每日一讀:Cut the Cords and Charge It

riverpeak

October 14, 2009                                ,                                         8:06 am                                                                                                                                                  Cut the Cords and Charge It   
             By Eric A. Taub                                                        



Wireless magnetic induction charging is, after several years’promise, finally on the market. Now you can charge your iPhone,BlackBerry and other hand-held devices by placing them on a pad from Powermat — without any wired connection.
The concept and execution are very cool. Unfortunately, the concept is much cooler than the product’s utility.
Which is not surprising. High-tech products — think AT&T’s Picturephone of the 1960s — often appear before there’s a reason for their existence.
With Powermat, you can charge up to three devices simply by laying them down on the special pad. When they’re in the right place, apleasing tone sounds and you feel a slight magnetic tug.

To get the pad to transfer power to the batteries, each device needs a special sensor. With a BlackBerry, you replace the standard battery cover with a Powermat version. Because the iPhone doesn’t have aremovable battery, the Powermat sensor is incorporated into a special iPhone case. Both increase the weight and depth of the devices to which they’re attached. If you didn’t want an iPhone case, you’ll be using one now.
Other similar devices are sold for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite.Apple products that use a dock, like some iPod models, can use a special Powermat dock that sits on the pad. And each pad comes with a number of universal tips attached to a small cube; the tips fit a wide range of cellphones and Bluetooth devices like earpieces.
The devices and the packaging looks as if an ex-Apple designer washired to create them. Each product sports clean lines, pleasing colors and a perfect, sparing simplicity. The boxes in which they come deserve their own unboxing videos on YouTube.
But people don’t buy products just because they look good. Accordingto Ron Ferber, Powermat’s president, people will like the system because it gets rid of the tangle of charging cords and power bricks on one’s desk. And it eliminates the tangle of cords when traveling.
It even saves energy, because charging cords draw power even whennot connected to a device. Powermat’s does as well, but it draws less.
But do you really need to spend up to $250 ($100 for a charging mat,and $30 to $40 for each charging device) to just eliminate a littleclutter? The travel version of the Powermat folds up in thirds andcomes in its own hand some case, but several charging cords wouldn’t take up any more room.
If you’re annoyed with having to simultaneously find three wallplugs for all your portable devices, here’s a better and cheapersolution: buy yourself an extension cord for a few bucks, stuff thecables under the desk and throw them in a drawer when you’re done.

老郭

好長。累死你，哈哈

huizijingxin

沙發，歐耶！

riverpeak

你們沙發板凳都占了，我還沒辦完正事呢，先貼一段，不會翻譯的就貼原文，大家一起上

不用線纜也可以充電

    采用無線電磁感應充電，也許在幾年后可以實現并最終上市。現在你可以給你的愛瘋，黑莓和其他手持設備放在一個無線充電器上充電——不用任何的線纜連接。
這個構思非常的酷，不幸的是，這么酷的構思甚至超過了產品本身的功效。
    出乎意料的是，高科技產品——AT&T二十世紀六十年代的可視電話——經常出現在有一個其存在的理由。

老郭

翻譯的不錯。個別地方不夠精確。

Wireless magnetic induction charging is, after several years’promise, finally on the market.
忽悠了我們好幾年之后，無線電磁感應充電產品終于上市了。

Which is not surprising.這并不令人吃驚。

High-tech products — think AT&T’sPicturephone of the 1960s — often appear before there’s a reason for their existence.
高科技產品 - 回想一下60年代AT&T的圖像電話 - 常常在出現在其市場環境尚未成熟之前。（也就是，在還沒有它存在的理由之前就出現了）

宇宙飛船

這一句有可能是這個意思吧，
Which is not surprising. High-tech products — think AT&T’s Picturephone of the 1960s — often appear before there’s a reason for their existence.
那沒什么奇怪的，高技術產品（---記得AT&T’公司制造于1960年的可視電話）會經常為了他們生存的理由而出現。

宇宙飛船

看到這句有點蒙蒙的感覺，不知道那些單詞是啥意思？
And each pad comes with a number of universal tips attached to a small cube; the tips fit a wide range of cellphones and Bluetooth devices like earpieces.
每一個pad（軟墊？）還帶有一些很universalz(全的?)tip(針？)，附加到一個cube(小方盒?)中；

老郭

universal tips
通用觸點，

fit a wide range of cellphones and Bluetooth devices
它們可以接駁多種手機和藍牙設備