HarBo.me

Daily short-articles about technology, science, business and buildings. Written in Mandarin, also available in English.

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阿兰·图灵是计算的父，英国政府将给他死后的赦免。

Alan Turing, the father of computing, to be given posthumous pardon by UK government.

(Image source: Antoine Taveneaux via Wikimedia)

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1958年7月29日，55年前的今天，美国政府创造了美国航空航天局。在11年内他们把两个人放在月面上。

(Image source: NASA)

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An Introduction to Skeuomorphic Design

Skeuomorphic designs resemble real world objects. Take for example the familiar email icon; a closed envelope for unread email and an open envelope for a read email. You’ve probably never thought ‘why use an envelope icon for an electronic message’ and the reason is because you most likely find it natural fit.

Email is a relatively new concept compared to letters, so when early designers sought to make the transition to email as smooth as possible the choice of an envelope seemed a natural choice. This pattern has been seen throughout user interfaces for the past 15 years; on your desktop you have a ‘waste paper basket’ for files you want to delete, when you want to extract part of a file you ‘cut it using scissors’ or you may attach a file to an email using a ‘paperclip’.

Technically there’s nothing wrong with skeuomorphic design, and in the early days it was a basic requirement to aid the adoption of the new technologies. However, today it’s just a barrier to design. The majority of people are familiar with basic technology, and whilst I don’t want to sound ignorant towards people yet to adopt it, I feel the problems they face could be easily solve with a well written and engaging instruction manual.

Despite being a real innovator in design, Apple has still shown a love for skeuomorphic design; the lined-yellow paper for notes, the leather bound calendar or the casino themed Game Center. However, in recent years a more minimalist approach to UI design has been taking off, something Google and Microsoft have already started to embrace rather well. With the upcoming release of iOS 7, Apple is now also heading towards the minimalist approach.

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My first Coursera course!

我最近完成我第一做的在线课程。这个课程是关于创业和初创公司。在这网站你可以看我的证书。

如果你也喜欢学习这个学科，下次课程开始是九月三十号。这网站有消息。

I recently completed my first online course via Coursera. The course was called Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies and was about entrepreneurship and start-ups. I took the 'Signature Track', which means I have a verified certificate.

If you also want to take the course, the next offering starts 30th September. More details are available here.

(Image source: Coursera)

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The Fox and the Grapes ／ 一只狐狸和一串葡萄

有一天一只饥渴的狐狸爬进入一座长满葡萄的葡萄园。这葡萄园有很多成熟的葡萄，但是树上的葡萄太高了。为了得到多汁的奖赏，狐狸多次跳跃试图够到葡萄，但都没有成功。最后狐狸不得不认输，并对自言自说＂没关系，反正葡萄也是酸的＂。

这个故事告诉我们：人很容易对自己得不到的东西而看不起。

The Fox and the Grapes

One day a hungry and thirsty fox snuck into a vineyard with many juicy grapes, however these grapes were very high on the vines. The fox jumped many times to try to get the grapes, but did not succeed. Eventually the fox had to admit defeat and said to himself, "never mind, the grapes are sour anyway".

The moral of the story is; its easy to look down on the things you cannot get.

(Image source: (matt) via Flickr)

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On 20th July 1969, 44 years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on the surface of the moon.

1969年7月20日，44年前的今天，尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和巴兹·奥尔德林成为了首次踏上月球表面的人类。

(Image source: NASA)

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London 2012 Olympics add nearly £10bn to UK economy ／ 伦敦2012奥运会把英国经济加几乎百亿英镑

研究揭示伦敦2012奥运会把英国经济加几乎百亿英镑。政府估计，举办奥运会的成本是89亿英镑。

A study has suggest the London 2012 Olympics Games have added nearly £10bn to the UK economy. The UK government estimates the cost of hosting the games was £8.9bn.

UK Trade and Investment - London 2012: Delivering the Economic Legacy

BBC - London 2012 Olympics 'have boosted UK economy by £9.9bn'

(Image source: philippryke via Flickr)

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Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch to enter space! ／ 索契2014的奥运火炬将进入太空

俄罗斯奥林匹克委员会宣布：索契2014的奥运火炬将进入太空，在俄国联盟号飞船上旅行。

最近委员会的主要组织者（Dmitry Chernyshenko）在Twitter短信写了：我们的雄心使征服太空成为现实，第一次奥运火炬接力将进入太空。

虽然火炬接力包括这场合，但是在为了奥运火炬能在飞船上安全熄灭。一共有一万四百个奥运火炬，但是这火炬将在开幕式上点燃奥运圣火。

这火炬将在地球上盘旋四百公里，甚至在太空行走。

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has announced the Sochi 2014 Olympic torch will be launched into space abroad the Russian Soyzu spacecraft.

The Committee's chief organiser Dmitry Chernyshenko recently tweeted: "Our ambition to conquer Space 1st time ever in the Olympic history becomes reality. #Sochi2014's Torch Relay will reach the open space!"

Despite being part of the relay, the actual Olympic flame will not be lit while upon the Soyuz for safety reasons. However, the torch (one of 14,000) will finally be lit on February 7th 2014 when it will become the final torch used to light the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremony.

The torch will orbit at an approximate height of 400 km and will even be taken on a spacewalk.

(Image source: NASA via Wikimedia Commons)

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Heml.is - The Beautiful and Secure Messenger／美丽和安全的通讯系统。

瑞典的一个团队宣布他们将制造一个应用程序，名字是Heml.is，在瑞典语中意思是‘秘密’。他们说爱德华·斯诺登的情况给他们灵感，要制造新的通讯系统。

最近几个大公司，包括谷歌和苹果，必须交用户信息给美国政府。Heml.is保证没有人可以查看，例如不能阅读你的短信。

A team from Sweden have announced the will create an app named Heml.is, 'hemlis' meaning secret in Swedish. Inspired the by Edward Snowdon case, they say they want to create a new messaging system.

Recently, several major companies, including Google and Apple, have been forced to handover user information to the US government. The Heml.is app aims to build a secure system and ensure that nobody can spy on your message.

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China's Q2 economic growth 7.5% / 二季度中国经济增长7.5%

刚宣布的官方数字显示二季度中国经济增速放缓到7.5％。

Official figures just released show Chinese economic growth slows to 7.5% in Q2.

New York Times - China’s G.D.P. Growth Slows As Government Changes Gears

Reuters - China's GDP growth slows to 7.5 percent

(Image source: Alex Needham via Wikipedia)

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One Gigapixel Image of Mars／一张十亿像素照片的火星

美国航空航天局《NASA》发表一张十亿像素的照片，图表示的是火星表面。这照片包括九百独张照片，所以详细的又很特别又很清楚。在NASA网站你可以下载这照片。

NASA has published a one gigapixel photo showing the surface of Mars. The photo consists of 900 individual photos making the details exceptionally clear. The image is available for download on the NASA website.

(Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

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UK set to become second largest car manufacturer in Europe

The Telegraph has posted an article claiming the UK could become the second largest car manufacturer in Europe within five years.

The growing automobile industry in emerging countries, particularly China, is seeing the demand for UK designed cars to surge. Rolls-Royce now sells every one in four cars to a Chinese customer.

Germany is currently Europe's largest car manufacturer, producing 5.5 million cars in 2012, while France is currently second having produced 1.9 million, however this annual figure is currently falling.

The European Automobile Manufacturers Association has said it predicts the UK to produce over 2 million cars annually by 2018.

英国能成为欧洲第二大汽车生产地区。

英国的报纸《The Telegraph》发表了一篇文章，说：英国能在五年内成为在洲第二大汽车生产企业。

新兴国家，尤其中国，有不断增长的汽车消费市场，所以英国设计汽车的销路变广。例如当前劳斯莱斯每卖出四辆汽车，其中一辆就给中国顾客。

当前德国是欧洲最大的汽车生产地区，在2012共制造五百五十万辆，法国是第二大，在2012制造的是一百九十万辆，但是每年这个数字减少一点。

欧洲汽车制造商协会说据他们预计，到2018英国能每年制造两百万多辆汽车。

(Image source: jiazi via Flickr)

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The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have published a high-resolution interactive map rendered from NASA's Suomi NPP satellite, displaying the extent of vegetation covering our planet's surface.

The satellite captured images of the Earth over the period of a week and the images were then processed to produce a cloud-free map. This short processing time means a comprehensive data-log of the Earth's vegetation can be easily collected and analysed. This video shows the change in vegetation over the course of a year and scientists hope this will help to predict wildfires, drought and even malaria outbreaks.

美国的海洋和大气局把一张高清图公开了，他们用了NASA的Suomi卫星制造这张图，图表示的是全地球上的植物。

在一个星期内卫星在地球上面拍摄照片，然后把没有云的照片处理制造成一张地图。因为处理时间短，所以科学家会容易得收集和分析资料。他们也制造一部关于一年内植物变化的电影，希望这可以帮助他们预报森林大火，干旱和甚至疟疾暴发。

(Image source: NASA/NOAA)

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sLink.io: the Smarter URL shortener

sLink.io is a small project I’ve been working on to address a few issues I’ve experienced when using URL shorteners.

URL shorteners allow you to take a long web address and turn it into a shorter one. People do this mainly because of the 140 character limit imposed by Twitter and to make sharing links easier.

There’s already load of URL shorteners out there, but I think sLink.io is special for two reasons. Firstly, sLink.io allows you to preview the webpage before you're redirected. Many other services redirect you automatically, and while this is faster, it’s not always safe since you may end up at a nasty website without any warning!

Second, sLink.io is Smart and can detect what country the person who clicked your link is currently in. This is particularly useful if you want to localise the content you’re sharing depending on your audience. For example, suppose I want to share a link to Amazon on my blog. Most of my readers are located in the USA, UK and China, so do I link to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.cn? With sLink.io I can link to all three, but with just one link! So when somebody in China clicks on http://slink.io/HQBGB they will visit Amazon.cn, when somebody in the UK clicks the same link, they will visit Amazon.co.uk and so on.

sLink.io是我最近作的自己项目，因为我要解决些难题关于网址缩短网站。

网址缩短网站让你把长的网址变成短的。人民主要做理由是Twitter短信包括最多140字母。

已经有很多网址缩短网站，但是我觉得sLink.io有两个特别的意思。第一个意思是sLink.io让你被重定向之前看网页。别的网址缩短网站强制你自动地重定向，虽然这是快点儿，但是有的时候这是不安全地因为你可能自动地重定向到危险网站。

第二个意思是sLink.io是伶俐的因为会检测网站的客户是在什么国家。如果你要对观众针对特别内容，这是特殊有用的特征。例如想象我要跟我的博客的读者共享给一个Amazon网址，但是我的观众大部分是在美国，英国还是中国，所以我怎么链接到Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk或者Amazon.cn? 由于sLink.io可以就用一个网址链接到三个网站！如果在中国有人点击到http://slink.io/HQBGB他们将看到Amazon.cn，但是如果在英国有人也点击到http://slink.io/HQBGB他们将看到Amazon.co.uk，等等。

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Send a Tweet into Space!

A New York based start-up Lone Signal is offering people the chance to send a Tweet into space, or more precisely to Gliese 526.

Gliese 526 is red dwarf star about 18 light years away. Since your message will travel as an electromagnetic wave it will also take about the same time to arrive. It’s not known if there’s any planets orbiting Gliese 526, but assuming there is a planet with an advance civilisation who decides to “Tweet back”, then you’ll be waiting 36 years until you receive your reply!

The company is offering the first message for free, with additional bundles of 4 messages costing 99¢.

发送Twitter的短信进入太空！

在纽约一家初创公司叫Lone Signal现在提供给人们机会，让他们通过Twitter发送进入太空的短信。准确地说目的地是一个叫Gliese 526的星星。

Gliese 526是一个红矮星，离地球大概18光年远。由于您的短信是一种电磁波，它也需要18光年旅行到目的地。Gliese 526有没有行星，这还是未知，但假设有一个行星，也假设这行星上有先进文明生物，也假设这文明决定回发给你一个短信，所以你必须等待36年然后接收短信！

Lone Signal的好处是你初次发的短信是免费的，超过一个，必须发四个短信花费是99美分。

(Image source: Lone Signal)

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The first message sent over the internet was the word LOGIN, except the the message to too long and the computer receiving the message crashed just after receiving the letters LO. A single character consists of 2 bits, so technically a 4 bit message caused the internet to crash!

By comparison, Cisco recently estimated that last year approximately 525,000 petabytes was sent over the internet. That's the equivalent to 4.72e21 bits!

However, internet traffic is just the tip of the iceberg when compared to the sheer amount of data stored throughout the world. The BBC has produced a 'Byte size guide to data storage' infographic to help you comprended the scale of global data. 

第一个在网上发出的短信是一个英语词“LOGIN”，但是这词太长，所以电脑只接收了两个字母“LO”，然后死机了。一个字母是两个比特，没想到发出了四个比特的短信致使全世界的网络瘫痪！

通过比较，最近Cisco估计去年的国际互联网流量都是五十二万PB级，这是4.72e21（四点七二乘以十的二十一次方）个比特。

互联网流量根全世界的数据比，只是冰山一角。

(Image source: BBC)

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Ich bin ein Berliner

President John F. Kennedy, June 26, 1963