🐤 Think fast

🏦 Markets: It was another losing day on Wall Street with all three major indexes finishing lower — the fourth straight down day for the S&P 500 and a reversal from the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s modest Tuesday gains.

The tech industry helped fuel the sell-off, as evidenced in the sharp 1.15% dip by the Nasdaq Composite and the downturn in industry leaders including AI chipmaker Nvidia along with Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Netflix.

💰 Speak up: Foreign aid — primarily for Ukraine and Israel — has been a hot-button political issue, which means House Speaker Mike Johnson has his work cut out for him in the narrowly divided chamber. He’s trying to find a balance between the two parties on this issue and others, including border security, that are expected to be addressed in bills going to a vote over the weekend. Republicans advanced their foreign aid proposal on Wednesday, which Johnson said resulted from “significant member feedback and discussion.”

🚗 Pump the brakes: A large number of Honda Accords and CR-Vs sold during the model years 2017 and 2022 are facing serious scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is probing nearly 3,000 complaints of erroneous braking by a safety feature installed in the models. The emergency braking system has been linked to 93 injuries and 47 crashes, the agency said, and it has decided to expand on an existing investigation into the roughly 3 million vehicles believed to be impacted across the United States.

🗺️ Charged up: Google announced this week that its Maps app will be rolling out an artificial intelligence-powered feature that will help motorists — particularly those driving electric vehicles — find the best route. Users will be able to select recommendations based on the type of automobile they’re driving and the AI function will, among other things, find routes with fewer hills for those in an EV and provide a better assessment of where functioning EV chargers can be found along the way.

🌧️ Planting the seed: Dubai has experienced extreme rainfall this week, sparking widespread speculation regarding what the cause of the downpours might have been. A number of sources have pointed to “cloud seeding,” which involves aircraft dropping particles into clouds in order to produce more precipitation. Although the tactic has reportedly been used in the emirates, experts say it was a primary factor. Sources say the clouds were already carrying more moisture in part due to the impact of climate change across the region.

Although it’s slowly gravitating further east, In-N-Out is still pretty much reserved for those living out west. And whether you’re a frequent customer or you’ve just had a conversation with one, you already know that this isn’t your ordinary fast-food joint.

But what makes it so special? Perhaps Lynsi Snyder, who has served as the company’s president for more than a dozen years, is best suited to answer that question.

An impressive track record

Before we get into what Snyder says is the key to In-N-Out’s continued success, let’s take a look at how the company has flourished under her leadership.

Although the brand had already been around for generations before she landed in the executive suite, its growth accelerated significantly with her at the helm. Not only has the number of locations nearly doubled from 230 to 402, but the number of states with an In-N-Out has grown from four to eight … with three more (Washington, New Mexico, and Tennessee) soon to be added.

What Snyder has done is important, though perhaps not as important as what she hasn’t done, as she explained in an overview of her philosophy:

• Don’t grow too fast: While expansion might bring about some short-term revenue, she said slow and steady has been the key to the company’s long-lasting success.
• Don’t give up control: Most fast-food chains grow with the franchise model, but In-N-Out has been a family-owned affair since Snyder’s grandparents started it in 1948.
• Don’t get too expensive: Good food at an affordable price has been the mantra since Day One, and In-N-Out is still generally cheaper than its primary rivals.

With wages that typically start above the mandated minimum and friendly service, Snyder said that her approach continues the tradition of looking out for employees and customers alike.

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When you think of the Nestle brand, your first thought might be candy bars, Nesquik chocolate milk mix, or some other sugar-laden treat. But for parents around the world, Nestle is also the maker of formula and other baby food products they rely on to keep their little ones healthy.

As for whether these products live up to the promise of starting children out on the right nutritional foot, that might depend on geography.

The results are in

An in-depth investigation by the International Baby Food Action Network revealed evidence that Nestle is marketing very different types of products to customers in low-income nations than those who live in more prosperous regions of the world.

Nestle’s home country, Switzerland, for example, offers a range of baby food without added sugar while seemingly similar products in developing countries contain a troubling amount of the addictive sweet stuff.

The company utilizes social media influencers and celebrities to promote its baby foods in countries like Guatemala, but the bombshell report found that its claims are often misleading at best. Instead of paving the way for a “strong, healthy child” as musician Billy Saavedra asserted in an Instagram post touting Nestle’s Nido 1+ formula brand, such products in low- to middle-income nations are packed with sugar.

The bottom line

Since Nestle controls nearly one-fourth of the global baby food market, it has a unique opportunity to get children hooked on sugar at an early age. And as its critics say, it’s doing exactly that while increasing the risk for its youngest customers to experience serious health problems later in life.

World Health Organization scientist Nigel Rollins weighed in, arguing that the report “is problematic both from a public health and ethical perspective,” adding: “There is a double standard here that can’t be justified.”

It started out as an small-scale, invitation-only platform, but cofounder Naval Ravikant said the exponential growth of Airchat forced an abrupt cancellation of pending invites. Of course, if you weren’t among those who received an elusive invitation, you probably have no idea what Airchat is. That might be changing soon.

Lasting trend or passing fad?

Silicon Valley has unleashed countless social media platforms over the past couple of decades … but with the exception of a few household names, most of them have been largely forgotten. So why does Ravikant think Airchat will be more than just a flash in the pan?

In a word: audio.

The app utilizes voice notes in a unique way that its founders and early adopters believe will change the social media landscape for the better. It’s not the first platform to attempt such a gambit, but if the initial buzz is any indication, Airchat could be the first one to find widespread success.

Here’s an overview of what you can expect:

• Upon creating an account, you can follow some other Airchat users
• Then you’ll find blocks of text that are actually transcribed voice notes
• Play and pause buttons allow you to control what you listen to
• You can also record video notes, but audio is by far the early favorite

You can think of Airchat like Twitter, with one major difference: There’s no option for typing any content. Transcription can put your words into text, but you can’t do it yourself.

Notes play at double speed by default and direct messages are optional if you don’t want everyone to hear. But whatever you record is posted automatically, so there’s no way (at least not yet) to edit your content. Of course, you can always delete it and start again.

A friend asked me if I had seen the movie "Tractor.”

I said “No, but I've seen the trailer."