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☆ Now you can put your Botox on Affirm
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Buy now, pay later company Affirm is starting to offer loans for elective cosmetic procedures. Advertisement"Buy now, pay later" company Affirm has identified a new category for growth, according to a new report from Reuters: elective medical procedures like Botox, nose jobs, and even dental treatments. Buy now, pay later options like Klarna and Affirm have become ubiquitous at checkouts on e-commerce retail sites for some time. I know: It can be hard to sympathize with someone who's using lip filler they can't afford by putting it on Affirm. But go back to what it's actually being used for: "cosmetic treatments, dental services, medical devices, and veterinary procedures."

Persons: It's, —, Klarna, Pat Suh, Affirm's, BNPL, it's Organizations: Service, Business Locations: San Francisco

☆ Private equity is getting into the special education business. It's not all going smoothly.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

BI just published an investigation into special education-focused schools owned by PE firms. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementMy colleague Meghan Morris just published an investigation into what happened to a chain of special education-focused private schools when a private equity firm took over. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Meghan Morris Organizations: PE, Service, Business

☆ I went on a date with an AI chatbot. He fell head over heels in love with me, but I got the ick.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | Bethany Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AI is making its way into your love life, like it or not. I tried out a romantic chatbot from Replika and went on a date with him. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . First, I tested out Replika, an app that allows people to create a custom romantic AI chatbot for $69.99 a year. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Bethany Johnson Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Replika

☆ TikTok's time in the US could soon be on the clock, and that's not the app's only problem
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The big storyTick-tock on TikTokChelsea Jia Feng/BITikTok's time in the US could soon be on the clock. When it's all said and done, a TikTok ban could be in place before the week's end. Business Insider's Peter Kafka explains why the TikTok ban, while more imminent than ever, still has a long way to go . A TikTok ban would benefit one familiar face in social media, though, writes BI's Katie Notopoulos . YouTube Shorts, too, stand to grab more attention after a TikTok ban.

Persons: —, Caitlin Clark's, Chelsea Jia Feng, ByteDance, Joe Biden, it's, Business Insider's Peter Kafka, Michael Beckerman, TikTok, hawking, BI's Lindsay Dodgson, outperforming, Katie Notopoulos, Merrill Lynch, Tyler Le, Andy Sieg's, Merrill, Lindsay Hans, Eric Schimpf, It's, Steve Cohen's, Grzegorz Wajda, Hokyoung Kim, Nordstrom, Tesla, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Nike, Bloomberg Intelligence, YouTube, Big Tech, New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, Chelsea, Getty, Walmart, BI, Costco, Amazon, Motors, Spotify Locations: Americas, TikTok, Merrill, China, American, New York, London

☆ A TikTok ban would be a win for Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will very likely end up the ultimate winner in the most recent push to force a sale or ban of Chinese-owned TikTok. The House passed a TikTok "ban" or forced sale as part of a bill on military aid for Ukraine and Israel. A year ago, BI's Grace Kay wrote that TikTok legislation would be like "an early Christmas present" for Zuckerberg. Instagram had more growth and downloads last year than TikTok, and after Instagram faced an existential crisis, it's having a surprising comeback.) If ByteDance ends up selling TikTok to a US company, it's hard to imagine it will be a smooth transition.

Persons: —, Zuck —, Mark Zuckerberg, Joe Biden, it'll, Zuckerberg's Meta, BI's Grace Kay, Zuckerberg, Instagram, Adam Mosseri, TikTok, there's, ByteDance, Steven Mnuchin Organizations: Service, Business, Zuckerberg's, Meta, YouTube, Big Tech Locations: Ukraine, Israel

☆ I love staring at my phone. So why are some tech companies trying to stop me?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Bad reviews of the AI Pin point out how it can't replace a phone. AdvertisementI was excited for the AI Pin, I really was. Unfortunately, the reviews of the AI Pin so far have been dreadful. I don't stare at my phone in a restaurant, a movie theater, or while talking to someone. I don't think my consciousness will ascend to a higher plane if I could only tear myself away from the 2,000-nit light of my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Persons: —, we've, Siri, There's, They're, Joanna Stern, Sam Altman, I'm, I'd, Max Organizations: Service, The, Journal, Meta, Apple Watch Locations: UAE

☆ Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea for the Facebook 'poke' feature while he was drunk
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In a 2005 interview, Mark Zuckerberg said he came up with the idea while drunk. But when a young Mark Zuckerberg over-imbibed, he invented the "poke," the Facebook feature that is both the most creative thing Facebook has done — and one of the creepiest. The poke was one of the earliest features of Facebook, which Zuckerberg launched in college in 2004 as The Facebook. Here's how he describes the poke feature:AdvertisementThere's this feature called poking where you just go to someone's profile and you can poke the person. It also made it easier to find the page where all your pokes live (try searching "pokes" on Facebook).

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, —, we've, Zuckerberg, David Pogue, You've, improbably Organizations: Facebook, Service, CBS, Meta

☆ That lipstick review could have been written by AI
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I purchased the Haus Labs foundation after watching a glowing review of the product by a makeup influencer on TikTok. That's where online reviews come in: For beauty, especially, reviews from influencers and regular people are crucial. Content Coach gives users prompts of key topics to include in their review, based on common themes in other reviews. "In terms of generative AI, if people can't trust whether a product review is genuine and written by a real user, they might choose to shop elsewhere," said Marissa Jones, the company's senior vice president of product. AI-powered reviews will certainly be great for beauty brands that want more high-quality reviews.

Persons: it's, Selena, Marissa Jones, Bazaarvoice, Chanel, Reilly Organizations: Service, Haus Labs, Business, Fashion, L'Oréal, Clarins, FTC, Walmart, eBay Locations: TikTok, Pacifica

☆ So, can we stop calling pro wrestling 'sports entertainment' now?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

For years, the WWE has called itself "sports entertainment" instead of pro wrestling. Since the early 2000s, back even when World Wrestling Entertainment was still called WWF, the company has carefully referred to its scripted grappling as "sports entertainment" rather than "professional wrestling." Now, it seems that the verboten phrase — "pro wrestling" — is back as part of a series of changes made after McMahon left the company. A source familiar with internal policies at WWE told Business Insider that use of the term "pro wrestling" has been relaxed in the past year. For the moment, pro wrestling did indeed win out over sports entertainment.

Persons: John Cena, —, Michael Cole, Vince McMahon, McMahon, — Ibou, Cena Organizations: WWE, Service, Undertaker, Wrestling Entertainment, XFL, Netflix, Wrestling, Sports Entertainment, Rock

☆ Your Google Docs are (probably) safe from AI training
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google Docs that are publicly available have been used to train Google's AI. But just what is a "publicly available" Google Doc? AdvertisementI use Google Docs like a chaos gremlin: constantly and with a nihilistic approach to organization and labeling. That's why I was alarmed when it was revealed that Google had been using "publicly available" Google Docs to train its artificial intelligence. So, for now, unless you're tweeting out links to your spreadsheets, your Google Docs were probably not used for any AI training or considered otherwise to be "publicly available."

Persons: —, Katie Notopoulos, that's Organizations: Google, Service, Business

☆ Apple wants to make more smart home devices — which may not be dumb
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In the meantime we may see something decidedly less ambitious out of Apple: New iPads. It would be like a more portable Facebook portal. And while I've never heard of the Google Pixel, I had heard of the Facebook Portal, and... Facebook doesn't sell those anymore. On the other hand: My colleague Katie Notopoulos loved the Facebook Portal. But you never know: I spent decades not wearing a watch, and now if I forget to put on my Apple Watch before I leave the house I get anxious about losing my steps for the day.

Persons: —, Tim Cook, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Gurman, Apple, hasn't, I've, Katie Notopoulos Organizations: Apple, Service, Google, Facebook, Apple Watch

☆ I demand a do-over on the East Coast earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewAt approximately 10:24 a.m. Eastern, I exited the elevators of the Business Insider offices in lower Manhattan, walked through the lobby, and into the nearly empty office. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. I opened X and saw a string of tweets of people who had just experienced a rare East Coast earthquake. As a lifelong East Coast resident, I've never gotten to feel a real earthquake, and I am absolutely furious that I missed this. I propose we get a new earthquake next weekend, at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Persons: —, Let's, I've Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Manhattan, New Jersey, East Coast, New York, East Rutherford , New Jersey

☆ Maybe you hate TikTok shopping posts. Most people don't care.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Related storiesBut TikTok says it doesn't care what Katie or anyone else has to say — it's going to keep pushing shopping posts. AdvertisementMarni Levine, who runs TikTok's US shopping operations, says she's "not considering" pulling back on shopping posts. On the other hand: Maybe most TikTok users are totally fine with shopping stuff. It's not that users aren't noticing the shopping posts — 62.5% noticed an uptick in the posts over the last six months. And as far as the other shopping posts I'm not interested in, which is basically all of them?

Persons: —, Katie Notopoulos, TikTok, Katie, Marni Levine, I've, John, Hank Green Organizations: Service, Business Locations: TikTok

☆ I Got My Twitter Blue Check Back and I Don't Know What to Do
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some users have been re-verified on X for being a "notable" account and given a blue check. During this time, the blue check has come to mean something very specific: someone who actually pays for X. (OK, I'm sure that not ALL people who were paying for a blue check fall into those categories. AdvertisementThere hasn't been an official explanation of why a bunch of formerly verified people just got a free blue check. I think the only reasonable answer here is to hide the blue check and enjoy the free features.

Persons: —, It's, haven't, Elon Musk, I've, Elon Organizations: Service, Twitter, Elon

☆ Marissa Mayer's app cofounder just quit — days after their Shine photo-sharing app debuted
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Marissa Mayer's company just launched Shine, a photo-sharing app. Enrique Munoz Torres, the cofounder, just quit the company. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementWhen former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer tweeted about the launch of her new app, some people roasted Shine's outdated aesthetic and questioned the purpose of the photo-sharing app. Shine was the third app launched by Sunshine, a company Mayer co-founded with Enrique Munoz Torres, who had also worked with Mayer at Yahoo and Google before that.

Persons: Marissa Mayer's, Enrique Munoz Torres, —, Marissa Mayer, Mayer Organizations: Service, Sunshine, Yahoo, Google, Business

☆ Trader Joe's is accused of ripping off smaller food brands
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In return for private labeling her product for Trader Joe's, she was told she would receive a modest finder's fee based on the co-packer's profits—not a percentage of Trader Joe's sales. After sharing samples with the co-packer and sending a counteroffer asking for greater transparency, she never heard back from him or from Trader Joe's. The small brand owners said that Trader Joe's tactics were unlike Costco or other big chains that do private labeling. Trader Joe's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. AdvertisementI love shopping at Trader Joe's not only because it has good prices on staples, but fun new items to try.

Persons: —, Joe's, Joe, Stacy's pita, pita, Tribe, Abraham, packer Organizations: Service, Joe's, Costco, Business Locations: Brooklyn Delhi, California, Zara

☆ Marissa Mayer has a new photo-sharing app. It looks like it's from 2009, but boomers might love it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marissa Mayer, former Yahoo CEO, just announced a new app from her latest venture. It's called Shine, and it's a photo-sharing app where multiple people can upload photos to a shared album. Are you really trying to tell me that in the year 2024, people can't figure out how to share photos with each other? Shine, the new photo-sharing app ShineYes, there are some other things that could do this. Maybe, just maybe, Marissa Mayer will have another success on her hands here.

Persons: Marissa Mayer, It's, Mayer, —, Aunt Carol Organizations: Service, Yahoo, TechCrunch, Business, DOJ, Flickr, Google

☆ Mark Zuckerberg as a boss terrifies me after seeing an email he sent: 'You should figure out how to do this.'
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A lawsuit alleging Meta snooped on rival apps is eye-opening — but I'm stuck on how scary Mark Zuckerberg seems over email. "You should figure out how to do this," Mark Zuckerberg told one of his employees. That kind of email from your boss is absolutely spine-tingling. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: Meta snooped, I'm, Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg, — Organizations: Service, Business

☆ Facebook Marketplace is perfect. Except for this one thing.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewI feel confident few will disagree that Facebook Marketplace is the best part of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg's Marketplace is so successful at connecting people with vintage lamps that even Gen Z is sticking around Facebook just to use Marketplace. To edit the field to add a new custom message, go into Marketplace and click on the little person icon at the top corner. Tap into the profile icon in Facebook Marketplace, and then all the way down to Settings. On Marketplace, there's something nice and quaint about buying and selling used stuff from your neighbors.

Persons: —, It's, I've, Sellers, you've, I'm, chatbots Organizations: Service, Facebook, Business

Childcare costs are skyrocketing, forcing families to move across the US. But there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account?

Organizations: Business

☆ Nature is healing: the Facebook Poke is back
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta says Pokes surged after it quietly resurfaced the Poke button. Technically, the Poke never fully left, it was just hidden deep, deep, deep within a bunch of settings that you'd need a pith helmet and satellite phone to reach. (Or you'd need to type "Poke" into the Facebook search bar or somehow know the Poke page's exact URL). Meta said it made a design tweak at the start of 2024 that made the Poke button slightly more visible. The Poke is a perfect low-effort way to connect with a Facebook friend you haven't seen in a while.

Persons: Meta, —, Z, Facebook Meta Meta, millennials, Poke, haven't Organizations: Service, Facebook Meta, Facebook

☆ How Instagram got its mojo back
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AdvertisementSensor Tower shows that Instagram downloads were up 20% in 2023 compared to 2022, in contrast to TikTok's 4% year-over-year growth. Instagram beat TikTok not only in growth, but sheer volume of app downloads in 2023: Instagram had 767 million while TikTok had 733 million. One reason is Threads, the newly launched Twitter competitor, which requires an Instagram account and may have prompted some people who were curious about Threads to re-download Instagram. AdvertisementTikTok is getting oldAt the same time, TikTok, once the main existential crisis for Instagram (well, probably still is), is faltering. In 2014, that same age group (which we are trying not to refer to as middle-aged) accounted for only about 20% of Instagram users.

Persons: Instagram, TikTok, —, I've, aren't, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Adam Mosseri, Instagram hasn't, Ryan Broderick, Pew, You'd, let's, ByteDance, I'm Organizations: Service, The New York Times, Meta, The, Schools, Boston Globe Locations: Europe, Valencia, Massachusetts

☆ How Gen Zers Are Avoiding Layoffs in the Tech Industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Bethany Johnson | Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Nearly 50,000 tech workers have lost their jobs since the start of this year. Now, Gen Zers are looking at a different sector for job security. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account?

Persons: Zers Organizations: Business

☆ The Princess of Wales is in the spotlight — for not being in the spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In today's big story, we're looking at the curious case of Kate Middleton's edited photo that's got the internet buzzing. The big storyPrincess problemsChris Jackson/Getty Images; Ian Vogler - WPA Pool/Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BIA picture is worth a thousand words. AdvertisementBut this time around, it's the Princess of Wales in the spotlight… for not being in the spotlight. She explained away the issue by saying she does "occasionally experiment with editing," but plenty of people weren't buying it .

Persons: —, we've, Kate Middleton's, that's, Chris Jackson, Ian Vogler, Chelsea Jia Feng, hasn't, Prince Andrew , Duke, York, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Duke, Duchess of Sussex, Wales, Kate, Insider's Kwan Wei Kevin Tan, Mikhaila Friel, Kensington, Kensington Palance, Patrick Witty's, Patrick, Kate Middleton, King Charles, Mikhaila, Easter, Katie Notopoulos, BI's Hasan Chowdhury, Beatrice Nolan, Chris Gash, Stephanie Pomboy, Max, Aravind Srinivas, Nvidia's, Artur Debat, Eric Boyd, Joe Biden, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb, George Glover Organizations: Service, Business, Royals, JPMorgan, Anadolu, Apple, Meta, New York Times, Tesla, Microsoft, OpenAI, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Locations: London, Kensington, British, China, Georgia , Mississippi, Washington, New York

☆ Kate Middleton's photo editing just made everything worse
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The AP and other photo agencies pulled a photo of Kate Middleton and her children for being clearly edited. The palace's Twitter posted an apology, seemingly from Kate, admitting to "occasionally experiment with editing." AdvertisementI've never endured public speculation that I was secretly working at a low-budget Willy Wonka theme house, but I can relate to one thing Kate Middleton is experiencing. C — The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 11, 2024(Quick recap: Kate Middleton has been out of the public eye since late December, recovering from an unspecified abdominal surgery. AdvertisementAfter the photo's editing was exposed, the weird and cryptic half-apology for "causing confusion" and implying that Kate is a photography hobbyist (???)

Persons: Kate Middleton, —, I've, Willy Wonka, Princess of Wales, Kate, Kim Kardashian, True, Stormi, Kardashian, Kylie Jenner didn't, Kim Organizations: Twitter, Service, AP Locations: Kensington, Chicago

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