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Mia Sato

Mia Sato

Features Writer, The Verge

Features Writer, The Verge

    More From Mia Sato

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Shein products are getting more expensive.

    Prices are rising as Shein eyes IPOs in the UK and the US. The average price of a dress is up 28 percent in the US compared to a year ago, for example.

    Despite labor violations and the overall secrecy of the company, business is booming for the fast fashion brand. We’ll see if shoppers mind the slightly higher prices.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Google’s AI summaries are coming for the news industry.

    We don’t know exactly how often AI Overviews will appear in search, but early observations point to trouble for publishers.

    A Press Gazette experiment found that AI Overviews appeared on nearly a quarter of top news-related Google searches, pushing down organic results. Some publishers are bracing for their Google traffic to trickle to zero. Others say it’s already happened.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Shein sales last year surpassed Zara and H&M.

    Shein, the Chinese fast fashion company popular in the US, recorded $32.2 billion in sales. To give you a sense of scale, Zara’s sales came in at $28 billion, and H&M’s at $22 billion.

    Under EU regulations, Shein will face more scrutiny alongside companies like Amazon. Shein is expected to go public in the US this year.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    MrBeast’s charity’s latest video was funded by Koch money.

    The video “We Schooled Hundreds of Teachers” was funded in part by Stand Together, an organization founded by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, reports Fast Company.

    The video profiles Ron Clark Academy, a private school in Atlanta. For decades, the Koch family has worked to undermine public schools. “Education alternatives” are one of Stand Together’s key issues.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Threads might end up using normal hashtags after all.

    The platform’s “tag” feature is different than traditional hashtags — users can tag phrases, not just words, and the # symbol disappears once the tag is added.

    App researcher Alessandro Paluzzi reports Meta is experimenting with displaying the # symbol. It’s a small change, but could potentially help when crossposting to the fediverse, which currently breaks the added Threads tag.