Whether you are looking to buy or rent property, keeping a close eye on exactly where your money is going is an essential first step. Android users can try Moneywise, billed as an electronic checkbook to help you keep track of your expenses. The app was once named the best budget-tracking app for Android. For iOS, Mint is one of the top-rated (and free!) budgeting apps.

Feeling a bit confused about all that complex real estate jargon (行话)? There are plenty of apps for that too! On Android, try Glossary of Real Estate Terms to get a better understanding of all those technical, industry-specific terms. The Kaplan Real Estate Terms app is also available at a cost and hosts more than 600 commonly used terms.

There are plenty of mortgage (贷款) calculators out there but Karl's Mortgage Calculator is one of the best free options for Android users. Give a few simple details—including the downpayment, principal, interest and term—and the app will calculate how large a mortgage you will need. If you're using iOS, try the popular Mortgage Calculator app for free.

Whether you're planning a major redecoration or just preparing to move into your new home, My Measures & Dimensions is the perfect tool. Available on both Android and iOS, the application helps you store and share object dimensions. The app lets you take photos of the object and then add in the dimensions using arrows and text. Then you can access and share the information on the go.

【推荐2】The last time the horse seriously competed with man-made transport for speed was 1830, when a stagecoach won a race against America’s first domestically manufactured steam locomotive (蒸汽机车).

Now horsekind has emerged victorious over what is in theory a far more powerful opponent — the broadband internet connection.

The contest over the gently rolling hills of the Sauerland, a pretty district in western Germany, started as a joke.

Klaus-Peter Kappest, a photographer from Oberkirchen, had been frustrated for years by the slow pace of his uploads. At 15 megabits (比特,一种信息量单位) per second, it sometimes takes him several hours to send a batch of high-resolution images to his clients. One day Mr Kappest, 52, was chatting to his colleagues at Woll, a local magazine. He suggested that he would be better off delivering his photographs by horse. “That was the most reliable communications technology in the Middle Ages,” he said. “And the editor said, ‘Well let’s do it then, let’s see which is truly faster.”

Mr Kappest turned to Jakob Schutte, a rider who lives in the same village, and Favo, his horse. The photographer burnt 4.2GB of images on to a DVD, packed it into a bag and sent it off with Favo and Mr Schutte on the 10km ride to the printer’s office in Schmallenberg.

At the same time he uploaded the data through WeTransfer, a popular file-sharing service. The computer had a 20-minute head start while Mr Schutte started off down the road, past Wilzenberg mountain. Favo made the journey in 104 minutes. The file transfer, however, was not finished until the horse had returned to Oberkirchen more than two hours later. In total it took five hours.

There was a serious point behind the story. Germany has long been known for its poor broadband and mobile internet coverage, particularly in the countryside. Two years ago a report by a network regulator found that 29 per cent of internet users received less than half the speed to which they were contractually entitled. While things have improved, a global survey carried out this year found that it took on average 16 minutes and eight seconds to download a 5GB film through a German internet connection—a little better than the UK but worse than Puerto Rico and Barbados.

In the Sauerland, Mr Kappest’s area, millions of euros have been spent on a new network but the connections have yet to be switched on in dozens of towns and villages, including Oberkirchen. The horse race did its job: Mr Kappest has since been assured that his broadband will be up and running next month.

【推荐1】It’s a running joke on social media: googling a headache and you’ll conclude that you have brain cancer.

It might be the mistake of the Internet—and how it often does a bad job of explaining the risk of different health problems—that a headache has you thinking about your will.

The Internet is full of bad health information. In particular, many websites fail to point out the risk. Sure, a list of the possible reasons behind someone’s symptoms might appear. But how likely someone is to have the most serious potential condition might not come across—leaving people to make mental leaps about what conditions might apply to them.

In 2009, two Microsoft researchers dove into the search results for a range of symptoms which were not serious. Among the top 10 search results for “headache” there was a 26 percent chance of the “brain tumor (脑瘤)” appearing on the page. However, only about 1 in 10,000 people are diagnosed（诊断）with a brain tumor every year in the U.S.

Besides, these results seldom include explanations of the personal information collected when doing the risk analysis. One study found that women using evidence-based tools to analyze the breast cancer risk didn't trust the results, because they felt the analysis didn’t take their full family history into consideration.

Even if the online heath information does a great job of explaining risk, symptoms can make people fall into a common psychological trick. Called the Barnum Effect, the phenomenon kicks in when people see a description and think it applies to them exactly, even though the characters are general enough to apply to everyone.

Some researchers think that googling symptoms can, in the beginning, be about comfort: People want to deal with worries about what they’re feeling, and remove the possibility that, they’re seriously ill.

If that’s the purpose, it’s not always the final result. Depending on what people find, their worries might grow—potentially pushing the Internet users to keep searching as away to self-comfort, and increasing their stress. You look for symptoms and you will find them. This will increase your worry, and you’ll keep looking.

【推荐1】I’m running some 3,550 kilometers. To be more precise, this jog is mostly around my neighborhood in Ottawa. It is the distance by air to Vancouver that my friend Louise and I are doing. If we make it, Louise and I will get on a plane to Vancouver and compete in one of the BMO Vancouver Marathon weekend races. We may not win medals, but for sure we’ll have cake for my seventy-fifth birthday at the finish line.

The workout for big birthdays represents a big change for me. I used to hate birthdays, especially those milestone ones. No longer feeling young is horrible. As I approached my sixtieth birthday, Louise suggested setting targets to mark milestone birthdays. “ That way you are looking forward to something, not dreading it, ” she pointed out.

By doing those expanding my world or demanding new skills, I feel myself growing, not shrinking. For my sixtieth, I got it into my head that I should do an Olympic distance triathlon (铁人三项赛), which turned out to be a real milestone. After over four hours on the course, I was last among the 95 competitors. But I was the oldest woman competing, so that made me first in my age category. Since then, I’ve looked on the special days as a call for trying something different. For my sixty-fifth birthday, I went to run a half marathon. And I finished seven activities that took me out of my “comfort zone” at seventy.

I’m fortunate to have celebrated so many birthdays in good health and spirits, so whether I succeed in running to Vancouver or not, I’m grateful for the opportunity. One thing I’ve learned in taking up these challenges is that there are many possibilities for new adventures and achievements, even as we grow older. So do spend every day of every year with a definite end in view, which will release your energy and make you happy.

【推荐2】The way to a man's heart trough his stomach. This is what Chin offed me he moment my feet touched its ground. As someone who loves food, I couldn’t help worrying about eating food which is foreign to my tongue. I love my country’s food. Being far away from home for the first time, finding good food was my priority.

Clearly, the beginning of every journey can be rough. My experience at Chinese restaurants left a lot to be desired. I had yet to explore Nanjing and I would often eat at cafeterias around my university. My first date with Chinese food was not a happy experience. I thought it did not suit my taste.

However, one day my Chinese classmates took me to a Chinese restaurant near our university. It looked like a place for special occasions or family gatherings of some sort. My classmates then called the waiter to take our orders.

One dish after another arrived until the table was full. It was the first time I had witnessed such a meal, with more than 10 dishes on the table. Because of my past experience of Chinese food, I was quite hesitant(犹豫的) about trying all the dishes. I thought that I should only pick what I could eat. But one of my classmates sitting next to me convinced me to give each of the dishes a try. I tasted them one by one and my whole concept of Chinese food changed after that. Each dish appealed to my taste, and I forgot to slow down.

It cannot be denied that food is one main source of our happiness and it is indeed our thirst for survival. China won my heart when the food got through my stomach.

【推荐3】Chloe Marie Aston, 18, a North Devon college student started busking (街头表演) with her “piano bike” three years ago and has since become one of North Devon’s most recognizable street performers.

Chloe started performing at the Landmark Theatre before turning up to sing at open-mic nights. Chloe said she built her own instrument with her dad after struggling to play the guitar for a long time. “My dad is the most supportive person I know. He also has some crazy ideas and I have him to thank for becoming the Piano-Bike Girl,” she said.

“The bike is a bit strange but it’s also really convenient -if you are busking with a guitar you need to bring quite a lot of equipment with you, but with the bike you can just find a place and start playing. My favourite part is cycling (骑自行车) to my destination because a lot of people think I’m selling ice cream or running a mobile coffee shop.When they realize it’s a piano, they get really excited and it’s that moment I really love,” Chloe said.

Since Chloe started busking three years ago, she has performed across the South West for community celebrations, charity fundraisers and business activities. Chloe said busking has helped improve her confidence over the years. “When I started, I never saw busking as a big deal but I didn’t realize how much it changes the atmosphere of where you’re performing.But as I got more confident, people felt more comfortable while chatting with me she said.

Chloe’s presence on North Devons high streets has made her a recognizable face. The 18-year-old now has a social media following of over 3,000 people. Chloe said she never expected to receive so much support from the North Devon community. “The support has been crazy, really. When I share my schedule for the weekend, there is always a lot of excitement she said.