• CenturyLink customers across the nation are experiencing phone-signal and internet outages.
• The website downdetector.com, which detects technology outages in real time, reported that customers have been impacted in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver; Seattle; Boise, Idaho; Dallas; Los Angeles; Chicago; Phoenix; and parts of Montana.
• Some local news stations are reporting that 911 services have been impacted in parts of Arizona, Minnesota, and Missouri.
• CenturyLink provides internet, phone, television, and home-security services to customers across 37 states.

CenturyLink customers nationwide are experiencing phone-signal and internet outages.

The website downdetector.com, which detects technology outages in real time, reported that customers have been impacted in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver; Seattle; Boise, Idaho; Dallas; Los Angeles; Chicago; Phoenix; and parts of Montana.

"Our network is experiencing a disruption affecting customer services," the company tweeted on Thursday afternoon. "We understand some customers are currently unable to generate tickets through the CTL help portal. We know how important services are to our customers and are working to restore services as quickly as possible."

The local ABC News affiliate KNXV-TV in Arizona reported that the outage impacted the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, which had to reroute 911 and administrative calls to the Douglas Police Department. KOMO-TV in Seattle reported that parts of Missouri and Minnesota also experienced 911 service disruptions, and, in Idaho, some government agencies were impacted.

The issue began early Thursday morning for some customers. On downdetector.com, some customers commented that their internet service was intermittent, while others complained about the lack of communication about the outage and how long it would last. Customers also vented their frustration on Twitter with the hashtag "#CenturyLinkDown."

CenturyLink provides internet, phone, television, and home-security services to customers across 37 states. When contacted by Business Insider, a CenturyLink representative said they are working to restore service.

SEE ALSO: Instagram accidentally released an update that removed scrolling and replaced it with a horizontal feed. And people were furious.

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NOW WATCH: China made an artificial star that's 6 times as hot as the sun, and it could be the future of energy

The healthcare industry is facing disruption due to accelerating technological innovation and growing demand for improved delivery of healthcare and lower costs. Tech startups are leading the way by seizing opportunities in the areas of the industry that are most vulnerable to disruption, including genomics, pharmaceuticals, administration, clinical operations, and insurance.

Venture funds and businesses are taking notice of these startups' potential. In the US, digital health funding reached $1.6 billion in Q1 2018, according to Rock Health — the largest first quarter on record, surpassing the $1.4 billion in venture funding seen in Q1 2016. These high-potential startups provide a glimpse into the future of the healthcare space and demonstrate how we’ll get there.

In this report, a compilation of various notes, Business Insider Intelligence will look at the top startups disrupting US healthcare in four key areas: artificial intelligence (AI), digital therapeutics, health insurance, and genomics. Startups in this report were selected based on the funding they've received over the past year, notable investors, the products they offer, and leadership in their functional area.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Tech startups are entering the market by applying the “Silicon Valley” approach. They're targeting shortcomings and legacy systems that are no longer efficient.
• AI is being applied across five areas of healthcare to improve clinical operation workflows, cut costs, and foster preventative medicine. These areas include administration, big data analysis, clinical decision support, remote patient monitoring, and care provision.
  
• Health tech startups, insurers, and drug makers are rapidly exploring new ways to apply digital therapeutics to the broader healthcare market that replace or complement the existing treatment of a disease.
• Health insurance startups are taking advantage of the consumerization of healthcare to threaten the status quo of legacy players. 
• Genomics is becoming an increasingly common tool within the healthcare system as health organizations better understand how to extract the value from patients’ genetic data. 

 In full, the report:

• Details the areas of the US health industry that show the greatest potential for disruption.
• Forecasts the industry adoption of bleeding edge technology and how it will transform how healthcare organizations operate.
• Unveils the top five startups in AI, digital therapeutics, health insurance, and genomics, and how they're positioned to solve big issues that key players in healthcare face. 
• Explores what's next for the leading startups, providing a glimpse into the future of the healthcare space and demonstrating how we’ll get there.

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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.

Smart speakers comprise one of the fastest-growing device segments in the consumer technology market today. Ownership levels have nearly doubled from early 2017 to summer 2018. 

With this rapid growth, there are a few pivotal questions that both companies looking to develop and sell smart speakers as well as those looking to sell products, deliver media, and offer access to services like banking over these devices need answers to in order to craft successful strategies. In particular, they need to know who is and isn’t buying smart speakers, and what consumers who own smart speakers are actually doing with them. 

To offer these stakeholders insight, Business Insider Intelligence asked more than 500 US consumers about their knowledge of smart speakers, the devices they do or don’t own and what led them to their purchase decisions, as well as the tasks they’re using their smart speakers for.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence will look at the state of the smart speaker market and outline how each of the major device providers approaches the space. We will then focus on the key factors that affect whether or not someone owns one of these devices. Next, we will use our survey data to outline the reasons why people don’t own devices in order to offer guidance for who to target and how. Finally, we will discuss what consumers are actually doing with their smart speakers — specifically looking at how the devices are used and perceived in e-commerce, digital media, and banking — which can help companies determine how well they’re publicizing their smart speaker services and capabilities.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, Facebook, Sonos, LG, Anker, Spotify, Pandora, Grubhub, Netflix, Hulu, Instagram, Snap.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Despite their growing popularity, nearly half of respondents still don't own a device — which presents a long runway for adoption. Our survey data reveals a number of key factors that impact whether or not someone owns one of these devices, including income, gender, and age.
• Smart speakers are establishing themselves as a key platform for e-commerce, media, and the smart home.
• The introduction of a screen to some smart speakers will expand the possibilities for companies developing for the device — but developers will need to resist the compulsion to use speakers to accomplish too much.

In full, the report:

• Provides an overview of the key players and products in the smart speaker market.
• Highlights critical adoption rates broken out by key factors that define the segment.
• Identifies how consumers are using devices in important areas where companies in various industries are trying foster greater use of the voice interface.

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• Investigators have reportedly learned that a cell phone traced to Michael Cohen sent cell signals in Prague in late summer 2016.
• The revelation raises fresh questions about a key allegation about Cohen in the Steele dossier.
• The document said Cohen and Kremlin representatives held "clandestine meeting/s" in Prague in August 2016 to discuss how to limit the discovery of the close "liaison" between the Trump campaign and Russia.
• Previous media reports have indicated that investigators have additional evidence corroborating the dossier's claim.
• Cohen, who is cooperating with Mueller, denied the dossier's allegation on Thursday.

Investigators have learned that a cell phone traced back to Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime former lawyer and fixer, sent signals that ricocheted off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, McClatchy reported, citing four people with knowledge of the matter.

During that same period — around late August or early September 2016 — the outlet said an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up surveillance of a conversation among Russians, one of whom remarked that Cohen was in Prague.

Details of Cohen's possible trip to Prague first emerged publicly in a dossier, which alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, compiled by the former British spy Christopher Steele.

The document cited a "Kremlin insider" as saying there were "clandestine meeting/s between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's lawyer Michael COHEN and Kremlin representatives in August 2016."

"The Kremlin insider clearly indicated to his/her friend that the reported contact/s took place in Prague, Czech Republic," it said.

The document further alleged Cohen met with individuals linked to the Russian government, including Konstantin Kosachev, a member of Russia's parliament, and Oleg Solodukhin, who works with the Russian Center for Science and Culture.

It also said Cohen, Kosachev, and others, including Romanian hackers, discussed "how deniable cash payments were to be made to hackers in Europe who had worked under Kremlin direction against the [Hillary] Clinton campaign," and ways to "sweep it all under the carpet and make sure no connection could be fully established or proven."

The dossier further alleged that Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials huddled in or around Prague to plot ways to limit the discovery of the close "liaison" between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Earlier this year, McClatchy reported that the alleged trip was a subject of focus for lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee. Their interest in Cohen's whereabouts in 2016 was said to be fueled by what they considered to be weak documentation Cohen provided to show them where he was — New York and Los Angeles — at the time of the alleged Prague visit.

After he was widely criticized last year for tweeting out a photo of his passport cover as proof that he didn't visit Prague in 2016, Cohen showed the inside of the document to BuzzFeed News. According to the outlet, Cohen's passport did not contain a stamp for the Czech Republic.

However, investigators working for the special counsel Robert Mueller have reportedly obtained evidence that Cohen first flew to Germany in late August or early September 2016, and then traveled to the Czech Republic through another means of transportation.

Were that the case, Cohen may not have needed a passport because both Germany and the Czech Republic lie within the Schengen Area, which encompasses 26 European countries and functions as a single jurisdiction for international travel.

Read more:Washington is buzzing about a mysterious grand-jury fight between Mueller's office and an unknown witness

Cohen disputes the explosive allegation

Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee are said to be using the Steele dossier as a "roadmap" as they investigate Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Trump has called the dossier a "pile of garbage," and Cohen has also publicly disputed the document's allegation about his alleged Prague trip.

"I hear #Prague #CzechRepublic is beautiful in the summertime," Cohen tweeted Thursday, shortly after McClatchy's report was published. "I wouldn’t know as I have never been. #Mueller knows everything!"

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to one count of lying to Congress about his involvement in the Trump Organization's push to build a Trump Tower in Moscow at the height of the election.

He has been cooperating with Mueller since August, shortly before he pleaded guilty in a separate Manhattan US attorney's office investigation into his and Trump's business dealings before the election.

The significance of the dossier's allegation about Cohen stems from the fact that the time frame of Cohen's alleged trip came after a series of damaging revelations about members of the Trump campaign during summer 2016. The dossier said the purpose of Cohen's trip was to mitigate the resulting fallout from those events.

Carter Page's Moscow trip

Carter Page, who served as a foreign-policy adviser to the Trump campaign, traveled to Moscow in early July 2016. The dossier alleged Page met with top Russian officials on the trip who raised the possibility of offering Page a 19% stake in the state-owned company Rosneft in exchange for the US lifting sanctions on Russia if Trump became president.

It also alleged that a former Russian security official, Igor Diveykin, informed Page that the Kremlin had a dossier of kompromat on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton that it wanted to give to the Trump campaign.

Page has slammed the document as "fake news" and often calls it the "dodgy dossier." However, he testified to the House Intelligence Committee last year that he had several contacts with Russia-linked individuals, at times with the Trump campaign's knowledge.

WikiLeaks' email dump

On July 22, 2016, the radical pro-transparency group WikiLeaks, which has been described by CIA director Mike Pompeo as a "non-state hostile intelligence service," published the first batch of hacked Democratic National Committee emails. The US intelligence community concluded that the emails were stolen by hackers aligned with Russian interests, and that WikiLeaks was used as a tool of the Russian government.

Trump has repeatedly praised WikiLeaks and the email dumps. Five days after the first batch of emails was published, Trump publicly called for Russia to find the thousands of emails Clinton deleted from her server.

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said at the time.

Paul Manafort's resignation

Meanwhile, on July 19, 2016, The New York Times reported on financial records Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had filed in Cyprus that showed he was $17 million in debt to pro-Russian interests when he joined the campaign in March.

Shell companies connected to Manafort during his time working for Ukraine's pro-Russia Party of Regions had bought the debt, the report said.

The following month, it emerged that the Party of Regions had earmarked $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments for Manafort in return for his work with the party from 2007 to 2012.

Three days later, on August 19, Manafort resigned from the campaign.

The dossier said Cohen's visit to Prague was made to "clean up the mess" resulting from the revelations about Page's Moscow trip and Manafort's Russia ties.

If Russia investigators do have evidence connecting Cohen to the alleged trip, it would raise a new set of questions about whether, and to what extent, Trump and other campaign associates had knowledge of the event.

SEE ALSO: Washington is buzzing about a mysterious grand-jury fight between Mueller's office and an unknown witness

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

Digital has transformed retail possibilities.

And with e-commerce sales growing at nearly five times the rate of brick-and-mortar sales, retailers need to find cheaper and more efficient ways to deliver e-commerce orders.

But different age groups have different preferences for which delivery and fulfilment options are most important to them.

Find out which delivery features are most important to consumers as well as what fulfillment options retailers should be using to meet consumer demands in this new FREE slide deck from Business Insider Intelligence’s three-part Future of Retail 2018 series.

In this first installment of the series, Business Insider Intelligence explores delivery and fulfillment, including consumers’ delivery preferences, the challenges those demands pose to retailers, and the strategies retailers can use to meet consumers’ expectations of fulfillment without tanking their profitability.

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

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

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• Digital trust is the confidence people have in a platform to protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content.
• Business Insider Intelligence surveyed over 1,300 global consumers to evaluate their perception of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
• Consumers’ Digital Trust rankings differ across security, legitimacy, community, user experience, shareability, and relevance for the six major social networks.

If you feel like “fake news” and spammy social media feeds dominate your Internet experience, you’re not alone. Digital trust, the confidence people have in platforms to protect their information and provide a safe environment to create and engage with content, is in jeopardy.

In fact, in a new Business Insider Intelligence survey of more than 1,300 global consumers, over half (54%) said that fake news and scams were "extremely impactful” or “very impactful” on their decision to engage with ads and sponsored content.

For businesses, this distrust has financial ramifications. It’s no longer enough to craft a strong message; brands, marketers, and social platforms need to focus their energy on getting it to consumers in an environment where they are most receptive. When brands reach consumers on platforms that they trust, they enhance their credibility and increase the likelihood of receiving positive audience engagement.

The Digital Trust Report 2018, the latest Enterprise Edge Report from Business Insider Intelligence, compiles this exclusive survey data to analyze consumer perceptions of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

The survey breaks down consumers’ perceptions of social media across six pillars of trust: security, legitimacy, community, user experience, shareability, and relevance. The results? LinkedIn ran away with it.

As the most trusted platform for the second year in a row – and an outlier in the overall survey results – LinkedIn took the top spot for nearly every pillar of trust — and there are a few reasons why:

• LinkedIn continues to benefit from the professional nature of its community — users on the platform tend to be well behaved and have less personal information at risk, which makes for a more trusting environment.
• LinkedIn users are likely more selective and mindful about engagement when interacting within their professional network, which may increase trust in its content.
• Content on LinkedIn is typically published by career-minded individuals and organizations seeking to promote professional interests, and is therefore seen as higher quality than other platforms’. This bodes well for advertisers and publishers to be viewed as forthright, honest, persuasive, and trustworthy.

Want to Learn More?

Enterprise Edge Reports are the very best research Business Insider Intelligence has to offer in terms of actionable recommendations and proprietary data, and they are only available to Enterprise clients.

The Digital Trust Report 2018 illustrates how social platforms have been on a roller coaster ride of data, user privacy, and brand safety scandals since our first installment of the report in 2017.

In full, the report analyzes key changes in rankings from 2017, identifies trends in millennials' behavior on social media, and highlights where these platforms (as well as advertisers) have opportunities to capture their attention.

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• A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 47% of adult Americans surveyed hold President Donald Trump responsible for the partial government shutdown, which officially began at midnight on December 22.
• The poll, which was conducted between December 21 and December 25, also found that 33% of those surveyed blame congressional Democrats for the shutdown, while 7% hold congressional Republicans responsible for the shutdown.
• The partial government shutdown was triggered because of a budget impasse prompted by Trump's demand for $5 billion in border-wall funding.
• The partial government shutdown has impacted nine federal agencies and roughly 800,000 government employees — 420,000 of whom are deemed "essential" and must continue to work without pay.
• The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 35% of respondents support funding for a border wall and only 25% support a shutdown over wall funding.

A new poll from Reuters/Ipsos shows that 47% of adult Americans surveyed hold President Donald Trump responsible for the partial government shutdown, which officially began at midnight on December 22.

The poll, which was conducted between December 21 and December 25, also found that 33% blame congressional Democrats, while 7% hold congressional Republicans responsible for the shutdown.

The partial government shutdown was triggered because of a budget impasse prompted by Trump's demand for $5 billion in border-wall funding.

Congress passed funding for 80% of the government, but after initially signaling that he would sign a stopgap measure to fund the remaining 20% of the federal government, Trump changed course and said he would not sign a bill that didn't include $5 billion for a border wall.

The House passed a bill with the wall funding; however, it did not have the 60 votes needed to pass in the Senate before lawmakers adjourned for the Christmas holiday.

Read more:Most Americans would rather spend the $5 billion Trump is demanding for the border wall on infrastructure, education, or healthcare

The partial government shutdown has impacted nine federal agencies and roughly 800,000 government employees — 420,000 of whom are deemed "essential" and must continue to work without pay.

Who is to blame for the shutdown, which looks likely to continue into the new year, has been a game of political football. During a televised meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and House Minority Leader — and presumptive Majority Leader come January — Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, Trump said he was "proud" to shut down the government in the name of border security. Soon after, however, he blamed Democrats.

On Tuesday, Trump said, "Many of those [federal] workers have said to me, communicated, 'stay out until you get the funding for the wall.'" But on Thursday, he tweeted, "Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?" The comment immediately drew backlash from congressional Democrats.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 35% of respondents support funding for a border wall and only 25% support a shutdown over wall funding.

SEE ALSO: Here's everything you need to know about the current government shutdown

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

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.

Not that long ago, many home-appliance and consumer-electronics makers were gearing up for what they thought would soon be a rapidly growing market for smart home devices.

The instant popularity of the Nest thermostat, introduced in 2011, seemed to confirm their hopes. But those expectations were dashed in the coming years as the market for connected home devices later stagnated. 

Even with these challenges, many of the biggest consumer technology companies are now moving into the smart home market. For example, Apple, which recently released its self-installed smart home ecosystem, called the Apple Home, traditionally doesn't move into a market until it's very mature and only when it can release a perfected product. Further, Google this fall launched the Google Home and its companion ecosystem, hoping to jump into the voice-activated smart home speaker market, which Amazon currently dominates with its Echo product line. 

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence examines the demographics of the average smart home device owner and discuss why current smart home device owners are appealing to tech companies. The report also examines the plans of various tech giants in the smart home market and discuss their monetization strategies, and makes suggestions for how these companies can position themselves to make their products and devices more appealing to the mass market.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Tech companies primarily enter the market to enhance a core revenue stream or service, while device makers desire to collect data to improve their products and prevent costly recalls.
• We forecast there will be $4.8 trillion in aggregate IoT investment between 2016 and 2021.
• These companies are also seeking to create an early-mover advantage for themselves, where they gain an advantage by this head start on adoption.
• Major barriers to mass market adoption that still must overcome include technological fragmentation and persistently high device prices.

In full, the report:

• Details the market strategy of prominent tech companies and device makers, and analyzes why which ones are best poised to succeed once adoption ticks up.
• Offers insight into current ownership through an exclusive survey from Business Insider Intelligence and analyzes what demographics will drive adoption moving forward.
• Explains in detail which companies are poised to succeed in the market in the coming years as adoption increases and mass market consumers begin to purchase smart home devices.

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NOW WATCH: We tested out $30 tiny spy cameras from Amazon by spying on our co-workers

• President Donald Trump pushed back against claims that the White House or his campaign brought and distributed his signature "Make America Great Again" hats to US troops when he visited Iraq on Christmas.
• Some of the troops were seen with the hats and at least one Trump flag as they waited for the president.
• In a statement to Business Insider, the Air Force denied that the hats had been distributed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and said they were "personal items."
• Although service members are encouraged to "to carry out the obligations of citizenship," regulations "prohibits the wearing of a military uniform during or in connection with the furtherance of any political or commercial interests."
• While some veterans on social media accused the service members of engaging in partisan political activities while in uniform, the event may have blurred what is normally a clear distinction between a partisan activity and a purported candid visit from their commander-in-chief.

President Donald Trump pushed back against claims that the White House brought and distributed his signature "Make America Great Again" campaign hats to US troops when he visited Iraq and Germany on Christmas Day.

Trump accused some news outlets, namely CNN, of making that assertion.

"If these brave young people ask me to sign their hat, I will sign. Can you imagine my saying no?" the president asked, saying that his team did not distribute any hats.

It was unclear whether CNN reported the hats were distributed by Trump's team on the ground; however, a CNN article updated several hours before Trump's tweet included several denials from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and military officials.

The controversy stems from the numerous photos and reports of Trump signing campaign memorabilia for troops in Iraq and Germany. Trump, who was widely criticized for not visiting US troops on or before Christmas, dispelled the notion with his surprise trip with the first lady and senior staffers.

Trump received some criticism after he was pictured signing the campaign memorabilia, leading some to believe he or his campaign handed out the items for a photo-op. Some of the troops, both officers and non-commissioned officers alike, were seen with hats and at least one Trump flag as they waited for the president to arrive at a aircraft hangar.

One Air Force captain who held a Trump flag was reportedly ordered to put it aside by an official, but took it back out after the president arrived, according to Stars and Stripes.

In a statement to Business Insider, the Air Force denied that the items were pre-distributed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where Trump stopped on his way back to the US: "Photos of the event show personal items; materials were not given to Airmen by the White House."

Press secretary Sanders also confirmed to CNN that the hats pictured in Iraq were personal goods brought by the service members.

Service members are encouraged to "to carry out the obligations of citizenship," which could include joining a partisan political club or making monetary contributions to political groups, but military regulations"prohibits the wearing of a military uniform during or in connection with the furtherance of any political or commercial interests."

The latest incident stands in contrast to that of Spc. Jesse Thorsen, a US Army Reservist who wore his combat uniform and endorsed then-Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul at a campaign rally in 2012.

Thorsen, who was later reprimanded by the Army, defended his actions and said if "the Army works for Congress ... if a Congressman invites you up on stage, doesn't he have the right to do that?"

But Trump's other actions during his visit attracted criticism and resurfaced the allegation that he seeks to politicize what is supposed to be an apolitical military.

During his Christmas Day visits with the troops, Trump revisited his typical rhetoric.

"The United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world," Trump said to a crowd of troops in al-Asad Air Base, Iraq. "It's not fair when the burden is all on us, the United States."

Trump also peddled his repeated claim that US service members received a pay raise for the first time "in more than 10 years"— despite the fact that troops have been receiving a pay raise every year for over 30 years.

SEE ALSO: One striking image shows the Marine Corps generals who will have left the Trump administration, after the president praised their service

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

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.

Between housing costs, utilities, taxes, insurance, loans, and more, US adults paid an estimated $3.9 trillion in bills last year.

That market is growing slowly, but it’s changing fast — more than ever before, customers are moving away from paying bills via check or cash and toward paying online, either through their banks, the billers themselves, or using a third-party app.

Thanks to rising customer familiarity with digital payments, an increase in purchasing power among younger consumers more interested in digital bill pay, and a rise in digital payment options, nearly three-quarters of bills will be paid digitally by 2022, representing a big opportunity for players across the space.

In theory, banks should be in a great position to capitalize on this shift. Nearly all banks offer bill payment functionality, and it’s a popular feature. Issuers also boast an existing engaged digital user base, and make these payments secure. But that isn’t what’s happening — even as digital bill pay becomes more commonplace, banks are losing ground to billers and third-party players. And that’s not poised to change unless banks do, since issuer bill pay is least popular among the youngest customers, who will be the most important in the coming year.

For banks, then, that makes innovation important. Taking steps to grow bill pay’s share can be a tough sell for digital strategists and executives leading money movement at banks, and done wrong, it can be costly, since it often requires robust technological investments. But, if banks do it right, bill pay marks a strong opportunity to add and engage customers, and in turn, grow overall lifetime value while shrinking attrition.

Business Insider Intelligence has put together a detailed report that explains the US bill pay market, identifies the major inflection points for change and what’s driving it, and provides concrete strategies and recommendations for banks looking to improve their digital bill pay offerings.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The bill pay market in the US, worth $3.9 trillion, is growing slowly. But digital bill payment volume is rising at a rapid clip — half of all bills are now digital, and that share will likely expand to over 75% by 2022. 
• Customers find it easiest to pay their bills at their billers directly, either through one-off or recurring payments. Bank-based offerings are commonplace, but barebones, which means they fail to appeal to key demographics.
• Issuers should work to reclaim bill payment share, since bill pay is an effective engagement tool that can increase customer stickiness, grow lifetime status, and boost primary bank status.  
• Banks need to make their offerings as secure and convenient as biller direct, market bill pay across channels, and build bill pay into digital money management functionality.

In full, the report:

• Sizes the US bill pay market, and estimates where it’s poised to go next.
• Evaluates the impact that digital will have on bill pay in the US and who is poised to capitalize on that shift.
• Identifies three key areas in which issuers can improve their bill pay offerings to gain share and explains why issuers are losing ground in these categories.
• Issues recommendations and defines concrete steps that banks can take as a means of gaining share back and reaping the benefits of digital bill pay engagement.

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• The sky in New York City glowed an eerie bright blue on Thursday night, after an apparent transformer explosion at a Con Edison facility in Queens.
• The New York Police Department's 114th precinct said in a tweet that they are "Investigating a transformer explosion at Astoria East & North Queens Con Ed power plant."
• Twitter users captured the blue glow from the explosion.

The sky in New York City glowed an eerie blue on Thursday night, after an apparent transformer explosion at a Con Edison facility in Queens.

The New York Police Department's 114th precinct said in a tweet that they are "Investigating a transformer explosion at Astoria East & North Queens Con Ed power plant."

It's unclear if anyone lost power due to the explosion or if there were any injuries.

Meanwhile, travelers tweeted about an apparent power outage was reported at LaGuardia Airport; it is unclear if the two incidents are related. INSIDER reached out to the Port Authority and Con Edison for more information.

Twitter users captured the blue glow in eerie photos and videos:

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NOW WATCH: The reason some men can't grow full beards, according to a dermatologist

Tech-driven disruption in the insurance industry continues at pace, and we're now entering a new phase — the adaptation of underlying business models. 

That's leading to ongoing changes in the distribution segment of the industry, but more excitingly, we are starting to see movement in the fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management. 

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, will briefly review major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year. It will then examine how startups and legacy players across the insurance value chain are using technology to develop new business models that cut costs or boost revenue, and, in some cases, both. Additionally, we will provide our take on the future of insurance as insurtech continues to proliferate. 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Funding is flowing into startups and helping them scale, while legacy players have moved beyond initial experiments and are starting to implement new technology throughout their businesses. 
• Distribution, the area of the insurance value chain that was first to be disrupted, continues to evolve. 
• The fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management — are starting to experience true disruption, while innovation in reinsurance has also continued at pace.
• Insurtechs are using new business models that are enabled by a variety of technologies. In particular, they're using automation, data analytics, connected devices, and machine learning to build holistic policies for consumers that can be switched on and off on-demand.
• Legacy insurers, as opposed to brokers, now have the most to lose — but those that move swiftly still have time to ensure they stay in the game.

 In full, the report:

• Reviews major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year.
• Examines how startups and legacy players across distribution, insurance, and reinsurance are using technology to develop new business models.
• Provides our view on what the future of the insurance industry looks like, which Business Insider Intelligence calls Insurtech 2.0.

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We’re hiring a VP of Subscription Marketing to aggressively grow subscriptions and lead our marketing team from our New York office. Insider Inc.’s subscriptions team is passionate about producing research products that help industry leaders transform their organizations using emerging digital technologies, along with premium business news in finance, markets, enterprise, and tech.

Job overview

Insider Inc. is an organization of doers from the top on down. We’re looking for someone who is a fountain of good ideas, moves fast, and loves to experiment, build, and iterate. It’s a role for someone with at least 7 years of email marketing experience, who is deeply curious about what compels people to take action and who has the technical and data chops to test their theories, build a strategy, and drive results.

As a team leader you’ll be responsible for our developing our marketing strategy, driving subscriptions, optimization, and engagement through email campaigns, maintaining relationships with technology vendors, forming new partnerships, and managing our marketing team. The VP of Subscription Marketing will also collaborate with stakeholders responsible for email across Insider.

Responsibilities:

• Build the vision and growth strategy of digital subscription marketing at Insider. Meet aggressive free and paid subscription signup goals to support individual / consumer business, as well as qualification and lead generation for enterprise business. Iterate quickly, generate new ideas, and double-down on winners.
   

• Optimize and execute on email. Develop and execute email campaigns to meet engagement, lead generation, and conversion goals. Optimize email campaigns and engagement. Delight our readers and subscribers.
   

• Develop a friction-free marketing funnel. From emails to landing pages to sign-ups to product/content delivery, make it a frictionless experience for our readers. Dive into audience data to make campaigns even better and remove sources of friction from our conversion process to create hassle-free sign ups across channels.
   

• Lead and train a high-performing team of digitally-savvy marketers to support the strategic goals of the business.
   

• Stay up to date on the newest digital tools and tactics in digital marketing. Review, recommend, and manage tools, services, and vendors. Evaluate, hire, and develop relationships with existing and new platforms, partners and vendors.

Qualifications:

• 7+ years in marketing with an exceptional digital and email marketing background

• Top-notch organizational skills and attention to detail

• Goal-oriented, data-driven, and errs on the side of action

• Technical expertise in digital analytics tools (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, ComScore etc.)

• Ability to closely manage timelines on concurrent campaigns supporting diverse business goals

• Up-to-date on industry developments and competitors and active in the media community

• Excellent technical implementation skills in HTML, email CRM platforms, etc.

• Solid experience managing a team of dedicated marketing professionals

• Hands on experience with paid digital campaigns (PPC, display, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and managing budgets, overseeing vendors, platforms

If this sounds like a great job for you, please apply online and include a cover letter highlighting why you’d be a good fit for the role

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NOW WATCH: 7 things you shouldn't buy on Black Friday

Hello! Here's everything you need to know on Friday.

1. President Trump signing MAGA hats for US troops in Iraq:It has caused some division in the division. And elsewhere.

2. In an unexpected bungle, Instagram removed vertical scrolling and replaced it with a clunky horizontal feed. An unsurprisingly few users found this brief mistake amusing.

3. Like a good Cold War novel, a key dossier on murky matters concerning Michael Cohen is starting to knit together. Investigators are reportedly closer to placing Cohen and Kremlin representatives at "clandestine meeting/s" in Prague to talk about "liaisons" between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 US election.

4. David Kelly the chief global strategist at JPMorgan's $1.7 trillion funds arm blames 2 types of investors for the season's mad market movements.The recent sharp sell-offs are down to passive and "momentum" investors — byers and sellers depending on algorithms and automatic trades, Kelley said.

5. It's possible that Sears has 24 hours to live.Reports suggest the century-old department-store chain has just 24 hours to secure a bid for the company, otherwise it will be liquidated.

6.Don't believe in flying taxis or delivery drones? Then it's time to meet these 40 companies — the pace-setters of the future field.

7. Most Americans would rather spend the $5 billion Trump is demanding for the US-Mexico border wall on 3 things: Those things are infrastructure, education, and healthcare.

8. The British Prime Minister Theresa May has three months to sort out Brexit.Here are the five ways it could play out.

9. Indonesia orders flights to stay away from 'Child of Krakatoa.' The volcano Anak Karakatau continues to ominously belch smoke and spew ash after unleashing a tsunami this week that killed more than 430 people.

10. The oldest US World War II veteran dies at 112.Richard Overton was in his 30s when he volunteered for the Army and was at Pearl Harbor just after the Japanese attack in 1941.

And finally ...

While you were sleeping, the night sky over New York suddenly turned an icy, eerie blue. Twitter users snapped and sent the unearthly blue glow connected to an electrical explosion over Astoria.

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NOW WATCH: 6 airline industry secrets that will help you fly like a pro this holiday season

We’re hiring a Research Associate to join our Digital Health team at Business Insider Intelligence.

At Business Insider Intelligence, we’re passionate about making market research that industry leaders use to make strategic decisions. To accomplish that goal, we hire great writers with an unrelenting curiosity to uncover the deeper truths in industry news and craft them into compelling narratives on what the future will look like and what companies can do to get there first.

The digital health associate will create content on the development of digital technologies — from wearable devices and mobile health apps to telehealth services, artificial intelligence, and even blockchain — that are transforming everyday access and delivery of healthcare for patients, doctors, insurers, and pharmacies alike.

This is a role for someone with 1-3 years of relevant work experience, who is passionate about digital transformation (particularly in the healthcare sphere) and business, and loves to write.  

About Business Insider Intelligence

Business Insider Intelligence is Business Insider’s real-time, premium research service focused on digital disruption. We publish market data, trend analysis, and proprietary survey data for executives in many industries.

Desired Skills & Experience

• Ability to quickly sort through masses of data and pull out what really matters to professionals and why

• Ability to write clearly and concisely about data-driven trends, consumer and business-to-business markets, and the larger tech industry

• Diligence and persistence in researching

• Ability to work in a team-oriented, fast-paced, and rapidly-changing environment

• Attention to detail

• Proficiency in MS Excel required

• Solid grounding in business analysis fundamentals

• Strong communication and writing skills

• An interest in data-driven visual storytelling

• Internships in market/consumer research, consulting, tech research, or relevant experience in a similar position is helpful but not required

If this is the right opportunity for you, please apply online and tell us why you're a good fit for the role.

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NOW WATCH: 7 things you shouldn't buy on Black Friday

• Support for the Republican Party among the US Latino population remains steady despite Donald Trump's rhetoric against immigrants and ongoing fight to build a border wall. 
• According to the Associated Press, 32% of Latinos voted for Republicans in November's elections. 
• This share frustrated Democrats. But many Republican Latino voters say they care more about religious liberty and pro-life policies than Trump's harsh words against immigrants. 

Latino voters have long been expected to vote Democratic, and around two-thirds of them do. It is the other third of Latinos who vote Republican that remain unreachable to Democrats, despite the harsh comments President Donald Trump has made about immigrants and several Latin American countries. 

Data collected by the Associated Press shows that 32 percent of Latinos voted for Republicans in November's elections. This number is backed up by a Pew Research Center study that found that nearly one-third of Latinos support the GOP. 

Many Democrats find this frustrating. 

“The question is not are Democrats winning the Hispanic vote — it’s why aren’t Democrats winning the Hispanic vote 80-20 or 90-10 the way black voters are?” Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic pollster, told the Associated Press. 

The same data collected by the AP shows that Latino voters are, like white vote res, split by gender. 61% of Latino men voted for Democrats in November, while 69% of Latino women voted for them. Nearly a quarter of Latino voters are evangelicals, the AP reported, and 13% were veterans. 

Republican strategist Mike Madrid told the AP that these two groups have reliably provided Republicans with Latino voters for years. 

“They stick and they do not go away,” Madrid said. 

Though foreign-born Latinos are highly critical of the Trump Administration — 71% of them are likely to say the White House's policies are harming Latinos as a whole — slightly less than two-thirds of US-born Latinos say the same, according to a Pew study.  

Read more:Ready for a fight: Voter enthusiasm surges among U.S. Hispanics

For the remaining third of Latinos, Trump's harsh rhetoric against immigrants and countries like Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras doesn't dissuade them from voting for the party or supporting the president.

“Why do 30 percent of Latinos still support Trump? Because of the Democratic Party’s obsession with abortion,” Sacramento-based Rev. Sam Rodriguez, one of Trump’s spiritual advisers, told the AP. Evangelical Latinos, he said, care more about about “life and religious liberty."

But because the US Latino population is not a monolith, different Latino populations have other bones to pick with the Democratic Party. Though younger generations of Cuban-Americans are leaning left, The Guardian reported that older Cuban-Americans traditionally vote Republican after coming to see the Bay of Pigs invasion "as a symbol of treachery of American left." According to The Guardian, the Republican Pb arty has depended on Cuban-American votes in Florida since 1980. To this day, Florida's large population of Cuban-Americans, tends to vote Republican.

According to the Miami Herald, Cuban-American support for Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis might have given him the edge over Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum. The Herald estimated that DeSantis won 66% of the Cuban-American vote. DeSantis campaigned among Florida's Cuban-American population by claiming Gillum was a socialist (he isn't). In the Senate race, Democratic candidate Bill Nelson couldn't defeat Spanish-speaking Governor Rick Scott. 

It wasn't, however, a bad year for Democrats trying to capture the Latino vote. 64% of Latinos voted for Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke in Texas, who ran against Ted Cruz. More than half of Latino voters in Texas voted for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez. The AP reported that Latinos voted at high rates this election, despite having among the worst midterm turnout rates historically. 

Madrid told the Associated Press that that is why Republicans shouldn't settle for the approximate third of a vote they get from the Latino block. They are still losing more than 60% of their vote. 

“That is contributing to the death spiral of the Republican Party — even if it holds at 30 percent,” Madrid said. “That’s a route to death, it’s just a slower one.”

SEE ALSO: Democrats are wrong to think Latinos will vote for them en masse just because of Trump's immigration policies

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

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

The healthcare industry is undergoing a profound transformation. Costs are skyrocketing, consumer demand for more accessible care is growing rapidly, and healthcare companies are unable to keep up. 

Health organizations are increasingly turning to tech companies to facilitate this transformation in care delivery and lower health expenditures. The potential for tech-led digital health initiatives to help healthcare providers and insurers deliver safer, more efficient, and cost-effective care is significant. For healthcare organizations of all types, the collection, analyses, and application of patient data can minimize avoidable service use, improve health outcomes, and promote patient independence, which can assuage swelling costs.

For their part, the "Big Four" tech companies — Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft — see an opportunity to tap into the lucrative health market. These same players are accelerating their efforts to reshape healthcare by developing and collaborating on new tools for consumers, medical professionals, and insurers.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence explores the key strengths and offerings the Big Four will bring to the healthcare industry, as well as their approaches into the market. We'll then explore how these services and solutions are creating opportunities for health systems and insurers. Finally, the report will outline the barriers that are inhibiting the adoption and usage of the Big Four tech companies’ offerings and how these barriers can be circumvented.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Tech companies’ expertise in data management and analysis, along with their significant compute power, can help support healthcare payers, health systems, and consumers by providing a broader overview of how health is accessed and delivered.

• Each of the Big Four tech companies — vying for a piece of the lucrative healthcare market — is leaning on their specific field of expertise to develop tools and solutions for consumers, providers, and payers.
• Alphabet is focused on leveraging its dominance in data storage and analytics to become the leader in population health.
• Amazon is leaning on its experience as a distribution platform for medical supplies, and developing its AI-assistant Alexa as an in-home health concierge.
• Apple is actively turning its consumer products into patient health hubs.
• Microsoft is focusing on cloud storage and analytics to tap into precision medicine.

• Health organizations can further tap into the opportunity presented by tech’s entry into healthcare by collaborating with tech giants to realize cost savings and bolster their top lines. But understanding how each tech giant is approaching healthcare is crucial.

 In full, the report:

• Pinpoints the key themes and industry-wide shifts that are driving the transformation of healthcare in the US.
• Defines the main healthcare businesses and strategies of the Big Four tech companies.
• Highlights the biggest potential impacts of each of the Big Four’s healthcare strategies for health systems and insurers.
• Discusses the potential barriers that will challenge the adoption of the Big Four tech companies’ initiatives and how these hurdles can be overcome.

SEE ALSO: 

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• The NFL playoff picture is still up in the air as the season heads into its Week 17 finale.
• In the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens are competing to clinch the AFC North, while the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts try to win the AFC South or the last wild-card spot.
• In the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings are trying to hold off the Philadelphia Eagles for the final wild-card spot.

Heading into Week 17, the final week of the NFL regular season, the NFL playoff picture is still up in the air.

Nine out of 12 playoff spots have been locked, but seeding is still very much open — and three playoff spots are still up for grabs.

In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, and Houston Texans all have their divisions locked up, while the Los Angeles Chargers have secured a playoff spot. The race for the AFC North has come down to the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, while the final wild-card spot is still open. The Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans play a crucial Week 17 game for that final spot.

In the NFC, the New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, and Dallas Cowboys have all won their divisions, while the Seattle Seahawks also locked up a playoff spot, meaning only the final wild-card seed is available. The Minnesota Vikings are trying to stave off the surging Philadelphia Eagles for that spot.

Below is a breakdown of how each of the teams still fighting for the open spots could fare in the final week of the season (with some help from NFL.com).

Baltimore Ravens

versus Cleveland Browns

The Ravens lead the AFC North, and their path to clinching is pretty simple: beat the Browns. If that happens, they'll be in the playoffs.

If the Ravens lose or tie, it gets a bit more complicated. If the Ravens lose to the Browns, they would also need the Steelers to lose, in which case they could still win the division. If the Ravens lose and the Steelers win, the Ravens would be out, and either the Colts or Titans would win the last wild-card spot.

Pittsburgh Steelers

versus Cincinnati Bengals

As outlined above, the Steelers are in a must-win situation. Any situation where they lose means they're out. The only way they could get the wild-card spot is if they win and the Colts and Titans tie.

Indianapolis Colts

at Tennessee Titans

The Colts still have a chance to win the division if they beat the Titans and the Houston Texans win. Either way, they need to beat the Titans to get in. If they end up tying the Titans, they would need the Ravens to lose and the Steelers to lose or tie.

Tennessee Titans

versus Indianapolis Colts

Likewise, the Titans need to beat the Colts. They, too, could nab the division if they win and the Texans lose.

Minnesota Vikings

versus Chicago Bears

If the Vikings beat the Bears, they'll be in the playoffs. If not, they'll need the Eagles to lose to the Redskins.

Philadelphia Eagles

at Washington Redskins

The Eagles' improbable Nick Foles-led surge is still out of their hands. Even if the Eagles win, they'll need the Vikings to lose to get into the playoffs. 

• Read more:
• The Patriots' underwhelming offseason is coming back to bite them
• The computer models that pick NFL games have made their picks for Week 17
• The 22 best NFL touchdown celebrations of 2018

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• 2018 was filled with more than 100 celebrity couples that called it quits.
• Some of Hollywood's most beloved couples, like Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, revealed that they broke up.
• Other pairs didn't date too long, like Paris Hilton and Chris Zylka, but their breakups were shocking nonetheless.

2018 was a rough year for celebrity couples. Sure, plenty of pairs got married, like Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. But over the course of 12 months, more than 100 couples split.

Long-running couples that fans thought would last forever, like Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, revealed their devastating breakups this year. Other stars weren't dating for too long, but their breakups were still surprising.

From Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux to Cardi B and Offset, here are the most shocking celebrity breakups that were revealed in 2018. 

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

Aniston and Theroux technically split in late 2017 but didn't share the news with fans until February 2018. They even adopted a dog together and praised each other's work.

"Normally we would do this privately, but given that the gossip industry cannot resist an opportunity to speculate and invent, we wanted to convey the truth directly," read the statement given to The Associated Press by Aniston's publicist, Stephen Huvane. "Whatever else is printed about us that is not directly from us, is someone else's fictional narrative. Above all, we are determined to maintain the deep respect and love that we have for one another.”

Prior to getting married in 2015, they reportedly started dating in 2011. 

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan

In retrospect, there were probably signs that Tatum and Dewan's marriage wasn't perfect, but fans were surprised when they broke up after nine years of marriage.

"We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together,"they said in a statement. "Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love one another, but love is a beautiful adventure that is taking us on different paths for now." 

Dominic Cooper and Ruth Negga

The two actors met back in 2009 in a British theater production called "Phedre." They didn't speak much about their relationship but were reportedly together for eight years before splitting. 

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

The gig economy is becoming a core element of the labor market, pushed to the fore by platforms like Uber and Airbnb. Gig economy workers are freelancers, such as journalists who don’t work for one publication directly, freelance developers, drivers on platforms like Uber and Grab, and consumers who rent out their apartments via Airbnb or other home-sharing sites.

Gig economy workers are not employed by these platforms, and therefore typically don't receive conventional employee perks, such as insurance or retirement options. This has created a lucrative opportunity to provide tailored insurance policies for the gig economy. 

A number of insurtech startups — including UK-based Dinghy, which focuses on liability insurance, and US-based Slice, which provides on-demand insurance for a range of areas — have moved to capitalize on this new segment of the labor market. These companies have been busy finding new ways to personalize insurance products by incorporating emerging technologies, including AI and chatbots, to target the gig economy.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence examines how insurtechs have begun addressing the gig economy, the kinds of policies they are offering, and how incumbents can tap the market themselves. We have opted to focus on three areas of insurance particularly relevant to the gig economy: vehicle insurance, home insurance, and equipment and liability insurance.

While every consumer needs health insurance, there are already a number of insurtechs and incumbent insurers that offer policies for individuals. However, when it comes to insuring work equipment or other utilities for freelancers, it's much more difficult to find suitable coverage. As such, this is the gap in the market where we see the most opportunity to deploy new products.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Airbnb, Deliveroo, Dinghy, Grab, Progressive, Slice, Uber, Urban Jungle, and Zego.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• By 2027, the majority of the US workforce will work as freelancers, per Upwork and Freelancer Union, though not all of these workers will take part in the gig economy full time.
• By personalizing policies for gig economy workers, insurtechs have been able to tap this opportunity early. 
• A number of other insurtechs, including Slice and UK-based Zego, offer temporary vehicle insurance, which users can switch on and off, depending on when they are working.
• Slice has also developed a new insurance model that combines traditional home insurance with business coverage for temporary use.
• Other freelancers like photojournalists need insurance for their camera, for example, a coverage area that Dinghy has tackled.
• Incumbent insurers have a huge opportunity to leverage their reach and well-known brands to pull in the gig economy and secure a share of this growing segment — and partnering with startups might be the best approach.

 In full, the report:

• Details what the gig economy landscape looks like in different markets.
• Explains how different insurtechs are tackling the gig economy with new personalized policies.
• Highlights possible pain points for incumbents when trying to enter this market.
• Discusses how incumbents can get a piece of the pie by partnering with startups.

SEE ALSO: These were the biggest developments in the global fintech ecosystem over the last 12 months

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