From massive, multibillion dollar acquisitions to boardroom shake-ups and disturbing scandals, the tech industry had an eventful 2018.

Business Insider's team of tech journalists was first to report some of the most important developments, from the surprise departure of Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene to the internal turmoil at augmented-reality (AR) pioneer Magic Leap and the problems leading up to Uber's fatal autonomous-car crash.

As the tech world moves ahead into 2019, we decided to distill the year's catalog of exclusive stories and investigations into a list of the nine most important reports. Check out the list below for some great reads you may have missed, or to refresh your perspective and challenge your assumptions as you prepare for the new year in tech.

Bill Gates is urging the United States to invest in nuclear power research.

In his annual year-in-review Gates Notes blog post, Gates noted that, despite the consequences of climate change that people face around the globe, "global emissions of greenhouse gases went up in 2018."

Because burning fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) releases carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, Gates wrote that we need breakthroughs in clean energy in order to curb the rise of global temperatures. Generating energy from sunlight and wind does not emit CO2; the same goes for nuclear energy.

"The world needs to be working on lots of solutions to stop climate change," Gates wrote. "Advanced nuclear is one, and I hope to persuade US leaders to get into the game."

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world will face catastrophic effects of climate change if global temperatures climb to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. We are on track to hit that 1.5-degree threshold by 2040, though the IPCC said a huge shift in global energy and economic systems could still reverse the trend.

Read more: The scariest parts of the new climate change report: The goals the world set are inadequate, and the track we're on is disastrous

Solar and wind energy are becoming much cheaper— which Gates said he was "glad to see" — but he wrote that these energy sources alone are not enough. That's because solar and wind energy are not viable when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow. Nuclear power, on the other hand, is available 24 hours a day.

This is not the first time Gates has sought to improve the world's energy options. Gates, along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and other billionaires, leads a fund called Breakthrough Energy Ventures that invests in startups that focus on renewable energy. In 2018, the group announced the first companies to get that funding.

"The companies we chose are run by brilliant people and show a lot of promise for taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and getting them to market," Gates wrote in his end-of-year note.

As far as nuclear power is concerned, Gates said he is confident that further innovation can eliminate concerns about the risk of accidents.

"The United States is uniquely suited to create these advances with its world-class scientists, entrepreneurs, and investment capital," he wrote. "Unfortunately, America is no longer the global leader on nuclear energy that it was 50 years ago. To regain this position, it will need to commit new funding, update regulations, and show investors that it's serious."

As an example of a promising approach to nuclear energy, Gates pointed to the company TerraPower that he started 10 years ago. TerraPower is working on creating a traveling-wave reactor, which Gates said is safe, produces minimal waste, and can't be used in nuclear weapon production.

A TerraPower facility. TerraPower

TerraPower was trying to building a pilot project in China, Gates wrote, but recent moves by the Trump administration have "made that unlikely."

Gates said there may be a chance for the project to move forward in the US. But regardless, he plans to continue drawing more attention to energy issues in 2019.

"Next year I will speak out more about how the US needs to regain its leading role in nuclear power research," Gates wrote.

"Fortnite" has become well known for its special in-game events, many of which coincide with real world holidays. So of course the game has its own New Year's event going on, complete with a ball drop and fireworks for when the clock strikes midnight.

But "Fortnite" has a global player base with more than 200 million players worldwide; meaning that players in different time zones will see the new year at different times. "Fortnite" creator Epic Games came up with a simple solution, the New Year's ball in "Fortnite" will drop at the top of every hour to account for midnight in all 24 time zones around the world.

However, some players who spent the early hours of New Year's Eve playing "Fortnite" were shocked to see the fireworks arrive early for their own time zone. When the ball drops in "Fortnite" players are forced to dance for a few seconds, making the moment impossible to ignore. Several players rushed to social media to announce that "Fortnite's" New Year celebration had gone off early.

An honest mistake to be sure, but the "Fortnite" community has surged with responses to the "early" event, prompting a response from Epic Games. Co-founder and Vice-President Mark Rein gently chided players who believed the event had been triggered early in error.

"Is it that you don't really understand how timezones work or you think yours is the only timezone in the world?" Rein tweeted.

Epic spokesman Nick Chester and Rein both later confirmed that the event would occur every hour to account for every time zone.

Hopefully, the event will teach how wide the "Fortnite" community stretches, and remind some that the Earth revolves around the sun, not around them.

Daniel Barone: When you wake up and then hit the snooze button and go back to sleep, it feels good because serotonin gets released. And it feels nice to fall back asleep.

The problem though is that when you wake up 15 minutes later or 10 minutes later, your brain is essentially confused.

I'm Dr. Daniel Barone, a neurologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital and assistant professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Waking up before the alarm can be a sign that you're actually getting enough sleep and the body is preparing itself for the day.

Sometimes waking up hours before the alarm — that can be associated with things like depression. People who have clinical depression, they sometimes wake up earlier in the morning than they like to.

So a lot of times, people will snooze when they wake up. They'll say, "Okay, I'm going to set my alarm for 7 o'clock and then I'm going to snooze to 7:30."

Many people do that. The problem with that though is waking up and falling asleep is not like an on-off switch. It's not "we fall asleep immediately and then we wake up immediately."

The process of falling asleep and waking up is a — it's a process. It can take a couple of hours in some cases for the brain to neurochemically prepare itself to wake up.

It's not bad for you but it just — you know, it screws your brain up a little bit. You may experience it yourself. You may feel like, "Oh god, I'm still out of it" or "I feel worse than I did before."

"Should I be asleep or should I be awake? This is not really what I planned to do."

So what I always recommend to people is just set the alarm for the latest you can wake up and just have it — that just be the one time you wake up.

Dr. Daniel Barone is the author of "Let's Talk About Sleep."

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published on December 1, 2017.

In a year when the biggest names in tech were embroiled in scandal, there's at least one executive who managed to get out of 2018 unscathed — Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who saw his net worth increase by more than any his billionaire peers.

Jeff Bezos already claimed the title as the world's richest person at the beginning of the year, and unseated Microsoft founder Bill Gates from his 24-year streak at the top of Forbes' rankings of richest Americans. Now the Amazon CEO can say he increased his wealth in 2018 — by $24 billion, to be exact — by more than any of the richest 500 in Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

Bezos finishes off the year with a net worth of $123 billion, the only person on the list to have a 12-digit net worth. Yet this isn't even Bezos' peak net worth: over the summer, he surpassed a net worth of $150 billion to become the richest man ever in modern history.

To put that in perspective, Bezos makes almost $4.5 million in just a single hour. With that wealth, spending $88,000 to him is similar to an average American spending $1, Business Insider calculated. Bezos hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, if Amazon's rapid expansion in 2018 into cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, and other industries is any indication.

Read more: We did the math to calculate exactly how much money billionaires and celebrities like Jeff Bezos and Kylie Jenner make an hour

But while Bezos saw his worth rise, other billionaires didn't see the same success. Following Facebook's year of data leaks and a rise in public distrust of the company, CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost more money than anyone else on Bloomberg's billionaire rankings. Zuckerberg's net worth took an almost $20 billion hit this year, and is now pegged at a cool $52.9 billion.

Rounding out the top five billionaires, according to Bloomberg's rankings, are Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($90 billion), investor Warren Buffet ($82.9 billion), LVMH's CEO Bernard Arnault ($67.3 billion), and Spanish fashion executive Amancio Ortega ($58.7 billion).

Kevin Reilly: If it worked for Beyoncé, it'll work for me. Right?

My name is Kevin Reilly, and I'm a video producer for Business Insider.

So I tried this vegan-diet challenge out, the 22-Day Revolution. It was an all-vegan, all-plant-based diet, kind of made famous by Beyoncé. She wrote the foreword to the book and actually had gone on it herself after her first child.

I figured if it's going to work for her, it's got to do something for me.

But as a meat eater, just moving away from everything that I was used to, I thought it was going to be daunting. And let me tell you, that first week was rough. I wanted the food that I was used to eating. I was cranky, I actually felt tired on a couple days, and really I just wasn't into it.

It took me an hour and 10 minutes to get my lunch together last night. It's this weird lentil, quinoa thing that I keep having to take a couple bites of and then chug some water, because it's just mealy and kind of nasty. I don't like steak that much, and I miss steak right now.

But guess what? If you want some results, three weeks into this thing, 15 pounds gone. Take a look at the before-and-after. Not bad, right?

But hold on a sec. At times I found myself starving. There was one meal that was only a cucumber, a zucchini, a carrot, and some tahini. And yeah, I cheated. That first week I had a slice of pizza, a slice of meatball. It was good.

But I wanted to complete this thing. Not just for work, but for myself. So I got back on the wagon and went for it. And let me tell you, the second week things started getting better. I felt like I had a lot of energy. I was — I don't know — feeling good about myself. And let me tell you, a few of these meals were really damn good. My favorite by far was the baked eggplant with pico de gallo. That was good. I even tried it out grilled, which might be better than the original recipe.

However, on the flip side, there's the pizza. The dough smelled funny. The cheese was like this gummy, gooey mess made out of cashews, and the end result? No, just no.

So here's the thing: There were a lot of good parts about it. I lost weight; I was feeling good. That was fantastic. But not knowing the calorie counts, the fact that the servings sizes in the actual recipes wasn't really there left me not knowing whether I should keep eating more or if I was just hungry.

My first day back to meat-eating land, my boss brought in this big, giant, good-looking plate of bacon. I didn't touch any of it, not even a bite. For some reason, I just liked the way I felt. I had this somewhat different outlook. I started researching more veggie recipes. I started going to the farmers' market and started craving the veggies that were there. I like this. I want to feel like this a little bit more.

Now, am I changing myself to a vegan? No. That first night I went to my favorite restaurant and had a damn good tuna melt. And I'll be having more of those. But do I feel fabulous like Beyoncé? Sure.EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published on September 27, 2017.

NASA is about to fly a nuclear-powered probe past the most distant object humanity has ever dared explore. And you can watch from the comfort of home.

Called Ultima Thule (pronounced "tool-ee"), or 2014 MU 69, the object is a total mystery to scientists. Researchers aren't even sure what the space rock looks like, since it's 1 billion miles beyond Pluto. At about the size of a mountain — about 20 miles across — Ultima Thule is much too small and too far for telescopes to see clearly.

"If we knew what to expect, we wouldn't be going to Ultima Thule. It's an object we've never encountered before," Alan Stern, the leader of the New Horizons mission, previously told Business Insider. "This is what exploration is about."

Hundreds of images taken from August to December show the reflection of Ultima Thule (center) and the New Horizons spacecraft's planned flyby location (marked by an X) on Tuesday.NASA/JHUAPL/SwRIUltima Thule is thought to be a pristine remnant of the solar system's formation, meaning that photographing and studying it up close with New Horizons could help explain how planets are built and evolve.

In what Stern called a "mind-boggling" maneuver, New Horizons will get its closest to Ultima Thule — within 2,200 miles— at 12:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, New Year's Day. The probe will be moving at about 32,200 mph.

Along the way, the spacecraft — which flew past Pluto in July 2015 — will take hundreds of photographs and measurements in a highly coordinated sequence.

The first images should arrive late on Tuesday and be published on Wednesday. You'll be able to see those initial images via live video broadcasts.

But because of the limitations of the 13-year-old spacecraft (the probe launched in 2006) and the 4 billion miles of distance, it could take up to two years for New Horizons to beam all of the flyby data back to Earth.

New Horizons scientists react to seeing the sharpest of images of Pluto in 2015.AP

Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, which manages the New Horizons mission for NASA, will host a series of live video broadcasts about the encounter.

The segments will be streamed via the laboratory's YouTube channel from Monday through Thursday. NASA Live and NASA TV will also broadcast the segments, despite the government shutdown, led by President Donald Trump over funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border, that has sent many NASA workers home.

"NASA will continue to stun the world with its achievements!" Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of NASA, tweeted on Thursday while announcing that NASA TV would stay on the air.

The first Ultima Thule broadcast will be a press conference with Stern and other mission scientists at 2 p.m. on Monday.

At 12:02 a.m. on Tuesday, the Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May will release a song dedicated to the mission. Video coverage will continue through 12:33 a.m., the moment New Horizons flies past Ultima Thule.

Michael Buckley, a representative for the Applied Physics Laboratory, said there would be a video feed of the moment scientists learn that the mission succeeded. He said live coverage should begin on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m., and that the "OK" signal from New Horizons should arrive around 10 a.m. A press conference will follow at 11:30 a.m.

Follow-up press conferences to discuss the first close-up photos and scientific results from the historic flyby are scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. and Thursday at 2 p.m.

You can watch the main New Horizons events via the NASA Live video player embedded below.

If you wish to see all the Applied Physics Laboratory's coverage, watch the embedded player below or tune into its YouTube channel.

Sitting up straight can feel like an impossible feat. I'm constantly slouching while I work, and it seems like as soon as I correct my posture, I find myself nearing a 45-degree angle again. Constant posture vigilance is impractical when I'm focused on my job (or just scrolling through Twitter), so I continually let myself fall back into slouching. It's my default position — my resting pose. And it leaves me with a perennially sore back.

I've tried a few techniques to help snap me out of this bad habit. I go to yoga classes, I try to keep it so both of my shoulder blades are touching my chair back at all times, and I write reminders to sit up straight on Post-it notes on my desk. So far, none of those strategies have had a lasting effect (though I'm sure the yoga classes could if I went more consistently). Then, I got a Purple seat cushion, and it's never been easier to avoid hunching over my desk.

Perhaps better known for its mattresses, Purple makes a variety of seat cushions, from one that's specifically designed for lumbar support to one that's meant for portability. I opted for the Royal seat cushion. At $79, it falls somewhere in the middle of the Purple seat cushion price range (which starts at $39 for the portable and lumbar-support cushions and goes up to $129 for the "Ultimate" cushion). Besides improving my seating posture, my new cushion has made sitting down all day for my desk job significantly more comfortable.

But first, how does a seat cushion make you sit up straighter?

Purple cushions come in grid patterns — or they look like large, purple waffles, depending on how hungry you are. The grid shape collapses into itself to help accommodate your pressure points, and makes sitting comfortable even if you've, say, left your phone in your back pocket (guilty). This pattern helps distribute your weight evenly across your seat, and lets extraneous pocket items like cell phones sink into the cushion instead of poking into your behind.

I get antsy throughout the workday, especially because I spend so much time sitting down. The cushion also keeps me from constantly shifting around in my seat — instead of stiffly perching on top of it, like I do on my cushion-less chair, I'm relaxing into it. Not only does this accommodate for items left in my pants pockets, but it's also good news for my sit bones. They start to feel pain after balancing throughout the long workday atop a hard surface. The Purple cushion, made of hyper-elastic polymer, means I don't have to balance on those bones.

Plus, the edge of my seat no longer cuts off the circulation in my legs. Because the Purple cushion has give, it doesn't obstruct my blood flow. All of this helps keep my back and hips in line, making it much easier to maintain good posture.

Purple

Something to be wary of with this cushion is that it's not exactly light. While the Portable cushion weighs only 2.75 pounds, that's still adds up if you're carrying it around in a bag with your lunch and other work gear. My Royal cushion weighs 5.4 pounds, so the most I move it around is from one hardwood chair to the other in my kitchen (where I did the majority of my sitting when I worked at home for the past year). However, transporting a 2.75-pound cushion in your car is hardly an inconvenience.

I also wish I could mold my cushion to be the exact shape of my chair. As it is, my cushion hangs off the edge — more of an aesthetic issue than anything, but still something that would be nice to be able to tailor. That being said, different Purple cushions come in different dimensions, and the Royal is the third biggest of seven varieties. And admittedly, I didn't measure my chairs before buying.

Different jobs require different amounts of sitting. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent data, people who worked in office jobs (like lawyers, human resource managers, accountants, and software developers) spent somewhere between 75 and 90% of their workdays seated. Professional drivers sat for over 82% of their time on the job.

If you fall into any of these job categories, I fully suggest giving a Purple seat cushion a try. Enduring pain in your sit bones, tail bone, and legs all day while hunching over your laptop (or steering wheel) isn't worth avoiding the relatively small cost of adding daily comfort to your routine. My seat cushion has made sitting through the workday a much more pleasant exercise, and thanks to its effect on my posture, it's also improved my time spent standing up.

Buy the Purple Royal Seat Cushion for $79 — and check out 6 other seat cushion varieties on the Purple website. Also available to buy on Amazon.

The big headline in 2019: President Trump and other Republican lawmakers have accused Google of suppressing conservative content in its search engine.

But you should really pay attention to:

YouTube's content problem.

Conspiracy theories, fake news and explicit content are not hard to find on YouTube — worse still, YouTube's algorithm sometimes even recommends them, despite Google's efforts to fix it up.

"This is an area we acknowledge there's more work to be done," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in his testimony before Congress regarding questions of conspiracy theory videos on YouTube. Specifically, Pichai was asked about why videos suggesting Hillary Clinton killed young girls during satanic rituals were allowed on the platform. "With our growth comes more responsibility, and we're committed to doing better as we invest more in that area."

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has also acknowledged ths issue, saying: "I've also seen up-close that there can be another, more troubling, side of YouTube's openness. I've seen how some bad actors are exploiting our openness to mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm."

Wojcicki's statement, however, came from a December 2017 blog post and since then, calls to address the problems surrounding YouTube's content and policies have intensified.

YouTuble is one of Google's most important ad revenue engines outside of search. If YouTube doesn't take more action to clean up its mess soon, 2019 could be the year that viewers and creators decide to pack up shop and find a new home for online video.

There aren't completely free rides like there were for Election Day. But the company is still making it easier to get home in someone else's car more cheaply.

Depending on your city, there is likely a discount code worth anywhere from $10 for first-time users to $35. A partnership with Miller Lite is worth $15 for new customers with the code MILLERTIME18.

In Detroit, you can be reimbursed up to $35 for rides between 4 p.m. on December 31 until 4 p.m. on New Year's Day, easily the biggest discount available, thanks to a local law firm. Details are available here.

A similar — but slightly less lucrative — deal is available in Oklahoma City as part of the state's "Drive Sober" campaign.

This was a landmark year for new construction, with more than 140 skyscrapers erected across the globe.

The number falls short of 2017's total, but represents the second-highest tally ever recorded, according to data from the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

The vast majority of tall buildings completed in 2018 are located in China, which underwent a major construction boom, producing more skyscrapers than anywhere else in the world.

The nation is now home to half of the world's 100 tallest skyscrapers, including the Citic Tower, a mammoth structure that tops out at more than 1,700 feet.

Take a look at some of the tallest buildings completed in 2018.

In the world of Instagram, musicians, reality stars, and soccer players rule.

Business Insider has compiled the most followed people on Instagram for 2018, and well-known faces like Cristiano Ronaldo and Kim Kardashian top the list.

Up until this year, the singer and actress Selena Gomez had been the most followed person on Instagram, a title she held for the past two years running. But in 2018 Ronaldo nabbed the top spot.

Besides Ronaldo and Gomez, stars such as Dwayne Johnson and musicians including Ariana Grande are in the top 10.

Here are the 50 most followed people on Instagram in 2018:

Putting together a great home audio system can not only take a lot of research and effort, but a lot of money too. Not everyone, however, has either of those things — not to mention the fact that not everyone wants to dedicate all the room required for a serious audiophile setup with multiple speakers and subwoofers around the house. That makes a simple pair of stereo speakers a great option — and if you're looking for a great pair of inexpensive stereo speakers, then the Q Acoustics 3020i speakers may well be the way to go.

Q Acoustics has a track record in building great-quality speakers for your home that aren't overly expensive — and the Q Acoustics 3020i speakers are only the latest in a long line of products.

The first thing to note about the Q Acoustics 3020i speakers is their design, and they're pretty good-looking speakers. They come in a few colors, including white, black, grey, and walnut — and all the color options look pretty good. They also come with speaker grills — so if you prefer a more simplistic look and the slight change in sound that comes with it, you can use those too.

The speakers aren't overly big, which is helpful for those looking for an out-of-the-way setup. The speakers themselves come in at 10.9" high, 11.1" deep, and 6.7" wide — enough to give them some serious oomph without taking up a ton of space on a shelf or on your TV stand. They have a sensitivity of 88dB, which basically means that they'll produce 88dB of volume when 1mW of power is supplied to them. While that's not huge, compared to some other speakers, we found it was enough to produce quite a loud sound — and certainly enough for the vast majority of users.

On the back of the speakers, you'll find basic speaker inputs, and that's it. There's no power switch here — these speakers are passive, meaning you'll need to connect them to an amplifier of some kind in order for them to work properly. We tested the speakers with an Onkyo stereo receiver, and they worked perfectly well with it.

In general, we were able to get the speakers up and running in under 15 minutes. As long as you know the basics of setting up a some audio system, you'll find it simple to connect everything together and enjoy the sound that the speakers have to offer.

Read more: The best Alexa-enabled speakers you can buy that aren't made by Amazon

Q Acoustics 3020i Bookshelf Speakers in English Walnut, $299.99 Q Acoustics

For a few weeks, we've been testing the speakers in a variety of different ways, and for each test, we were impressed with how great the speakers the sound for the money. Are they the best-sounding speakers out there? No — but for the price, you really can't do much better. We used the speakers for watching movies and TV, as well as for listening to music during the day, and for listening to podcasts while doing things like cleaning and cooking.

The bass quality on the Q Acoustics 3020i speakers is quite good — though as with any pair of stereo speakers, a subwoofer would definitely give your setup a little extra oomph. We were able to get clear and cutting kick drum sounds, along with a nice smooth bass tone, and while the extension of the bass wasn't as low as we might have liked, we were still pleasantly surprised with what these speakers had to offer. Bass extension basically has to do with just how low the lows are.

The mid-range on the speakers was also pretty well-tuned. The low mids provided plenty of warmth, without getting too muddy or overshadowing other aspects of the frequencies, and the high mids offered enough bite for vocals and guitars to shine through a mix decently well. We did feel like there was a slight cut in some of the high mids, but it never took too much away from our listening experience.

Last but not least was the high end, which again, we found to sound pretty good for the price that these speakers come at. High end is usually the first frequency range that cheaper speakers sacrifice, but these sounded great in that department. Cymbals shone through, while vocals had a crisp tone to them, usually reserved for higher-end and more expensive speakers. We did find that the lower highs seemed to get more attention than the upper highs, but the clarity and detail was still far better than what we would expect for the price here.

Read more: The best over-ear headphones you can buy

So what about volume? For most, there's plenty of it — these speakers can get loud. And they do so without distorting too. At risk of giving the neighbours a headache, we turned up the tunes a few times while testing these — and safe to say, if you want to frustrate the neighbours with these, you can. Of course, we recommend trying to stay on your neighbours' good side.

In general, the Q Acoustics 3020i speakers seem tuned for audiophiles. They don't try to impress too much with extra boosted bass or overly scooped midrange — instead, they aim to offer accuracy, and they do so quite well.

The Q Acoustics 3020i speakers are clearly an excellent option for those who want a great pair of speakers but don't want to have to reach too deep into their pockets. The speakers come at $299 for a pair — which really isn't much compared to the competition. There are other options out there, like the Elac Debut B6.2 ($250), which come at a similar price and offer similar sound quality. But if you have $300 to spend, and want a great pair of speakers for day-to-day listening or connecting to your TV, then these are the way to go.

You can get the Q Acoustics 3020i speakers for yourself straight from Amazon.

Buy the Q Acoustics 3020i Bookshelf Speaker Pair on Amazon for $299.99

A computer virus hit newspaper printing plant in Los Angeles, preventing it from printing and delivering Saturday editions of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other papers to some subscribers.

The Los Angeles Times, which runs the facility, says the computer virus infected systems that are associated with the printing process.

The Times, citing one source with knowledge of the situation, reported that the issues stemmed from a cyberattack that apparently came from a "foreign entity."

"We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information," the source was quoted as saying.

Spokeswoman Hillary Manning says the paper has been working to fix the issues but added that Sunday deliveries may be affected as well.

A note posted to The Times' website apologized to its subscribers.

"We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we actively work to resolve these issues and restore timely service to our customers," it said.

Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong bought both the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year for $500 million.

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

Business Insider Inelligence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

Arguably the greatest tennis player of all time and one of the most prominent tech gurus became one of the most famous power couples when they started dating during the summer of 2015.

They have since had a child and married in an opulent celebration. Their astronomical combined wealth allows them to lead a fabulous lifestyle together.

Check out how they make and spend their millions:

With the wide range of products Amazon offers, it's not much of a surprise that the company decided to produce its own private line of products under the label AmazonBasics.

In keeping up with the competition of the online mattress market, Amazon added an AmazonBasics mattress to their product lineup, which also includes bed frames and sheets. This memory foam mattress is a remarkably affordable offering in the sea of online mattresses currently available. The 10-inch king-size mattress comes in at just under $300. The price alone makes this a mattress worth considering.

While the price is nearly unbeatable, I put the AmazonBasics Mattress to the test to see if the quality and the comfort make it a worthwhile purchase. I slept on the queen-sized 10-inch mattress, but depths of 8 inches and 12 inches are also available, and sizes range from twin to California king.

As with so many of the products featured on Amazon, you won't be without options.

First impressions

I came home to find the AmazonBasics propped on my back porch. While the cardboard exterior was a little worse for wear, the rest of the mattress was perfectly encased and vacuum sealed in a compact roll, resulting in a narrow box that easily fit through the door and up the stairs. There is no white glove delivery service available here, but at this price point I wouldn't expect that type of service. I would highly recommend two people to carry the box just to be safe, but my boyfriend did manage to get this up the stairs on his own — so if you're feeling particularly strong and can't snag a friend, or have a stubborn significant other who insists they don't need help — one can get the job done.

As with most out-of-the-box mattresses, set up was easy. The mattress unrolled from the outer plastic wrapping onto our frame, and I used a pair of scissors to carefully cut through the vacuum-sealed wrapping. It immediately started to expand. Up to 72 hours are recommended for the mattress to come to its full size. I would say it took about a full 24 hours for the mattress to fully take its shape.

There was some odor from the off gassing, and while unpleasant at first, the smell dissipated within 48 hours and hasn't lingered since.

Construction

The AmazonBasics Mattress is made of CertiPUR-US memory foam, and comprises three different layers for support and comfort. The top layer is the softest, providing a nice cushion that conforms to the body. While this mattress isn't without support, those looking for the feeling of resting on top of the mattress won't find that here — this is a softer mattress with more give than some of the firmer options out there. While this mattress does conform to the body more, it's still breathable thanks to the holes in the second layer of foam, and the wave-like shape of the third layer.

All these layers fit together to form a mattress that provides a decent amount of support coupled with plush comfort. The mattress cover that surrounds these layers is removable, but spot cleaning is recommended. I personally haven't tried washing the cover myself, and the tag advises against it. However, I didn't find this to be an issue with the use of a fitted sheet.

Comfort

Overall, I found this mattress to be both comfortable and durable.

From a support standpoint, I personally would have preferred a firmer feel, but this makes sense for me as I tend to sleep mostly on my stomach. If you're looking for a firmer mattress, but don't want to sacrifice affordability, I would recommend giving the Allswell Hybrid Mattress a try. On the other hand, my boyfriend is a back sleeper and experienced no discomfort or back issues during testing. This would also be an ideal mattress for side sleepers, as the plush memory foam cushions the common pressure points of the shoulders and hips, and helps keep everything in alignment.

As mentioned above, the construction of the mattress allows for breathability, and neither one of us had any issues with sleeping too hot.

As a light sleeper, I also appreciated how this mattress performs with motion transference. When my partner rolled over at night, it had a minimal effect on my side of the bed. However, I did notice that because my boyfriend and I are on different spectrums weight wise, I did tend to slide more toward the middle of the mattress during the night. More edge support would likely have helped with this. Overall though, this wasn't a deal breaker, especially considering the deal you get at such an affordable price point.

Final thoughts

Whether you don't have the means to drop a large sum of money on a mattress, or you're looking for affordable options for spaces like a guest room, I would definitely recommend the AmazonBasics Mattress.

Comfort and quality aren't sacrificed here.

Sleep Sherpa says, "The biggest benefit of this mattress is the price. If you know you like the feel of memory foam, and want a mattress a little on the softer side, this would be a great choice." Amazon reviewers like Neil also praise the affordability. He says, "[I] haven't slept this well in a while, and given the cost it's well worth it."

The AmazonBasics Mattress is backed by a one-year limited warranty, and is available in Twin, Full, Queen, King, and California King sizes.

Buy the AmazonBasics Memory Foam Mattress starting at $130 for the 8-inch Twin size here.

For tech, 2018 was a year full of scandal.

From Facebook's dealings with Cambridge Analytica, to Elon Musk smoking weed on-air, the tech industry had its share of controversy in 2018.

When tech executives weren't being questioned on Capitol Hill, however, some were being praised by employees for their leadership and the companies they've helped create.

This week, Comparably— a website that rates companies across a number of different areas — released its 2018 list of Best CEOs. Of the 50 chief execs on that list, 29 were from tech companies.

Here are the 29 best large tech company CEOs of the year: