经济学人下载:可穿戴的计算设备

Business
商业报道

Wearable computing
可穿戴的计算设备

The eyes have it
眼睛将拥有谷歌眼镜

Google advances its plan to bring smart glasses to the masses
谷歌提出在普通民众中推广智能眼镜的计划

GOOGLE has an ambitious vision for spectacles.
谷歌有一个针对眼镜的雄心勃勃的看法。

On June 27th Sergey Brin, one of the company's co-founders, revealed the next stage of Project Glass,its effort to create wireless-connected glasses that allow their wearers to do a host of things,
6月27日，公司联合创始人之一的Sergey Brin揭露了下一阶段的眼镜项目，他试图研发无线连接方式眼镜使佩戴者可以做大量的事情，

including receiving and responding to messages, and taking and sharing photos and videos.
包括收发短信，拍摄、分享照片及视频。

The goal is to get prototypes in the hands of software developers early next year and then to sell a more polished set of specs to consumers in late 2013 or early the following year.
项目的目标是在明年初可以使软件开发者拿到样品，2013年下半年或2014年初向消费者出售更加精美的眼镜。

A product of Google's secretive X Lab, whose mission is to push the boundaries of computing, the glasses were on show at the company's developer conference in San Francisco along with several other gizmos,
谷歌神秘的X实验室的任务是推进计算设备的边界，这种眼镜作为其产品之一在位于旧金山召开的谷歌开发者大会被展示，

including a cheap tablet computer and a new wireless media player for the home.
同时展出的还包括一种廉价平板电脑和家用无线播放器等小发明。

These gadgets attracted plenty of attention,
这些小玩意吸引了众多的关注，

but the longest queues at the event were at booths where folk were trying on Google's goggles.
但最受关注的地方是在那些民众尝试谷歌眼镜的展位。

That is hardly surprising because the glasses seem like something out of a science-fiction novel.
这不足为奇，因为这种眼镜看起来就像是科幻小说中的物品。

A tiny transparent display towards the top of one lens allows wearers to see text and images by glancing upwards.
一个很小的透明的播放显示装置位于镜片的顶端，它使佩戴者可以通过向斜上方观看来浏览文字和图片。

And the spectacles can be controlled using either voice commands or a somewhat bulky touchpad integrated into one of the arms.
这种眼镜可以通过语音控制，也可以通过一种固定到手臂上的大体积触摸屏控制。

Mr Brin says the goal is to get technology out of the way,
Brin先生表示，他们的目标是使技术变得与众不同，

so people can, say, take videos without having to pull out a camera or smartphone each time they do so.
比如人们可以拍摄视频而不必每次都取出照相机或者智能手机。

Google's glasses reflect a growing interest in wearable computing, which many experts think could be the next big thing in personal technology after smartphones and tablets.
谷歌眼镜反应了人们对可穿戴计算设备与日俱增的兴趣，许多专家认为这可能是继智能手机和平板电脑后的又一个重大产品。

But some tech veterans give warning that designing novel devices people feel comfortable wearing is an especially tricky task.
但一些资深技术人士警告说设计使人们配戴舒服的新奇设备是一件非常棘手的工作。

In general, the first attempt at producing new computing paradigms rarely sticks, notes Sumeet Jain of CMEA Capital, a venture-capital firm.
风险投资公司CMEA Capital的Sumeet Jain说道：总体来说，设计新计算设备的首次尝试很少会取得成功。

If Google's glasses are to prove an exception to that rule, the firm will have to meet several challenges.
如果谷歌的眼镜想打破常规，谷歌公司必须迎接一些挑战。

One is to refine their design so that wearers don't look like nerds from a laboratory.
一是必须完善他们的设计，使配戴者看起来并不像实验室出来的书呆子。

Another is to assuage inevitable concerns around privacy that the glasses will raise.
另一个挑战就是解决眼镜必然带来的隐私问题。

The firm will also need to reassure people their eyeballs won't be blitzed with advertising, which is Google's preferred way to mint money.
它还需要消除人们的疑虑，使他们的眼球不会陷入广告大战，而这正是谷歌喜欢的捞金方式。

Mr Brin stresses the aim is to make a profit on the glasses themselves, whose mass-market price will be well below the 1,500 developers are paying for a pair.
Brin先生强调他们的目标是通过眼镜本身来盈利，眼镜是市场价将会适当低于开发者的购买价格1500美元。

That should make them worth a close look.
这会使得谷歌眼镜更易于被消费者接受。