Thanks to the NBA's skyrocketing TV contracts and smaller rosters, a basketball career can be quite lucrative compared to other major sports.

This is especially true for the stars of today and the athletes who played a large chunk of their careers between the late 1990s and the 2011 lockout. Those years led to some large contracts for players we might not consider among the all-time greats.

Here is a look at the 25 players who have made at least $165 million, according to data collected from Spotrac and Basketball-Reference:

25. Elton Brand — $165.9 million

Seasons: 17

Highest single-season salary: $17.1 million

Championships: 0

All-Star Games: 2

NBA First-team All-NBA: 0

24. Russell Westbrook ― $166.9 million

Seasons: 11

Highest single-season salary: $35.7 million

Championships: 0

All-Star Games: 7

NBA First-team All-NBA: 2

23. Jermaine O'Neal ― $167.6 million

Seasons: 18

Highest single-season salary: $23.0 million

Championships: 0

All-Star Games: 6

NBA First-team All-NBA: 0

The healthcare industry is in a state of disruption. Digital solutions are becoming a necessary part of the new global standard of care for patients and regulation is being fast-tracked to catch up to digital health innovation.

These rapid changes will have ripple effects across the entire healthcare system, impacting incumbents and new entrants alike.

Based on our ongoing analysis, understanding of industry trends, and conversations with industry executives, Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has put together The Top Five Trends Shaping The Future of Digital Health.

To get your copy of this free report, click here.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• With the holidays approaching and online retailers' shipping windows rapidly closing, you might be starting to worry about all those last-minute gifts you still need to buy. 
• Luckily, for those situations where it looks like the standard shipping estimate is cutting it a little too close, there's the "Buy Online, Pick Up in Store" option. 
• This handy service provided by some of your favorite department stores and retailers lets you browse and purchase your gifts online, then pick them up in the physical store as early as the same day.

Other than decreasing your stress over whether your gifts will ship in time, the "Buy Online, Pick Up in Store" option is also useful for:

• When you don't want to deal with other shoppers or long checkout lines
• When you'd like to keep your gifts discrete  
• When you live close to a local store and it's more convenient to just pick it up 

While the basic premise of "Buy Online, Pick Up in Store" is similar across stores, they do differ in some ways that could affect the way you approach your holiday shopping strategy.

For each store below, we've broken down the different pick-up options, what to do after you place your order, what you need at the store, what to do if you'd like someone else to pick up the order, and how long your order will be held at the store. 

Looking for more last-minute gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here.

SEE ALSO: All of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides, in one place

DON'T MISS: 34 cool stocking stuffers you can get on Amazon for under $20

Target

Pick-up options: Look for "Free order pickup" when adding an item to your cart on Target's website. You can also shop from a list of Order Pickup eligible items by browsing any category and selecting "Free order pickup" from the availability drop down.

What to do after you place your order: Wait until you receive a pickup notification email before you go to the Guest Services counter at the store to pick up your item.

What you need at the store: A photo ID.

If you'd like someone else to pick up the order: You can add or change an alternate pickup person on the order details page by editing the "Delivery" section. This new person needs to bring their own photo ID. 

How long your order will be held at the store: Two days. If your order isn’t picked up after this time period, your order will be canceled and you won't be charged. You can extend your pickup window by one day by signing into your online account or visiting your order details page.

Shop online and pick up in store at Target

Shop 33 awesome under-$50 gifts you can find at Target

Nordstrom

Pick-up options: When you're looking at a category or search results, go to "Shop your store" and enter your zip code to filter the results accordingly. Then select the store at checkout. 

The order is usually available for pick up within two hours, though it can take longer during busier times like the holidays. 

What to do after you place your order: Wait until you receive a pickup notification email (usually within four hours of order) before you go to the store to pick up your item, or, in some locations, have an employee bring your order directly to your car. 

What you need at the store: A photo ID and the credit card used at checkout.

If you'd like someone else to pick up the order: Contact the store directly to update the pick up information about the new person. 

How long your order will be held at the store: 14 days. If your order isn’t picked up after this time period, your order will be canceled and you'll be refunded your payment.

Shop online and pick up in store at Nordstrom

Shop 50 awesome gifts you can find at Nordstrom

Macy's

Pick-up options: Click the "Free pick up" tab in the search results page, then choose the pick up option at checkout. If you order by 12 p.m. local time, the items should be ready for pick up later that day. 

What to do after you place your order: Wait until you receive a pickup notification email before you go to the designated location at the store to pick up your item.

What you need at the store: A photo ID and a copy of the notification email. 

If you'd like someone else to pick up the order: Forward the notification email to them to take to the store along with their photo ID.

How long your order will be held at the store: Seven days. If your order isn’t picked up after this time period, your order will be canceled and you'll be refunded your payment.

Shop online and pick up in store at Macy's

• Reality Winner's mother wrote an op-ed in the Intercept describing the "maddening" experience of watching her daughter" languish" in prison while major figures connected to the Trump-Russia investigation receive what she calls preferential treatment.
• The now 27-year-old former NSA contractor was sentenced to five years and three months in prison back in August for leaking an intelligence report.
• Billie Winner-Davis compared the justice system's handling of her daughter's case to the treatment of Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Michael Cohen.

The mother of former NSA contractor Reality Winner is taking aim at some of the biggest names in the Trump-Russia investigation.

Billie Winner-Davis, who's now-27-year-old daughter was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for "removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet," published a scathing op-ed in the Intercept on Sunday.

"I am writing now because I am outraged: While my daughter languishes in prison, those actually responsible for threatening our election continue to get off easy," Winner-Davis wrote.

Winner was accused of leaking an intelligence report about Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election to the Intercept. Winner's sentence is, to date, the lengthiest ever given for such a federal crime. She was arrested June 3, 2017 and sentenced August 23, 2018.

Read more: How federal authorities identified Reality Leigh Winner as suspect in NSA leak

Winner-Davis singled out a number of figures implicated in the Trump-Russia investigation, writing that it was "maddening to watch my daughter in prison" while Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, and Michael Cohen received "drastically different" treatment from the justice system.

She specifically blasted the fact that Manafort was permitted to remain outside of prison on bond before he was accused of witness tampering. She also singled Papadopoulos' 14-day prison sentence and highlighted indications that Flynn will not "receive a hefty sentence."

"I would have thought that someone of his rank and position within our government, someone who lied about the lucrative work he had done for one foreign government and contacts with another, would be held to a much higher standard than a 25-year-old veteran airman," Reality-Davis wrote.

Winner herself has spoken out from behind bars several times since her arrest. In August, she described watching the Russia investigation roll out from behind bars as "vindicating but also frustrating."

But in her op-ed, Winner-Davis said that her daughter's sentencing is proof of that the justice system protects the powerful.

"It sends the clear message that if you are poor and powerless in this system, you will be abused," Winner-Davis wrote. "I am outraged. I hope you are too."

SEE ALSO: 'I felt really hopeless': NSA leak suspect Reality Winner explains why she smuggled a classified report

DON'T MISS: Thousands of millennials straight out of high school work for the NSA with top secret information

SEE ALSO: NSA contractor Reality Winner, who leaked classified US report on Russian hacking, thanks Trump for calling her actions 'small potatoes'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: MITCH McCONNELL: Snowden 'did not perform a public service, he was a traitor'

• Voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, Apple's Siri, and Microsoft's Cortana, are pegged to trigger a widespread transformation across the retail industry in the years to come.
• The current interest in, and adoption of, voice assistants for commerce is being driven by recent technological breakthroughs, advantages of the tech over existing channels, and the development of voice apps.
• As consumer demand for voice technology mounts, brands offering this functionality throughout the entire customer journey stand to gain in three key ways.

Not too long ago, if your friend had a smart speaker like Amazon’s Alexa or Google's Assistant in their living room, it seemed like a rare novelty. Within a matter of months, however, smart speakers have started becominghousehold staples — and they’re still only at a fraction of their growth potential.

One of the biggest drivers of adoption has been increased functionality. Smart speakers aren’t just changing the music and turning on the lights; they’re helping consumers find new products and make purchases — and they’re quickly becoming a preferred method of shopping.

In fact, nearly a quarter of consumers globally already prefer using a voice assistant over going to a company website or mobile app to shop. This share will jump to 40% by 2021, according to Capgemini.

Consumers are on board with the prompt, convenient nature of shopping with smart speakers — and brands who join them stand to reap massive rewards. The Voice in Retail Report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, highlights the value voice brings to the shopping funnel and how retailers can implement it throughout the customer journey.

Here are three ways brands can capture consumers with voice technology:

• Driving product purchases: Voice assistants make spending faster and easier when consumers are unable to use their hands. The ability to make a purchase on any channel and the addition of personalized, intelligent elements to the shopping experience are simplifying the transition from product discovery to product purchase.
• Heightening customer loyalty: Brands can leverage voice assistants in the post-purchase phase to track delivery status, automate part of the return process, interact with customer service, offer feedback, and collect consumer behavioral and transactional data.
• Shifting consumers’ spending behaviors: Smart device ownership has a snowball effect, so as the smart device ecosystem reaches the mainstream, consumers will flock to connected cars, smart home devices and appliances, and connected virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets.

Want to Learn More?

Shoppers are interested in using voice assistants for every stage of the customer journey, from initial product search and discovery to post-purchase customer service and delivery status. And retailers that take advantage of consumers’ desire to leverage voice will be in a stronger position to heighten customer engagement, increase conversion times, drive sales, and boost operational efficiency.

The Voice in Retail Report from Business Insider Intelligence examines the trends driving the adoption of voice commerce, details the role of voice throughout the customer shopping journey, outlines how brands can benefit from implementing voice in their strategies, and explores what's ahead for the technology in retail.

Join the conversation about this story »

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.

• One-way economy flights to Europe run 30,000 miles with the American AAdvantage program during peak travel times.
• One-way economy flights to Europe with the Air France/Flying Blue program can cost as little as 21,500 miles one-way, while one-way business class flights could cost as little as 53,000 miles.
• It's possible to book different passengers in your party in different cabins if you break up your plans with separate bookings and itineraries.
• Splurging for a premium cabin can be a lot of fun, but it's up to you to decide whether to splurge or save some miles for another trip.

Earlier this year, I decided to plan a trip that's been on my travel bucket list for a while.

I opted to finagle a trip with my family and my parents to Italy, mostly because I grew up on stories of my mother's visits to Florence and Rome after she graduated college. While my family of four has spent a few months in Italy in total, my father has never been and my mother hasn't been for nearly 50 years.

My parents aren't getting any younger, so I figured there was no reason to put this trip off any longer. And since my kids have two weeks off for fall break during October when weather is comfortable all over Europe, I decided autumn was the ideal time to go.

We have a total of 16 days to do whatever we want, so I ultimately opted to book a week of land-based vacationing in Italy along with a seven-night Mediterranean cruise on the MSC Divina with my favorite cruise line, MSC Cruises. The cruise has stops in France and Spain, and it will be a nice way to relax after spending a week on land.

How we're using rewards to fly to Italy

Of course, I didn't want to pay for the entire trip out-of-pocket, especially since Europe is so easy to cover with credit card rewards. Since the biggest expense of this trip is airfare by far, I started the planning phase by figuring out how to cover all our flights with airline miles.

My husband and I have a lot of American AAdvantage miles from credit card sign-up bonuses (from cards like the Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard, which Insider Picks has deemed the best credit card for frequent American Airlines flyers) and actual flying, so we opted to redeem 180,000 miles for six one-way flights home from Rome to Chicago. For our flights into Florence at the beginning of our trip, however, I faced an interesting proposition.

My favorite frequent flyer program for flights to Europe is Air France/Flying Blue. Flying Blue no longer offers an award chart, but there are usually plenty of award seats and I frequently find economy flights to and from Italy and other European destinations for as little as 21,500 miles one-way. The thing is, for the dates I wanted, I also found business class seats on the Air France A330 for 53,000 miles one-way.

That's a little over half the cost of a one-way economy seat on the same flight, but I ultimately decided the splurge would be worth it. My parents are in their 70s and haven't flown a long- haul international flight for decades, for starters. Them having the ability to lay flat or almost flat and more room to spread out would be a huge benefit considering the overnight leg of our flight lasts over eight hours.

Plus, Air France/Flying Blue is an easy program to accrue miles with. Not only is Flying Blue a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and American Express Membership Rewards, but you can transfer points to this program from the Venture Rewards from Capital One starting in December 2018.

You can also transfer the sign-up bonus you'll earn from the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which is both Insider Picks' choice for the best rewards credit card this year, and The Points Guy's for the best premium card.

My mom even signed up for her own Citi Premier Card earlier this year, and she accrued 68,000 points through a sign-up bonus and regular spending. So, why not move us up to business class?

Read more: 11 lucrative credit card deals you can get when opening a new card in December — including a 200,000-mile bonus

Unfortunately, when I went to book our flights, I found that only three business class seats were offered at that rate. After the third person, the cost surged to 82,500 miles per person, one-way.

So, I made a call that I will probably be judged for. I booked myself and my parents in business class for that leg and booked my husband and kids in economy for 21,500 miles one-way.

There are a few reasons I don't really feel bad about this:

First, I would love to give my parents an international business class experience. They will be considerably more comfortable with more room to spread out, and I won't have to feel bad watching them try to sleep in the crowded economy cabin all night. Of course, the food is better, too.

Second, my kids will be ages 8 and 10 when this trip takes place. They are tiny kids who have flown on many international flights that last 8 or 10 hours, and they sleep just fine.  When you weigh less than 60 pounds, basically every airplane seat is business class.

Finally, my husband gets to travel pretty luxuriously due to the fact I'm a travel writer. I love the guy, but he is taking one for the team this time. We need someone to sit with our kids in economy, after all. While I am usually happy to fly economy, I would like to be nearby to assist my parents on this one.

The bottom line

When it comes to travel rewards, there's a time to conserve and there's a time to splurge.

For a single flight to Italy, I'm going to do the opposite of what I normally do (fly economy to conserve miles) and book more comfortable seats for my parents and myself.

I actually feel extremely fortunate that this type of trip is even possible — and it's all thanks to airline miles and other credit card rewards programs. It might be hard to justify paying $10,000 or more for round-trip airfare to make this trip happen, but our use of Flying Blue miles means we were able to book flights for less than $1,100 total in airline taxes and fees. That's not bad for six people, especially considering some of the flights are in a premium cabin.

At the end of the day, we're getting excellent value for each point we've redeemed and getting to our destination on the dates we wanted. Overall, I'm thrilled and excited to take my parents on a trip to Europe like we've talked about for years.

Leaving my family in economy to fly in business class may sound selfish, and maybe it is, but I'm just #notsorry about this one.

Click here to learn about the Chase Sapphire Reserve from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.

Click here to learn about the Citi Premier from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.

Click here to learn about the Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.

SEE ALSO: The best credit card rewards, bonuses, and perks in 2018

DON'T MISS: The best credit cards to open in 2018, according to The Points Guy

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Hype around artificial intelligence has never been higher — and one industry where it has a chance to make a major impact on profits is retail.

Business Insider Intelligence projects that AI will boost profitability in retail and wholesale by nearly 60% by 2035, setting off a wave of excitement and investment among companies.

The areas where AI will have its biggest impact are personalization, search and chatbots.

But as hype and misunderstanding continue to build, it’s become harder than ever to keep sight of the true disruptive potential of AI.

Find out how AI is being implemented in these three areas and how each one can impact revenue in this new FREE slide deck from Business Insider Intelligence.

In this third and final installment of the three-part Future of Retail 2018 series, Business Insider Intelligence takes a hard look at the retail use cases where AI can make an impact, explores noteworthy examples of retailers implementing the technology, and weighs the benefits of investing in AI today.

As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive Business Insider Intelligence Daily newsletter.

To get your copy of the third part of this FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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.

Artificial intelligence (AI), often used as an umbrella term to describe types of technology that can simulate human intelligence, is one of today’s hottest topics across a number of business sectors. AI techniques teach computers to parse data in a contextual manner to provide requested information, supply analysis, or trigger an event based on their findings.

Marketers are already leveraging the power of AI to glean valuable insights about their customers, automate tasks, and improve workflows. Just over half (51%) of marketers currently use AI, and an additional 27% are expected to incorporate the technology by 2019, according to Salesforce. This represents the highest anticipated year-over-year (YoY) growth of any leading technology that marketers expect to adopt in the next year, beating out the Internet of Things and marketing automation. And, as the volume of consumer-generated data grows, AI computing techniques — like machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing (NLP) — will become increasingly important to data-driven decision-making.

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence examines the current and potential applications of AI within marketing. We dive into how AI enhances personalization, and identify the best practices for marketers looking to integrate the nascent tech into their strategies. We also look at how marketers cam implement AI to better target audiences, gain a competitive edge, and analyze data from social platforms. Finally, we evaluate how these applications will transform — and enhance — the way marketers analyze data, conduct burdensome tasks, and create content. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• AI is advancing beyond data analysis and moving rapidly into data generation, as machines get better at automating two basic human senses: sight and hearing. Gleaning insights from data-rich media like voice and video is now possible, and humans no longer have to manually categorize or describe various types of media.
• AI will transform marketers from reactive to proactive planners. The enhanced analytics that AI provides will help marketers more efficiently plan and execute campaigns in three main areas: segmentation, tracking, and keyword tagging.
• However, the rapid pace of innovation is contributing to marketers’ sense of unpreparedness for AI implementation and future use cases. When asked to choose which trending technology they felt most unprepared for, 34% of global marketing executives chose AI, the most of any option, according to Conductor.
• AI will aid in content creation, but human marketers are still necessary. It’s still early days for marketers to use AI to automatically create editorial content or stitch together the right image with the right messaging for display ads. Machines will help cut down on production time, but humans are needed for their creative juices.

In full, the report:

• Discusses the top use cases for AI in marketing and examines those with the greatest potential in the next few years. 
• Breaks down how the role of marketers will evolve once AI automates remedial tasks. 
• Explores how the customer experience is becoming more personalized, relevant, and timely. 
• Provides potential roadmaps for companies that are beginning to invest in AI and machine learning.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Achieving early retirement can be done with help from a simple habit, according to early retirees: Tracking your net worth.
• You should also have a net-worth target to help stick to your early retirement plan, says Sam Dogen of Financial Samurai.
• But beware: An obsession with measuring your progress can pull you off course.

How much money you need to retire early depends on your cost of living and potential for investment growth and passive income. 

But once you have that ballpark number figured out, just how do you get there?

According to several early retirees, one of the keys to achieving financial independence lies in one very simple habit: Tracking your net worth.

It's a way to "kickstart your journey to wealth" and the "single best thing" you can do within five minutes if you want to progress financially, wrote JP Livingston, who retired early at age 28 with $2 million, in a post for Business Insider. 

"If you think about every engaging thing you've done, they probably had some way to measure your progress," she wrote. "How many goals you scored. How quickly you can complete a set of problems. Personal finance is no different. You improve what you measure."

She added: "You need to be able to track your income, expenses, and net worth. It needs to be staring you in the face every day. Once you start seeing these key metrics improving regularly, it will spur you to dig into the details and find opportunities to grow it faster."

Read more:7 of the smartest pieces of advice about saving money from early retirees in 2018

Productivity expert and author James Clear agrees. He told Brandon, an early retiree also known as the Mad Fientist, on his podcast that successful people measure their progress toward a goal because it offers three major benefits: It makes the behavior more obvious, creates an additive effect, and adds immediate gratification.

"It will show you where the opportunities lie to improve your financial picture," Livingston said. "It is the cornerstone habit that helps build momentum for all the other things you do to grow your wealth."

Tracking your net worth includes tracking everything — your income, expenses, savings rate, and investing performance, says Grant Sabatier of Millennial Money. It's one of the key strategies he used to grow his $1.25 million nest egg and retire at age 30. 

Both Livingston and Sabatier use Personal Capital to track their net worth. "I do it every morning, but you can do it as frequently as you like,"Sabatier wrote.

Track your net worth and set goals — but don't obsess over it

Sam Dogen, who retired at 34 and runs the blog Financial Samurai, also emphasized the importance of tracking your net worth.

"Please track your net worth like a hawk so you know exactly where you stand and how much more you've got to go," he wrote in a post published on Business Insider. "There are too many middle-aged folks who wake up one day and wonder where all their money went because they didn't stay on top of it. When all they want to do is take it easy, they're faced with the harsh reality that decades of more work is their only option."

You should also use it to set goals, Dogen said.

"Everybody should have a net-worth target to shoot for by age, work experience, and income," he wrote. "Targets will help you stick to your financial plan and motivate you to do more if you're falling behind."

Having a net-worth guide — like this one Dogen created— to stick on your fridge will help keep you on track, he said.

But be careful: An obsession with reaching a specific dollar figure could pull you off course. If you obsess about the measurement, it loses its benefits when it becomes the target — a concept known as Goodhart's Law, Clear said.

"A measure is only useful when it informs you or when it is a bit of data that kind of nudges you toward the ultimate thing," he said. 

Inevitably there will be stock market gains and losses, and your net worth will fluctuate. Try not to track your net worth to a see a bigger number each month. Rather, look at the progress over the long-term and make sure you're moving in a positive direction.

"One of the purposes the measurement should provide, is that it provides an emotional signal that you're moving in the right direction," Clear said. "It provides a signal of progress. And that's really all that you're looking for."

SEE ALSO: 7 of the smartest pieces of advice about saving money from early retirees in 2018

DON'T MISS: 5 people explain how their life unexpectedly changed after retiring early

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Tim Cook's estimated net worth is $625 million — here's how he makes and spends his money

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.

It's an exciting time to be in retail — as a brand, as a consumer, and for us as product writers. The Insider Picks team tested countless new products, learned the stories of many new startups, and followed the growth of dozens of our now-favorite companies. 

A select few retail companies really impressed us in 2018, and for a variety of reasons — from superior product launches to admirable social initiatives with quantifiable impact.

They're a standout representation of what it takes to succeed in retail today: the puzzle pieces of mission, product, branding, customer service, and other key business components fitting together to create a cohesive solution to the needs and wants of consumers. 

Learn more about the all-stars of 2018 retail below. 

Everlane

Shop Everlane here

Everlane has much to celebrate this year, including the opening of its first brick-and-mortar stores, which were welcomed with open arms in San Francisco and New York; stellar product drops like basic but comfortable underwear, the soft leather flats we can't stop talking about, and an outerwear collection made from recycled plastic water bottles; and another successful anti-Black Friday initiative that sent $260,000 to help fund beach cleanups across the country.

The brand impressed us throughout the year for its continued commitment to ethical, transparent manufacturing practices and almost-eerie grasp of the styles customers crave — and how to fill the gaps with its own minimalist, carefully curated take. 

Dagne Dover

Shop Dagne Dover here

It's not just you — we've been seeing a lot more Dagne Dover bags in the streets of urban jungles, too. This might be because of its increased but carefully managed offline presence in select Nordstrom stores, Equinox boutiques, and BANDIER shops, or confident push into styles and textures you wouldn't expect from a women's work bag company.

Whether it's a work tote, gym and travel bag, or laptop bag, the women of Insider Picks have agreed that Dagne Dover hits it out of the park every single time with a consistent track record that's not always easy for experimental startups to achieve. 

Patagonia

Shop Patagonia here

More so it seems than other clothing industries, outdoor brands share a special connection with the environments they design for. With the push into recycled materials like down and cashmere, and the no-hesitation decision to send its $10 million 2018 tax cut to grassroots environmental activist groups, Patagonia ramped up its efforts to protect the outdoors. 

The ubiquity of its vests and sweaters might inspire joke Instagram accounts, but at least they're the products of a highly-rated B Corp with a conscience. In February, it launched Patagonia Action Works to connect individuals to events, petitions, and organizations they might be interested in, and on Election Day, stores across the country closed as a reminder for citizens to vote.

This is a preview of a research report fromBusiness Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence,click here. Current subscribers can read the reporthere.

Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive experiences in which users can hear, see, and interact with 360-degree digital environments using head-mounted displays (HMDs) and handheld motion devices. The technology has been historically associated with consumer-facing gaming, but it’s been gaining traction in the enterprise over the past year.

In fact, companies such as Macy’s, Lowe’s, Walmart, and UPS, among others, have all launched new VR programs since 2017. And as more businesses look to tap the technology, this will drive enterprise VR hardware and software revenue to jump 587% to $5.5 billion in 2023, up from an estimated $800 million in 2018, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates.

This shows that retailers and brands should look into implementing VR as early as possible to better compete with other industry players who’ve started to use the tech, especially in three key areas: sales, employee training, and product development. All of the companies mentioned above are using VR to in at least one of these areas, enabling them to increase product sales, reduce product design costs, or speed up employee training processes, for instance.

In the VR In The Enterprise report, Business Insider Intelligence explores how VR can provide value to retailers and brands in three areas: sales, employee training, and product development.

The report begins by discussing potential pain points the technology addresses for each use case, examining in-depth case studies to illustrate how companies have implemented the technology, and outlining the broader takeaways each use case presents for brands and retailers.

Finally, it looks at some of the potential barriers to further enterprise adoption and how both companies and VR incumbents are actively addressing those obstacles.

The companies mentioned in the report are: Audi, Lowe's, Macy's, McLaren Automotive, Walmart, and UPS, among others.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• VR enables consumers in brick-and-mortar stores to make more informed purchases, which could increase sales conversion rates.
• Brands and retailers looking to ramp up their employees quicker should consider bringing VR into their training processes.
• The tech can shorten brands' and retailers' product development life cycles by cutting down on the time associated with building expensive physical prototypes.

In full, the report:

• Identifies key VR vendors and device form factors for businesses to consider.
• Discusses key benefits the tech brings businesses for their sales, training, and product development processes.
• Illustrates those key benefits by discussing real-world case studies from companies and the takeaways from those implementations.

SEE ALSO: When it comes to VR hardware, consumers are balancing price point and experience

Join the conversation about this story »

• Elon Musk said SpaceX is building a "test hopper" vehicle in Texas that could launch by March or April.
• The vehicle is a squat version of a full-scale Starship spaceship — one that's being designed to reach Mars as part of the Big Falcon Rocket system.
• Photos taken by locals in Boca Chica, Texas (where SpaceX is building a launch site) show the outline of a spaceship coming together.

Elon Musk logged on to Twitter this weekend to deliver a veritable sleigh full of gifts to fans of his rocket company, SpaceX, in time for Christmas.

Musk was waiting for SpaceX's 21st (and record-breaking) rocket launch of the year on Saturday when he revealed that construction of a prototype for a Mars spaceship, called Starship, is now underway at the company's Texas launch site.

What's more, the first round of experimental launches of what Musk called the "test hopper" may be complete by early spring.

Musk and Gwynne Shotwell, the president and COO of SpaceX, have both said short, non-orbit-reaching launches or "hops" of such a spaceship prototype is a critical step toward building the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR: a colossal two-stage system designed to launch 100 people and 150 tons of cargo to the surface of Mars.

However, both SpaceX executives said recently that short hops wouldn't commence until the end of 2019. So perhaps a little ingenuity — and an influx of half a billion dollars— has helped speed up that timeline.

Starship is designed to be about 30 feet wide and 180 feet tall, and sit atop a roughly 219-foot-tall rocket booster that Musk now calls Super Heavy.

"I will do a full technical presentation of Starship after the test vehicle we’re building in Texas flies, so hopefully March/April," he tweeted on Saturday.

"This test hopper is at full body diameter of 9m / 30 ft, just not full height. Super Heavy will be full height & diameter," Musk added, indicating that SpaceX won't build a squat version of Super Heavy — and will skip straight to launching a full-scale booster.

Musk added that construction of test hopper segments was underway at SpaceX's temporary new rocket factory at the Port of Los Angeles.

Read more: Elon Musk is expanding his SpaceX empire — here's where the rocket company's most important locations are and what they do

In Boca Chica, Texas, where the company is developing a launch site for BFR, locals have already photographed what look like parts of the test hopper arriving on site and being assembled.

The image below is an illustration that mocks up recent photos of what appear to be test hopper parts against illustrations of Starship.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to Business Insider's questions about the Starship test hopper's launch schedule and other details.

News of the test hopper wasn't the only thing that Musk revealed on Saturday, though.

Toward the first Mars landings in 2025?

Musk began spilling information about SpaceX's activities over a discussion of metallurgy, or properties and science of metals, for the BFR.

Materials are critical to the success or failure of space vehicles because they must withstand enormous temperature swings, pressure changes, and extreme vibration. This is especially true of Starship, which is supposed to launch into orbit around Earth, take a months-long voyage to Mars, land on the red planet's surface, and launch back home.

Musk presented what he said was a "final iteration" of BFR in September. At the same time, he announced that his company would be launching Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon in 2023. The design Musk described was rich with carbon-fiber composite parts.

But by November, Musk had steamrolled that statement, saying radical design changes were coming; he even renamed the BFR system's two main parts. (Starship used to be called "Big Falcon Spaceship" and Super Heavy the "Big Falcon Booster.") In December, Teslarati reported that SpaceX was working with NASA to develop a new type of heat shield for Starship.

And on Saturday, Musk revealed that SpaceX developed a special stainless steel alloy for its BFR system.

It's uncertain if SpaceX will now meet its ambitious Mars-launch timeline due to these changes. But as late as Oct. 31, Musk said he hopes to use the BFR system to launch the first humans toward the Martian surface in six years' time.

"We're still aiming for 2024," Musk said of such a mission during an interviewwith journalist Kara Swisher for the podcast Recode Decode.

SEE ALSO: An extraordinary year of rocket launches, meteor showers, and space exploration is coming. Here's a 2019 calendar of space events you can't miss.

DON'T MISS: Humanity's coolest achievements in spaceflight since Apollo 8, from walking on the moon to touching interstellar space

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NOW WATCH: Watch SpaceX launch a Tesla Roadster to Mars on the Falcon Heavy rocket — and why it matters

• Patrick Shanahan, the deputy defense secretary, will succeed defense secretary James Mattis and serve as acting defense secretary at the Pentagon.
• Before being appointed as Mattis' deputy in 2017, Shanahan worked as a Boeing executive for decades.
• The Washington state native was known throughout Boeing as a problem-solving "Mr. Fix-It."

It's official — deputy defense secretary Patrick Shanahan will be taking the helm at the Pentagon as acting secretary of defense.  

James Mattis, who resigned from the position over US President Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria, will be forced out of the role before 2019. In his resignation letter, Mattis had offered to stay on for two months in order to facilitate a smooth transition.

Read more: Trump is forcing out Defense secretary James Mattis by New Year's instead of allowing him to stay another 2 months

Instead, Trump announced his new pick in a tweet on Sunday. He praised Shanahan, writing: "Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great!"

But who exactly is Shanahan, and what sort of experience will the Washington state native and father of three bring to the role?

Here's a look back at Shanahan's life and career:

SEE ALSO: 'You know what? It's yours': Trump reportedly threw his hands up on Syria during phone call with the Turkish president

DON'T MISS: Mattis' resignation isn't a crisis yet — but it could easily become one

SEE ALSO: The incredible career of Jim Mattis, the legendary Marine general turned defense secretary who just quit the Trump administration

The eldest of three boys, Shanahan was born in 1962 to Michael and Jo-Anne Shanahan. Michael Shanahan was a law enforcement officer and a Vietnam vet, who was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for his service.

Source: Senate Armed Services Committee, The Department of Defense

"Growing up, my understanding of the war came from my dad, his friends and the few stories they would share," Shanahan said in an article posted to the Department of Defense's website.

Source: The Department of Defense

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Shanahan said that his father had also instilled a creed of "service before self" in him and his younger brothers as they grew up.

Source: Senate Armed Services Committee

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 voice app ecosystem is booming. In the US, the number of Alexa skills alone surpassed 25,000 in January 2018, up from just 7,000 the previous January, in categories ranging from music streaming services, to games, to connected home tools.

As voice platforms continue to gain footing in homes via smart speakers — connected devices powered primarily by artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled voice assistants — the opportunity for voice apps is becoming more profound. However, as observed with the rise of mobile apps in the late 2000s, any new digital ecosystem will face significant growing pains, and voice apps are no exception. Thanks to the visual-free format of voice apps, discoverability, monetization, and retention are proving particularly problematic in this nascent space. This is creating a problem in the voice assistant market that could hinder greater uptake if not addressed.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explores the two major viable voice app stores. It identifies the three big issues voice apps are facing — discoverability, monetization, and retention — and presents possible short-term solutions ahead of industry-wide fixes.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• The market for smart speakers and voice platforms is expanding rapidly. The installed base of smart speakers and the volume of voice apps that can be accessed on them each saw significant gains in 2017. But the new format and the emerging voice ecosystems that are making their way into smart speaker-equipped homes is so far failing to align with consumer needs. 
• Voice app development is a virtuous cycle with several broken components. The addressable consumer market is expanding, which is prompting more brands and developers to developer voice apps, but the ability to monetize and iterate those voice apps is limited, which could inhibit voice app growth. 
• Monetization is only one broken component of the voice app ecosystem. Discoverability and user retention are equally problematic for voice app development. 
• While the two major voice app ecosystems — Amazon's and Google's — have some Band-Aid solutions and workarounds, their options for improving monetization, discoverability, and retention for voice apps are currently limited.
• There are some strategies that developers and brands can employ in the near term ahead of more robust tools and solutions.

In full, the report:

• Sizes the current voice app ecosystem. 
• Outlines the most pressing problems in voice app development and evolution in the space by examining the three most damning shortcoming: monetization, discoverability, and retention. 
• Discusses the solutions being offered up by today's biggest voice platforms. 
• Presents workaround solutions and alternative approaches that could catalyze development and evolution ahead of wider industry-wide fixes from the platforms.

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

	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
	Forecasts of new and emerging technologies in your industry
	And more!

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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.

One of our favorite shows to spot new products and enjoy some entertaining celebrity judge banter is "Shark Tank," which is soon returning for its tenth season.

As we've seen over the years, some pitches do extremely well, while others aren't so lucky — but the fact remains that the show brings forward new and innovative ideas most of us have never considered.

That's why the products from the show tend to make especially good gifts. They're far from generic and they usually solve a common problem or annoyance. Conveniently, most are also available on Amazon.

Most of these items are available with two-day shipping, so don't stress too hard about your last-minute shopping — just remember that the sooner you order, the better your chances of a timely arrival.

If your recipient loves watching "Shark Tank," they'll recognize these 20 awesome gift options.  

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here.

A fun outdoor game

Spikeball 3 Ball Kit, $59.99, available at Amazon

On a beautiful sunny day at any park in the city, you'll probably see at least one group playing this fun and active game. With rules similar to volleyball, it's easy to learn — so the whole family can get involved. The company even holds nationwide tournaments if your recipient gets really good at the game. 

A balance bike

KaZAM No Pedal Balance Bike, $64.95, available at Amazon

Featuring a patented footrest design that helps young kids find their center of gravity, this bike builds the confidence needed to transition to riding a proper bike. The ergonomic, adjustable handles and seat will get kids comfortable and ready to ride right away. The bike weighs only eight pounds and the puncture-free tires never need air. 

A quirky holiday sweater

Tipsy Elves Women's Santa Unicorn Christmas Sweater, $48.95, available at Amazon

Founded by a former lawyer and a former dentist, the funny clothing brand Tipsy Elves exploded in popularity after its 2013 "Shark Tank" appearance and has made over $70 million to date. Its outrageous holiday sweaters, jumpsuits, and ski suits make memorable gifts for the jokesters and party animals in your life (plus they're really comfortable). 

• Parkland school shooting survivor and gun law activist David Hogg is going to Harvard University.
• He received a score of 1270 out of 1600 on the SAT, according to TMZ. The bottom 25% of students admitted had an average score of 1460.
• His reported score has sparked a debate over whether Harvard should have admitted him, or if SAT scores aren't very useful anyway.

David Hogg — a survivor of the Parkland High School shooting and advocate for gun law reform — announced he's going to Harvard University in the fall.

The reaction was mixed.

After surviving the shooting in February, which took 17 lives, Hogg became one of the leaders of the March For Our Lives movement, which demands gun law reform and recruits young people into political activism. He took a gap year after graduating in June to focus on March For Our Lives instead of going directly to college. His activism has made him a lightning rod for criticism on the political right. Fox News host Laura Ingraham, for example, mocked him after four colleges rejected him.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, TMZ reported that Hogg had a 4.2 GPA and got a 1270 out of 1600 on the SAT. Now that he's going to Harvard, Hogg's SAT score has become a flashpoint for his critics. It's well below the usual score for the Ivy League school — the average score for admitted students is 1520, according to Prep Scholar.

Some conservative media figures criticized Harvard's decision to admit Hogg

But for the most part, people said it shows just how useless the SATs really are

To others, Hogg's admittance to Harvard showed just how silly the SATs are. If a teenager helps lead a national political movement and has an extraordinary GPA, what does it matter if he doesn't do well on a standardized test?

And of course, some people told him that studying political science at Harvard isn't enough

• Read more:
• A federal judge tosses the Parkland school-shooting lawsuit, says local police had no legal obligation to protect students during the massacre
• A Parkland survivor thinks meditation — not more police — would help students move forward from school shootings
• Kanye West tried to honor one of the Parkland shooting survivors but she wasn't having it

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

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.

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

	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
	Forecasts of new and emerging technologies in your industry
	And more!

Learn More

Purchase & download the full report from our research store

Join the conversation about this story »

Drones — also commonly referred to as unmanned aircraft — are no longer a cool, new novelty that companies in only a handful of industries are testing.

Businesses across various industries and levels of government in the US are utilizing at least a handful of drones. But more importantly, drone users are now realizing a deep return on their investments from the aircraft's ability to help save hours of time and labor.

However, to successfully get a drone program up and running, businesses need to have an idea of what they want the aircraft to do, and the value they hope to create. To that end, companies need to know what their competitors are doing with the aircraft so they can plan their own projects accordingly.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence details how unmanned aircraft are disrupting a slew of different industries, including agriculture, construction and mining, insurance, media and telecommunications, and the public sector. We also size the market for global enterprise drone shipments, and pinpoint the features that make drones useful tools within different industries. Lastly, we make predictions for how drone use in these industries will evolve over the next five to 10 years and to what extent their impact will be magnified over this period.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented its Part 107 regulations for unmanned aircraft in August 2016, the commercial drone industry in the US has taken off. 
• Companies across the US have rushed to deploy drones to cut costs, boost operational efficiency, and open up new streams of revenue. Meanwhile, firms elsewhere in the world have taken notice and ramped up their own drone projects.
• Unmanned aircraft have the potential to create the greatest business value in the construction, mining, and agriculture industries. The agriculture industry was a relatively early adopter of drones, and today one-third of farmers in the US plan to use at least one drone this year. Meanwhile, drones will have a less significant, yet noticeable, impact on media, telecommunications, and insurance businesses.
• Drones will lead these industries to become highly data-driven in the coming years, making the aircraft a must-have for companies to keep pace with their competitors. They will allow businesses to synthesize and analyze trends in their workflows to bolster their operational efficiency and predict problems before they happen.

In full, the report:

• Analyzes the development of drone use across five different industries.
• Offers a look at how drone use in these industries will evolve over the coming years.
• Sizes the market for enterprise drone shipments over a seven-year period, both in the US and abroad.

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This is a preview of the Influencer Marketing (2018) research report from Business Insider Intelligence. To learn more about the top platforms, as well as strategies for social media influencer marketing, click here. Current subscribers can read the report here.

The concept of a brand hiring a popular personality to promote a product or service isn't new, and brands know that celebrity endorsements can sell products. In the age of social media, however, brands are finding new ways to leverage popular figures as brand ambassadors, and these people aren't necessarily famous actors, singers, or athletes.

How brands are leveraging social media influencer marketing

While brands certainly continue to tap celebrities for endorsement deals, they’re also starting to enlist social media personalities, broadly known as “influencers,” for advertising campaigns. Social influencers generally focus on specific content areas — like fashion, beauty, parenting, or gaming — and cater their content to a specific vertical.

A new report from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, identifies the ways brands can find and manage relationships with social media influencers. It notes the most engaging industry verticals, the pitfalls to avoid, and the opportunities to cash-in on. Finally, it explores how major social platforms are increasingly building out tools that enable their most popular users to build their personal brands.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Influencer marketing ad spend is poised to reach between $5 billion and $10 billion in 2022. Taking the midpoint of $7.5 billion as a base case, this represents a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38%.
• Brands need to fine-balance providing influencers with enough creative freedom, while also ensuring the messaging positively reflects the brand. Nearly 40% of influencers believe that overly restrictive content guidelines are one of the biggest mistakes brands and agencies make when working with them. 
• Influencers tend to have higher user engagement than content generated by brands. The average influencer engagement rate across industry verticals is 5.7%. As a comparison, the average engagement rate for brands on Instagram has fluctuated between 2-3% in the past year. 
• Authenticity is key for influencer marketing messaging. Brands should give influencers sufficient creative freedom to keep posts authentic, as it makes posts less likely to be dismissed by users. Other best practices include repurposing influencer content for multiple platforms, evaluating the audience and following of an influencer, and leveraging data to optimize future campaigns. 

 In full, the report:

• Outlines recent steps the top social platforms are taking for influencer posts.
• Details the best practices brands should adopt when starting out with influencer marketing. 
• Discusses the top verticals that are poised to benefit the most from influencer marketing, and which ones are growing. 
• Highlights the factors that will be critical for compliance with social platforms and the FTC.

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• Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin called top bankers Sunday following a tumultuous month for US markets.
• Monday, he will meet with top government officials overseeing the economy. 
• On Sunday, Mnuchin addressed reports that Trump sought to fire Fed chairman Jay Powell following increased interest rates, tweeting a statement of denial. 

The U.S. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Sunday he held a series of phone conversations with top American bankers in what appeared to be a bid to ease nerves in financial markets, which have been steeped in turmoil for the last month.

"Today I convened individual calls with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a Twitter post.

Mnuchin says the CEO's indicated that they're in good condition to maintain the markets and their everyday functioning.

Read more: As stocks hurtle towards a crash, one area of the market has stayed shockingly strong - and it could be a saving grace for investors

Tomorrow, Mnuchin is slated to meet with a group of government banking and finance officials that includes the Board of Governors of the Fed and members of the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The series of calls and meetings comes amid a rocky period for the government and markets.

The government began what many politicians have projected to be a potentially lengthy partial shutdown Friday. Reports surfaced at the same time that President Donald Trump sought to fire Fed chairman Jay Powell after the bank increased interest rates for the fourth time under his leadership.

Markets have also seen high volatility over the last month. Last week, the Dow fell by nearly 7 percent, showing the worst weekly average since 2008.

SEE ALSO: US House lawmakers adjourn without a deal on government spending, making government shutdown inevitable

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