酷兔英语


Stick a bunch of smart engineers in a room to build a product and you're bound to get a few funny ideas.


一帮聪明的工程师呆在一间屋子里研发一件产品,你一定能收获些有趣的想法。



April Fool's is typically the time when tech-heavy companies decide to unleash those ideas -- for better or worse -- onto the Web.


愚人节这天通常是科技公司决定将这些想法发布到互联网上的日子,至于后果如何,那就没人操心了。



Below are a few of the best from the Web. Find any others? Let us know about them in the comments.


以下是从互联网上收集的其中最有意思的一些想法。你还找到了其他有意思奇思妙想吗?请在文章的评论页面里告诉我们吧。



Bing is Google? -- We're feeling confused. Go to the Bing homepage and search 'Google.' You'll see what we mean in a second.


必应(Bing)是谷歌(Google)?──我们感觉被搞糊涂了。登录必应的主页,搜索Google,你立即就能明白我们是什么意思。



Twttr fnd wys t gt mny -- Twitter said it was 'shifting' to a two-tiered service, in which it would charge users $5 a month for a premium service to use both consonants and vowels in tweets. The free version won't include vowels:


推特(Twitter)找到了赚钱的方法──推特说,它即将"转型",采取一种两级服务制,它将向享受其高级服务的用户每月收取5美元,这类用户在推特发帖时可既用元音字母也用辅音字母拼写单词。而使用推特免费服务的用户在发帖时不能用元音字母拼写单词。



Hand-written results from Wolfram Alpha -- The math-juiced search engine now promises its results will come hand-written.


来自Wolfram Alpha的手写搜索结果──精于数学计算的搜索引擎Wolfram Alpha现在承诺,它将以手写方式将搜索结果展现出来



Treasure hunting -- Like last year, Google has a special mod for Google Maps today, turning it into a giant treasure map like the ones you would see in pirate movies. Swapping to street view is the equivalent of looking through a spyglass. Give it a whirl.


搜寻宝藏──像去年一样,谷歌周一这天也将对谷歌地图(Google Maps)进行特殊处理,将其转变成一张巨大的藏宝图,就像你在海盗电影中看到的那种。观看谷歌街景能得到相当于从一架小望远镜里向外看的视觉效果。来试试吧



YouTube shutting down -- Apparently YouTube as we know it was an eight year-long contest to find the greatest video on the Internet. Having received enough 'submissions,' YouTube will 'shut down' tonight as judges determine which was the best video on the Internet. This one actually fooled quite a bit of people on Twitter.


YouTube关闭──众所周知,YouTube是一场历时八年的竞赛,竞赛的内容是在互联网上找到最伟大的视频内容。在收到了足够多的"参赛作品"后,YouTube将于周一晚间关闭,届时评审们将评出互联网上的最佳视频。这则假消息还真的在推特上骗了不少人



Google Nose -- 'Sometimes, they're not looking at all.' There's a new 'service' from Google that will let users 'search' for smells.


谷歌鼻子(Google Nose)──有时候,你根本不用眼睛。谷歌推出一项新"服务",通过这项服务用户可以"搜索"气味



Nokia reinvents the microwave -- The Finnish company isn't stopping with mobile phones to jump-start itself. Its newest product is a touch-screen microwave oven that, like its phones, appears to be based on Microsoft's Windows software.


诺基亚(Nokia)重新发明微波──这家芬兰公司并不仅限于依靠手机来使自己获得业务增长的动力。其最新产品是一款触控屏微波炉,这一产品像该公司的手机一样,似乎也使用微软(Microsoft)的Windows软件。



A 3-D printer for kids -- We wish these products were real. ThinkGeek is offering fun products for the whole family, including a Play-Doh 3-D Printer, and for 'Lord of the Rings' fans, an Eye of Sauron Desk Lamp, complete with a 'roving eye that will watch you while you work.'


儿童专用3D打印机──我们希望这些产品是真实存在的。网上零售商ThinkGeek将推出家用乐趣产品,其中包括培乐多缤纷彩泥(Play-Doh)3D打印机, 还将推出为电影《指环王》(Lord of the Rings)的影迷准备的乐趣产品,"黑暗之君"索伦之眼台灯,它包括一个"在你工作时观察你的顾盼之眼"。



Upload Imgur images by snail mail -- Instead of directly uploading a photo through the Web to image hosting site Imgur, you can now 'mail' it to the site.


用平邮方式向图片分享网站Imgur上传照片──你现在可以不再通过互联网向图片分享网站Imgur上传照片,而是将照片真正地"邮寄"给这家网站



Chatting with emoticons -- Words are so 2012. Hipchat has a new service called Emotichat that translates your messages entirely into emoticons, complete with a passive-aggressive detector.


用表情符号聊天──用语言聊天已经过时了。私聊和即时通讯应用程序提供商Hipchat将推出一项名为"表情聊天"(Emotichat)的新服务,它能把你的文字信息直接翻译成表情符号,这项服务还配有一个用户"消极进攻型"人格探测程序。



Matthew Lynley