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.

Podcasts (播客) may be everywhere. Have you ever paid for educational podcasts or live videos? Ask some people and most of them will say yes. Podcast has been more and more fashionable these years. The contents of these podcasts are from language learning to gardening or baby-caring. Everything you think of can be found online at this moment. People turn to it for some useful information, and often such information is at the hands of experts who serve well-known companies or universities. You will gain what you want to get.

Here we recommend some for you to listen to.

My Parachute (降落伞)Won’t Open!

Skydiving has associated risks. For example, the opening of the parachute will not go according to plan. When Timothy Verissimo looked up, he expected to see a comforting unfolded canopy (顶罩) above him. Instead, the New Zealand high school student saw a mass of chaotic strings. His experience will make your emotions run high.

Tumble

Science is brought to life in this podcast that tells stories about science discoveries with the help of scientists. They answer questions from why cats always seem to land on their feet to what a journey to the center of the earth would look like. Tumble is a science podcast for kids and can be enjoyed by the entire family.

Short & Curly

Aimed at primary school children and their parents, this fun-filled morals podcast talks about subjects such as: Is it fair to punish the whole class? Are some lies actually okay? From banning wrapped sweets to occupying other planets, this podcast helps kids find their way around tricky topics.

LibriVox

This month we highlight the most important site for free reading material downloads, https://librivox.org, which provides open access to over 15,000 recordings. The texts are all in the public area and include famous ones such as Treasure Island and Frankenstein.

The American state of Colorado is considering a ban on smartphones for children younger than 13.

A Denver-based doctor - and father - is leading the effort. Tim Farnum is the founder of a group called ‘Parents Against Underage Smartphones’. His proposal would ban sales of smartphones to children under the age of 13. It would also ban sales to anyone who wishes to buy such a device for anyone younger than 13. The measure would also require sellers of smartphones to provide proof to the state government that they have asked buyers if the phone is for anyone under 13.

The measure now needs about 300,000 signatures in order to appear on Colorado’s statewide ballot (投票权) next year. If it makes the ballot and is approved by voters, Colorado would become the first state to have such a ban.

Tim Farnum said he decided to push for the measure after watching his own children struggle with the mental effects of always having a smartphone around. “They would get the phones and lock themselves in the room and change who they were,” he told The Coloradoan newspaper.

State Senator John Kefalas, a Democrat, said he understands the reasoning behind the proposed law. However, he told The Coloradoan that a child’s smartphone usage is a “family matter” and not something the government should decide. “Ultimately, this comes down to parenting,” he said, “making sure their kids are not putting themselves at risk.”

Last year, the AAP (the American Academy of Pediatrics) released guidelines for media use by children. The group advised parents to limit time spent watching videos to no more than one hour a day of high-quality programming until age 6. After that, it said, parents should set reasonable time limits for their children and make sure electronic devices do not take time away from sleep or exercise.