For most people, private jets such as the $65 million Gulfstream G650 or the Bombardier Global Series are the epitome of luxury air travel, but there are a select few who can afford more than that. They’re converting airliners into private flying palaces. To meet this demand, Airbus and Boeing have begun selling "VIP" versions of their airliners under the Airbus Corporate Jet and Boeing Business Jet brands. While most of these planes are based on smaller Airbus A320 series or Boeing 737 models, one recent VIP conversion took luxury to a new level.

Completed by Kirkland, Washington-based Greenpoint Technologies, one very lucky, very wealthy, and very confidential client took delivery of a personalized Boeing 747-8. Its incredible 4,786 sq. ft. of space features a stateroom, lounges, an office, and a massive dining room.

The Boeing 747-8 VIP is the longest and second-largest airliner ever built. Powered by a team of four General Electric GEnx engines, the plane can fly 8,000 nautical miles nonstop.

The Boeing has been selected to be the president's new plane and will one day assume the call sign Air Force One.

The asking price for the jumbo jet is $367 million – and that's before the all the luxurious goodies are installed.

You know you're in for a thrill when a related Google search for "Caminito del Rey" suggests "death toll."

Called the world's most dangerous trail, Caminito del Rey is a roughly five-mile walkway that clings to the walls of the El Chorro gorge in southern Spain. It closed in 2000 after a number of people fell to their deaths, and it reopened this month after a reported $5.8 million restoration project.

Reuters photographer Jon Nazca hiked the pathway before it opened to the public. Experience the journey for yourself by scrolling below.

The original path was built between 1901 and 1905 as an access road to two hydroelectric plants.

The locals began taking advantage of the trail on foot, bicycle, and horse. Women crossed to reach shops in the next village, and children used it to get to school. 

In 1921, King Alfonso XIII traversed the path on his way to the opening of a nearby dam. Locals named it "El Caminito del Rey," or the King's Little Pathway.

The boardwalk hangs 100 meters above the water, providing breathtaking views of Spain's natural beauty. The full route takes four to five hours to complete.

Time wore on the walkway, however, leaving it pockmarked and decrepit. In 1999 and 2000, several travelers died attempting to cross.

Local authorities shut it down by destroying the entry points. Anyone caught trespassing received a hefty fine of $6,500.

The ban made the hike only more appealing to daredevils, who would strap on GoPro cameras and upload videos of their jaunts to YouTube. 

The government took note of the walkway's popularity and decided to rebuild it, making the path safer and attracting more tourism dollars to the area.

A reported $5.8 million later, the new wooden and steel walkways hover just feet above the original route in some areas. The project's director and head architect, Luis Machuca, told The Guardian that preserving the thrill of the old path was crucial.

Visitors can purchase admission tickets to El Caminito del Rey online, though it is booked through June. An expected 600 people will cross every day.

"It's not only the view and the surroundings, but the emotion of walking the Caminito del Rey,"Machuca says.

SEE ALSO: Photos of the abandoned Olympic Village built for the 1936 games in Nazi Germany will give you chills

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NOW WATCH: Beautiful drone video of epic trip across South America

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) had a sharply critical assessment of the new framework for an nuclear agreement with Iran.

"Neville Chamberlain got a better deal from Adolf Hitler," Kirk said Thursday, according to Roll Call. "Under today’s deal, the United States and its international partners will dismantle the sanctions regime against Iran, while Iran, the world's biggest exporter of terrorism, will be allowed to keep vast capabilities to make nuclear weapons."

Kirk seemed to be comparing the new Iranian deal to the 1938 Munich Agreement where the United Kingdom allowed the Nazi Party government of German dictator Adolph Hitler to expand. Many people believe British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was insufficiently aggressive with Nazi Germany as it initially spread across Europe prior to World War II.

Kirk's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the quote. 

Earlier in the day, the US and other world powers announced they struck an agreement with Iran to curb its ability to produce a nuclear weapon. In exchange, the other powers agreed to roll back economic sanctions against Tehran. 

A number of other Republicans expressed concerns that President Barack Obama did not extract enough concessions from Iran. In a statement from the White House, Obama praised the framework as the foundation for "a good deal." For his part, Kirk predicted the agreement will lead to a  "total meltdown" in US relations with its Middle Eastern allies, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"It looks like they did a total cave from what I saw. A complete lifting of sanctions will return Iran to a position where its economy is actually growing faster than the American economy," Kirk told reporters. 

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NOW WATCH: Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted

Vaporizers are more popular than ever — after all "vape" was named Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2014 — and one of the best vaporizers out there is the new Pax 2.

The original Pax, often described as the "iPhone of vaporizers," is a handheld vaporizer created by Ploom, a California-based tobacco company founded by two Standford Design Program alumni. Ploom first introduced the Pax back in 2012 and over 500,000 were sold. Three years later it's launching the Pax 2, which improves upon virtually every aspect of the original and makes a compelling case as the best vaporizer on the market today.

The first thing you notice when holding the Pax 2 is its minimalist design and astounding build quality. The exterior is built from machined anodized aluminum — the same metal used in the iPhone 6 — and it's immediately apparent that this isn't some cheap vaporizer from your local smoke shop.

The Pax 2 is 25% smaller and 10% lighter than its predecessor, which makes it fit perfectly in your hand. As someone who has used the original Pax before, I found the Pax 2 fit into my pocket a bit easier too, but at the end of the day both models are plenty portable.

Arguably the best feature of the Pax 2 is how easy it is to use. While some vaporizers are plagued by too many buttons that make it difficult to get the hang of, the Pax 2 echoes the original Pax and maintains its easy-to-use design. You reload the Pax 2 by removing the bottom lid — which is magnetic — and filling the stainless steel oven with tobacco. Plooom has upped the size of the Pax's oven this time around so you can hold more tobacco, which means you have to refill it less often. It's important to note that the Pax 2 works with loose-leaf tobacco — it's not a liquid vaporizer.

Once you've filled the Pax 2, all you have to do is press the top down and it begins to heat the tobacco nestled inside.

It takes less than a minute to heat up, and you'll know it's ready when the glowing LED Pax logo turns from purple to green. You can then take a draw from the mouthpiece at the top of the device, and press the same button to turn the device off when you're done.

Ploom has changed up the design of the mouthpiece for the Pax 2, and it's a huge improvement over the original. The first Pax featured a spring mechanism that needed to be cleaned and would often get stuck. The new mouthpieces are made out of rubber and don't feature any internal mechanics, which means cleaning is far easier and there's a lesser chance of anything malfunctioning.

The Pax 2 also includes some nifty sensors. An accelerometer detects motion in order to recognize when you've put the device down (it'll shut it off after a certain period of time so you don't have to worry about burning things to a crisp) and you can also check the battery levels by gently shaking the Pax back and forth.

The battery life in the Pax 2 has also been increased by 30%, and there's a new magnetic charging cradle that's basically Ploom's version of Apple's Mag-Safe charger.

All of these improvements come at a cost, however.

The Pax 2 costs $279, making it one of the most expensive portable vaporizers out there, but the build quality and genius design justify the cost. Ploom is still continuing to offer the original Pax, which now retails for $199, and some would argue the original is still better than any other portable vaporizers in the market.

At the end of the day, the Pax 2 is a premium, high-end vaporizer with a level of design and attention to detail most often found in cell phones. If you're looking for something that is hassle free and dependable — Ploom offers a 10-year warranty — the Pax 2 won't let you down.

The Pax 2 begins shipping April 2nd, and you can learn more or order one today by clicking here.

SEE ALSO: The 13 best new apps you might have missed recently

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NOW WATCH: 14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do

Based on the latest data from company filings charted for us by BI Intelligence, China's Alibaba was the most popular online marketplace in 2014, with more than 330 million customers purchasing a product on either the company's Tmall or Taobao marketplaces (Tmall is an invite-only marketplace for brands, while Taobao is a consumer-to-consumer marketplace).

After Alibaba, Amazon had the next largest e-commerce marketplace last year — and the largest in the US — with more than 270 million customers. Meanwhile, don't look now, but BI Intelligence believes Groupon is an "appealing operator" that could re-emerge as a major player in e-commerce. The daily deals site had nearly 44 million customers buying a product or service last year, and it just launched a third-party marketplace this week.

SEE ALSO: Snapchat has one key advantage over every other social network

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In August 2006, it seemed like Tom Cruise was finished.

In an announcement unprecedented by the head of a major conglomerate, the chairman of Viacom, Sumner Redstone, publicly ripped into the star, who at the time was one of the most profitable at Viacom's movie studio, Paramount Pictures.

“We don't think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot,” Redstone told The Wall Street Journal. “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

Nine years ago was certainly the toughest and strangest time of Cruise’s career. The then 43-year-old actor had a lifetime box-office gross of over $1.5 billion, but his flawless transition from young heartthrob to respected dramatic actor to gargantuan action star had seemed to self-destruct as quickly as one of the messages his character, Ethan Hunt, receives in the “Mission: Impossible” movies.

The studio he'd called home for 14 years was parting ways with him.

Today, on the heels of Cruise's awesome new trailer for “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation,” it's hard to imagine the veteran actor's career being at such a low point.

His strange downfall and subsequent rebirth as one of the most bankable movie stars all began with an innocent act of love.

When Cruise agreed to go on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in May 2005 to promote his next blockbuster film, “War of the Worlds,” it was a big deal. Not only did most women believe he was one of the sexiest men alive, but Cruise rarely did interviews, especially on daytime TV.

As Cruise walked onto Oprah's stage, the crowd went wild. Oprah playfully tousled Cruise's hair, and the actor was clearly in a great mood.

During the interview, Oprah brought up Cruise's latest love interest, Katie Holmes, who was off-stage where no one, especially the cameras, could see her. The excitement of talking about his new girlfriend led him to leap up on Oprah's couch with joy (he did it a second time for good measure).

After the couch jumping, Oprah even got Cruise to chase down Holmes and get her to come on stage.

It seemed harmless at the time, but thanks to a very young internet video-posting site called YouTube, the image of Cruise on top of Oprah’s couch would become a pop-culture phenomenon.

A month later, Cruise agreed to go on the “Today” show to continue promoting “War of the Worlds,” and also talk about his religion, Scientology. But when the interview topic changed to Scientology, and specifically to Cruise not agreeing with psychiatry, the tone changed. Especially in regard to Brooke Shields’ use of antidepressants for postpartum depression.

Here’s an excerpt of Cruise and Lauer's uncomfortable exchange:

Cruise: “Do you know what Adderall is? Do you know Ritalin? Do you now Ritalin is a street drug? Do you understand that?”

Lauer: “The difference is — ”

Cruise: “No, Matt, I’m asking you a question.”

Lauer: “I understand there’s abuse of all of these things.”

Cruise: “No, you see here’s the problem: You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do.”

Later in the conversation:

Lauer: “Do you examine the possibility that these things do work for some people? That yes, there are abuses, and yes, maybe they’ve gone too far in certain areas, maybe there are too many kids on Ritalin, maybe electric shock — ”

Cruise: “Too many kids on Ritalin?”

Lauer: “I’m just saying — but aren’t there examples where it works?”

Cruise: “Matt, Matt, Matt, you’re glib. You don’t even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt. OK? That’s what I’ve done. You go and you say, ‘Where’s the medical tests? Where’s the blood test that says how much Ritalin you’re supposed to get?’”

Lauer: “It’s very impressive to listen to you, because clearly you’ve done the homework and you know the subject.”

Cruise: “And you should. And you should do that also, because just knowing people who are on Ritalin isn’t enough. You should be a little bit more responsible … ”

Within minutes, the exchange was on loop all over the world.

Within a few weeks, Cruise had gone wild on Oprah and lashed out at Matt Lauer, and by then the tabloids had gone overtime on the Cruise-Holmes relationship, which they called “TomKat.”

It was time for Cruise to get off the grid, but he couldn't.

For most of his career, an experienced publicist named Pat Kingsley reportedly kept Cruise’s private life out of the tabloids. According to a 2014 LA Weekly story, she even talked Cruise out of being more vocal about Scientology when he did press for his 2003 film “The Last Samurai.” A year later, according to the LA Weekly story, Cruise let Kingsley go after 14 years and formed a publicity team that included his sister, Lee Anne De Vette, and fellow Scientologists.

Now in a typhoon of backlash that Cruise had never experienced before, his team may have been too inexperienced to protect him.

Despite all the negative attention, “War of the Worlds” still went to No.1 at the box office during its opening weekend ($65 million), and ended up with a worldwide take of $592 million. It would be the last time a film starring Cruise would make over $500 million worldwide for the next six years.

Following the “War of the Worlds” release, TomKat was still daily tabloid fodder, especially with the news that the two were expecting a child. And then, in March 2006, Cruise went global again with the controversial “South Park” episode“Trapped in the Closet.”

The episode originally aired in November 2005 and revealed what Scientologists believe is the origin of life, but it also depicted Cruise as an insecure person and played on rumors of his sexuality.

In the episode, one of the main characters on the show, Stan, is thought by Scientology to be the second coming of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This leads Scientologists, including Cruise, to flock to Stan’s house to pay their respects. But when Stan insults his acting ability, Cruise hides in Stan’s closet, leading to Stan saying, “Dad, Tom Cruise won’t come out of the closet.”

Comedy Central delayed re-airing the episode in March 2006, because allegedly Cruise declared he would not promote “Mission: Impossible 3” unless Viacom (which owns the film’s studio, Paramount, and Comedy Central) canceled the rebroadcast.

Cruise’s reps denied he ever threatened not to promote the film.

The controversy made headlines all over the world and led "South Park" fans to declare they would boycott “Mission: Impossible 3” until Comedy Central aired the episode.

The episode finally re-aired in July of that year.

“Closetgate,” in what it would become known, was the last straw.

The constant tabloid coverage of TomKat, plus rumors of Cruise’s involvement with Scientology — like that Cruise and Holmes’ relationship was allegedly arranged by the church — had turned people off. (Cruise and Holmes married in November 2006 and divorced six years later.)

The bad press soon began to affect Cruise's career. “Mission: Impossible 3” opened in theaters in May 2006 and Cruise's Q score — the appeal of a celebrity, brand, or company on the public — was down 40%.

Though the film was No. 1 in the US its opening weekend ($48 million), it lost appeal as the weeks passed. Ticket sales dropped 47% its second week in theaters, and then 53% the following week.

“Mission: Impossible 3” is the lowest grossing film in the franchise to date with a $400 million worldwide gross.

It was at this point that Viacom chair Sumner Redstone gave Cruise his wake-up call: “We don't think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

After being kicked off the Paramount lot, Cruise hired a publicist with more experience and buckled down for a comeback. He brought his production company over to MGM and took partial ownership of the iconic United Artists studio.

Cruise also became less vocal about Scientology in public, though he was apparently involved internally. In 2008, a Scientology-produced YouTube video of the actor explaining what the religion means to him went viral.

Cruise hit the pause button on doing action movies, turning to dramas like “Lions for Lambs” and “Valkyrie."

In between those films he agreed to star in pal Ben Stiller’s 2008 comedy “Tropic Thunder” as the overweight, bigger-than-life movie exec Les Grossman. It was the best movie Cruise had done in years. In doing something so out of character, he began to win back fans.

“Tropic Thunder” reunited Cruise with his former studio, Paramount. Although Cruise's production company was kicked off the lot, it didn't mean he couldn't still be cast in the studio's films. The wheels were now in motion for Cruise to get back on Paramount’s good side so he could make more “Mission: Impossible” movies.

Being a hit in “Tropic Thunder,” the biggest comedy of the year for Paramount, was a good starting point. Director J.J. Abrams, who directed Cruise in "Mission: Impossible 3" and was in Paramount's good graces after directing the studio's hit "Star Trek Into Darkness," was also working to get Cruise back in the franchise.

In the summer of 2010, news broke that Cruise would be starring in “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” with Abrams as producer. But this installment in the franchise would not be titled “Mission: Impossible 4,” because the idea was that the film would be a refresh on the franchise, with Cruise stepping aside as the lead and giving way to rising star Jeremy Renner.

Cruise didn’t really get the message.

Back in the Ethan Hunt role, Cruise cemented his place in the franchise by scaling the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, without a stunt double. That, and the other insane stunts featured in the film, led to “Ghost Protocol” earning the biggest worldwide box office in the franchise, with $695 million. It was also the second-highest earning film for Paramount, in 2011, just behind “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

Cruise is not back to his pre-Oprah couch-jumping glory, as evidenced by disappointments like "Knight and Day" and "Jack Reacher," but he's trying. Following “Ghost Protocol,” Cruise came out with “Edge of Tomorrow” and though it had a slow start when it opened in the spring of 2014, it ended up passing the domestic $100 million mark. That makes it the first time in nine years a non-“Mission: Impossible” Cruise film hit that landmark number.

Now, with the excitement for “Rogue Nation,” Cruise's mission of returning as a top action star is likely possible. That is, if his fans are willing to forgive HBO's explosive new Scientology documentary, "Going Clear,"in which Cruise is criticized for remaining the face of the controversial religion.

SEE ALSO: How Tom Cruise filmed the crazy plane-hanging stunt in the new 'Mission: Impossible'

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NOW WATCH: This Sports Illustrated swimsuit rookie could become the next Kate Upton

Google is known for planting mini games throughout its products, and its latest Easter egg is an adorable Flappy Bird-like game that you can access through the Settings menu.

Google teased the Easter egg on Friday with this tweet:

We're searching for a different kind of Easter egg today. Here's a few clues to help you find this one #androidpic.twitter.com/8VLjYq4t2N

— Android (@Android) April 3, 2015

The game is just as hard as Flappy Bird. But instead of controlling a bird, you get to navigate a tiny Android robot through various Lollipop-filled stages. To access it, go to the Settings menu, scroll all the way down to About Phone, and then tap the Android Version field five times.

A lollipop will appear on the screen, and you should long press it when it appears. The game will appear on the screen after that.

Here's what it looks like:

The goal is to avoid hitting the lollipops, instead of hitting them like I did.

 I accessed the game on a Moto E running Android 5.0.2. It seems like your phone needs to be running Android Lollipop to see the game, but I haven't tried it on Android phones with heavier skins like those made by Samsung and HTC.

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NOW WATCH: This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed

One week ago, I finally understood why Facebook spent $2 billion on a virtual reality company. It was all thanks to AltSpaceVR, which gave me an immersive demonstration of their virtual social spaces with an Oculus Rift headset and a pair of headphones.

It was inspiring: I’m now a believer in social being the “killer app” for virtual reality, the aspect that’s going to make people want to drop hundreds of dollars on goofy-looking headsets to put in their living rooms and wear on airplanes.

But the most important and probably most overlooked facet of this experience was the 3D sound. I’d experienced this before, when I got to see “Guardians of the Galaxy” at a Dolby Atmos theatre last year. 

Have you ever listened to an old song through a pair of headphones and noticed how the sound is the same in both ears? That’s 2D, or "monaural" sound. You experience 3D, or "binaural" sound when you take those headphones off and notice that every sound in your environment has its own position and orientation: You hear birds chirping out the window to your right, a couple of co-workers talking quietly behind you, the hissing sound of the radiator to your back left, and so on.

Here's an idea of what it's like — just throw on a pair of headphones and start listening at the 0:40 mark.

This kind of positional sound is what makes virtual reality experiences so convincing and immersive, according to “Cymatic” Bruce Wooden, AltspaceVR’s head of developer and community relations.

Wooden explained it all to me as he was rigging up the headset last Friday:

“It’s extremely important. It’s crucial to the experience actually,” he told me. “If I’m far away, just like in real life, my voice fades in AltSpace; and if I’m close, my voice is going to be louder.

"If you’re on my left or right I can tell who’s talking. If we’re 5 or 6 people in a circle, I can tell this person is talking because I can see they’re blinking and their sound’s coming from there.”

As I would later see in my demo — where I was standing in a giant mansion highlighted by an enormous television and a half-moon couch, as well as a balcony off to the side — the sound is what brought everything together. 

“If you’re near to that screen, it’s loud, you hear everything,” Wooden said. “But if you’re at the balcony, you can’t hear that screen at all. So it’s just like a real party, where you’ll have two people at the screen, you’ll have French guys over there in a circle talking about whatever French guys talk about, there’s a few people on the balcony doing their thing, and it’s just like a house party. You’ll have these natural social interactions, which is exactly what we’re shooting for.”

Throughout my demo with AltspaceVR, I always knew where my host was, even as I was constantly turning and moving my body and head to look around, because of the positional sound. Even as my host did things no one could do in the real world — suddenly disappearing and reappearing right behind me to whisper in my ear, or reappearing 100 yards away from me — the sound adapted instantaneously and always felt natural and convincing. It’s a big reason I didn’t feel disoriented at all during my demo, and probably why I could’ve spent an extra hour or two wearing that headset. 

“There’s been a resurgence of 3D sound with this resurgence of VR,” Wooden told me. “I think Michael Abrash [chief scientist at Oculus] said it best: ‘It’s not an addition — it’s a multiplier.’ It’s a force multiplier when you have 3D positional sound in VR. It’s just one of those things that’s just so important. You buy into what you’re seeing.”

SEE ALSO: I finally understand why Facebook spent $2 billion on a virtual reality company

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NOW WATCH: This man will live the life of someone else through a virtual reality headset for 28 days

Los Angeles (AFP) - Tiger Woods will play the Masters, making his return to tournament golf at the first major championship of the year next week.

"I'm playing the Masters," Woods said Friday in a statement posted on his website.

The announcement followed weeks of speculation as to whether Woods would feel his game was up to Augusta National.

He hasn't played in a tournament since withdrawing at Torrey Pines on February 5 with back pain.

That followed a dismal showing at the Phoenix Open, and the 14-time major champion announced the following week that he was taking an indefinite break until he could improve his game to a competitive level.

Woods said all along that he hoped to play the Masters, and anticipation that he would indeed tee it up next Thursday intensified when he practiced at the famed course this week.

"It's obviously very important to me and I want to be there," Woods said of a tournament he has won four times.

"I've worked a lot on my game and I'm looking forward to competing," Woods said. "I'm excited to get to Augusta and I appreciate everyone's support."

The 39-year-old American, who claimed the last of his 14 major titles at the 2008 US Open, will be coming off his longest layup before a major since the 2010 Masters.

He finished equal fourth that year after five months off in the wake of his infamous sex scandal.

Woods, chasing the all-time record of 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, has fallen to 104th in the world rankings, falling outside the top 100 for the first time since before his first PGA triumph at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational.

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When you hear about an outbreak of a new virus in another country, do you often wonder where it will hit next?

You're not alone.

Thanks to new tools that make it easier for scientists to track the spread of disease, we may one day be able to predict — with far better accuracy — where an outbreak will travel before long before it arrives.

This graphic, from the Northeastern University Laboratory for the Modeling of Biological and Socio-Technical Systems (MoBS), tracks some of the possible pathways an infectious virus could take if it were strong enough to spread across the globe.

This is a hypothetical scenario, of course, created using the 2009 H1N1 ("swine") flu pandemic as an example.

The black circles are "stations," or cities where the virus could infect people and travel to another city; black ovals are "transfer stations," or cities where the virus could infect people and potentially spread to multiple cities at once.

To make it, Northeastern University researchers and PhD students tracked the footsteps of individuals traveling across the country and, using computer simulations, built rough outlines of the most likely pathways the virus could take based on how contagious it was and the speed by which it spread in 2009.

They also used Hanoi, Vietnam as the starting point of the virus rather than Veracruz, Mexico, where the 2009 version most likely began.

"Every time an individual travels from one city to another carrying the disease we add a link that shows that the infection propagated along the connection,"they write on their website.

Once an infected person shows up in a city, they become able to infect others. That creates a web of potential travel lines, or an "infection tree," that the disease forms as it travels.

Say this hypothetical H1N1 virus reached New York, for example. From there, it could spread to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, New Jersey, Florida, and Haiti.

Here's what that might look like:

Or say it spread to Paris. From there, it could reach Senegal, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, and Mexico, like this:

"It is possible to think of this tree as the rapid transit map used by the pandemic to reach different places in the world,"they write.

Of course, the colored paths on the graphic only represent a few of the thousands of ways a virus could travel. Predicting exactly where a disease will travel next is pretty tough, but these models can help us prepare.

NOW READ: Why Ebola is such a uniquely terrible virus

SEE ALSO: Why pandemic disease and war are so similar

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NOW WATCH: Americans Are More At Risk For These Contagious Diseases Than Ebola

According to data from select major cable providers provided to Leichtman Research Group and charted for us by BI Intelligence, the gap between the number of internet subscribers and TV subscribers in the US is widening. In the final quarter of 2014, top cable companies saw more broadband subscribers but fewer pay TV customers, suggesting that people are beginning to dump their cable TV packages but keep their internet in order to access online services like Netflix and HBO Go. 

BI Intelligences expects the gap to keep widening, especially once Apple introduces its streaming TV offering later this year. That service, according to the Wall Street Journal, will “offer a slimmed-down bundle of TV networks this fall” with about 25 channels from broadcasters like ABC and FOX, for between $30 to $40 per month.

SEE ALSO: Snapchat has one key advantage over every other social network

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NOW WATCH: HBO just announced an exclusive partnership with Apple TV — here's how much it will cost you

Since the release of the first movie in 2001, the "Fast and Furious" film series has become a cultural phenomenon. Box office receipts in the billions have transformed a niche LA street-racing movie into a mega-budget transcontinental heist franchise. The success looks set to continue, with "Furious 7" expected to rake in more than $100 million this weekend.

At the heart of the movies remain two constants — family and cars. We cover cars, so we've come up with a list of the 15 coolest cars from the movies. They aren't the flashiest or the most expensive, but they are active members of the cast and contribute to the storyline as much as their human counterparts. But we did favor cars driven by the main characters, as well as those with history and an automotive pedigree.

15. This 2002-2005 Acura NSX — driven by Jordana Brewster's Mia — helped break Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto out of jail.

14. This 1995-1998 Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 appeared in the first film and is one of many various Skyline models to appear in the series.

13. Sold from 1966-1976, the Jensen Interceptor was hand built in the UK with styling from Italy and a Chrysler V8 engine under the hood. Michelle Rodriguez's Letty drove the English sports car in the sixth film of the franchise.

Sweet Briar College may be ignoring a major asset that could be used to save the school from closing — its campus.

On Monday, a local Virginia county attorney filed a lawsuit against Sweet Briar on behalf of the state that could prevent the college from closing following the end of the current semester, as administrators had announced last month.

As part of the exhibits to support the Commonwealth's lawsuit, Amherst County Attorney Ellen Bowyer presented statements from two higher education experts, John W. Gibb and Gen. Charles C. Krulak, who both pointed out how Sweet Briar could use its own campus to save itself.

Even though 27 acres of Sweet Briar's campus is a historic district, the remaining thousands of acres are "of extraordinary value as a potential income-producing asset," according to Gibb, who's managing director of a higher education and real estate financial firm and former chairman of the Wilson College Board of Trustees.

"The possibility of creating a planned residential and/or commercial community on property owned by Sweet Briar College is significant and could result in substantial sums to the College. I strongly recommend that the Saving Sweet Briar Board consider a utilization plan and competitive bid process for the development of land for financial investment," Gibb writes.

Sweet Briar's land "could be used for income from leasehold agreements," according to Krulak, a former commandant of the US Marine Corps and current president of Birmingham-Southern College.

In fact, he pointed out that his college, Birmingham-Southern, has recently looked at establishing a continuing care center on campus for senior citizens. This "income-producing endeavor," he argues, "exemplifies that type of creative thinking learning institutions should engage in while re-tooling their model to meet this new era."

Additionally, this shift could do more for Sweet Briar's long-term survival than just providing a source of income. Monetizing Sweet Briar's campus, Gibb argues, "would have the added benefit of creating increased population density near the college, which could only have a positive impact on enrollment trends for the future."

Sweet Briar College released the following statement about the lawsuit on Tuesday:

Sweet Briar College has the utmost respect for the Office of the County Attorney of Amherst; however, the claims asserted in the County Attorney's Complaint are contrary to well-established Virginia law as expressed by both the General Assembly and the Supreme Court of Virginia. Sweet Briar's counsel engaged in open dialogue with the County Attorney prior to the lawsuit being filed, and although the matter is now in litigation, Sweet Briar will remain receptive to further communications with the County Attorney on all matters as the litigation progresses.

SEE ALSO: Virginia's imploding Sweet Briar College may have just been rescued

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NOW WATCH: 9 animated maps that will change the way you see the world

On Friday, news broke that former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had signed a lease to set up a new headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, — and there's a very funny coincidence about the building's location.

Clinton is expected to use the space as the headquarters for her 2016 presidential campaign.

The building, One Pierrepont Plaza, is located next to the intersection of Tillary and Clinton Streets.

That's right: Tillary Clinton.

A spokesperson for Clinton did not immediately respond to an email from Business Insider asking if she is amused by this.

Check out the map below, and see for yourself. Our cartoon Clinton is standing on the location of her office.

(via Mike Grynbaum)

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NOW WATCH: Here's what it takes to be President Obama's right-hand man

Since Laszlo Bock became Google's senior vice president of people operations in 2006, the company has grown from a workforce of 6,000 employees to 60,000. Today it has more than 70 offices across 40 countries and receives more than 2 million job applications every year.

In that same time, it's secured a comfortable No. 1 spot atop several rankings of the best places to work.

Bock recently spoke about his new book about Google, "Work Rules!", with venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers (an investor in Google since 1999) for a podcast episode of Voices of KPCB.

At one point in the conversation, Doerr asks Bock to share his best career advice for a knowledge worker, and Bock has an unorthodox answer, which we've edited for clarity:

The conventional wisdom on how to manage your career is to specialize. They talk about the T-Model, where you finish school and you spend your first 10 years specializing, and then 10 years out you get good, and then you become a general manager (that's the top of the T). I have completely the opposite view.

Because everyone's doing that. So if you want to win, you need to do something different.

In the first 10 years of your career, try a lot of different things. Don't overthink it. Experiment. Work in different companies. Be in a startup; be in a big company. Work for a branded company; work for somebody nobody's heard of. Work for a nonprofit. You're going to get a level of breadth that somebody who's specialized won't have.

Ten years in, by the time you're around 30, you should declare your "major." That's when you decide here's "what I want to be when I grow up," and you specialize.

If you want to be a user interface designer, you're going to be competing against a bunch of people who have been doing that for 10 years, and they're a dime a dozen. You're going to come in having done something like working for a historical society or having traveled the world, and you're going to be different.

Because you're different you're going to have an advantage with the insight you can bring. The cool things are happening at the intersections of fields, not deep, deep, deep in a field — with a few exceptions.

And then in your next 10 years, you accelerate.

In the third decade of your career, you sort of reap the rewards. You're C-level in a company, or you're a founder. And you just do your own thing.

You can listen to the full interview below, and an extended version at this link.

SEE ALSO: Google HR boss says you can win every interview with these 6 steps

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NOW WATCH: 7 clichés you should never use in a job interview

Even if you've swum amongst the underwater world of the Great Barrier Reef, chances are you've never seen coral like in the award-winning video "Slow Life."

Because coral moves on a much slower time-scale compared to our fast-paced world, Australian-based nature cinematographer and artist Daniel Stoupin had to take hundreds of thousands of photos of the same coral and sponges over nearly 9 months to show how these vibrant marine creatures grow and behave in their natural environment. 

All of that hard work payed off last year when Stoupin's video was awarded the Imaginal Visual Science Award in the 2014 Imagine Science films competition. 

Coral are spineless marine animals that generally grow in dense, compact colonies. They begin when a soft-bodied creature, called a polyp, attaches itself to a rock on the sea floor. After that, the polyp can reproduce into thousands of identical clones, meaning they're genetically identical.

Polyps look like miniature flowers, but don't be fooled by their seemingly innocent appearance.

They are carnivorous creatures that use tiny tentacles to snatch free-floating crustaceans and fish larvae that float too close. Polyps are especially active at night, which is when they come out to feed. It's an incredible sight to watch them, quite literally, bloom to life:

Although an individual polyp is only a few centimeters in size at most, coral reefs are the largest biological structures on Earth. But they don't just grow over night.

Reefs are actually the result of many individual coral colonies living together harmoniously. The coral reefs we see today actually began from individual coral colonies that started growing over 50 million years ago — well before humans ever walked the Earth.

These individual organisms are masters at surviving.

The most impressive thing about Stoupin's epic video is that all of the colors in his shots are real "and not exaggerated or digitally enhanced," he writes in the video description on Vimeo.

Mother Nature certainly has an artistic side:

On his blog, Stoupin writes a more detailed description about why he initiated this project and ultimately what he hopes viewers take away from it.

"The Great Barrier Reef is in grave danger and you have the power and finances to change its fate instead of scavenging what's left of it."

Check out the full video below and make sure to go full screen on this one. It also comes complete with an epic soundtrack. 

SEE ALSO: Horrific charts show how fast California is losing its water

CHECK OUT: Epically awesome photos of Mars

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NOW WATCH: Underwater video captures sharks in feeding frenzy off the coast of the Bahamas

Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" premieres on Sunday, April 12 on HBO. To get you ready for the big event, we put together an economic update of the Seven Kingdoms through season 4 of the HBO show. The analysis is based on information from the TV show and the books.

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Mobile is growing faster than all other digital advertising formats in the US, as advertisers begin allocating dollars to catch the eyes of a growing class of "mobile-first" users.

Historically, there has been a big disparity between the amount of time people actually spend on their smartphones and tablets (significant and growing), and the amount of ad money spent on the medium (still tiny). 

But BI Intelligence expects that this gap will narrow substantially, as enthusiasm grows for mobile-optimized ad formats (such as interactive rich media and native ads), as targeting improves, and as more and more advertisers learn how to effectively use the platform.

New data from BI Intelligence finds that US mobile ad spend will top nearly $42 billion in 2018, rising by a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 43% from 2013.

The report looks at the most important mobile ad formats, including display, video, social, and search. The report provides exclusive breakdowns on how spend on each format will grow and why, and examines the overall performance of mobile ads. It also looks at how programmatic ad-buying tools, including real-time bidding, are reshaping mobile advertising.

Access The Full Report And Downloads By Signing Up For A Trial Membership »

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Display and video will be the fastest-growing mobile ad formats as digital ad dollars quickly shift from desktop to mobile, and ad products improve. US mobile display and mobile video ad revenues will grow at an astonishing CAGR of 96% and 73%, respectively, between 2013 and 2018.
• But search and social media will still account for the largest share of US mobile ad revenue during the forecast period. Search is a strong format on mobile because of its convergence with local-mobile targeting. 
• Mobile programmatic ad revenues, including ads sold through real-time bidding (RTB), will account for 43% of US mobile display-related ad revenue in 2018, up from only a 6% share in 2013. But programmatic will still be limited by the lack of robust cookie-based targeting on mobile. 
• In-app mobile ads perform much better than mobile web ads, and ad spend will likely follow performance and usage. In-app click-through rates averaged 0.56% globally, compared to 0.23% for mobile web ads during the first half of the year, according to Medialets.

The report is full of charts and data that can easily be downloaded and put to use.

In full, the report:

• Provides 12 charts and datasets on mobile ad spend and performance trends
• Includes revenue/spend forecast for top mobile ad formats, including search, social, and video
• Tracks performance trends of in-app ads vs. mobile web ads, and programmatic ads vs. non-programmatic ads
• Explains the massive rise in mobile ad spend
• Analyzes how programmatic ad platforms are overcoming the limitations of mobile cookies
• Outlines the news on mobile programmatic tools from Facebook, Twitter, and smaller players like Millennial Media

For full access to all BI Intelligence's analysis, reporting, and downloadable charts and presentations on the digital media industry, sign up for a trial membership.

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NOW WATCH: Mindblowing Facts About How Much We're Using Our Mobile Devices

Part of dressing is knowing the terminology.

The only way to know what you want is to ask for it by name. Our friends at Nice Laundry have created the perfect cheat sheet to get up to speed quickly.

If you don't know your derbies from your eyelets, or your vamps from your Oxfords, this infographic is your perfect starting place.

All the shoes shown in the graphic are in style – pick the one that speaks to you.

SEE ALSO: The most popular type of men's shoes in every decade

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NOW WATCH: You've been wearing the wrong belt for way too long

Fox Business Network apologized Friday after a commentator called Apple CEO Tim Cook a "bigot."

The comments were in response to Cook's column in the Washington Post admonishing Indiana's religious freedom law and other potential laws like it.

On Wednesday's "Imus in the Morning" show, which is simulcast on Fox Business, Bernard McGuirk called Cook a "bigot hypocrite" for "running his mouth" about the new law.

McGuirk works for the Imus show, not Fox, but the show is broadcast on Fox Business.

Below is the full transcript of the conversation, provided to Business Insider from a Fox Business spokesperson. The segment was between Fox anchors Dagen McDowell and Connell McShane who were filling in for regular host Don Imus that day. Fox did not have a video of the segment readily available.

McGuirk: There is a lot of hypocrisy. First of all, Governor Cuomo he tells all his state employees don’t go to Indiana but he’s going to Cuba where gay marriage is illegal and they maybe throw you in jail. You have this hypocrite, this bigot hypocrite, Tim Cook, who is running his mouth about the whole thing.

McShane: The Apple CEO?

McGuirk: Yeah. He sells products to Iran. He sells products to Saudi Arabia where they execute people if they’re gay.

McDowell: A hypocrite maybe, but a bigot?

McGuirk: A religious bigot, yeah. He won’t allow these religious people to exercise their freedom.

McShane: That seems too strong to me.

McGuirk: It does seem strong but in my opinion. It happens to be accurate. If he doesn’t allow this Orthodox Jewish guy to refuse service…the point of the law is to allow him to exempt himself from a certain situation.

McShane: This will end up back in Supreme Court somewhere.

McGuirk: And the governor of Connecticut. Meanwhile the state has the same law. 

McShane: But I think there is a difference in the law in terms…there are small differences in these laws. Some of these state laws are just to protect you against the government not against another person. So there are differences in those state laws.

McGuirk: Gay rights and religious freedom are not mutually exclusive. They both can exist in the same universe and compromises have to be made. That’s just the way we work things out in this country. Tim Cook has to put his money where his mouth is. If he really feels that way stop marketing Apple products in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Nigeria where they not only dump on women and treat them as second class citizens but as I said they would execute gay people.

Here's the full apology for the comments, as read on air by Dagen McDowell on Fox Business on Friday:

"Earlier this week on the Imus in the Morning radio program, which is simulcast on this network, there was a comment made calling Apple CEO, Tim Cook, a bigot. The Fox Business Network would like to make it clear that we in no way believe that. Mr. Cook runs a company that is an American success story and Apple has become a worldwide brand."

The Indiana law that was recently passed was designed to protect the religious freedoms of business owners. But critics feared it would allow business owners to discriminate against members of the gay community. On Thursday, Indiana lawmakers modified the law to clarify that it does not allow discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In in his op-ed, Cook wrote that laws like the one passed in Indiana and others being considered in states like Texas could bring about a new wave of discrimination, effectively allowing businesses to not serve people based on their sexual orientation.

SEE ALSO: Salesforce wrote a $50,000 check to move an employee out of Indiana

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NOW WATCH: Steve Jobs' biographer reveals the childhood moment that defined the Apple founder