In our second annual trend forecast, The Verge staff weighs in on Labubus, tariffs, The Hague, and AI slop.
Nieman Lab reports that the new policy comes after leadership at LexisNexis (which owns the outlet) claimed some of Law360’s coverage had liberal leanings. The AI tool scans stories and flags portions it deems biased that should be rewritten to be more “impartial.” A petition signed by over 90 percent of unionized staff at Law360 demands that use of the tool be made voluntary.
Labubus — those kind of scary little dolls with teeth that people are obsessed with — are hard to come by these days. It’s no surprise that the knock off industry is filling the gap; what is funny is that the fake dolls (“Lafufus”) are popular, too. For some Labubu owners, the authenticity of their doll doesn’t even matter. It’s part of the fandom experience all the same.
It’s a major turn in the high-profile dispute between Baldoni and Blake Lively that spiraled into an entire genre of social media content. Baldoni had sued Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400 million after Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment. A judge also dismissed Baldoni’s defamation suit against The New York Times, filed after its coverage of Lively’s claims.
The company that owns the biggest sewing pattern brands — Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls, and Vogue — has been sold to a liquidator, per the Craft Industry Alliance. That’s troubling news for those of us that sew and prefer physical patterns, but there’s also a concerning knock-on effect: the company owns the last large-scale tissue printers in the country.
A few years ago I wrote about the painstaking efforts to preserve sewing patterns and fashion history. I suspect that work is now even more urgent.
