Today, Hurun Report released the names of the Top Two Richest Individuals from the 2009 Hurun Rich List, a ranking of the 1000 richest individuals in China.

Wang Chuanfu of BYD is the richest man in China with wealth of US$5.1 billion, followed by Zhang Yin of Nine Dragons Paper with wealth of US$4.9 billion.

The number of known US Dollar billionaires in China has grown to 130, up from 101 in 2008. The full list is to be released later in October.

Bon Appétit has named their top 10 best new restaurants in America.

From the press release: “Today’s most exciting restaurants have a lot in common.”

“ They represent the new standard: simple, satisfying local food—all served with zero pretense. They support local farmers, sustainable agriculture, and regional cuisine. “

When it comes to winter luxury, one ski destination continues to rank top of the list - Courchevel in the French Alps, according to leading private air charter broker Oxygen 4, is the ski resort at which to see and be seen.

And even this year, with the credit crunch biting, some of the resort’s most sumptuous hotels were already fully booked six months ago for the peak January fortnight 2-14th with some guests paying upwards of €50,000 to ensure the best accommodation.

Forbes just came out with its first ever ranking of the most expensive houses in the world – that don’t actually exist. All the properties had to be primarily residences and they excluded castles.

The most expensive fictional house, according to Forbes, is Xanadu, the home of newspaper baron Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, at $160 million. The house is modeled on Hearst Castle (above), the real life San Simeon, Calif., estate of media mogul William Randolph Hearst.

Xanadu was supposed to have been built on a private mountain from 20,000 tons of marble and 100,000 trees. It contained enough art for 10 museums, and the grounds were home to the world’s largest private zoo.

Compiled below is an edited list – originally made by Listphobia - of the most futuristic concept laptop designs, some of which have won achievement awards while the rest are just too cool to know about.

1. Canova Dual Screen Laptop

Canova Dual Screen Laptop possesses two screens, a multi sensitive touch screen and is very easy to use. Not only can it be used to handle your daily computing tasks but it also lets you read articles on your laptop in the old-school newspaper fashion.

2. Vaio Zoom

The Vaio Zoom notebook takes everything we know about holographic technology and squeezes it inside a thin glass form factor. When off, the screen is completely transparent and the keyboard goes opaque. Turn it on and the touchscreen holographic festivities begin. Even the mouse buttons are holographic!

3. DesCom

Sung-kyu Nam’s DesCom laptop integrates into the desktop surface. And what do you have to do once the laptop is dead or should be repaired?

4. MacTab

Being portable, MacTab is the complement to MyBook in the high-end. The thin wireless keyboard is used as a protection cover for transportation. On the back of the computer a hinge allows it to be put in a vertical position so you can use it on your desk.

5. LG Ecological Laptop Concept

LG introduced e-Book, an ecological laptop concept that uses fuel cell batteries and features organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. This concept notebook received a Red Dot Award nomination for “Best Concept Design”.

6. Compenion Laptop Concept

Felix Schmidberger’s Compenion laptop has a OLED touch screen. The computer itself has an OLED touchscreen, where you can directly work on, much like with a umpc or pda.

The whole screen is a slider, as it can be moved forward to reveal a second OLED touchscreen underneath, where you can have a keyboard or working controls, similar to a setup with 2 monitors.

7. Samsung Amoled Concept

AMOLED concept notebook by Samsung features a unique design which is thin and sleek and a touch-sensitive keyboard which lacks tactile feedback.

8. Satellite Navigation Laptop

Satellite Navigation Laptop is Nikita Golovlev’s concept for travelers. Using an e-ink display, the ‘Traveller’ is a GPS enabled navigation system for pedestrians. The design incorporates an internal drive for storing any photos you take along the way and will tag the with GPS data, so you know just where you took them.

9. Canvas Laptop Concept

Canvas is a futuristic concept laptop that is supposed to provide a better quality for the designer and also its said that it will raise the productive rate of the artist. It will feature a very thin touchscreen and the other components will look just about the same but they will be better adjusted.

10. Macbook 0801

MacBook 0801 is a laptop concept by Isamu Sanada. The keyboard is transparent and ultra-thin.

and a #11 ^_^

11. Music Stand Laptop

Music Stand Laptop
Use the pedal to turn digital sheet music or just touch the screen. It also throws in some computer functions by allowing on the fly scoring, note taking, and collaborative writing. When you need a real computer, a keyboard slides out from underneath the screen and use the foot pedal as a stereo to enjoy the music you just played. Designed by Sungho Lee.

As part of the launch of the inaugural edition of The Miele Guide, the much anticipated first-ever ranked list of Asia’s Top 20 Restaurants was announced at The Miele Guide Dinner on October 31, 2008.

This year, Hong Kong has emerged as the best city in Asia to dine in. Eight restaurants in The Miele Guide’s Top 20 are in Hong Kong.

It is also worth noting that one chef-restaurateur has three restaurants in The Miele Guide’s Top 20. Joel Robuchon (the French chief), once heralded as the world’s greatest chef, is undoubtedly helping to transform Asia’s culinary scene through his restaurants in Hong Kong, Macau and Tokyo.