Citi’s Makeover

The 39- storey Citi building in Manhattan will undergo a total make-over next month. This is in relation to their goal that all of Citi’s employees should foster interaction within their organization and to have an exchange of ideas as well with each other. The change promotes an open layout plan where everybody not going to hold an office anymore, surprisingly, Michael Corbat, Citi’s Chief Executive Officer is not excluded in the list. This gives all employees to work around anywhere in the building, no particular space designation.

I believe this is a nice idea but let’s see how their highest ranking executives will have to say about this open plan design and how good are they in terms of interaction by working closely with their subordinates.

I wish their organization the best and let’s see how this idea will open doors to other companies as well.

Looks like a good start for 2016 for Citi!

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Merry Christmas!

Christmas season is the most awaited event of the year next to Thanksgiving Day and New Year. People from all around the world unite to celebrate the season. It is also the season where people travel, exchange gifts with their loved ones. Gift giving is what most people do especially kids. People do get busy wrapping gifts here and there but let’s not forget the true meaning of Christmas and it should not be celebrated once in a year only. It should always remains in our heart whatever season in the year.

Whenever I hear Christmas carols playing in the air, it brings me always to walk down the memory lane with my parents as a kid where I get to enjoy the company and the exchanging of gifts with the family.

I wish everybody a Merry Christmas!! Cheers to a bountiful 2016 ahead!

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Falcon 9

Who would have thought that those people living in the central Atlantic coast of Florida have been enjoying watching the spectacle of rockets heading to space for decades now and last Monday night a new sight of a rocket coming back down to a gentle landing has been seen. It could probably a great experience to some of them especially kids!

Elon Musk, who is the Chief Executive of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation aka Space X, said during his telephone news conference “ It really felt like it was right on top of us” where he initially thought that the landing will be a failure because it ended with an explosion. But later on found out that the booster landed and stood in one piece. Whoa! It was a successful mission indeed after several attempts of launches. Congratulations, Mr. Musk!

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Harvey and the controversial Miss U!

Steve Harvey, who hosted the prestigious pageant today, is now making the trends when he announced the wrong winner in today’s Miss Universe pageant. That very moment when he got back to the stage and said “OK folks..I apologized..” had brought the entire audience to a complete silence! Imagine that, billions of people around the world watching TV at their homes and yet he committed that awful mistake. That must have been frustrating to the countries involved! Imagine the rush of emotions for Ms Columbia as she went from being winner to merely a runner up. The feeling from being a winner to to being told that it was all just an honest mistake. What a horrible feeling. And one can only imagine what she was going through. On the flip side the rush for Ms Philippines must have been intense knowing she was the real winner. The show’s executives need to find a solution to prevent these kinds of human errors from happening again. A prestigious event like this shouldn’t have such reckless human errors.

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Move Over, Tesla

It looks like Tesla will face its biggest threat in the car industry soon! There’s been quite a bit of speculation on who this new player is and just how serious they are. The question is, will the new rival be able to be up to par with Tesla?  Will it exceed everyone’s expectations to the upside and give Tesla a run for its money? The Faraday rumor has been circulating around the internet and media world for quite a while now and it seems FF announcement will break anytime soon!? Maybe they will look to an IPO for future capital funding? FF already has hired hundreds of employees in Nevada and will be committing over 1 Billion to this new venture. It could be at least two to three years before we see anything substantial but this is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.

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Apple’s Christmas’ Gift

Looks like Apple employees are having the best Christmas ever! Eddy Cue, one of the Apple executives, has announced last Monday that Apple employees in Cupertino would get a FREE 9-month subscription to Apple Music. A week ago, employees have received $100 worth of urBeats headphones. So that’s a total of $190 worth of gift for each employee this year!

According to the article I read, this year’s Apple’s gift to its employees is thur far the “most” expensive gift they have provided compare to last year where each employee gets $60 worth of gift.

I believe giving the 9-Month FREE Apple Music subscription to its employees is a clever way to advertise their app. Well, what’s $190 worth of gift to its employees wherein fact as of October this year, Apple had 6.5M paying customers. Way to go, Apple!

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King Digital, Buyout!

Bobby Kotick who is the Chief Executive of Activision Blizzard has recently announced the buyout of King Digital Entertainment PLC for a whopping $5.9 Billion! With this buy out it will unify the major console and PC games’ Call of Duty and World of War Craft through a leading title Candy Crush Saga. This seems to be a great game changer in the mobile-app industry and I believe it’s a good buy since the industry will soar high in the next few years.

 

In one of the articles I read, it says there that this year the Mobile gaming industry has already a projected revenue of $36B and we haven’t ended the year yet! What’s so exciting about this industry is that by 2019, they have projected to grow more than 50%. Hmmm… now, I think I should try to venture into one of these and think about a good project to go with the flow.

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Dunkin’ Donuts in Irvine! How exciting!

This is crazy! Dunkin’ Donuts is planning to open a thousand location just in Cali alone! Who would have thought that Cali will be flooded with Donuts soon! Right now, there are about 200 Dunkin’ Donuts store who are in the works just in greater Los Angeles area. Earlier of 2015, Dunkin’ Donuts first store opened in Laguna Hills and what fascinates me is the fact that it is a 24 hour shop! Amazing! Then, their second shop was opened in Santa Ana and I’ve heard that another store will open in Westminster this month. I think I’ll go sugar rush before the year ends!

Irvine which is just close to my home is going to have a 24 hour shop with drive-through! Isn’t it that wonderful?! Well, whenever I crave for Boston Kreme at wee hours in the morning, at least I know where I can get it from!

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Old Man Rocky

I never thought I’d see the boxing legend of the Rocky films turn mellow, wise, and grey, comfortably away from the spotlight. In Creed (2015), he becomes a mentor to Apollo Creed’s son, Adonis Creed. If any, I find Rocky’s extreme patience yet astute guidance towards Adonis admirable, even moving, as he passes on his glory days to someone only beginning.

The contrast between the Rocky Balboa then and the Rocky now can be jarring, but I welcome it. When a film attempts to show another side of a character, I get further engaged. It’s a challenge to keep a franchise going without wearing fans out, but I believe Rocky’s evolution as a character is worth appreciating!

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San Bernardino, California: My Deepest Sympathy!

With the recent tragic event happened in San Bernardino County of California, I personally sympathize to all victims, I agree that no amount of words cannot describe the horror and sadness the county suffered. I would like to share the statement made by James Ramos, County Board of Chairman:
“Words cannot describe the sadness and horror the Board of Supervisors feels in the wake of this unimaginable tragedy.

The county’s role and focus at this point is providing support and safety to our employees, their loved ones, and our community. For that reason, the Board of Supervisors tonight took action to suspend all but only the most essential county services tomorrow, December 3, and Friday, December 4.

The Board will do everything within its power to assist, provide services, and comfort everyone affected by this traumatic event.

Law enforcement has the county’s full support in its effort to address this incident, find out what happened and why, and bring those responsible to justice.

I would like to thank Governor Brown for personally contacting me to offer his condolences and support during this difficult times. The county is thankful for the support our agencies have received from the state, the federal government, and our neighboring cities and counties.”

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