智能手機現在已經成了大家形影不離的小伙伴。大家不是在玩手機，就是正在往外掏手機。可以說，大多數人已經患上了不同程度的手機依賴癥。但諾基亞前創意總監蘭布認為，應該少點屏幕，多點生活，而Aether Cone音箱就是他遵循這個理念開發的一款智能產品。
Duncan Lamb has a mission. He wants to put a dent in our smartphone addictions and allow us, the screen-obsessed people of the web, to look up from those devices a little more. As a former creative director of Nokia, that's a slightly confusing mission.
鄧肯•蘭布肩負使命。他希望減輕人們對智能手機的沉迷，使成天盯著屏幕的網民們多抬抬頭。身為諾基亞（Nokia）前創意總監，蘭布給自己制定這樣的使命有些令人不解。
But Lamb is hardly the first to rail against dependance on devices. With new technology like Google Glass, the dystopian future of Wall-E doesn't seem so far off. A recent Apple advertisement was criticized for showing a couple ignoring each other in lieu of using their smartphones while on vacation. A viral video called "I Forgot My Phone" shows the depressing way smartphones alienate people from making personal connections; it's been viewed almost 40 million times on YouTube. (Nomophobia is the fear of being out of contact via mobile phone, and apparently 66% of us have it.)
但蘭布并不是頭一個抱怨人們對設備過于依賴的人。隨著谷歌眼鏡（Google Glass）等新技術的出現，《機器人總動員》（Wall-E）中描繪的并不美妙的未來世界似乎近在咫尺。蘋果（ Apple）最近有一則廣告備受詬病，廣告中一對夫婦在度假時一直在忙著用智能手機，卻對對方視而不見。還有一段瘋傳的視頻，名字叫《我忘帶手機了》，展示了智能手機令人們疏于人際交流的種種令人沮喪的現象。目前，這段視頻在YouTube上的點擊率已經達到了近4000萬次。（無手機恐懼癥是指害怕無法通過手機與人聯系，顯然我們中有66％的人都患有這種癥狀。）
Lamb has applied his philosophy of "less screen, more living" to a project he's been working on for 18 months, a connected speaker called the Aether Cone. He introduced the product this week.
蘭布已經把“少點屏幕，多點生活”的理念融入了一個名為Aether Cone的網絡音箱。目前，他已經致力于這個項目有一年半的時間了。本周，蘭布剛剛揭曉這款新產品。
Devices from thermostats to fitness bracelets to refrigerators are now "smart," meaning they have connectivity and can collect and send information across the Internet. The problem, Lamb argues, is that all the heavy computing is still done by software on our phones. With the exception of the Nest thermostat, most smart devices are still relatively dumb hubs for data collection. And so, in order to take advantage of our new smart thermostats and refrigerators, we still spend too much time having to fiddle with our phones to communicate with the devices.
如今這個時代“智能”設備層出不窮，無論是恒溫器還是健康手環甚至連電冰箱都榜上有名。它們能收集各類信息并在互聯網上傳遞。但蘭布指出，這類設備目前最突出的問題是復雜計算仍需要通過手機軟件進行。除了Nest恒溫器，幾乎所有智能設備都只是孤立的節點，只是充當數據采集者的角色。所以，為了充分利用各種智能設備，我們不得不花費大量精力使用手機進行指揮。
Lamb predicts that there is a coming backlash to controlling our lives with our phones. After all, every time we get our phone out, it's a chance to see new work emails and other distractions to suck us in. Sometimes we just want to block that noise out and listen to music.
蘭布表示，智能手機正在引起人們的反感。畢竟，我們現在與手機形影不離。每次掏出手機，不是在處理工作郵件，就是有其他東西分散了我們的注意力。有時候我們真想清靜一下，好好聽聽音樂。
That's why the Aether Cone is smarter than your average smart device. Sure, it's beautifully designed and aesthetically pleasing; those are table stakes for a new gadget in 2014. But the Aether Cone's selling point is that it streams music over Wi-Fi automatically, based on what the speaker's software thinks you'd like to listen to, with no need to check your phone. The speaker decides what to play based on where it is within your home (it remembers), what time it is, and what you've liked and disliked in that time and place in the past.
所以，這就是Aether Cone音箱要比其它智能設備更高明的地方。這款音箱即將在2014年上市，從外形來看，它堪稱精美絕倫，絕對滿分。除去外表，Aether Cone的真正賣點在于它能使用內置軟件自動分析用戶喜好，然后通過Wi-Fi自動播放流媒體音樂，整個過程用戶都無需查看手機。Aether Cone還具備記憶功能，能根據用戶所處的環境、時間及用戶在過去特定時間和地點的喜好自動挑選音樂播放。
To be fair, the Aether Cone can't do all of this without a smartphone dashboard involved somewhere. The initial setup, for instance, requires some smartphone work. Users will need to put in their preferred music services, like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, Soundcloud, or NPR. (The company is currently working on partnerships with various streaming providers and hasn't announced any yet.)
不過坦率地說，Aether Cone現在仍然離不開智能手機。至少音箱的初始化過程需要智能手機的參與。用戶還需要添加自己喜歡的音樂服務，例如Spotify、Rdio、Pandora、Soundcloud和NPR。（Aether目前正和多家流媒體服務商談判，具體信息這家公司目前還沒有宣布。）
But rather than control the music with an iPhone touchscreen, you touch the speaker. One button turns it on and a gentle twist of the speaker changes the channel to a different, but similar artist. A big twist switches it to a totally different genre. Voice recognition allows you to request a song or artist by name. And it remembers your preferences.
不過，用戶不是通過iPhone觸摸屏來控制音樂，而是通過觸摸音箱本身。這款音箱可以一鍵開啟，輕輕扭一下音箱就切換到別的風格類似的歌手，而用力扭一下就切換到完全不同的音樂流派。語音識別功能使用戶能通過口述歌曲或歌手的名字進行點播。而且它會記住用戶的喜好。
Lamb demoed his highly personalized, smart speaker at an appropriately intimate, out-of-the-way gathering at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin. In the quiet backyard of a boutique hotel, Lamb played a Pavement song for a group of thirty friends. It was a long pedicab ride away from the noisy melee of Downtown Austin. A campfire flickered, and no one pulled out their smartphone.
蘭布在奧斯汀舉行的西南偏南互動大會（South by Southwest Interactive）上一個人數較少的私人聚會上展示了這款極具個性化的智能音箱。在一家精品酒店安靜的后院里，蘭布為30位好友播放了一首Pavement樂隊的歌曲。那感覺就好比乘坐三輪車遠離奧斯汀市中心的混亂嘈雜。當時，篝火搖曳，沒人掏出智能手機。 |
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