Biofourmis started out as a DTx company, but later added a home care arm to its business. It was one of the earlier entrants in the hospital-at-home market. How we got here: Biofourmis demonstrated its value and relevance in the digital health space in the last few years. In December 2020, Biofourmis’ Biovitals Hospital@Home was one of the first hospital-at-home programs on the market.

A new Nest update will make Google’s smart home devices compatible with the Matter smart home standard. The move could add momentum towards a push for a unified smart home ecosystem and presents Google with access to a quickly growing supply of smart devices.

The connected TV giant’s focus on ad revenue and interoperability could give it an advantage over competitors like Amazon and Google in the smart home space.

Smart-home devices are on the verge of mainstream adoption, and with that comes the opportunity for marketers to gain deeper insights about their audiences though user data. In our “Smart Homes 2020” report, we looked at how marketers use smart-home technology to integrate brands with the internet of things (IoT) universe and how consumers may react to hyperpersonalized advertising inside the home.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch, vice president of research Jennifer Pearson and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of working from home, Instagram for news, "Starbucks Pickup," YouTube's "Direct Response" ads, Spotify's interactive ads, the truth about shooting stars and more.

Livestreaming is a small but growing part of creator culture. Much like Stories, livestreaming is a way for creators and other influential figures on social media to present content that is often less polished than photos or recorded video. Livestreams also give influencers a way to interact with their audience in real time through live chat.

Samsung Wallet can also store passwords, select car keys, and digital home keys with the help of Samsung-owned home security system SmartThings. And it integrates with Samsung Blockchain Wallet so users can check the value of their cryptocurrencies across select exchanges. Key context: Samsung Wallet will replace Samsung Pay, the brand’s current mobile wallet, which lacks nonpayment features.

DSW, Ann Taylor, and dozens of other retailers that use third-party returns management platform Narvar’s Home Pickup service, which allows shoppers to schedule a courier to pick up return packages from their home. The big takeaway: Returns are an inevitable part of ecommerce, particularly for apparel retailers given the importance of fit.

It also purchased at-home diagnostics company Kit in 2021, and acquired home care software company Workpath in 2020. The larger trend: Economic uncertainty and less VC funding could have more digital health entrants announcing layoffs in Q3.

Now, there are rumors of a line of in-home diagnostic tests, following the FDA’s emergency clearance authorization of Amazon’s at-home COVID-19 test in late March 2021. Providing consumers with transparent prices and delivery options for prescription drugs and healthcare services is a tempting path to growth.

There’s a persistent digital divide, with 27.6 million in the US lacking home internet access in 2021.

Last year, Humana inked two consecutive deals to acquire home health agencies: In April it dropped $5.7 billion to acquire Kindred at Home, followed by its June 2021 announcement to buy value-based home care services provider onehome. And while competitors are growing, UHG is growing far more rapidly.

On today's episode, we discuss how concerned we should be about Netflix's slow start to the year, which activities people will do at home versus in-person (if both were safe and possible), how TikTok can convince people to buy things on its platform, details about a Twitter Blue subscription service, whether a travel recovery already happened, some interesting facts about 'Forrest Gump,' and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting Oscar Orozco, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle, and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

At CES 2022, we started to see the results of that synergy with most smart home devices proudly announcing support for Matter. The Home Connectivity Alliance, a separate, universal standard that allows smart home appliances to operate together, made its debut at CES 2022.

eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock discusses how emerging tech innovations like social virtual reality, smart homes and 5G connectivity have shown new promise during the pandemic.

Click and collect has been a growing trend for some time now as US consumers found they enjoyed the convenience and cost-savings of purchasing online and picking up their order on the way home from work or while running errands.