• China has mobilized its long-range DF-26 ballistic missiles, according to Chinese media.
• The nationalist Global Times warned that the "far-reaching, anti-ship ballistic missile" is operational, noting that the news comes just days after a US destroyer challenged China's excessive claims to the South China Sea.
• The warning also comes a few weeks after a Chinese admiral suggested sinking two US carriers.

Chinese media touted the mobilization of a "far-reaching, anti-ship ballistic missile" Thursday, specifically highlighting its ability to target ships in the South China Sea.

China's DF-26 ballistic missile has reportedly been mobilized in northwestern China, according to the Global Times, citing state broadcaster China Central Television. The weapon, commonly described as a "carrier killer," is an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear warheads to targets on land and at sea.

The report from the Global Times notes that the activation of the DF-26 comes just "after a US warship trespassed into China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands (Paracel Islands) in the South China Sea on Monday," a reference to a legal freedom-of-navigation operation conducted by destroyer USS McCampbell.

"We urge the United States to immediately cease this kind of provocation," the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response, accusing the US of having "gravely infringed upon China’s sovereignty."

"We will be on high alert and will closely monitor the air and sea situation to strongly defend our sovereignty and security," the ministry spokesman added.

Last September, a Chinese destroyer attempted to intercept a US warship during a freedom-of-navigation operation in the Spratly Islands, risking a collision. It was the Chinese navy's most aggressive response to US actions in the South China Sea to date.

The DF-26 missiles mobilized in the northwest regions are far from the South China Sea, but Chinese military experts assert that it has the range to cover the contested waterway. "Even when launched from deeper inland areas of China, the DF-26 has a range far-reaching enough to cover the South China Sea," an anonymous expert told the Global Times. The missile is believed to have a range of about 3,400 miles.

That expert added that missiles fired from the interior are harder to intercept because they can realistically only be intercepted in the terminal phase.

Amid Chinese bravado, there remains skepticism about the DF-26 missile's ability to serve in an anti-ship role. The weapon was previously nicknamed the "Guam Killer" or the "Guam Express," as it offers China the ability to strike Andersen Air Force Base, a key US base in the Pacific, with force.

The article in the Global Times reflects an aggressive tone that is becoming more common in Chinese discussions.

Recently, a Chinese admiral suggested sinking two US aircraft carriers, which would end the lives of roughly 10,000 American sailors. "What the United States fears the most is taking casualties," China’s Rear Adm. Luo Yuan, the deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences said. "We’ll see how frightened America is."

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NOW WATCH: The US Air Force refuels combat jets in midair with a 'flying boom system' — watch it in action

• Snap CEO Evan Spiegel recently said that Instagram made users feel "terrible" because they had to "compete for popularity."
• Spiegel has yet to provide any proof to back up this claim, and current research suggests he is wrong.
• Snapchat does, however, seem to have a slightly better emotional impact on users than Instagram, according to multiple surveys.
• Assessing the impact of social-media apps on emotional well-being is complicated by factors like "active" versus "passive" use, and timeframe.

It’s no secret there’s bad blood between Snapchat and Facebook-owned Instagram.

Snap insiders and fans — including Miranda Kerr, the Australian supermodel and entrepreneur who is married to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel — have repeatedly blasted Facebook and Instagram for copying Snapchat, especially its stories format.

But beyond the copying complaints, which Instagram has not denied, there’s another form of criticism that has recently bubbled up: the contention that Instagram is bad for you, while Snapchat is not.

Spiegel expressed this view on stage at The New York Times’ DealBook conference in early November: “What people are experiencing on Instagram is, they don’t feel good about themselves. It feels terrible, they have to compete for popularity.”

The basic theory is easy to understand: Instagram has “likes” and public follower counts, whereas Snapchat does not, and if people are competing for likes on Instagram, they will end up feeling “terrible.”

But the problem with that easy narrative is the evidence doesn’t back it up.

After speaking with a professor in the field, consulting the current academic research, running a custom consumer survey, and corresponding with a Snap representative, I was still left without a single data set supporting Spiegel's claim that Instagram was "terrible" and Snapchat was not.

The consensus picture that emerged was that, in many circumstances, both Snapchat and Instagram had a positive emotional influence on their users, with Snapchat having a slight edge.

But Spiegel’s attack on Instagram’s emotional impact is hyperbolic and unsupported.

Even research commissioned by Snap itself, published on Tuesday, found that 8 of the 9 “top attribute index scores” for how users felt when using Instagram were positive. Users of both Snapchat and Instagram felt “playful,” “attractive,” “creative,” “adventurous,” and “flirtatious” when they were using the apps. Instagram's top attribute was "inspired" and the lone mark against it was that users felt “self-conscious.”

Snapchat got a perfect 9 out of 9 positive attributes (no surprise there), while Twitter and Facebook’s attributes skewed negative.

Here is the full chart from Snapchat and Murphy Research:

Yes, Snapchat seems to beat Instagram in this study. But if even research being paid for by your competitor — a competitor who is trashing you in the press — gives you 89% positive attributes, that’s pretty good.

And it’s not the only evidence to suggest that Spiegel is wrong in his assessment of Snapchat and Instagram’s emotional effects.

How does using Snapchat or Instagram impact you emotionally?

When I heard Spiegel’s quote about Instagram in November, I thought it would be worthwhile to try and answer a simple question: How did Snapchat and Instagram affect users emotionally?

To get a feel for this, I asked on-demand insights company AlphaHQ to run a survey on Instagram and Snapchat users. The question AlphaHQ asked was this: “Compared to how you typically feel before opening the app, how does using [Snapchat, Instagram] generally impact you emotionally?”

Here’s a summary of the findings:

Instagram (453 user responses)

• Worse: 7.5%
• Better: 22.3%
• No different: 70.2%

Snapchat (581 user responses)

• Worse: 4.8%
• Better: 27.9%
• No different: 67.3%

Snapchat comes out ahead, but there is nothing to suggest Instagram makes its users feel “terrible” — or somehow much, much worse than Snapchat.

But this wasn’t an academic study and I took the results as a gut check rather than a definitive answer.

'We can't really make any claims about Instagram versus Snapchat'

I approached Snap and asked both for its take on the AlphaHQ findings and for any research that backed up Spiegel’s statements.

Snap and Spiegel declined to give a formal statement or interview.

But the company pointed me to two academic studies, one from the University of Michigan published in 2016 by Information, Communication, & Society (titled “Sharing the small moments: ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat”); and another from the University of Minnesota published in 2017 (titled “Share First, Save Later: Performance of Self through Snapchat Stories”).

The Michigan study dealt directly with the issue of Snapchat and mood, and included some references to Instagram. In general, Snapchat came out on top relative to other communication technologies with respect to its impact on a user's mood.

“Our quantitative data demonstrated that Snapchat interactions were perceived as more enjoyable – and associated with more positive mood – than other communication technologies (i.e., calling, texting, emailing, Facebook),” the researchers wrote.

But in looking at the data, the difference between Instagram and Snapchat's impact on mood didn’t appear statistically significant. I spoke to the lead author on the study, Joseph Bayer, now an assistant professor at The Ohio State University, to confirm that.

“We can't really make any claims about Instagram versus Snapchat,” Bayer said. He added that he wasn’t aware of any academic studies that showed Instagram having an overall negative emotional effect on users.

The second study Snap pointed me to, from Minnesota, characterized Snapchat as a “low-risk” way of sharing, but didn’t compare the app with Instagram.

The Minnesota study also contained a section that undercut one of Spiegel’s central premises: that Snapchat is set up so users won’t care about popularity.

The study found that Snapchat users “still cared about the way their content was received by the audience.” One of the primary ways the participants assessed the worth of their Snapchat content was by seeing who looked at each post — “and this was information they actively sought out.” The study participants also used a “diverse set of strategies for deciding whether [Snapchat] content was successful enough to warrant saving.”

In the absence of “likes,” Snapchat users created their own methods for seeing how popular or successful a piece of content was.

Passively looking at strangers probably makes you sad

But surely there had been some studies that contended Instagram, or social media in general, was bad for you, I thought.

I went back to Snap, but the company did not send me any more studies on the record.

When I asked Bayer, he said there was one study in particular that was frequently cited as a nuanced look at Facebook and its negative emotional effect in some circumstances.

That study, published in 2015 by the Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that “passive” but not “active” Facebook usage “specifically undermines affective well-being and does so by enhancing envy.” So if you are passively scrolling through your Facebook feed, it can make you jealous of others.

But the researchers also wrote that they “did not observe any relationship between active Facebook usage and well-being in the current studies.” (The study did not look at Instagram or Snapchat.)

There have been similarly nuanced findings on how Instagram influences “well-being.”

In a study published in 2015 by Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, researchers concluded that “Instagram use has negative associations with well-being for those who follow many strangers, but positive associations with well-being for those who follow few strangers.” (The study did not look at Snapchat.)

Taken together, these two studies suggest that it’s not merely which social-media platform you use that determines the emotional effect it has on you, but also how you use it.

Instagram Stories now has twice as many daily users as Snapchat

This insight could help explain why Instagram copying Snapchat’s stories feature is such a threat to Snap.

Since Instagram introduced the feature in the summer of 2016, it has become stunningly popular. In June, Instagram Stories hit 400 million active users, over twice Snapchat’s daily active user base.

Snapchat’s rise has often been attributed to its “ephemeral” nature, which encourages users to document the silly or mundane aspects of their lives. Maybe one secret of the popularity of “ephemerality” was that it encouraged users to be more active on the platform, and communicate with their actual friends — both of which the academic research suggests are positive for well-being when applied to social networks generally.

Now that Instagram has bottled some of that secret sauce with its stories feature, it presents a threat to Snapchat. Instagram gives you two options: lasting and ephemeral. You can be “active” either way. No wonder that has helped the platform sustain its massive growth.

'They have to compete for popularity'

In that context, it’s easy to understand why Spiegel wants to criticize Instagram in another way: by characterizing its usage as a relentless pursuit of popularity. (“It feels terrible, they have to compete for popularity.”)

Spiegel outlined the general theory when talking about the differences between Snapchat and Facebook in June at the Code Conference:

"I think fundamentally it’s important to understand that Snapchat is not just a bunch of features. It really has an underlying philosophy that runs directly counter to traditional social media. I think that’s why traditional social media feels threatened. Because, fundamentally, if people realize that competing with their friends for 'Likes' and attention is kind of unpleasant and really not that great."

But it’s not that simple.

The 2015 study that looked at Instagram and “well-being” found that “contrary to the hypotheses, more frequent Instagram use was not associated with social comparison.” Is Instagram really a popularity contest, then?

And as the 2017 Minnesota study found, without a “like” button, Snapchat users have found other ways of judging the performance of their content.

So maybe it’s not competing with your friends for popularity on social media that makes you sad, but rather passively following celebrities and envying their lives. And guess what, you can passively follow celebrities on Snapchat, too.

It depends on which questions you ask

It’s worth noting that not all researchers have come away with a rosy view of social media, and I did find one survey that presented an alarming picture of the situation.

A study from the UK published in 2017 by the Royal Society for Public Health looked at the effect of social-media apps on health and well-being, as defined by 14 survey questions. In sum, the RSPH found that only YouTube had a net positive effect, with Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram having a negative effect.

Instagram was the worst, but Snapchat was the second worst, which meant the RSPH study wasn’t particularly useful in settling the Instagram versus Snapchat debate.

In reading study after study, it became clear that there were no simple answers to how social media affects humans emotionally, especially as new platforms continue to emerge.

The emotional effect of Facebook seems to be fleeting

But whatever the emotional effect — positive or negative — that these platforms have, it could also be fleeting.

Bayer pointed me to a study that he and his colleagues published in 2017 in New Media & Society (titled “Facebook in context(s): Measuring emotional responses across time and space”).

The researchers found that users generally had positive emotional experiences up to 10 minutes after active posting on Facebook. But that positive effect dissipated when subjects were tested 30 minutes after posting, and “Facebook activities predicted no changes in aggregate mood over 2 weeks.”

The short-lived nature of Facebook’s emotional impact, which could perhaps be true of other platforms as well, complicates the matter even further.

Calling Instagram 'terrible' isn't going to help Snapchat

The bottom line is that assessing the emotional impact of social-media platforms on their users is complicated and must take into account things like "active" versus "passive" usage, and timeframe.

But one thing I can say for certain from my research is that only an extreme cherry-picking of data could lead to the conclusion that Instagram is “terrible” while Snapchat is a benevolent tool for creativity and self-expression.

It's understandable to lash out at a competitor that is brazenly copying your innovations. But painting Instagram as a terrible experience for users isn't going to do much for Snap’s stock price if the users actually come away from Instagram feeling "inspired."

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

Until now, healthcare was the only remaining industry that had yet to feel the rapid impact of digitization endured by retail, banking, and media. But consumer adoption of digital tech, regulatory overhauls, and a shifting reimbursement model are forcing healthcare players' hands.

Digital health innovation offers market incumbents new opportunities to combat constricting margins, labor shortages, and rising costs.

But it also poses a threat to slow movers, as new entrants lean on their digital prowess and lack of legacy infrastructure to cut costs and remain nimble. As such, incumbents are turning to acquisitions, partnerships, and new investments to strengthen their digital health services.

The first Digital Health Ecosystem Report from Business Insider Intelligence explores the current healthcare ecosystem, industry trends that are driving digital transformation, and where the industry is headed.

We outline the role of each of the industry's major players — including payers, providers, and manufacturers — and how they're affected by healthcare's digital disruption. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Digital health is at the forefront of transformation in the healthcare industry — both as a driver of and an answer to the challenges industry players are grappling with.
• All of the industry's major players — including payers, providers, and manufacturers — are affected by healthcare's digital disruption.
• A confluence of forces induced healthcare's embrace of digital health, including changing consumer expectations, a new and disruptive reimbursement model, and rising healthcare costs
• Tech-focused entrants are also breaking into healthcare, acting as catalysts for change and threatening legacy players' bottom lines.
• Key digital health solutions like EHRs, digital therapeutics, telehealth, AI, wearables, and blockchain are the foundation of the industry's digital awakening.
• Early evidence that digital health can address many of the industry's myriad challenges has fueled a vibrant US digital health funding market in 2018, with overall funding hitting $6.8 billion at the end of Q3. 

 In full, the report:

• Details the US healthcare landscape by the role that payers, providers, manufacturers, and distributors play in the healthcare ecosystem.
• Gives an overview of how digital health is enabling incumbents to overcome industry challenges.
• Outlines how tech-focused healthcare entrants are pressuring incumbents and accelerating healthcare's digital transformation
• Identifies promising digital health funding areas to illustrate what the future of digital health will look like.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >>Purchase & Download Now
2. Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you've given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of the Digital Health.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Aetna, Alphabet, Amazon, American Well, AmerisourceBergen, Anthem, Apple, Arizona Care Network, Arterys, Babylon Health, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Bay Labs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Blue Mesa Health, Bright Health, Cardinal Health, Cedars-Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, Clover Health, CVS, DePuy Synthes, Devoted Health, Dexcom, Doctor on Demand, Express Scripts, Fitbit, Fresenius Medical Care, GE Healthcare, Geisinger, Glooko, GSK, healthfinch, IBM, IDx, Johnson & Johnson, Mass General, McKesson, Medtronic, Merck & Co., Merck KGaA, Microsoft, NewYork-Presbyterian, Northwell Health, Novartis, Olive, Omada Health, Optum Rx, Oscar Health, Pear Therapeutics, Pfizer, Philips, PillPack, ResMed, Rite Aid, Roche, Samsung, Sanofi, Senseonics, Suki, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, T-Mobile, UnitedHealth Group, Verily, Viant, Walgreens, Walmart, Wellpepper, Zocdoc

SEE ALSO: Patients are transforming from passive recipients of healthcare services to active participants in their own health

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• Productivity often begins in the mornings, with productive people tackling many of their tasks in the early hours.
• Along with health benefits, being a morning person can help you capitalize productivity and achieve success.
• Here are nine things people do before noon to increase productivity.

We can’t all be morning people, but according to a recent study, you might extend your time on Earth if you could just wake up a few hours earlier each day.

Researchers studied over 430,000 people, aged 38 to 73, for six and a half years to see how their "early bird" or "night owl" lifestyles affected their health and wellbeing. The results proved that health-wise, night owls may be at a disadvantage. They have an increased risk of developing a psychological disorder, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and gastrointestinal diseases.

But getting an early start offers more than just health benefits — being a morning person may increase daily productivity and career growth.

According to biologist Christoph Randler, individuals who perform best in the early hours may be more likely to achieve their career goals than those who don’t. His research, published in the Harvard Business Review, surveyed about 400 university students and found that morning people tend to be more proactive than those who are at their best in the evening. (The jury’s still out on whether being an early bird is innate or can be learned, however.)

Here's what nine super-productive people do before noon to keep their momentum going all day.

SEE ALSO: The 8 smartest things I did when I started my new job

1. They divide their day in two

The founder and creative director of Men's Style Pro, Sabir Peele, swears by splitting up his day to keep his creativity flowing.

"I list a maximum of 10 tasks that I want to crush by noon. To stay interested in what I’m doing, I do the most important tasks at the top of each hour and then handle emails. After I finish two tasks, I do 20 push-ups," he told Business Insider.

As for the second portion of his day (between noon and 5 p.m.), he takes a different tactic. "I focus all of my attention on meetings and just pure content creation — both of which are extremely time-consuming tasks," he said.

2. They get in early

Pediatrician Dr. Meghan Brooks, DO, balances motherhood and caring for her young patients day after day by getting ahead of the curve.

“I always get in at least a half an hour before my patients are due. Being able to check their charts and call parents with test results or follow-ups is key,” she said. “And on other days I use that time to drink my coffee and make sure appointments and school forms are complete for my own girls.”

3. They take 'me' time

By taking some time for herself each morning, New York-based senior editor and new mom Rachel Bowie boosts her mood and overall productivity.

“It’s so easy to get stressed about my lengthy to-do list when I’m handling diaper changes and my four-month-old’s schedule. So, every morning in the shower I count from one to 180 (three minutes total) and use that time to just be present,” she said. “As silly as it sounds, spending that time appreciating the solitude of my bathroom and a rejuvenating shower instead of letting my brain race through my day has a calming effect that keeps me more centered.”

• A photo of a woman's feet in a bathtub went viral earlier this week after Reddit users claimed they belonged to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
• The rumor was quickly debunked, but The Daily Caller published a headline that was not clear the photo was actually of another woman.
• Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the conservative outlet on Thursday morning, calling its publication "completely disgusting behavior."

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attacked the conservative news site The Daily Caller on Wednesday for publishing what she called "a fake nude photo of me" under a misleading headline.

The photo went viral this week after people circulated it on Reddit, claiming it showed Ocasio-Cortez. It shows a pair of feet in a bathtub, but a blurred reflection of a nude female torso is also visible.

Motherboard on Monday reported that the photo was actually of the political activist Sydney Leathers, who told the outlet the picture shows her body and "is a few years old."

The Daily Caller on Monday reported Motherboard's story under the headline "Here's The Photo Some People Described As A Nude Selfie of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."

Though it is accurate to say "some people described" the photo as showing Ocasio-Cortez, the headline did not acknowledge that those people had already been found to be wrong.

Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the outlet on Wednesday night, slamming The Daily Caller's publication as "completely disgusting behavior."

She tweeted: "For those out of the loop, Republicans began to circulate a fake nude photo of me. The @DailyCaller reposted it (!) and refused to indicate it was fake in the title as well."

"Completely disgusting behavior from Conservative outlets," she added. "No wonder they defended Kavanaugh so fiercely."

The Daily Caller has since changed its headline to "Anthony Weiner Mistress Stands Up for AOC After Evil Internet Trolls Spread Fake Nude Photo," referring to Leathers, who was linked to the disgraced New York congressman Anthony Weiner's sexting scandals uncovered in 2016. AOC are Ocasio-Cortez's initials.

The outlet also added a correction at the bottom of the article, which said: "An earlier version of the headline for this story made an inaccurate implication. The story has since been updated for accuracy."

A cached version of the article with the original headline can be found here.

The Daily Caller responded to Ocasio-Cortez's tweet shortly afterwards, tweeting: "As soon as editors noticed the twitter headline, we rapidly had it deleted and fixed."

"We regret the error, as the intent was to inform our audience that a fake image was circulating online," the outlet added.

Ocasio-Cortez slammed The Daily Caller's response as "not an apology," adding: "You've been posting hysteric, misrepresentative articles about me nonstop - many within 24h."

The Daily Caller's editor-in-chef, Geoffrey Ingersoll, also told Business Insider in an email: "I had the headline corrected and updated early in the day, as soon as I noticed it. Obviously an eager editor made a misjudgment as to the framing."

Ingersoll added that the story "is about how Ocasio-Cortez's enemies ... who [reporter] Betsy [Rothstein] describes as both horrible and evil — conjured this fake nude and spread it online."

Ocasio-Cortez had her first day as the congressional representative of New York's 14th district on January 3. She told INSIDER's Eliza Relman in a recent interview that she writes all her own tweets but deletes many drafted in anger before publishing them.

• Read more about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
• Meet Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the millennial, socialist political novice who's now the youngest woman ever elected to Congress
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she writes all her own tweets, and many of them 'never see the light of day'
• Here's the timeline of how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went from bartender to congresswoman in less than a year
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a plan to tax the wealthiest Americans 60% to 70%, and it highlights a detail about taxes most people get wrong

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• Frito-Lay announced Flamin' Hot Doritos this week. 
• They combine classic Doritos with the flavor of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. 
• It's not their first spicy snack. 

Not even two weeks into the new year and things are already getting spicy. Frito-Lay announced Thursday that it was releasing Doritos Flamin' Hot Nacho.

It's exactly what it sounds like — Frito-Lay combined the classic Doritos Nacho Cheese with the taste of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

“Our new product brings together the classic Flamin' Hot flavor we know and love with original nacho cheese, resulting in a myriad of new sensations for your tastes buds to enjoy in each bite,” Leslie Vesper, the senior director of marketing, Frito-Lay North America, told INSIDER.

According to a press release sent to INSIDER, Doritos Flamin' Hot Nacho is considered to be the first time flamin' hot flavors have been on a tortilla chip nationwide. But, this isn't the first time Doritos has made its way into the world of spicy foods.

In the past, Doritos has released several spicy chips including Doritos Flamas, flavored as chile and lime, Doritos Jacked, flavored as ranch dipped hot wings, and Doritos Tapatío, flavored as the beloved hot sauce of the same name, among many others.

Vesper told INSIDER the creation of the Doritos Flamin' Hot Nacho was a result of consumer demand. “Spicy food is a rapidly growing segment in the food industry, especially among our younger fans. There's incredible demand for our spicier Doritos flavors, so we wanted to offer another variety in Flamin' Hot Nacho that we think will be a huge hit."

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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NOW WATCH: 7 science-backed ways to a happier and healthier 2019 that you can do the first week of the new year

• The mayor of McAllen, Texas, where President Donald Trump visited on Thursday as part of his push for a border wall, does not agree with the president when it comes to border security. 
• "A wall is really not the effective way to protect our border," Mayor Jim Darling said. 
• McAllen, a city of roughly 142,000 people that's located along the Rio Grande, has a strong economic relationship with the Mexican border city of Reynosa right across the river.
• Darling said a wall would make life difficult for his city's residents and the cost would outweigh the benefits.

The mayor of McAllen, Texas, the border city President Donald Trump visited on Thursday as part of his push for a border wall, is not on the same page as the president when it comes to immigration and border security.  

Mayor Jim Darling is not completely opposed to physical barriers along the US-Mexico border, but he doesn't see a wall as a realistic solution to the variety of issues the US faces in terms of immigration. 

Darling has been getting a lot of media attention in relation to Trump's big visit and the ongoing debate on immigration in Washington, and he's repeatedly made it clear he doesn't believe the president's border-wall plan is the way forward. 

"We know where our border is, and we have one,"Darling told Texas Standard. "A wall is really not the effective way to protect our border."

Read more:Why a GOP congressman who represents more of the border than anyone in Congress opposes Trump's wall

In a separate interview with NPR, on January 6, Darling expanded on his views.

"In certain locations, a wall or a fence or some deterrent makes sense but certainly not one across the great swath of the border in places where, ecologically, the damage would be much greater than a security benefit," he said. "So it's really a political football, I think. And just saying we're going to build this great wall across the whole border makes no sense at all."

Darling thinks lawmakers on both sides of the aisle need to come together to work toward immigration reform while agreeing on a budget that provides for more than fencing, but not a wall. He also thinks the US needs to help Mexico focus on reducing the amount of money and influence the drug cartels have, and that Border Patrol needs more support and social workers to help with the influx of asylum seekers.

McAllen, a city of roughly 142,000 people that's located along the Rio Grande, has a strong economic relationship with the Mexican border city of Reynosa right across the river. Darling told Reuters a wall would make daily life difficult in this regard. 

"We have tens of thousands of people go back and forth every day," Darling said. "You can't just shut this place down."

Darling hopes that Trump's visit to McAllen will help him see that a wall is not a viable option.

"We think it's an honor to have the President visit," Darling told Fox 26 News. "We know he’s here for business and everything, but we're excited as a community to welcome the President."

The McAllen mayor added, "We want him to see what the wall looks like and the river and the challenges of building a wall to provide protection."

Darling is not the only elected official in Texas who questions the logic surrounding Trump's push for a wall. Republican Rep. Will Hurd, who represents more of the southern border than any of his colleagues in the House of Representatives, is also opposed to building a wall.

Read more: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BORDER CRISIS: Experts say there is no security crisis, but there is a simple way to fix immigration — and it's not a wall

Hurd, a former undercover CIA agent, believes a technological approach to border security would be more feasible and appropriate. The Texas congressman has proposed a plan that would involve the use of drones and other surveillance technology to boost security. 

But, in spite of concerns from Texas politicians who represent people along the border, Trump appears unwilling to budge on the issue of the wall.

"They say a wall is medieval,"Trump said, during his visit to McAllen on Thursday. "Well, so is a wheel. There are some things that work, you know what? A wheel works, and a wall works."

His obsession with building the wall, which dates back to his 2016 presidential campaign, has pushed the government into a partial shutdown that has lasted for more than two weeks. 

SEE ALSO: Marco Rubio warns against Trump declaring a national emergency over border security, arguing that one day a Democrat could declare one over climate change

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• Alphabet's board of directors are being sued over allegations of covering up company executives accused of sexual harassment or discrimination. 
• The lawsuit, on behalf of an Alphabet shareholder, cites Android creator Andy Rubin's alleged $90 million exit package following an internal investigation into his behavior.
• “Rubin was allowed to quietly resign by defendants Larry Page and Sergey Brin after an internal investigation found the allegations of sexual harassment by Rubin to be credible,” according to the California court filing. 

The board members of Google-parent company Alphabet are being sued over allegations that the company routinely covered up claims of sexual harassment by executives, including Android creator Andy Rubin who received a $90 million exit package and a "hero's farewell" following an internal investigation about his behavior.

The lawsuit, filed in California state court on Thursday by an Alphabet shareholder, alleges that the board of directors and top executives, including co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, failed in their responsibility to investors by letting the harassment carry on. 

In October, The New York Times published details about the allegation that led to Rubin's dismissal — including his pressuring a woman with whom he had an extramarital relationship into performing oral sex. The Times report also exposed that Rubin was given a $90 million exit package by the company even after an internal investigation found the woman's complaint to be credible. 

Read more: Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, reportedly had bondage sex videos on his work computer, paid women for 'ownership relationships,' and allegedly pressured an employee into oral sex

News of how Alphabet handled the allegations led to thousands of employees staging a walkout in protest last November. 

The lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as remedies such as eliminating the dual class stock structure that gives Alphabet founders Page and Brin control of the company.  The suit is the first brought against Alphabet's board, according to Bloomberg, which first reported news of the lawsuit. 

Louise Renne, a former San Francisco City Attorney who is representing the plaintiff, did not answer questions about the lawsuit. Alphabet was did not immediately return a request for comment. 

SEE ALSO: Here are the Facebook execs who insiders think might leave next

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• With all of the expectations around it, Valentine's Day gifting can be hard.
• You don't need a grand romantic gesture to show someone you care about them this February 14th.
• We rounded up 27 sweet gifts, all on Amazon, that are a great way to show someone you love them this Valentine's Day. 

Finding the right Valentine's Day gift is hard. Striking the balance between sweet and sentimental, but not too sweet and sentimental, can be difficult. Ultimately, many of us end up in the drugstore aisle, searching for a cute card and box of chocolates at the last minute.

If you're in a bind, don't worry — you don't need to resort to a Hallmark card or a sweeping romantic gesture. We found some products that make sweet Valentine's Day gifts, whether you're looking for something for your boyfriend, spouse, best friend, sister, or classmate. From nice kitchen gadgets to little gifts that show them you're thinking of them, we covered it all. Plus, everything's on Amazon, so you can get most of these products just in time for the big day.

Keep reading for 27 sweet Valentine's Day gifts, all from Amazon:

An Airbnb gift card

Airbnb Gift Card, E-mail Delivery, from $25

You know they've been wanting to travel more, so bring them one step closer with an Airbnb gift card that they can put towards accommodations or activities on your next trip together.

A monthly coffee subscription

Amazon Bean Box, $26/month

Coffee connoisseurs will love the chance to try a new bag of fresh beans from Portland and Seattle's top roasters each month. A subscription will get them a 12-ounce bag, along with tasting notes and brewing tips. You can choose from espresso, light, dark, decaf, and medium varieties to ensure they get something they'll love. 

A classic floral bouquet

Benchmark Bouquets Dozen Rainbow Roses, $35.62

Yes, roses may seem overdone on Valentine's day, but it's for good reason. They look beautiful, smell amazing, and add a necessary burst of color to the dark, cold winter months. 

• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said it's time for President Donald Trump to use emergency powers to build a barrier on the US-Mexico border.
• Hours before making the statement, Graham appeared to be unsure about whether an emergency declaration was a prudent decision.
• The statement followed a meeting at his office on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, in which several of his Republican colleagues and White House officials mounted a last-ditch effort to broker a deal with Democrats.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he thinks it's time for President Donald Trump to use emergency powers to build a barrier on the US-Mexico border, a decision he indicated he was unsure about just hours before apparently changing his opinion on the issue.

"Time for President [Donald Trump] to use emergency powers to build Wall/Barrier," Graham said on Twitter. "I hope it works."

Graham said he based his decision on what he described as the Democratic leadership's "refusal to negotiate" on acquiring funds for the wall and reopening the government after a 20-day partial government shutdown. Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have agreed to a budget bill that would allot funds for border security. They rejected the notion of providing $5.7 billion to fund Trump's wall.

Hours before making his statement, Graham appeared unsure about whether Trump making a national-emergency declaration would be a prudent move.

"President [Donald Trump] strongly believes he has power to declare a national emergency to build a wall," Graham tweeted. "Will that approach work? I don’t know."

The statement followed a meeting at his office on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, in which several of his Republican colleagues and White House officials mounted a last-ditch effort to broker a deal with Democrats.

A national-emergency declaration, which previous presidential administrations have made, would allow him to use funds to build his border wall without approval from Congress.

"If this doesn't work out, probably I will do it, I would almost say definitely," Trump said before a trip to McAllen, Texas, to inspect the border. "This is a national emergency."

Graham, who has slowly become one of Trump's most ardent supporters in Congress, is expected to soon relinquish his role on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He recently became the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SEE ALSO: 'Bye-bye': Trump reportedly issued terse farewell as he abruptly left his meeting with Democrats

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NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'

• Red Dead Online, the multiplayer online mode in "Red Dead Redemption 2," is currently in a beta phase.
• A new update will add a "Fortnite"-style battle royale mode called Gun Rush to Red Dead Online, along with some quality of life improvements.
• Creator Rockstar Games expects the beta to continue for a few more months, and is developing separate story missions for Red Dead Online.

Red Dead Online, the online multiplayer mode in "Red Dead Redemption 2," is getting some major updates to mark the start of 2019 — including Gun Rush, a new game mode that's similar to "Fortnite: Battle Royale."

Gun Rush was added an update landing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One today, and lets up to 32 players play at once. Like "Fortnite," Gun Rush tosses players into a shrinking battle zone and forces them to search for weapons to survive. Players can ride solo or join up with a team, and the last squad standing wins the game.

Rockstar is planning more quality of life improvements for Red Dead Online, too, like daily challenges, a revised bounty system for aggressive players, and other changes that will help organize player interactions on the online frontier. Future updates will include new story missions, dynamic events, collectible items, and different competitive modes like races.

Though Red Dead Online is included with every purchase of "Red Dead Redemption 2," Rockstar says the online mode is still in a beta phase and will remain so for a few more months.. Prior to the launch of Red Dead Online, Rockstar said it planned to work alongside the community to build an ideal online experience.

"We look forward to working with our amazing and dedicated community to share ideas, help us fix teething problems and work with us to develop 'Red Dead Online' into something really fun and innovative," the company said in a statement.

In the past, Rockstar developers have said they consider Red Dead Online and "Red Dead Redemption 2" to be two different games. Rockstar still provides regular updates to Grand Theft Auto Online, even though "Grand Theft Auto V" launched more than five years ago in 2013. Rockstar's ongoing support has helped that game sell more than 100 copies worldwide.

"Red Dead Redemption 2" was one of the most celebrated games of 2018, and with ongoing support for Red Dead Online, the game won't soon be forgotten.

SEE ALSO: This guy followed 'Red Dead Redemption 2' characters for a full day and discovered just how detailed the game really is

SEE ALSO: The 20 best video games of 2018, from 'Red Dead Redemption 2' to 'God of War'

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NOW WATCH: I cut Google out of my life for 2 weeks, but the alternatives prove why Google is so much better

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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• The sixth-busiest airport in the world is taking on an unusual vibe.
• As TSA agents go unpaid, Travis Scott and Kanye West songs are blasting through JFK's loudspeakers, some passengers reported on Twitter.
• "We're living in a simulation," one passenger tweeted.

The US dealing with the second-longest government shutdown ever.

Most of the effects have been unsavory. Some 800,000 federal workers are furloughed, meaning they are not working and receiving no pay, or working without pay (though those workers are due back pay when the government reopens) until the shutdown ends. The Food and Drug Administration has ceased food inspections. And the 40 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits won't receive food assistance after February, if the shutdown continues.

Lines at airports nationwide have also become incredibly long as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees call in sick at work and go unpaid. Air-traffic controllers have also gone unpaid since December 22.

SEE ALSO: TSA employees working unpaid because of the government shutdown are quitting — and this could create a 'massive security risk' for travelers

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NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago — here's what his life is like in prison

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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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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• IT budgets are still growing, according to a Morgan Stanley survey of chief information officers in the US and Europe.
• CIOs in the US expect their budgets to grow 5.5% in 2019. That's up from 5.3% in 2018.
• The big winner will be software, according to the report, where spending is expected to grow the most.

Forget market volatility — companies continue to grow their IT budget and their allocations for buying new software, according to Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley talked to 100 chief information officers in the US and Europe for its quarterly survey and found that CIOs expect their IT budgets to grow 4.7% in 2019. That growth is slightly down from 2018, when CIOs expected their budgets to grow 4.9%. The 2019 decline stems primarily from European CIOs, according to the report.  

CIOs in the US actually expect to see 2019 budgets grow by 5.5%, which is up from 5.3% in 2018.

The big winner, according to the survey, is software, which CIOs said will grow 5.2% in 2019. Amazon and Microsoft are the biggest gainers of "IT wallet share," according to the survey, since so many companies will spend money on public cloud services, the market where those two companies lead.

Salesforce is also well-positioned to benefit from public cloud adoption, according to the report.

CIOs expect to increase their spending on IT services by 4% in 2019, up from 3.7% in 2018. In addition, 28% of the CIOs surveyed expect to over-spend their budgets when it comes to IT services.

Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss wrote that companies like HCL, CTSH, Deloitte, and CAP are well-positioned to win from this spending. ACN was one of the top five companies most likely to benefit from spending on cloud migration, according to the report.

Spending in hardware, however, is not seeing the same growth. CIOs expect their hardware budgets to grow by just 2.2% in 2019. When these CIOs were surveyed last quarter in October 2018, they predicted 2.5% growth. US respondents in particular expect their hardware spending to grow by just 2%, according to the survey.

"The downtick is a signal that US-based tax reform and cash repatriation were meaningful positive catalysts last year with growth slowing on the more difficult comps," wrote Morgan Stanley's Keith Weiss.

SEE ALSO: With China in sharp focus, Morgan Stanley forecasts a rough 2019 for the companies that make the chips in the world's smartphones and servers

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NOW WATCH: Japanese lifestyle guru Marie Kondo explains how to organize your home once and never again

• CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta fired back at Trump Organization executive Donald Trump Jr. after he described a video Acosta posted as "one of the best self-own videos ever."
• Acosta, who was covering President Donald Trump's inspection of the US-Mexico border in Texas, challenged Trump's description of a "crisis" at the border in his video.
• Acosta and Trump Jr. went back and forth on Twitter on Thursday.

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta fired back at Trump Organization executive and President Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., after he described a video Acosta posted as "one of the best self-own videos ever."

While covering President Donald Trump's inspection of the US-Mexico border at McAllen, Texas, on Thursday, Acosta scrutinized the characterization of the border as a "crisis." Trump and White House officials have described the border as a "crisis" to justify a border barrier.

"I found some steel slats down on the border," Acosta said in a tweet with in his video, which had over 2 million views at the time of writing. "But I don't see anything resembling a national emergency situation.. at least not in the McAllen TX area of the border where Trump will be today."

"Of course you don't Jim,"Trump Jr. replied hours later. "That's because walls work. Thanks for your help proving [Donald Trump's] point and simultaneously creating one of the best self-own videos ever!!!"

Acosta responded by referring to the 20-day partial government shutdown and calling the situation "a little strange."

SEE ALSO: 'You're such a smart-a--': Kellyanne Conway unloads on CNN's Jim Acosta in fiery exchange after he asks if Trump 'will tell the truth'

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NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'

• 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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• N26, a German fintech startup backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, raised $300 million in a series D funding round.
• The latest financing values the company at $2.7 billion. 
• The financing comes just 10 months after N26's last funding round and will be used to facilitate the company's expansion into the US market.

N26, a German digital banking company backed by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, is now the most valuable fintech in Europe. 

The company on Thursday said it had raised $300 million in a series D funding round that values it $2.7 billion. That's more than red hot $1.7 billion UK-based fintech Revolut.

Venture firm Insight Venture Partner is leading the latest funding round alongside Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. 

The financing comes just 10 months after N26's last funding round, in which the company raised $160 million from Tencent and Allianz.

Nicolas Kopp, the US chief executive officer of N26, said the fundraising is to facilitate the company's global expansion, including into the US.

Read more: A Peter Thiel-backed fintech that aims to be 'a mixture of Venmo, Zelle, Mint and Chase' is launching next year in the US

Business Insider previously reported that N26  is building a banking product for US customers in the first half of 2019 and is partnering with an unnamed American bank for its offering. The company is aiming to launch a banking app that offers an aggregation of services provided by popular financial apps, like Venmo, Zelle, Mint, and a bank account. 

N26 is also looking to launch in other markets after the US, Kopp said. The company has a long-term goal of becoming a global bank and aims to serve 100 million users over the coming years, he said.

Launched in January 2015, N26 currently operates in 24 European markets and has tripled its active users to 2.3 million over last year. The company has over 700 employees and has opened a New York office that houses 25 to 30 employees, Kopp said.

N26 is just the latest fintech to raise funding at a hefty valuation. Fintech Plaid just raised funding at a $2.65 valuation. 

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NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago — here's what his life is like in prison

• MongoDB stock closed 13% down after Amazon Web Services announced its own rival DocumentDB.
• Analysts say this needs to be taken seriously because of Amazon's scale and reach — but it's too early to tell if it will affect MongoDB in the long term.
• MongoDB has two key advantages more capabilities and a loyal developer following — so loyal that when Microsoft offered a competing database called CosmosDB, it had little impact on MongoDB.

MongoDB's stock was down 13% at the close of the first day of trading after Amazon Web Services launched DocumentDB, a direct competitor to its own database business. The company, which went public in 2017, is now valued at just over $4 billion.

On Wednesday, Eliot Horowitz, CTO and co-founder of MongoDB, told Business Insider that he's not worried about Amazon DocumentDB — rather, he said, it was a sign of "how desperate Amazon was" to do what MongoDB does. Wall Street, however, does not seem to agree, evidenced by the dropping share price. 

Read more: The CTO of $4.4 billion MongoDB explains why he's 'not terribly worried' that Amazon's cloud is encroaching on its turf with a new database

"Amazon released a product that is not only competitive and directly targeted at MongoDB," Edward Parker, director and data and cloud infrastructure analyst at analyst firm BTIG, told Business Insider. "Given Amazon's cloud size and technical confidence, we have to take this very seriously. It has competitive implications for MongoDB."

Notably, DocumentDB is compatible with certain older versions of MongoDB, potentially making it easier for customers to move from one to the other. For its part, DocumentDB is tightly integrated with the rest of the Amazon Web Services empire, and customers pay only for what they use. 

Not all hope is lost for MongoDB, though, says Parker. What makes MongoDB stand out is its enthusiastic developer following. That enthusiasm might mean that AWS has trouble swiping these customers away from MongoDB, no matter how easy Amazon makes it. Besides, MongoDB has been around longer, and is more fully-featured.

"MongoDB has a very capable document database with a very passionate and large developer base," Parker said. "Amazon has advantages over MongoDB in terms of scale and overall resource preponderance. The question is the extent to which Amazon can attract MongoDB developers."

In an interview with TechCrunch, MongoDB CEO and president Dev Ittycheria was more confident, saying that "imitation was the sincerest form of flattery" and that "developers are technically savvy enough to distinguish between the real thing and a poor imitation."

"MongoDB will continue to outperform any impersonations in the market," Ittycheria told TechCrunch.

MongoDB has a secret weapon

In a note to clients, BTIG analysts pointed out that MongoDB has weathered similar storms before — a competing database from Microsoft Azure, called CosmosDB, failed to make a significant dent on MongoDB's momentum.

"CosmosDB is a document database from Microsoft which is the de facto number 2 hyperscale cloud provider," Parker said. "In theory, you would have expected that to be viable competition, but it hasn't really been able to slow down MongoDB. Microsoft has likely not been able to capture the same kind of developer mindshare that MongoDB has."

Instead, MongoDB says, it's common for customers to install MongoDB itself on their Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. MongoDB's Horowitz expects that there will be a similar dynamic at play with Amazon DocumentDB.

"We have had zero problems with MongoDB adoption on Azure," Horowitz told Business Insider. "I don't think [Amazon DocumentDB] going to have a terribly large effect on our business. It will bring MongoDB to the forefront to people's minds. It shows people who haven't used MongoDB before just how powerful the MongoDB API is."

Ultimately, BTIG believes that while the introduction of Amazon DocumentDB may not hurt MongoDB in the short run, it remains to be seen if it'll have long-term effects on the business. At the same time, MongoDB's killer advantage is really that developer enthusiasm, giving Amazon a high bar to clear, say the analysts. 

"Time will tell the extent to which [Amazon] is able to successfully emulate [MongoDB]’s virtues while overcoming some of its shortcomings, but it’s hard to conclude that this development doesn’t have negative competitive implications," BTIG analysts wrote.

Also of note is that MongoDB was one of the companies that went on the defensive against cloud providers, like Amazon or Baidu, that take open source software like its own and package it up as a service for profit. To do so, MongoDB changed its software licensing agreements — a a controversial move with ripple effects still playing out.

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