The regular world presented to us by our five senses—you could call it reality 1.0—is not always the most user-friendly of places. We get lost in unfamiliar cities; we meet people whose language we don’t understand. So why not try the improved version: augmented reality (AR) or reality 2.0? AR technology adds computer-produced images (图像) on the real world via a mobile phone camera or special video glasses.

Early forms of AR are already here. With the right downloads, smart phones can deliver information about nearby ATMs and restaurants and other points of interest. But that’s just the beginning. A few years from now the quantity of information available will have increased hugely. You will not only see that there’s a Chinese restaurant on the next block, but you will be able to see the menu and read reviews of it.

This is where the next revolution in computing will take place: in the interface (界面) between the real world and the information brought to us via the Internet. Imagine bubbles floating before your eyes, filled with cool information about anything and everything that you see in front of you.

Let’s jump ahead to ten years from now. A person trying to fix their car won’t be reading a book with pictures; they will be wearing a device that projects animated 3-D computer graphics onto the equipment under repair, labelling parts and giving step-by-step guidance.

The window onto the AR world can be a smart phone or special video glasses. But in ten years’ time these will have been replaced by contact lenses (隐形眼镜) with tiny LEDs, which present something at a readable distance in front of the eye. So a deaf person wearing these lenses will be able to see what people are saying.

The question is, while we are all absorbed in our new augmented reality worlds, how will we be communicating with each other?

Everyone knows that the population of the world is the largest ever. As more and more people are born and grow to an older average age than previous generations, everyone on the earth has a responsibility to feed this ever-growing population.

One possible solution to this is vertical (垂直的) farming. While humans have farmed and worked the land as long as history has recorded events, how much humans’ farming has changed! From hands to ancient tools to animals to advanced machinery, the agricultural scenes have changed greatly over the centuries.

Now new and improved farming methods have been considered and studied to keep up with demand. With vertical farming, food is grown vertically by using existing buildings or shipping containers.

Unlike traditional farming that relies on Mother Nature, vertical farming often relies on CEA technology, also known as Controlled Environment Agriculture. With this approach, humans affect light, temperature, gases and more, thus controlling the environment in which plants grow.

The technology used in vertical farming is just expanding into greenhouses, where light and temperature are man-controlled. The final goal of vertical farming is to produce the most possible crops with the least possible space.

Vertical farming has many advantages. There are some other benefits as well.

With more and more humans living in heavily populated areas, vertical farming allows humans to be prepared for the future with continued population growth and increased movements to cities.

In vertical farming, since the environment in which plants grow is controlled by humans, farming can happen all the year round and is not dependent on seasons and weather. It can possibly use 95% less water than traditional farming. Besides, it is easier to produce organic crops in such a controlled environment, and farm chemicals will not be needed to protect the plants. This means less pollution in the environment.

Troubleshooting: Unable to install the supplied software on a computer

The software supplied with a camera, camcorder (a portable video camera) or personal audio device may not install for the following reasons:

1. The software may not be compatible with the computer operating system.

2. The computer does not meet the minimum system requirements for installing the software.

3. Another application or utility is running in the background of the computer and interfering with the installation.

4. Antivirus or spyware software is preventing installation.

Follow the steps below to troubleshoot this issue.

1. Check the instruction manual to determine the minimum system requirements and operating system supported by the software. Instructions for your product are usually available online.

2. Check the specifications of the computer to ensure it meets the minimum system requirements and operating system supported by the software.

3. Download and install all available updates for the computer and software. Software and driver updates for your product are usually available online.

NOTE: An install utility is an application used to assist with the installation of other software. If an install utility is available, follow the online instructions to properly download and install it.

4. Temporarily disable any antivirus or spyware software.

5. Close any software applications or other unnecessary utilities that may be running on the computer.

6. Attempt to install the software and follow the on-screen instructions.

7. If the software will still not be installed, try installing it using the Safe Mode of the computer as follows:

IMPORTANT: Some bundled software requires the product to be connected to the computer during the installation process. If your software requires the product to be connected during installation, these steps will not work and should be disregarded.

1. Copy the software to a folder on the computer hard drive.

2. Turn off the computer

3. Start the computer in the Safe Mode.

4. Locate the folder on the computer hard drive where you copied the contents of the installation CD.

5. Click the INSTALL.EXE or SETUP.EXE icon to begin the software installation.

6. Restart the computer