The healthcare industry is facing disruption due to accelerating technological innovation and growing demand for improved delivery of healthcare and lower costs. Tech startups are leading the way by seizing opportunities in the areas of the industry that are most vulnerable to disruption, including genomics, pharmaceuticals, administration, clinical operations, and insurance.

Venture funds and businesses are taking notice of these startups' potential. In the US, digital health funding reached $1.6 billion in Q1 2018, according to Rock Health — the largest first quarter on record, surpassing the $1.4 billion in venture funding seen in Q1 2016. These high-potential startups provide a glimpse into the future of the healthcare space and demonstrate how we’ll get there.

In this report, a compilation of various notes, Business Insider Intelligence will look at the top startups disrupting US healthcare in four key areas: artificial intelligence (AI), digital therapeutics, health insurance, and genomics. Startups in this report were selected based on the funding they've received over the past year, notable investors, the products they offer, and leadership in their functional area.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Tech startups are entering the market by applying the “Silicon Valley” approach. They're targeting shortcomings and legacy systems that are no longer efficient.
• AI is being applied across five areas of healthcare to improve clinical operation workflows, cut costs, and foster preventative medicine. These areas include administration, big data analysis, clinical decision support, remote patient monitoring, and care provision.
  
• Health tech startups, insurers, and drug makers are rapidly exploring new ways to apply digital therapeutics to the broader healthcare market that replace or complement the existing treatment of a disease.
• Health insurance startups are taking advantage of the consumerization of healthcare to threaten the status quo of legacy players. 
• Genomics is becoming an increasingly common tool within the healthcare system as health organizations better understand how to extract the value from patients’ genetic data. 

 In full, the report:

• Details the areas of the US health industry that show the greatest potential for disruption.
• Forecasts the industry adoption of bleeding edge technology and how it will transform how healthcare organizations operate.
• Unveils the top five startups in AI, digital therapeutics, health insurance, and genomics, and how they're positioned to solve big issues that key players in healthcare face. 
• Explores what's next for the leading startups, providing a glimpse into the future of the healthcare space and demonstrating how we’ll get there.

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The transportation and logistics industry is undergoing a massive shift as a result of surging deliveries. Daily parcel volumes are higher than ever before — but so are customers’ expectations for cheap and fast fulfillment. 

To keep up with mounting demand, retailers and their logistics partners have been racing to develop more efficient processes with experimental supply chain models like crowdsourced delivery — the Uber model in which customers use mobile apps to connect directly with local couriers for on-demand or same-day fulfillment.

And it’s not just startups like Deliv and Postmates getting in on the action. This year Amazon not only launched its own shipping service to deliver packages for other businesses (“Shipping with Amazon”) but also announced its “Delivery Service Partner” program, which provides capital incentives for people to launch their own delivery companies fulfilling orders on behalf of Amazon itself.

With emerging delivery models like these aggressively stealing away customers, the pressure is on for legacy players like FedEx, UPS, the USPS, and the thousands of businesses who depend on them every day, to respond. But it will take more than just material resources or a large fleet of vehicles to truly compete. These companies need to earn the trust of consumers.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has obtained exclusive survey data to paint the 2018 delivery landscape and the trends of its major players. The findings comprise the team’s latest Enterprise Edge Report, The 2018 Delivery Trust Report, and give transportation, supply chain, and logistics companies the tools they’ll need to win back customers.

Enterprise Edge Reports are the very best research Business Insider Intelligence has to offer in terms of actionable recommendations and proprietary data, and they are only available to Enterprise clients.

In full, the study:

• Uses proprietary consumer survey data to evaluate how the largest delivery companies in the US stack up on customer service, package tracking, package protection, and timeliness of delivery.
• Assesses how at risk these providers are to new challengers entering the space.
• Shares strategies on how delivery companies can achieve feature parity and, ideally, differentiation, in customer experience.

So, which delivery features do consumers care about?

First and foremost, speed. It makes sense that consumers value fast delivery, but did you know just how many of them prioritize this feature? According to a recent survey from Dropoff, it’s 99%. And with millions of packages delivered nationwide every single day, that’s a lot customers with high expectations.

But customers don’t just want their packages delivered quickly; they want to follow the journey from store to doorstep. Another one of the most important offerings delivery companies boast is real-time tracking, with nearly 90% of consumers noting it in the Dropoff survey.

If they can get it right, tracking is a twofold advantage for delivery companies; it entices consumers who want to know when their packages are coming, and it appeals to merchant partners who might be willing to switch delivery service providers for the added visibility and customer benefit.

And the field is still wide open for companies to differentiate on this feature. Among those who had a package delivered from UPS, FedEx, USPS, or DHL in the last year, nearly 30% of Business Insider Intelligence survey respondents couldn't actually say which company offered the best tracking features. Whether it means using mobile apps, SMS texting, or chatbots to communicate with customers, there’s plenty of opportunity for logistics companies to hone and become known for this feature.

Want to learn more?

This is just a snapshot of the Business Insider Intelligence 2018 Delivery Trust Report, which compiles the complete survey findings to dive deeper into the opportunities delivery companies have to engage and delight customers.

The multi-part report also presents actionable insights that transportation and logistics companies can use to fight back against Amazon’s continuous push into deliveries.

Join the conversation about this story »

This 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.

What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

Subscribe to an All-Access pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

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	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
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	And more!

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• President Donald Trump's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty.
• It marked the climax of the Cohen controversy.
• Here's the full timeline of events.

President Donald Trump's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a list of federal crimes he committed while employed by the president. Cohen's sentencing culminates a months-long controversy surrounding his fraudulent conduct during the 2016 election. 

During his December 12 sentencing, Cohen apologized for his actions and said he acted out of "blind loyalty" to Trump. Days earlier, on November 29, he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his involvement with the construction of the Trump Tower in Moscow.

Earlier this year, on August 21, Cohen cut a deal with federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, and two counts related to campaign-finance violations. Cohen said under oath that Trump directed him to violate campaign-finance laws just before the 2016 presidential election to boost his candidacy.

The latter two charges were in connection to payments to the former Playboy model Karen McDougal and the porn actress Stormy Daniels to silence their allegations of affairs with Trump.

As Cohen said he committed the campaign-finance violations "at the direction of the candidate" and with the "purpose of influencing the election," there were audible gasps in the reporter-packed courtroom in lower Manhattan courtroom.

The federal prosecutors Cohen struck a deal with said they had evidence corroborating Cohen's admissions, stemming from records obtained from him that included audio tapes, texts, phone records, emails, witnesses with knowledge of the transactions, and records from The National Enquirer.

Later in the week, The Wall Street Journal reported, federal prosecutors investigating Cohen granted immunity to Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker, who struck the deal with McDougal.

Cohen faced 65 years in prison, but the deal narrowed that sentence down to a much more palatable three years.

Lanny Davis, one of Cohen's attorneys, told Business Insider after Cohen pleaded guilty that Cohen felt "pain for his family" that he could go to prison but relief that the plea deal was done. Cohen's also not done opening up on what he knows about Trump, Davis said.

"This is the time he knows he's going to jail, and he feels liberated that he can finally speak his mind about his concerns about Donald Trump without a criminal lawyer telling him to 'be quiet' because 'you'll upset the prosecutors,'" he said.

Moving forward, all eyes are on what happens next, particularly for Trump.

"The plea, under oath, establishes that the president was a co-conspirator in the campaign violations to which Cohen pleaded guilty," Philip Allen Lacovara, who served as counsel to the special prosecutors investigating President Richard Nixon's role in the Watergate scandal, told The New York Times.

Before Nixon resigned from office, a grand jury named him an unindicted coconspirator. Lacovara said Trump had "technically" become that as well.

Though Cohen implicated Trump in multiple felonies, it appears highly unlikely Trump will be indicted in this instance — at least while he is still in office.

Here's the full timeline of events in the Cohen investigation:

SEE ALSO: Democrats are still incredibly cautious about discussing Trump's impeachment even after 2 of his top aides have been convicted

Join the conversation about this story »

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Maps can tell us a lot about what happened in 2018 — from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding to the results of the Midterm elections. 

The Graphics Insider team compiled 56 of the maps we created this year that visualize the many ups and downs of 2018.

Follow along through 2018 in maps, from wildfires and baby name trends, to the cost of products around the world and Trump's tariff war.

Andy Kiersz contributed to this article. 

In January 2018, the Trump administration proposed auctioning off nearly all US coastal waters for offshore drilling. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management estimated the new plan would make "more than 98%" of the waters off the US available for oil and gas leasing over the next five years.

Read the full story here.

On February 9, the 2018 Winter Olympics began in Pyeongchang, South Korea. More than 200 athletes on the roster for the US Olympic team competed. Even though they tend to live where the training is best, they were born all over the country.

Read the full story here.

In March, there was a string of deadly bombings in Austin, Texas, at seven locations in total. Two people were killed, and seven were injured.

Read the full story here.

• Amazon is building an air hub at Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Texas. 
• The air hub is expected to be fully operational next year, and will operate on the side of the airport also used by FedEx.
• "AMZN's threat to UPS/FDX is growing and this is also a way for AMZN to save billions on shipping," according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
• Watch UPS, FedEx and Amazon trade live.

Amazon is expanding its reach in air delivery with a new air hub in Texas, and that's a threat to legacy delivery giants UPS and FedEx, according to a new analysis from Morgan Stanley.

Amazon said earlier this week that it planned to build a regional air hub at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, which would support a handful of daily flights and infrastructure for sorting packages.

"Amazon's new air hub could compete directly with FedEx and UPS," a team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by Ravi Shanker wrote in a client note out Friday.

The hub could also allow Amazon to save between $1 billion and $2 billion next year, Shanker wrote.

"Our current work shows that despite being in the early innings of Amazon Air's rollout, Amazon's volumes moving onto Amazon Air are costing UPS/FDX roughly 200-300 [basis points] of volume growth," he said.

Shanker reiterated his bullish stance on Amazon. He wrote last week that it was poised to take market share from UPS and FedEx with its fleet of 40 Boeing 767 cargo planes. Specifically, he forecast UPS and FedEx's revenue would decline by a combined 10% by 2025.

Amazon already has an air hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. And while Amazon said the facility in Texas was the first of its kind for the company, it also announced plans last week to expand operations at Chicago's Rockford Airport.

Amazon shares have been on a wild ride this year, rising 75% through the first eight months on their way to an all-time high of $2,050.50 per share at the end of August. Since then, the stock has plunged 22% amid a broader stock-market rout.

Amazon is up 35% this year, while UPS and FedEx were down 21% and 29% respectively.

Now read:

• Amazon's fleet of 767s is bad news for FedEx and UPS, Morgan Stanley says
• Amazon buying Target would 'accelerate an existing threat' to Walmart, says analyst who's doubling down on his call

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Apps downloaded from the Apple App Store generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue this year.
• Using data from Sensor Tower, we've compiled a list of the 10 apps downloaded from the App Store that brought in the most revenue in 2018.
• Half of the apps that brought in the most revenue this year are from companies in China. 

Apps for video streaming and social media made the most money this year on Apple devices, data shows.

Business Insider has compiled a list of the apps on iPhone and iPad that brought in the most revenue in 2018, according to data provided by Sensor Tower, covering the period ending November 30th.

It's possible you've never heard of some of these iOS apps — five of the top 10 apps are from China-based tech giants, including Baidu and Tencent Holdings.

Here are the highest grossing iOS apps in 2018, and how much revenue each app brought in according to Sensor Tower data:

10. Hulu — $132.6 million

App description: Video streaming service

Owned by: Joint venture of Comcast, Disney and Twenty-First Century Fox.

9. QQ — $159.7 billion

App description: Instant messaging platform

Owned by: Tencent Holdings

8. Youku — $192.9 million

App description: Video streaming service

Owned by: Alibaba Group

• A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in October detailed how even just half a degree of rise in the world's temperature would result in severe, catastrophic effects, making the climate unlivable in the most severe cases.
• If you are wondering what life might be like in such a scenario, Dubai can give you a good approximation. For more than half the year, temperatures are regularly around 105 degrees Fahrenheitand have gone as high as 119 degrees Fahrenheit, with plenty of humidity. It makes being outside for more than a few minutes unbearable.
• Dubai has developed into a series of climate-controlled indoor spaces including more than 65 malls, apartment buildings with entire indoor cities attached, and car-centric design that discourages walking outside. You can spend entire days without ever stepping outside.

It's become more clear than ever this year that climate change is very real and that we are already seeing the effects.

A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in October detailed how even just half a degree of rise in the world's temperature would result in severe, catastrophic effects.

As Business Insider's Kevin Loria summed up: That half of a degree will make drought-prone regions much more likely to experience severe drought, and areas prone to heat waves or intense hurricanes will get more of those disasters, too. These factors could trigger huge migrations of people and mass extinctions of animals. 

In short, the climate will get a lot less livable, particularly in places already vulnerable to high temperatures.

As I hung out in Dubai last month, it struck me that the city's severe climate and its adaptation to that climate was a good approximation of what I imagine living with the severe effects of climate change to be.

During Dubai's long summer, stretching from mid-April through October, temperatures make it unbearable to be outside for more than a few minutes. Temperatures are regularly around 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) and have gone as high as 119 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius), with plenty of humidity.

The city's adaptation to that climate? A proliferation of interconnected climate-controlled spaces, including more than 65 malls, residential and office buildings with entire indoor cities attached, metros, and indoor parking lots. 

For a certain social millieu — I'm talking native Emiratis and the wealthy expats with white-collar jobs — one could go entire days or weeks during the summer without stepping outside. You go from your air-conditioned apartment in a residential skyscraper to the indoor parking lot, and then drive to your office, park in the indoor lot, and head upstairs to the office skyscraper.

If you need to do grocery shopping or pick up a present, there are likely retail stores, grocery stores, or an entire retail complex attached to your office building or apartment building.

If you want to spend a Saturday out with your family, grab coffee with a colleague, or enjoy an "al fresco" dinner and a movie, you are likely doing it inside at The Dubai Mall, a $2 billion complex with  1,200 stores, hundreds of restaurants, a movie theater, a luxury hotel, an Olympic-size ice-skating rink, a virtual-reality theme park, and an aquarium. Or, perhaps you'll visit one of Dubai's dozens of other megamalls with similar amenities that blur the line between mall and city block.

Meanwhile, for the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Dubai who aren't lucky enough to live in air-conditioned megacomplexes, Dubai can be a hellscape during the summer — just as the climate might be for the developing countries that will be hardest hit by the effects of climate change.

Dubai is getting so good at simulating the outdoors inside that its next megaproject is dedicated to just that. Dubai Square, set to become the world's largest mall, is built around a four-lane "boulevard" that mimics a wide city street, a piazza, and an entertainment center for concerts and theater shows. It will even have the Middle East's largest Chinatown.

The net effect of this kind of development is that nearly all "public" or "social" space in the city is a corporatized shopping destination.

"[In the UAE] the mall is a social space, not just a shopping space," Justin Thomas, an associate professor of psychology at Zayed University, wrote for The National in 2014.

"The mall is where three generations of the same family take an evening stroll; the mall is where the Abu Dhabi Readers (a book club) meet to discuss works of literature."

When you can't hang out in social spaces outside, whether it's due to a severe climate or pollution, you find indoor spaces to do so.

It's hard to say that's de-facto bad when such malls and climate-controlled spaces are providing livable spaces outside of the home in a city that desperately needs them. But there is a creeping feeling that something is lost when all public spaces exist solely so large corporations can make a profit.

If I was going to take a guess at where our hyper-consumerist world is heading in the event the world can't get its act together on climate change, I'd say it's going to look a lot like Dubai.

And Dubai, for its part, will have to keep adapting to its extreme climate. The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi found in a report last year that under its most severe climate change scenario, nearly all of Dubai would be underwater due to rising sea levels.

• More on Business Insider's visit to Dubai:
• A walk through Dubai's supercity of futuristic skyscrapers made me uneasy for any city that mimics its rapid development
• I visited outlandishly wealthy Dubai, known as the 'city of gold,' and was surprised by how much fun you can have even without billions
• Dubai's most outrageous open-air market sells only gold and has a $3 million, 141-pound gold ring
• Dubai is already a tourist favorite, and now the city's sights are set on the next milestone: becoming the center of art in the Middle East and Africa
• Dubai has a $20 billion megacomplex with the world's 2nd-largest mall, the world's tallest building, an aquarium, and 1,200 stores. I can't imagine why any tourist would visit.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 4 tricks that will make hosting Thanksgiving dinner much easier this year

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

• We've rounded up the best charging cables for all kinds of devices, including the iPhone, Android phones, USB-C laptops, and Micro-USB powered gadgets like headphones and Kindles.
• Anker, Native Union, Nomad, and Fuse Chicken make the best charging cables hands down.

There's nothing worse than having one charging cable and then losing it, so why not stock up on a bunch of cables so you're never without your power source?

After all, the one that came with your phone, headphones, Kindle, or other gadgets may not be the best charging cable you can use. Some cables charge faster than others, offer more durability, or are simply longer than the cables that came in the box.

I've tested thousands of charging cables over the past five to six years as a professional tech reviewer, so I've see just about every charging cable of note. I've rounded up my favorites of all time in this handy guide. Whether you want an affordable everyday cable, a super strong one, a universal cord that charges all your devices, or a nice long cable that has a lot of reach; we have a charging cable recommendation for you.

One last note before you check out our picks: Most of our favorite charging cables come in lightning (for iPhone), Micro-USB (for older Android phones, headphones, Kindles, etc.), and USB-C (for new Android phones and some laptops) styles so you can choose the charging standard you need.

Here are the best charging cables you can buy:

• Best charging cables overall: Anker
• Best long charging cables: Native Union
• Best universal charging cable: Nomad
• Best durable charging cables: Fuse Chicken
• Also check out our guides to the best lightning, USB-C, and Micro-USB cables

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.

The best charging cables overall

Why you'll love them: The Anker PowerLine cables are the best cords for most people with their sturdy design, fast charging speed, and fair price point.

Anker's charging cables are our top pick for the best charging cable in our lightning, Micro USB, and USB-C cable buying guides because they are simply the best.

These cables are fast to charge your phone or sync data, they're durable, and they're affordable. You can get lightning cables for your iPhone, USB-C cables for your new Android phone or laptop, or Micro-USB cables for your older Android phone and other electronics. 

The cable is strengthened with Kevlar and the stress points near the charger and the USB connector are reinforced for added durability. They're slightly wider than the connectors on other cables, but the Anker cables should fit most phone cases.

Anker also makes different kinds of cables, including basic ones and slightly pricier Powerline+ cables that are covered in double-braided nylon for added strength. Either way, you're getting a great charging cable.

To ensure that it's cables last, Anker bent the PowerLine cables more than 5,000 times in testing. The company also offers an 18-month warranty in case of any issues.

Anker's PowerLine cables come with a Velcro tie to help you wrap up any extra cord length you don't need. You can get the cables in black, white, blue, red, or gray.

Buyer reviews are very positive, and tech reviewers agree that Anker makes excellent cables for a very reasonable price. Digital Trends, Best Products, and The Wirecutter give Anker high marks.

Pros: Made from durable aramid fiber, lots of lengths, 18-month warranty, fast charging, reinforced stress points, lightning cables are MFi certified by Apple, USB-C cables are safe

Cons: None

Shop all Anker Powerline charging cables for $6 to $30

The best long charging cables

Why you'll love them: The 10-foot Native Union Night cables give you a long reach, so it doesn't matter if the outlet is far away.

If you've ever struggled with a short cord, you'll absolutely love Native Union's 10-foot-long Night Cable. It also has a weighted knot that keeps it from pulling your phone off the table while it's charging. Plus, it's durable and stylish. You can get the cable with lightning and USB-C endings in several colors.

Native Union makes its cables out of braided nylon, which is strong and doesn't tangle. The cable is covered in braided nylon, a TPE rubber sleeve, a tinned copper braid, and a grounding layer for protection. Inside all those layers are wires that are also protected and reinforced, some with Kevlar fibers.

To test for durability, Native Union puts is cables through a 10,000 bend test. The company also offers a limited lifetime warranty in case of any mishaps.

I've used the Native Union Night cable for the past five years as my main charger, and it has never let me down. I've bent it all sorts of ways, and it hasn't frayed at all. I typically use the weight to keep my iPhone on my nightstand while I charge it, but it's easy to adjust when I need the weight anchoring the cord in another place. 

The Night cable is also highly rated by users on Amazon and Native Union's website. Many tech publications also recommend Native Union's Night cable.

Pros: It's 10-feet long, weighted so it doesn't fall, covered in sturdy woven fabric, 12-month warranty, lightning cable is MFi certified by Apple, it bends but doesn't break

Cons: Expensive

Buy the Native Union Night lightning and USB-C cables on Amazon for $39.99

The best universal charging cables

Why you'll love it: The Universal Cable by Nomad has lightning, Micro-USB, and USB-C endings, so you can charge any phone with it.

If you've ever wished for a cable that could charge all your devices — including a USB-C laptop, a lightning iPhone, and a Micro-USB pair of wireless headphones — you're in luck: The Universal Cable from Nomad is the one cable to rule them all.

It has lightning, Micro-USB, and USB-C ends to charge any phone and many other devices. The core cable is USB A to Micro USB, and it has conversion caps for charging lightning and USB-C devices.

The cable measures 1.5 meters in length, so it's a decent length, and you can wrap up the excess cable with the included tie. You can also get shorter lengths.

The cable is 10K Mil-spec flex tested and Apple MFi approved. Its braided ballistic nylon covering keeps it strong and prevents fraying even with intense use. Nomad guarantees that the cable will last at least five years.

We tried out one of these cables and loved it. It's the only cable you'll ever need. No matter what devices you, your friends, and your family carry, this cable can charge them — no questions asked.

Pros: Works with all phones, MFi certified, strong, five-year guarantee

Cons: A bit pricey

Buy the Universal Charging Cable at Nomad for $29.95 to $34.95

This 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.

The way incumbent banks onboard and verify the identities of their customers online is inconvenient and insecure, resulting in lowered customer satisfaction and loyalty, and security breaches leading to compensation payouts and legal costs.

It’s a lose-lose situation, as consumers become disgruntled and banks lose business. The problem stems from the very strict verification standards and high noncompliance fines that banks are subject to, which have led them to prioritize stringency over user experience in verification. At the same time, this approach doesn't gain banks much, since the verification methods they use to remain compliant can actually end up compromising customers' personal data.

But banks can't afford to prioritize stringent verification at the cost of user experience anymore. Onboarding and verification standards are increasingly being set by more tech-savvy players within and outside their industry, like fintechs and e-retailers. If banks want to keep customers loyal, they have to start innovating in this area. The trick is to streamline verification for clients without compromising accuracy. If banks manage to do this, the result will be happier and more loyal customers; higher client retention and revenue; and less spending on redundant checks, compensation for breaches, and regulatory fines.

The long-term opportunity such innovation presents is even bigger. Banks are already experts in vouching for people’s identities, and because they’re held to such tight verification standards, their testimonies are universally trusted. So, if banks figure out how to successfully digitize customer identification, this could help them not only boost revenue and cut costs, but secure a place for themselves in an emerging platform economy, where online identities will be key to carrying out transactions. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• The strict verification standards that banks are held to have led them to create onboarding and login processes that are painful for clients. Plus, the verification methods they use to remain compliant can actually end up putting customers' personal data at risk. This leaves banks with dented customer satisfaction, as well as security breaches and legal costs.
• Several factors are now pushing banks to attempt to remedy the situation, including a tougher regulatory environment and increasing competition from agile startups and tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, where speedy onboarding and intuitive service is a given.
• The trick is to streamline verification for clients without compromising accuracy, something several emerging technologies promise to deliver, including biometrics, optical character recognition (OCR) technology, cryptography, secure video links, and blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT). 
• The long-term opportunity such innovation presents is even bigger. Banks are already experts in vouching for people’s identities, so if they were to figure out how to successfully digitize customer identification, this could help them secure a valued place, and relevance, in a modernizing economy.

In full, the report:

• Looks at why identity verification is so integral to banking, and why it's becoming a problem for banks.
• Outlines the biggest drivers pushing banks to revamp their verification methods.
• Gives an overview of the technologies, both new and established but repurposed, that are enabling banks to bring their verification methods into the digital age.
• Discusses what next steps have to happen to bring about meaningful change in the identity verification space, and how banks can capitalize on their existing strengths to make such shifts happen.

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• Starbucks opened a Reserve Roastery in New York on Friday.
• The new Starbucks Reserve Roastery is the fourth of its kind in the world and is completely unlike a typical Starbucks.
• The Roasteries are meant to be upscale, and they feature cocktail bars, bakeries, and unique elements. 

SEE ALSO: We compared the grocery-shopping experience at 6 major chains in 2018, and this one impressed us the most

We got an early peek at the Reserve Roastery on Wednesday morning. It's located in the Meatpacking District.

The store was overwhelming. To the left of the entrance was a big merchandise store.

There were products for sale from a few different collections, including Starbucks' New York collection and its holiday collection.

• IBM faced competition before winning its $34 billion bid to acquire Red Hat.
• Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all took a look at Red Hat, according to sources familiar with the deal.
• Microsoft backed out over antitrust concerns, and Google offered Red Hat a partnership instead, according to a Red Hat company filing.

When IBM announced its $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat on October 28, the tech word was struck by the huge price tag, as well as its potential to revive IBM's struggling cloud business. But as it turns out, things could have gone a lot differently.

Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all engaged in deal discussions with Red Hat and looked closely into an acquisition in the months and weeks before Red Hat struck a deal with IBM, according to sources familiar with the deal.

As an open-source software company, Red Hat is strategic because of its popularity with developers. It's also is the largest commercial maker of the Linux operating system. IBM wanted the technology to enhance its hybrid-cloud project and to give its portfolio an edge.

Red Hat indicated in a public filing on November 30 that three unnamed companies considered making bids in addition to IBM. CNBC reported in October that Google had looked into buying Red Hat. But Microsoft and Amazon's deal talks with Red Hat have not been previously reported.

Red Hat's shareholders will vote on whether or not to approve IBM's offer on January 16, 2019. The deal would be the biggest acquisition in IBM's 100-year-plus history and would instantly catapult IBM into the top ranks of cloud providers, a fast-growing industry that's long been the domain of Amazon and Microsoft.

Red Hat rejected IBM's first offer

The first spark of an IBM-Red Hat merger started at an April lunch between IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst, according to remarks Rometty made at the time of the deal.

Though IBM ultimately made a winning offer of $190 a share, it took some negotiation from Red Hat. IBM initially offered $185 a share on September 27, but Red Hat's board of directors decided it was "inadequate," according to the proxy.

Red Hat's board also asked its advisers to make a list of other potential acquirers, who Red Hat courted until moving forward on the IBM deal on October 21. On October 28, the deal was announced.

Read more:We spoke with 7 insiders about IBM's $34 billion Red Hat takeover — here's how it came together

Everyone else declined to bid

Microsoft, which, according to one source, is referenced throughout the proxy statement as "Party A," first expressed interest in Red Hat back in March. But Microsoft dropped out of the running on October 10, according to the proxy, "citing concerns about securing regulatory approvals of a strategic transaction in the US and Europe."

Microsoft declined to comment.

Google, which one source said was "Party B," met with Red Hat in the spring of 2018 to discuss partnerships. As a deal with IBM got closer, Google continued to move forward with the sale process, but stopped short of making an offer.

Though Google's former Cloud CEO Diane Greene spent a lot of time with Red Hat ahead of its sale, she struggled to get support from the company on her large mergers-and-acquisitions aspirations, according to one source.

So on October 20, Google officially declined to submit a proposal and instead asked if Red Hat would explore a commercial partnership and a minority equity investment from Google.

Google did not immediately return a request for comment.

Amazon, which one source said was "Party C," got involved around October 12, when Red Hat's executives reached out to the company to see if they were interested in a deal, according to the proxy. But on October 20, Amazon told Red Hat that it wasn't in a position to make an offer.

Despite its participation in the process, one source said it was likely Amazon was buying time. The company wasn't interested in Red Hat, the source said, so much as it was in staying on top of what its cloud competitors at Microsoft and Google were up to.

Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment.

• Read more:
• IBM's exorbitant $34 billion Red Hat acquisition actually makes perfect sense as a way to stop getting killed in the cloud wars with Amazon and Microsoft
• Here's why software developers are worried about IBM's $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat
• Here's who will get richer when IBM buys Red Hat for $34 billion
• IBM was losing the cloud wars — here's why Wall Street thinks its $34 billion Red Hat acquisition will change that

SEE ALSO: Here's why IBM just sold a $1.8 billion chunk of its software business to the Indian IT company HCL

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft

• Apple is establishing a new campus in Austin, Texas.
• The campus will initially house 5,000 employees, and Apple is going to spend $1 billion building it.
• Austin was recently in the running for Amazon's second headquarters, HQ2, but was passed over.

Apple announced on Thursday that it is building a new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas.

In a press release, Apple said the new campus will span 133 acres, and house an initial 5,000 employees, with the potential to expand to 15,000 staff.

The new site will be located less than a mile from its existing facilities and roles based at the building will include engineering, R&D, operations, finance, sales, and customer support. It will be powered by 100% renewable energy. 

Apple presence in Austin dates back to 1992 and it currently employs 7,000 staff in the capital, according to Statesman. It only opened its Parmer campus in 2016, in which Apple has invested $282.5 million.

The Austin campus is part of a more general push to expand in the US. Apple also announced that over the next three years, it will be adding 1,000 employees each to its sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, along with 100 extra in Pittsburgh, New York, Boulder, Boston, and Portland, Oregon.

"Talent, creativity and tomorrow's breakthrough ideas aren't limited by region or zip code, and, with this new expansion, we’re redoubling our commitment to cultivating the high-tech sector and workforce nationwide," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

Austin's mayor Steve Alder was quoted in Apple's press release welcoming the campus. "Apple has been a vital part of the Austin community for a quarter century, and we are thrilled that they are deepening their investment in our people and the city we love," he said.

Austin was recently on the shortlist for Amazon's second headquarter HQ2 expansion, but was passed over in favour of New York and Arlington, Virginia.

Read more: Apple just put the finishing touches on its new $5 billion headquarters — and the results are stunning

Apple's expansion ambitions are not entirely out of the blue, The Financial Times reported in November that Apple has been buying up land at a rate of knots over the last two years, almost tripling the amount it owns.

The news comes in the same year that Apple put the finishing touches to its $5 billion campus in Cupertino, California, informally known as the "spaceship." Apple Park is a home to 12,000 staff.

Apple said it has added 6,000 jobs to its US workforce this year and is on track to create 20,000 jobs across the country by 2023. The company currently employs 90,000 people across all 50 states. The graph shows how staff will be spread across the US in four years' time.

SEE ALSO: These five charts show why Apple's big bet on services just doesn't make any sense

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's why virtual reality still hasn't taken off, despite being around for nearly 2 decades

• An ALS trial failure five years ago was a costly and disappointing setback for Biogen.
• But today Biogen is becoming a major player again. It just bought a potential drug in a $90 million deal, and has four treatments in development.
• The company's head of neuromuscular disorders said there's reason to believe this time could be more successful — and it could have bigger implications for the company's pipeline.

Five years ago, a drug for a rare and deadly disease failed to live up to its promise in a crucial and costly late-stage clinical trial.

The drug’s developer, the biopharmaceutical company Biogen, abandoned the project, which then-CEO George Scangos would later call “the single-most negative trial I’ve ever seen,” according to a MedCityNews report. The cost was an estimated $75 million to $100 million for the trial alone, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

It was a devastating development for a disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which has no cure or effective treatments. An estimated 14,000 to 15,000 Americans have ALS, which refers to a group of rare neurological diseases that cause progressive loss of muscle control, affecting patients’ ability to walk, eat and breathe.

The drug development space has been littered with defeat after defeat for companies tackling ALS. The few drugs on the market now don't work particularly well, and can command high price tags, with one new option costing roughly $150,000 a year.

But today, Biogen is investing again in treating ALS, including through a recent licensing deal valued at more than $90 million for the ALS drug BIIB067.

A big bet on treating ALS

The neuroscience-focused drugmaker believes in taking on these types of risky diseases in new ways, Chris Henderson, its head of neuromuscular and movement disorders, told Business Insider. A succesful treatment for ALS would likely be a blockbuster treatment, generating big profits for Biogen. Success in ALS could also have positive benefits for Biogen's wider pipeline of potential treatments, he said.

“We’re probably the single company with the biggest interest in ALS currently,” Henderson said. 

In total, the company is testing four drugs to treat ALS in clinical trials, the most of any company. Biogen also has led the highest number of clinical trials for ALS in the industry, according to a recent report from Datamonitor Healthcare.

At least 90% of ALS cases are considered “sporadic,” meaning there is no clear cause. The remaining 5% to 10% are connected to genetic risk, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Biogen's new drug, BIIB067, targets ALS cases tied to a particular genetic mutation, in the SOD1 gene, which Biogen says accounts for roughly 2% of ALS cases overall.

Growing interest

Henderson, who also serves as chief advisor to the foundation Target ALS, said that he has seen corporate interest in ALS drug development surge of late. Just five companies came to the group’s first meeting, he said, compared with 65 at the most recent one; he cited Genentech and the buzzy biotech Denali as other leaders in the area.

There are approximately 26 companies involved in US ALS drug development, according to the Datamonitor Healthcare report, with 28 ALS drugs in clinical trials. 

Biogen’s bulked-up ALS pipeline is particularly notable given the company’s bumpy history with ALS — and Henderson said that there’s reason to believe this effort could be more successful.

The biotech decided to license BIIB067 based on an analysis of an early-stage study, which found that those on the highest dose of the drug showed a statistically-significant lowering of SOD1 protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid. There was also evidence in the form of a “numerical trend” suggesting the drug could slow functional decline, according to a Biogen release.

The population of individuals with ALS being targeted in this trial is notably small, but Henderson said that its results could eventually translate more widely, with success representing the “first big crack in the glass ceiling of ALS.”

“One reason for thinking the chance of success is much higher here is that we are going after the single genetic cause of disease in these patients,” with a drug that specifically focuses on the disease’s trigger, he said. “We want to gradually go from these rare forms into the whole disease, which would be just an amazing achievement if we can get there.”

Read more:Stephen Hawking was only expected to live a few years after being diagnosed with ALS at age 21 — here's what the disease is

There could also be major implications for Biogen's wider pipeline of treatments. BIIB067 is an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), just like Spinraza, the spinal muscular atrophy therapy that has quickly become one of Biogen’s most important products.

A $1 billion partnership

The category of medicine has been a focus of a decade-long, $1-billion partnership between Biogen and the drugmaker Ionis. 

But Spinraza was tested only on children, which has made use in adults somewhat controversial. If BIIB067, which is being tested in adults, is successful, that could bolster the approach, and lead to big returns on the huge investment Biogen made in it. 

BIIB067 is next headed into what is the equivalent of a late-stage trial, to see how well it works in individuals with the disease, and Biogen isn’t making a timeline public.  

Biogen is also partnering with Ionis on another ALS therapy, BIIB078, and bought a number of products, including an ALS drug candidate, from Karyopharm in an up to $217 million deal early this year. 

There’s also a muscle-strengthening agent that Biogen bought earlier this year, which could have potential in ALS patients as well as those with spinal muscular atrophy.

Some patients have taken Spinraza and "they're doing well, but not perfectly," Henderson said. "If we can add to that muscle strength...we can then come to a more complete treatment."

• Read more:
• A 'secret' patch shows the future of treating the most common food allergy, and two biotechs are competing to own the $3 billion market
• A biotech led by a 33-year-old CEO just raised $200 million and reached a $7 billion valuation, and it plans to use the money to give old drugs new life
• Investors are pouring money into startups that are trying to find a cure for aging
• A pair of high-profile Stanford scientists wants to use marijuana to treat an entire class of diseases where big pharma has fallen short

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why so many Americans are allergic to peanuts

• At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai was asked by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) why his 7-year-old granddaughter saw a photo of the congressman with inappropriate language while playing a game on her iPhone. 
• Pichai answered, "Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company."
• The Democratic staff table erupted in laughter at Pichai's reply, according to Business Insider's Joe Perticone, who attended Tuesday's hearing. 
• Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) told the Iowa congressman later in the hearing that if he wanted "positive search results, do positive things."

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai was asked some difficult questions. None was more difficult than a question asked by Iowa Rep. Steve King, however, whose question was literally impossible for Pichai to answer. 

King said his 7-year-old granddaughter was playing a game on her phone before an election — most likely King's November 2018 reelection bid — and was shown a picture of the congressman that included some not-so-flattering language. 

"I'm not going to say into the record what kind of language was used around that picture of her grandfather," he said. 

Then, holding up his Apple device, King asked Pichai, "How does that show up on a 7-year-old's iPhone who’s playing a kids game?"

The Google CEO answered the question by saying, "Congressman, iPhone is made by a different company."

The Democratic staff table erupted in laughter at Pichai's reply, according to Business Insider's Joe Perticone, who attended Tuesday's hearing. 

King backtracked and said, "It might have been an Android. It’s just … it was a hand-me-down of some kind."

Later in the hearing, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-California) told the Iowa congressman that if he wanted "positive search results, do positive things." King has repeatedly found himself in hot water over his insensitive racial comments. 

Read more:Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu tears into Republican colleagues during Google hearing: 'If you want positive search results do positive things'

King wasn't alone in holding up his iPhone when addressing Google's CEO on Tuesday.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) showed off his Apple device when asking Pichai whether Google tracked users' phones for location data. Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pennsylvania) held his up as well when telling Pichai of the major responsibility he had because "there’s a lot of people who believe anything that's put out, by anyone."

Watch the full exchange between King and Pichai below: 

• Read more:
• Google's CEO explains why a picture of Donald Trump comes up when you search for 'idiot'
• Sundar Pichai says more than 100 Google employees were working on a censored China search engine at one point
• Congress grilled Google CEO Sundar Pichai about the company's alleged conservative bias

SEE ALSO: Sundar Pichai says more than 100 Google employees were working on a censored China search engine at one point

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Google, Apple, and Amazon are in a war that no one will win

• Apple on Thursday announced it was spending $1 billion on a new campus in Austin, Texas.
• Its stealthy process of selecting the campus contrasted with Amazon's drawn-out HQ2 beauty parade.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook said he did not like the idea of creating a contest with bidders.
• Apple's plan for new offices looks like another effort to paint the firm as the responsible bastion of big tech.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a habit of aiming thinly veiled barbs at his rivals, and his latest maneuver seems ripped from the same playbook.

With little fanfare, the company on Thursday announced plans to drop $1 billion on a new campus in Austin, Texas. It followed a stealthy selection process, which Cook fired the starting gun on in January.

The difference between Apple doubling down on Austin, where it already has a reported 7,000 workers, and Amazon's drawn-out beauty parade for its second headquarters, known as HQ2, could not be starker.

And while Apple would probably say its selection process had nothing to do with Amazon, Cook did make a point of outlining the differences in their approaches earlier this year.

"We’ve narrowed the list a lot," Cook said of potential sites in a January interview with ABC News. "We wanted to narrow it so we prevent this auction kind of process that we want to stay out of."

Read more: Opinion: Amazon is reportedly splitting HQ2 into 2 cities, which would prove the whole contest was a massive sham

He later doubled down on his remarks, according to the CNBC reporter Paayal Zaveri. She quoted Cook as saying: "We didn't want to create this contest, you wind up putting people through a ton of work to select one, that is a case where you have a winner and a lot of losers. I don't like that."

In an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher, he added: "That's not Apple."

The resulting process was supremely hush-hush. The closest we got to a sniff of Apple's plans included reports such as those indicating Cook met with officials in Virginia and had a secret sit-down with North Carolina's governor, Roy Cooper. Apple also threw ABC News off the scent by saying its campus outside California was unlikely to be in Texas.

In contrast, Amazon's process was a public spectacle that began in September 2017. In the 14 months that followed, Amazon received proposals from 238 locations, courted attention from governors, mayors, and bureaucrats in a reality-TV-style contest, and eventually decided to split its headquarters between New York City and Northern Virginia.

People were unhappy, and the process was branded a "sham." One losing bidder said: "Big tech is at a pivotal moment, and Amazon is at the head of the class. It is time for them to aggressively think not just about their bottom line but about ways they can do right by the world."

No such allegations are likely to be slung at Apple after its Austin announcement.

During a year in which Cook has consistently sought the moral high ground on issues including data privacy, Apple's own HQ2 plan looks like another effort to paint the firm as the responsible bastion of big tech.

SEE ALSO: Tim Cook mounted his most stinging attack yet on companies like Facebook and Google that hoard 'industrial' quantities of data

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Google, Apple, and Amazon are in a war that no one will win

• Former Facebook and Amazon HR exec Bharath Jayaraman says top tech companies value people who can collaborate effectively.
• That means knowing how to argue and disagree respectfully.
• It's critical that your coworker should never question your commitment to the team or the product during the conflict.

Netflix prizes employees who are "extraordinarily candid." Amazon, those who are "vocally self-critical" and able to "disagree and commit," i.e. forge ahead on a project even if they don't currently support it.

Top tech companies are increasingly looking for people who, in the spirit of pushing the organization forward, know how to argue effectively. If you're just going to nod your head and smile at every idea that comes your way, you're probably not welcome.

Bharath Jayaraman, who has worked in human resources at Facebook and at Amazon (he's currently the vice president of people at Paxos) said every company has its own "flavor" of collaboration. But he's noticed that, at least at the places where he's worked, collaboration is defined as "being able to have arguments, disagree, have difficult conversations"— respectfully.

A bonus just for you: Click here to claim 30 days of access to Business Insider PRIME

The key to effective collaboration — and to earning coworkers' trust — at these companies, Jayaraman said, is to communicate that you're committed to improving whatever product or process you're working on. The "critical" piece, he added, is for your conversation partner to walk away saying, "I may or may not agree with you, but I don't question your intent."

A few years ago, I reported on research published in the Academy of Management Review, which found that the ideal form of workplace conflict is a debate about the issue at hand, as opposed to personal attacks or behind-your-back office politics. Yet not every workplace is home to this healthy conflict style.

"Agreeing with people and being cohesive is actually easy," Jayaraman said. "Disagreeing with people and still being cohesive is hard."

• More on HR Insider:
• An HR exec who's worked at Facebook and Amazon says no one should become a manager without taking a key step
• After a former GE exec got some tough feedback from the CEO, she took a simple step to improve
• An HR exec who's worked at Starbucks and Coach shares the best way to impress your boss
• A former Googler and Facebook exec shares the first thing you should do when you start a new job

SEE ALSO: An HR exec who's worked at Facebook and Amazon says no one should become a manager without taking a key step

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NOW WATCH: A Harvard psychologist reveals the secret to curbing your appetite

• PropertyShark just released its rankings of the 50 most expensive neighborhoods in New York City in 2018.
• Manhattan neighborhoods dominated the list, with eight of the top 10 spots.
• The median sale price among the 10 most expensive neighborhoods ranges from $1.31 million to $3.85 million.

PropertyShark just released its rankings of the 50 most expensive neighborhoods in New York City, and, unsurprisingly, Manhattan dominates the list.

All but two of the 10 most expensive New York City neighborhoods are in Manhattan; the two outliers are in Brooklyn.

According to PropertyShark's analysis, the only two new entries to break into the top 10 are West Village and Greenwich Village.

Read more: A $20 million penthouse may be about to shatter the record for the most expensive home sold in Brooklyn — here's a look inside

TriBeCa topped the list with a median sale price that's nearly $1 million more than that of the second most expensive NYC neighborhood. Notably, this is the second consecutive year TriBeCa has taken the top spot.

Some NYC neighborhoods are also among the most expensive zip codes in America: A previous PropertyShark analysis ranked three Manhattan zip codes (10013, 10007, 10282, respectively) in the top 25 most expensive US zips.

Here are the 10 most expensive neighborhoods in New York City in ascending order, along with the median sale price in each. You can see the full ranking of the 50 most expensive neighborhoods on PropertyShark.

SEE ALSO: Here's what the most expensive house for sale in every US state looks like

10. Little Italy (Manhattan)

Median sale price: $1.32 million

9. Greenwich Village (Manhattan)

Median sale price: 1.35 million

8. Flatiron (Manhattan)

Median sale price: $1.57 million

• The Chartwell Estate in Los Angeles is for sale for $245 million.
• That makes it the most expensive home for sale in the US.
• The historic California estate is 960 times more expensive than the typical American home, which costs $255,000.

A Los Angeles mansion is on the market for $245 million, making it the most expensive house for sale in the US — and about 960 times more expensive than the typical American home. 

The median US home price was $255,000 as of the second quarter of 2018, according to data compiled by ATTOM Data Solutions.

Sitting on nearly 11 acres, the main home of the Chartwell Estate was designed by Sumner Spaulding in 1930, according to the listing. In the 1980s, the mansion's interiors were renovated by designer Henri Samuel — but no recent photos have been released, keeping the inside of the home a mystery. 

The expansive grounds of Chartwell include manicured gardens, a 75-foot pool, and views that span from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. There's also a car gallery that fits 40 vehicles, a five-bedroom guest house, a tennis court, and a 12,00-bottle wine cellar. Last year, the property was listed for $350 million.

Chartwell is listed with several agents: Jeff Hyland, Drew Fenton, and Gary Gold of Hilton & Hyland (a Christie's International Real Estate affiliate), along with Jade Mills, Joyce Rey, and Alexandra Allen of Coldwell Banker Global Luxury, and Drew Gitlin and Susan Gitlin of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services.

Here's a look at the sprawling estate's grounds.

SEE ALSO: The iconic mansion from ‘The Godfather’ is on the market for $135 million — here's a look inside the 29-bedroom Beverly Hills estate

The Chartwell Estate sits on 10.39 acres in Bel Air, Los Angeles, one of the most "prestigious residential communities in the city of Los Angeles," according to luxury real estate firm Hilton & Hyland.

Source: Hilton & Hyland

The 25,000-square-foot mansion has 11 bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, and a ballroom.

Source: Realtor

The home was built in the 1930s for civil engineer Lynn Atkinson and later purchased by late Univision billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio.

Source: Los Angeles Times

• Markets are undergoing various transitions that make volatility very likely in 2019, according to Suzanne Hutchins, the global investment manager at the $64 billion Newton Investment Management, BNY Mellon's thematic investment boutique.
• These transitions include the withdrawal of central-bank liquidity and rising interest rates.
• In an interview with Business Insider, she explained how her fund was carrying out a capital-preservation strategy designed to limit losses in 2019.

By one measure, 2018 was the worst year to profit from financial markets since the turn of the last century.

If it ended mid-November, this year would have produced the highest share of global assets with a negative return since 1901, according to data compiled by Deutsche Bank. There were few places to hide as even the most defensive equity sectors sold off at some point during the year and as bond prices unusually fell alongside stocks.

There's little evidence that the market's woes will be resolved soon. Interest rates are rising, central banks are withdrawing their liquidity injections, and the trade war is raging.

These ongoing risks have prompted a capital-preservation stance at Newton Investment Management, BNY Mellon's thematic investment boutique that oversees £50.8 billion ($64.2 billion) in assets.

"I would describe next year as the Queen described it — as a year of annus horribilis," Suzanne Hutchins, the global investment manager, said in a recent phone interview from London. She was referring to the Latin phrase that means "horrible year."

"It's going to be very challenging moving into next year because we're at the cusp of many turning points. And certainly, the volatility that we saw in February of 2018 will continue."

Read more:We spoke with the investing legend Byron Wien about his biggest market concerns — and he says we're ill-equipped to handle the next recession

Hutchins is a co-portfolio manager of Newton's Real Return strategy, which aims to deliver positive returns for clients over the long term regardless of market conditions. But heading into 2019, she's focused on making sure that the portfolio is watertight.

Her strategy is a combination of do's and don'ts.

"You want companies that haven't got very much debt and you want companies that will grow irrespective of what the economy is doing," Hutchins said. "And that tends to be in areas like healthcare, pharmaceuticals. It tends to be in some areas of technology."

Within technology, Hutchins is betting on companies that are growing and cash-rich but don't necessarily have the same allure as the so-called FAANG stocks. In fact, she's avoiding this cohort of companies because their valuations are "very rich."

Cisco is an example of a tech company that is growing but doesn't have the flashiest businesses in tech, she said.

Her portfolio also favors companies that benefit from green energy. The growth of sustainable energy is one of her long-term secular bets, and companies that are involved in this arena create investable opportunities as more people think about climate change, she said.

The Real Return strategy is not tethered to any particular asset class and has the flexibility to invest in whatever ensures the strongest returns. This freedom is reflected in her fund's strategy for hedging against painful losses in the market.

"Some gold in your portfolio is always a good hedge," Hutchins said.

Like many other asset classes, the precious metal has had a mediocre year, down 4% from January 1 through Wednesday. Still, Hutchins recommends it as a hedge against unforeseen geopolitical shock, noting that people could purchase gold through an exchange-traded commodity fund.

She further advised that investors diversify their portfolios with bonds.

"In the US, you might not think US Treasurys look attractive," Hutchins said. "But I have to say they're very, very attractive to non-US investors. Other bond markets like Australia and New Zealand are attractive — less so to perhaps the US investor. But with their close proximity to China and if China is slowing down, then the Australia and New Zealand bond markets should do quite well."

SEE ALSO: BANK OF AMERICA: Investors are about to put the global economy through a 'major stress test' — and the risks of failure are high

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