Podcast appearances and mentions of jeff wong

Wall Street is bracing for what could be a third straight negative session for stocks in a row. Leavell Investments' Andrew Grinstead lays out how to position from here. Plus, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America cap out first quarter big bank earnings this morning. Argus Research's Stephen Biggar gives his expectations. And Microsoft says it will invest $1.5 billion in the UAE's top AI firm, G42. EY's Jeff Wong dives into a new survey on artificial intelligence.

Our latest conversation with my friend Jeff Wong peels back the layers, revealing how a pastor's son navigates the complexities of wealth, career choices, and the undercurrents of personal values that have steered his life's voyage.Have you ever pondered the tightrope walk between financial aspirations and the core convictions that make you, well, you? From a fresh business school graduate cutting his teeth at Charles Schwab to his journey through Wall Street, we examine the interplay of faith, finance, and the introspection that accompanies managing others' fortunes.As we wrap, we don't just tally up net worth, but the worth netted from friendships, community, and those quiet moments of self-reflection. Jeff shares the wisdom he'd impart to his younger self, advocating for a life rich in experience rather than just riches. We toast to the bonds that sustain us, like my own with Jeff. I invite you to reflect on the wealth of relationships in your life as we explore what brings us true contentment.Thank you for listening! Do you know someone or have a topic you would like featured on the podcast? Leave a review and let me know! I'd love to hear from you!

By all accounts, 2023 was the year of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), giving some organizations a major boost while catching others blindsided without plans or procedures. For a few truly forward-thinking organizations, however, it's already time to look beyond Gen AI to start planning for what's next. In this week's Thomson Reuters Institute (TRI) Insights podcast, Zach Warren, head of technology content development for TRI, talks with Jeff Wong, Global Chief Innovation Officer at EY, about what he sees as the next big innovations in the market that professionals should know about now.

Esta semana tengo de invitado a Jeff Wong. Jeff es un productor de documentales, gerente de proyectos y activista ambiental y social. El ha liderado proyectos documentales con visión de futuro que destacan los desafíos y soluciones ambientales de Paraguay y América del Sur. El documental Rostros del Río lo pueden ver aquí: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFOl6m5uzPs  Si quieres participar de la Conferencia de Inclusión del Citizens' Climate Lobby, puedes registrarte para participar de manera gratuita aquí: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-change-conferences/inclusion   Cucubano es un espacio para que nuestra audiencia nos cuente sus historias. Exhortamos a los podescuchas a que nos graben una historia, una entrevista o que graben con nosotros una o más historias de cosas que les han pasado. Nos puedes contactar o seguirnos a través de Twitter en @CucubanoPod. También nos puedes contactar usando nuestro email: cucubanopod@gmail.com. El único requisito es que la historia sea una experiencia personal. Envíanos o ven a contarme tu historia, porque todos tenemos una historia que contar. Si quieres más historias y contenido, las consigues apoyando el podcast en: https://www.patreon.com/ManoloMatos. También puedes seguirme en @ManoloMatos. El podcast lo puedes bajar desde cualquier aplicación de podcasts, iVoox, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify o escucharlo a continuación. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cucubano/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cucubano/support

Welcome to "Inside Scoop"! In today's episode, we have the incredible opportunity to chat with Jeff Wong and his talented son, Lucas Wong. Our journey takes us deep into the heart of youth soccer in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. Get ready to immerse yourself in the captivating tales, delightful anecdotes, and genuine insights that arise from the experiences of these remarkable young athletes. So grab your headphones, sit back, and join us as we unveil the exciting world of youth soccer on "Inside Scoop." About Anytime Soccer Training ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free 7-Day Ball Mastery Challenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Are you looking for a way to improve your soccer skills quickly and efficiently? Look no further than Anytime Soccer Training! With our program, you can get thousands of quality touches in just a short amount of time, without any equipment or needing a lot of space. Our program features thousands of follow-along workouts that can be done virtually anywhere, whether you're on the field or in your own living room. With just a 10-minute session, you can improve your ball control, speed, and touch. Special Offer from Traceup ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anytime-soccer/support

Will generative AI and ChatGPT in the workplace make some jobs redundant or will they simply change the way we work, ridding us of some of the more mundane, boring parts of our job? Isabel Berwick hears from Jeff Wong, head of the innovation team at professional services firm EY, who believes this new technology will free employees to become more productive. Plus, Madhumita Murgia, the FT's artificial intelligence editor, gives a round-up of sectors that could see profound changes, while Mary Towers, a policy expert on employment rights at the UK's Trades Union Congress, an umbrella body for unionised labour, says employees should be given more control over how generative AI is introduced in the workplace.Want more?We are all secretaries nowWPP teams up with Nvidia to use generative AI in advertisingFT subscriber? Sign up for the weekly Working It newsletter with one click here. We cover all things workplace and management — plus exclusive reporting on trends, tips and what's coming next. We'd love to hear from you. What do you like (or not)? What topics should we tackle? Email the team at workingit@ft.com or Isabel directly at isabel.berwick@ft.com. Follow Isabel on LinkedInSubscribe to Working It wherever you get your podcasts — and do leave us a review!Presented by Isabel Berwick. Produced by Audrey Tinline. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa and the sound engineer is Jake Fielding.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have four great guests this week. We talk with Terry Cardwell from the Kansas Tour. We get a first look at the new DC Metro Tour Directors Cephas Franklin (The Face) & Thompson Sawyer (The Muscle). Finally, we get to talk with Adam Woodard from Golfweek who played in an event and wrote a story about his experience.Email us with questions TimNATC@amateurgolftour.net and/or elpaso@amateurgolftour.netAMATEURGOLFTOUR.NET Golfweek Amateur TourSenior Amateur TourFacebookYouTube

Jeff Wong, EY's Global Chief Innovation Officer.

Web3 is one of the hottest topics in tech right now. Find out what Jeff Wong, the Chief Innovation Officer of EY, has to say about how Web3 will transform how businesses operate, when he joins me for this podcast.

Mighty Kingdom recently launched Conan Chop Chop, a chaotic rogue-lite that transforms the typically adult-focused Conan the Barbarian franchise into a more family-friendly cartoon outing. Hear from Kim "Kimbo" Forrest, studio creative director, and Jeff Wong, producer, as they discuss the sometimes challenging development of a game announced on April Fool's Day some years ago. It turns out that game development can be about the friends you make along the way!To keep up to date with High Resolution, follow the podcast and subscribe to Byteside's twice-weekly newsletter examining all things tech, digital culture, and video games.Follow Byteside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bytesideFollow Chris Button on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BibbyBhoy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeff Wong, EY's Global Chief Innovation Officer and technology enthusiast joins Better Innovation host Jeff Saviano for a fascinating and fluid conversation about the Metaverse.    Some predict the Metaverse could soon become a $1 trillion+ industry. Jeff Wong explains the importance of distinguishing between hype and value curves when assessing emerging technology trends. The pair of Jeffs explore helpful definitions of the Metaverse and discuss the current limitations of VR/AR, the alignment to De-Fi (decentralized finance) and digital currencies, and the likely increased regulation for related Web3.0 tech solutions. Listen-in as Jeff Wong shares his belief in the Metaverse's incredible potential for good, ultimately transcending commercial applications to help solve humanity's biggest challenges – from climate change to social justice.

CONAN CHOP CHOP is a reimagining of the world of Conan The Barbarian that sees the rippling oiled muscles replaced with cartoony top town aesthetic reminiscent of Flash games or kids cartoons.  It's the first console title for Mighty Kingdom, a studio that is more well known for their mobile titles, but it was an excellent creative challenge for Kim Forrest, Creative Director and Jeff Wong, Producer to reimagine this world for a new audience. Learn more about the inspirations behind this fun multiplayer top down rogue-lite and why announcing it in on April Fools day meant lots of people thought it might be all a joke. SIFTER is produced by Nicholas Kennedy, Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Daniel Ang & Adam Christou. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Omny Studio for their support of SIFTER. Join the SIFTER Discord Support SIFTER by buying our Australian made T-Shirts Support the show: https://sifter.store See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many businesses took major financial hits this last year during the pandemic. But, some were able to recover with grace and find new approaches to their businesses that they intend to keep. We hear from Tammi Packer of Packer Orchards and Jeff Wong of CS Fishery. They share details about the pivots they made to their businesses and what went well during a year of uncertainty.

In this episode, we catch up with Anthony and Michele Yackel (UBC Campus Church from Tenth Church in Vancouver) and Jeff Wong (More than 12 Church in Vancouver). In this conversation, we discuss how the pandemic is affecting how we do church now and in the future. We talk about realigning to discipleship, empowering laity, and developing strategic partnerships moving forward.

We are so excited to announce we don't have one speaker but, TWO speakers for you! The dynamic duo, Anson Abraham & Jeff Wong from the Alpha Guard (a division of Alpha Global Supply Ready Set Alpha) with hosts Jennifer Reyes & Bob Lambert. Some topics & tips that we will be covering are: *How to pastor and minister to fellow co-workers? **How to ascertain genuine and integrous people to do business with? *How to integrate faith into a business conversation intentionally? Our speakers are offering two gifts for listeners: -3 listeners have the chance to win a FREE copy of Bob Buford’s book - “Halftime”, a novel on 'Moving from Success to Significance'. -Our speakers will give 50% off of their Copper Infused Washable Masks (regularly priced $17.99) Text Faith Marketplace Radio Show ANYTIME to receive your gift. 224-404-1988 (use the keyword "MASKS") Apple Podcast - https://apple.co/2TbuUrG Google Play - http://bit.ly/FMRpodcast #faithmarketplace #masks #alphaguard

Today's episode is packed with two big interviews with former colleagues from the NBA. Hosts Alex Busch and Drew Zlogar chat with Natalie Hesse and Tina Nguyen (1:30), and then Jeff Wong and Chuck Battis (43:35). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talking-sports-a-to-z/support

Talking about Daily Operations, Coffee ☕️ and Paying it forward!

Henry Maillet is a photographer whose stories focus on conservation and development. After serving for two years as Peace Corps Volunteers in Paraguay, Henry Maillet and his colleague Jeff Wong decided to stay in the country for the adventure of a lifetime. In partnership with WWF, they rowed a handcrafted wooden rowboat down one of the continent's last remaining free-flowing rivers. Over the course of six months the team covered 1,300 km and visited a wide range of riverside communities, from the Yshir indigenous peoples of the Pantanal to the metropolitan capital city of Asuncion. Through photography and recorded interviews, they documented the rich bio-cultural diversity found along the river's banks, and shed light on the critical need for freshwater conservation and cultural and idiomatic preservation along the Paraguay River. Having just finished the expedition, Henry is currently quarantined in Paraguay during the coronavirus pandemic. He and I jumped on a call to talk about the project, how his work as a freelancer is being impacted by coronavirus, and the advice he has received that is helping him stay creative during this unprecedented time. Follow Henry Maillet on Instagram Follow Austin Meyer on Instagram Subscribe to Austin Meyer's monthly newsletter on the craft of storytelling

In this podcast, Heidrick & Struggles' Josh Clarke speaks with Jeff Wong, global chief innovation officer at EY. Wong discusses the innovation ecosystem he has implemented at EY, investing in both technology and people to become better, faster, stronger. He also talks about the leadership skills needed to succeed in a continuously disruptive world, how to hire and develop talent with a growth mind-set, and how critical innovation is for companies to not only survive but thrive. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What is the link between innovation and customer experience? Industry analyst and CXOTalk host, Michael Krigsman, explores this topic with the Global Chief Innovation Officer at EY.Jeff Wong is responsible for Innovation at EY, where his role is to challenge everything, from the way EY operates internally to how it delivers services to its clients.

What is the link between innovation and customer experience? Industry analyst and CXOTalk host, Michael Krigsman, explores this topic with the Global Chief Innovation Officer at EY.Jeff Wong is responsible for Innovation at EY, where his role is to challenge everything, from the way EY operates internally to how it delivers services to its clients.

Episode 1: What is Innovation? In this first episode EY’s Roger Park is joined by Jeff Wong, EY's Global Chief Innovation Officer, for a discussion exploring key themes around what it means to incorporate and adopt innovation and innovative approaches into every aspect of a firm's corporate strategy and culture.

Today we sit down with Jeff Wong Song. A up n coming amateur skateboarder originally from New Jersey but now resides in the belly of the beast of SoCal. We spoke about family, traveling, double flips, social media, relationships and much more!!! - Ant Check out Jeff's newest video part here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdpXrkXknuU If you would like to support the show check out our online skate-shop here. http://allineedskate.bigcartel.com

Skyler, Robbie, and Jeff (kinda) join the show to discuss Game of Thrones, and the best teen/coming of age movies. Also we apologize for the cracks occurring randomly throughout the episode. This was the first time we used four tracks and it caused some buffering noises. This will be a non issue in the future.

From the Milken Conference! Jeff Wong - Global Chief Innovation Officer at Ernst & YoungElizabeth Iorns - CEO of Science ExchangeJames Kuffner - Adjunct Associate Professor at the Robotics Institute"Tiger" NV Tyagarajan - President and CEO at GENPACT LLCUma Valeti - CEO and co-founder of Memphis MeatsBrett Hickey - Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Star Mountain Capital, LLC

From the Milken Conference! Jeff Wong - Global Chief Innovation Officer at Ernst & YoungElizabeth Iorns - CEO of Science ExchangeJames Kuffner - Adjunct Associate Professor at the Robotics Institute"Tiger" NV Tyagarajan - President and CEO at GENPACT LLCUma Valeti - CEO and co-founder of Memphis MeatsBrett Hickey - Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Star Mountain Capital, LLC

Nicole and Jeff Wong are featured on this podcast they are multi time SCCA Autocross Champions. Nicole has 6 SCCA Solo Nationals Championships Jeff has 4 SCCA Solo Nationals Championships 2010 ST Honda Civic Si, 2011 STX Honda Civic Si, 2012 STC Honda Civic Si, 2016 STS They both have won trophies all 8 trips … Continue reading "Nicole and Jeff Wong are featured on this podcast they are multi time SCCA Autocross Champions Learn their autocross tips"

In this podcast we take a look back on some of the interviews I did in 2016 and listen to some of the past guests talk about key issues they feel are shaping the workplace of the future. In 2016 I had a lot of great conversations with a wide variety of senior leaders. Last week I took a look back on the 2016 podcast interviews and discussed six lessons I learned from my guests last year. This week I wanted to let the guests speak for themselves, so I gathered up some highlight clips from last year’s podcast interviews and put them into one podcast mashup.The subjects range from how innovation is changing to automation and AI to the six reasons why we work. The first interview I looked back on was the one with Jeff Wong, the Global Chief Innovation Officer at EY. In our discussion we talked about innovation during a disruptive era and one of the main points was about how innovation is changing. Wong said he believes that innovation is changing a lot and it is really driving companies to think about themselves differently. Companies are now forced to pay attention to things like training, environmental and community impact and inclusive capitalism in order to be successful. Wong says companies need to think about whether they are “training a workforce for the future, or are you training a workforce to do the function of today”. He believes that his job as a Chief Innovation Officer requires him to “do old things in new ways”. One of the fascinating topics I touched on with a few guests last year, was the subject of People Analytics and how it is revolutionizing the way we think about employee experience. Ben Waber, the President and CEO of Humanyze, talked to me about what makes up people analytics. He said that while survey data is useful, “it is not data about behavior, it is data about perception”. Because you cannot survey people every single day, you lose the ability to accurately get a picture of the day to day workings of your office. With People Analytics you are able to get real world data in real time which allows you to fix issues as you go instead of waiting for the end of the year. Ellyn Shook, the Chief Leadership & Human Resources Officer at Accenture, talked about the problem with annual employee reviews which points to why the topic of people analytics is so important for the success of a company. She says the problem with annual reviews is just that; they are only done once a year. She says “very little works in annual cycles anymore”. We are a society that is used to immediate feedback, so telling employees to wait a year to see how they are doing at work is not realistic. Shook says that her company realized that they were putting a lot of time and effort into their annual reviews, but they were receiving very little value from them because they “spent too much time talking about their people, instead of talking to the people”. In order to get the best results you need “forward looking, real time and on demand” data and feedback for your employees. Employee experience was another hot topic I discussed with several guests last year. Some of the guests who touched on the subject were Monika Fahlbusch, the Chief Employee Experience Officer at BMC Software, Francine Katsoudas, the Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Cisco and Karyn Twaronite, the Global Diversity & Inclusiveness Officer at EY. In our discussions we defined what employee experience is, how large companies are able to scale employee experience across a wide range of languages, locations and cultures, and the importance of focusing on diversity and inclusiveness. Fahlbusch says that to create employee experience you first must listen to your employees. Your employees will help you find the overarching problems, or “pain points” if you learn how to listen to them. You also need to look at your individual company and figure out what experiences you should be focusing on. To do that you need to understand things about your company such as what are your values, what are you trying to celebrate, where are you trying to go in the future? Katsoudas talked about scaling employee experience across hundreds of countries and thousands of employees. She says Cisco’s belief is “one size fits one”, meaning they understand that the ideal employee experience in India will not be the same as that in England or the US and that’s okay. Twaronite gave an example of why it is so important for senior leaders of companies to not just list out the available benefits for employees, but they should also be role models who walk the walk. She shared a story about the EY Chairman and CEO, who was giving the keynote for a company wide event, and during his speech he apologized to everyone and explained that he would be leaving the event early in order to honor a commitment he made to his daughter. In doing this he was transparent, authentic and helped employees feel that the work flexibility benefit was not just a bunch of empty words. One subject that I am always fascinated with is technology dealing with robots, AI and automation. Three guests I spoke with who got into this topic of discussion were Robin Hanson, Thomas Davenport and Mihir Shukla. Robin Hanson, who is the author of “The Age of Em”, the Associate professor of Economics at George Mason University and the Research Associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University, spoke about the extremely futuristic topic of what an Em is. Hanson discusses the fact that there are two different scenarios that could happen to get us to a point where we have robots that are as smart as humans. One way would be to “slowly write and accumulate better software on faster and cheaper machines”. This is what we are doing now and if we continued on this path it would take several centuries to reach this point. Another way would be to port the “software” from our brains into an Em. If we find a way to do this, the Em age could happen within one century. Thomas Davenport talks about how there are two camps of people today, those who are opposed to the move towards automation and those who are embracing it. The people who are opposed are scared about the implications of automating jobs. They feel that this shift in our economy will create chaos and wipe out jobs for humans. The camp of people who are embracing it feel that automating certain jobs could be a good thing and that we will always find a way to create new jobs for humans. Davenport believes that reality is somewhere in between the two camps. Mihir Shukla talks about how software bots can complete mundane tasks, and also tackle more complicated problems as well. Many employers want their workers to complete today’s problems while thinking about tomorrow’s challenges using yesterdays technologies and approaches. Processing invoices, verifying documents, generating reports, data entry, and other mundane tasks still need to be completed, but by humans or bots? Introducing mundane and complex tasks to the digital workforce allows the human employees to think, create, discover, and innovate; basically doing things that humans do best. Other subjects that are touched on in this episode include recruiting millennials, whether or not open workspaces are the next best thing, how to identify a Superboss, the six reasons why we work, how to drive behavior change and entrepreneurs vs. freelancers. Looking back at the guests from this last year it is easy to see that there are a lot of changes happening in the workplace and I am excited to see where we go from here. I am working on lining up a great list of podcast guests for this year, so be sure to stay tuned and keep listening to the weekly future of work podcast!   (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

Jeff Wong is the Global Chief Innovation Officer at EY, a global organization that has over 200,000 employees worldwide. Before he was at EY he spent 10 years in innovation at Ebay. He has an AB in Economics, a Master in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management and a MBA from Stanford University.   The world is changing faster than it ever has before. We have seen the evolution of AI, self driving cars, drones and robots in the workplace and who knows where technology will go in the future. In this ever changing world it is imperative for companies to adapt and keep up with the times. The question is how can companies keep up when things are changing daily.   Wong says innovation is “doing old things in new ways”. He says one of the most important things to do to stay ahead of the game is to pay attention to what is going on around the world. He says he is constantly reading up on world events and always listening to clients and employees around the world. Companies should be aware of what is going on around the world. EY has employees around the world which allows them to reach out to a whole host of regions in order to learn what different areas are doing and how it is working for them. Four main technologies that Wong and EY are paying attention to at this time are data analytics, blockchain, AI and robotic process automation.   Innovation is no longer just about plugging technology in, technology is much more involved now. Companies and employees have to be willing to “get their hands dirty”. Wong says in order for companies to keep up with innovation they cannot just sit and talk about new technology. Companies need to play with new technology, they have to implement it and they have to actually use the technology to address real problems. Doing this allows companies to “see where that technology is today and how fast it is evolving”.   There are three types of innovation; Disruptive innovation, which is looking far into the future to figure out what could be, adjacent innovation which is doing things one step ahead of today’s technology and sustaining innovation which should be done everyday to make sure you are staying on top of what you already have in place. Wong says it is so important for companies to implement all three types of innovation.   When companies strive for innovation more likely than not, there will be failure. Wong says, “failure is a big part of innovation” and that the important thing is “what you learn from that failure and how to change the pathway around it”. Both Wong and EY embrace failure and understand that it will happen when companies try new things. There have even been times when a project or an idea has had to be scrapped completely. This is just something you have to be okay with if you want to be an innovative company.   Wong says in order to be a leading innovator in a disruptive world “you have to be willing and eager to learn. You can’t get stuck on any framework or model”. He says you can’t just be focused on the technology of today and you have to have the “willingness to be wrong, and admit it”.   When it comes to advice for organizations trying to keep up with innovation, Wong says it is important to “read a lot, know what is going on in the world, get your hands dirty….know where things are today and where they are going in the future”.   What you will learn in this episode:  What Jeff Wong is paying attention to in the way of innovation  How innovation as a whole is changing  Advice for organizations trying to keep up with change  Examples of innovation from EY  Blockchain: What it is and why it matters  What is robotic process automation  Answers to a few listener questions  Where Jeff (and EY) stands on the subject of failure  Links From The Episode: Jeff Wong On Twitter EY.com (Music by Ronald Jenkees)

Jeff Wong has been in the Valley for decades. He was formerly an exec at eBay and then built his own startups before landing at Ernst & Young where he's in charge of building cool new products. He talks about the future of corporations and what it looks like from inside a big company.

Jeff Wong has been in the Valley for decades. He was formerly an exec at eBay and then built his own startups before landing at Ernst & Young where he's in charge of building cool new products. He talks about the future of corporations and what it looks like from inside a big company.

Season 3 Chapter 3 - Jeff Wong and Edward Kao The post Season 3, Chapter 3 – Jeff Wong and Edward Kao appeared first on Balloon Artist Podcast.

This is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news. World-renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking has opened an account on Chinese microblog Weibo.com, attracting 1.3 million followers in 8 hours. His first entry on April 12 said "Greetings to my friends in China! It has been too long!" Hawking is very popular in China, especially among young people, for his work developing the Big Bang Theory and perseverance in overcoming the difficulties of his disabilities. Hawking's A Brief History of Time has long been a bestseller in China's bookshops. Hawking said he can now regularly communicate with Chinese people through social media and that he hopes to share more about his life and work while also learning from his followers. Hawking's account attracted more than 1.3 million followers only eight hours after his first entry at 10:12 a.m. Beijing Time. He had more than 220,000 comments and 440,000 thumbs-up. It also became a hot topic on Weibo.com, affiliated with China's largest internet company Sina.com, as over 20 million read the entry. Hawking said his first trip to China was in 1985 when he travelled across the country by train. He last visited China in 2006 for a physics conference in Beijing. Sina says Hawking's team contacted them earlier this year to verify his application. The account says in the introduction that it is jointly operated by Hawking's team and U.S. social media company Stradella Road. Sina has more than 220 million live accounts. This is Special English. The rich can no longer pay to get an Executive Master of Business Administration, or EMBA diploma. China's Ministry of Education made the statement after raising enrollment credentials to require high scores at national exam and political awareness. According to the guideline on streamlining the MBA programs issued by the ministry, the 64 institutes of higher learning currently running EMBA programs can no longer organize entrance exams beginning in December this year, and candidates must take a national entrance exam. Candidates need to score above a required level designated by the ministry in order to be recruited. The guideline notes that apart from academic credentials, candidates will also be assessed for their personality and capability, particularly in the area of political awareness, during an interview session. Those who fail ideological and political assessment will be disqualified. Moreover, the guideline prohibits colleges from awarding diplomas to under-performers, or those not attending enough classes, adding that bribery cases which popped up in academic evaluation will be seriously investigated. The guideline also tightened management over overseas study tours offered by MBA programs, saying colleges running these programs must establish an approval procedure, and study tours can by no means morph into sightseeing tours. China launched its EMBA programs in 2002. This is Special English. An Australian University has embarked on an ambitious push to further strengthen ties with its Chinese tertiary-education partners, as "Australia Week in China" gets underway. The University of Tasmania has revealed that it will sign agreements with three Chinese institutions this month, the largest of which will lead to the creation of a Sino-Australian college based in both countries. The university announced a tripartite collaboration between the prestigious Tasmanian institution, the University of Western Australia and the highly regarded Chongqing-based Southwest University to launch the Westa College. The bi-lateral deal will result in the construction of a purpose-built campus in Chongqing to cater for 200 new Australian and Chinese students. It is understood that teaching at Westa College will commence in September this year. The students will come from a range of diverse four-year courses. They will spend their first two years in China before transferring to either Perth or Tasmania, and receive a Bachelor's degree from both the Southwest University and the Australian institution of their choice. The University of Tasmania has experienced a 50 percent increase in international-student enrollments in the past 12 months. It is set to pull in an extra 80 students under the arrangement. You are listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. China will further deepen reform in healthcare this year with key factors for the reform discussed at a meeting of the central government recently. The State Council, the country's cabinet, convened a regular executive meeting and determined that healthcare reform should benefit more people. Key sectors for healthcare reform this year were decided at the meeting. Plans discussed include increasing the number of cities piloting urban public hospital reform from 100 to 200, implementing a tiered medical care pilot project in 70 percent of the country's prefectural-level areas, and improving the compensation system in a bid to abolish the drug price addition policy of public hospitals in new pilot cities. Other focuses include implementing the centralized procurement of drugs used by public hospitals, improving the performance-based remuneration system in grassroots health institutions, and building a national network for basic health insurance settlement so that people can have their medical expenses reimbursed in different places. Critical disease insurance will cover all people within the year, and subsidies per capita for basic health insurance and basic public health services will be raised. The number of resident physicians receiving standardized training will be increased by 70,000, including 5,000 pediatricians. This is Special English. China has strengthened its efforts to crack down on piracy in recent years, culminating in the closure of hundreds of illegal content-sharing websites. However, Internet users still manage to find ways to download content without payment or punishment. On Chinese social networking sites including Baidu, users post messages containing torrent sharing files, most of which are stored in cloud services or online file-hosting services. In 2012, a court in Beijing heard a case brought by writer Han Han against search engine Baidu, with the novelist suing the website for copyright infringement of his works. Han accused Baidu of stealing his works by publishing them online and offering his writing as free downloads as part of the site's literary database. He said the website provided a channel for disseminating pirated works, resulting in copyright violations. Baidu's lawyer said the literary database is simply a place for Internet users to store data, distancing the site from responsibility for copyright protection. The court awarded Han 80,000 yuan in compensation, but didn't rule in favor of his other demands, including removal of Baidu's cloud storage data. A judge with the special IPR court in south China's Shenzhen City says such a minor penalty won't do much to a corporation worth tens of billions of U.S. dollars, but an individual writer definitely cannot afford the prolonged legal tussle. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That's mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues. China's ambassador to France, Zhai Jun, suggests adding the Chinese language to billboards and instructions in tourist attractions every time he is consulted by the French about improving tourist services. According to the ambassador, one of the reasons is that soon China will become the largest source of travelers outside Europe for France. Outside Europe, China was France's second biggest tourist market in 2013 after the United States, with 1.7 million visitors and 680 million U.S. dollars of revenue. The ambassador says that previously, the instructions at tourist attractions were full of French, English and Japanese, while the Chinese language was absent. Currently the major museums in Paris provide instructions in Chinese, and he said the conditions are still being improved. French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius said in August last year that the goal is to quickly reach 5 million Chinese tourists. The Chinese ambassador noted that the French side has responded proactively by offering more convenience to Chinese tourists. Welcoming 84 million tourists in 2014, France confirmed its position as the world's most visited country. The United States and Japan accounted for a major portion of the travelers, while the number of Chinese tourists has surged rapidly in recent years. This is Special English. Hong Kong's embattled Asia Television has shut down, ending its 59 years of broadcasting service. After broadcasting its final program, a rerun of the 2013 Miss Asia Pageant, ATV bade farewell to its audience by showing a card on the screen at midnight on April 1st. Local people gathered at ATV's headquarters in Tai Po to take pictures and witness the last moment of the broadcaster. One local resident surnamed Ma said she had been ATV's viewer for decades and would watch it until the end. ATV's senior public affairs manager Jeff Wong told the media that he believed the station will find alternative ways to operate, by for example, providing internet TV services. However, that will be subject to the decision of the broadcaster's investors. Last year, the Hong Kong government decided not to renew ATV's free-to-air TV license. The license expired on April 1 according to the law. The public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong took over ATV's two analogue channels, and launched a television broadcast at noon the following day after ATV ceased its signals. Launching as Rediffusion Television in 1957, ATV was a pioneer of entertainment in Hong Kong's broadcasting history. The station experienced its golden era in the 1980s. However, in the late 1990s, it was hit by a financial crisis after experiencing several ownership shifts. You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Police in the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong have arrested almost 3,000 illegal immigrants in a joint operation to crack down on growing human smuggling. According to the Ministry of Public Security, among the detained immigrants, 2,860 were from Southeast Asia and more than 80 from South Asia. Most of the illegal immigrants were trying to sneak into Hong Kong from the mainland to seek employment. Since the 17-month campaign started in February, police in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan have dismantled three cross-border smuggling syndicates with the help of Hong Kong police. During the first phase of the crackdown, a total of 142 suspects from the three syndicates were apprehended by police, including 29 from countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia. The cross-border smuggling rings are well organized with clear division of labor. The smugglers in Southeast and South Asia recruit immigrants, while those on the mainland transfer them to Guangdong and then sneak them into Hong Kong. The smugglers in Hong Kong take control of the whole process. The Public Security Ministry says the illegal immigrants have also commit crime including thefts, robbery and drug smuggling, which result in seriously harming public security in both Hong Kong and Guangdong. This is Special English. Next year's entire harvest from a 410-year-old tea tree has sold for 600,000 yuan, roughly 92,000 U.S. dollars, at an auction in Central China's Hunan province. The tree is 4-and-a-half meters high and located in a village in Hunan. The village has more than 2,000 ancient tea trees. （全文见周六微信。）