhibitionist, closet, or toxic. But generally, if the spotlight is on them, they feel like they are winning.

The attention doesn't have to be positive. One tactic they use is to keep their victims on their toes. They do this by lying about the past, and manipulating someone's present so they feel like they are going crazy. They also switch between being calm and placid to being fierce and terrifying in an instant — a bit like Jekyll and Hyde.

In psychology there is something called the "drama triangle." It was developed by Stephen Karpman in the 60s, and it describes how people can play three roles: the victim, persecutor, and rescuer.

With a narcissist, they may flip between these three roles quickly and suddenly, meaning their victim never knows what to expect.

"You're always walking on eggshells, [so] you never know how to respond," Perpetua Neo, a psychologist who runs Detox Your Heart, told INSIDER. "So let's say they are playing the victim, and you're responding with empathy — they will flip to persecutor. So you know there's no way you can win, even if you're not playing to win, or you're not even playing."

One minute everything could be going fine, the next the victim might be on the receiving end of fierce narcissistic rage. But rather than trusting their gut that they did nothing wrong, they tend to try and explain away the narcissist's behaviour by blaming themselves.

This is often a result of the "love bombing" that happened at the beginning of the relationship. It's a manipulative tactic abusers use to suck in their targets where they shower them with affection, compliments, and gifts, and then they take it all away. The victim is left wondering what they did wrong, and focuses the blame internally.

"The problem is nobody is 100% bad, and a narcissist is great at pretending to be good," said Neo. "Be very aware of the drama triangle where they flip between being saviour, 'I'm going to save you,' persecutor, 'you are so stupid, you're worthless, nobody's ever going to love you,' and the victim, 'how could you abandon me, I need you to support me, without you I'm dead.'"

It's a toxic mixture of guilt-tripping, verbal abuse, and intermittent affection. The human brain will tend to focus on the good, and try and blank out all the bad. This means victims will often explain away a lot of the shouting, violence, and betrayal because of the times where the narcissist was nice to them. But this is a mindset you have to break away from, Neo said.

"Know they are going to tug at your heart strings," she said. "These are all manipulations. Be very aware that all the good times you had with them that made you convinced of their potential was probably all a lie."

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Meet Poland's new volunteer militia, which is ready to die to stop a Russian invasion

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A recruit fires flare gun during his 16-day basic training for Poland's Territorial Defence Forces, at a shooting range near Siedlce, Poland

Poland launched a volunteer militia called the Territorial Defense Forces in 2017, about a year after the nationalist Law and Justice party came to power in October 2015.

The Polish government plans to spend $153 million on the Territoral Defense Forces this year, and expects to add 10,000 recruits annually, reaching a total of more than 50,000 by the end of 2021. 

Thus far, more than 12,000 volunteers and more than 2,000 professional soldiers have joined. 

And they're ready to die to protect Poland from a Russian incursion like what happened in Ukraine in 2014. 

The militia's mission statement says the biggest benefit for the nation and for recruits will be its “contribution to national security and the strengthening of patriotic values through the practical dimension of sacrifice for Poland.”

Here's what they do. 

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The Territorial Defense Forces (WOT) was created in 2015 by Poland's then-Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, who argued it was needed to bolster patriotism among young people and to protect the country from the growing threat of Russia.

Macierewicz said Poland modeled the WOT off of the US National Guard, which is made up mostly of civilians with part-time military duties.

“We have consulted repeatedly with Guard officers,” Macierewicz told public broadcaster TVP Info in 2016.



Young people who join are expected to spend at least four months in training over three years, including 16 days in basic training, for which they'll be paid an $80 monthly stipend as well as education and training allowances.



In basic training, recruits are taught marksmanship.



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