On Thursday night, I toggled endlessly between a TikTok Live stream and a shopping app in anticipation of 9:30PM. For 30 minutes, I hunted for an available listing; many expletives were uttered. I exhibited bot behavior and got iced out of the app multiple times. I tapped so many times my thumbs got sore. This is Labubu drop night.
Technology
Meta’s reportedly planning to lay off ‘thousands’ of workers this week
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Meta’s planning main job cuts that might have an effect on “1000’s” of employees, in keeping with a report from The Wall Road Journal. Sources conversant in the state of affairs advised the WSJ that the layoffs may start as quickly as Wednesday.
The Fb and Instagram father or mother firm reported over 87,000 workers on the finish of September, however these “large-scale” layoffs are anticipated to slash a good portion of employees members. In keeping with the WSJ, the layoffs may hit Meta even tougher than the mass job cuts at Twitter, which affected about half of the corporate’s 7,500-employee workforce.
Meta declined to touch upon the state of affairs however pointed The Verge to Zuckerberg’s assertion in the course of the firm’s earnings name final month. “In 2023, we’re going to focus our investments on a small variety of excessive precedence progress areas,” Zuckerberg mentioned. “So meaning some groups will develop meaningfully, however most different groups will keep flat or shrink over the subsequent 12 months. In combination, we anticipate to finish 2023 as both roughly the identical dimension, or perhaps a barely smaller group than we’re right now.”
Though Zuckerberg says Fb has extra energetic customers than ever earlier than, buyers are nonetheless involved concerning the firm’s expensive wager on the metaverse. Meta’s digital actuality arm misplaced $3.7 billion this previous quarter and a complete of $9.4 billion this 12 months, whereas the corporate’s inventory is buying and selling at its lowest value since 2016.

Technology
The frenzied, gamified chase for Labubus

Something that’s lost in the Labubu mania is that actually buying one from the source is, in one word, maddening. There are, of course, countless fake options (“Lafufus”) that some collectors have come to embrace. But if you want a guaranteed real one, you have to go to the source. Pop Mart, the Chinese toy company that sells Labubu products, has created a series of Sisyphean tasks to subject shoppers to, a humiliation ritual with the chance of getting a little figurine at the end. Unlike many other rare, trendy, or collectible items, the barrier to entry for Labubus is not the cost of the item ($27.99) — it’s everything you need to learn how to do before you buy them.
I spent about a day researching how to actually purchase a legit Labubu from Pop Mart. It’s not a straightforward shopping experience of simply clicking “check out” faster than everyone else. Pop Mart has created a digital frenzy that somewhat resembles what shopping in-person on Black Friday is like: interactive illustrations show display cases stocked with up to six boxes of Labubus. Seconds after they hit the site, all of the boxes are grayed out, meaning someone has at least temporarily claimed them. If you haven’t secured a Labubu, you must scroll through a seemingly endless list of display cases, looking for the rare box up for grabs; more often, though, you must tap constantly, looking for a gray box with a timer that is about to expire, at which point it will be released and available again. You have to play what is essentially a mobile game to even get a chance to buy a Labubu.
The complexity and finickiness of the Pop Mart app mean that there is no shortage of content with tips, hints, and hacks for securing a Labubu. Some influencers have racked up millions of views almost exclusively making videos about how to score popular Pop Mart products. Some of the tips I studied ended up helping me: when I tapped too many times and was blocked by the app, turning Wi-Fi on and off did indeed fix the problem. But other suggestions from collectors were impossible to follow. Some fans swear by camping out on Pop Mart’s hourslong TikTok live streams, waiting for the host to randomly list Labubus for sale on the platform’s shopping page; the auctioneer-style monologues were simply too much for me to listen to.
After about 30 minutes of uninterrupted two-handed tapping, close encounters, and error messages, I finally spammed a gray box right at the moment it was released. The mystery Labubu was mine. I “shook” the virtual box, which gave me a hint as to what color character was inside: it was not orange or green (I didn’t have a color preference, but other shoppers might at this point abandon a box that Pop Mart says does not contain their color of choice). After checkout, I opted to reveal which Labubu I had purchased — it was the blue one, named “Hope.”
It’s not entirely surprising that Labubus have taken off like this: the more you are forced to look at them, the cuter they become (maybe). They’re not the first so-called blind box toy to gain a cult following, and there’s a somewhat dark comparison to be made between Labubus and gambling — for serious collectors, the thrill is in the reveal, the chance that you hit the rare color that Pop Mart says is in one out of 72 boxes. It’s addictive, plain and simple.
But the longer I spent on Labubu forums or on the Pop Mart site, the more I understood that the toy at the end is almost beside the point: legit Labubus represent the time and effort that came before the unboxing, along with the pure luck of what’s inside. A friend who has scored dozens of Labubus for their network told me flipping the dolls isn’t even worth it unless it’s an unopened box or a rare color — the margins are too low to make real money. The pervasiveness of Lafufus no doubt helps to push prices down. The real value of Labubus is in the ridiculous hoops you have to jump through to get a shot at something collectible.
According to Google Trends, search volume for “Labubu” is as high as it’s been. The TikTok livestreams will drone on, the bots will be deployed nightly, and the viral unboxings will pull in views. The hype will die down only when it’s no longer torture to buy one, when the little guys (who are actually canonically girls) are just a toy, not a stand-in for your effort. When that will happen is anyone’s guess; my Labubu is scheduled to ship out in September.
Technology
Amazon’s AI wants to own online shopping data

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Amazon already dominates online shopping, but now it’s setting its sights even higher. With a new artificial intelligence-powered project called Starfish, the company aims to become the world’s most complete and trusted source of product information.
The goal? Make every listing on Amazon accurate, detailed and easy to understand, whether the product is sold by Amazon or a third-party seller. If the project works as planned, it could save sellers hours of work and help shoppers find what they need faster.
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NEW GOOGLE AI MAKES ROBOTS SMARTER WITHOUT THE CLOUD
Amazon website (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
What is Amazon’s Starfish AI project?
Starfish is a multi-year initiative built around generative AI. According to an internal Amazon document obtained by Business Insider, the system gathers product data from across the web, including external websites and images. It then uses large language models (LLMs) to create “complete, correct and consistent” product listings. This isn’t a small update. Amazon expects Starfish to boost sales by $7.5 billion in 2025 alone by improving conversion rates and expanding product variety.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
How Amazon is using AI to improve product listings
Starfish builds on earlier AI tools that Amazon began testing in 2023. These tools could:
- Automatically generate product images and video ads
- Fill in missing data for third-party listings
- Rewrite product titles, bullet points and descriptions to be more relevant
Now, with Starfish, Amazon wants to scale that effort across millions of listings. The AI will also collect data from 200,000 external brand websites by crawling, scraping and mapping their content to Amazon’s catalog. It’s not yet clear whether Amazon’s own web crawler, Amazonbot, is powering Starfish. But the company confirmed to Business Insider that Starfish is already supporting its new “Buy for Me” feature. This feature recommends products from external websites and lets shoppers buy them directly within Amazon’s app.

A person shopping on Amazon (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Why Amazon built the Starfish AI for marketplace listings
Manually creating product listings is slow and often inconsistent. That’s a problem when Amazon wants to offer a massive selection with reliable information. If shoppers can’t find what they’re looking for, or if the listings are vague, they may head elsewhere. Starfish addresses this by automating the tedious parts of listing creation. That helps sellers spend less time writing and more time selling. For Amazon, better listings mean higher conversion rates and happier customers. Plus, this move positions Amazon to compete more directly with Google Shopping, which also aims to be a central hub for product information.
Amazon’s Starfish AI is expanding globally
Amazon is testing Starfish’s effectiveness with A/B comparisons, measuring sales performance of AI-enriched listings versus standard ones. It’s also rolling out bulk listing tools and preparing to expand the system globally. This isn’t just about improving Amazon’s website. It’s about changing the way product information is gathered, created and shared at scale.

A person shopping on Amazon (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
What does this mean for you as an Amazon shopper or seller
If you’re a shopper on Amazon, this could mean faster access to clearer, more accurate product listings, especially for obscure or hard-to-find items. As Amazon’s AI fills in missing details and improves titles and descriptions, the results should help you make better decisions with less research.
For sellers, this streamlines the work of creating listings. If you’ve struggled to write compelling descriptions or keep up with Amazon’s catalog standards, the Starfish project may do much of the heavy lifting. That could save time, reduce errors and improve sales performance.
However, there are some trade-offs. As Amazon scrapes more data from across the web to power its listings, brands and smaller websites may worry about how their product information is being used. And if AI-generated content becomes widespread, quality and trust in listings may vary depending on how well the system works.
In short, expect a more automated Amazon shopping experience, with both conveniences and questions about how your data and the broader web are being used to power it.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Amazon’s Starfish project signals a major shift in how e-commerce works. By combining web scraping, AI models and deep integration into its Marketplace, Amazon hopes to automate one of the most time-consuming parts of online selling. For buyers and sellers, this could mean more convenience and better results. But it also raises important questions about transparency, data ownership and the future role of AI in shaping what we see online.
Would you trust AI to tell you everything you need to know before you click “Buy Now”? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
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Technology
Nintendo’s slow drip of Switch 2 games is a feature, not a bug

When Nintendo first announced the Switch 2’s slate of launch titles, people were very quick to cry foul about how few original, exclusive games the company had lined up for its latest console. There were ports from other systems and updated versions of original Switch games. But Mario Kart World was the Switch 2’s only major new exclusive title, which, for some, put a further damper on a launch that was already mired in confusion about pricing and game key cards.
Back in April when Nintendo first announced all of the Switch 2 games slated to come out through the end of 2025, you could see that the company was loosely following a monthly release schedule for its new exclusives. June would go to Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. And Donkey Kong Bananza would drop in July amid the releases of a couple Switch 2 editions of older games. At the time, Nintendo said that Drag x Drive would debut at some point in “the summer,” but it has since pegged the game to a firm August 14th release date.
Currently, there’s nothing on the docket for September, but the month could easily go to Kirby Air Riders, which is supposed to come out this year. And after Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s release in October, the “winter” will belong to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (and maybe Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which is also due out sometime in 2025).
Looking at Nintendo’s roadmap for the rest of the year, it feels as if the company is trying to pace things in a way that gives people time to really sit with and enjoy its exclusives. For every hardcore gamer who prides themself on speeding through a title and being the first to uncover or unlock all of its surprises, there are far more casuals who prefer taking their time. Nintendo could have opted to flood the zone with more exclusives from the jump — a move that probably would have made the Switch 2’s launch seem like a splashier beat in the console wars’ twilight hours. But by spacing things out, the company is guaranteeing that there will be a steady stream of new stuff for people to dig into, and giving people ample time to decide if they’re willing to pay the games’ higher prices.
The Switch 2 is Nintendo’s new flagship, which is to say it’s not going away anytime soon and there will be plenty more games for it in due time. Had Donkey Kong Bananza dropped alongside Mario Kart World, neither game would have been able to take up so much space and command attention they way they could with some distance between them. Releasing new titles at a steady pace was a major part of Nintendo’s vision for the original Switch, and that strategy paid off through the console’s life cycle. Now it looks like Nintendo’s sticking to its guns, and the Switch 2 will probably be better off for it.
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