Blowin’ in the Wind

Hurricane Dorian moved up the east coast on Thursday with winds over 100 miles per hour, downing trees and power lines in Charleston, South Carolina. The storm was expected to reach the coast of North Carolina this morning.

US in Afghanistan

Two NATO service members, an American and a Romanian, and 10 civilians were killed in a Taliban-claimed car bombing yesterday morning. The blast came days after a draft peace deal was agreed upon by U.S. and Taliban negotiators.

Back to the table

China announced yesterday morning that it would be sending negotiators to Washington next month to resume trade talks with the United States. This comes just after a round of new tariffs, imposed by each country upon the other, took effect at the beginning of September.

Half dollar

According to the WSJ, WeWork is considering reducing its valuation by over half, and could postpone its planned IPO. CEO Adam Neumann met with one of the company’s biggest investors, SoftBank, in Tokyo last week to discuss numerous options amid investor skepticism following the release of its IPO papers last month.

It's complicated

Facebook launched Facebook Dating yesterday, which is free for users 18 and up, and aims to connect people using mutual interests. The product is now available in 20 countries, and will launch in Europe early 2020.

Goldman parachute?

At least a dozen Goldman Sachs partners are negotiating exits to leave the bank in the upcoming weeks. This comes as CEO David Solomon continues his internal review of the company, which is meant to boost shareholder returns as the bank takes on new initiatives like consumer lending and large-scale wealth management.

Please don’t stop the music

Apple Music has launched a beta of a new web interface that allows consumers to access its catalog without downloading iTunes or its app. The beta is available to current subscribers, and will bring Apple’s offering to different platforms without the need to build custom apps for each one.

Speak softly and carry a smart stick

In a world of smartphones, smart homes, smart-you-name-it, Kursat Ceylan developed the latest, and possibly most revolutionary smart tool: a walking stick.

Ceylan, who has been blind since birth, is the CEO and co-founder of WeWalk, a Turkish company that makes the smart walking stick.  Utilizing an ultrasonic sensor to detect objects above chest level – something that’s difficult to do with a traditional walking stick – the user is warned of impediments with a vibration. The stick can also connect to the user’s smartphone using bluetooth and is voice controlled, and integrates with sensors and navigation apps (like Google Maps) that can revolutionize mobility and navigation for the blind population.

While some people are talking about flying cars, Ceylan points out that the blind community has been using a plain old stick for decades. He hopes that by integrating this technology with things like ride-sharing apps, the WeWalk stick will bring a new level of freedom for people with limited sight.

Bullies come up short

High school can be a difficult time, especially when you're all alone. When 14-year-old Caleb Wrenn walked into the lunchroom on his first day of school, he was teased for being short and ended up eating alone. After school he texted his sister about it, telling her that he wasn’t surprised… he said expected to be made fun of and left out.

So Caleb’s older sister took to Twitter. She posted a picture of her brother and a screenshot of their texts and the response was overwhelming – her post has been retweeted more than 30,000 times, and hundreds of people reached out to say that they’d also been teased for being short in high school.

The next day, a group of upperclassmen, including some of the members of the football team, found Caleb and showed him around, ate lunch with him, and introduced him to their friends. The pictures of him from that day show a beaming teenager, tucked in the midst of a big group of friends.