How old are the apps on your smartphone? Is it time for an update? Here are three apps for you. Try them out and have fun.

DuoLingo

Learning a foreign language doesn’t always mean you have to sit in a class and take endless exams. An app called Duolingo has been designed to help you memorize(记住) new words and grammar in creative ways, such as online lessons, games and interesting exercises. For example, one exercise asks you to put words in the right order to make the correct sentence. You can also try translation practice.

Douban FM

A music app is necessity for almost every smartphone now. Douban FM might be the right thing for you.

There is no playlist on Douban FM—songs just keep streaming(播放) one by one. You can use the “heart”, “trash” and “skip” buttons to mark the songs you like, don’t like and want to cut short, respectively(分别地). Those marked with a heart will be stored in another list as your favorites for you to listen to anytime you want. Douban FM also has different channels(道频). There are many types of music, such as blues, jazz, and pop. You can choose the music for outdoor activities work or studying depending on your mood.

Flipboard

It is one of the hottest news apps right now. With Flipboard, you can make everything personal to you. All you have to do is open up the app, “flip through” to select whatever interests you, and click the button. At the end you’ll have your own magazine, complete with a front page, new articles, and information.

Special breaks: four UK’s creative places

Chair-making, Leicestershire

Spend a week in the National Forest woodlands learning to make your own chair. People having different levels of experience are welcomed. Beginners can make a single Windsor chair, while the more advanced learners can design their own chairs.

Price: £650 per person

Dates: 21-27 Jun., 31 Jul.-6 Aug, 4-10 Oct.

Drawing, North Yorkshire

Learn how to create beautiful pen and ink drawings on this four-day art holiday in the North York Moors. Aimed at beginners, it teaches a range of styles and techniques to build confidence and improve drawing skills. The course is mainly based at Larpool Hall, Whitby in Yorkshire, a Georgian house with views over the Esk Valley.

Price: £405 per person

Dates: 25-28 Sept.

Clothes-mending, West Sussex

West Dean College of Arts and Conservation has a wide range of textile (纺织) courses, from making belts to weaving, dyeing and printing. Those who have reconsidered their shopping habits may enjoy the Mending Your Clothes course, in which the well-known textile artist Celia Pym teaches techniques for repairing woven clothes.

Price: £381 (course only) per person, and £196 for accommodation and meals

Dates: 21-23 Aug.

Wildlife photography, Dorset

Red squirrels are now very rare in England, but Brownsea Island has a large population of red squirrels. On this short trip, guests will explore the island and learn how to photograph the creatures in the woodlands. Led by Emma Healey and Sean Weekly, the course is an opportunity to take advantage of the best light of the day to take wildlife photographs.

Price: £475 per person (including accommodation, most meals and tuition)

Date: 14 Sept.

Independence is something that can be difficult to achieve. But don’t worry because here we have four books that can help you. If you don’t buy less than three of them, you’ll be given a 20% discount!

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Taking care of your finance is hard. Dave Ramsey, a famous businessman, is here to take you on the whole process of planning your finance, and show the myths of cash advances and debt consolidation (债务重整), to make sure your finance is healthy.

Price: $14.49

Grace’s Guide by Grace Helbig

Grace Helbig shared her tips to becoming a grown-up. The book is full of personal stories of Helbig, her struggles and the lessons she learnt from failing many times. This book is your on-the-go fun read with pictures and drawings of Helbig, and worksheets (作记录) to practice.

Price: $7.95

The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon

Having suffered from eating disorder and living on diet, Angela Liddon promised to eat healthily forever. She threw out her fat-free butter spray (黄油喷雾) and low-calorie frozen dinners after learning how to properly cook. This book contains more than 100 recipes (食谱) covering breakfast, salads, soups, power snacks and the main dishes for a healthy meal at any time of the day. We all know that healthy eating is all part of being independent.

Price: $22.22

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Life can be hard, especially when it comes to relationships with others. In the book, Strayed gives advice on love and life. She writes about different subjects: a son rejected by his parents, a mother who has lost her child. And the message hidden throughout all her advice is always that, if you want a good life, you have to create it.

Price: $8.76