Joe Lhota is no stranger to the numerous challenges the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has to deal with. He was at the top of the organization when the Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the system. However, his leadership proved to be an iron fist in authorities’ mitigation with the flood. On the other hand, the present transit system crisis might be an even bigger challenge this time for the returned executive.

Joe Lhota Accepted to Return to MTA to Solve the Transit System Crisis

On Friday, the former Chairman Joe Lhota took his old position back within MTA. The current situation constitutes probably the worst shape this transit system has ever experienced. The equipment is old, outdated, and dysfunctional while commuters have to endure many delays on a daily basis due to ongoing restoration works.

However, Lhota is sure that he can handle this crisis. During a recent interview, he admitted that he enjoys challenges. Moreover, the current state of the transit system might present him with the greatest stimulation of his life.

Lhota accepted the desperate proposal from the governor without blinking an eye. On top of that, he agreed to a salary of $1 as the Chairman and CEO of MTA. However, he will keep his primary job as vice president of NYU Langone Medical Center.

Lhota Believes that Visualizing the Result Renders the Best Solutions to Any Problem

He is going to share job responsibilities with an executive director. This official will focus solely on keeping the organization up and running while Lhota will advise the board and negotiate with local politicians.

“Ultimately, I’ll be held accountable, regardless of who this person is.”

While he needs to be briefed more in depth on the transit system crisis, Lhota is already heaving a general plan in his mind. His secret for managing a challenge is to visualize the end in the beginning. Afterward, he is just figuring out realistic measures and steps to accomplish that goal.

Image source: 1

The Chicago Federal Bank President, Charles Evans, said on Tuesday that the low inflation point is a bit scary, as, through a potential rise in the disruptive corporate deal-making, the central bank could be knocked off the current rate-hiking schedule.

Evans did not mention any particular mergers or acquisitions, but he did say that transformative moves can strain inflation, which, then, can slow the Federal Bank from what it calls “its policy normalization”. His biggest fear is inflation.

His main fear is that in the world of global market and new competitors and technology, competition comes from different places. They merge and change the marketplace, which brings “more competitive pressures on price margins”, said Evans in a CNBC interview.

“If that’s the case, and I think that’s just speculative at this point, then it means that we need even more accommodation to get inflation up,” he further said.

The main two goals of the Federal Bank are to increase the current low inflation percent up to 2%, for price stability, and to reach maximum employment. And while the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.3% during the Bank’s aggressive moves since the financial crisis, the low inflation percent has remained un-stabilizable.

This comes in as a worrying news, especially since Amazon has made it known that it intends to buy Whole Foods, the largest whole-sale food retailer. This comes as a shocking news, and it has since plummeted the market. Which, in return, makes the attempts to increase the low inflation percent quite hard to manage.

The Chicago Federal Bank’s President as stated that, if there will be more signs of downward pressure on the already low inflation percent, it will be an indicator that there’s more to be done in order to get inflation up.

The rationale behind this is that if the low inflation percent continues to go downward, although pricing would reduce, consumers might be reluctant to spend. Thus, decreasing both economic growth and earnings.

Image Source: Flickr

One customer ordered a Quarter Pounder at a Dallas McDonald’s restaurant and, after 4 minutes worth of waiting, she got impatient. She said that:

“If it’s going to be that long every time, I won’t order it. I’d go”.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Fresh Beef

In the recent years, McDonald’s has been trying to win back customers lost to its competitors. The alleged chemicals that lie within the burgers, the high demand of fast service have drawn some of its customers to go somewhere else.

Now, McDonald’s is trying to win them off by introducing the fresh beef in its Quarter Pounder as a tradeoff between taste and time. The problem is that the Quarter Pounder takes just 1 minute longer in order to be made. Thus, customers might feel frustrated for having to wait for their food to be delivered on time.

The main problem in this issue is that, although it takes less time to fry a fresh Quarter Pounder, it takes longer because it is put on the grill only after a patron orders. Which is opposite to the batch-frying of Quarter Pounders in the past.

However, according to the CEO Steve Easterbrook, the changeover did not create so many complications as McDonald’s analysts thought it would. The introduction of the fresh Quarter Pounder is one in a series of changes that the McDonald Corp. is trying to implement in order to regain its clients. For example, Richard Adams, current consultant for McDonald’s, said that current restaurant crews are already facing trickier menu items. The “Signature Crafter” sandwich line, which allows clients to choose their meat, buns, and topping, is only one of these menu items.

Another new possibility is the mobile app which allows clients to order from afar. And while this can cut the ordering and processing the order time, it can create other potential complications.

The addition of the fresh beef Quarter Pounder is the biggest step the company is risking to take, and is now sampling to see how it will work out, in order to freshen up its ingredients for a healthier, and tastier experience, the company states.

Image Source: NYT

Chipotle Mexican Grill received a lawsuit based on a controversial federal rule. The plaintiffs are employees at the fast casual restaurant who did not receive overtime pays for their extra hours they worked. All allegations depend on a federal rule that expanded the types of employees that are entitled to such bonuses. On the other hand, the Labor Department received an injunction last year that hindered it to enforce that particular rule.

A Controversial Federal Rule about Overtime Pays Might Still Be Active Despite an Injunction

On Wednesday, Chipotle employees filed a class-action lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The case goes after Chipotle Inc. that didn’t honor a particular federal rule. According to this regulation, the company has to pay a time and a half to all employees who are clocking at least 40 hours of work each week. However, the rule limits the bonus only to those who earn less than $47,476 a year.

Chipotle employees’ lawyers claim that the controversial federal rule is valid from a legal point of view. Their argumentation brought up the date of December 1 when the court issued the injunction. However, the same court has never released a final decision. This means that the regulation was not actually repealed.

“We think the rule went into effect and that companies should be paying people overtime.”

The Outcome of This Lawsuit Might Change the American Labor Market

The legal procedure was a construct of the Obama administration in an effort to level up the income threshold from $23,660 to $47,476 a year. The method the officials found most eligible to undertake such a change was through overtime pays.

Neither Chipotle nor the Labor Department commented on this lawsuit. The company has gone through many other issues recently. However, if Chipotle employees manage to win this legal battle, there are going to be some major changes. First of all, Chipotle management might decide to alter work schedule and back pay their employees. Secondly, this trial might concern millions of other workers who would earn the right to overtime pays according to the federal rule.

Image source: 1

Trump administration advanced in its plan to make America great again. In order to achieve this milestone, lawmakers turned to the oil industry as a means to creating new jobs and flourishing profits. Therefore, they agreed on allowing companies to perform seismic testing off the Eastern Seaboard. This marks the first decision to allow drilling activities in the Atlantic Ocean.

Five Companies Will Perform Seismic Testing for One Year

For one year long, five companies received green light from the Trump administration to test the Atlantic waters for signs of oil reserves. The official approval states that businesses are allowed to put in jeopardy a limited number of marine creatures as long as this situation remains an accident. The National Marine Fisheries Services has already requested permission from Marine Mammal Protection Act for seismic surveys.

The activity of a seismic survey entails the use of air guns. These are strong enough to cause great injuries to marine wildlife. During the Obama administration, this kind of business procedures remained unsatisfied. On the other hand, President Donald Trump signed back in April an executive order that makes this offshore drilling legal.

At the moment, the Eastern Seaboard harbors no such drilling works. However, if over the next year these companies find sources of oil, they can turn the east coast of the U.S. into a territory pertaining to oil industry.

On the one hand, this event constitutes a victory for any player in the oil, gas or energy domain. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke declared last month that this initiative is going to make way to new job openings. As a consequence, the national economy is going to receive a long-awaited financial boost.

“But seismic [testing] alone is a serious assault on our coast and oceans.”

On the other hand, environmental advocates perceive this event from a different angle. The Southern Environmental Law Center warned about offshore reviews as being risky for communities, environment, economy, and healthy lifestyles.

Image source: 1

On Friday, Uber announced that it hired Amit Singhal, a Google search veteran, as its new SVP or Senior Vice President of Engineering.

Amit Singhal will mostly be involved in the Uber mapping and marketplace department. He will be working and reporting to Travis Kalanick, the Uber CEO. And he will also be working with Anthony Levandowski. He is the Uber self-driving program leader. Singhal will reportedly be acting as an adviser.

Uber Technologies Inc is an online transportation network company. It was founded in 2009 and based in San Francisco, California. The company is perhaps best known for its Uber app. It is developed, marketed, and operated by them.

Uber’s services are spread at a worldwide level. They are available in more than 50 countries. These account for about 550 cities at a global level.

The company app offers a ride-hailing service. Not only that but it also calculates the fare. It then transfers the money to the driver.  Several companies have started following the Uber business model.

But its ride-hailing service is not its only target. Uber is also working on developing self-driving and autonomous vehicles.

On January 20, Uber announced that a new member will be joining the company. Amit Singhal is well known in the domain. He is amongst the Google veterans.

Sighal was part of the company for 15 years. He was recruited in the Internet giant company back in 2000. Amit Singhal was in charge of the core search quality department part of Google. Together with his team, they were in charge of search algorithms.

Singhal was named a “Google Fellow”. The title came based on his work for the search department. More exactly, his rewrite of the Google search engine back in 2001.

Amit Singhal held various positions during his Google years. He was also a senior vice president. And he was one of the company’s software engineers. The man left Google back in February 2016. At the time, he was the Head of Google Search.

Following the Uber announcement, Singhal also offered some details. These were posted on his personal blog. The software engineer gave Uber the following nomination. He declared it to be “a geek’s candy store”.

Singhal began by expressing his excitement. According to him, Uber’s technology is changing the urban mobility. And he is reportedly excited to be part of the team to do so.

Amit Singhal also stated another fact. He declared that Uber will be facing him with a tough challenge. More exactly, a difficult computer science problem. He is referring to the company’s mapping system and plans. Uber intends to develop a highly exact mapping system.

This will be one of the bases for its self-driving and autonomous vehicles. Such a system is vital for the good and safe working of such a car.

According to Singhal, connecting millions and millions of users in real time is quite a task. Especially so when you set out to offer them optimal driving routes. And now, this system will see a few additions.

It will have to predict real-time traffic. And will have to support multiple riders. Not to mention that it will have to be economically attractive.

Following his retirement from Google, Amit Singhal focused on philanthropy. He set up a foundation that offers high-quality education to underprivileged children.

Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, also released several statements. He declared, in a Facebook post, that Singhal will offer them a chance to learn. And that he is excited to welcome the newest team member. He also appreciated the man’s passion for improving lives through technology. And at solving complex science problems.

Image Source: Wikimedia

The Chinese giant, Alibaba Group, is planning on investing quite heavily in the entertainment domain, an area which is not that easy to access in China.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese company. Founded in 1999, it is based in Hangzhou, China. It is specialized in e-commerce. As such, it ensures a variety of services in the area.

It provides business-to-business and consumer-to-consumer sale services. Business-to-consumer services are also ensured. All these are offered and assured via web portals.

Alibaba also ensures data-centric cloud computing and electronic payment services. It also has a shopping search engine.

They are perhaps most commonly thanks to this latter. Alibaba Group is the developer of AliExpress and its Alipay system.

Presently, Alibaba is considered the dominant content provider in China. An estimated 700 million Internet users make use of their services.

As it is, the Alibaba Group could continue to strengthen their position. They will be doing so by investing in the entertainment area.

China has a quite a notoriously hard to enter such domain. Amazon and Netflix are amongst the big international names to have tried to access it.

An internal Alibaba Group email is the source of the new plan. Yu Yongfu was noted to have announced it. He is the CEO of Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group. This is the Alibaba Group entertainment arm.

Yongfu has set out to invest over 50 billion yuan. The value would convert into an approximate $7.2 billion. It would be invested over the following three years in content.

The internal announcement was said to have been released on Wednesday. Alibaba Group representatives have yet to release an official comment.

Alibaba has already invested in the entertainment area. It downright doubled its investment in the domain earlier this year. In October, the e-commerce giant split and formed its entertainment arm.

The aforementioned division has several targets. It is set to consolidate Youku Tudou. This is a video website, similar to YouTube. They will also be in charge of the Ali Music Group and Alibaba Pictures Group.

Alibaba also has multiple gaming, digital assets, and literature divisions. Besides developing the current areas, Alibaba Media will also be initiating new projects.

Alibaba Group launched the arm with a reported over 10 billion yuan investments fund.

Chinese information and content delivery are a difficult sector. Especially so for international media companies. Earlier this year, Disney set out on a joint venture with the Alibaba Group.

However, the DisneyLife project was shut down in April. It had a lifespan of just about 4 months. Apple was one of the foreign companies to successfully enter the Chinese market.

As it is, their services were also sent offline. Their iBooks and iTunes Music had a lifespan of nearly 7 months. Amazon launched their Prime subscription service in October. Later the same month, the company CEO stated that the usual playbook cannot be run in China.

The Alibaba Group has had a more successful international outreach. It has bought a stake in Amblin Partners. Through it, they will distribute and produce content. This will be distributed both in China and internationally.

Alibaba Pictures has also invested in Hollywood blockbuster productions. Its Youku service was also marked as bringing in profit.

The Alibaba Group reported a third-quarter increase. Released in November, their earning report saw a 302 percent year-over-year rise.

Alibaba Group afternoon trading shares were down on Wednesday. They decreased by 0.07 percent to a $87.48 per share value.

Image Source: Wikimedia

SoftBank, the Japanese company, announced this Monday that it will be making a $1 billion worth investment in the American company OneWeb.

The SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, it was established in 1981. It is specialized in telecommunications and Internet services.

As such, it offers e-commerce, technology, and Internet services. It also offers broadband and fixed-line telecommunications operations. As well as finance, media, marketing, and semiconductor design, amongst others.

OneWeb is, or will be, a satellite constellation. It was formerly called WorldVu. Its name came from the company that proposed it, WorldVu Satellites Ltd.

The project is seeking to create a “constellation” of more than 600 satellites. These are expected to provide Internet broadband services. The services, which should have a global distribution, could be operational as early as 2019.

WorldVu Satellites Ltd, the Jersey-based company, has big business plans. With the said system, it will attempt to reach “hundreds of millions of potential users”. Low or no existing broadband access locations are a specific target.

SoftBank declared its intention of investing in the project. The statement was released this Monday, through an official blog post.

The Japanese corporation has agreed to invest a $1 billion sum. This will make it the as yet largest investment in the project.

OneWeb has raised a capital of $1.2 billion. This was gathered from existing investors. OneWeb will be both building and deploying the Internet carrying satellites. They will be deployed over the course of the next decade.

SoftBank stated that its investment would support satellite manufacturing. More exactly the process carried out in a new Florida-based facility. It is also expected to create new workplaces. About 3,000 new jobs could be created in the United States. This job project will be carried out over the next 4 years.

The OneWeb investment is quite expected to be just the first in more such projects. Masayoshi Son is the SoftBank CEO and Chairman.

Earlier this month, Son met with the United States President-elect. Following the meeting, the company would have made an investment pledge. Following it, the company is quite expected to create about 50,000 new workplaces.

It will also be investing around $50 billion in startups. All these projects would target the United States workforce and companies.

The aforementioned Son went to release a statement. According to him, the OneWeb support is just a first step. More such projects will follow, as the company will be seeking to fulfill its target.

Son pointed out America’s position in regards to technology. He accentuated the nation’s forefront position as an innovator and technological developer.

Son also expressed his company’s position. They are excited to be playing a part in the said developments. SoftBank is envisioning a connected ecosystem that will be available at a global level.

SoftBank started in a somewhat different domain. Initially, it was a software distribution company. However, that did not deter it from investing in the tech area. Especially so in recent years.

The corporation is involved with Sprint, the U.S. wireless operator. It is also part of the Alibaba Chinese e-commerce company investors. It has also partnered up with Saudi Arabia. The two have created a technology investment fund.

SoftBank’s OneWeb investment will have a great impact on the project. Greg Wyler, the OneWeb founder, went to explain.

The initial plans predicted two investment rounds. Each would have accounted for about $500 million. These would have comprised the B and C project rounds.

Following the SoftBank $1 billion investment, both round B and C have been fulfilled.

As such, they may be closer to the initial OneWeb goal. The company is planning on an initial satellite launch. The first 10 such satellites would be deployed sometime in early 2018.

The nearly 700 remaining ones would then follow them over the next few years.

Image Source: Flickr

Volkswagen will have to commit over $200 million in a pollution reduction fund as the German car maker is still facing the repercussions of its emission scandal.

Volkswagen or VW is the flagship Volkswagen Group marque. It was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. The German company is considered to be amongst, if not the largest global automaker.

However, as of last year, the carmaker has been making headlines for another reason. In 2015, Volkswagen was involved in a massive emissions scandal.

At the time, the company was accused of emission software manipulation. The matter was signaled by the EPA or the United States Environmental Protection Agency. EPA pointed out that VW had improperly installed ECU software.

Such ECU or engine control unit software could manipulate environmental diesel emission values. As such, the company has reportedly sold more polluting cars than allowed.

The matter came to be known as the dieselgate scandal. It is still producing repercussions. Following an investigation, VW agreed to a settlement deal.

It involved the estimated 80,000 vehicles targeted by the inquiry. The 3.0-liter diesel cars were found to exceed the United States emission deals.

As part of the settlement, Volkswagen will also be committing to a pollution reduction fund. Reports show that VW will be investing over $200 million.

An official statement regarding the matter has yet to be released. It is expected to be announced this Monday.  The money would be invested in an environment-related fund. Its purpose is to cut back on diesel pollution.

With a more than $200 million value, the commitment may mark an unexpected environmental benefit. Following its official announcement, it will come as an added bonus. The carmaker has already agreed to a number of other important investments.

As such, it will also be paying emission reparation costs. These are expected to amount to a $2.7 billion sum. They will be targeting about 500,000 2.0-liter diesel cars.

The new pollution fund commitment is just the latest commitment. As a complete settlement has not been reached, it may also not be the last.

Volkswagen is still suffering from the dieselgate scandal. As more than a year has passed, the company is still involved in a number of lawsuits.

Reports state that the carmaker is still in negotiations with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Charles Breyer, the U.S. District Judge, released a few statements.

Breyer oversaw the negotiations. According to him, the parties have marked a “substantial progress”. The Judge also stated his optimism in terms of the parties reaching a resolution.

It remains to be seen if Volkswagen will officially announce the emission reduction fund commitment. If it does, it will significantly increase its settlement investments.

As such, it would have spent up to $16.7 billion. The estimated sum should include all current cheating accusation investments.

Still, the value is expected to grow. The German carmaker is still involved in a number of lawsuits. Besides customer claims, VW is also involved in another U.S. settlement.

This involves the United States Justice Department. Volkswagen is the accused party of an on-going criminal investigation. It is also involved in a civil suit.

The suit claims that VW did not respect the Clean Air Act. If either or both these suits will be lost, Volkswagen is expected to pay a few billions more in fines.

Volkswagen has been banned from selling diesel vehicles. The ban started being applied in the United States. It was decided upon following the September 2015 emissions scandal.

The faith of Volkswagen diesel vehicles sales in the U.S. has yet to be decided.

Image Source: Pixabay

Sandia Labs will have a new management as the $2.6 billion contract has been awarded to the National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia.

National Technology and Engineering of Sandia is a subsidiary of Honeywell International. The latter is a New Jersey-based international conglomerate company. It produces a wide variety of products. From consumer and commercial products to aerospace systems and engineering services.

On Friday, the National Nuclear Security Administration or the NNSA announced the official winners of the Sandia Labs contract.

NNSA chose the National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia. The wholly owned Honeywell subsidiary will be in charge of the lab management.

Such a management contract will span over a ten years period. Its yearly value is estimated to reach a $2.6 billion sum.

Shaunda Parks, a Honeywell subsidiary, released a statement. According to her, the company is excited to be part of the NTESS team. As such, they will be helping the Sandia Labs and its employees.

The company will be seeking to help the labs continue their technology and science research. As of yet, they have not offered contract details.

NTESS is the National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia. The labs or the Sandia National Laboratories are involved in a series of areas.

They handle the non-nuclear development of the United States nuclear weapons. Sandia helps with the engineering development of such weaponry.

It also helps the system integration of the weapons with their delivery vehicles.

The present Sandia Labs management contract will expire on April 30, 2017. It is currently held by Lockheed Martin Corp. The latter has been in charge of the lab’s management since 1993.

Lockheed Martin has been running the laboratories through its Sandia Corp. subsidiary company.

Matt Kramer, a Lockheed spokesman, also released a series of statements. Similar to Honeywell, the company will not be releasing specific contract details.

However, it has stated that it will be collaborating with the Honeywell subsidiary. The two will be working together so as to ensure a smooth transition.

This is especially required as Sandia has such an important mission to carry out. As such, Kramer stated that Lockheed will be doing its best. They will seek to ensure that this important work doesn’t miss a beat.

NTESS had quite a competition. A number of universities and collaborations were also contenders. The teams included the University of New Mexico and its partners. Amongst them, one could number Boing and the Texas A&M University System.

The new Sandia Labs new management contract is expected to into effect on May 1, 2017. Only a few specific contract details have been released.

As such, it is known that the leadership team will feature changes. However, no official statements have been released in relation to the laboratory employees.

Jill Hruby, the Sandia National Laboratories Director and President sent an employee email. In it, he reaffirmed the wish for a seamless, smooth transition.

Hruby also went to thank the Lockheed Martin Corp. She stated that the company has continuously taken on the toughest security challenges. It also helped establish mature business practices and models.

Hruby also went to welcome the NTESS LLC. According to the email, a meeting will be held later this week. On December 19, a commission will discuss the news and the relation to Sandia’s future.

Image Source: Wikimedia

Honda has announced that it will be investing in the Singapore-based Grab, a ride-hailing service, as all the GrabBike worldwide customers should come to benefit.

The Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational corporation. Honda is mostly known for its automobile, motorcycle, aircraft, and power equipment production.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the multinational is amongst if not the biggest motorcycle manufacturer.

Grab, formerly known as GrabTaxi is a technology company. The Singapore-based company offers a wide range of ride-hailing services and logistics options. Its services, which are accessible through an app, especially target the Southeast Asia region.

Amongst the countries to beneficiate of the Grab service, one can number Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

With over 350,000 officially registered drivers, the service is reportedly Uber’s main competitor in the Southeast Asia area.

The Grab service may also become an even bigger threat as it has entered into a partnership with Honda. As such, the two companies have signed and agreed upon a Memorandum of Understanding.

This would seek to ensure a close working relation between the two so as to benefit the ride-hailing app’s customers.

Ming Maa, the Grab President, stated that the Honda partnership goals will be spread throughout all the countries where they operate.

Grab has also released a statement in which it welcomes Honda as a key partner and shareholder. According to said statement, the Japanese company will contribute to the development of long-term innovative mobility solutions.

Grab currently offers diverse ride-hailing options in vehicles including cars and motorbike taxis. Its services also include private cars and carpooling options.

Uber is one of its top competitors. However, in Indonesia, it also has to face Go-Jek, the country’s dominant motorbike taxi service.

The official partnership statement points out that Grab and Honda will be working on addressing the region’s toughest transportation challenges.

As such, the two will be trying to reduce environmental and traffic congestions in the urban areas. They will try to do so by offering rideshare options. Technological advancements, as well as other initiatives, will also be directed towards this goal.

Honda and Grab are also planning on offering driver education programs. These should help promote motorbike and driving safety rules and tactics.

Shinji Aoyama, the Honda Director and Operating Officer, went to offer details. According to Aoyama, the collaboration will target to resolve the Southeast Asia area urban transportation issues and challenges.

Towards this goal, they will be discussing and proposing potentially more convenient safer services and products.

Grab is valued at a more than US $3 billion value. As of yet, neither of the two companies has disclosed the financial terms of the partnership.

Honda is not the first company to support the Asian ride-hailing service. Softbank has also invested an estimated $1 billion US dollar sum. Spread in two transactions, it had an initial round valued at US $750 million. The second funding round came in April this year and was valued at US $250 million.

Although an exact sum has not been announced, the Honda partnership will be part of a larger funding program. The $750 million funding, which was announced earlier in September, will target motorbike-hailing service collaborations.

Details about the full partnership services are still in discussion, according to the aforementioned Maa.

Image Source: Flickr