Attractions In Santa Clarita - Eat Fish And Live Longer

Source - http://abclocal.go.com/
By - Jennifer Matarese
Category - Attractions In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Attractions In Santa Clarita

Most of us know eating fish is good for our health.

But exciting new research has found, for the first time, evidence that shows exactly how heart healthy it can be and the key to reaping the benefits is to start eating fish when you are young.

The evidence is in the blood.

Eating fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids may help you to live longer.

Lillian Irani says she eats a lot of salmon.

"I feel great and I have more energy when I eat it," Irani said.

Until now, scientific studies showing omega 3's are heart healthy have primarily been based on what people say they eat.

Now scientists can point to something better.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health looked at the blood stream.

They studied data on more than 2,600 people, finding fish eaters who had the highest levels of omega 3 fatty acids in their blood reaped significant benefits.

"There was about a 23 percent reduction in total death and about a 35% reduction in cardiovascular incidence. This is really significant," said Christopher Ochner, St. Luke's Roosevelt Medical Center.

They also lived, on average, a little over two years longer.

But the research was done on older folks, ages 65 and up.

Nutrition expert Christopher Ochner says its people in their 20's 30's and 40's that need to get the message. "The idea is to start early. That's where the main benefit is going to be in terms of long term longevity improving health, appearance, energy levels sleep and everything in our everyday lives starting now," Ochner said.

The American Heart Association recommends eating 3.5 oz fatty fish at least two times a week.

That includes fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna.

But even if you don't eat that much fish, its ok, what's most important is to start and the younger the better .

"If people are eating no fish, that's where the largest opportunity for benefit is because those are the people who are really going to see the most improvement from no fish to a little bit of fish you are really going to get that protective effect," Ochner said.

Make small changes, not drastic ones at first .

Ochner says people won't stick to very drastic changes even if they can do them for a couple of months.

Instead, make small, incremental changes that you can follow for a lifetime.

If you don't like fish, the study's author says supplements might work for some people but the benefits are uncertain.

Hotel In California - Almost 20% Of Teen Births Are Not a First Child

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Sharon Jayson
Category - Hotel In California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In California

Nearly one in five births to U.S. teens ages 15-19 is not a first child, says a federal report out today.

Of the 365,000 teens who gave birth in 2010, almost 67,000 (18.3%) have had at least one child before, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's down from 19.5% in 2007. Most were the teen mom's second child (86%).

But more teen moms are using birth control, the report says -- almost 91% used some form of contraception after having had a baby. But just 22% of those used contraceptive methods considered to be "most effective" -- tubal ligation, vasectomy, hormonal implant or intrauterine device (IUD). With those, the report says, the risk of becoming pregnant is less than one pregnancy in 100 users a year. The pill, injectables, the patch and the ring are considered "moderately effective."

"The trend is definitely up both on birth control generally and using the most effective forms of birth control, which we call LARC (long-acting reversible contraception)," says CDC Director Tom Frieden. "What that's telling us is nearly all teen moms want to avoid pregnancy and are taking steps to avoid a repeat pregnancy. But the challenge is only one in five are using the most effective means of doing that."

More than three quarters of sexually active teen mothers used one of the "most" or "moderately effective" contraceptive methods after having a baby; they were more likely than other sexually active teens to use a long-acting method (21.5% vs. 4.5%), the report finds.

"Just having one teen birth is a challenge but having a second can just compound things," says Jennifer Manlove, a senior research scientist who has studied repeat births for the nonprofit Child Trends, based in Bethesda, Md. She was not involved in the CDC's report.

The highest percentages of repeat teen births were among American Indian/Alaska natives (21.6%), Hispanics (20.9%), and blacks (20.4%). The lowest percentage was among whites (14.8%). Texas had the highest percentage of any state (22%) and New Hampshire had the lowest (10%).

In eight states -- Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Texas -- 20% of all teen births were repeats. In seven states -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Wyoming -- less than 15% were repeats.

Manlove says as recently as 1990, 25% of teen births were repeat births. "We have seen a steady gradual decline," she says. "Maybe these long-acting methods are the way to go to reduce repeat teen births in the future."

The CDC report notes that "teens are at a high risk for inconsistent use of methods that are user-dependent (e.g., condoms and oral contraceptive pills)," and that "LARC methods might be a suitable option" since they don't require daily monitoring.

But the report says teens "face a number of barriers to LARC use, including cost, limited availability, lack of provider acceptance for this practice in teens, and teen lack of awareness of these methods."

Accommodation In Santa Clarita - Apple Apologizes In China After Service Criticism

Source - http://abcnews.go.com/
By - CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Posted By - Accommodation In Santa Clarita
Category - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Accommodation In Santa Clarita

Apple apologized to Chinese consumers after government media attacked its repair policies for two weeks in a campaign that reeked of economic nationalism.

A statement Apple posted in Chinese on its website Monday said the complaints had prompted "deep reflection" and persuaded the company of the need to revamp its repair policies, boost communication with Chinese consumers and strengthen oversight of authorized resellers.

State broadcaster CCTV and the ruling Communist Party's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, had led the charge against the American company. They accused Apple Inc. of arrogance, greed and "throwing its weight around" and portrayed it as just the latest Western company to exploit the Chinese consumer.

The attacks quickly backfired, though, and were mocked by the increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers who revere Apple and its products. State-run media also inadvertently revived complaints over shoddy service by Chinese companies.

Nonetheless, Apple responded with an apology from CEO Tim Cook.

"We've come to understand through this process that because of our poor communication, some have come to feel that Apple's attitude is arrogant and that we don't care about or value feedback from the consumer," Cook's Chinese statement said, as translated by The Associated Press. "For the concerns and misunderstandings passed on to the consumer, we express our sincere apologies."

 Although Apple enjoys strong support from Chinese consumers, the vehemence of the attacks and the importance of the Chinese market appeared to have persuaded the company to appear contrite.

The People's Daily newspaper ran an editorial last Wednesday headlined "Strike down Apple's incomparable arrogance."

"Here we have the Western person's sense of superiority making mischief," the newspaper wrote. "If there's no risk in offending the Chinese consumer, and it also makes for lower overheads, then why not?"

Chinese observers accused People's Daily of gross hypocrisy and pointed out that the newspaper had maintained a stony silence when Chinese companies were implicated over food safety, pollution and other scandals. Meanwhile, CCTV was shamed when it emerged that celebrities had been recruited to blast Apple on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, in what had been billed as a grassroots campaign.

"The public responded in two ways to this incident," popular commentator Shi Shusi wrote on his Weibo account. "One group supports this criticism but quite a number of people felt that there are state monopolies which have severely violated customer's rights, but which are not being exposed."

Popular business magazine Caijing said its readers identified a long list of abusers, including state banks that lend to those with political connections while stiffing ordinary savers with low rates on deposits; a government oil company that sets gas prices and other rates as it sees fit; and state telecom providers notorious for their lack of customer service.

"If media is going to go after Apple, let's hope they spare some thought for those big Chinese communications companies and other monopolies, the ones that enrich special interests in the name of being publicly owned," Cai Tongqi, a lawyer from the eastern province of Jiangsu, wrote on Weibo.

Consumers seem unfazed by the state media's attacks on Apple.

Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita - Google, YouTube, Twitter Get Into April Fools' Action

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Katharine Lackey
Category - Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita
Posted  By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel Reservations In Santa Clarita

Tired of all those vowels clogging up your tweets?

Twitter announced a solution late Sunday night, saying it will shift to a two-tiered service, dubbing its basic, consonant-only plan "Twttr."

The April Fools' Day joke kicked off with Twitter tweeting out, "Trd th nw Twttr yt? Mr tm fr mr twts!" (Translation: Tried the new Twttr yet? More time for more tweets)

The social media service says for a mere $5 a month, you can keep your vowels by using the premium "Twitter" service.

"We're doing this because we believe that by eliminating vowels, we'll encourage a more efficient and 'dense' form of communication." the company said on its blog. "We also see an opportunity to diversify our revenue stream."

In the announcement — which the company says was partially inspired by Wheel of Fortune — Twitter said that "Y" will remain free and other languages will be unaffected by the change.

The company is also offering a single character extension, allowing the length of a tweet to extend to 141 characters. "The price of the extra character is based on a bidding system reflecting the popularity of the character you would like to add," the company's blog states.

Twitter also announced a site that automatically transforms your tweets into a Twttr friendly format.

Joan Rivers got in on the action early, tweeting "Twyttyr? Why byy vywyls whyn yyy gyt "Y" fyr fryy? Syckyrs! #nvwls" (Translation: Twitter? Why buy vowels when you get "Y" for free? Suckers!)

Feeling like digging for buried treasure? Google also got into the April Fools' Day action, releasing a "Treasure Mode" overlay on its maps site Saturday.

In a YouTube video, Google explains the mysterious paper maps its Street View Team found off the coast of Madagascar in 2012 and later digitized belonged to Captain Kidd, who hid his treasures around the globe. Google calls on watchers to help decipher the maps and find the long-lost treasure.

A variety of techniques can be used to reveal hidden symbols, including applying sunlight to the maps, piecing multiple tablet and mobile devices together or aligning the map perfectly by skydiving over a specific landmark. The heat responsive ink is likely to get the most laughs, as Google shows some symbols can only be revealed by placing your laptop over an open flame (with the disclaimer do not attempt at home!).

STORY: Bosses often aren't amused by April Fools'

To access the feature, visit Google Maps and click on the "Treasure" picture icon in the top right corner. The overlay even contains street-view, applied with a sepia-toned filter to give it that historical feel. The maps contain a number of Easter eggs including a separate URL with a live pirate ship tracking map and symbols hidden around the globe that spell out "April Fool." Treasure Island near San Francisco, Calif., has a mini-map with an X marking the spot, and New York City is marked by a pirate's skull with mysterious numbers in its eyes.

California Vacation Packages - Facebook To Reveal 'New Home On Android' At April 4 Event

Source - http://abcnews.go.com/
By - JOANNA STERN
Category - California Vacation Packages
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

California Vacation Packages

Facebook is calling the press back to its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., again -- and this time it's to show off a new Android-based product.

The invitations to the April 4 event, which were sent to members of the media this evening via e-mail, reveal only that the company will be showing off its "new home on Android."

Already, rumors are beginning to fly about what Facebook might announce.

TechCrunch reported that Facebook will unveil phone software based on Google's Android operating system. The software will have "extra Facebook functionality built in." According to the report, the phone software will run on hardware made by HTC.

According to 9to5Google, the two companies have been working on a marketing campaign for the phone.

HTC, a Taiwanese phone maker, released The Status in 2011, an Android phone that had Facebook branding and specialized Facebook software. The phone wasn't marketed by Facebook and received poor reviews. The company recently announced its new HTC One Android phone.

RELATED: Facebook Says New Mobile Products Coming, but No Facebook Phone

Amazon has taken a similar route, creating its own version of Android software to run on its Kindle Fire. It places Amazon's services front and center.

Facebook has been rumored to be working on a phone of its own for a number of months now. However, while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the company is focused on mobile and is a mobile company, he has denied the existence of plans for a "Facebook phone."

"We want to support an ecosystem where other apps can build on top of Facebook," Zuckberg said on an earnings call last year. "There are a lot of things you can build in other operating systems, as well, that aren't really taking, that aren't really like building out a whole phone, which wouldn't make much sense for us to do."

In the last number of months, Facebook has released a slew of new mobile products, including its Poke app and additions to its Messenger app, which added free calling.

ABC News will have the latest on Facebook's Android announcement on April 4.

Hotels In Northern California - Range Rover Sport Revealed In New York By James Bond

Source - http://profit.ndtv.com/
By - Siddharth Vinayak Patankar
Category - Hotels In Northern California
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotels In Northern California

They're calling it the fastest, most responsive model ever from Land Rover. That's the new all new second generation of the Range Rover Sport from the British car maker, a part of India's Tata Group. Since the massive turnaround of JLR under Tata, Land Rover has launched three all new products and one significant refresh. The Evoque was the first and has been a runaway success, making 2012 a very successful year for the company with 36 per cent sales increases over the previous year.

In 2012, the company also launched the new generation Range Rover flagship SUV, and now comes the third member of the Range Rover family. The new Range Rover Sport uses the same platform as its older sibling, and also uses similar all-aluminum construction. But despite this the company says nearly 75 per cent of its components are not shared with the Range Rover. The new Sport aims to be a more agile, and sporty offering, with greater dynamics, and tauter handling than before. It is too premature to speak about prices, but given the positioning and feature list, the Range Rover Sport is likely to be very premium. The aluminum construction makes it significantly lighter, and therefore a lot greener than the outgoing car too.

JLR chose New York to launch the car - symbolic of the fact that the US has been the largest market for the Range Rover Sport. In fact, the NYC area also stands for the largest single metropolitan market for this model globally too. So it was a fitting debut location. JLR also cashed in on the recent association that it had with Skyfall - the most recent film in the James Bond franchise. And although this wasn't about Bond as much as it was about Daniel Craig in his individual capacity, Mr Bond was on hand to help unveil the car, as he drove through the streets of New York - with the city's police department shutting down traffic on some roads during rush hour. Mr Craig arrived at the venue of the debut with much fanfare, as he drove on to the stage. 

The new Range Rover Sport will compete with the likes of the Audi Q7, BMW X5, and Volkswagen Touareg. It is expected to be made available in India in the second half of this calendar year, and will likely be imported for starters.

Vacations In Santa Clarita - T-Mobile Shakes Up Its Service

Source - http://www.nytimes.com/
By - BRIAN X. CHEN
Category - Vacations In Santa Clarita
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Vacations In Santa Clarita

But it may not be enough to persuade smartphone users to abandon the competition. 

Analysts said the new marketing strategy, which spreads the cost of a new phone over two years as a separate line item on the monthly bill, will still feel like a commitment to many customers, even if they can choose to pay it off early and walk away. And T-Mobile, which has a slower network than its competitors, is only just beginning to introduce major upgrades. 

The company on Tuesday said the Apple iPhone 5 would be available starting April 12 for $100 up front, with customers paying an additional $20 a month for two years. Other new smartphones, like the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and the BlackBerry Z10, will be available with similar payment plans. 

Although T-Mobile’s new phone plans require no long-term contract, customers would have to pay off the balance owed in order to end service prematurely. 

For several years, T-Mobile, the No. 4 American mobile carrier by market share, has been bleeding subscribers to Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint. In earnings calls, the company has said its main problems were consumers’ negative perception of its network and its inability to offer customers the iPhone. 

Now that T-Mobile has landed a deal with Apple and turned on its new fourth-generation network, LTE, in seven cities, the company is hoping to mount a comeback. If T-Mobile does not find a way to bounce back, it risks losing even more market share to Verizon and AT&T and becoming a small niche player like Leap or U.S. Cellular. 

The carrier, led by its eccentric new chief executive, John Legere, has been undergoing a rebranding into what it calls an “uncarrier.” 

At a news conference in New York on Tuesday, Mr. Legere, wearing a blazer, T-shirt, jeans and sneakers with hot-pink shoelaces, casually dropped curse words while mocking his competitors, saying they were deliberately confusing customers with unclear two-year contracts and punishing them with fees for surpassing data limits or ending contracts early. 

“Do you have any idea what you’re paying?” Mr. Legere said. “I’m going to explain how stupid we all are because once it becomes flat and transparent, there’s nowhere to hide. You pay so much for your phones, it’s incredible.” 

He said that T-Mobile’s contract-free plans would be more straightforward and cheaper over all for consumers, and that by moving to contract-free plans, the company was doing away with overage and early-termination fees. 

Mr. Legere said that over two years, an iPhone on T-Mobile would cost $1,000 less than it would on AT&T. That would apply to heavy data users. But when looking at the cheapest plans on both carriers, the difference is much narrower. For example, an iPhone 5 on T-Mobile’s plan with unlimited text messages, unlimited minutes and 500 megabytes of data a month is only $360 cheaper over two years than an AT&T plan with unlimited voice and text and one gigabyte of data a month. 

At $580, buying an iPhone from T-Mobile would also be cheaper than buying a $650 unlocked phone directly from Apple. 

On Tuesday, T-Mobile formally replaced all its old phone plans with new plans that do not require signing a contract. For $50 a month, customers can get unlimited minutes, text messages and 500 megabytes of data; they can pay an extra $20 for unlimited data. 

At AT&T and Verizon, the most popular phone plans cost closer to $100 a month with a two-year contract for limited data. The iPhone 5 costs at least $200 on their networks with a two-year contract. 

Despite T-Mobile’s promise to be more straightforward than other carriers, some consumers might still find it confusing that they have to pay an extra device fee after paying $100 up front for an iPhone. 

In an interview, Mr. Legere said that the announcement of T-Mobile’s new contract-free plans was just the beginning of a conversation about greater transparency. He said T-Mobile would make every part of its plans visible to customers and break down their options for how they want to pay. 

“The dialogue has just started,” he said. “This is an ages-old industry that’s very opaque that people just gave up understanding.” 

Even though T-Mobile’s $50 plan costs less than its biggest competitors’ offerings, cheaper no-contract plans are already offered by smaller carriers, said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at Alekstra, a mobile diagnostics firm. 

Virgin Mobile, for example, sells an iPhone for $650 and offers a plan including 300 minutes, unlimited data and unlimited text messages for $30 a month. 

Consumers still feel that T-Mobile’s network coverage is poor, Mr. Kuittinen added. And T-Mobile’s rivals are far ahead in deploying fourth-generation networks using LTE technology; Verizon is leading the race with LTE deployed in roughly 500 cities, while T-Mobile only recently started its LTE service in seven markets. 

“They can’t relaunch the operations from a clean slate because people have negative conceptions of what T-Mobile’s quality is,” Mr. Kuittinen said. 

The main difference between a traditional two-year contract and T-Mobile’s two-year device payment is what happens after that period of time. For T-Mobile customers who pay off their iPhone, their monthly bill would drop by $20. At other carriers, the monthly bill stays the same even after the two years of the contract are up.