物联网下一步：少点触屏，多点生活

    邓肯•兰布肩负使命。他希望减轻人们对智能手机的沉迷，使成天盯着屏幕的网民们多抬抬头。身为诺基亚（Nokia）前创意总监，兰布给自己制定这样的使命有些令人不解。

    但兰布并不是头一个抱怨人们对设备过于依赖的人。随着谷歌眼镜（Google Glass）等新技术的出现，《机器人总动员》（Wall-E）中描绘的并不美妙的未来世界似乎近在咫尺。苹果（ Apple）最近有一则广告备受诟病，广告中一对夫妇在度假时一直在忙着用智能手机，却对对方视而不见。还有一段疯传的视频，名字叫《我忘带手机了》，展示了智能手机令人们疏于人际交流的种种令人沮丧的现象。目前，这段视频在YouTube上的点击率已经达到了近4000万次。（无手机恐惧症是指害怕无法通过手机与人联系，显然我们中有66％的人都患有这种症状。）

    兰布已经把“少点屏幕，多点生活”的理念融入了一个名为Aether Cone的网络音箱。目前，他已经致力于这个项目有一年半的时间了。本周，兰布刚刚揭晓这款新产品。

    如今这个时代“智能”设备层出不穷，无论是恒温器还是健康手环甚至连电冰箱都榜上有名。它们能收集各类信息并在互联网上传递。但兰布指出，这类设备目前最突出的问题是复杂计算仍需要通过手机软件进行。除了Nest恒温器，几乎所有智能设备都只是孤立的节点，只是充当数据采集者的角色。所以，为了充分利用各种智能设备，我们不得不花费大量精力使用手机进行指挥。

    兰布表示，智能手机正在引起人们的反感。毕竟，我们现在与手机形影不离。每次掏出手机，不是在处理工作邮件，就是有其他东西分散了我们的注意力。有时候我们真想清静一下，好好听听音乐。

    所以，这就是Aether Cone音箱要比其它智能设备更高明的地方。这款音箱即将在2014年上市，从外形来看，它堪称精美绝伦，绝对满分。除去外表，Aether Cone的真正卖点在于它能使用内置软件自动分析用户喜好，然后通过Wi-Fi自动播放流媒体音乐，整个过程用户都无需查看手机。Aether Cone还具备记忆功能，能根据用户所处的环境、时间及用户在过去特定时间和地点的喜好自动挑选音乐播放。

    不过坦率地说，Aether Cone现在仍然离不开智能手机。至少音箱的初始化过程需要智能手机的参与。用户还需要添加自己喜欢的音乐服务，例如Spotify、Rdio、Pandora、Soundcloud和NPR。（Aether目前正和多家流媒体服务商谈判，具体信息这家公司目前还没有宣布。）

    不过，用户不是通过iPhone触摸屏来控制音乐，而是通过触摸音箱本身。这款音箱可以一键开启，轻轻扭一下音箱就切换到别的风格类似的歌手，而用力扭一下就切换到完全不同的音乐流派。语音识别功能使用户能通过口述歌曲或歌手的名字进行点播。而且它会记住用户的喜好。

    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.

    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.)

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.)

    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.

    兰布在奥斯汀举行的西南偏南互动大会（South by Southwest Interactive）上一个人数较少的私人聚会上展示了这款极具个性化的智能音箱。在一家精品酒店安静的后院里，兰布为30位好友播放了一首Pavement乐队的歌曲。那感觉就好比乘坐三轮车远离奥斯汀市中心的混乱嘈杂。当时，篝火摇曳，没人掏出智能手机。 （财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    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.