Lily Chang, autor en Bean watcher

Mar

2024

How to Manage Streaming Subscriptions As Service Prices Rise

The dream of streaming — watch what you want, whenever you want, for a sliver of the price of cable! — is coming to an end.With all the price increases for video streaming apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Hulu, the average household that subscribes to four streaming apps may now end up paying just as much as a cable subscriber, according to research by Deloitte.To name a few of the price jumps for streaming video (without ads) in just over the past year: Amazon’s ad-free Prime Video is now $12 a month, up from $9; Netflix raised the…

Feb

2024

By Lily Chang

Babynova: ROPA for shared motherhood if you live in France

Health

In Bogota, Colombia, Babynova fertility clinic enables female couples from France to start their family with the ROPA method. This special assisted reproduction technique, also known as "Reception of Oocytes from Partner", allows both women to be active participants in the conception and gestation of their child, since they share the genetic material and create the unique bond with their baby. What does the ROPA method consist of? The ROPA method involves a process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) with unique features tailored for female couples. The steps are outlined below: Ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval: one partner undergoes ovarian…

Feb

2024

By Lily Chang

Yellen Urges Israel to Restore Economic Ties to West Bank

Investments and Business

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Tuesday that she had personally urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to increase commercial engagement with the West Bank, contending that doing so was important for the economic welfare of both Israelis and Palestinians.Ms. Yellen’s plea was outlined in a letter that she sent to Mr. Netanyahu on Sunday. It represented her most explicit public expression of concern about the economic consequences of the war between Israel and Hamas. In the letter, Ms. Yellen said, she warned about the consequences of the erosion of basic services in the West Bank and called…

Feb

2024

By Lily Chang

Belmopan, Belize’s Capital, Is a City of Brutalist Calm

Politics

Mention Belmopan, Belize’s capital that sits deep in the country’s interior, and many Belizeans will belittle the city as a bastion of pencil-pushing bureaucrats that’s not just dull, but also devoid of nightlife.“I was warned, ‘Belmopan is for the newlyweds or the nearly deads,’” said Raquel Rodriguez, 45, owner of an art school, about the reactions when she moved to Belmopan from coastal, bustling Belize City.Not exactly known as an Eden for young urbanites, Belmopan figures among the smallest capital cities anywhere in the Americas. It has only about 25,000 residents and a cluster of hurricane-proof, heavy-on-the-concrete, Maya-inspired Brutalist buildings.The…