Micro-blog is no longer simply a platform for self-expression, gossip and networking, as it is becoming an increasingly fierce battlefield for businesses wanting to promote their products and services.

    Over the last year, micro-blogging has become wildly popular in China, with some 65 million China based micro-blog accounts registered(注册登记)by the end of 2010 and the number is growing by more than 10 million each month, according to Data Center of the China Internet(DCCI).

    At present, China's largest web portal Sina claims to have 5,000 company micro-blog users, including Starbucks, Channel, and IKEA. On the micro-blog pages of the companies, visitors can not only view advertisements, but also see consumer feedback(反馈)and even commentaries on hot social issues.

    E-commerce(电子商务)expert Lu Bowang says micro-blogging has opened a whole new dimension of marketing. Through micro-blogs, companies can quickly grasp the attention of potential consumers and interact with them on a regular basis so to develop a friendly link with consumers, Lu said.

    An Internet surfer nicknamed Xiaoben posted on his micro-blog page that he enjoyed drinking Puer tea, and within 10 minutes, a micro-blogger who owned an online shop selling Puer tea recommended his shop to Xiaoben. “It is a little bit like magic. I just make a wish, and then I get a micro-blog response.”

    However, with more and more people micro-blogging to make money, experts warn that marketing via micro-blog could be a double-edged sword.

    Huang Heshui, professor from Xiamen University says micro-blogging is highly personal and private, and that too many advertising messages can annoy micro-blog users leading them to dislike certain brands.

    Further, a brand can be as easily damaged as established through micro-blogging, as consumers' negative feedback about a certain product or company can be very quickly spread in the micro-blog community, Huang added.

    The micro-blog managers should set up some rules and regulation to supervise micro-blog marketing, and at the same time, business organizations need to strengthen self-discipline(自律)and try to build up an honesty-based business culture, e-commerce expert Lu Bowang suggested.

    A picture speaks a thousand words. And with over a thousand emoji pictures to represent our words, who needs to speak or write any more? According to Professor Vyv Evans of Bangor University, emoji is the UK's fastest-growing language in history. These little electronic pictures started life in Japanese mobile phones in the 1990s and are now hugely popular. They have inspired fashion, like the real-life dress copied from the dancing lady emoji, and are even recognized as art! In New York's Museum of Modern Art you can now see the first set of the 176 original emojis.

    Why do we love them so much? They allow us to personalize text and have fun as we express ourselves, make people laugh and be creative in how we use them. UK teenagers also told us they really appreciated the fact that emojis are quick and easy.

    People have their favourite emojis. In the UK, the most used emojis are ' face with tears ofjoy', ' face blowing a kiss' and 'Iove heart'. Maybe (with emojis at least) the British are more fun and romantic than people think! Companies such as McDonalds have also tried to use people's love of emojis to make advertisement. They used a series of emojis to tell a story of a disappointing day given a happy ending by a visit to McDonalds. Unluckily for McDonalds, most people added the vomiting(呕吐) emoji to the blank space after the story.

    What is the future of emoji? Is emoji developing so rapidly that it will soon compete with English as a global language? Or is technology changing so fast that emoji will soon be forgotten when the next big thing comes along? It is hard to say and even technology and language experts are divided on the subject.

    What do you think? Keep your eyes open for new developments!

Learning, Fast and Deep

    Over the past five years researchers in artificial intelligence have become the rock stars of the technology world. A branch of AI known as deep learning, which uses neural(神经的) networks to scan through large volumes of data looking for patterns, has proven so useful that skilled practitioners can command high six-figure salaries to build software for Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

    The standard route into these jobs has been a PhD in computer science from one of America's top universities. Earning one takes years and requires a personality suited to academia, which is rare among more normal folk.

    That is changing.

    Last month fast.ai, a non-profit education organization based in San Francisco, kicked off the third year of its course in deep learning. Since its foundation it has attracted more than 100, 000 students around the globe from India to Nigeria. The course and others like it, come with a simple idea: there is no need to spend years obtaining a PhD in order to practise deep learning. Creating software that learns can be taught as a craft, not as a high intellectual pursuit to be undertaken only in an ivory tower. Fast. ai's course can be completed in just seven weeks.

    To make it accessible to anyone who wants to learn how to build AI software is the aim of Jeremy Howard, who founded fast.ai with Rachel Thomas, a mathematician. He says school mathematics is sufficient. "No. Greek. Letters," Mr. Howard intones, pounding the table with his fist for punctuation.

    Some experts worry that this will serve only to create a flood of unreliable AI systems which will be useless at best and dangerous at worst. In the earliest days of the Internet, only a select few nerds, namely computer holies with specific skills, could build applications. Not many people used them. Then the invention of the World Wide Web led to an explosion of web pages, both good and bad. But it was only by opening up to all that the Internet gave birth to online shopping, instant global communications and search. If Mr. Howard and others have their way, making the development of AI software easier will bring forth a new crop of fruit of a different kind.

    Why are people interested in eating raw foods or whole foods? One reason is that eating these types of food reduces the risk of acid accumulation in your body.

    Raw and whole foods are usually digested more efficiently than cooked and refined foods. When we cook foods, we destroy the natural enzymes (酶) that are part of the food in its raw form. These enzymes were intended by nature to help us digest the food. When we consume food without these natural enzymes, our bodies either digest the food improperly or allow too many nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream. In both instances, the result is obesity. When too many nutrients are absorbed at once, the body grows fat. Improperly digested food moves slowly through the digestive tract, where it becomes increasingly acidic. To protect its vital organs from this acidic waste, the body changes the acid into fat and stores it safely away from the organs.

    Processed foods contain chemical elements, which might confuse the appetite mechanism that tells us when we've had enough to eat; as a result, people often overeat. Processed foods also upset the digestive cycle. The body will either identify these foods as allergens and then store them safely away from the organs as fat, or the remains of undigested food will become acidic and enter the bloodstream as acid waste, which will stick to the blood vessel walls and block the passage of vital oxygen and nutrients heading for the body's cells. The body's metabolism (新陈代谢) becomes inactive, and the result is weight gain and obesity.

    The accumulation of acid in the digestive tract makes digestion increasingly inefficient. When that happens, even healthy foods can become acidic and the food allergies will become more common.

    To stop this vicious circle in its tracks, people need to consume food and supplements that will neutralize the acid already accumulated in body. Eating the right types of raw and whole foods can help. It's also important to restore your enzyme balance. You need to identify and avoid the foods that cause acid accumulation and consume the foods that increase enzyme production. If you truly want to change and help your body heal itself, you need to take an active approach.

When it comes to recycling the household waste, people have done it for about two decades. However, there's still some confusion about what can and what can't be recycled. With advances in technology, there are more things that can be recycled.

COFFEE PODS (咖啡荚)

On average, Australians are using more than three million coffee pods per day, and about 1.5 million households have coffee machines. While the pods are disastrous for the environment, they can still be recycled. Nespresso has a free post-back programme and drop-off points run by TerraCycle, so you can take the pods and directly drop off at Nespresso stores.

LIGHT BULBS

Rather than throwing light bulbs into the bin, some councils run specific recycling stations, which allow you to drop off these kinds of items. If you do regularly recycle household glass, remember all glass should be washed and have lids removed.

PIZZA BOXES

Normally pizza boxes don't make it into recycling because they're covered in grease (油脂) and leftover bits of cheese. When a pizza box is too greasy, it won't be taken to a recycling processing plant. If possible, remove as much of the leftovers as you can before recycling. If the pizza box can't be recycled, tear off the lid which can still be recycled.

HOUSEHOLD BATTERIES

Household batteries can also be recycled. Batteries that do end up in landfills can cause a serious problem to the environment as they can release poisonous chemicals into the soil which are harmful to both humans and animals. Button-cell batteries, which are used in hearing aids and watches, can also be recycled.

There was an encounter that later sparked scientists' investigations into using jellyfish as a greater source of food, as well as a potential ingredient in medicines and nutraceuticals. In the summer of 2013, while Stefano Piraino was wandering along the rocky shoreline, he noticed a washed-up jellyfish. Then, he tore off a piece and put it in his mouth. It was salty, crunchy and crispy from the sun. "It was very tasty, " remembers Piraino, a zoologist. After a few days of lying on the shore, their stinging cells(刺细胞)are deactivated, Piraino explains. Still, he warns that people should not eat jellyfish straight out of the sea, because raw jellyfish contains bacteria that can cause food poisoning. 

Recently, there have been numerous reports of jellyfish blooms—seasonal events where there is a large and sudden increase in jellyfish numbers. These population explosions break the balance of ocean ecosystems, and have the potential to harm biodiversity and reduce fish stocks. 

Some scientists, such as Piraino, believe one solution is broadening our palates(口味)since the world is in urgent need of sustainable food resources. Jellyfish can be integrated into traditional recipes and local cuisine. Not only are they high in protein, but the microalgae inside the cells of some jellyfish are rich in fatty acids. In fact, jellyfish is already eaten across Asia. In China, jellyfish has been eaten for more than 1, 000 years, with jellyfish salad a popular delicacy. 

Jonathan Houghton, a senior lecturer in marine biology, believes that jellyfish can be a better source of collagen(胶原蛋白). There are a number of companies already using jellyfish as a substitute(替代品) for cow and pig collagen, which is often used in medical treatments for humans. One British company says collagen from jellyfish offers a better choice, because their collagen can work with a wide variety of human cell types.