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Not too long ago, it used to take trial and error and a girls’ night to find out that your date is a walking red flag. Now, there’s an app for that. The Tea Dating Advice appwhich allows women to anonymously leave feedback on menhas quickly captured the attention of social media. Founded and self-funded by former product manager Sean Cook, the app quietly launched in 2023, but it has just recently gained momentum. Beating out ChatGPT, the app this week became the No. 1 most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store. It has over 4 million users, the company claims. Cook first started the company after “witnessing his mothers terrifying experience with online datingnot only being catfished but unknowingly engaging with men who had criminal records,” the company website reads. Fast Company reached out to Tea for comment on this article. A press representative declined. The idea behind Tea is not new. Similarly themed forums have existed for years online. For instance,in the popular “Are We Dating the Same Guy” Facebook group, women share photos and information about their partners to find out if they were cheating, while also offering support networks to spot red flags. And while such groups do routinely get taken down due to privacy concerns, apps mimicking the model have also popped up, with one even taking the group’s name. Still, as the Tea app continues to gain traction, it has also garnered criticism and raised concerns about privacy, particularly among male groups. How does Tea work? Serving as a sort of “Yelp for men,” Tea lets women leave feedback on men they have previously dated, marking them as a green or red flag. Marketing itself as an app that revolutionizes safety in dating for women, the app also has a built-in sex-offender map and a chat section for women to discuss advice. Additionally, a premium paid version of the app offers more advanced safety tools, including an AI-powered reverse image search to spot catfishing, a background check tool, and criminal record and court document searches. The paid version of the app currently costs $14.99 a month, with 10% of the profits going to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, according to an annual giving statement published on the app’s website. Fast Company reached out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline to confirm, but did not receive a comment at the time of publishing. To access Tea, women have to verify their gender by submitting a selfie, which is then verified by the app’s team. Once accepted, users can post a photo of their partners, comment on perceived toxic behavior, add design elements like green or red flags, or generally ask the community if they know any “tea” on them. However, there is no verification process to certify that all claims are truthful. Fast Company gained access to the Tea app and used some of its features, which were prone to glitches during a review of the UX on Friday. Screenshots of the app are disabled. Men are not happy about it While Tea as a concept might seem useful for women in today’s complex dating world, men online are alarmed by the app. In one popular Reddit group, r/MensRights, a mega-thread about the Tea app was started on July 24, following several posts of men criticizing the app and asking how to get posts about them taken down. On TikTok, several posts denouncing the app have also gone viral. “This is a disaster of epic proportions,” one user shared on TikTok. “You don’t even have to prove you went on a date with this person.” Additionally, claims of a “male version” of the app circulated on social media, with users claiming that it was quickly taken down due to inappropriate content, although its existence is not yet verified. Its unclear if Teas sudden popularity will land it on the radar of Apple or Google, both of which have lengthy guidelines that prohibit apps with harmful or objectionable content on their app stores. Fast Company reached out to Apple and Google for comment. Growing concerns as user base skyrockets It’s not just men who have expressed concerns or even outright complaints about Tea. “It’s so over saturated. I was scrolling and there is a bunch of men with no comments, no anything,” one female user shared on TikTok. “I feel like that defeats the purpose.” Concerns over user safety have also circulated, with some worried that women with access to the app might be sharing the posts with their male friends, which could potentially put the anonymous users in harms way. Meanwhile, the news website 404 Media recently reported on a data breach, where personal information including drivers’ licenses and selfies from Tea users were allegedly leaked on 4chan. Tea acknowledged the breach after the story was published via a post on the app, saying the leaked dataset included 72,000 images, of which 13,000 were selfies and other types of photo identification. Tea’s privacy policy claims that photos are “securely processed and stored only temporarily and will be deleted immediately following the completion of the verification process.” However, the leaked dataset was from “over two years ago,” the post says, contradicting the company’s own privacy policy. As Tea continues to spark debates around privacy, toxic dating cultures, and potential ways that the app could be abused, many users across social media are merely highlighting the deeper meaning behind the app itself. “While everyone’s laughing at the stuff posted on that app, I’m honestly disgusted. My heart breaks for every woman who’s been cheated on, lied to, mistreated, harassed, or worse,” another user shared on TikTok. “There is nothing funny about trauma. It’s not cute. It’s not entertainment.”
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E-Commerce
It has, to date, been a calm hurricane season in the state of Florida, but any resident of the Southeast will tell you that the deeper into summer we go, the more dangerous it becomes. There’s no stopping Mother Nature’s wrath, but a Florida-based tech company has come up with a way to help state officials begin recovery efforts after a storm blows through. The technology could eventually be used for other natural disasters, such as the recent flash floods in Texas’ Hill Country and the devastating fires in California. Last fall, Urban SDK, a Jacksonville, Florida-based software company that aggregates traffic data to help public works departments spot problems more easily, launched HALOa new service that quickly highlights the most pressing problem areas after a storm passes. As soon as winds drop below 40 mph and the sun is out, the company tasks satellites and deploys helicopters, drones, and fixed-wing aircraft to gather aerial imagery of the storms impact. Those images are processed through its computer vision model, helping state and local officials identify areas where roads are blocked by fallen trees, flooding, or severe damage. “Our first priority is to get the roads back to operational,” says Drew Messer, CEO of Urban SDK. “The goal is to have eyes onin clear visibilitythe most important impacted area within 24 hours. What we are trying to [offer] is a centralized platform for that information.” The imagery HALO captures also serves as formal evidence for state officials when requesting FEMA reimbursements for cleanup efforts. While Urban SDK currently works with 34 states and over 250 local governments in its primary business, HALO is currently only used in Florida. The 2024 hurricane season marked its first deployment, but as 2025 progresses, Urban SDK plans to offer the service in other states. Right now, HALO is a tool that is hurricane-specific. (The name, by the way, stands for Hurricane Assessment, Logistics and Operations.) Ultimately, though, Messer says the company hopes to adapt the service for a broader range of emergency events. Theres growing need for that kind of flexibility. The recent Texas floods left more than 130 dead and caused an estimated $18 billion to $22 billion in damages and economic loss. Last year, Asheville, North Carolina, suffered at least $53 billion in damages and saw at least 42 fatalities after Hurricane Helene stalled over the city. Scientists warn that more floods are likely. Warmer air holds more moisture, and combined with aging infrastructure and budget cuts to NOAA, stormswhether tropical or otherwiseare becoming more dangerous. That could make tools like HALO increasingly valuable for search and rescue efforts as well as economic recovery. Looking ahead, the technology could also prove useful in the days before a storm or disaster hits, by identifying vulnerable areas and providing simulated assessments of potential impact. This could help authorities implement preventative responses. “There’s an opportunity now where we can coordinate a whole of government approach to these issues and allow the disparate systems to be coordinated and joined together so individuals can make better operational decisions based on really relevant information,” says Messer. Thats still in the future. For now, HALO remains focused on hurricanes, and Urban SDK is preparing to expand the tools reach beyond Florida. With forecasters predicting a higher-than-usual number of named storms this year (including 6 to 10 hurricanes and 3 to 5 major hurricanes), HALO could have plenty of work ahead.
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E-Commerce
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. On Tuesday, D.R. HortonAmericas most valuable and largest homebuilder, with a $46 billion market capitalization and ranked No. 123 on the Fortune 500reported its third-quarter earnings for the three months ending June 30. While D.R. Hortons earnings didnt wow investors, the fact that there wasnt an accelerated softening beyond what homebuildersincluding D.R. Hortonhad already reported earlier this year was enough for some Wall Street investors to buy back into homebuilder stocks. For todays piece, were going to take a closer look at D.R. Hortons earnings and the commentary its executives provided during Tuesdays earnings call. Incentive spending is helping D.R. Hortons home sales hold steady D.R. Hortons net new orders, by its fiscal Q3 (the three months ending June 30th): Q3 2018 > 14,650 Q3 2019 > 15,588 Q3 2020 > 21,519 Q3 2021 > 17,952 Q3 2022 > 16,693 Q3 2023 > 22,879 Q3 2024 > 23,001 Q3 2025 > 23,071 D.R. Horton continues to see weakness in Florida While D.R. Hortons national net orders were pretty much flat year-over-year, there was a -10.1% year-over-year drop in its Southeast division. That division includes Floridawhich D.R. Horton once again acknowledged remains on the softer/weaker side. There’s been a lot of a change [weakening] in the dynamic in the Florida markets. And perhaps most so there. Other markets continue to be consistent performers where there’s been limited inventory and limited development of lots. And housing production continues to see strong demand in those markets, D.R. Horton chief operating officer Michael Murray said during their earnings call on July 22, 2025. North (13% of D.R. Hortons Q3 2025 net new orders): Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin East (21%): Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee Northwest (6%): Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington South Central (27%): Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas Southwest (10%): Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico Southeast (24%): Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi D.R. Hortons average sales price moves sideways D.R. Hortons average sales price in Q3 2025 ($369,600) was -7.3% below the third-quarter peak in Q3 2022 ($398,800). Its possible that some of the drop in average sales price is due to shifts in product and geographic mix. Instead of outright price cuts, D.R. Horton has preferred to offer bigger incentives this cycle, such as mortgage rate buydowns. Regardless, D.R. Hortons average sales price confirms that upward pricing momentum has stalled in many markets. D.R. Hortons incentive spend has caused margin compression D.R. Horton reported a 21.8% gross margin on homes for Q3 2025. Thats down from 24.0% in Q3 2024; however, its unchanged from its Q2 2025 gross margin (21.8%). The fact that the margin didnt further compress quarter-over-quarter is why some investors bought the stock back. However, D.R. Horton acknowledged that, looking ahead, the ongoing housing market softening still points towards a bit higher incentives. Our commentary really over the last year has been that incentives have been increasing. That’s been the main driver for the gross margin decline over the last year. Our operators are striving every day to strike the best balance between hitting pace and maintaining margin in each community to maximize returns. And so they’re using all the levers they have with incentives to try to balance that. And so we have seen the pace of incentive cost increases and the pace of margin decline moderate a bit over the last couple of quarters and then this quarter it held flat sequentially [quarter-over-quarter], Jessica Hansen, head of investor relations at D.R. Horton, said during ther earnings call on July 22, 2025. Hansen added that: But the trend is still pointing towards a bit higher incentives, and we don’t see significant offsets to that, though we will continue to work on costs on the construction side. On Tuesday, D.R. Horton told investors expect Q4 2025 gross margins to come in between 21.0% and 21.5%. Labor hasnt been an issue for D.R. Horton yet despite the increased ICE crackdown From labor availability, it’s plentiful. We have the labor that we need. Our trades are looking for work. And that’s why you’ve seen sequential and year-over-year reduction in our cycle time. Because we have the support we need to get our homes built. And, you know, given those efficiencies, reductions in stick and brick [costs] over time. Some of that is from design. And efficiency of the product that we’re putting in the field. And some of that is just from the efficiency of our operations, D.R. Horton CEO Paul Romanowski said during their earnings call on July 22, 2025. Tariffs havent coincided with higher stick-and-brick costsbut lumber tariffs are something to watch On Tuesday, D.R. Horton told analysts that stick-and-brick costs are down 2% year-over-year and down 1% quarter-over-quarter. Note: My understanding is that stick-and-brick costs include direct construction costs of building a home on-site using traditional wood materials like lumber (“sticks”) and masonry materials like concrete (“bricks”). These costs include both materials (e.g., lumber, drywall) and labor (plumbers, roofers, etc.). Although the White House hasnt included Canadian softwood lumber on their broader tariff list, the U.S. government is preparing to more than double the duties on Canadian lumber imports. As a part of its annual review, the U.S. Department of Commerce plans to raise the tariff on Canadian lumber from 14.45% to 34.45%. The U.S. Department of Commerce argues that Canadian lumber is being unfairly subsidized and sold below market value in the U.S. It [higher duties on Canadian lumber] will have some potential impact, but we’ve not quantified that. I know it is a significant step up in the tariff rates, I think, going to effect next month. But, you know, we’re buying some percentage of that wood and there’s some substitutionary product that would be available as well. Based on where that pricing ultimately settles, D.R. Horton chief operating officer Michael Murray said during their earnings call on July 22, 2025. Homebuilder stocks got a little bounce following D.R. Hortons earnings Following the earnings reports from D.R. Horton and PulteGroup on Tuesday, Wall Street gave homebuilder shares a slight bounce. While the move doesnt return shares to the highs reached around September 2024, it could signal that some on Wall Street believe homebuilder margin compression is losing momentum.
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