Bolton out

National Security Adviser John Bolton resigned from his post yesterday. Disagreements on major foreign policy issues were cited as the reason for his departure.

Election results

Republican Dan Bishop defeated Democrat Dan McCready in a special election for the US House seat in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District. Republican Greg Murphy also defeated Democrat Allen Thomas for the US House seat in North Carolina’s Third Congressional District.

North Korean missiles

North Korea launched two unidentified projectiles toward the sea, according to South Korean officials.  The firings came after North Korea said it was interested in resuming denuclearization talks with the United States.

All you can Apple

Apple held its annual September event yesterday. The company announced the launch of Apple Arcade ($4.99/month gaming service), Apple TV+ ($4.99/month streaming service), the new iPad, Apple Watch Series 5, and the main event: the iPhone 11 lineup.

Can I get some AIs with that?

McDonald’s will acquire Apprente, a company that uses AI to understand speech, to help automate its drive-thrus. This is the third tech acquisition this year for the fast food chain, and Apprente’s employees will be the founding members of McD Tech Labs, a group within McDonald’s global tech team dedicated to expanding the company’s presence in Silicon Valley.

One shining Ma-ment

After announcing his retirement a year ago, Alibaba chairman and cofounder Jack Ma officially retired yesterday. He is replaced by CEO Daniel Zhang, and will now focus his time on education philanthropy (You can check out Ma’s original Alibaba sales pitch from 1999 here).

Engineered exit

Uber has laid off more than 400 members of its product and engineering teams, which represents ~8% of the product and engineering organization. This announcement comes a day after the company said it would invest $200 million to expand its Freight business unit.

Schooling cancer

After a months-long battle with testicular cancer, 18-year-old Jaime Gamez was more than ready to restart his life this fall. He was enrolling at the Universal Technical Institute, where he’d be trained as an expert on diesel engines and freightliners – setting him up for a career in a high-demand industry.

But when he walked into the institute to complete his financial aid paperwork, he was met with a huge surprise: he didn’t owe a dime. The Arizona Make-A-Wish Foundation had rallied industry partners to come together and cover the entirety of his tuition – over $50,000 – after a request he’d made weeks prior. Through teary laughter, the teen expressed his excitement and disbelief over the sequence of events. After a year of uncertainty and hardship, Gamez wasn’t just healthy again… he had a bright future laid out ahead of him.

Party animal

17-year-old Tanvi Barman is real partier – but not in the way you might assume. While volunteering at the local homeless shelter with her family, Tanvi forged a connection with some of the children there. The reality of childhood in a homeless shelter got her thinking about things she took for granted that were completely out of reach for some of those kids.

So Tanvi decided to do something about it. Since eighth grade, she’s been working with local vendors to throw killer birthday parties for kids who’d otherwise watch their birthdays pass unacknowledged.

Through her organization, No Birthday Left Behind, Tanvi has been throwing parties most weekends for years – showing up to family and youth shelters with all the food, entertainment, and decorations necessary to make for an unforgettable birthday.