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科技教主都是诡谲多变的家伙-第1页

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The tech gods are a fickle bunch. Some years they bestow upon us Kinect for Xbox 360, Hulu and the iPhone 4S. Other years, they jam 3-D glasses onto our faces, strand us in the Australian outback with faulty directions from Apple Maps and make us choose between HD DVD and Blu-ray, putting us in the middle of a format war. But occasionally the tech deities hear our pleas. We were granted a few goodies from our 2012 list of Tech Wishes: among them, a smaller iPad and several cameras that run Android. But we weren't given a real reason to use Google Plus. Oh, well. Are the tech gods still listening? It can't hurt to throw some gadget-head fantasies into the ether, starting with:


科技教主都是诡谲多变的家伙。有的时候，他们将Xbox 360游戏机的Kinect体感设备、Hulu视频网和iPhone 4S奉献给我们。但有的时候，他们把3-D眼镜硬架到我们脸上，用苹果地图(Apple Maps)的错误导航把我们困在澳大利亚腹地，还非要我们在高清(HD) DVD和蓝光(Blu-ray)光碟之间做出选择，让我们置身于一场格式大战中。但是偶尔，这些科技教主也会倾听我们的呼声。我们列在2012年技术愿望清单上的美好心愿就实现了好几项：其中包括更小巧的iPad和搭载安卓(Android)系统的多款照相机。但我们仍对什么要使用Google+ (Google Plus)社交服务感到不明就里。哦，好吧。科技教主们还在听吗？反正和老天爷说说科技狂人的几个幻想也不会有什么坏处，那就开始吧：



1. Mobile Devices With Better Speakers


1.给移动设备配上更好的扬声器



I'm not talking about the part of your phone that you stick against your ear, because who makes phone calls anymore -- OMG! ROFL! I'm talking about the little internalspeaker that I end up using more and more to listen to music when I'm traveling or around the house because I'm too lazy to connect my phone to a speaker. I don't need my phone to replace my stereo or even a dock, but if the sound could be loud enough to fill a stamp-size hotel room so I wouldn't have to pack a portable Bluetooth speaker, that would make me happy. My phone's already become the center of my music universe. A clearer, louder speaker would make it complete.


我说的可不是你手机上贴着耳朵的那个部分，因为现在谁还打电话啊──天哪！笑瘫了！我说的是手机上小小的内置扬声器，在旅行途中或是在家里溜达的时候，我越来越多地用它来外放音乐，因为我太懒了，懒得把手机和音响连到一起去。我并不是想用我的手机来取代我的立体声系统甚至基座扬声器，但是只要手机扬声器的声音响到能让我在巴掌大的旅馆房间里听清楚，从而无须打包便携式蓝牙扬声器，我就非常开心了。我的手机已经成为了我音乐世界的中心。一个音质更清晰、声音更洪亮的扬声器将使它更为完整。



2. The 48-Hour Movie Rental


2.48小时电影租赁制



You rent a movie via iTunes or Amazon at 10 p.m., because that's the earliest you could have gotten to it after making dinner and putting the kids to bed and cleaning the kitchen and cranking out those last emails. But you've overestimated your energy level and are nodding off by 11 p.m. The time bomb's started: You have to finish the movie by 10 p.m. tomorrow or else it disappears. And chances are, if tomorrow is anything like today -- and why wouldn't it be? -- you won't be able to get to watching within that 24-hour window. Your rental of 'Taken 2' will go -- poof! -- back into the digital heavens, and you'll be forced either to wonder for eternity if Liam Neeson will ever find his wife (sorry, spoiler alert: they take the wife this time) or to shell out another $4.99 for a movie that you could have waited to be added to Netflix Instant Watch.


晚上10点，你从iTunes或亚马逊(Amazon)上租了部电影，因为当你做好晚饭，把孩子们哄上床，收拾完厨房，最后回完电子邮件后，最早也到这个点儿了。可是你高估了自己的精力，在晚上11点你就打起了瞌睡。这时定时炸弹开始倒计时：你不得不在明晚10点前看完电影，否则它就会消失。很可能发生的情况是，如果明天和今天如出一辙──有什么不可能的呢？──你就没法在24小时的期限内看完电影。你租的《飓风营救2》(Taken 2) 将噗地一声直接返回到数字天堂去，这下子你要么得为尼森(Liam Neeson)究竟能否找到他的妻子（抱歉，剧透：他们这次挟持了他的妻子）牵肠挂肚，要么就得再付4.99美元租一回这部原本能等着加入Netflix即时播放列表的电影。



I'd probably rent three times as many movies as I do if I didn't always get burned by the nonsensical 24-hour rental. Some movies have 48-hour rental periods, but not enough give you the time to watch a movie at home like a normal person. What are they scared of? That I'll watch 'Taken 2' twice?


要不是这个荒诞的24小时租赁制让我一直在怒火中烧的话，可能我租过的电影都有现在的三倍多了。虽说有些电影的租赁期有48小时，但是给你一个正常人在家看完电影所需时间的电影还是不够多。他们害怕什么？怕我把《飓风营救2》看两遍吗？



3. Spotify in the Car


3.Spotify车载音乐服务



Music services Pandora and Slacker have long had car integration. Shouldn't Spotify? The service has become one of the best ways to discover and share music, and it deserves to get off the computer and on the road right now. The service will reportedly be available in Volvos sometime in 2014 -- but that's an eternity to wait. Killer playlists shouldn't be exclusive to Swedish cars.


潘多拉(Pandora)和斯内科(Slacker)音乐服务早已与汽车整合。为什么Spotify就不能呢？这项音乐服务已经成为了发现及共享音乐的最佳方式之一，它现在理应摆脱电脑的束缚，和我们一起驰骋在路上。据报道，该项服务将于2014年引入沃尔沃(Volvo)汽车──但那可真是无尽的等待啊。被称为播放列表杀手的Spotify音乐服务也不应成为瑞典汽车的专享。



4. Higher-Resolution Front-Facing Smartphone Cameras


4.智能手机前置高清摄像头



The 'selfie' isn't going away. There are those who can make a duck face, outstretch their arms and, using the phone's primary camera, blindly frame their photo and still come out with a decent shot. These are selfie pros. The rest of us are forced to use the weaker front-facing camera. The results are grainy, resembling a pointillist painting. When it comes to phone photos, should vanity really be a sin?


"自拍照"的热度一直未减。有一些人能在嘟着嘴的同时，伸长自己的胳膊，用手机后置的主摄像头，盲测着照相角度，依然拍出靓照。这些人都是自拍专业人士。我们这些其余的人就不得不用性能较弱的前置摄像头自拍。我们照出的照片显得颗粒粗大，活像是一幅点彩画家的画作。当用手机自拍时，虚荣心真的是一种罪吗？



5. A Better Smart-TV Experience


5.更好的智能电视体验



There's no shortage of options here. In an attempt to move the boob tube into the 21st century, nearly every TV manufacturer from Samsung to Sony to LG has put an emphasis on making their TVs more connected. And streaming devices made by Apple and Roku are great but not perfect. No one's cracked it yet, but 2013 might be the year it happens. The deviceeveryone is hoping for? A TV from Apple. There have been rumors that it could happen this year. But don't count out Microsoft's new Xbox, which may come out in 2013 as well. All of the voice-and-gesture-controlled smart TVs we just saw at the Consumer Electronics Show were basically copying the technology first seen on Kinect for Xbox 360. One request to those in the smart-TV game: Easy on the social-media integration, OK? No one wants to read tweets on a TV.


智能电视领域内可谓是百家争鸣。为将电视机带入21世纪，几乎每个电视机生产商，从三星(Samsung)到索尼(Sony)到LG，都将重点放在了给电视机配置更多种类的接口上。虽然苹果公司(Apple)和罗库公司(Roku)生产的流媒体播放设备还算令人满意，但它们并不完美。不过，尽管尚未有公司攻克这一领域，但是2013年或许会见证这个时刻的到来。什么是人人翘首企盼的设备呢？答案是苹果电视。有传言说，苹果电视可能会于今年问世。但是不要忘了微软公司(Microsoft)的新一代Xbox电视产品，这款产品也可能于2013年发布。从根本上说，所有那些我们刚刚在消费电子产品展(Consumer Electronics Show)上见识到的声控和手势控制智能电视都抄袭了Xbox 360的Kinect体感设备的首创科技。我只想对参与这场智能电视大战的制造商提一个要求：别太强求把社交媒体整合到电视上，好不好？没人想用电视上用推特(Tweeter)。



6. More 4K Ultra-HD Content


6.更多4K超高清片源



It took a while, but TV manufacturers seem to have ramped down the 3-D TV push. (Thank goodness, because 3-D TV is such a gimmick.) They are getting back to the business of making bigger screens with better pictures. The new thing? Ultra HD, televisions with twice the resolution of a 1080p HD television. What does that mean? Eye-popping clarity and incredible detail. Ultra HD is awesome. The problem, however, is that there's very little content for it. Netflix may offer some in the future. For now, YouTube has a limitedselection on its 4K channel. Sony has announced some 'Mastered in 4K' Blu-ray movies to come out later this year. There isn't going to be a ton of content right off the bat, but I hope it happens soon.


虽然热闹了好一阵子，但是电视制造商们似乎已经不再那么热衷于推出3-D电视了。（谢天谢地，因为3-D电视确实是个骗人的把戏。）电视制造商们逐渐回归正轨，即生产屏幕更大、画质更好的电视。这次的新产品是什么？那就是分辨率能达到1080p高清电视两倍的超高清电视。这意味着什么？令人瞠目的清晰度和无以伦比的细致画面！超高清真是棒极了！但问题是，超高清片源却很少。Netflix未来可能将提供一些超高清片源。眼下，视频网站 YouTube的4K频道上有一些有限的片源。索尼此前曾宣布，将于今年晚些时候发行一些"4K高清灌制"的蓝光电影。虽然大量片源不会马上涌现，但我希望这一天能早点到来。



7. Google Maps, All of the Time


7.随时使用谷歌(Google)地图



I don't know if there's a more satisfying app to use on a mobile device than the Google Maps app for iOS and Android. It makes every other navigation program, from your city's rinky-dink public-transportation tool to the great fiasco that is Apple Maps, downright frustrating. (The period in 2012 when Google Maps wasn't available as an app on the iPhone felt like the dark ages to many.) Yes, mapping programs tend to get better over time, but why wait for an apple to ripen when there's a big, juicy Google fruit right in front of you? Think of all of the time you would save if all car-navigation systems had Google Maps instead of some inept input system that asks you to enter state, city and address in a specific order? Competition is good, but when it comes to maps, it's almost like you have to have a mercy rule and force the other teams to forfeit. It's the second quarter and Google is up by 13 touchdowns.


在适用于iOS系统或安卓系统的移动设备应用程序中，我不知道是否还有比谷歌地图更令人满意的了。谷歌地图使得其他所有导航程序──从你所在城市拙劣的公共交通软件到惨败的苹果地图──都被彻底击溃。（对于许多iPhone用户来说，2012年中那些不能在iPhone上使用谷歌地图的日子就如同置身于黑暗的中世纪。）是的，假以时日，地图导航程序会越变越好，但是当你面前已经有了饱满多汁的谷歌果实时，为什么要坐等苹果慢慢成熟哪？设想一下如果所有的汽车导航系统都装有谷歌地图，而不是那些要求你按照州、城市和地址的特定顺序输入目的地的愚蠢系统，你能够节省多少时间？竞争是有益的，但在地图导航程序的竞争上，情况基本上就是你不得不使用慈悲规则、提前结束比赛，让其他开发团队俯首称臣。这就好比橄榄球比赛才进行到第二节，谷歌队已经取得了13个触地得分。



8. An iPad Mini With a Retina Display


8.拥有视网膜显示屏(Retina Display)的iPad Mini



Apple was one of the first companies to make screenresolution an important factor in a tablet -- when the company's Retina Display debuted on its third-generation iPad, it made every other tablet's screen look downright fuzzy. So when the cargo-pocket-size iPad Mini launched without a Retina Display, it was one step forward, but one step back as well. I've come to prefer the Mini over the larger iPad -- you just end up bringing it, and using it, everywhere. But once you've gone Retina, it's hard to go back and not notice the difference. A better screen on the Mini would make it a perfect tablet.


苹果公司是首批将屏幕分辨率作为衡量平板电脑好坏的重要因素的公司之一。当苹果公司的视网膜显示屏随着第三代iPad的发布首次亮相的时候，它使其他所有平板电脑的屏幕都彻底显得模糊不清。因此当没有配置视网膜显示屏的口袋尺寸的iPad Mini发布时，这款产品真是在进步的同时又在退步。相较于更大的iPad，我更青睐iPad Mini──你迟早会随时随地地携带它并使用它。然而，一旦你用过视网膜显示屏，就很难忽视普通屏幕和视网膜显示屏的区别了。为iPad Mini配置一块更好的屏幕将使它成为完美的平板电脑。



9. A la Carte Cable


9.点菜式有线电视



I know. It's probably not going to happen because it would destroy the Entertainment Industrial Complex as we know it. Big media companies sell their channels to cable outfits in bundles, not individually, so there's no way we would get channels on an a la carte basis. But to the end users -- the family sitting on the couch -- it just doesn't make sense. How long are we expected to subscribe to MTV 2 and other channels that go unwatched just to get the good stuff? Having to pay for something that no one wants seems so last century.


我知道。这个愿望可能不会实现，因为它将摧毁我们所知的整体娱乐产业。传媒巨头将他们旗下的频道整体打包卖给有线电视分销商，而不是拆分成单个频道卖出去，所以我们也不可能按照点菜的方式收看电视频道。但是对于终端用户们──坐在沙发上的每家人──来说，这根本就不合理。就为了看几个好频道，我们还需要订购多久MTV 2和其他那些从来没看过的频道呢？为没人愿意看的频道付费似乎从上个世纪就开始了。



10. The Ability to Filter Out Filtered Pictures


10.屏蔽滤镜图片的能力



If you want to share a blurry picture of your half-eaten blueberry pancakes or ho-hum sunset, that's fine. But don't think that slapping on a filter to make it appear to have been shot in 1967 or in the searing Mojave sun is going to make it look like it was taken by Annie Leibovitz. Filters should be used sparingly, to accent something, not as a Band-Aid to cover up imperfections. Will Facebook please spearhead the fight against filterfatigue by blocking users who upload more than 100 vintage photos a day? Now if they could only find a way to automaticallydelete photos of cold pancakes . . .


如果你想分享一张模糊不清的吃了一半的蓝莓薄煎饼的照片或是一张平淡无奇的日落照片，这也没什么。但是别以为随意用一下修片滤镜，让照片看起来像是摄于1967年，或像是灼热的莫哈韦沙漠(Mojave)的落日，就能让你的照片看起来像是莱博维茨(Annie Leibovitz)的大作。修片滤镜的使用应该谨慎，用以突出拍摄对象，而不应像邦迪创可贴(Band-Aid)那样被用来掩饰瑕疵。Facebook可不可以在抗击修片滤镜视觉疲劳的斗争中担当个急先锋，把那些一天就上传100张以上老照片的用户踢出去？现在就只需要再找到一个自动删除剩薄煎饼照片的方法就成啦......



Mr. Sintumuang is the editor of GQ.com.


（Sintumuang是GQ.com的编辑）



Kevin Sintumuang

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