• One of the feel-good stories to come out of Hurricane Michael was the woman who spotted her relatives' call for help thanks to interactive maps from NOAA.
• Business Insider spoke with Mike Aslaksen, the man in charge of the division that produces these images, which helps track damage to the coastlines and land after natural disasters.
• He said Amber Gee's story of spotting her trapped relatives shows the "multi-use of the data."

Technology is changing the way that emergency responders conduct search-and-rescue operations after hurricanes.

When Hurricane Michael ravaged the Florida Panhandle, Amber Gee turned to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maps to see the damage inflicted on her grandmother's property in Youngstown, Florida.

What she found was remarkable: a call for "HELP" written on the lawn in downed tree branches.

Gee alerted rescuers, who found her uncle, aunt, and a family friend hunkering down at the property last Sunday, and brought them to safety.

It was a feel-good story for Mike Aslaksen, who leads the remote sensing division of the NOAA's National Geodetic Survey.

"I'm happy that there was a happy ending to this," he told Business Insider on Tuesday. "It again really shows some of the multi-use of this data."

The images Gee found came from NOAA researchers taking photos from survey planes that flew over the damaged areas once the hurricane had passed through. The images were then compiled into an interactive map that anyone can search and explore.

Aslaksen remembers a similar story coming out of Hurricane Katrina, and is hopeful that the press surrounding Gee's story will lead to others using the tool in future natural disasters.

A bird's eye view

This technology is hardly new. Aslasksen says NOAA has been taking aerial photos after natural disasters since the 1930s.

Typically, the agency sends a single surveying plane up after hurricanes to see what kind of damage the storm has done to the shorelines that might impact nautical travel. FEMA also gives Aslaksen's team special missions to collect images of the destruction inland.

Aslaksen shared this image showing the routes the survey plane took after Hurricane Michael. The lines covered the shoreline and a large area north of Panama City, with one line stretching up into Georgia:

The images taken from the plane are especially helpful at the beginning of the recovery effort, when search-and-rescue teams are reliant on these pictures to see which routes they can take to reach hard-hit areas or whether they need to be helicoptered in.

Aslasken said he heard Florida officials used the Hurricane Michael images to determine the best places for helicopters to land in the devastated town of Mexico Beach in order to deliver much-needed food and water.

Read more:25 photos show Hurricane Michael's destruction from the sky

A new era of disaster imagery

And it's not only hurricanes they're surveying from the sky.

The team, which usually includes two pilots and a sensor operator, have also been sent to survey the damage after tornadoes, major floods, earthquakes, nor'easters, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and even man-made disasters like the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

It was September 11th that proved a turning point for the division. Back then, they used film to take their pictures, which meant that it could take up to a week to process the data into a digital format.

"When we interacted with the emergency response community, they really said we need it in 24 hours or we can't use it all," Aslaksen said. So his team focused their energies on digitizing their whole process to meet that 24-hour goal.

They met that goal and then some. In regards to Michael, the team flew their first mission Thursday morning and had their first sets of maps out by 8:30 p.m., just four hours after landing.

"Comparatively, if we had to do that from the high-end work stations that we used to carry, that could be eight to 12 hours," he said.

Aslaksen credits the quick turnaround to their camera, which does a lot of the processing while they are still in the air, and the cloud system that they upload their photos to, which can upload between 1,500 to 3,000 images in just a matter of hours.

"Our biggest challenge in a lot of cases is just having a good internet connection to upload the data," he said.

Record-breaking events

After years of responding to natural disasters, Aslaksen said four stuck out in particular: Hurricane Katrina, the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado, the US Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma, and Michael.

Aslaksen said it left him awestruck to see before images of the Virgin Islands, totally green, turned to brown after Irma completely stripped the vegetation.

"This really shows you how the impact of these storms can be. When you're told to leave, you need to leave," he said.

Aslaksen said the records show the events they've surveyed in the last year or two have been more severe.

"We're flying a lot more than we used to," he said.

SEE ALSO: A Florida woman sent rescuers to save her family when she saw the word 'HELP' written on the lawn in aerial images after Hurricane Michael

DON'T MISS: 25 photos show Hurricane Michael's destruction from the sky

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NOW WATCH: NASA footage shows the 'nightmare' Hurricane Florence

Tech stocks took a beating in last week's market-wide sell off. 

But one Wall Street analyst thinks a special breed of software companies are well positioned to withstand choppy stock market conditions. 

In a note published Sunday, Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne flagged a group of software companies and compared them to February 2016 levels — that's when the stock market reached a short-lived low point amid uncertainty and fear.

"We believe that when it comes to software investing, times of macro stress and market volatility have usually ended up being good buying opportunities," Materne wrote, adding that investors who look past the "noise in prior crises have generally been rewarded," three to six months later.

The key? Many companies in the software sector have built businesses based on recurring revenue, giving the businesses a "durability" that's now well-understood by investors, Materne wrote.. The top 25 software companies today have 69% of their revenue from recurring business customers, compared to 42% 10 years ago, he said. 

Materne highlighted software companies with estimated growth of more than 20% in the upcoming years. Those stocks tend to have an enterprise value of around 5x their revenue. And as their revenues grow, so will their valuations. 

Here are 18 high-growth software companies to keep on your radar:

SEE ALSO: $7.2 billion Twilio is spending $2 billion to buy one of its publicly-traded partners

Carbon Black

Analysts expect Carbon Black (CBLK), which went public this year, to grow its revenues by 22.7% in 2019 and 24.3% in 2020. Its enterprise value— a slightly different figure from market capitalization — is 2.6x its estimated revenue over the next twelve months. Materne thinks that multiple could reasonably grow to 5x. 

Box

Box (BOX) has had a rough time on the stock market in recent months, and is trading down 10% from a year ago, but its revenues are still slated to grow 20.9% and 17.7% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The company's enterprise value is 3.7x its estimated revenue over the next twelve months, and Materne thinks it could reasonably grow to a 5x multiple.

Rapid7

Rapid7 (RPD) is up 80% from where it traded a year ago. With 20% revenue growth expected in 2019 and 22.3% growth expected in 2020, the company could continue to see its valuation grow. Its enterprise valuation is curretly 5.2x its estimated revenue over the next twelve months

• Apple cofounder Steve Jobs popularized the "tech keynote" back in the mid-80s, where he would walk on stage to a crowd of hundreds of fans to announce new gadgets, software, and technological developments.
• These days, most of the big tech companies hold similar-style keynotes, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, and even companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and Nvidia.
• Keynotes are not very efficient — they're long, and usually lacking surprises given the abundance of leaks of major tech products.
• Tech companies would be better off retiring keynotes in favor of online debuts, where they can control the presentation and messaging — plus preserve some surprises — by making announcements directly to consumers via websites or videos.

Steve Jobs was famous for his "keynote" presentations.

For decades, starting in the mid-1980s all the way up to 2010, hundreds of tech enthusiasts would cheer for Jobs as he walked on stage to debut new gadgets and services in front of a large screen. People treated him like a rock star, even though the keynotes themselves consisted of little more than showing off a PowerPoint presentation using Apple's software, appropriately named "Keynote."

Indeed, Jobs' presentations did feature a "rock star" quality about them. No matter what he was there to talk about, he always made Apple's latest invention sound like something you couldn't live without. He made even smaller developments sound exciting and world-changing.

These days, Jobs is no longer around, but countless imitators have taken his place. Apple continues its keynote presentations, which are held roughly two to three times a year, but plenty of other tech companies do the same: Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Samsung, and even companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and Nvidia hold similar keynote presentations throughout the year to debut new products.

The thing is, the magic of the keynote has worn off.

Tech companies can't keep a secret anymore

The first tech keynotes were held long before the internet came along. So each presentation had an air of mystery about it: What would be unveiled? How will it change our lives?

These days, that mystery no longer exists. Between the power and pervasiveness of the internet, and the fact hundreds of thousands of interested parties will pay significant sums of money to learn even the smallest detail about the next iPhone, it usually means tech keynotes get spoiled in one way or the other — many months before they're even held.

For years, we've known crucial details about the new iPhone long before Apple holds its official keynote. We knew about Touch ID in the iPhone 5S before it was introduced. We knew about the iPhone 6 redesign months before it happened. And we knew almost every single little detail about the iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, and this year's iPhone XS and XS Max, before those phones were launched.

It's not just Apple, though. Samsung's two biggest phones of 2018, the Galaxy S9 and Note 9, were known about months before their debuts. And Google's new Pixel 3 may have been the most-leaked smartphone ever, with countless leaked images and documents — and even a physical sale of a pre-release phone— leading up to its October unveiling.

The fact is, if you follow the news at all in 2018, it's very rare to witness a tech presentation that features legitimate surprises. And if there are no surprises, what's the point of the presentation?

Keynotes should evolve into "online debuts"

If the goal of the keynote is to give tech companies control over how they present their new products, there's a better way to do that than inviting people to a physical event space.

The internet offers powerful visual tools — and the fact is, after every tech keynote ends, the company invites people to just visit the website anyway to learn more.

Therein lies an opportunity: Tech companies should ditch the physical keynote address, which has become old hat by now, and debut their products directly on the internet.

There are a few reasons an online debut would be superior to a tech keynote:

— An online debut gives the company more control over how the new product is presented. With physical keynote addresses, things can go wrong. Microphones can cut out, executives can fumble over their lines, or the products might not work at all! By debuting products online, companies could have total control over how people learn about these new gadgets and services for the first time.

— An online debut provides a greater element of surprise. It's nigh impossible to keep new gadgets a secret before they're debuted, but that's because those products have to make it to a physical event space — and the more people that have exposure to those new products, the greater opportunity there is for leaks. By launching new products online, tech companies could retain the element of surprise; perhaps they could unveil the new product while it's still in its design stage to get ahead of leaks that come out of the supply chain, when the product has already reached the manufacturing stage.

— Keynotes are too long, and too boring, too often. Showcasing new products online first gives people a chance to learn about gadgets at their own pace. Unless they're fans or journalists, most people will not sit through two-hour keynotes — even if it's Apple or Google running the show. Two hours is an extraordinary amount of time, but these tech companies have lots of announcements to get through. By going fully online, tech companies can summarize announcements more easily, or provide more accessible ways to learn about more details instead of sitting through a long presentation.

Whether or not we’ll see tech companies move away from keynotes is another issue entirely. Apple, for one, seems to love its traditional keynotes, and it would be hard to imagine the company ditching those without a major reaction from fans. But for the most part, keynotes have become rote and tired, and should be replaced by something more exciting and innovative. Tech companies owe it to the people who spend countless hours developing those new products to ensure a good first impression.

SEE ALSO: Here's everything Google unveiled at its biggest hardware event of the year

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NOW WATCH: Apple took another subtle jab at Facebook during its iPhone XS event

Apple unveiled three new iPhones this year: the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR.

While the iPhone XR is in a league of its own— it doesn't even go on sale until the end of this month — the iPhone XS and XS Max are considered the true successors to last year's iPhone X, which featured a total redesign that removed the traditional home button in favor of a facial recognition system and an edge-to-edge OLED display.

But if you're considering the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max, which is the right phone for you?

Here are 3 reasons to choose the larger iPhone XS Max instead of the standard iPhone XS:

SEE ALSO: 9 reasons you should buy the smaller iPhone XS instead of the iPhone XS Max

DON'T MISS: The iPhone XR is coming soon: Here are 9 reasons you should buy it instead of an iPhone XS or XS Max

1. The iPhone XS Max has a bigger display — and for smartphones, bigger screens are better for just about anything.

The iPhone XS and XS Max both feature the same OLED "Super Retina" display from last year's iPhone X — the same pixel density, same contrast ratio, same everything.

The only difference, screen-wise, between the iPhone XS and the XS Max, is the size. But size is a pretty big deal.

Going from 5.8 inches on the iPhone XS to 6.5 inches on the iPhone XS Max is a pretty substantial leap, and that bigger screen comes in handy just about everywhere: If you're writing an email, taking notes, watching a movie, or just reading Reddit or Twitter, having more real estate is a good thing. Your content looks bigger and better — particularly your photos and videos, which really pop on that large OLED screen.

If you spend a lot of time on your phone, it's worth the extra $100 (to start) to upgrade to the bigger screen on the iPhone XS Max.

2. The iPhone XS Max has better battery life than the standard iPhone XS.

Last year's iPhone X could last about 12 to 13 hours on a single charge.

This year's iPhone XS lasts 30 minutes longer than the iPhone X, so expect 12.5 to 13.5 hours.

But iPhone XS Max has the best battery life of them all: It lasts 90 minutes longer than the iPhone X, so expect 13.5 to 14.5 hours.

3. The iPhone XS Max has a slight edge when it comes to graphics and overall performance compared to the standard iPhone XS.

Both new iPhones feature identical processors — including Apple's new A12 Bionic chip, 6-core CPU, a 4-core GPU, and a next-generation neural engine that's dedicated to machine learning.

But for some reason, the iPhone XS Max performs slightly better than the iPhone XS when it comes to benchmark scores for graphics and overall speed.

Tom’s Guide performed three separate benchmark tests on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max — Geekbench 4, which measures overall speed, and 3DMark Slingshot Extreme and GFX Bench 5, which both measure graphics performance. The iPhone XS Max came out on top in all three tests. (Both phones performed much better in those benchmark tests than last year’s iPhone X.)

• Hailey Baldwin submitted an application to trademark the name, "Hailey Bieber," on October 10, The Blast reported Friday.
• The model filed to register the name for the purposes of a clothing line, according to a document found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.
• Baldwin and Justin Bieber, who met in 2009, confirmed they got engaged in July.

• Since then, neither Baldwin nor Bieber has commented publicly on their marital status.

• However, in September, people speculated that they were secretly married after the couple was reportedly spotted at a New York City courthouse where marriage licenses are issued.

Hailey Baldwin has submitted an application to trademark the name, "Hailey Bieber."

The model filed to register the name for the purposes of a clothing line on October 10, The Blast reported Friday.

According to a document found on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, the trademark application was filed through Baldwin's company, Rhodedeodato Corp — a combination of the model's middle name, Rhode, and her mother's maiden name, Deodato.

Through her company, Baldwin also submitted applications to trademark her maiden name, "Hailey Baldwin," as well as, "HRB3" — also for the purposes of a clothing line.

Baldwin and Bieber, who met in 2009, have been romantically linked several times — first in 2015, and then again in 2016. In July, one month after they appeared to rekindle their relationship, the pair confirmed they got engaged.

Since then, neither Baldwin nor Bieber has commented publicly on their marital status. However, in September, people speculated that they were secretly married after the couple was reportedly spotted at a New York City courthouse where marriage licenses are issued, according to TMZ.

At the time, an unnamed "religious source" also told People that Baldwin and Bieber were legally married in the courthouse but are planning to have a "big blowout" with friends and family "soon."

On Tuesday, according to Us Weekly, the pair reportedly "simultaneously said yes" when a fan in Los Angeles asked them if they were married. 

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• Mike Vrabel's aggressive play-calling came back to bite him and the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
• After scoring the potential game-tying touchdown late in their game Sunday against the Chargers, the Titans elected to go for a game-winning two-point conversion.
• The Titans had two attempts to win the game thanks to a defensive penalty but threw incompletions on both plays to lose their third straight game.

Mike Vrabel has made a point to be aggressive in his play-calling as head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

Heading into Sunday, his gutsy calls had worked out alright for the Titans — most notably his decision to go for it on fourth down in overtime against the Eagles back in Week 4, extending a drive that ended with a game-winning touchdown.

But this week with the Titans taking on the Chargers in London, Vrabel's risky decisions caught up with him, and ultimately lost the game.

After trailing for most of the game, Marcus Mariota and the Titans marched 90 yards down the field to score a potential tying touchdown with just 31 seconds remaining in the game. With the score 20-19 with the extra point pending, Vrabel immediately held up two fingers to indicate to his players they'd be going for the win.

The Titans first attempt ended in an incomplete pass, but the team was initially bailed out by a defensive holding penalty that moved the ball up to the one-yard line. Now even closer to the game-winning conversion, the Titans lined up again, but rather than handing the ball off to one-person wrecking crew Derrick Henry to pick up the score, Vrabel elected to pass yet again.

Mariota's pass was tipped and ultimately fell incomplete, sealing the win for the Chargers.

After the game, Vrabel stood by his decision to go for the win.

Vrabel's eagerness to go for the win is certainly understandable — it's a message he's been preaching to his players all season and with the Titans entering the game on a losing streak, could have provided the spark necessary to jumpstart their season.

But when such a move backfires, it's always easy to start second-guessing things — both the decision to pass on the game-tying extra point and the decision to throw for the win when only a yard was needed.

With the loss, the Titans fall to 3-4 on the season, dropping out of pole position in the AFC South.

SEE ALSO: Despite the Chargers' attendance concerns, they may be stuck in Los Angeles for at least 20 years

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NOW WATCH: What it takes to be an NFL referee

At the Met Gala in early May, a surprising new couple showed up on the red carpet: billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk and Canadian musician and producer Grimes.

While Musk has long been known to date successful and high-profile women, the two made a seemingly unlikely pairing. Shortly before they walked the red carpet together, Page Six announced their relationship and explained how they met — over Twitter, thanks to a shared sense of humor and a fascination with artificial intelligence.

Since they made their relationship public in May, the couple has continued to make headlines: Grimes for publicly defending Musk and speaking out about Tesla, and Musk for tweeting that he wants to take Tesla private, sparking an SEC investigation.

But shortly after Musk's run-in with the SEC, Grimes and Musk unfollowed each other on social media, igniting rumors that the pair had broken up. 

Now, it appears that the couple is spending time together again: they were spotted with Musk's five sons at a pumpkin patch in Los Angeles last weekend. 

For those who may still be wondering who Grimes is and how she and Musk ended up together, here's what you need to know about the Canadian singer and producer.

SEE ALSO: How to dress like a tech billionaire for $200 or less

Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. She attended a school that specialized in creative arts but didn't focus on music until she started attending McGill University in Montreal.

Source: The Guardian, Fader

A friend persuaded Grimes to sing backing vocals for his band, and she found it incredibly easy to hit all the right notes. She had another friend show her how to use GarageBand and started recording music.

Source: The Guardian

In 2010, Grimes released a cassette-only album called "Geidi Primes." She released her second album, "Halfaxa," later that year and subsequently went on tour with the Swedish singer Lykke Li. Eventually, she dropped out of McGill to focus on music.

Source: The Guardian, Fader

• Prince Harry was recently photographed rehearsing an important speech in front of Meghan Markle.
• Hours before the 2018 Invictus Games began Saturday night, Kensington Palace's official Twitter account shared a candid picture of the duke practicing his speech for the event's opening ceremony.
• In the photo, Harry stands on a stage in front of a nearly-empty audience, save for Markle.
• The duchess can be seen sitting in the first row wearing the same white blazer, black top, black pants, and black heels that she was spotted in later that day.
• On Twitter, royal fans said they loved seeing how supportive the duke and duchess are of each other.

Prince Harry was recently photographed rehearsing an important speech in front of Meghan Markle.

Hours before the 2018 Invictus Games kicked off at Sydney Opera House Saturday night, Kensington Palace's official Twitter account shared a candid picture of the duke practicing his speech for the event's opening ceremony.

In the photo, Harry stands on a stage in front of a nearly-empty audience, save for Markle, who is sitting in the first row wearing the same white blazer, black top, black pants, and black heels that she was spotted in later that day.

On Twitter, royal fans said they loved seeing how supportive the duke and duchess are of each other.

The Invictus Games — an international sporting event for wounded and recovering veterans and active servicepeople — will end with a closing ceremony on October 27. Created by Prince Harry, the games have been held annually since 2014.

The duke and duchess, who kicked off their 16-day autumn royal tour on Tuesday, are set to visit cities in Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand in the coming weeks.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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NOW WATCH: 7 outdoor adventures that are worth the hike

• Among the wounded in a deadly insider attack in Kandahar province, Afghanistan that killed a couple of senior Afghan officials and injured a handful of others was an American general.
• The insider attack, which could have cost the top US commander in Afghanistan his life, injured Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley.
• Resolute Support and the Department of Defense have tried to downplay the tragic incident, at first characterizing the wounded general as an injured "service member" and insisting that the assault was an Afghan-on-Afghan attack in which American military personnel were simply caught in the cross-fire.
• The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said Gen. Austin "Scott" Miller, head of NATO's resolute support mission and US Forces-Afghanistan, was clearly one of the intended targets.

A Taliban insurgent masquerading as a bodyguard managed to wound a US Army general in a high-profile insider attack this week that killed senior Afghan officials, injured two Americans, and nearly cost the top US commander in Afghanistan his life, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

During a high-level meeting at the governor's compound in Kandahar province, one of the governor's bodyguards turned his weapon on those in attendance, which included local police chief Lt. Gen. Abdul Raziq, the governor, and the local head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence service, as well as American military personnel — most notably the commander of NATO's Resolute Support mission and US Forces-Afghanistan Gen. Austin "Scott" Miller.

The attacker was killed in the resulting firefight, which was "over in seconds," according to a Resolute Support spokesman, but not before the assailant inflicted casualties on those caught in the open.

Raziq, a powerful figure and a fierce enemy of the Taliban who had survived several assassination attempts, was killed in the attack, along with the local intelligence chief Abdul Momin. The governor, Zalmai Wessa, was wounded, and so were two Americans and a coalition contractor.

Resolute Support and the Department of Defense described the two US wounded as a "service member and a civilian."

That "service member" was Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, who sustained at least one gunshot wound, according to The Post, citing four people with knowledge of the deadly attack. The Pentagon confirmed that report later on Sunday.

The Pentagon has sought to downplay the incident, characterizing it as an Afghan-on-Afghan attack where US military personnel were caught in the crossfire. The Taliban countered this narrative, stating that Miller was among the intended targets.

That the Taliban was able to get close enough to take shots at senior US leadership indicates that a victory in the ongoing fight may be farther off than the Pentagon suggests.

The Department of Defense continues to express optimism even as the war in Afghanistan enters its 18th year and Americans who weren't alive when 9/11 occurred are now old enough to enlist. There have been eight US military deaths in Afghanistan this year, significantly less than the nearly 500 killed in 2010, but Afghan casualties remain high.

"We remain absolutely committed to an Afghan-led Afghan reconciliation," Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday. "Right now, we're going toward the election and we will continue to defend the Afghan people." Mattis says he continues to have confidence in the Afghan security forces.

The elections were held Saturday after a brief delay following the attack. "With casting our ballots without fear, we honor the sacrifices of the fallen," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani tweeted on election day.

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• On Sunday, the Saudi foreign minister denied Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman knew of Jamal Khashoggi's death before it occurred in the Saudi consulate in Turkey on October 2.
• Saudi Arabia said Saturday that Khashoggi died after a fistfight escalated inside the consulate, but many international leaders were skeptical of that explanation.
• US President Donald Trump, who has been reluctant to punish Saudi Arabia for its suspected hand in the Washington Post columnist's death, said Saturday that "obviously there’s been deception, and there’s been lies" in the Kingdom's response to the incident.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir denied that his powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had anything to do with Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi's death, and doubled down on the claim that a "rogue operation" was responsible.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia claimed Khashoggi died after a "fistfight" escalated inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey, contradicting the accusation from officials in Istanbul that the Washington Post columnist was brutally tortured and dismembered.

Speaking to Fox News' Bret Baier on Sunday, Al-Jubeir said the kingdom was investigating, had arrested 18 suspects, and had fired intelligence officials.

"The crown prince has denied this, the crown prince was not aware of this — even the senior leadership of our intelligence service was not aware of this," he said.

The foreign minister continued: "This was an operation that was a rogue operation. This was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding the authorities and responsibilities they had. They made a mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate, and they tried to cover up for it."

Al-Jubeir offered his condolences to Khashoggi's family and said he wanted to "make sure those who are responsible are punished."

Khashoggi had entered the consulate on October 2 to get paperwork to marry his fiance, Hatice Cengiz, and never came out. Disturbing accounts from Turkish media immediately started circulating as Saudi officials said Khashoggi had left the consulate, a story that has changed over time.

A senior Saudi official anonymously told Reuters on Sunday that operatives at the consulate "tried to prevent him from shouting but he died. The intention was not to kill him."

The official said the team rolled up Khashoggi's body in a rug and gave it to a "local cooperator" to dispose of, then attempted to remove traces of the incident from the consulate, according to Reuters.

Trump remains reluctant to retaliate

While a growing bipartisan chorus of senators have called for the US to retaliate against Saudi Arabia's alleged involvement in Khashoggi's death, President Donald Trump has been reluctant to commit to sanctions or other such punishments.

Trump said Saturday that he wasn't satisfied with Saudi Arabia's latest response, and again said canceling a $110 billion arms deal with the country would hurt the US "far more than it hurts them."

"Saudi Arabia has been a great ally. But what happened is unacceptable. We are going to see," he said, adding that the arrests were "a big first step. It's only a first step, but it's a big first step."

The president was more critical in an interview with the Washington Post later on Saturday, saying that in Saudi Arabia's explanation for Khashoggi's death, "obviously there's been deception, and there's been lies."

"Nobody has told me he's responsible," Trump told the Post, referring to Crown Prince Mohammed. "Nobody has told me he's not responsible. We haven't reached that point ... I would love if he wasn't responsible."

Republican Sen. Bob Corker took a different view on the crown prince.

"Do I think he did it? Yes, I think he did it," Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. But he said he sees Trump evolving in a positive direction on the issue.

For now, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are continuing their investigations into Khashoggi's death before Trump or the US Senate decide on any retaliatory measures against the Kingdom.

Watch Fox News' interview with the Saudi foreign minister below:

SEE ALSO: Steve Mnuchin says Saudi Arabia's explanation of Khashoggi's death is 'not enough'

DON'T MISS: Here's everything we know about the troubling disappearance and death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

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NOW WATCH: Inside the Trump 'MAGA' hat factory

• Investors are pouring hundreds of millions into startups that are changing how we get healthcare by keeping patients out of doctors' offices.
• These companies are focused on treating conditions like hair loss and erectile dysfunction, or providing birth control. They combine a virtual doctor's visit with a prescription, and the treatments are shipped straight to the consumer.
• But some doctors are worried about what will happen if consumers treat their healthcare as a series of one-off encounters without getting a full checkup.

The future of medicine could look a lot like a box of generic Viagra showing up on your doorstep.

A wave of startups promising to diagnose and treat erectile dysfunction or hair loss, provide birth control, or straighten your teeth, all without leaving your home, has attracted $662 million in venture funding in the past 12 months, by Business Insider's calculations.

That's up from essentially zero in the prior year.

Investors are wagering that consumers will be increasingly willing to shop for healthcare the same way they buy mattresses or fancy wool sneakers online.

The healthcare industry as a whole has been jockeying to stay competitive as companies realize that patients, used to the consumer experience they're getting from Amazon and Netflix, have higher expectations for their doctor's visit.

That's been a driving force behind mega-deals like Amazon's acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack and CVS Health's merger with Aetna. On-demand healthcare options like urgent care have gained in popularity too.

"There are other ways of actually reaching these people and having their demand be met by a new healthcare or consumer offering," Ambar Bhattacharyya, the managing director of Maverick Ventures who leads the firm's healthcare investments, including a stake in generic Viagra purveyor Hims, told Business Insider.

But because these services tend to be focused on a particular condition, it has some doctors worried that patients may be overlooking their overall health. Will the care they're getting for erectile dysfunction, say, be as comprehensive as a checkup with a primary-care doctor?

"We do have concerns about that," Dr. Michael Munger, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, told Business Insider. "They're only taking into account one small aspect of the person as a whole."

Some of the services say they can bring care to people who wouldn't otherwise get any. Men are half as likely to go see a doctor regularly as women are, so finding new ways to reach them, such as through these services, could help close that gap.

"What we've found from a positioning standpoint is that men generally are acute-need-focused," Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said.

How it works

The companies offer a more convenient way of getting healthcare, typically combining an often virtual doctor's visit with a prescription they ship to you. There's no wait for an appointment and often no need to leave your house.

A few big factors are enabling their rise. Some of the treatments being offered, such as the erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra, are going generic, making them cheaper for consumers. And the rise of high-deductible insurance plans means people are on the hook for more of their healthcare costs. Legal changes are also making it easier to provide care online, and Medicare might even pay for it too.

The companies are building off successes that have happened outside the pharmacy realm, such as in the teeth-straightening market. Four years in, for instance, SmileDirectClub is up to 2,500 employees, with plans to hire another 1,000 by the end of 2018. And earlier this month, the company announced it had raised $380 million in a new funding at a $3.2 billion valuation.

"It's becoming the soup du jour," Eric Kim, a managing partner at Goodwater Capital, said. Goodwater has invested in companies like Simple Contacts and at-home diagnostics company EverlyWell.

Kim's been investing in direct-to-consumer healthcare companies since 2014, and what appeals to him about the business is that, because there isn't a physical component, the companies can focus on the consumer in a way that a brick-and-mortar doctor's office can't. Ultimately, he sees this being a good entry point into healthcare.

"What I think these direct to consumer businesses are good at over time is being the tip of the spear in your care journey," Kim said.

Andreessen Horowitz partner Vijay Pande said he's still looking for the right investment in consumer healthcare. Pande invests in biotech and healthcare firms, recently leading a $300 million round for a Medicare Advantage insurance startup. Pande said that people are getting more used to shopping around for their healthcare, particularly when they have high deductibles.

"People are very much incentivized to take charge of their own healthcare," Pande said. "That's actually a really important part of healthcare."

For now, the medications that the startups provide — with the exception of birth control — are paid for in cash, and patients can't use their insurance. That could limit the conditions that the companies can tackle when it comes to what patients are willing to pay for out of pocket — typically, cheaper generic drugs.

Other conditions might require more than just a conversation with a doctor to get to a diagnosis, like a testing kit or some other physical supplement that still needs to be worked out.

Simple Contacts' CEO, Joel Wishkovsky, was an early pioneer of online vision screening and is now expanding into birth control. He said that, if anything, the online model provides another choice for consumers, rather than replacing physicians. Patients can still opt to go in person to the doctor if they want, but if they'd rather have a virtual visit that option is now available to them in a way it wasn't a few years ago.

"I don't think you're going to have 100% utilization online," Wishkovsky told Business Insider. "It's reasonable to expect that over the next decade you have large chunks of patients doing things online."

See also:

• An $80-a-month startup that wants to help straighten your teeth — without you having to step foot in an orthodontist's office — has been growing like crazy
• 'For a woman to have gotten this in the last 2 years was like winning the Powerball': How Sprout is trying to relaunch its 'female Viagra' drug
• The cofounder of Groupon launched a cancer-data startup after his wife's diagnosis. Now it's worth $2 billion after 3 years.

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Gays and lesbians throughout India rejoiced last month when a landmark court ruling made homosexuality legal in the country.

While the decision may seem like a long time coming for those in the LGBTQ community, gay sex is still illegal in nearly 40% of countries in the United Nations, according to statistics released last year by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

To understand how gay rights vary around the world, Business Insider created a set of maps that visualize which countries have legalized gay marriage and the countries where gay people can still be put to death, among other questions.

The results show that while homosexuality is no longer outlawed in the majority of the world, there's still a long way to go in terms of acceptance and equality for LGBTQ people.

Religion is an un-ignorable factor in the maps. While the majority of the world has legalized homosexuality, the countries where it is still outlawed are concentrated in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa — areas with majority-Muslim nations.

According to the Associated Press, "Islamic scholars overwhelmingly teach that same-gender sex is a sin."

The Quran teaches that homosexuality should be punished but doesn't detail how. The Prophet Muhammad is alleged to have been more explicit that homosexuals should be killed in some of his teachings. That's why some countries that implement sharia law (rules based on Islamic teachings) make homosexuality a capital crime.

Source: Associated Press

In fact, nearly all of the countries where homosexuality is technically still a capital crime are majority Muslim.

Nigeria is split between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north. Homosexuality only carries the death penalty for some states in the north.

Source: ILGA

In some countries where homosexuality is legal, there are still several laws in place that make living openly difficult.

In Russia for example, a federal law passed in 2013 makes it illegal to distribute "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations." The country also makes it difficult for sexual orientation-related non-governmental organizations to operate in the country.

Under the 2012 foreign agent law, all organizations that receive any sort of funding from abroad must register as a foreign agent or else be fined.

Maximum, an organization that operates in the country to help the LGBT community, was fined about 300,000 rubles (about $4,500 USD) in 2015 for refusing to heed the law because they thought it undermined the work that their employees do.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, IGLA

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• The Philadelphia Eagles blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead on Sunday at home against the Carolina Panthers.
• The Eagles defense had been particularly dominant and was caught celebrating early, only to collapse in the final period.
• Cam Newton and the Carolina offense scored on three straight touchdown drive to win 21-17.

The Philadelphia Eagles collapsed on Sunday, giving up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to the Carolina Panthers to blow a 17-0 lead at home.

The Eagles were dominant to start the game, with the Philadelphia defense playing up to expectations to shut down Cam Newton and the Panthers.

At halftime, the Eagles held a 10-0 lead and had all but bottled up Carolina, holding the Panthers to just 83 yards of offense and four first downs in the first half. After adding another touchdown to their lead, the Eagles entered the fourth quarter up 17-0 and feeling confident that they were 15 minutes away from another win.

The Philadelphia defense was rather public in their confidence, getting caught on camera dancing on the field together in celebration heading into the fourth quarter.

Their hubris would come back to bite them.

In the fourth quarter, Cam Newton and the Panthers offense would spring to life, scoring on two 80-yard touchdown drives to bring the Eagles lead down to a field goal. After forcing an Eagles three-and-out on the ensuing kickoff, Carolina had just over two minutes to drive and either tie or take the lead.

At one point, it looked as though the Eagles defense would hold, with the Panthers needing 10 yards to keep the game alive on fourth down, but Newton found former Eagle Torrey Smith for the crucial completion.

The Panthers would keep pounding, eventually reaching the goal line where Newton found tight end Greg Olsen in the end zone.

The Eagles would have a chance to come back and retake the lead but were stopped on a fourth down after quarterback Carson Wentz was caught in the backfield and fumbled the ball away. Panthers win, 21-17.

For Carolina, it was the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in franchise history. For the Eagles, it was their second loss of the season that swung on their defense's inability to get a stop on fourth and 10 or longer.

Chances are this is the last time you'll see the Eagles celebrate before the final whistle for some time.

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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.

Fintech hubs — cities where startups, talent, and funding congregate — are proliferating globally in tandem with ongoing disruption in financial services. 

These hubs are all vying to become established fintech centers in their own right, and want to contribute to the broader financial services ecosystem of the future. Their success depends on a variety of factors, including access to funding and talent, as well as the approach of relevant regulators.

This report compiles various fintech snapshots, which together highlight the global spread of fintech, and show where governments and regulatory bodies are shaping the development of national fintech industries. Each provides an overview of the fintech industry in a particular country or state in Asia or Europe, and details what is contributing to, or hindering its further development. We also include notable fintechs in each geography, and discuss what the opportunities or challenges are for that particular domestic industry.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Most countries in Europe have made some formal attempt to foster the development of domestic fintech industries, with Germany and Ireland seeing the best results so far. France, meanwhile, got off to a slow start, but that's starting to change. 
• The Asian fintech scene took off later than in the US or Europe, but it's seen rapid growth lately, particularly in India, China, and Singapore.
• The increasing importance of technology-enabled products and services within the financial services ecosystem means the global fintech industry isn't going anywhere. 
• Fintech hubs will continue to proliferate, with leaders emerging in each region.
• The future fintech landscape will be molded by regulatory bodies — national and international — as they seek to mitigate the risks, and leverage the opportunities, presented by fintech. 

 In full, the report:

• Explores the fintech industry in six countries or states, and identifies individual fintech hubs.
• Highlights successful fintechs in each region.
• Outlines the challenges and opportunities each country or state faces. 
• Gives insight into the future of the global fintech industry. 

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• The Bears and Patriots played to a thrilling finish on Sunday, with Chicago almost making the play of the year.
• Down a touchdown with just two seconds remaining, Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw up a hail mary towards the end zone as a last-ditch effort to tie the game.
• Receiver Kevin White came down with the ball but was stopped just inches short of the end zone before he could complete the miracle.

Football is known as a game of inches but rarely is that truth as clearly on display as it was on Sunday at the end of the Bears-Patriots game in Chicago.

The upstart Bears had done well for themselves to keep pace with the Patriots in a high-scoring affair for most of the day but eventually found themselves in need of a miracle at the end of the game.

After forcing a Patriots punt late in the fourth, the Bears got the ball back at their 20-yard line, down a touchdown with just 24 seconds left in the game. Mitch Trubisky found several receivers on quick out routes to move the Bears offense up towards midfield with two seconds left, setting up Chicago for one final heave to the end zone.

Trubisky took the snap, moved through the pocket, and fired a rocket downfield with a prayer.

It came within inches of being answered.

Receiver Kevin White came down with the ball in traffic and attempted to push for the goal line, only to be met by a Patriots defense that was determined to bend, not break. White was called short of the touchdown on the field, and once the ruling was confirmed upstairs, the game was officially over.

The Patriots had survived the Bears' potential comeback by a matter of inches.

SEE ALSO: Titans fail to score on game-winning two-point conversion twice to lose heartbreaker to the Chargers in London

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• The Baltimore Ravens comeback came up short in unbelievable fashion on Sunday.
• After driving the field for what should have been the game-tying touchdown, kicker Justin Tucker missed the extra point, leaving the Ravens just short of completing their comeback.
• It was the first missed extra point of Tucker's storied NFL career.

The Baltimore Ravens were right where they wanted to be.

After getting the ball back down a touchdown, Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense drove the field for a potential game-tying score against the New Orleans Saints.

With just 14 seconds remaining, Flacco found receiver John Brown in the end zone, and everyone prepared for overtime.

All that was left was for Justin Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, to send home the extra point and tie everything up at 24-24.

As the commentators ominously noted, Tucker had never missed an extra point in his career, going an impressive 222/222 up until that point.

But then, the unthinkable happened. Tucker shanked his kick wide right.

It's possible that no one was more shocked with the miss than Tucker himself, who couldn't help but look bewildered as he wondered what went wrong.

Another angle of the kick makes clear just how wild a trajectory Tucker's kick took, hooking hard to the right to force the fateful miss.

Kicking in football is never a sure thing, but Tucker was about as close as humanly possible. Not only had he never missed an extra point, but Tucker had also never before missed any kick inside 33 yards in his seven years in the NFL.

Unfortunately for the Ravens, there's a first time for everything, and Tucker's unexpected miss left the Ravens just short of the comeback win, falling to the Saints, 24-23.

SEE ALSO: Bears complete last-second Hail Mary but Patriots stop receiver inches short of end zone

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• The interim chairman of CBS has resigned due to illness, the company announced Sunday.
• Parsons was named interim chairman in September, following the ousting of Les Moonves amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations.
• CBS said Strauss Zelnick, the CEO and chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., will replace Parsons as CBS' interim chairman.

CBS Corp. says that Richard Parsons, its interim chairman and a veteran of the media industry, has resigned from its board due to illness.

The media company named Strauss Zelnick, another media industry leader, as his replacement.

CBS named Parsons interim chairman in September as it tried to reshape itself following the resignation of its longtime chief Les Moonves, who had faced multiple sexual misconduct allegations.

Parsons said in a statement Sunday that he was already dealing with multiple myeloma when he joined the board, but "unanticipated complications have created additional new challenges" and that his doctors have advised he cut back on his commitments to ensure recovery.

His successor, Zelnick, currently serves as CEO and chairman of interactive entertainment company Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

Parsons was known for bringing a steady hand to a number of complex business deals, including the AOL-Time Warner merger, and had already launched the search for a new chief executive at CBS, according to The New York Times.

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