<p>File under, "Your tax dollars at work": The <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/08/30/the_parody_shirt_the_nsa_doesnt_want_you_to_wear_partner/">NSA sent a cease-and-desist letter to Zazzle</a>, the T-shirt site, asking it to remove a series of NSA parody T-shirts. The shirts featured the NSA's eagle logo and the motto, "The only part of the government that actually listens."</p>
<p>Shirtmaker Dan McCall received this message from Zazzle after he launched the shirts on the site:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We have been contacted by legal representatives from the National Security Agency, and at their request, have removed the product from the Zazzle Marketplace.</p>
<p>McCall was forced to move his inventory to CafePress, another shirt-selling site. You can <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/libertymaniacs.861574125">buy one here</a>. Act quickly, before they all disappear. Here's the shirt in question:</p>
<p><div class="image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="CafePress" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5221ee93ecad046f6e80de37-960/the_nsa_tshirt.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5221ee93ecad046f6e80de37-480-480/the_nsa_tshirt.jpg" border="0" alt="the nsa t-shirt" /></a><p class="source"><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?productNo=861574125&amp;ColorNo=113&amp;pr=F&amp;showbleed=False&amp;tab=1&amp;Zoom=1&amp;subFront=&amp;subBack=&amp;ptn=-1">CafePress</a></p></div></div></div></p>

The NSA Wants To Ban Sales Of This T-Shirt On Zazzle

<p><keyword id="982801" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="the-offspring">The offspring</keyword> of British royals Will and Kate is expected to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/royal-baby-will-net-400-million-2013-6">give a $380 million boost to the British economy</a>, according to a <a href="http://www.retailresearch.org/royalbaby2013.php">report</a> from the Centre for Retail Research released Monday.</p>
<p>That's a huge amount of money to spend considering the report only covers a nine-week period in July and August (Kate's due date is July 13). The $380 million figure takes into account alcohol for celebrations, souvenirs, toys, books and baby products.</p>
<p>Here's some photos of <keyword id="1523841" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Royal-baby">Royal Baby</keyword> merchandise that hit the Internet after Kate's pregnancy announcement several months ago:</p>
<p><strong>Commemorative mug from British pottery maker Emma Bridgewater (not yet on sale):</strong></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/51c0c758eab8eaec6000000e-464-348/royal-baby-mug.jpg?maxX=620" border="0" alt="Royal Baby mug" width="620" /><p class="source">Emma Bridgewater</p></div></div></p>
<p><strong>A <a href="http://www.zazzle.co.uk/royal_baby_pacifier-256174477137767410">Royal Baby pacifier</a> from <keyword id="1606048" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Zazzle">Zazzle</keyword> ($18.71):</strong></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51c0c88369bedd7e24000000-512-384/royal-baby-pacifier.jpg" border="0" alt="Royal Baby pacifier" width="620" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.zazzle.co.uk/royal_baby_pacifier-256174477137767410">Zazzle</a></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/+born_to_rule_womens_light_pajamas,775146818">"Born To Rule" pajamas</a> for "the royal baby in your life" from Cafe Press ($44.50):</strong></p>
<p><strong><br /></strong><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/51c0c9a769beddd821000008-460-345/born-to-rule-pajamas.jpg" border="0" alt="Born To Rule pajamas" width="620" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/+born_to_rule_womens_light_pajamas,775146818">Cafe Press</a></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.zazzle.com/keep_calm_theres_a_royal_baby_ornament-175774984724518176">Royal Baby Christmas ornament</a> from Zazzle ($18.95):</strong></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51c0ca0aeab8ea4e6c000012-512-384/royal-baby-ornament.jpg" border="0" alt="Royal Baby ornament" width="620" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.zazzle.com/keep_calm_theres_a_royal_baby_ornament-175774984724518176">Zazzle</a></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.dragonsofwaltonstreet.com/147/The-Little-Duchess-Upholstered-Cot">"The Little Duchess" cot</a> from Dragons of Walton Street (price not disclosed):</strong></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/51c0cac4ecad046c2f00000a-539-404/royal-baby-duchess-cot.jpg" border="0" alt="Royal Baby Duchess cot" width="620" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.dragonsofwaltonstreet.com/147/The-Little-Duchess-Upholstered-Cot">Dragons of Walton Street</a></p></div></div></p>
<p><strong>Mask-arade is rushing to produce more Will and Kate masks for street parties after the birth. They <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mask-Arade-Quality-Cardboard-Party-Mask-Middleton/dp/B004I2BIPC">can also be found</a> on Amazon ($8.00):</strong></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:620px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51c0cc04eab8eaaa6700002e-1775-1331/will-and-kate-masks.jpg" border="0" alt="Will and Kate masks" width="620" /><p class="source">AP</p></div></div></p>
<p>There will certainly be more to come once the baby is born next month.</p>

Here's Some Of The Royal Baby Merchandise That Will Bring Millions Of Dollars To The British Economy

<p><img class="float_right" src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/538cdc2fecad04826921f67b-816-612/chicken-pot-pie.jpg" border="0" alt="chicken pot pie" />Turns out you can't have your "pi," and eat it too.</p>
<p>In January 2014, a Brooklyn artist named <span>Paul Ingrisano trademarked the 3,000-year old mathematical symbol "π" followed by a period, and is actively protecting his mark, <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/05/pi-takedown/">Wired reports</a>.</span></p>
<p><span>Ingrisano, who uses the design on shirts he sells through his company,</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> PI Productions Corp., reportedly </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">discovered that the custom t-shirt printing site Zazzle was selling merchandise featuring the pi symbol, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">and had an attorney send a cease-and-desist letter to the site (see below). </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222;">Zazzle initially complied with the request by banning thousands of "pi"-related garments from its shop, but reversed course after receiving complaints, Wired's Kevin Poulsen reports. </span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222;"><a href="http://forum.zazzle.com/gallery/mathematical_pi_symbol_is_trademarked?m=969702#969702">Sellers in Zazzle's online forum </a>were understandably infuriated by the temporary removal of their merchandise. One user</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222;"> wrote, "</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222;">Again, please explain how one person's trademark which incorporates a generic, untrademarked mathematical symbol can be justification to remove all designs using this generic symbol?"</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em; color: #222222;"><span>"I am enraged! Here many of us are trying to spread the mathematical truth ...</span><span> and some lunatic thinks he owns part of the Greek language and its usage as part of the language of the universe!" another wrote.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">According to Wired, Ingrisano and his lawyer are planning their next move.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/227367808" title="View Zazzle Pi Trademark Letter on Scribd">Zazzle Pi Trademark Letter</a></p>
<p><iframe width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/227367808/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;show_recommendations=true" data-auto-height="false" data-aspect-ratio="undefined"></iframe></p>

A Brooklyn Artist Trademarked The 'Pi' Symbol, And People Are Furious

<p>We can't wait for the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-new-star-wars-is-coming-in-2015-2012-10" target="_blank">new "Star Wars" movie next year</a>. </p>
<p>Until then, while we rewatch the first six (or maybe five) films, w<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">e can't think of a better way to mentally prepare than with nostalgic photos from the set.</span></p>
<p>"Star Wars" actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562679/" target="_blank">Peter Mayhew</a> who played Chewbacca in the series has shared more than 50 photos on <a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars" target="_blank">Twitter this week</a> from the making of the original trilogy. </p>
<p>We've selected some of the best to feature below with his commentary. <span>Apparently, director George Lucas was referred to as Zazzle MoonBreaker on set sometimes.</span></p>
<p>You can check out the full collection <a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/media" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>Happy Friday!</p>
<p>"There's no evidence to support rumors that George wanted to write himself into the movie as Zazzle Moonbr- oh wait..."<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52d021dbecad04845c4229cf-500-517/zazzle-moonbreaker-george-lucas.jpg?maxX=800" border="0" alt="zazzle moonbreaker george lucas star wars" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/420768843506528256">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div>"Check out Han's face. 'Dude, that's your SISTER". Meanwhile Chewie thinks, 'not MY sister!'."<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52d021dbeab8ea106ff52b54-737-490/han-solo-harrison-ford-star-wars.jpg" border="0" alt="han solo harrison ford star wars" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/420772118620430336">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div><br />"The glow monster from ROTJ that you never saw. Maybe it will return in episode VII?"</p>
<p>Mayhew later clarified m<span class="s1" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ore details on that: "</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Ok, truth. The 'glow monster' was an effect that never happened. They were going to superimpose an alien over the actor, making it 'glow'"</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52d021db6bb3f72d601354a5-694-600/glow%20monster%20star%20wars.jpg" border="0" alt="glow monster star wars" width="800" name="" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421456270193741825">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52d021db6bb3f7b55d1354aa-401-700/mark-hamill-star-wars.jpg" border="0" alt="mark hamill star wars" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421499379984261120">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Ok, you lot really like pics of a certain princess! Here's one of Carrie and her stunt double. You're Welcome."</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52d021dbeab8ea1572f52b49-500-346/princess-leia-stunt-double.jpg" border="0" alt="princess leia stunt double" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/420741269434810369">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Yup, this is how it was done a long time ago, in..."</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52d021db69bedd314c6aed51-473-700/star wars opening credits.jpg" border="0" alt="star wars opening credits" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/420759352622866433">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Practicing before they broke out the real lightsabers. Those things were dangerous!"</span><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52d021dbecad04db5e4229cd-1024-587/darth-vader-luke-skywalker.jpg" border="0" alt="darth vader luke skywalker" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421477526485999616">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1">"Another joyous moment on the set!! 0_o"<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52d021db6da811ab6f0b643c-800-1102/carrie-fisher-harrison-ford.jpg" border="0" alt="carrie fisher harrison ford star wars" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421493717501870080">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1">"Its been 30 minutes, here is your gratuitous Chain-mail bikini shot. And look at @HamillHimself shirt!" <div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/52d021db69beddc2496aed62-500-326/carrie-fisher-mark-hamill-star-wars-8.jpg" border="0" alt="carrie fisher mark hamill star wars" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421461216209281024">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1">"'You are not Zazzle MoonBreaker'<br /><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">'I am not Zazzle MoonBreaker'<br />'You like being behind the camera'<br />'I like...'"</span></p>
<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52d021db69beddf94e6aed50-700-455/george%20lucas%20obi%20wan%20star%20wars.jpg" border="0" alt="george lucas obi wan star wars" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421502967452143616">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1">Some ROTJ pics focused around Jabas barge and the sandstorm... </p>
<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52d021dcecad04915c4229cf-894-600/star%20wars%20set%20george%20lucas.jpg" border="0" alt="star wars set george lucas" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421449345607532544">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1">"Irvin had a fierce way of correcting you when you missed a mark. I look on in terror in the background..."</p>
<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52d021dc6bb3f7b05d1354a9-640-985/star%20wars%20mark%20hamill%20trash%20can.jpg" border="0" alt="star wars mark hamill trash can" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421492279887405056">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p class="p1">"You know Kenny as R2D2, but he was also Paploo, the Ewok who stole the Imperial Speeder Bike."</p>
<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52d021ddecad04da5e4229cd-452-600/r2d2-ewok-star-wars.jpg" border="0" alt="r2d2 ewok star wars" width="800" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/status/421460217738440705">@TheWookieRoars/Twitter</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/TheWookieeRoars/media" target="_blank">See the rest here &gt;</a></strong></p>

Chewbacca Actor Tweets Amazing Retro Behind-The-Scenes Photos Of 'Star Wars' 

<div dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58517d39dd0895bc548b4d31-1000/ilfullxfull1040115309sfsl.jpg" alt="enamel pins" data-mce-source="Etsy" data-link="https://www.etsy.com/listing/386847122/mystery-enamel-pin-pack-lapel-pins-grab?ref=market"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/386847122/mystery-enamel-pin-pack-lapel-pins-grab?ref=market">Etsy</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p dir="ltr"><strong>The <keyword id="79969" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="insider">INSIDER</keyword> Summary:</strong></p><p dir="ltr" style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>  Pins and patches are becoming cool again.<br><strong>  </strong>The trend is called "flair."<br><strong>  </strong>You can throw them on anything, from purses to sweaters.</br></br></strong></p><hr><p dir="ltr"><span><br>Pinterest,&#xa0;as<span>&#xa0;a part of its look at 2017 trends, </span>found that searches for flair have increased 800%.</br></span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>For those who don't know,&#xa0;<span>flair comprises all of those cute little pins, patches, and stickers that you can throw on your lapels and purses.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr"><span></span><span>If you're not sure how to wear it or want&#xa0;to learn more about the trend, here's&#xa0;what you need to know.</span></p><h3>What is "flair"?</h3><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58517d39dd0895bc548b4d32-899/4849114871280x720.jpg" alt="office space flair" data-mce-source="20th Century Fox"><p class="source"><span>20th Century Fox</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Flair is the word used to describe&#xa0;all of those pins and patches that you may have seen in an assortment of different colors and styles. Pins can be attached to everything from vintage purses to your favorite jean jacket while patches are ironed onto your favorite pieces of clothing.</p><p>As for why it's called "flair," it's a direct homage to the '90s. If you've seen the movie "Office Space," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJtrLKGZZFg">chances are you know what "pieces of flair" refers to</a>.</p><p><span>To sum up: These mini&#xa0;buttons are, <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/pieces-of-flair-are-cool-again-with-these-restaurant-themed-pins-and-patches-7292427">as LA Weekly&#xa0;put it</a>, "sort of real-life emoji, displaying your mood and interests to the analog world."</span></p><h3>Why is it cool again?<br><span></span></br></h3><p><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58517d39dd0895bc548b4d33-800/f8326eg0391d1.jpg" alt="madewell pins" data-mce-source="Madewell" data-link="https://www.madewell.com/p/women/accessories/pins/pintrill-emoji-pin/F8326?color_name=llama"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.madewell.com/p/women/accessories/pins/pintrill-emoji-pin/F8326?color_name=llama">Madewell</a></span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></span></p><p><span><span>These old school enamel pins have been growing in popularity since 2015, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/fashion/the-coolest-pins-to-customize-your-denim.html?_r=0">according to The New York Times</a>. After finding a new audience on Instagram and social media, new&#xa0;companies online and on Etsy have popped up around the trend. Pop culture designs especially sell well.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Plus, they're a cute way to show off your individual style, and work for both men's and women's fashions.</span></span></p><h3>How do I wear it?<br><span></span></br></h3><p><span>Lots of different ways! Look no further than social media sites like <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=flair&amp;rs=typed&amp;term_meta%5B%5D=flair%7Ctyped">Pinterest</a> or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/flair/">Instagram</a> to see how some people are rocking flair.</span></p><p><strong>You can wear it on your hat:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN9jBNbhr_z/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>On your lapel:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN-DDAihSsL/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Rock two on your collar:</strong><br><span></span></br></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN7aS10gTWr/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><span><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN7_cZIBrMQ/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></span></p><p><strong>Or just one super cute pin:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN80t8Vhc1X/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Use one of those extra holes on your belt:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN7fFpThB1R/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Make your old jean jacket look new again:</strong></p><p><span><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN4_IqOjXhU/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></span></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN7ptQmBjQF/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN5KhiKBmR1/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Spice up a plain sweater:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN8K6eWjmvC/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN-CANODCNH/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Look tough in a leather jacket:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN86z_DAV6Z/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Match your jewelry:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN7XaBwjNKc/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Show your feminist pride:</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN99jGRAaMM/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Give&#xa0;an old bag some character:</strong><br><span></span></br></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN5ZKLuh4jl/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><p><strong>Or DIY an awesome Christmas stocking (this is also a cute gift idea):</strong></p><p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/BN5g953Ad5F/embed/" width="800" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div></p><h3><span>Okay, I'm sold! Where do I buy them?</span></h3><p>Pins and flair are all over the place right now. Some places to get you started include <a href="https://www.madewell.com/c/women/accessories/pins">Madewell</a>, <a href="https://www.etsy.com/market/enamel_pin">Etsy</a>, <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/flair+buttons">Zazzle</a>, <a href="http://www.forever21.com/Product/Category.aspx?br=f21&amp;category=acc_jewelry-pins-patches">Forever 21</a>, and&#xa0;<a href="http://www.modcloth.com/shop/rings-pins">Modcloth</a>.<br><span></span></br></p><p>Happy pinning!</p></hr></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/once-the-worlds-most-dangerous-path-2016-12">This was once the world's most dangerous path</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="l0N2cwODE66Gn5bd-XUSimYNSTfMjR0o" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'l0N2cwODE66Gn5bd-XUSimYNSTfMjR0o',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

16 looks that will convince you to finally buy those cute pins you see everywhere

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/538db79eecad047e0f72a1f0-572-479/screen shot 2014-06-03 at 7.01.26 am.png?maxX=713&amp;maxY=597" border="0" alt="Facebook Clock" width="713" height="597" style="color: #000000; font-size: 15px;" /><p class="source"><span>Zazzle</span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p>By the time you're done reading this sentence, 166,666 friend requests will have been made on Facebook.</p>
<p>Internet In Real Time showed us <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/internet-in-real-time-2014-6">what happens on all of our favorite sites</a> - Netflix, YouTube, Google, Twitter, and more - second by second.</p>
<p>We looked up some statistics provided by Facebook for 2014's numbers and did the math for the biggest social network around.</p>
<h2>In 10 seconds on Facebook...</h2>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/538db84f69bedd5855859eea/countdown.gif" border="0" alt="Countdown" width="737" height="310" /><p class="source"><span>YouTube</span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>83,333</strong> <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/">links</a> are shared</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>166,666</strong> <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/">friend requests</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> are made</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>250,000</strong> <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/">messages</a> are sent </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>85,000</strong> <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">comments</a> are left </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>48,833</strong> <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">status updates</a> are created</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>22,666</strong> <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">photos</a> are uploaded </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>54,976,850</strong> <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">pieces of content</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> are posted or shared (mostly photos)</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>50</strong> <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">new profiles</a> are created</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>11,028</strong> <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">photos</a> are uploaded</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">There are <strong>520,830</strong> <a href="http://onesecond.designly.com/">likes</a> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>12,367</strong> <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">event invites</a> are sent</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">(via Facebook, <a href="http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/">Zephoria</a>, <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/">Statistic Brain</a>, and <a href="http://onesecond.designly.com/">OneSecond</a>) </p>

Here's What Happens On Facebook Every 10 Seconds

<p class="p1"><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/521f498a69bedd070a7c8811-1200-924/joshua-reeves-zenpayroll-headshot-1.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Joshua Reeves ZenPayroll Headshot" width="480" /><p class="source"><keyword id="1844214" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ZenPayroll">ZenPayroll</keyword></p><p class="caption">Joshua Reeves, CEO and co-founder, ZenPayroll</p></div></div>Payroll systems like ADP and Paychex are a necessary business evil; they're difficult to navigate and expensive. Three founders in Silicon Valley have designed a more attractive, cloud-based solution called ZenPayroll and in just eight months, they've seen a lot of traction. </p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The startup has processed over $100 million for the businesses that use it. Its CEO, Joshua Reeves, won't reveal how many companies are using ZenPayroll, but he says "thousands of employees are getting paid through it" and that his biggest customer represents less than 2% of that $100 million milestone.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The majority of companies using ZenPayroll are small businesses with less than ten employees. Reeves says they include bakeries, venture capitalists, law firms, hotels and churches.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ZenPayroll is backed by some heavy hitters in Silicon Valley, such as Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Dropbox CEO, Drew Houston, Yammer founder David Sacks and Box CEO Aaron Levie. They've all contributed to a large, $6 million seed round of financing.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">It appeals to small businesses who would rather use spreadsheets and cut checks then use older, complicated payroll systems. ZenPayroll offers small but frustration-saving features like the ability to e-sign documents and automate all payments.  The service costs $25 per month if you have five employees, an extra $4 for employees number six through ten, and an extra $2 for every employee thereafter.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Once a business signs up, Reeves says there's a 10-15 minute setup process. Data never has to be entered more than once (i.e., you're not filling out the same paperwork or questions about your business multiple times). Bonuses, reimbursements and hours worked can be typed in below an employee's payroll information for quick, as-needed adjustments (see screenshot below).</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ZenPayroll also strives to make the process more fun for employees. Rather than receive a monthly paper statement, ZenPayroll sends emails exclaiming "Cha-ching! You got paid." All pay stubs are stored in the cloud so employees don't have to hoard them offline. Once an employee leaves the company, he or she can still access all of the information. Reeves calls this a "lifetime account." </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Reeves was born and raised in San Francisco. He graduated from Stanford with an electrical engineering degree in 2005 then went to work for Zazzle as one of its first ten employees. Now Zazzle employs 150 people. His other co-founders were running startups of their own, and each had their own frustrations with existing payroll systems. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">They built ZenPayroll and participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2012 accelerator class. Reeves says the founders didn't pay themselves until they made sure ZenPayroll was a fully functioning system. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"There's a </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">big shift happening toward delightful, easy-to-use software," says Reeves. "We look at Square leading that shift. Generally businesses have never gotten the best software out there. We're trying to bring that shift to payrolls."</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Here's a screenshot of the ZenPayroll dashboard businesses see:</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/521f4d94ecad048406ff5313-1192-831/zenpayroll-run-payroll-screenshot.png" border="0" alt="ZenPayroll Run Payroll Screenshot" width="800" /><p class="source">ZenPayroll</p></div></div><br /></span></p>

ZenPayroll, An 8-Month-Old Startup Backed By The Yelp And Dropbox CEOs, Has Already Processed $100 Million

<p class="p1"><div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/521f812e69bedd540d7c8838-642-481/dropbox-ceo-and-cofounder-drew-houston.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Dropbox CEO and cofounder Drew Houston" width="480" /><p class="caption">Dropbox CEO <keyword id="684171" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Drew-Houston">Drew Houston</keyword> is one of Reeves' investors.</p></div></div>Joshua Reeves is the CEO of a startup that raised a $6 million seed round from big Silicon Valley names.</p>
<p class="p1">His investors list reads as a who's who of Silicon Valley:</p>
<p class="p1"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Yelp CEO <keyword id="964696" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jeremy-Stoppelman">Jeremy Stoppelman</keyword>, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Yammer CEO David Sacks, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Box CEO <keyword id="799827" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aaron-Levie">Aaron Levie</keyword>, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">YouTube co-founder Jawed Larim, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">SurgarCRM CEO Larry Augustin, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Zuora CEO and former Salesforce CMO Tien Tzou, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Facebook VP of Partnerships Dan Rose, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Gmail creator Paul Buchheit, and more...</span></p>
<p>Reeves is also an angel investor himself.</p>
<p>Reeves new company is called <keyword id="1844214" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ZenPayroll">ZenPayroll</keyword>, a cloud-based payments tool that makes it easier for small businesses to pay employees. We asked him how he got such a rockstar lineup to invest in ZenPayroll.</p>
<p>Reeves says it took him two weeks to raise the $6 million round. Each day was packed with eight or nine meetings. He started the process by reaching out to people he knew. It helped that he was going through Y Combinator, a notable startup accelerator program that has a strong alumni network. Reeves also had connections from Stanford, where he got his electrical engineering degree, and from Zazzle, a startup he joined as the 9th employee that now has hundreds of people.</p>
<p>Aaron Levie, for example, was a prior contact. Box's office used to be right next door to Zazzle's. Levie invested in a company called Karma; now Karma's CEO is one of Reeves' investors. Reeves also met Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman through Levie.</p>
<p>Once Reeves found potential investors, he still had to sell them. Reeves and his co-founders have attractive backgrounds; they've each started companies before and Reeves' last company was acquired. Reeves also used a compelling pitch deck to help share his mission with investors.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><a href="##slideshow##"><strong>Click here to jump straight to pitch deck that helped Reeves raise the money &gt;</strong></a></p>
<p>"I'm a big fan of having a deck," says Reeves. "Especially at the seed stage. It's how you present your story. You want to have a logical connection between different pieces of information."</p>
<p>Reeves also asked investors a lot of questions during the meetings. He says he interviewed them as much as they interviewed him to make sure they'd be a good fit for his company. </p>
<p>Finally, it's important to have a product that solves a pain point investors can relate to. ZenPayroll is a cloud-based payroll solution that's cheap for small businesses to use and easier to navigate than ADP or Paychex.</p>
<p>"The people we raised money from invested because they want to vicariously fix this industry," says Reeves. "You could tell which of them had experienced the payroll pain themselves. That's the heart of why angels invest even when they are still doing their own startups."</p>
<p>So, how can other startups have the similar success nabbing star angel investors?</p>
<p>Reeves offers the following pitch deck to other entrepreneurs when they're raising their first round of financing. It's the template ZenPayroll used to raise $6 million.</p>
<p>"Each meeting is an opportunity to describe your vision, paint a picture of the future, share your progress so far and the quality of your team," he says.</p>

How A Startup Landed $6 Million From The Founders Of Dropbox, Yelp, Box, Yammer, And Gmail (And How You Can Too) 

<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/521f498a69bedd070a7c8811-1200-924/joshua-reeves-zenpayroll-headshot-1.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Joshua Reeves ZenPayroll Headshot" width="480" /><p class="source"><keyword id="1844214" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ZenPayroll">ZenPayroll</keyword></p><p class="caption">Joshua Reeves, CEO and co-founder, ZenPayroll</p></div><p></p></div>Payroll systems like ADP and Paychex are a necessary business evil; they're difficult to navigate and expensive. Three founders in Silicon Valley have designed a more attractive, cloud-based solution called ZenPayroll and in just eight months, they've seen a lot of traction. </p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The startup is now processing over $100 million for the businesses that use it.* Its CEO, Joshua Reeves, won't reveal how many companies are using ZenPayroll, but he says "thousands of employees are getting paid through it" and that his biggest customer represents less than 2% of that $100 million milestone.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">The majority of companies using ZenPayroll are small businesses with less than ten employees. Reeves says they include bakeries, venture capitalists, law firms, hotels and churches.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ZenPayroll is backed by some heavy hitters in Silicon Valley, such as Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Dropbox CEO, Drew Houston, Yammer founder David Sacks and Box CEO Aaron Levie. They've all contributed to a large, $6 million seed round of financing.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">It appeals to small businesses who would rather use spreadsheets and cut checks then use older, complicated payroll systems. ZenPayroll off</span>ers small but frustration-saving features like the ability to e-sign documents and automate all payments.  The service costs a base fee of $25 per month per company, and the first ten employees cost $4 per month, with each employee thereafter costing $2 per month.</p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Once a business signs up, Reeves says there's a 10-15 minute setup process. Data never has to be entered more than once (i.e., you're not filling out the same paperwork or questions about your business multiple times). Bonuses, reimbursements and hours worked can be typed in below an employee's payroll information for quick, as-needed adjustments (see screenshot below).</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ZenPayroll also strives to make the process more fun for employees. Rather than receive a monthly paper statement, ZenPayroll sends emails exclaiming "Cha-ching! You got paid." All pay stubs are stored in the cloud so employees don't have to hoard them offline. Once an employee leaves the company, he or she can still access all of the information. Reeves calls this a "lifetime account." </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Reeves was born and raised in San Francisco. He graduated from Stanford with an electrical engineering degree in 2005 then went to work for Zazzle as one of its first ten employees. Now Zazzle employs hundreds of people. His other co-founders were running startups of their own, and each had their own frustrations with existing payroll systems. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">They built ZenPayroll and participated in Y Combinator's Winter 2012 accelerator class. Reeves says the founders didn't pay themselves until they made sure ZenPayroll was a fully functioning system. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">"There's a </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">big shift happening toward delightful, easy-to-use software," says Reeves. "We look at Square leading that shift. Generally businesses have never gotten the best software out there. We're trying to bring that shift to payrolls."</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Here's a screenshot of the <span>Here's a screenshot of the ZenPayroll run payroll flow:</span></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/521f4d94ecad048406ff5313-1192-831/zenpayroll-run-payroll-screenshot.png" border="0" alt="ZenPayroll Run Payroll Screenshot" width="800" /><p class="source">ZenPayroll</p></div><p></p></div></span></p>
<p class="p2"><em><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">*The original version of this article stated that ZenPayroll had already processed $100 million. Instead, it will process $100-125 million annually for businesses that use it.</span></em></p>

ZenPayroll, An 8-Month-Old Startup Backed By The Yelp And Dropbox CEOs, Is Now Processing $100 Million Annually

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Chef Charlie " title_caption="Chef Charlie Ayers " class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/543bf53a69bedd800187a9a7-960/chef-charlie-4.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/543bf53a69bedd800187a9a7-1200-924/chef-charlie-4.jpg" border="0" alt="Chef Charlie " /></a><p class="source"><span>Chef Charlie </span></p><p class="caption">Chef Charlie Ayers </p></div><p></p></div></div>Google's first executive chef, Charlie Ayers, tells Business Insider that when he first joined the company back in 1999 to cook for its first 50-or-so employees, he sometimes felt like Homer Simpson.</p>
<p>"That place is such a brain trust," he says. "It wasn't a workforce that I was normally subjected to - you don't work with a lot of Stanford graduates in the kitchen."</p>
<p>He said the hyper-intelligent employees seemed intimidating at first, but they were friendly and good listeners. The personal connections he made with many of them would be a catalyst for new opportunities throughout the rest of his career, he says. </p>
<p>For example, he developed a really great rapport and friendship with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-ram-shriram-share-sale-2013-2" target="_blank">one of Google's earliest investors, Ram Shriram</a>, who loved how Ayers whipped up atypical vegetarian meals. When Ayers eventually left Google in 2005, Shriram called him up and got him food consultant positions at a handful of tech companies that he worked with. Shriram kick-started Ayers' consultant career: He has since worked with companies like Dropbox, Zazzle, Facebook, Palantir, and Nest (which <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-buying-nest-for-35-billion-2014-1" target="_blank">Google bought this year for $3.2 billion</a>). </p>
<p>Ayers says that several former employees also invested in his Palo Alto restaurant, <a href="http://chefcharlieayers.com/multi-media/photos1.html" target="_blank">called Calafia Cafe &amp; Market A-Go-Go</a>, which he opened in 2009. Another paid for him to have a life coach.</p>
<p>Ayers says he was also impressed with how willing Google was to invest in the local culture and community, even in the early days. During the recession of the early 2000s, Google kept several local food businesses afloat by using them as vendors for its cafeterias, he says. </p>
<p>By the time Ayers left Google in 2005, he had built a team of five chefs and 150 other kitchen workers, and they were serving 4,000 lunches and dinners a day. Ayers <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Food-2-0-Secrets-Chef-Google/dp/0756633583" target="_blank">wrote a cookbook with tips and recipes based on his experience</a> and told Business Insider that he still occasionally works for Google in an advisory role. His legacy also lives on at the Googleplex: <a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/googleplex2.htm" target="_blank">Charlie's Cafe</a> dishes out a wide variety of healthy cuisines.</p>

Google's First Executive Chef Describes What It Was Like Cooking For The Company's First Super-Brainy Employees

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Chef Charlie " title_caption="Chef Charlie Ayers" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/543851e16da811f233a3eec5-960/chef-charlie-2.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/543851e16da811f233a3eec5-1200-924/chef-charlie-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Chef Charlie " /></a><p class="source"><span>Chef Charlie </span></p><p class="caption">Chef Charlie Ayers</p></div><p></p></div></div>Chef Charlie Ayers knows a thing or two about shaping startup culture. </p>
<p>Ayers joined Google as its first executive chef way back in 1999, when the company had less than 50 employees. </p>
<p>After <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chef-charlie-googles-first-chef-menu-2014-10" target="_blank">getting hired through a cook-off competition</a> against other potential candidates, Ayers spent the next six years helping Google form and solidify its reputation for serving employees <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/22-amazing-dishes-at-the-googleplex-2014-10" target="_blank">delicious and healthy food</a>. </p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c87c0a33-fc04-eef7-fc76-7f089da06cb9">Ayers thinks that providing good food is so important for startups - even those strapped for cash - because it energizes employees, which will help them be able to work better and harder. </span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c87c0a33-fc04-eef7-fc76-7f089da06cb9">"Your employees are your most valuable assets, why wouldn't you invest in what's best for them?" he tells Business Insider. "If you feed them the very best, you'll get the biggest return. If you can't afford to give them the greatest working environment, or robust salary, or benefits, the very least you can do is feed them well on a daily basis. And that goes miles."</span></p>
<p>Ayers says that companies should serve their employees wholesome food, so their bodies won't be taxed with metabolizing high-fructose corn syrups or lots of carbs.</p>
<p>"If you give your employees piles of Dominos and gallons of coca-cola, you're not doing anyone any good besides the guy who sold it to you," he adds for emphasis. </p>
<p>Giving employees amazing food right at work also lets them save time or avoid expansive delivery fees.</p>
<p>By the time Ayers left Google in 2005, he had built a team of five chefs and 150 other kitchen workers, and they were serving 4,000 lunches and dinners a day. Ayers <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Food-2-0-Secrets-Chef-Google/dp/0756633583" target="_blank">wrote a cookbook with tips and recipes based on his experience</a> and told Business Insider that he still occasionally works for Google in an advisory role. His legacy also lives on at the Googleplex: <a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/googleplex2.htm" target="_blank">Charlie's Cafe</a> dishes out a wide variety of healthy cuisine.</p>
<p>He also does food consulting for startups like Dropbox, Zazzle, and Gaia Online, as well as bigger companies like Facebook and Palantir. </p>
<p>"<span id="docs-internal-guid-c87c0a33-ff74-42b0-6a49-4b7edbaa6090">Mark Zuckerberg asked me to come in and give them advice on how to do what Google did," Ayers says. </span></p>
<p>Before joining the search engine (and reportedly <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1582494/Chef-lifts-lid-on-Googles-recipe-for-success.html" target="_blank">making $26 million during its IPO</a>), Ayers catered for The Grateful Dead and he now owns <a href="http://chefcharlieayers.com/multi-media/photos1.html" target="_blank">a restaurant called Calafia and a cafe called Market A GoGo</a> in Palo Alto. </p>

Google's First-Ever Executive Chef Explains Why Good Food Is So Important For Startups

<p><table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5110014969bedd1b0f000027-401-300/kavitark-ram-shriram-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Kavitark Ram Shriram" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/december7/shriram-board-election-120709.html">Stanford</a></p><p class="caption">Ram Shriram</p></td></tr></table>One of <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>'s earliest directors, <keyword id="508899" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ram-Shriram">Ram Shriram</keyword>, has added to his fortune by selling Google stock over the past month—$31 million worth.</p>
<p>He and his wife recently sold 42,000 <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000112760213000520/xslF345X03/form4.xml">shares, according to SEC documents.</a> In January, the couple sold <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000112760213000520/xslF345X03/form4.xml">the first chunk</a>, 20,000 shares for $730 a pop ($14.6 million), and last week, he and his wife sold 22,000 shares in two transactions at $760 ($16.7 million).</p>
<p>The sale on Friday came as Google's stock was reaching an all-time high of $776.60 (It closed at $775.60). The rise was attributed to news that Google was close to settling the European Union's three-year probe into its business.</p>
<p>Google's previous high was $774.38, reached in October 2012.</p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: #ffffff; display: inline !important; float: none;"></span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px; color: #000000; font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"></span>Not that Shriram could have timed the sale—as most top executives and insiders typically do, he's set up a 10b5-1 trading plan which dictates his selling according to preplanned conditions. Based on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ram-shriram-share-sales-2012-9">previous sales</a>, it appears that Shriram sets round numbers as price levels at which he automatically sells shares.</p>
<p>Shriram and his wife still own more than 150,000 shares.</p>
<p>Plus, $31 million is pocket change for Ram, who has net worth of $1.6 billion, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/kavitark-ram-shriram/">says Forbes</a>.</p>
<p>Shriram is one of the Valley's golden angels. In his early career he worked for Netscape. Then he founded a company called Junglee, which was bought by Amazon in 1998 for about $185 million. That gave him the capital to invest in Google when it was still operating out of a Menlo Park garage.</p>
<p>Through his venture firm, <keyword id="272926" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sherpalo-Ventures">Sherpalo Ventures</keyword>, he's also an investor in StumbleUpon, Zazzle, and other startups.</p>
<p><strong>Don't miss: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-office-review-2013-2">7 Reasons Why You Should Buy Microsoft’s New Version Of Office</a></strong></p>

A Billionaire Google Board Member Earned $31 Million As Google's Stock Hit All-Time Highs

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c708b5c2628983bb55604a3-2400/0g5a2374.jpg" border="0" alt="amy webb" data-mce-source="Courtesy of Amy Webb" data-mce-caption="NYU Professor Amy Webb, author of &amp;quotThe Big Nine: How The Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity&quot;" /><p class="source"><span>Courtesy of Amy Webb</span></p><p class="caption">NYU Professor Amy Webb, author of "The Big Nine: How The Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity"</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Amy Webb is a professor of strategic foresight at NYU's Stern School of Business. </strong></li><li><strong>In this excerpt from her new book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Big-Nine-Thinking-Machines-Humanity-ebook/dp/B07H7G7CMN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1550880103&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+big+nine">The Big Nine: How The Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity</a>," Webb explains why it's so important that artificial intelligence is built to keep human values. </strong></li><li><strong>Without more transparency about how AI "thinks," she argues, we run the risk that algorithms will start making decisions that don't necessarily have humanity's interests at heart. </strong></li></ul><p>In the absence of codified humanistic values within the big tech giants, personal experiences and ideals are driving decision-making. This is particularly dangerous when it comes to AI, because students, professors, researchers, employees, and managers are making millions of decisions every day, from seemingly insignificant (what database to use) to profound (who gets killed if an autonomous vehicle needs to crash).</p><p>Artificial intelligence might be inspired by our human brains, but humans and AI make decisions and choices differently. Princeton professor Daniel Kahneman and Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Amos Tversky spent years studying the human mind and how we make decisions, ultimately discovering that we have two systems of thinking: one that uses logic to analyze problems, and one that is automatic, fast, and nearly imperceptible to us. Kahneman describes this dual system in his award-winning book Thinking, Fast and Slow. Difficult problems require your attention and, as a result, a lot of mental energy. That's why most people can't solve long arithmetic problems while walking, because even the act of walking requires that energy-hungry part of the brain. It's the other system that's in control most of the time. Our fast, intuitive mind makes thousands of decisions autonomously all day long, and while it's more energy efficient, it's riddled with cognitive biases that affect our emotions, beliefs, and opinions.</p><p>We make mistakes because of the fast side of our brain. We overeat, or drink to excess, or have unprotected sex. It's that side of the brain that enables stereotyping. Without consciously realizing it, we pass judgment on other people based on remarkably little data. Or those people are invisible to us. The fast side makes us susceptible to what I call the paradox of the present: when we automatically assume our present circumstances will not or cannot ever change, even when faced with signals pointing to something new or different. We may think that we are in complete control of our decision-making, but a part of us is continually on autopilot.</p><p>Mathematicians say that it's impossible to make a "perfect decision" because of systems of complexity and because the future is always in flux, right down to a molecular level. It would be impossible to predict every single possible outcome, and with an unknowable number of variables, there is no way to build a model that could weigh all possible answers. Decades ago, when the frontiers of AI involved beating a human player at checkers, the decision variables were straightforward. Today, asking an AI to weigh in on a medical diagnosis or to predict the next financial market crash involves data and decisions that are orders of magnitude more complex. So instead, our systems are built for optimization. Implicit in optimizing is unpredictability-to make choices that deviate from our own human thinking.</p><p>When DeepMind's AlphaGo Zero abandoned human strategy and invented its own last year, it wasn't deciding between preexisting alternatives; it was making a deliberate choice to try something completely different. It's the latter thinking pattern that is a goal for AI researchers, because that's what theoretically leads to great breakthroughs. So rather than training AI to make absolutely perfect decisions every time, instead they're being trained to optimize for particular outcomes. But who-and what-are we optimizing for? To that end, how does the optimization process work in real time? That's actually not an easy question to answer. Machine- and deep-learning technologies are more cryptic than older hand-coded systems, and that's because these systems bring together thousands of simulated neurons, which are arranged into hundreds of complicated, connected layers. After the initial input is sent to neurons in the first layer, a calculation is performed and a new signal is generated. That signal gets passed on to the next layer of neurons and the process continues until a goal is reached. All of these interconnected layers allow AI systems to recognize and understand data in myriad layers of abstraction. For example, an image recognition system might detect in the first layer that an image has particular colors and shapes, while in higher layers it can discern texture and shine. The topmost layer would determine that the food in a photograph is cilantro and not parsley.</p><p>The future of AI - and by extension, the future of humanity - is controlled by just nine companies, who are developing the frameworks/ chipsets/ networks, funding the majority of research, earning the lion's share of patents, and in the process mining our data in ways that aren't transparent or observable to us. Six are in the US, and I call them the G-MAFIA: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, IBM and Apple. Three are in China, and they are the BAT: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. Here's an example of how optimizing becomes a problem when the Big Nine use our data to build real-world applications for commercial and government interests. Researchers at New York's Ichan School of Medicine ran a deep-learning experiment to see if it could train a system to predict cancer. The school, based within Mount Sinai Hospital, had obtained access to the data for 700,000 patients, and the data set included hundreds of different variables. Called Deep Patient, the system used advanced techniques to spot new patterns in data that didn't entirely make sense to the researchers but turned out to be very good at finding patients in the earliest stages of many diseases, including liver cancer. Somewhat mysteriously, it could also predict the warning signs of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. But even the researchers who built the system didn't know how it was making decisions. The researchers built a powerful AI-one that had tangible commercial and public health benefits-and to this day they can't see the rationale for how it was making its decisions. Deep Patient made clever predictions, but without any explanation, how comfortable would a medical team be in taking next steps, which could include stopping or changing medications, administering radiation or chemotherapy, or going in for surgery?</p><p>That inability to observe how AI is optimizing and making its decisions is what's known as the "black box problem." Right now, AI systems built by the Big Nine might offer open-source code, but they all function like proprietary black boxes. While they can describe the process, allowing others to observe it in real time is opaque. With all those simulated neurons and layers, exactly what happened and in which order can't be easily reverse-engineered. <br />One team of Google researchers did try to develop a new technique to make AI more transparent. In essence, the researchers ran a deep-learning image recognition algorithm in reverse to observe how the system recognized certain things such as trees, snails, and pigs. The project, called DeepDream, used a network created by MIT's Computer Science and AI Lab and ran Google's deep-learning algorithm in reverse. Instead of training it to recognize objects using the layer-by-layer approach-to learn that a rose is a rose, and a daffodil is a daffodil-instead it was trained to warp the images and generate objects that weren't there. Those warped images were fed through the system again and again, and each time DeepDream discovered more strange images. In essence, Google asked AI to daydream. Rather than training it to spot existing objects, instead the system was trained to do something we've all done as kids: stare up at the clouds, look for patterns in abstraction, and imagine what we see. Except that DeepDream wasn't constrained by human stress or emotion: what it saw was an acid-trippy hellscape of grotesque floating animals, colorful fractals, and buildings curved and bent into wild shapes.</p><p>When the AI daydreamed, it invented entirely new things that made logical sense to the system but would have been unrecognizable to us, including hybrid animals, like a "Pig-Snail" and "Dog-Fish." AI daydreaming isn't necessarily a concern; however, it does highlight the vast differences between how humans derive meaning from real-world data and how our systems, left to their own devices, make sense of our data. The research team published its findings, which were celebrated by the AI community as a breakthrough in observable AI. Meanwhile, the images were so stunning and weird that they made the rounds throughout the internet. A few people used the DeepDream code to build tools allowing anyone to make their own trippy photos. Some enterprising graphic designers even used DeepDream to make strangely beautiful greeting cards and put them up for sale on Zazzle.com.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55b24781dd089599608b4612-972/screen shot 2015-07-24 at 145101.png" border="0" alt="deep dream tsipras merkel" data-mce-source="Sean Gallup/Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>Sean Gallup/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">The AI-powered "DeepDream" turns any photo or image into a hallucinatory masterpiece.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>DeepDream offered a window into how certain algorithms process information; however, it can't be applied across all AI systems. How newer AI systems work-and why they make certain decisions-is still a mystery. Many within the AI tribe will argue that there is no black box problem-but to date, these systems are still opaque. Instead, they argue that to make the systems transparent would mean disclosing proprietary algorithms and processes. This makes sense, and we should not expect a public company to make its intellectual property and trade secrets freely available to anyone-especially given the aggressive position China has taken on AI.</p><p>However, in the absence of meaningful explanations, what proof do we have that bias hasn't crept in? Without knowing the answer to that question, how would anyone possibly feel comfortable trusting AI?</p><p>We aren't demanding transparency for AI. We marvel at machines that seem to mimic humans but don't quite get it right. We laugh about them on late-night talk shows, as we are reminded of our ultimate superiority. Again, I ask you: What if these deviations from human thinking are the start of something new?</p><p>Here's what we do know. Commercial AI applications are designed for optimization-not interrogation or transparency. DeepDream was built to address the black box problem-to help researchers understand how complicated AI systems are making their decisions. It should have served as an early warning that AI's version of perception is nothing like our own. Yet we're proceeding as though AI will always behave the way its creators intended.</p><p>The AI applications built by the Big Nine are now entering the mainstream, and they're meant to be user-friendly, enabling us to work faster and more efficiently. End users-police departments, government agencies, small and medium businesses-just want a dashboard that spits out answers and a tool that automates repetitive cognitive or administrative tasks. We all just want computers that will solve our problems, and we want to do less work. We also want less culpability- if something goes wrong, we can simply blame the computer system. This is the optimization effect, where unintended outcomes are already affecting everyday people around the world. Again, this should raise a sobering question: How are humanity's billions of nuanced differences in culture, politics, religion, sexuality, and morality being optimized? In the absence of codified humanistic values, what happens when AI is optimized for someone who isn't anything like you?</p><p><em>Excerpted from: The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity by Amy Webb. Copyright © by Amy Webb. Published by arrangement with PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.</em></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-room-facts-mount-rushmore-presidents-south-dakota-inaccessible-tourists-lincoln-2017-1">There's a secret room behind Mount Rushmore that's inaccessible to tourists</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/19XgdFMH-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

You Searched For "Zazzle" and got 13 results

The NSA Wants To Ban Sales Of This T-Shirt On Zazzle

Jim Edwards

Here's Some Of The Royal Baby Merchandise That Will Bring Millions Of Dollars To The British Economy

Pamela Engel

A Brooklyn Artist Trademarked The 'Pi' Symbol, And People Are Furious

Jillian Comoletti

Chewbacca Actor Tweets Amazing Retro Behind-The-Scenes Photos Of 'Star Wars'

Kirsten Acuna

16 looks that will convince you to finally buy those cute pins you see everywhere

Megan Willett

Here's What Happens On Facebook Every 10 Seconds

Caroline Moss

ZenPayroll, An 8-Month-Old Startup Backed By The Yelp And Dropbox CEOs, Has Already Processed $100 Million

Alyson Shontell

How A Startup Landed $6 Million From The Founders Of Dropbox, Yelp, Box, Yammer, And Gmail (And How You Can Too)

Alyson Shontell

ZenPayroll, An 8-Month-Old Startup Backed By The Yelp And Dropbox CEOs, Is Now Processing $100 Million Annually

Alyson Shontell

Google's First Executive Chef Describes What It Was Like Cooking For The Company's First Super-Brainy Employees

Jillian D'Onfro

Google's First-Ever Executive Chef Explains Why Good Food Is So Important For Startups

Jillian D'Onfro

A Billionaire Google Board Member Earned $31 Million As Google's Stock Hit All-Time Highs

Julie Bort

An NYU professor explains why it's so dangerous that Silicon Valley is building AI to make decisions without human values

Amy Webb