Ice Age 6 is coming

Hello smart readers of the79 newsletter! Today we are going to cover:

👉 TikTok is probably going to be safe in U.S.

👉 A list of Trump’s cabinet picks so far

👉 Status of E. coli outbreak caused by onions used by McDonald’s

and many more!

Today’s letter should be a 5-minute read

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Quote of the day

“What you are aware of you are in control of. What you are not aware of is in control of you”

Anthony De Mello (Indian Psychotherapist)

Must Know

McDonalds’s E. coli outbreak

The number of cases in the E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has risen to 104. To date, 34 people have been hospitalized, 4 have developed serious kidney problems and 1 has died.

The CDC and McDonald's have said that slivered onions served on Quarter Pounders are the source of the outbreak. McDonald’s has stopped working with the Taylor Farms, a California-based food producer and the supplier of the infected onions. Taylor Farms recalled its yellow onions on Oct. 22.

In the last week, McDonald’s has resumed selling Quarter Pounders with slivered onions at the affected locations, relying on a different supplier for the onions.

14 states have been affected by the outbreak including:

• Colorado - 30 cases

• Montana - 19 cases

• Nebraska - 13 cases

Most people infected with the E. coli strain recover without treatment. Milder symptoms often include stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. In more severe cases, people can develop high blood pressure, kidney disease, neurological problems or hemolytic uremic syndrome — a condition that can lead to kidney failure.

TikTok is (probably) gonna be safe in U.S.

Many tech leaders, like Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook, congratulated Trump for his win, but TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, did not. Why? Because TikTok faces a serious threat from a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to:

• sell the app by January 19

• or face a ban in the U.S.

Trump has previously opposed banning TikTok in his campaigns and may offer it a lifeline now that he is back in power. He could either push Congress to revoke the law or selectively enforce it to keep TikTok running without penalties. But things are a bit uncertain and we don’t know what exactly Trump will do in the future.

Trump’s shocking cabinet picks

Donald Trump has shocked many with his unpredictable cabinet picks. Here are the ones we know so far:

• Secretary of State: Marco Rubio (Florida senator known for his tough stance on foreign policy)

• Attorney General: Matt Gaetz (a loyal Trump ally and Florida congressman) —> to end "Weaponized Government" and restore faith in the Justice Department.

• Defense Secretary: Pete Hegseth (an Army veteran and Fox News host)

• Homeland Security Secretary: Kristi Noem (the governor of South Dakota)

• Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard (a former Democratic congresswoman who recently switched parties)

• CIA Director: John Ratcliffe (head of national intelligence in Trump's previous administration)

• Environmental Protection Agency Director: Lee Zeldin (a former New York congressman)

• United Nations Ambassador: Elise Stefanik (House GOP conference chair and critic of the UN)

• Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee (American Baptist minister, political commentator, and former politician—governor of Arkansas [1996-2007])

• White House Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles (first female White House Chief, Trump’s campaign co-runner)

• Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy: Stephen Miller (ex-Trump advisor | architect of policies like Travel Ban)

• Border Czar: Tom Homan (a former immigration and customs enforcement director)

• National Security Adviser: Mike Waltz (an Army veteran and congressman)

• White House Counsel: Bill McGinley (ex-cabinet secretary)

• Middle East Envoy: Steven Witkoff (a New York businessman)

• Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy

⚡Speed-Round: The Most Impactful Stories

Amazon launched a store featuring $20-or-less products to compete (and probably kill) low-cost shopping apps like Temu and Shein. The new “Amazon Haul” service is available in the US via Amazon’s app or mobile website, and offers a wide range of similar fashion, home, lifestyle, and electronics products that you’d expect to find on the Chinese platforms.

Scientists at UC San Francisco have developed a genomic test can diagnose nearly any infection. It can detect any form of pathogens such as virus, bacteria, fungus or parasite. The test has the potential to significantly improve care for neurological infections that cause diseases like meningitis and encephalitis, as well as speed up the detection of new viral pandemic threats. It uses a powerful genomic sequencing technique, called metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS). (Read the full paper published on Nature)

Bitcoin rose above $93,000 for the first time on Wednesday. "Generally the way this market goes is bitcoin will break out and then the rest of the altcoins will follow," said Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at cryptocurrency asset manager Astronaut Capital. It has been a very intense roller coaster lately and just for comparison, the price of bitcoin was around $20K at the start of the last year, when it the market was experiencing the “crypto winter“.

How SSDs Work?

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are a type of storage device used in 💻 computers that work differently from traditional hard drives. Instead of using 💫 spinning disks, SSDs store data on tiny memory chips called NAND flash memory. This technology allows SSDs to access and save information much faster.

Inside an SSD, there are millions of tiny cells that can hold ⚡ electrical charges. Each cell represents a bit of data, either a 1 (charged) or a 0 (not charged). When you save a file, the SSD changes the charge in these cells to represent the data. To read the data, the SSD checks the charge in each cell. This process is quick because there are no moving parts involved.

Another important part of an SSD is its controller, which manages how data is stored and retrieved. It also helps prevent wear and tear on the memory cells by spreading out the 📝 writing process across many cells. This technique is called wear leveling, which helps extend the life of the SSD. Overall, SSDs are faster, more durable, and use less power than traditional hard drives, making them a popular choice for modern computers.

Top-levels

Business & Markets

•  💰 US Market yesterday: (S&P:+0.023%; Dow: +0.1%; Nasdaq: slipped 0.3%)

• 🧬 23andMe (genetic testing company famous for their ancestry analysis) has laid off more than 40% of its workforce (~200 jobs) meanwhile its stock price plummet more than 70% this year.

• 📱 Trump’s tariff policies could add $240 to the cost of an iPhone! (see how it is calculated) | 🎵 Spotify is rolling up sleeves to shatter the dominance of YouTube in the 🎙 podcast space, planning to reward podcast hosts who make popular videos on its platform.

Media & Entertainment

• 🎤 Dolly Parton’s new and her favorite album “Smokey Mountain DNA“ in which she sings about her family is now available for pre-order.

• Ice Age 6 is happening finally, 3 years after Disney closed Blue Sky Studios. The teaser released during the D23 Brazil fan convention featuring three of the original movie's stars, Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, and John Leguizamo.

• “Venom: The Last Dance“ has made $405.5M for Sony in worldwide box office. It is currently the No. 8 movie of the year worldwide, and is coming off of its 3rd straight weekend at the top of the domestic and offshore box office.

Science & Tech News

• Scientists have discovered the existence of at least three other species in bloodline of humans. Denisovans are the species that seeded their 🧬 DNA in humans with traces in our biology even today.

• 🤖 Google has just launched Gemini app for iOS, and some say that it has replaced Siri for them | 📷 The specification of Xiaomi 15 ultra camera was just leaked with an impressive 200MP periscope sensor.

• Verizon outage on the US east coast, millions of American affected and left without Internet.

Did You Know?

🤵 3 of the United States presidents have won Grammys.

🔤 The letter "Q" is the only letter that doesn't appear in any U.S. state name.

☀ Did you know your liver's size fluctuates significantly throughout the day 🌙

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