China's online population rises to 591 million

China's online population rises to 591 million

BEIJING (AP) - China's population of Internet users has risen to 591 million, driven by a 20 per cent rise over the past year in the number of people who surf the internet from smartphones and other wireless devices.

The figures reported on Wednesday by an industry group, the China Internet Network Information Centre, represented a 10 per cent rise in total internet use. The number of wireless users rose to 464 million.

China's communist government encourages internet use for business and education but tries to block access to material considered subversive or obscene.

Internet companies are scrambling to expand wireless service.

 This week, the operator of China's most popular search engine, Baidu Inc., announced it will pay US$1.9 billion (S$2.38 billion) to acquire a distributor of smartphone apps, 91 Wireless Websoft.

Businessman and investor...at 18

Businessman and investor...at 18



The Straits Times
Monday, Jul 15, 2013

The idea of just leaving money in passive investments in hopes of it growing cuts no ice with teen entrepreneur Wong Li Hong.

 The Year 6 Raffles Institution student feels his money should work hard for him. This led him to start an online business with pal Lemuel Low, 18, early this year.

Their site, WhatsNext.sg, aims to be a one-stop guide outlining what locals and tourists can do in Singapore. "Lemuel and I noticed the lack of real guides for events and service providers in Singapore, as opposed to the large number of business directories which feature shop addresses but little else," says Li Hong, 18.

They put $1,000 into the project at first. It took a year to set up before they launched the online platform that allows two-way communication between shop owners and users.

They have now invested about $3,000 in total. Instead of asking their parents for extra money, Li Hong and Lemuel dug into their savings to ensure they were responsible for the project. Li Hong gets $450 a month as pocket money and said that it was more than enough to cover his expenses - mainly food, transport, half his monthly mobile phone bill and books.

His allowance also covers new gadgets, such as computers or mobile phones. The site makes money through advertisements and recently broke even. Li Hong's parents, who are in their 50s, run their own businesses in real estate, food and beverage, and packaging. His 20-year-old brother is studying overseas.

He said his entrepreneurial spirit grew and was influenced by his parents, who started a business together over 20 years ago.

They were conscious about not wanting him to follow in their footsteps and hoped he would take on a less risky career path such as being a lawyer.

But he developed a keen interest in running his own business as he got interested in what they were doing throughout his growing-up years.

The teenager added that his parents have been supportive of his venture.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?
Rather than following a rigid budget, I believe in being flexible but always making sensible purchases. I believe that good businessmen should be both wise spenders and savers.

Q: How much do you charge to your debit or credit cards every month?
I own two debit cards, one for personal expenditure and the other for the joint account which I have with my friend for our business. I use my cards whenever possible because the online records make it easy to log my monthly spending. I typically charge $200 to my personal card every month.

Q: What do you invest in? I have invested in gold since 2010, when I was looking for a first alternative outlet for my savings.

This was largely influenced by my parents who advised me against leaving my savings in the bank.

But instead of speculating in the commodity, they told me to keep it for a longer term. I invested an initial $250 through an account my parents set up for me and have gradually added to that amount since. I've about $2,000 in gold now. Even though gold prices have fallen recently, I view this as a long-term investment and will continue this in the future. Today, I invest mainly in my own business.

Q: Moneywise, what have your growing-up years been like? I developed an outlook on money management under my parents' influence. When I was eight or nine, I used to spend all my pocket money at the toy shop near my old house. I wasn't conscious of my spending and thought that whatever money they gave me could be spent.

It was around that time that they made me keep track of all my purchases and jot down what I spent in a book.

Despite their belief in the virtue of saving, my parents never dictated how my allowance ought to be spent.

After I turned 12, my parents also made it clear that I would not be getting anything above my monthly allowance. T

hey pay for my school fees and holidays. Other expenses come out of my own pocket. That taught me, albeit by force, that if I wanted more to spend, I needed to earn it on my own.

 Q: How did you get interested in investing? I believe in two types of investment - investment in passive income sources, and investment in personal projects which we build ourselves.

The former is only a method for financing the latter, which has always been far more appealing to me. I have always been fascinated by functional systems - from cars to computers to well-crafted novels.

Successful businesses are the most fascinating of systems because they function by interacting with humans and interpreting their behaviour. I thus developed a passion for investing in and building personal businesses, which has largely shaped my path since.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought? Extravagance lies not in price but in value, so that would have to be the suit I had tailored last year for about $1,000.

Q: Home is now... A four-room condominium unit in the Keppel Bay area where I live with my family.

Drink more water, lose more weight?

Drink more water, lose more weight?

July 4, 2013
A study by Davy's group found that middle aged and older adults who drank two cups before a meal lost about four pounds more than a group that didn't drink the extra water.
                      

                
NEW YORK: Dieters who drink more water have greater weight loss, according to a new review of several prior studies. In one study that asked dieters to drink water before a meal, for instance, “the water enhanced the weight loss,” said Brenda Davy, a professor at Virginia Tech who led some of the work included in the review. Researchers said there is not yet enough evidence, however, to say for sure that drinking more water will help people shed the pounds. Rebecca Muckelbauer, a researcher at the Berlin School of Public Health, Charité University Medical Center Berlin in Germany, led the new review of the water studies. She said that, as a nutrition researcher, people had often asked her about whether they should drink water to lose weight, and she didn’t know the answer. She and her colleagues decided to examine all of the studies on weight and water consumption. Eleven studies fit their criteria.

Three of them showed that increased water intake among dieters was tied to greater weight loss. A study by Davy’s group found that middle aged and older adults who drank two cups before a meal lost about four pounds more than a group that didn’t drink the extra water. Yet another study found that women who increased their water consumption while they dieted lost more weight than those who kept it below one liter a day. It’s not clear how water might help people shed pounds.

One possibility, said Davy, is that water could squelch feelings of hunger.

 “This may have helped them reduce their calorie intake,” she told Reuters Health. Muckelbauer agreed that increased fullness is the most likely explanation, but another possibility is something called “water-induced thermogenesis.” The idea is that “drinking water itself increases energy expenditure of your body. It has an energy consuming effect. This is not very well studied,” Muckelbauer told Reuters Health.




The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults consume between 91 ounces of water for women and 125 ounces for men (2.7 – 3.7 liters) each day, but this total can come through food, plain water or other beverages.

While the experimental studies suggest that drinking water may aid in weight loss, the surveys Muckelbauer examined don’t always show that people who drink more water are slimmer.

In fact, some found that obese or overweight adults drank more water than people of normal size, while others did not find such a link, Muckelbauer’s team reports in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

 “We don’t have conclusive evidence that increasing water intake reduces weight, but there are certainly other benefits to increasing our intake,” said Davy. She said people in the US typically drink about 400 to 500 calories a day from other beverages, and replacing them with water is not a bad idea.

One study found that women who drink water, rather than sweet drinks, had a slightly lower chance of developing diabetes (see Reuters Health story of May 31, 2012 here:).

And women who don’t drink plenty of water have greater odds of getting kidney stones (see Reuters Health report of March 29, 2012 here:).

“There’s not a lot of risk for recommending (increased water intake) for individuals,” Davy said. Muckelbauer said it will be helpful to have larger experiments looking at the potential weight loss benefits of adding more water to the diet.
 ----- Reuters