If money were no object when buying consumer tech, many US adults would upgrade their phones and improve their home security.

A new OIG report details how Medicare Advantage members are far more likely to conduct a home healthcare visit with a provider they don't have a relationship with—good news for startups like Dispatch Health and Heal.

On today's episode, we discuss whether Amazon's new home robot could be the "fourth screen," the significance of the creator economy, online shopping's ceiling, how much people notice social media ads, YouTube's upcoming Holiday Stream and Shop event, the real meaning of freedom at work, an explanation of who you’ve been dreaming about, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer analyst Blake Droesch and senior analysts at Insider Intelligence Audrey Schomer and Ross Benes.

Some home goods (Williams-Sonoma) and home improvement retailers (The Home Depot) profited from consumers working from home and making improvements to their homes. Home Depot, for example, said kitchen and bathroom installation and building materials posted double-digit growth. Other merchants grew thanks to strategic shifts and being in more recession-proof categories.

There’s no place like home for remote clinical trials: Medable scored a whopping $304 million in funding to expand its decentralized clinical trial capabilities—we explore why decentralized clinical trials are here to stay well after the pandemic.

Report: Smart Home Forecast 2021. Article: Humans look at screens. With AI, the screens are now looking back. Article: A not-so-smart rise in smart speaker ownership.

Connected home insurance can help insurers attract new customers by offering bespoke policy pricing, while also boosting policyholder engagement. They can offer two types of savings: home insurance premium discounts—usually between 5% and 20%, per USAA—and discounts on smart home devices and monitoring services, plus free or discounted installation.

The Home Depot continued to see more than half of its digital sales transacted via click and collect, but its 2021 figure was a substantial decline from 2020. The Home Depot’s click-and-collect share of retail ecommerce dropped from 59.5% to 53.3%. Best Buy saw an outright decline in its click-and-collect sales and in click and collect’s share of its total ecommerce.

Crump accuses the bank of racial disparities in its home-lending practices and admonishes local governments and other institutions around the country to stop doing business with Wells Fargo.

Digital home improvement sales also experienced healthy gains during H1 2021 as consumer demand for products related to home offices and home renovations remained top of mind amid stay-at-home orders and remote working.

They are the largest retail categories in the US, excluding “other,” which is comprised largely of auto fuel, home improvement, and building material sales. The majority of sales in these categories occur offline, and that won’t change anytime soon. But ecommerce sales are growing fast.

That can help cut costs if businesses get more competitive rates for specific services, but it can also exacerbate the spending problem: Home Depot shaved $30 million off of its cloud costs by solely relying on a committed-use plan from Google Cloud as opposed to several providers, per Insider.

Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, and 11 other health systems created a coalition to advocate for telehealth reimbursement and advance home health programs—key to sustaining home healthcare’s long-term growth

Nubank’s first H1 profit in Brazil vindicates its growth strategy: The neobanking giant reached first-half profitability at home—and its payment volume and loan book surged. Overseas expansion and a new paid account could continue this momentum.

There’s rising interest in at-home diagnostic solutions to help drive preventative healthcare and lower healthcare spending. This creates a perfect storm for digital gut health programs to integrate RPM devices or other at-home diagnostics solutions to elevate the quality of metrics and care used in these programs.

Walmart’s GoLocal delivery service will need smaller customers to be sustainable: The Home Depot is a good start, but it’s big enough that it’s likely to take delivery in-house in the near future.