• Alabama and Clemson meet on Monday night in the college football national championship, their third meeting in the big game and fourth consecutive year facing off in the playoff.
• Alabama has dominated all season, and props on Tua Tagovailoa look like good bets as long as he can stay healthy.
• Clemson running back Travis Etienne also has a chance at a big day for the Tigers and bettors supporting them.

The college football national championship is finally here, with Alabama and Clemson set to meet in the playoff for the fourth straight year and for the third time in the title game.

To celebrate the big game, we're putting some money down on our 11 favorite bets of the night, covering player props, totals, and everything in between. Since these teams are so familiar with each other, it's easy to look back on their previous matchups and see how things might play out.

Take a look below at our 11 best bets of Alabama-Clemson IV.

Tua Tagovailoa Over 21.5 completions (-155)

Tua Tagovailoa has only completed 22 passes in four games this season, but that is because Alabama was so dominant he had the luxury of sitting out for the second half of many of the Tide's games.

Clemson should present a tougher challenge than Bama's schedule up to this point, keeping him on the field for the majority of the game. With Tua's high completion percentage, he may only need 25 attempts to hit this over.

Bet $155 to win $100

Tua Tagovailoa will not throw an interception (-140)

Tagovailoa has also been safe with the ball this year, with only four interceptions thus far. While the Clemson secondary will be one of the better units the Crimson Tide have faced this year, Tua doesn't miss many throws and forces even fewer of them.

Bet $70 to win $50

No score in the first five minutes and 30 seconds (-120)

In the three previous playoff meetings between these two teams, no team has scored in the first five minutes and 30 seconds of action.

This is a more dangerous bet this year, as the Alabama offense has built its identity around an ability to jump out to quick, early leads. But we're still betting that the championship jitters will take a little while to shake off, leaving the game still tied 0-0 for at least the first few minutes.

Bet $60 to win $50

• Solider 76 is one of the original heroes of "Overwatch," the massively popular first-person shooter that debuted in May 2016.
• "Overwatch" creator Activision Blizzard recently released an official short story that describes a romantic relationship between Soldier 76 and a man named Vincent.
• The revelation was largely met with an enthusiastic response. 
• Solider 76 is the second "Overwatch" character to be identified as queer. Tracer, a British hero, was confirmed to be a lesbian in an official comic book from 2016.

A short story tie-in to one of the most popular games in the world revealed that one of the game's most recognizable characters is gay — generating an enthusiastic response from fans, many of whom had already suspected as much. 

On Monday, "Overwatch" creator Activision-Blizzard released the short story titled "Bastet," which focuses on two of the game's heroes, Solider 76 and Ana. As the characters discuss their shared history, Ana comes across a picture of a young Soldier 76 alongside another man. It's revealed that the other man, Vincent, was once a love interest for Soldier 76, but they ultimately broke up.

While the relationship is just a small anecdote in the larger story, it served as confirmation for long-held speculation about Solider 76's sexuality. Some fans were confident that the character was gay based on his relationships with the game's other heroes, while others felt that he took on an asexual role as the patriarch of "Overwatch." Michael Chu, the lead writer of "Overwatch,"later confirmed on Twitter that Solider 76, a super-soldier once known as Jack Thompson, identifies as gay.

LGBTQ fans seem to have embraced the news and welcomed Soldier 76 as the game's second gay character. Another of the original "Overwatch" heroes, Tracer, was revealed to be a lesbian in an official 2016 comic book. Fans have shared jokes and memes across social media as they celebrate the news.

One fan pointed out that the picture of Jack and Vincent was present in the same comic featuring Tracer's lesbian relationship:

Another bisexual fan showed off his Soldier 76 jacket with pride:

Well-known esports champion Dominique "SonicFox" McLean, who is gay, made an affectionate (but slightly risqué) joke on his Twitter, too. 

While the response to the reveal of Soldier 76's sexuality has been overwhelming positive, not everybody is happy with how Blizzard has handled it. A few skeptical Overwatch players have questioned why Blizzard waited so long to address the character's sexuality. Others have openly wondered whether if Blizzard will make the queerness an active part of these characters' identities, or if their sexuality will ultimately become trivia.

"I mean, that's great that #Soldier76 is gay but let's be f**king real. #Overwatch is never going to do anything with it,"wrote one Twitter user. 

SEE ALSO: Eight teams paid more than $30 million each to join the Overwatch League – here's everything you need to know before the new season starts

SEE ALSO: The newest 'Overwatch' character is a deadly gunslinger with a grudge to bear

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I tried cooking an entire Thanksgiving dinner using Google Home Hub and found there are two major flaws with it

• The keto diet is arguably the trendiest diet of the year.
• It can help with weight loss, weight maintenance, increase energy, and promote healthier skin.
• Some complain of hunger when trying to follow this diet.
• Not consuming enough fiber or water could be contributors to hunger.
• Relying on plant-based dairy and getting inadequate sleep at night may lead to hunger, too.

By far one of the biggest diets lately has been the keto diet. From celebrities like Halle Berry and Kourtney Kardashian to the everyday people who are pro-keto, many have given this popular diet a try. After all, many claim that the keto diet can help you shed weight, can give your skin a glow, and can give you more energy throughout the day.  

But there are still some questions surrounding this dietary trend. Some people have struggled to maintain the keto diet largely because they've found they're just not getting full enough, making the diet difficult to keep up with. However, you shouldn't be hungry if you follow keto — here's what you're doing wrong.

You aren't eating foods rich enough in fiber.

Fiber can help you feel much more full, so a fiber-rich diet is important if you want to be satiated. The benefit here is that it's easy to make your keto meals more rich in fiber. For example, a food like sauerkraut is low in carbs, but rich in fiber, so you can maintain your keto diet while adding in more fiber to help you feel fuller.

You aren't getting enough sleep.

When you're sleep deprived, your body doesn't produce enough of the hormone leptin, which leads to an increase in ghrelin, which can trigger a feeling of hunger, according to Precision Nutrition. If you're wondering if your lack of sleep is leading you to feel hungry, rather than the introduction of the keto diet, try getting more sleep. If you're well-rested and still hungry, there may be another piece of the puzzle to figure out.

You're relying on plant-based dairy.

While milk has become controversial in regards to weight loss in recent years, according to registered dietitian Abbey Sharp, RD, who previously spoke with INSIDER, you need dairy with full fat (not 2%, almond milk, oat milk, or any other sort of milk) to get essential nutrients that will help you feel fuller

Many companies use the term artificial intelligence, or AI, as a way to generate excitement for their products and to present themselves as on the cutting edge of tech development.

But what exactly is artificial intelligence? What does it involve? And how will it help the development of future generations?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in AI 101, a brand new FREE report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, that describes how AI works and looks at its present and potential future applications.

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

Join the conversation about this story »

• Red Lobster is no longer advertising on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show, the chain told Business Insider Monday. 
• The seafood chain follows at least 19 other advertisers that have cut advertising on the show since December, including IHOP, Minted, and the jobs site Indeed. 
• The Fox News host sparked backlash recently for blaming high-earning women for "men in decline." He also said that allowing immigrants from impoverished countries to come to the US would make it “poorer and dirtier.”

Red Lobster is joining a wave of advertisers that have cut ties with conservative Fox News host Tucker Carlson's show.

The chain confirmed to Business Insider on Monday that it is no longer advertising during "Tucker Carlson Tonight." This comes after critics pointed out that the seafood chain was one of the few brands that continued to advertise on the prime time opinion show after recent controversies. 

At least 19 brands have stopped advertising on the show since December. 

Read more:IHOP will no longer advertise on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show after he says immigrants are making the US 'poorer and dirtier'

A wave of backlash began last month when Carlson said in a segment that the US needed more "scientists and engineers," as the country seeks to fill automated and tech-centered jobs.

"Instead we're getting waves of people with high school educations or less. Nice people, no one doubts that, but as an economic matter this is insane. It's indefensible, so no one even tries to defend it," he said.

"Instead our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our country poorer and dirtier and more divided."

More recently, the provocative host sparked backlash when he argued that high-earning women are to blame for "men in decline." He premised his argument on the generalization that women consider men who earn less than them undesirable as life partners.  

"In many areas, women suddenly made more than men. Now, before you applaud that as a victory for feminism, consider some of the effects,"he said. "Study after study has shown that when men make less than women, women generally don't want to marry them. Now maybe they should want to marry them, but they don't." 

Carlson was slammed for the comments. Critics pointed to research that shows that when women's wages increase, men and children benefit. 

In mid-December, insurance company Pacific Life was the first of the most recent wave of advertisers to come out in disagreement with Carlson, saying the company would "not be advertising on Mr. Carlson's show in the coming weeks as we reevaluate our relationship with his program."

Brands including online-design marketplace IHOP, Minted, and jobs site Indeed were among those that followed suit in cutting ties in the following days.

Read more:Advertisers are fleeing in droves after Tucker Carlson's comments about immigrants on Fox News — here's the list

Fox News did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. In December, the news organization issued a statement saying: "We cannot and will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts from the likes of Moveon.org, Media Matters and Sleeping Giants."

"Attempts were made last month to bully and terrorize Tucker and his family at their home. He is now once again being threatened via Twitter by far left activist groups with deeply political motives. While we do not advocate boycotts, these same groups never target other broadcasters and operate under a grossly hypocritical double standard given their intolerance to all opposing points of view."

SEE ALSO: People are saying the Tucker Carlson boycotts are a betrayal of free speech. They're wrong.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Ocean Spray harvests 220 billion cranberries a year

• Companies that advertised during Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News have begun fleeing in droves following his anti-immigrant comments.
• People were outraged and threatened to boycott companies advertising on Carlson's show.
• Here are the businesses that have pulled their advertisements so far.

Companies that advertised during Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News have begun fleeing in droves following his anti-immigrant comments made in December.

During his show, the "Tucker Carlson Tonight" host expressed concern with the state of US immigration policy and immigrants' educational backgrounds. He urged more "scientists and skilled engineers" to come to the US and said that allowing immigrants from impoverished countries to come to the US would make it "poorer and dirtier."

"Instead, we're getting waves of people with high-school educations or less," he said on his show. "Nice people — no one doubts that. But as an economic matter, this is insane. It's indefensible, so nobody even tries to defend it.

"Instead, our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided."

Carlson's comments were widely rebuked, and several people threatened to boycott his advertisers, which began cutting ties.

Carlson reiterated his claims and likened the effect of the US's immigration policy to a city in Mexico.

"The left says we have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor," Carlson said, "even if it makes our own country more like Tijuana is now, which is to say poorer and dirtier and more divided."

Fox News expressed supported for its host's opinions, saying it was "a shame that left-wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed 'media watchdogs' weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech."

The company also described the advertisers' moves as "unfortunate and unnecessary distractions," and accused progressive media watchdogs with "deeply political motives" of threatening Carlson on Twitter.

"While we do not advocate boycotts, these same groups never target other broadcasters and operate under a grossly hypocritical double standard given their intolerance to all opposing points of view," Fox News said.

Here's the full list of companies that have pulled their ads from Carlson's show:

SEE ALSO: IHOP will no longer advertise on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show after he says immigrants are making the US 'poorer and dirtier'

Red Lobster

Source: Business Insider

IHOP

Source: Business Insider

Samsung

Source: Hollywood Reporter

• At least nine Democratic Congressmembers, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, toured the US Border Patrol facility where 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo died in December.
• The group, led by CHC Chairman Joaquín Castro and New Mexico Representative Xotchil Torres Small, were there to investigate the circumstances of the young boy's death.
• Their visit comes days before President Donald Trump is set to visit the border this week.

At least nine Democratic members of Congress visited the New Mexico border patrol facility where 8-year-old Felipe Goméz Alonzo, a Guatemalan migrant, died last month to investigate the circumstances of his death.

Led by Congressional Hispanic Caucus Joaquin Castro and New Mexico's newly-elected 2nd District Rep. Xochtil Torres Small, the members of Congress went down to the facility in Alamogordo. Torres Small told Politico that the visit was made to ensure that "another tragedy does not happen again."

Goméz Alonzo was detained on December 18 with his father at this Border Patrol facility. He was transferred to the hospital six days later, on Christmas Eve, because he was exhibiting flu-like symptoms, according to Department of Homeland Security officials. He was diagnosed with a cold and sent back to the detention center. Later that night, he was rushed again to the hospital by Border Patrol agents, where he died.

His death came less than a month after 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, another Guatemalan migrant, died under similar circumstances.

“The deaths of Felipe and Jakelin are inexcusable,” Torres Small told Politico. “Their deaths have highlighted a new reality on the border, and DHS hasn’t adapted quick enough to the changing circumstances on the border to keep children and families, agents, and our communities safe.”

Read more:Jimmy Carter slaps down Trump's claim that past presidents privately supported a border wall

NBC News reported that, during the visit, Castro said the Trump Administration's policies are exacerbating a humanitarian crisis.

“If you go into CBP processing centers or detention centers, no American would be proud," he said, referring to the way migrants are being treated there.

Castro said Border Patrol facilities at the border need the necessary supplies, staff and safety measures to secure the lives of migrants.

“We spoke to CBP officers who patrol areas that don’t have radio communication or cell phone service where they are,” Castro said.

The visit by the congressional delegation comes the same day President Donald Trump announced his own intentions to visit the southern border. No details about his trip have been announced, but Trump is expected to visit the US-Mexico border on Thursday.

The government is currently still under partial shutdown due to Trump's demands for $5.7 billion to fund his proposed border wall.

SEE ALSO: Trump will visit the southern border on Thursday amid government shutdown

Join the conversation about this story »

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

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Amazon's Movers and Shakers page tracks the biggest gainers in sales ranking over the last 24 hours, providing interesting and sometimes surprising insights into what's trending among shoppers.

We previously looked at the section as a whole and beauty products to see what people were excited to buy. This time, we wanted to know about the tech gadgets people are interested in.

Generally, it looks like shoppers care about entertainment and making their tech more efficient. However, if you're more interested gaming, music, and photography, there are also some interesting and surprising products trending in those categories, too. 

See the 10 most useful tech gadgets from Amazon below. 

SEE ALSO: Jet.com is often compared to Amazon — here’s how the startup is different

A waterproof action camera

Ectreme 4K Waterproof HD Action Camera, $80

This sports action camera uses 4K ultra HD for crisp, clear images. It's waterproof up to 30 meters (98 feet), so you can take it with you to capture moments while surfing, diving, swimming, and more. There's also built-in WiFi, so you can get all of your images and videos straight to your smartphone.

A Bluetooth MP3 player

Valoin MP3 Player, $36.99

It makes sense that people are loving this budget-friendly MP3 player. It has 8 GB of memory built-in, up to 50 hours of music playback, and bluetooth connectivity — all for under $40. 

An LED monitor

HP LED Monitor (Certified Refurbished), $149.99

This monitor provides serious high definition resolution with over 2 million pixels, meaning all of your content looks noticeably sharp. The thin display allows for an ultra-wide viewing experience. Plus, these models are certified refurbished, so they look and work like new, but you can get them for less than their market price. 

• Life insurance is fundamentally hard to sell; it’s morbid to think about, promises no immediate rewards, and often requires a lengthy paper application with minimal guidance.
• Despite the popularity of personalized products in other areas of finance and fintech, life insurance largely remains unchanged.
• A small, but growing pocket of insurtech startups are shaking up the status quo by finding ways to digitize life insurance and increase its appeal.

Life insurance is a fundamentally difficult product to sell; it requires people to think about their deaths without promising any immediate returns.

And, despite tech innovations and the development of personalized services in other areas of finance, life insurance remains largely unchanged.

Luckily, there is a small but growing pocket of insurtech startups looking to modernize it. These companies are finding ways to digitize life insurance to  appeal to consumers — and they’re giving incumbents the opportunity to revamp traditional offerings, either by partnering with them or using their technology.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has forecasted the shifting landscape of life insurance in the The Future of Life Insurance report. Here are the key problems insurtechs are tackling:

• Lack of education: Forty percent of US consumers told the Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA) that they feel intimidated by the life insurance application process, often drastically overestimating its cost and facing uncertainty about how much or which type of coverage to buy.
• Inconvenient application process: It can take weeks or months for coverage to take effect because of the sheer number of meetings and parties combing through paperwork in each round of the application process. The risk for the insurer often warrants reviews from the carrier, a team of underwriters, a broker, and even a medical examiner.
• Low customer loyalty: Life insurance tends to be a “set it and forget it” type of purchase, with very few people revisiting it after buying. Insurers and consumers therefore have limited contact for most of the relationship — with the exception of an annual bill, of course.
• Inefficient data management and processing: The aggregate data life insurers rely on is typically fed into algorithms that make broad assumptions about particular populations, and often incorporate outdated medical documentation — all of which can delay applications and result in unnecessary rejections.

Want to learn more?

The need for modernization in life insurance is clear: Overall sales are slowing and policy ownership is hitting record lows. And because it’s such a tightly-regulated space, innovation from incumbents has stagnated — but they’re not helpless. Consumer-focused and insurer-focused startups have emerged to offer new technologies and process improvements.

The Future of Life Insurance report from Business Insider Intelligence looks at the two main strategies life insurtechs are adopting to drive change in this market, for the benefit of both buyers and sellers. In full, the report discusses best practices incumbents and startups should adopt to steer clear of the risks attached to applying emerging technologies to such a tightly regulated product.

Insurtech startups will soon set new industry standards and consumer expectations around this complex product. That, in turn will serve as a catalyst for innovation among legacy players.

Companies included in this report: Ladder, Haven Life, Getsurance, Tomorrow, Fabric, Atidot, AllLife, Royal London, Polly, Life.io, Legal & General, Vitality, Discovery, John Hancock, Dai-ichi Life.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Tidelift, founded by former Red Hat employees, announced on Monday $25 million in new funding to try to create a new business model for open source software.
• The open source industry is in the middle of great change, as some software companies make defensive moves against Amazon and other cloud providers reselling their open source software projects for a profit. 
• Tidelift helps connect software developers with the people who make open source software — the developers get better service and support, while the developers get financial support for their open source work. 

Back in the early 2000s, people would balk at the notion of using free, open source software to run a serious business — companies like Red Hat, which bet its business model on the concept, were seen as oddities. But times have changed: Open source software is key to most modern computing infrastructures. And over a decade later, IBM plans to acquire Red Hat for a colossal $34 billion.

Now, a group of former Red Hat employees have co-founded Tidelift, a startup that wants to repeat the trick and pioneer a new business model for open source software. To that end, Tidelift announced on Monday $25 million in new funding from General Catalyst, Foundry Group, and former Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik.

What Tidelift is trying to do, says Donald Fischer, co-founder and CEO of Tidelift, is connect the users of open source software directly with the people who make it.

"It only makes sense that it should be in our self-interest to pay the maintainers of [open source] software. If we don't do that, it's going to be a rough 2019. We need to set ourselves up with decades of more success," Fischer told Business Insider.

Often, open source projects are maintained by enthusiasts in their spare time as an act of altruism towards the developer community. But those maintainers often have day jobs, or otherwise don't have the time or financial resources to work on the project full-time. Open source software is always free, and free doesn't pay the bills.

This results in under-maintained open source software, says Fischer, where security holes and other bugs go unhatched in even reasonably popular projects. That, in turn, makes it harder for businesses to rely on open source software — and sometimes drives them to pricier, but better-supported, commercial products from the likes of Oracle or Microsoft. 

That's where Tidelift comes in, says Fischer. If you're a development team using open source software, you can subscribe to Tidelift. Your subscription fee gets disbursed to the maintainers of the open source projects you're using — provided those maintainers themselves have signed up for Tidelift. In return, those maintainers provide Tidelift subscribers with the tech support and fixes they need to put open source to work. 

"We observed that there's a two-sided marketplace at work around open source software," Fischer said. "There's various individuals and teams creating software for different reasons. There's been a missed opportunity where organizations consuming that software would be interested in paying for additional assurances, and many people who would be interested in getting paid for those services."

'Cracks' in the open source business

The founders of Tidelift have been working together in open source for the last 20 years, including at Red Hat.  Fischer recalls that with IBM announced it would acquire Red Hat, it was "both gratifying and a little saddening."

The new funding comes after a tumult ous year in open source, which brought the industry's traditional business model under fresh scrutiny. 

"It was sort of an amazing year for open source. At the same time, there are cracks forming around open source," said Fischer. 

Open source companies like Elastic went public, while high-profile companies in the space like GitHub and Red Hat navigated to big-money acquisitions.

The traditional open source business model is called "open core"— companies like MongoDB, Elastic, and even Red Hat offer free, open source software that anyone can download and use as they wish. They make their money by charging for tech support and extra features that make the software more suitable for businesses. 

The rise of cloud computing has thrown an interesting wrinkle in that formula: Cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure take the free open source software created by the open source community, package it up into a paid service, and offer it to their own customers for a profit. It's all perfectly legal, but it's sparked some backlash from smaller open source companies, which have been making defensive moves against the practice.

Read more: After Amazon’s cloud encroaches on its turf, a startup is taking a stand: Open source can’t be ‘free and unsustainable R&D’ for tech giants

Tidelift believes that its subscription solution can thread that needle, offering a way for open source developers to make money without having to worry about a major cloud platform — or anybody else — eating your lunch. 

The Tidelift solution

From Fischer's perspective, it's crucial that maintainers get the financial support to continue their open source work.  With the funding, Tidelift plans to expand its coverage and bring more open source projects into the fold, at a time when it sees good open source maintenance as more vital than ever.

Back in November, the world got an object lesson in the value of good open source maintenance when an open-source Javascript package called "event-stream," with over 100 million downloads a year and used by the BBC and Microsoft, was found to have bitcoin-stealing malware that was snuck in by a malicious third party. 

While things don't always get that dramatic, Fischer says that a Tidelift subscription can give developers peace of mind that their open source software is getting timely updates and security fixes. That's something that you just don't get if you download open source software from the internet and just get started using it.

"Open source software hasn't traditionally come with those guarantees," Fischer said. "It does come with the guarantee that you can make a copy of it. Just because you can make a copy and download it from GitHub doesn't mean anyone's ready to keep it working and keeping it well-maintained."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The true story behind the name 'Black Friday' is much darker than you may have thought

• Apple has a big — and misleading — ad on display in Las Vegas during this year's CES convention.
• The ad states, "What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone."
• The ad is literally untrue; much of what users do on their iPhones and the data they generate doesn't stay on their devices.
• IPhones leak data to wireless carriers, websites, app developers — and to Apple's own servers and services.
• Apple benefits directly and indirectly from the information that can be gleaned off of users' iPhones.

Give me a break, Apple.

That's a cute ad you have in Las Vegas for the CES tech convention. "What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone" is both a good dig at your rivals and a clever restating of Sin City's popular catch phrase.

But it's literally a lie. What happens on customers' iPhones doesn't stay on them — and you know it.

All kinds of data leaks off of iPhones, much of it with user permission to the numerous software developers who offer the apps that make your devices so useful. But plenty of it also goes to your own servers and services. That's something you both encourage and make money off of — in some cases in ways that aren't all that different from the companies your ad is implicitly deriding.

Read this: Apple trolled Google with a massive billboard at the world's biggest tech show, which it's not even attending

Paul Manafort knows what's on iPhones doesn't stay there

To cite one prominent example of how data on iPhones doesn't actually stay on them, take the case of Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign manager who was recently convicted of multiple federal crimes. Part of what got him in trouble were some WhatsApp messages he sent from his iPhone.

That may seem strange at first. WhatsApp is renowned for offering a secure messaging service with end-to-end encryption, which blocks anyone but the sending and receiving parties from reading messages. iPhones are also renowned for their own security — and everything stays on an iPhone, right?

Wrong. Manafort backed up his WhatsApp messages to your iCloud service, a common practice. What he apparently didn't realize is those backups aren't secure, that you have the keys to them and can access them when federal prosecutors ask you to.

Other companies do the same thing, of course. Businesses are legally obliged to hand over customer information when they receive a subpoena from law enforcement (unless they choose to legally challenge the subpoena, as Apple and others do from time to time). 

Manafort's case may also be the one of the more extreme, and justified, examples of how the things people do on their iPhones don't actually stay on them. But it's certainly not an isolated one.

iPhones regularly leak all kinds of information

Even at a very basic level, iPhones leak information. It's not a bad thing, it's just the nature of phones and networked computers. When users make a call or access the internet, they are providing information via the cell towers or wireless routers they are connecting through to carriers or website operators about where they are and, in many cases, who they are connecting with. That kind of metadata absolutely doesn't stay on users' iPhones.

But you as a company also get all kinds of data off iPhones. Your Maps app and its real-time traffic conditions service relies on data you glean from iPhone users. Many iPhones are customized to automatically send you diagnostic and other data, so you can identify bugs in your operating system. When iPhone users asks questions of Siri, their devices submit those queries to your servers, and you use that information to get a better idea of the kind of information users are looking for.

You've made a big deal about how the iPhone has built-in encryption and advanced authentication technology, such as your Face ID facial recognition system, to protect the data stored on users' devices. And for the most part, the iPhone's built in security technology is pretty robust.

But as the Manafort case illustrates, the locks you've put on people's devices are irrelevant when you've left open a huge back door in the form of your iCloud service.

iCloud is a big back door to users' iPhones

It used to be that most customers backed up their phones to their home computers via your iTunes software, assuming they backed them up at all. Now, the default is to back up to iCloud — something you've been pushing customers to do. It's true that the iCloud backup service is a lot easier and user friendly than iTunes. But you make money off it; you charge customers who want more than the pittance of storage you offer.

All that data — including sensitive things like chat and email messages — is copied to your computers through iCloud. While your policy may be to not access user data, it's factually incorrect to claim that the data "stays" on a customer's iPhone.

It's a particularly dangerous illusion to perpetuate for people who may not be technically savvy enough to know any better and who are foolish enough to take you at your word. 

Just look at what happened to Jennifer Lawrence. 

Like many people, Lawrence used your iClould Photos service, which stores on your servers the pictures users take on their iPhones. The service is great; I use it to backup all my digital photos and to access them on my numerous Apple devices.

The downside of iCloud Photos, though, is that photos are no longer just on users' devices, and they too can leak out. That's something that Lawrence and several other celebrities found out to their dismay several years ago when malicious actors were able to figure out their iCloud passwords, gain access to their photo libraries, and post on the public web some of the risque pictures they found there.

Apple benefits from Google searches and Facebook's app

In recent years, as your iPhone sales have started to stagnate and even fall, you've been touting your services business. According to analysts, one of the biggest and most profitable money makers in that business is your deal with Google. That deal ensures that Google is the default search engine in the iPhone's Safari web browser, a position which ends up sending likely billions of search requests to the company every year.

That's a significant data leak in and of itself; Google uses those searches to glean lots of information about iPhone users and to precisely target them with ads. That's the core of Google's business — a business you implicitly are deriding in your ad — and you help enable it for a huge chunk of change. How exactly are you better than Google, again?

Besides Google, the other big target of your pro-privacy campaign has been Facebook. But users must have a device of some kind to access Facebook. Most of them these days get to the service using their phones, and in the United States and many other countries, a large portion of those mobile users are getting to Facebook via their iPhones. Another way of saying that is that what users do on Facebook on their iPhone isn't staying on their iPhones.

Sure, you're not collecting the data. But you benefit from Facebook's app being available for the iPhone and, indirectly, from the data it collects. After all, Facebook's app has long been one of the most popular apps in the iPhone App Store. It's quite possible that if it weren't available for the iPhone at all or only offered a fraction of the features as the Android version — features, after all, that are often enabled or powered by the data Facebook collects — a significant portion of your user base would buy an Android phone instead.

But it's not just Facebook's app that leaks data off of users' iPhones. A huge portion of apps in your store do that. And you know that, because you designed iOS, the operating system underlying the iPhone, to do just that. You built in hooks that allow developers to access and use all kinds of information off users' phones, including their location, their photos, their contacts in their address books, even their health and fitness information.

Yes, there are good reasons to allow that access. And you do offer some relatively good settings in iOS to give users some measure of control over who has access to that information and how it's used. But it's absolutely false to suggest to users that such information stays on their device.

iPhone apps are finely tracking users' locations

What's more, even with the tools you offer, users still sometimes have little control or even knowledge of how data collected from their iPhones is being used. In a report last month, the New York Times found dozens of companies that collect consumers' location data via their mobile phones, including iPhones. Although the data was collected anonymously, the companies' databases often contained enough information about the comings and goings of particular phones to identify individuals and their patterns of behavior.

What's more, the report found that at least some affected consumers were unaware that their location information was being used for purposes other than the explicit features of the apps that gleaned it. Some were also unaware that, in many cases, their location information — such as what stores they visited — was being sold or passed along to other companies, including hedge funds.

Look, Apple, I appreciate your commitment to privacy. As a consumer, one of the things I like about being a customer of yours is that your business isn't dependent on tracking my every move so that you can sell ads. I understand and appreciate that you make efforts to anonymize the data I and other users send to you. I also like the fact that in many cases you have given me choices about what data I share and with whom.

But iPhones aren't closed boxes. Much that happens on them — sometimes all of it — definitely doesn't stay on them. And to suggest that it does is dishonest and a disservice to your customers.

• Read more about Apple:
• Longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster thinks the company should be valued less like a tech company and more like Coca-Cola. Here's why that could be good for shareholders.
• Longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster thinks the iPhone maker will reclaim its crown as the best tech stock in 2019. Here's why.
• These 5 charts show why Apple's big bet on services just doesn't make any sense
• Apple fans are betting the booming 'services' business will take the sting out of an iPhone slowdown — here's why they might get a painful surprise

SEE ALSO: Hey Tim Cook, there's a simple solution to your iPhone sales problem

Join the conversation about this story »

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

• Google's massive 18,000 square foot booth at CES 2019 will include a ride similar to Disney's “It’s a Small World,” according to reports. 
• The ride will showcase different ways to use the Google Assistant. 
• "By hopping aboard the ride, attendees experience how the Assistant can be helpful in the face of life's twists and turns," a Google spokesman said.
• Google also announced that there are almost one billion devices running the Google Assistant. 

At only its second official appearance, Google is determined to win this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the largest tech trade event on the planet. 

Google's booth will include a ride similar to Disney's “It’s a Small World,” showcasing different ways to use the Google Assistant — its AI-powered rival to Amazon Alexa and Apple's Siri. 

"By hopping aboard the ride, attendees experience how the Assistant can be helpful in the face of life's twists and turns — at home, in the car, and on-the-go, by following the day in the life of a small family," a Google spokesperson told Business Insider. 

Ahead of CES' official opening on Tuesday, Google also announced that there are now almost a billion devices running the Google Assistant. 

Google hinted at the ride in a tweet earlier today:

Google's CES ride was reported earlier on Monday by Marketwatch.

Read more: Here's all the major tech we're expecting at CES 2019, the biggest tech convention of the year

Last year, Google set up a "playground" for CES attendees, equipped with a blue swirly slide and giant gumball machine that gave away prizes like Google Home devices and Nest security cameras. After rainstorms on opening day, however, the massive Google booth flooded and had to be bailed out before reopening. 

The company's massive 18,000 square foot space this year will be three times larger than its set-up in 2018. This year, the ride will be reportedly be protected by a roof in case the weather turns. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why it's so difficult to land a spacecraft on Mars

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.

Regtech solutions seemed to offer the solution to financial institutions' (FIs) compliance woes when they first came to prominence around 24 months ago, gaining support from regulators and investors alike. 

However, many of the companies offering these solutions haven't scaled as might have been expected from the initial hype, and have failed to follow the trajectory of firms in other segments of fintech.

This unexpected inertia in the regtech industry is likely to resolve over the next 12-18 months as other factors come into play that shift FIs' approach to regtech solutions, and as the companies offering them evolve. External factors driving this change include regulatory support of regtech solutions, and consultancies offering more help to FIs wanting to sift through solutions. Startups offering regtech solutions will also play a part by partnering with each other, forming industry organizations, and taking advantage of new opportunities.

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, provides a brief overview of the current global financial regulatory compliance landscape, and the regtech industry's position within it. It then details the major drivers that will shift the dial on FIs' adoption of regtech over the next 12-18 months, as well as those that will propel startups offering regtech solutions to new heights. Finally, it outlines what impact these drivers will have, and gives insight into what the global regtech industry will look like by 2020.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Regulatory compliance is still a significant issue faced by global FIs. In 2018 alone, EU regulations MiFID II and PSD2 have come into effect, bringing with them huge handbooks and gigantic reporting requirements. 
• Regtech startups boast solutions that can ease FIs' compliance burden — but they are struggling to scale. 
• Some changes expected to drive greater adoption of these solutions in the next 12 to 18 months are: the ongoing evolution of startups' business models, increasing numbers of partnerships, regulators' promotion of regtech, changing attitudes to the segment among FIs, and consultancies helping to facilitate adoption.
• FIs will actively be using solutions from regtech startups by 2020, and startups will be collaborating in an organized fashion with each other and with FIs. Global regulators will have adopted regtech themselves, while continuing to act as advocates for the industry.

In full, the report:

• Reviews the major changes expected to hit the regtech segment in the next 12 to 18 months.
• Examines the drivers behind these changes, and how the proliferation of regtech will improve compliance for FIs.
• Provides our view on what the future of the regtech industry looks like through 2020.
  Get The Regtech Revisited Report
  

   

Join the conversation about this story »

• A new device named the "BreadBot" is said to have a staggering bread production capability: six loaves per hour, and nearly 250 per day, with barely any human intervention, according to the company behind it.
• Unless you're feeding hundreds of people, the BreadBot probably isn't for you — it's aimed at disrupting the supermarket bread model.
• The company behind the BreadBot, Wilkinson Baking Company, debuted the device on Sunday at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Fresh bread, as we all know, is delicious.

But what's even better than fresh bread? Loaves of bread produced magically by a robot, over and over, every six minutes. The only input required: Maintaining a steady supply of flour, yeast, and water.

This is the promise of the "BreadBot"— a newly unveiled creation from Wilkinson Baking Company, which debuted this past weekend ahead of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. 

As you might suspect, the BreadBot isn't for the casual home baker. Here's how it works:

SEE ALSO: Samsung's absurd 219-inch TV takes up an entire wall — thus its name, 'The Wall'

First, some numbers — here's what BreadBot can do:

The BreadBot is an all-in-one, automated solution for bread production. It's intended to automate the process of baking fresh bread, and to keep it going all day. 

To that end, the BreadBot can purportedly produce 10 loaves of fresh bread every hour, with about 90 minutes of start time required before the first fresh loaf comes out.

With a 30 minute rest (for cleaning) and the occasional ingredient re-supply, Wilkinson Baking Company estimates BreadBot's production capacity at approximately 235 loaves of fresh bread every day.

That's a serious amount of bread!

Loaves are deposited into what is essentially a large vending machine, albeit one full of fresh loaves of bread.

After bread is mixed, kneaded, proofed, and baked, it's sent to the final holding area where customers can walk up and select fresh bread by hand.

It wouldn't be a modern piece of tech without a touchscreen, and BreadBot is no slouch in this regard. A touchscreen display offers detailed information about each loaf, including how fresh it is and what type of bread it is.

In one example given, customers can grab loaves of bread directly from the machine:

• Intel's Mobileye has joined with Ordnance Survey, Britain's national mapping agency.
• Mobileye and Ordnance Survey will combine geospatial maps of the island nation with Mobileye's self-driving data.
• The results will be extremely detailed maps that can be used by clients such as utilities and telecommunications firms.

On Monday, Mobileye chose CES in Las Vegas to announce a partnership in Great Britain. 

Characterizing the deal as an "agreement to bring high-precision location data to UK agencies and businesses," Mobileye demonstrated how the huge amounts of data collected by self-driving technologies can be applied to unexpected challenges.

The partnership is between Mobileye, an Israel-based startup acquired by Intel in 2017, and Ordnance Survey, a British government agency that has been around since 1745 and has responsibility for detailed mapping of the island nation.

"The deal demonstrates the utility of mapping innovation beyond future autonomous vehicles," Mobileye said in a statement.

"It is a prime example of how Mobileye's unique mapping capabilities can extend the value of location data to businesses in new market segments, such as smart cities. The key lies in making such data available to businesses and governments in a way that is anonymized for privacy."

Read more: Waymo, Cruise, Mobileye, and Tesla are all tackling self-driving cars in different ways — here's the breakdown

As various business models develop around self-driving vehicles, companies have begun to realize that the data they gather could be as valuable as operating autonomous taxi or delivery services — and maybe more so. The data has become a new commodity that can be refined in ways that are useful.

In the case of the Mobileye-Ordnance partnership, maps of extreme precision can be created and offered to customers such as utilities and telecoms; these clients need to know exactly where underground and above-ground infrastructure overlap. 

"They've never had high-level-enough, above-ground maps, relative to what's underground,"Jack Weast, a Mobileye vice-president, told Business Insider.

He added that the partnership opens up new lines of revenue and provides a means to make money off data being captured by vehicles equipped with Mobileye tech.

The deal goes beyond monetization, however. Ultimately, Mobileye and Intel want to create a better urban experience and improve safety.

"Using maps to improve operations between businesses and cities will help bring us closer to the realization of smart cities and safer roads," Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua said in a statement.

SEE ALSO: The 11 coolest cars we can't wait to see at CES

FOLLOW US: On Facebook for more car and transportation content!

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What would happen if Elon Musk left Tesla

• Artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and self-driving technology are helping the transportation and logistics industry finally transform by cutting costs, optimizing delivery routes, and automating mundane tasks.
• Startups will be the lynchpin of this transformation because they specifically target areas of need  with cutting-edge solutions.
• Business Insider Intelligence examined the top 5 startups within five key areas: digital freight services, warehouse robotics, AI for supply chain management, last-mile delivery robotics, and self-driving car software.

Transportation and logistics industries have operated largely the same way for decades. But the surge in e-commerce in the last several years, combined with consumers’ appetite for same-day delivery, has brought us to a tipping point.

Delivery companies are doing all they can to get orders to customers’ doors as quickly as possible, which has facilitated wholesale changes in how they operate.

Cutting-edge digital solutions (including digital freight services, warehouse robotics, AI for supply chain management, delivery robotics, and autonomous driving software) are forcing traditional delivery companies to either evolve or see their core businesses erode.

Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch, a new report from Business Insider Intelligence, monitors the biggest change agents in the industry to offer unique insight into the development of the transportation and logistics space at large, and shows how traditional companies are adapting to their new environment.

Want to Learn More?

Business Insider Intelligence's Startups to Watch reports give a high-level overview of the funding trends for startups in a particular coverage area, as well as a list of key startups (by function, what they do, key news, and statistics). Businesses need to understand new competitive threats, technologies, and acquisition opportunities in order to thrive. These reports provide that contextual information in an easy-to-digest manner.

In full, the Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch report dives into the top 25 companies - five startups across five key disruption areas - that are easing shipping burdens, improving order fulfillment efficiency, optimizing delivery, and automating processes.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has put up astounding numbers.
• In a widely-criticized interview with reporter Tom Rinaldi that aired on ESPN's "College Gameday," Tagovailoa detailed his father's influence in making him into the dominant athlete he is today.
• Tagovailoa's father, Galu, forced his eldest son to throw left-handed, beat him with a belt when he threw interceptions, and chose where Tua would play in college.
• Many college football fans and insiders took to social media to express their disapproval of both Galu's punishments and ESPN's positive reporting of such behavior.

Tua Tagovailoa has taken the world of college football by storm, putting up astounding numbers in leading Alabama to another College Football Playoff.

But the Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback seemingly walked a long road en route to Tuscaloosa.

In a widely-criticized interview with reporter Tom Rinaldi that aired on ESPN's "College Gameday" this week, Tagovailoa detailed his father's influence in making him into the dominant athlete he is today. Some of Galu Tagovailoa's behavior, however, came across less as motivational than it did abusive.

The feature began with Tua explaining that his natural instinct is to use his right hand. He continues to write and eat with his right hand to this day. But when Galu began football training with Tua at the ripe age of two years old, Galu forced his eldest son — who is famous for throwing left-handed — to switch to his non-dominant hand.

"Because I'm the only lefty in the family, I felt like 'okay, I'm gonna make my son a lefty," Galu said.

As Tua got older and began playing football at Saint Louis School in Oahu, the pressure his father placed on him to perform seemingly increased.

"If I don't perform well or I don't perform the way I'm supposed to, I'm gonna get it after," Tua said.

Rinaldi — who simply described Galu as a "demanding audience" during the feature — asked Tua for clarification.

"Just know that the belt was involved and other things were involved as well," Tua said. "And it's almost the same with school. If I don't get this grade... I'm gonna have to suffer the consequences."

Galu described running a no-nonsense household, which includes him, his wife, Diane, and their five children. He said the two most important things to the family are faith and discipline.

"He means the bible and the belt," Diane clarified.

Galu acknowledged he is tough on his son.

"He could go 15-for-15 with four touchdowns, but when he throws a pick, it's the worst game," Galu said. "It's the worst game."

Tua envisioned himself playing in the Pac-12, but when it came time to make his college decision, he did as he was taught to do and deferred to his father.

"My father is the decision maker within the family," Tua said. "Whether I wanted to go to other schools or not, my dad had the final say with where I was going."

After the segment reached its conclusion, ESPN's Desmond Howard joking compared Galu to Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson and the rest of the Jackson 5 who was notorious for physically and emotionally abusing his children while managing their music careers.

Many college football fans and insiders took to social media to express their disapproval of both Galu's abusive tendencies and ESPN's positive reporting of such behavior.

One person, at least, did not seem to take issue with Galu's comments:

"There's a respect there that is almost uncommon," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. "'My father knows best, he wants what's best for me, and I'm always going to respect and listen to what he has to say.'"

You can check out the full ESPN feature below:

This post was originally published on December 8, 2018 and has been updated.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The true story behind the name 'Black Friday' is much darker than you may have thought

• Clemson and Alabama are facing off in the College Football Playoff again.
• The game will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.
• We are tracking the biggest plays and moments.

The final game of the college football season is here, and once again, it is Alabama and Clemson.

The Crimson Tide and the Tigers are meeting in the College Football Playoff for the fourth-straight season and for the third time, they are playing for the championship.

Below, we will be tracking all the big plays and the top moments that people will be talking about on Tuesday. The most recent updates are at the top.

After Bama held Clemson to a three-and-out on their first series, Tua Tagovailo threw a pick-6 on the Tide's third play. Clemson's well-timed blitz and a switch on the outside led to the early 7-0 lead.

Game on!

The black and gold logo is also everywhere, including the goal posts and the end zone pylons.

• Carlos Ghosn, the ousted Nissan chairman, who is facing multiple allegations of financial misconduct, spoke publicly for the first time since he was arrested in Japan on November 19.
• "I have acted honorably, legally, and with the knowledge and approval of the appropriate executives inside the company," Ghosn said Tuesday inside a Tokyo courthouse according to The Wall Street Journal.
• The longtime Nissan executive is accused of underreporting his income and transferring more than $16 million in personal investment losses to the automaker.
• Ghosn's arrest reverberated throughout the automotive world. He is admired for helping save Nissan from bankruptcy in the late 1990s.

Carlos Ghosn appeared in a Tokyo courtroom on Tuesday and spoke publicly for first time since he was arrested on multiple financial misconduct allegations on November 19.

The longtime Nissan executive is accused of underreporting his income and transferring more than $16 million in personal investment losses to the automaker.

Arriving to court in a dark suit, white shirt, and handcuffs, Ghosn said, "I have acted honorably, legally, and with the knowledge and approval of the appropriate executives inside the company,"according to The Wall Street Journal.

He made several more declarations, insisting he was "wrongly accused and unfairly detained." Speaking to the accusation of underreporting his compensation at Nissan, Ghosn claimed that all of his income from his work for the Japanese automaker had been properly disclosed, adding: "nor did I ever enter into any binding contract with Nissan to be paid a fixed amount that was not disclosed."

Ghosn has been detained for nearly two months. Judge Yuichi Tada who is overseeing Ghosn's case said he is considered a flight risk.

Hours ahead of his appearance, photographers in Tokyo captured long lines of people vying to get inside the courtroom. Reuters reported more than 1,100 people showed up for a chance to grab one of the 14 gallery seats inside the courtroom. A police bus believed to be carrying Ghosn was seen parked outside.

Read more:Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn jetted around the world on a series of $60 million Gulfstream private jets

Ghosn's arrest in November reverberated throughout the automotive world.

He had been admired for helping save Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy in the late 1990s, which included a strategic partnership with the French automaker Renault in 1999. Mitsubishi joined the group in 2016, and two years later, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance under Ghosn's leadership became the world's largest automaker by sales.

Both Nissan and Mitsubishi booted Ghosn after the financial misconduct allegations came down. Nissan CEO and president Hiroto Saikawa publicly rebuked Ghosn.

So far, Renault has been less aggressive. It named an acting CEO and chairman shortly after Ghosn's arrest, but it has not officially severed ties.

In court on Tuesday, Ghosn praised Nissan, recounting how he worked "day and night, on the Earth and in the air" to ensure the Japanese automaker's success, according to Bloomberg.

Other Nissan executives affected

Ghosn's mounting legal troubles have touched other executives in the Nissan ecosystem.

Former Nissan executive Greg Kelly was arrested alongside Ghosn in November. Arun Bajaj, Nissan's head of human resources, has taken leave from the company, but is said to be cooperating with Japanese authorities, the Financial Times reported.

And Nissan's chief performance officer Jose Munoz is also on leave to focus on "special tasks arising from recent events," a matter that Bloomberg reports is directly related to Ghosn.

SEE ALSO: Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn jetted around the world on a series of $60 million Gulfstream private jets

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago today — 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.

Remittances, or cross-border peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers, hit a record high of $613 billion globally in 2017, following a two-year decline.  And the remittance industry will continue to grow, driven largely by digital services.

Several factors will fuel digital growth globally, such as increased smartphone penetration, greater demand for digital transactions, and an overall need for faster cross-border transfers. And with the shift to digital comes an audience of younger, digital-savvy customers using remittances — a segment that companies are looking to target.

As a result, the global remittance industry is becoming increasingly competitive for firms to navigate, with incumbents like Western Union and MoneyGram competing for the same pool of customers as digital upstarts like WorldRemit and Remitly. And in order to win, companies across the board will need to prioritize the four areas consumers value most in remittances: cost, convenience, speed, and safety.  

In The Digital Remittances Report, Business Insider Intelligence will identify what young, digitally savvy users value in remittances. We will also detail the concrete steps that legacy and digital providers can take to effectively capture this opportunity and monetize digital offerings — the primary growth driver — to emerge at or maintain their presence at the forefront of the space. 

The companies mentioned in the report are: MoneyGram, Remitly, Ria, Western Union, WorldRemit, TransferWise, and Xoom, among others.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The global remittance industry recovered from a two-year decline in 2017 to reach a record $613 billion in transfer volume. That growth will continue and will be fueled by digital remittances, which Business Insider Intelligence expects to grow at a 23% CAGR from $225 billion in 2018 to $387 billion in 2023.
• There’s a new segment of customers that both legacy and digital firms are competing to grab share of. Young, digital-savvy consumers are the customer segment that all firms are vying to reach, which is creating a highly competitive dynamic. The needs of those consumers will precipitate transformational change in the industry.
• We’ve identified several tangible steps firms can take to improve in four key areas — cost, convenience, speed, and security — to not only attract but also maintain this customer segment to align with their preferences and ultimately win in the space.

 In full, the report:

• Outlines the global remittance landscape and sizes the opportunity that the industry presents. 
• Identifies the new audience for remittances and future drivers of the remittance space going forward. 
• Discusses four key areas that providers can focus on — cost, convenience, speed, and security — to improve offerings and ultimately capture that shifting audience. 

To get this report, subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

	This report and more than 275 other expertly researched reports
	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
	Forecasts of new and emerging technologies in your industry
	And more!

Learn More

Or, purchase & download The Digital Remittances Report directly from our research store

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

Join the conversation about this story »