智能手機(jī)現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)成了大家形影不離的小伙伴。大家不是在玩手機(jī)，就是正在往外掏手機(jī)�？梢哉f(shuō)，大多數(shù)人已經(jīng)患上了不同程度的手機(jī)依賴癥。但諾基亞前創(chuàng)意總監(jiān)蘭布認(rèn)為，應(yīng)該少點(diǎn)屏幕，多點(diǎn)生活，而Aether Cone音箱就是他遵循這個(gè)理念開(kāi)發(fā)的一款智能產(chǎn)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(fù)使命。他希望減輕人們對(duì)智能手機(jī)的沉迷，使成天盯著屏幕的網(wǎng)民們多抬抬頭。身為諾基亞（Nokia）前創(chuàng)意總監(jiān)，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(gè)抱怨人們對(duì)設(shè)備過(guò)于依賴的人。隨著谷歌眼鏡（Google Glass）等新技術(shù)的出現(xiàn)，《機(jī)器人總動(dòng)員》（Wall-E）中描繪的并不美妙的未來(lái)世界似乎近在咫尺。蘋果（ Apple）最近有一則廣告?zhèn)涫茉嵅�，廣告中一對(duì)夫婦在度假時(shí)一直在忙著用智能手機(jī)，卻對(duì)對(duì)方視而不見(jiàn)。還有一段瘋傳的視頻，名字叫《我忘帶手機(jī)了》，展示了智能手機(jī)令人們疏于人際交流的種種令人沮喪的現(xiàn)象。目前，這段視頻在YouTube上的點(diǎn)擊率已經(jīng)達(dá)到了近4000萬(wàn)次。（無(wú)手機(jī)恐懼癥是指害怕無(wú)法通過(guò)手機(jī)與人聯(lián)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(jīng)把“少點(diǎn)屏幕，多點(diǎn)生活”的理念融入了一個(gè)名為Aether Cone的網(wǎng)絡(luò)音箱。目前，他已經(jīng)致力于這個(gè)項(xiàng)目有一年半的時(shí)間了。本周，蘭布剛剛揭曉這款新產(chǎn)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(gè)時(shí)代“智能”設(shè)備層出不窮，無(wú)論是恒溫器還是健康手環(huán)甚至連電冰箱都榜上有名。它們能收集各類信息并在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上傳遞。但蘭布指出，這類設(shè)備目前最突出的問(wèn)題是復(fù)雜計(jì)算仍需要通過(guò)手機(jī)軟件進(jìn)行。除了Nest恒溫器，幾乎所有智能設(shè)備都只是孤立的節(jié)點(diǎn)，只是充當(dāng)數(shù)據(jù)采集者的角色。所以，為了充分利用各種智能設(shè)備，我們不得不花費(fèi)大量精力使用手機(jī)進(jìn)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(jī)正在引起人們的反感。畢竟，我們現(xiàn)在與手機(jī)形影不離。每次掏出手機(jī)，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(shí)候我們真想清靜一下，好好聽(tīng)聽(tīng)音樂(lè)。

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(shè)備更高明的地方。這款音箱即將在2014年上市，從外形來(lái)看，它堪稱精美絕倫，絕對(duì)滿分。除去外表，Aether Cone的真正賣點(diǎn)在于它能使用內(nèi)置軟件自動(dòng)分析用戶喜好，然后通過(guò)Wi-Fi自動(dòng)播放流媒體音樂(lè)，整個(gè)過(guò)程用戶都無(wú)需查看手機(jī)。Aether Cone還具備記憶功能，能根據(jù)用戶所處的環(huán)境、時(shí)間及用戶在過(guò)去特定時(shí)間和地點(diǎn)的喜好自動(dòng)挑選音樂(lè)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(guò)坦率地說(shuō)，Aether Cone現(xiàn)在仍然離不開(kāi)智能手機(jī)。至少音箱的初始化過(guò)程需要智能手機(jī)的參與。用戶還需要添加自己喜歡的音樂(lè)服務(wù)，例如Spotify、Rdio、Pandora、Soundcloud和NPR。（Aether目前正和多家流媒體服務(wù)商談判，具體信息這家公司目前還沒(méi)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(guò)，用戶不是通過(guò)iPhone觸摸屏來(lái)控制音樂(lè)，而是通過(guò)觸摸音箱本身。這款音箱可以一鍵開(kāi)啟，輕輕扭一下音箱就切換到別的風(fēng)格類似的歌手，而用力扭一下就切換到完全不同的音樂(lè)流派。語(yǔ)音識(shí)別功能使用戶能通過(guò)口述歌曲或歌手的名字進(jìn)行點(diǎn)播。而且它會(huì)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(dòng)大會(huì)（South by Southwest Interactive）上一個(gè)人數(shù)較少的私人聚會(huì)上展示了這款極具個(gè)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(lè)隊(duì)的歌曲。那感覺(jué)就好比乘坐三輪車遠(yuǎn)離奧斯汀市中心的混亂嘈雜。當(dāng)時(shí)，篝火搖曳，沒(méi)人掏出智能手機(jī)。