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Ikea’s new store is in the metaverse. The company announced Wednesday that it’s piloting a limited-edition pop-up shop in Roblox’s Welcome to Bloxburg game offering players Ikea products they can use to decorate virtual homes. This is the first time that the Swedish furniture retailer has entered gaming in a meaningful way, since an earlier Roblox game in 2024, according to the company. It comes after noticing for years how young adults and teens were building and designing homes in games and wondering why Ikea wasn’t a part of it. [Photo: Ikea] “Ikea wanted to better understand how Gen Z and Gen Alpha think about furnishing and self-expression, recognizing the need to meet them on platforms they already use and learn from how they interact with products and spaces in a digital environment,” Ikea’s chief digital officer Parag Parekh tells Fast Company. “At Ikea we are always curious and eager to develop and connect with people where they are. Today many people are online, and many people are gaming,” he says. “This is an area where we want to see if there is an appetite for Ikea as a brand and our products also in the gaming world.” [Image: Ikea] Ikea’s goal: better understand Gen Z and Gen Alpha The pilot is intentionally small, as its primary goal is to gather learnings for the company. For now it will be available only for people in Australia and Sweden from January 22 to February 5. Located inside the virtual Bloxburg Fancy Furniture Store, which players can access in the the game’s town center, people can choose from items like the Stockholm sofa, the Brännboll inflatable gaming chair, and Ikea’s stuffed toy shark named Blhaj. The company says it chose its selection of products based on items that are less common in the game, are classic Ikea designs, or are items that the Bloxburg team suggested players might like. “Overall, the aim is less about ‘selling’ a catalog and more about understanding how customers express home furnishing ideas and how Ikea products can support that in a digital world,” Parekh says. [Photo: Ikea] Unboxing Ikea’s tech moves Ikea’s entry into gaming comes on the heels of other tech-forward moves. Last year the company relaunched its smart home line and opened branded kiosks selling Ikea products in select U.S. Best Buy locations. But it’s also late to the metaverse party. Brands including Gucci, Nike, and Walmart opened their own Roblox experiences in 2022but the trend never caught on in a big way. Today, the dream of a widely used virtual metaverse has been declared effectively dead, and Meta laid off hundreds in its own virtual reality division on Tuesday. There are signs of a possible resurgence, though, with examples like Ikea’s foray into the space and Coach’s collection on Sims 4 this week proving that brands aren’t abandoning virtual worlds as spaces to show off their products completely. [Photo: Ikea] For Ikea, the challenge in translating its physical home furnishings for a virtual world was balancing recognizability and simplicity, since items needed to feel instantly like they had Ikea proportions, colors, and silhouettes while also working smoothly in a gaming context. Luckily, Ikea already has all its products created in 3D, and Bloxburg modified those same models with Ikea’s approval to turn them into gamified objects. “We are very pleased with the outcome,” Parekh says. There will also be an in-person component for Ikea’s Roblox experience, with hidden QR codes set to go up at Ikea locations in the two pilot countries that vistors can scan to unlock extra items. And an Ikea in the metaverse could one day come to other countries, too. The company says its virtual shop pilot is just a starting point, and it believes we’ll see more of its home furnishings in games going forward.
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E-Commerce
The State Department says it will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries whose nationals are deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States. The State Department, led by Secretary Marco Rubio, said Wednesday it had instructed consular officers to halt immigrant visa applications from the countries affected in accordance with a broader order issued in November that tightened rules around potential immigrants who might become public charges in the U.S. The suspension will not apply to applicants seeking non-immigrant, or temporary tourist or business visas. The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of Americas immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people, the department said in a statement. Immigrant visa processing from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits. The statement did not identify which countries would be affected by the pause, but President Donald Trump’s administration has already severely restricted immigrant and non-immigrant visa processing for citizens of dozens of countries, many of them in Africa. The suspension will begin on Jan. 21. Matthew Lee, AP diplomatic writer
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E-Commerce
After two years of declines, United States greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2025a change driven by increased electricity use, due in part to data centers and cryptocurrency mining, as well as cold winter temperatures that meant homes required more heating. Emissions increased 2.4% in 2025, according to preliminary data from the research firm Rhodium Group. Thats higher than the countrys GDP growth, which increased by a projected 1.9%. That the countrys emissions grew more than its GDP is notable: Climate experts have long noted that its both possible and necessary to reduce emissions while still growing the economy. And for the past few years, the U.S. has done just that. (Multiple states have also individually reduced their emissions while growing their economies.) Now, though, 2025 has broken a three-year trend in which the economys growth outpaced our emissions growth. Heating, data centers, and crypto mining The main drivers of this emissions increase came from the buildings and power sectors. Colder temperatures meant more homes had to rely on natural gas and coal for heating. The winter of 2025 specifically led to increased direct combustion of these fuels in buildings, driving up emissions by 56 million metric tons, or 6.8%, compared to 2024, per Rhodium. Coal generation grew 13% compared to the year prior, making 2025 just the second year in the past decade in which coal generation increased. (Since its peak in 2007, coal generation has shrunk by 64%.) Coal use grew in part because natural gas prices increased. Utility companies also delayed planned retirements for coal plants in order to meet a growing demand for power, and due to Department of Energy orders. At the same time, electricity use increased. Total electricity generation grew 2.4% in 2025, mostly because of commercial buildings where data centers, cryptocurrency mining operations, and other large load customers drove electricity demand, according to Rhodium. The surge in electricity demand comes as AI has fueled a boom in data center construction. (Rhodium’s report also notes that investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure were a major source of U.S. economic growth, as well.) While transportation is responsible for the highest share of emissions, that sector only saw a 0.1% growth in greenhouse gases compared to 2024. Road traffic actually increased, but the growing share of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the road meant gas consumption declined. How Trump policies could impact emissions Though U.S. emissions increased in 2025, theyre still below pre-pandemic levels6% below 2019s emissions, and 18% below 2005s emissions. But Trump administration policies could mean greenhouse gas emissions grow even more. The Trump administration has already made efforts to curtail climate progress, bolstering the use of fossil fuels, canceling clean energy products, and removing federal tax incentives that would get more people to buy EVs or other energy efficient technologies. Despite those efforts, which began as soon as Trump took office in January for his second presidential term, the emissions growth in 2025 wasnt really impacted by recent Trump or congressional policies, Rhodium says. Apart from some modest contributions to increased coal generation from Department of Energy orders to keep a few plants running, we arent yet seeing the direct effects of these policy changes in U.S. emissions, the report reads. That could change in the next year or two, though, the researchers note, particularly if data center electricity demand continues to surge and the grid responds with more output from existing fossil generators instead of new, clean resources.
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E-Commerce
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