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Mia Sato

Mia Sato

Features Writer, The Verge

Features Writer, The Verge

    More From Mia Sato

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Trump’s jet gift may actually be a curse.

    Qatar offering Donald Trump a private jet was framed as an extravagant gift — but it may have also been an efficient way to get rid of a clunky, expensive, fuel guzzling aircraft the royal family has been trying to sell since 2020. Forbes reports the aircraft flew just 1,069 hours in the five years before it was put up for sale. Upgrading it to be used as a presidential plane would take years.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    YouTube will use Gemini to place ads in videos.

    The company says its new ad system will use AI to place ads in videos at “contextually relevant” moments where viewers are most likely to be engaged. YouTube announced the feature on Wednesday at its annual Brandcast event for advertisers.

    A YouTube video bar showing a “targeted moment” and the Gemini-identified ad window directly following.
    Image: YouTube
    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    The cost of Trump’s tariff flip-flop.

    The New York Times walked through one business owner’s tariff bill, breaking out all the taxes that stack on top of each other. On April 27th when the shipment arrived in the US, the total cost of tariffs was $34,389. Today, the tariff rate would be $12,954 now that Trump has slashed rates. His frequent tariff changes mean everyone is in a constant state of uncertainty.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Epic is sweetening the deal.

    In the lead up to Fortnite returning to the App Store, Epic is trying to entice players with a 20 percent rewards bonus when you use the company’s payment system to make purchases in certain games.

    The offerings follow a court ruling in the Epic v. Apple antitrust case that is already having downstream effects on app developers and users.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Temu has stopped shipping orders from China.

    Drop-shipping packages straight from China to shoppers’ homes was kind of the whole point of retailers like Temu. In response to Donald Trump’s tariffs, Temu now tells Wired that it’s switching to a “local fulfillment model” where orders come from US warehouses. With the de minimis exception officially dead (at least for now), it’s no surprise that retailers are scrambling — especially sites like Temu, whose wide product offerings depended on the exception.