Well: Have a Health Question? Ask Well

The Well section of The New York Times is starting a new online featured called Ask Well. If you have a question about fitness, nutrition, illness or family health, the staff of The New York Times Health section is ready to help you find the answer.

How do you solve the problem of back pain caused by sitting in an office chair all day? Do you still need the flu shot even if you’ve had the flu? What’s the best way to heal tennis elbow? Those are some of the questions we’ve already answered in Ask Well.


Tara Parker-Pope speaks about Ask Well.


All questions submitted to Ask Well will be reviewed by the health staff. We’ll post selected questions and let readers vote on those they would most like to see answered. You can ask a question, vote for your favorites and read answered questions on the Ask Well Questions Page.

While Ask Well is not a source for personal medical advice (only your doctor can give you that), we can offer readers health information from the experts and guide you to various resources to help you make informed decisions. So let’s get started. Tell us what’s on your mind, and Ask Well will provide the answers.

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Super Bowl spots and Web ads aid surge in L.A. commercial shoots









At the Apache Stages in North Hollywood this month, the Wonderful Pistachios brand filmed South Korean pop star Psy shooting its first Super Bowl commercial, with a riff on Psy's massive "Gangnam Style" YouTube video.


The ad was part of Wonderful Pistachios' "Get Crackin" campaign, which has also featured boxer Manny Pacquiao, rapper Snoop Dogg and other celebrities in various nutty commercials — all of them filmed in Los Angeles.


The flurry of high-profile Super Bowl spots in recent months, along with the proliferation of Web-based commercials, is helping power a surge in commercial shoots in Los Angeles, where the industry is concentrated.





PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments


On-location filming for commercial production reached the highest level on record last year, climbing 25% in the fourth quarter and 14% for the year, according to a recent report from FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and the county.


In fact, the commercial sector was the single fastest-growing major production category in a year that saw a historic falloff in TV drama production because of competition from other states and Canada.


Brands as varied as Purina, Chevy and Tide are shelling out more money on ad campaigns to promote their products.


That may signal an overall improvement in the economy.


"Commercial production is a really good indicator of where things are going," said Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A. "We're seeing more confidence in the advertising world and the corporate world that things are looking up."


Audley also noted the growth in the number of locally produced Web-based commercials, which accounted for about 8% of all commercial production days in L.A. in 2012, up from just 2% in 2008.


TIMELINE: Best Super Bowl commercials


The increased activity has been a boon to local advertising agencies and producers who are reporting some of their strongest business levels in years.


"With the economy turning around, production has just exploded," said Mike Sheldon, chief executive of ad agency Deutsch LA, adding that his company's revenue climbed 20% last year from a year earlier.


Deutsch this month created locally produced Super Bowl commercials for Volkswagen and a 60-second "Viva Young" spot for Taco Bell, which features a group of retirees acting like teenagers. The ad was shot at various locations in L.A., including Circus Disco in Hollywood and a retirement home in Santa Monica.


The Super Bowl traditionally is a big driver of commercial production in the fourth quarter. As the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, advertisers are spending record sums for 30-second spots, which have sold for an average of $3.8 million, up 7% from last year. Some are spending more than $7.5 million to run 60-second commercials during the Feb. 3 NFL championship.


"It was probably our busiest year ever for making television commercials," said Frank Scherma, president of Radical Media, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles and has produced spots for Honda, Chevrolet and Jack in the Box. That partly reflects the improved fortunes of automakers and the spread of Web commercials, he said. "There are so many screens now to reach people.... There is so much content that needs to be made across the board."


SPECIAL SECTION: Movie Sneaks 2013


Camille Taylor, president and owner of Crossroads Films, has been busy filming commercials in L.A. for clients including Purina and Tide, and has one coming up for Head & Shoulders. Some work may be flowing back to L.A. because some popular foreign locales such as Cape Town, South Africa and Buenos Aires in Argentina are becoming more expensive to film in.


"Globally, everyone caught on to the fact that they can charge more, so the savings that were once there have been somewhat compromised," Taylor said.


Indeed, L.A. remains the biggest center for commercial production, accounting for 49% of all commercial shoot days by U.S. companies in 2011, down from 54% in 2007, according to a report by the Assn. of Independent Commercial Producers, which has 151 members in the L.A. region.





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Inauguration brings moment of festive unity to capital









WASHINGTON — Beyonce had belted her last note and President Obama, newly sworn in for a second term, had grabbed his last hand and given his last hug. But as he walked off the inauguration platform and through an archway to the Capitol, the president turned again to face the people who came to see him.


"I want to take a look one more time," Obama said, stopping his Secret Service detail. He smiled, eyes fixed in the distance. "I'm not going to see this again."


What Obama saw was a throng of Americans filling their capital on Monday. They were waving their country's flag, cheering their president, honoring their history and celebrating their government, adding a sheen of celebratory unity to a capital more accustomed to political division.





Hazel Carter from Springfield, Ohio, who is 90 and who attended Obama's first swearing-in, had vowed not to miss this one: "I prayed, 'God, just let me keep breathing until the inauguration.'"


Charlie and Zan Thompson, in their 60s, flew in from Phoenix, despite Charlie's bad knee. Zan pushed her husband in a wheelchair for 45 minutes to the National Mall. She could persevere, she said, just as the president had in his first term.


And Patrecia McClein, 39, was there even though she and her husband Shawn, 37, went to bed Sunday night in Rochester, N.Y., with no plans to be in Washington.


"The Lord woke us up at 1 a.m. and told us to come," she said.


Hundreds of thousands of people filled Washington's streets, far less than the estimated 1.8 million who attended Obama's first inauguration. The differences from 2009 were notable. The traditional lineup of events — the swearing-in outside the Capitol's West Front, parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and night of balls — was all less complicated without the crush of humanity drawn to the first inauguration of the first African American president.


There were other shifts in mood: expectations lowered after years of partisan gridlock, hopes tempered by disappointment. And toes warmed by noticeably higher temperatures.


Still, the attendees said they felt the weight of history.


"I always wanted to come to something like this, going back to Martin Luther King," said James Sutton, 63, a taxi driver who made the 12-hour drive from Chicago. He said he didn't expect to see another African American president. "Not in my lifetime. I just wanted to be able to say I was there."


Obama's inauguration coincided with the federal holiday celebrating King, who delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the other end of the mall in 1963. Monday's ceremony in many ways directly honored the civil rights struggle that made Obama's presidency possible.


The event began with an invocation from Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Evers-Williams paid homage to the leaders "who allowed us to move from a nation of unborn hopes and a history of disenfranchised votes to today's expression of a more perfect union."


As he took the oath, Obama placed his hand on two Bibles — one owned by King, the other used by Abraham Lincoln when he was sworn in on March 4, 1861. After Monday's ceremony, at the request of the King family, the president and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. inscribed the King family Bible.


Obama's inaugural address opened with an immediate acknowledgment of the history that had brought him to that moment. "Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free," Obama said. "We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together."


His speech was seasoned with calls for togetherness, and his schedule included opportunities to practice it — at least for a day. Per tradition, Obama invited congressional leaders to coffee at the White House, including his chief political adversary: House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).


The president also attended a traditional luncheon with lawmakers, where Boehner suggested the meal was an opportunity to "renew the old appeal to better angels."


Although Obama's speech offered a liberal vision, for the most part the day was light on partisanship, heavy on pomp. From the luncheon, the president and First Lady Michelle Obama crept down Pennsylvania Avenue in the president's hulking limousine known as "the beast."


The two stepped out to stroll and wave at a crowd that greeted them with shrieks and an eclectic mix of signs.


"There has never been anything false about hope," one read.





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At Obama’s church service, hymns, prayers – and a tweet?






WASHINGTON (Reuters) – There was preaching, praying and singing at President Barack Obama’s church service on Inauguration Day on Monday. But was there tweeting, too?


As Atlanta pastor Andy Stanley wrapped up his sermon at St. John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House by urging Obama to leverage his power for the greater good, a tweet went out from the president’s own Twitter feed.






“I’m honored and grateful that we have a chance to finish what we started. Our work begins today. Let’s go. -bo,” said the tweet, which went to more than 26 million Obama followers.


Obama typically designates tweets that he writes himself by signing his initials in lowercase: “-bo.” That led to questions over whether the president had tweeted from church – and perhaps provided a new chapter in the debate over the appropriate use of social media.


But a White House spokesman said Obama did not send the tweet in the middle of the church service.


That means it could have been done by Obama in advance and timed for release while he was in church, or that it was posted by Organizing for Action, the non-profit group that now operates the president’s Twitter account.


The new group, which is led by Obama’s former campaign team, plans to try to build public support for the president’s policies.


The group did not immediately comment on the authorship or timing of the tweet.


Even if Obama had sent out the tweet from church, such messages from the pew are no longer taboo, said Scott Williams, a pastor and consultant from Edmond, Oklahoma, who works with ministries to use social media to spread the word and engage members.


“It’s definitely OK – it’s relevant,” he said. He cited a verse from the prophet Isaiah: “Like a crane or a swallow, so did I twitter.”


“‘Thou shalt twitter in church’ is a way that I present it,” Williams said in an interview, noting that many people now used Bible apps on their mobile devices in the pews.


Stanley’s North Point Community Church in Atlanta produced a Christmas music video for iPhones and iPads that has been viewed 3.7 million times on YouTube, said Williams, who is familiar with the 33,000-member ministry.


Stanley delivered his sermon in a very “old-school” setting. St. John’s, a yellow church with white trim, was built in 1816 and often is called the “Church of the Presidents” because every president since James Madison has attended it at least occasionally.


The service included a mix of traditional hymns such as “Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past,” a gospel solo by singer Ledisi, and an African-American spiritual, “Great Day.” It also included readings and prayers from Jewish, Christian and Catholic clergy.


Stanley talked about a passage in the Bible where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, setting an example of equality.


“What do you do when it dawns on you that you’re the most powerful person in the room? You leverage that power for the benefit of other people in the room,” Stanley said.


“Mister President, you have an awfully big room,” the pastor said. “It’s as big as our nation. At times, as you know, it’s as big as this world.”


(Editing by David Lindsey and Peter Cooney)


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Beyonce, Hudson do star turns at inauguration


WASHINGTON (AP) — Beyonce drew a loud cheer at the inauguration Monday even before her impressive rendition of the national anthem. But in the role she played four years ago singing for the president and first lady at the inaugural ball was her "Dreamgirls" co-star Jennifer Hudson.


If President Barack Obama's first inaugural theme seemed to be summed up by Beyonce's "At Last," this time it was Hudson's version of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together."


Hudson was among the entertainment at Monday night's inaugural balls, joined by Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys, who modified her hit "Girl on Fire" to sing "He's the president and he's on fire ... Obama's on fire. Obama's on fire."


The crowd at the official Inaugural Ball joined in with the Grammy-nominated fun. anthem "We Are Young."


Earlier in the day, the applause for Beyonce started when she took her place with Jay-Z at the Capitol to watch President Barack Obama take the oath for his second term in office. The two stopped to chat with the Rev. Al Sharpton.


James Taylor kicked off the musical performances, strumming his guitar and singing "America the Beautiful." Kelly Clarkson followed with a different arrangement of "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Then Beyonce was introduced and the crowd again roared its approval.


Beyonce had a definite fan in Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who applauded eagerly after she finished singing the national anthem. She offered R&B-esque vocal riffs as she sang on and the crowd seemed to love it, cheering loudly as she finished. Clarkson, too, hit high notes.


Beyonce may have been the star musical attraction, but she had plenty of company from Hollywood at the Capitol on Monday. Katy Perry and John Mayer sat side-by-side, with Perry in an orange-striped coat and wide hat, and Mayer in dark sunglasses. Singer-songwriter Ke$ha was there, too.


People flocked to the colorful pop star, snapping photos. And Perry did the same, taking shots of "Girls" actress and daughter of news anchor Brian Williams, Allison Williams.


Actress Eva Longoria was seated on the platform outside the Capitol after making an appearance at a Kennedy Center performance Sunday night. Perry sang at the children's concert the night before.


Former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell was in the crowd, too, along with actor Marlon Wayans.


___


AP writers Donna Cassata, Darlene Superville, Josh Lederman and Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.


__


Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin


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The Week: A Roundup of This Week’s Science News





“Science,” a colleague once said at a meeting, “is a mighty enterprise, which is really rather quite topical.” He was so right: as we continue to enhance our coverage of the scientific world, we always aim to keep the latest news front and center.




His observation seemed like a nice way to introduce this column, which will highlight the week’s developments in health and science news and glance at what’s ahead. This past week, for instance, the mighty enterprise of science addressed itself to such newsy topics as the flu (there’s still time to get vaccinated!), and mental illness and gun control.


In addition to the big-headline stories that invite wisdom from scientists, each week there is a drumbeat of purely scientific and medical news that emerges from academic journals, fieldwork and elsewhere. These developments, from the quirky to the abstruse, often make their way into the daily news cycle, depending on the strength of the research behind them. (Well, that’s how we judge them, anyway.)


Many discoveries are hard to unravel. “In a way, science is antithetical to everything that has to do with a newspaper,” the same colleague observed. “You couldn’t imagine anything less consumer-friendly.”


Let’s aim to fix that. Below, a selection of the week’s stories.


DEVELOPMENTS


Health


Strange, but Effective


People with a bacterial infection called Clostridium difficile — which kills 14,000 Americans a year — have a startling cure: a transplant of someone else’s feces into their digestive system, which introduces good bacteria that the gut needs to fight off the bad. For some people, antibiotics don’t fix this problem, but an infusion of diluted stool from a healthy person seems to do the trick.


Genetics


Dig We Must



Hillery Metz and Hopi Hoekstra/Harvard University



Evolutionary biologists at Harvard took a tiny species of deer mice, known for building elaborate burrows with long tunnels, and bred it with another species of deer mice, which builds short-tunneled burrows. Comparing the DNA of the original mice with their offspring, the biologists pinpointed four regions of genetic code that help tell the mice what kind of burrow to construct.


Aerospace


Launch, Then Inflate



Uncredited/Bigelow Aerospace, via Associated Press



NASA signed a contract for an inflatable space habitat — roughly pineapple-shaped, with walls of floppy cloth — that will ideally be appended to the International Space Station in 2015. NASA aims to use the pod to test inflatable technology in space, but the company that builds these things, Bigelow Aerospace, has bigger ambitions: think of a 12-person apartment and laboratory in the sky, with two months’ rent at north of $26 million.


Biology


What’s Green and Flies?



Jodi Rowley/Australian Museum



National Geographic reported on an Australian researcher working in Vietnam who discovered a great-looking new species of flying frog. Described as having flappy forearms (the better for gliding), the three-and-a-half-inch-long frog likes to “parachute” from tree to tree, Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney, told the magazine. She named it Helen’s Flying Frog, for her mother.


Privacy


That’s Joe’s DNA!


People who volunteer their genetic information for the betterment of science — and are assured anonymity — may find that their privacy is not a slam dunk. A researcher who set out to crack the identities of a few men whose genomes appeared in a public database was able to do so using genealogical Web sites (where people upload parts of their genomes to try to find relatives) as well as some simple search tools. He was trying to test the database’s security, but even he did not expect it to be so easy.


Genetics


An On/Off Switch for Disease


Geneticists have long puzzled over what it is that activates a disease in one person but not in another — even in identical twins. Now researchers from Johns Hopkins and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden who studied people with rheumatoid arthritis have identified a pattern of chemical tags that tell genes whether to turn on or not. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system attacks the body, and it is thought the tags enable the attack.


Planetary Science


That Red Planet


Everybody loves Mars, and we’re all secretly hoping that NASA’s plucky little rover finds evidence of life there. Meanwhile, a separate NASA craft — the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been looping the planet since 2006 — took some pictures of a huge crater that looks as if it once held a lake fed by groundwater. It is too soon to say if the lake held living things, but NASA’s news release did include the happy phrase “clues to subsurface habitability.”


COMING UP


Animal Testing


Retiring Chimps



Emily Wabitsch/European Pressphoto Agency



A lot of people have strong feelings about the use of chimpanzees in biomedical and behavioral experiments, and the National Institutes of Health has been listening. On Tuesday, the agency is to release its recommendations for curtailing chimp research in a big way. This will be but a single step in a long process and it will apply only to the chimps the agency owns, but it may well stir big reactions from many constituencies.


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Groupon halts all gun-related deals

























































































Groupon


Groupon Inc. signage is displayed outside of company headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.
(Tim Boyle / Bloomberg)







































































Groupon Inc. has stopped all current and future gun-related deals, bowing to customer pressure a month after the deadly mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.


The Chicago company said it has canceled existing and planned discounts for shooting ranges, conceal-and-carry and clay shooting.


A statement from Groupon didn't specify the company's motives or when it would resume such deals, other than to say that the "category is under review following recent customer and merchant feedback."





The statement, issued Monday, said the company plans to review its international standards for these deals while they're on hold.


The move has been criticized by some merchants who say their deals were canceled abruptly because of the change in policy. Some media outlets cited a Texas gun shop owner who is calling for a Groupon boycott after he said the site scrapped his deal for a concealed handgun training course.


Several other companies have distanced themselves from gun makers and related businesses since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 students and six adults were killed. Dick's Sporting Goods stopped selling guns in its store nearest to the school in Newtown and stopped selling certain rifles from its stores nationwide.


Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management sold its stake in the company that made the rifle used in the shooting, and the nation's largest teacher pension fund has moved to sell its stakes in gun and ammunition makers.


sbomkamp@tribune.com






















































































































































































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L.A. transit officials release analysis for closing '710 gap'

























































































Many Pasadena residents are strongly opposed to on option in the MTA report -- extending the 710 Freeway via an underground tunnel to the 210 Freeway.


Many Pasadena residents are strongly opposed to on option in the MTA report -- extending the 710 Freeway via an underground tunnel to the 210 Freeway.
(January 18, 2013)




































































Los Angeles County transportation officials have released the final version of their analysis of alternatives for closing the so-called 710 gap between Alhambra and Pasadena, setting the stage for more vigorous environmental review.


The analysis by the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority focuses on five options — down from an initial 39 — for reducing traffic and providing better transportation access in the area between the end of the 710 Freeway in Alhambra and the 210 Freeway in Pasadena.


They include a "no build" option, better managing of street traffic flow, bolstering rapid bus and light rail transit, and constructing a controversial tunnel to connect the freeways.





The California Department of Transportation — which acquired about 500 homes in Pasadena, South Pasadena and Los Angeles since the 1970s with the intention of building a surface freeway to close the 710 gap — has said that once the Alternatives Analysis Report is released, it will be able to identify some surplus homes and move to sell them.


The MTA will hold three community open houses to share the report's information: from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 23 at Maranantha High School, from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 24 at San Marino Community Church, and from 9 to 11 a.m. Jan. 26 in the Golden Eagle Building at Cal State L.A. MTA representatives will talk about the five options that will be carried into the Draft Environmental Impact Report, which is expected to be completed by early 2014.


daniel.siegal@latimes.com












































































































































































Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link next to a comment. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.












































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var shareTip = document.getElementById('shareTip'),
$shareTip = $('#shareTip');

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was called on */
return this.each(function() {
if (options) {
$.extend(settings, options);
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/* This is the function that makes the links for the Tweet / Share functionality */

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fbURL = fbConstruct.join(''),

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Mobile revolution in Myanmar is on the cards, but too slow for many






YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar is on the cusp of a mobile revolution. Only it’s happening way too slowly for many locals.


Last week the government invited expressions of interest for two mobile phone licenses – a first step towards increasing mobile penetration from its current 5-10 percent to 80 percent in three years. That would lift it off the bottom of the world’s ladder of mobile use and put it on a par with neighbors like Bangladesh.






In the meantime, users are chafing at the pace and price of adding connections.


A year ago the informal technology conference Barcamp Yangon was buzzing with rumours of a SIM card that would cost about $ 6 – or 1 percent of its actual price at the time.


A year on, Barcamp is back but the talk is much less dramatic: whether the state-owned operator might this week release SIM cards costing between around $ 100. That would still be half of what the last tranche sold for, but it still leaves many unhappy.


“The clock is ticking,” says Ravi Chhabra, a local technology entrepreneur. “People are frustrated. There is lots of speculation and this creates anxiety.”


Nobody questions the need for more connections, and foreign operators have salivated at what amounts to one of the last major untapped markets.


President Thein Sein has made it clear that mobile telephony is a cornerstone of his policy, and has also vowed that mobile communications would be cheap – a promise he reiterated to a conference of donors on Saturday.


Still, getting it done is not proving easy.


The notice inviting expressions of interest in two licenses was a welcome sign that things were moving, but IT experts and sources close to the communications ministry said the timing was surprising, given that the revised telecommunications law which would define the nature of any investment had yet to be passed by the parliament.


The government said in an appendix to the notice that a new draft of the law – which had been quietly withdrawn last year after criticism about its contents – had been submitted to parliament and was expected to be passed by June.


“After the law is finished then there should be a clear policy before any expression of interest is sought,” said Zaw Min Oo, secretary general of the Myanmar Computer Federation.


On top of that, the next day Telecommunications Minister Thein Tun, who had overall responsibility for mobile licensing, resigned. No reason has been given, and officials declined to comment.


“BIT OF AN EARTHQUAKE”


Sources close to the ministry say his departure had been rumored for several months, but the timing was unexpected, and raises questions about what might happen next.


“It’s been a bit of an earthquake; now we need to sit back and watch, see which buildings fall down,” said one source close to the ministry who, like others interviewed, declined to be named for fear of jeopardizing business relationships with the ministry and its companies.


Not everyone is concerned. Romain Caillaud, a Yangon-based consultant with Vriens and Partners, says both the notice and the resignation “should accelerate the liberalization and growth of the telecom sector.”


Major foreign telecommunications companies are likely to submit expressions of interest ahead of the deadline of January 25, say experts.


Alessio Polastri, a lawyer who represents several such firms in Myanmar, says whatever delay in the process there has been will benefit the government.


“It’s almost an asset in that initial concerns about political stability have disappeared, so, most likely, not only more telecommunications companies will take part in the tender process but also the winners shall be more confident in committing higher investment,” he said.


More thorny for the government, however, may be assuaging local interests. By inviting expressions of interest for two licenses, the government appeared to be committing itself to offering four licenses – two for foreign companies, and two for local ones: state-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, or MPT, and Yatanarpon Teleport, an internet service provider which is 51 percent owned by MPT.


Some local businesspeople are questioning the wisdom of this, saying that MPT should not effectively own more than one license.


CHEAP SIM CARDS


Dozens of local IT entrepreneurs last November formed the Myanmar Technologies and Investment Corporation to bid for a license, and are currently lobbying parliament to merge the two local licenses, giving them a better chance of either winning one or setting up with a partner.


“So far the ministries have come back with positive responses and encouraged us,” said Thaung Su Nyein, who is also managing director of local media and IT company Information Matrix. “Even if we don’t get this license we’ve been led to understand we’ll get other business licenses.”


But more pressing is growing public frustration at the lack of progress on the ground.


Last year’s talk of cheaper SIM cards was fuelled partly by MPT’s decision to press ahead with expanding its own network, promising to add 30 million GSM connections by 2016 – financed by allowing contractors building the towers to sell a certain number of SIM cards.


Since then, the rumor mill has been alive with chatter about when new tranches of SIM cards might be available, and how much they might cost. A few weeks before the tech meet up, a previously obscure businessman held a press conference at which he promised SIM cards costing only 5,000 kyat (around $ 6).


While the promise went unfulfilled and the businessman disappeared from view, it started a movement of sorts: stickers appeared demanding 5,000 kyat SIM cards and several people were arrested in small demonstrations, according to exile media.


Those hopes have been dashed, but the shortfall of SIM cards ensures interest in a steady stream of sometimes conflicting reports about another imminent sale. One local media report quoted officials as saying more than 1.5 million SIM cards would be sold on Monday for 100,000 kyat each, or about $ 112.


That would still be out of the reach of most people in Myanmar.


“People want to see faster progress,” said a source close to the ministry. “At least half the country want a phone, and they want it soon.”


(Editing by Daniel Magnowski)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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ABC News' Barbara Walters hospitalized after fall


NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran ABC newswoman Barbara Walters has fallen at an inauguration party at an ambassador's home in Washington and has been hospitalized.


Walters, 83, fell Saturday night on a step at the residence of Britain's ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott, ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said. The fall left Walters with a cut on her forehead, he said.


Walters, out of an abundance of caution, went to a hospital for treatment of the cut and for a full examination, Schneider said on Sunday. She was alert and was "telling everyone what to do, which we all take as a very positive sign," he said.


It was unclear when Walters might be released from the hospital, which ABC didn't identify.


Walters was TV news' first female superstar, making headlines in 1976 as a network anchor with an unprecedented $1 million annual salary. During more than three decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, her exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers have brought her celebrity status. In 1997, she created "The View," a live weekday talk show that became an unexpected hit.


Walters had heart surgery in May 2010 but returned to active duty on "The View" that September, declaring, "I'm fine!"


Even in her ninth decade, Walters continues to keep a busy schedule, including appearances on "The View," prime-time interviews and her annual special, "10 Most Fascinating People," on which, in December, she asked New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie if he considered himself fit enough to be president someday. (Christie, although acknowledging he is "more than a little" overweight, replied he would be up to the job.)


Last June, Walters apologized for trying to help a former aide to Syrian President Bashar Assad land a job or get into college in the United States. She acknowledged the conflict in trying to help Sheherazad Jaafari, daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the United States and a one-time press aide to Assad. Jaafari helped Walters land an interview with the Syrian president that aired in December 2011.


Walters said she realized the help she offered Jaafari was a conflict and said, "I regret that."


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